Antonio stood in the doorway watching Sylvie; she was unaware of his presence as she fussed over the tiny bundle laid out in front of her. He watched as she removed the baby's diaper and cleaned her then slathered her in lotion, she carefully fastened her diaper, and put her in a new sleeper, she was so delicate as she did it as if she would break her with a wrong move. "You're a natural you know that?" Antonio pushed himself off the doorway and moved into the room. "God you scared me!" Sylvie gasped surprised by his presence. "How long have you been there?" she asked, eying him suspiciously. "Long enough to know you're better than you thought you would be at this." He leaned in and kissed the top of her head. Sylvie laughed nervously, "I don't know, I think I'm going to break her, I've never taken care of a newborn alone before." she finished wrapping the infant in her blanket and handed her to Antonio.
"Hey, Mia's two weeks old and you've kept her alive so far, I would say you're doing pretty good." He laughed as Sylvie gave him a death glare, she clearly didn't think it was as funny as he did, especially after she killed Diego's hamster within a week of getting it and she knew that was what he was referring to. "I thought we agreed to never mention that." She scowled. "I'm sorry, I had to at least once, I promise I'm done." He laughed and pulled Sylvie up into a hug with his free hand. Sylvie looked like she was about to cry and Antonio pulled her in to him tight, "It's not funny Antonio, this is something I'm really worried about, you've had kids, you know what you're doing, I don't." she pouted.
"I knew nothing when Eva was born and she survived." Antonio laughed and kissed her on her forehead. "I gotta get to work and you're going to be fine, I promise. Oh and the personal assistant my mom hired will be here today." Sylvie scrunched up her nose and nodded as she took Mia from Antonio, "I can't believe your mom's baby gift was a personal assistant, that's just a little overkill." She complained not really wantin a stranger in her house the first time she would be alone with her daughter.
"She meant well and it's only for your maternity leave, just relax and let someone else do everything and just focus on Mia, okay?" Antonio knew when his mom told him what she wanted to do for Sylvie that she wouldn't be completely on board with it but Sylvie not wanting to upset his mom had agreed to it. "I'll try." Sylvie sighed. "Thank you, now I really do need to go" he leaned in and kissed her "Love you both," he said as he moved to kiss Mia on the head. "Love you too." She said as she watched Antonio disappear through the door.
Sylvie was sitting on the couch watching TV; she heard a knock on the door and went to answer it, "Hi, you must be Megan, come on in." Sylvie opened the door all the way to let the PA in. "Yes, and you must by Sylvie, correct?" Megan extended her hand and Sylvie took it. "Yes, Sylvie Brett." Sylvie looked Megan over, she was petite, short, and very pretty, she didn't want to admit it but she was a little jealous, she was still trying to recover from having Mia and nothing was back to normal yet and she knew she looked frumpy and tired. Mia had her up every two hours, Antonio had helped her the last two weeks but last night he had to sleep so he could function at work.
"So what all are you needing help with?" Megan decided to get straight to the point; she walked around to take a seat on the couch and spotted a sleeping Mia in her bassinet. "Ohh, a new baby, how old is she?" she asked as she stood looking at her. Sylvie smiled, "She's two weeks, her name is Mia." Sylvie responded proudly. "A pretty name for a pretty baby girl." She cooed. Sylvie wasn't in the best of moods, she was tired and just wanted to move this along so she could take a nap and call Antonio. "I'm not sure what I need help with, what all do you do exactly? You're actually a baby shower gift for while I'm on maternity leave." Sylvie feigned a smile.
"I clean, do laundry, and run errands, basically anything you want, I can cook for you too." Megan explained. Sylvie yawned, "I've been trying to keep up and Antonio has been great but the kitchen is a mess and there is tons of laundry to do, so I guess I could use help with that." Sylvie felt really awkward having someone in her house doing household chores but she didn't know how she was going to manage with the baby and being exhausted, it was an ordeal to just get up and cook herself breakfast and Mia had cried the whole time.
"Is Antonio your husband?" she asked curiously looking around to see if she saw any pictures. "No, we're not married." Sylvie corrected her, they had talked about getting married but Sylvie didn't want to get married just because she was pregnant. She wanted to do it right and wait and have the epic proposal and the big wedding, he didn't, he was content with a justice of the peace and a party at Molly's. "Oh, I'm sorry it's none of my business, just forget I asked, I get nosey and ask too many questions sometimes. Anyway you can nap or watch TV or do whatever you want while I work. Just pretend I'm not here."
Sylvie showed Megan around and explained everything then grabbed her phone and Mia and headed for her room, she wanted to call Antonio and knew she wouldn't be able to sleep with a stranger in the house.
Kim was watching Antonio from across their desks and knew he was distracted; he kept fidgeting and looking at his phone every thirty seconds. "Are you going to do any work today or just keep worrying about Brett calling you?" she teased. Antonio looked at her and tried to hide his tiny smile. "I just don't want to miss a call or text, she's worried about being alone with her for the first time and I promised her I would answer if she called." He explained to Kim. "Why don't you just go home for lunch? I'll go with so that way if we get called we're together." Kim suggested hoping to ease Antonio's mind. Antonio nodded, "Okay and I can take her some lunch, I'm sure she's forgotten to eat and I know she won't ask that assistant."
