Hello! Working on Chapter Three right now, having some trouble, but I'll post it as soon as I'm done. :)
Thanks for the feedback!
Jared had left the office early to meet Carmen at The Cave to help out with the crib. When he walked in with Julie in tow he found that their house had been transformed into baby central. "Carmen!" Jared yelled when he walked in, "Carmen! What happened to this place?"
"I picked up a few things while I was getting the crib." Carmen said, coming out of the hallway by Jared's room. "You need much more than a crib."
"I know." Jared let out a sigh. "The crib was the first thing I could think of that I needed right away." He looked around and saw that in the living room a play pin had been set up, there was a high chair in the kitchen, and the place had been pretty much baby-proofed. "I don't know how to thank you." He turned to Carmen, who was standing next to him.
"You can start by telling me why a baby is going to be living with us." That was the greatest thing about Carmen, like Peter, she knew when stuff what about to happen. Jared smiled and gestured to the sofa. He picked up Julie and put her in the play pin so he could talk to Carmen. He spends the next thirty minutes telling Carmen what happened and how he now has a daughter to take care of. After Jared finishes, Carmen sits back and says, "This is the real deal, huh? You're actually going to raise this little girl."
"I have to. She's got no one else. I'm her dad. What kind of person would I be if I just gave her up?" Jared kept looking over at the play pin as Julie would play with the toys that Carmen had put in there.
Carmen sees the way that Jared is looking Julie and smiles. She pats his leg as she gets up, "For what it's worth," she says, "you're gunna make a great dad."
"Thanks." Jared smiles at her and sits back on the couch and closes his eyes. He needed a break. The day isn't even over yet and it feels like this morning was decades away. The silence is broken when Julie starts crying. Jared is up and over to her in the blink of an eye. "Hey," Jared says, picking her up and rocking her gently, "shhh, you're ok." That didn't stop her. Julie just kept on crying. Jared wracked his brains for what could be wrong. His nose gave him the answer. "Oh boy," he mumbled, "well, this should be fun." He picked up the diaper bag and headed for the bathroom.
"CHANGING TABLE IS IN YOUR ROOM!" Carmen yelled as he passed her room.
Jared passed the bathroom and entered his room. Sure enough, there was a changing table, diaper genie thank you Carmen!, and a crib all set up. He set Julie down on the table. Jared wasn't a complete idiot when it came to babies, he had changed a few diapers in his day. It didn't take him long to get her all cleaned up and back into her clothes. "Now, doesn't that feel better?" Julie gave a smile and giggled.
"Jared, why is there baby stuff in the house?" Jared turned to see Pindar in the doorway.
"Because I have a baby. Come on Pindar, keep up." Jared said, picking up Julie and carrying her to the living room.
"Did you and Peter finally decide to adopt?" Pindar joked.
"No," Jared gave him a look, "This is my daughter, my biological daughter, Julie." He looked at Julie, "Julie, this is Pindar. He likes to be really clean. Don't take offense if he doesn't want to hold you." He turned to Pindar and smiled.
"So she's staying?" Pindar asked, still not grasping the fact that Jared has a baby now.
Jared's face dropped, "Of course she's staying! She's my daughter!" Julie started to fuss in his arms. "It's ok," Jared looked up and Pindar and said, "See what you did." Julie started to whine again and Jared started to wonder how long it had been since she had eaten. "Let's see if Carmen bought you some food." They went into the kitchen and opened the fridge. Nope, no food. "We need to go shopping." Just then the front door opened and Peter came into the kitchen caring grocery bags.
"Hey Dad." Peter joked, setting down the bags. "I picked up some stuff from the store, you know, mushed peas or whatever."
"Does she like peas?" Jared asked.
"How should I know, she's your kid." Peter laughed. He thought that would make Jared laugh too, but it only made him frown. "Hey," Peter said, walking over to his friend, "I'm sure she loves peas, everyone loves peas."
"I hate peas." Jared said. Peter shrugged. Jared looked at Julie and asked, "Do you like peas?" She didn't answer. Jared sighed, "She's my daughter, but I know nothing about her. I don't even know her middle name. I don't know what she's allergic to; I don't know if she has a favorite toy, I know nothing about my daughter." Peter could tell that Jared was about to lose it. He stood right in front of Jared and came eye to eye with him.
"Hey," Peter said quietly, "look at me." Jared reluctantly turned his head and looked Peter in the eye. "Do you think Claire knew anything about Julie when she was born? Do you think my mom knew what to do with me? Babies don't come with instructions. It's ok to not know." Jared looked down and nodded. "They gave you her medical records right?" Jared nodded again. "In there I'm sure you'll find everything you need to know about her allergies and conditions. You got this." He stood up and patted Jared on the shoulder.
"Thanks man." Jared said, getting up to go get the diaper bag that contained everything he knew about Julie. When he reentered the kitchen, he put Julie in her high-chair and started reading her medical records. "How about that," he said with a smile, "you are allergic to peas." He looked over at Peter and said, "You were about to kill my daughter!"
"What?" Peter asked in confusion.
"Julie is allergic to peas." Jared said with a smile, "You didn't buy peas did you?"
"No, who likes peas?" Peter smiled back. "Is she allergic to carrots?"
"Nope, just peas." Jared said, taking the container of carrots that Peter handed him. "Spoon?" Peter went over to the silverware drawer and found a baby spoon and handed it to Jared. "Ok Julie," Jared said to his daughter, "You ready to eat?" Julie seemed to recognize the container and started smiling and clapping. Peter laughed and Jared smiled, "I'll take that as a yes."
