The Starting Point

I remember standing there when Emma Garcia-Masterson was born. With Jonesy in a stupid clown suit and all of us tired (let's not forget Emma Sr.; she was a mess that Caitlin just HAD to pick up that same day), we marveled at her anyway. Her wrinkly skin that still somewhat reminded me of a lizard was wrapped up in a little cocoon, nestled in Jonesy's colorful arms. He even granted her 'The Favorite Sister Award'.

Since that afternoon filled with little tots, I had never gotten over how beautiful babies were. Just as delicate as we had been so long ago; it amazed me once I thought about it.

It was then that I decided that maybe, just maybe…having a baby for myself wouldn't be so bad.

'Not so fast', I thought. 'You know pushing that out of your goody-places and taking care of it for the rest of its life is tough.'

It was ALSO then that I decided maybe it was best just to wait. Ha.

**

"Now you just stay still, Mrs. Garcia! I've almost got your hair done – "

"Caitlin, I think I'm go-"

"Oh, oh, oh, I'm almost done!" Caitlin intervened through the tired grumbles of Jen's mother. She sighed, letting her daughter's friend fix her up.

Guiltily enough, I had to giggle. "I heard that, Nikki!" Emma spoke semi-sweetly. It sounded a lot less tense then at the hospital, but she was still pretty tired.

"Sorry, Mrs. Garcia!"

A hand placed itself on my shoulder; looking over, it was the coffee color (ha-ha!) of Wyatt's skin there.

"You girls; picking on a lady that just had a baby." With a playful tsk-tsk, Wyatt turned me around with a big grin. Since his morning coffee and seeing his best friends' little sister, Wyatt seemed to be in a better mood than usual. I never realized how mellow and almost-serious Wyatt was until then.

"Yeah, you!" I poked him in the chest, pushing him back slightly. He chuckled while his heels came back to the ground.

"Me? Yeah, me! Guess what!"

Oh boy, I couldn't wait to see what Wyatt was so excited about. Serena, Marlowe, caffeine?

"What?"

"I was the first one to ever make Emma smile!" He stuck out his chest like he was The Big Cheese, smiling bright.

"You sure that wasn't gas?" I laughed, snorting all the way. Immediately, his smile fell. "Way to make me lose my buzz, man!"

"Don't worry, Wyatt; I'm sure she'll like you someday!" Caitlin spoke from the bathroom across the hall over the blow dryer.

"What do you mean, she'll like me someday?!" Wyatt exclaimed, throwing his hands up.

"If someone farts on you, they probably don't like you very much." She spoke quite seriously and matter-of-fact. I rolled my eyes and snorted again.

"She's three days old, Wyatt; she doesn't like anybody yet. Don't worry." I smiled at him with a pat on the arm. "Like Caitlin said; she'll like you someday."

**

But more than one thing happened on the way. First of all, within the first year of Emma's birth, she had turned to Smiley-Kylie-Wylie, christened by Jonesy after the Wyatt incident. From then on, she was Kylie.

Second of all, there was ANOTHER baby. Not Emma's, not Jen's, not Caitlin's. Mine.