Antonio unlocked the door and stepped in and was startled by a young woman in his apartment. "Hi, I'm Megan." Megan bounced over to him and offered him her hand. "Umm, hi, I'm Antonio" He shook her hand, she was nothing like he imagined, she was young maybe twenty-one and she knew she was cute, Antonio could feel her eyes on him and it made him uncomfortable, she was trying to flirt. "Sylvie? Is she in our room?" he asked looking around for her. "Yes, with Mia, oh my god, she is such a beautiful baby." Antonio couldn't help but smile at the mention of her name; he was absolutely in love her, "Thank you, she looks just like Sylvie, big blue eyes and all." He was talking to Megan but moving closer and closer to the bedroom door. "Funny, I think she looks like you." Megan responded obviously flirting. Antonio reached the door and grabbed the handle. "It was nice to meet you, oh and if another woman shows up to the door, a Detective Kim Burgess, just let her in." Antonio didn't wait for a response and turned and went through the bedroom door and shut it behind him, careful not to let it slam.
He pulled out his phone and texted Kim, "Can you come up and just sit in the living room and wait for me? Can't explain now just do it for me, please and thank you."
Antonio shoved his phone in his pocket and looked at the bed, Sylvie was sound asleep with Mia laying in a fortress of pillows in the middle of their king size bed. He didn't want to wake her so he sat her food on the nightstand and picked up Mia and went to stand by the door to listen for Kim, he heard her come through the door and decided it was safe to come back out. Kim gave him a look and he shook his head, telling her he would explain later.
He handed Mia to Kim and sat beside her on the couch and leaned in. "God, Antonio, how did you guys end up with the prettiest baby on the planet? She's perfect and she looks just like both of you guys more and more everyday." Kim just held her and looked at her.
"If you would have told me a year ago that this is where we would be, I would have laughed at you, we hadn't even talked in over a year and we hook up one night and here we are." Antonio laughed. "You two were always going to end up here, you may not have known it but everyone else did, it was just a matter of you two to figuring it out. I was secretly pulling for you all along, I know I gave you shit about it but I'm just happy you're happy." Kim turned and smiled at him.
"Thanks, you really are the best." He put his arm around her shoulder and pulled her to him and kissed the side of her head. "Eww, are you sure you weren't the one pregnant? You're awfully mushy with the feelings." Kim laughed. "Fine whatever Burgess you can't hold my perfect baby anymore." He teased as he plucked Mia from her arms. Kim leaned in and kissed Mia on the top of her head, "She really is perfect, though not even kidding." She cooed. "Let me change her and put her back in with Sylvie and we can get going." Antonio wanted to put her back to sleep so Sylvie could sleep as long as she needed to.
Megan appeared from around the corner, "If you need to get back to work, I can watch her if you want to let Sylvie sleep." Megan offered. Antonio looked over at Kim who had a 'who the hell does this girl think she is?' look on her face, "No, that's okay, I'm sorry but I don't know you and it's nothing personal, I'm sure you're a lovely girl but I'm not leaving my newborn with a stranger when my wife is perfectly capable of taking care of her." Antonio was a little upset by the obvious eavesdropping. "Oh, I'm sorry, I was only trying to help, Sylvie looked exhausted earlier." Megan stepped in closer to him and he stepped backwards. Kim sat there watching the exchange thinking this girl was brazen to flirt right in front of her.
Kim stood and stepped in between Antonio and Megan, "Hey, well we need to get going it was nice meeting you." Kim extended her hand to Megan, who reluctantly took it while staring at Antonio the entire time. Antonio seized his opportunity and made a break for the room.
He shut the door and Sylvie opened her eyes, "Hey, what are you doing here?" she stretched across the bed and yawned. Antonio laid Mia back down in her fortress of pillows, "I came to bring you lunch and check on you and I met the PA, I think she has a crush on me." He laughed. "What makes you say that?" she asked. "She was eyeing me, it was weird and I think she was listening in when Kim and I were talking, just keep an eye out okay?" he asked, he wasn't exactly worried but it was better to be safe than sorry. Sylvie nodded her head and he crawled up the bed and kissed her. "I left Kim out there with her, I better get going, love you." He said as he rolled off the bed and headed for the door.
Antonio and Kim made it back to the truck, "What the hell was that, Tonio?" Kim was flabbergasted. She had never seen such a blatant disregard for respect or personal space. Antonio chuckled, "Honestly, no idea. I think she was flirting, it started as soon as I walked in the door." He explained as he shook his head, clearly amused by it. "I already told Sylvie, don't worry, everything will be fine. It's just a little innocent flirting, she'll get bored and move on quick, its not like I'm going to flirt back."
"I'm running a background check on her when we get back." Kim said matter of factly as she fastened her seatbelt. "Kim, that's over kill she's a little older than Eva, what could she possibly have done? She looks like she belongs in a sorority house." He laughed. "Are we being dense today? Or are you enjoying the attention from a hot young girl?" Kim snapped at him. "How many girls that look just like her have we busted for all kinds of things? You remember Nadia?" Antonio flinched at the name. "Cleaned up she looked just like Megan, so don't ask me what she possibly could have done because you know exactly what she could have done." Kim growled at him.