Feeding Julie was an easy task. She was very eager to eat, just like her dad. Peter had commented that she had her daddy's appetite and well as his nose. This earned him puree meat being flung at his face by a certain dad. When Julie was all fed and the mess was cleaned up it was 6:00 pm. "You didn't pick up bath stuff did you?" Jared asked Peter as he took Julie out of the high-chair.
"Nope. Just food, diapers, and beer." Peter said. "The beer is for me."
"Really? I thought it was for my 6 month old daughter." Jared said sarcastically. He took Julie to the car seat and strapped her in.
"Where are you going?" Peter asked.
"To the store, I need to give Julie a bath." Jared said, looking for his keys. "She smells of car accident and hospital. I don't need her remembering this day." Peter understood and let Jared do his thing; he looked over and saw that Julie was asleep in the car seat.
" You go," he told Jared, "Julie's passed out." Jared gave him a look. "You wouldn't want a cranky baby at Walmart would you?"
Jared thought about it, "True. Thanks." He walked over to Julie and kissed her head and whispered, "Daddy will be right back, okay."
While Jared was at the store Peter was in charge of Julie. So when Julie woke up and started screaming her head off, it was Peter to the rescue. He picked her up and tried to calm her down by bouncing her a little and telling her everything was ok, but that didn't work. He changed her diaper, but it had no effect. He couldn't figure out what was wrong with Julie. He looked in the diaper bag to see if there was a toy in there that maybe she liked, he found an old ratty dog. He gave it to her and it seemed to calm her down some, but not by much. He knew that Jared would be home any minute and he didn't want it to look like he couldn't babysit his daughter for 30 minutes, so he did the first thing that came to his mind. He started singing.
All alone at the end of the of the evening
And the bright lights have faded to blue
I was thinking 'bout a woman who might have
Loved me and I never knew
That's how Jared found them a few minutes later when he came home. They seemed to be in their own little world and he didn't want to ruin it. He did however, take out his phone and take a picture of it. He wasn't sure if he was going to use it as blackmail later or if he just really enjoyed seeing Peter singing to his daughter.
And when you're looking for your freedom
And you can't find the door
When there's nothing to believe in
Still you're coming back, you're running back
You're coming back for more
Jared walked up to the pair and whispered, "Dude, is that The Eagles?" Jared jerked back a bit when Peter jumped.
"Yeah man," Peter whispered back, "It was either this or Highway to Hell." Jared smiled and looked at Julie asleep in Peter's arms.
"Was she okay? Not too much trouble?" Jared asked.
"She's cranky when she wakes up, just like you." Peter said and nudged Jared with his elbow. Jared glared at him. "Changed her and found her favorite dog. She likes my singing."
Jared took Julie from Peter and said, "At least someone does." That earned him a playful slap on the arm. "I think the bath can wait till morning. She's out, she had a big day." Jared went to go put Julie to bed. Simple task since she was already sleepy. He got her out of her dress and put her in the pajamas that he guessed Carmen picked up.
Jared walked back to the living room and collapsed on the couch next to Peter who was reading up on the case they had tomorrow. Jared groaned when he remembered that they have court tomorrow. Peter laughed and put the case file down. "You don't have to go in tomorrow." Jared shifted to look at Peter. "Inefld/Daniels can give you paternity leave. You are a parent now. A new parent." Jared sighed and put his head on Peter's shoulder. It was true, he was a parent now. He has a life to be responsible for.
"I don't know if I can do this Peter." Jared whispered.
Peter looked down at his friend. "What are you talking about? Of course you can do this. Jared," Jared didn't move, "Jared look at me." Peter moved the shoulder his friend was leaning to get his attention. Jared moved his head so he could look at Peter. "You can do this. You have people around you that support you. Imagine when my mom finds out, she's gunna be down here all the time. Oh god. We can't let my mom know you have a kid." Jared breathed out a small smile. Peter saw this and smiled back. "I'm serious. Look around you," Peter motioned with his hand, "You have a play pin, a high-chair, a crib, a changing table, and a fucking diaper genie. All because you called Carmen for a simple crib."
Peter was right; he had the support system to do this. But that's not what was bothering him. He turned his head away from Peter and mumbled something that Peter couldn't catch. Peter nudged him to say it again. "I don't want to turn out like my dad." Jared moved to get up but Peter grabbed his arm and pulled him back down.
Peter grabbed Jared's neck and made the smaller man look at him. "You are nothing like your dad." Peter's face was dead serious. "Do you understand? Nothing." Jared rolled his eyes; he had heard this speech before. "Hey jackass, don't roll your eyes at me. When are you going to realize that you're a better person than your dad is ever going to be? You've known Julie for what, not even a full day yet, and you love her like you've known her all her life. I see the way you look at her; she has you wrapped around her finger." Jared smiled a bit at this. Peter leaned in and put his forehead on Jared's, "You are going to be a great dad, don't ever think anything else."
They stayed like that for awhile, mainly because Jared was too tired to move. It was a nice feeling, Peter was warm and welcoming and Jared just wanted to sleep. He can't remember how he got there, but he woke to the sound of Julie crying and he was lying on top of Peter who was sound asleep. Julie cried out again and Jared was up in a flash. He entered his room and picked Julie up. As soon as Julie was in his arms she calmed down. "Hey, hey, it's ok." Julie cuddled into Jared and fell back sleep. He rocked her for a few more minutes before putting her back in her crib. She fussed a bit but fell asleep within seconds. Jared checked the clock 2:00am. "Welcome to parenthood." He said to himself and he climbed into his own bed and fell asleep.
That song was Take It To The Limit by The Eagles, if anyone was wondering. I like the Eagles.
Let me know what y'all think. I liked writing this chapter.