Part 2: Nate
Despite his promise that he would be the best brother, he really, really didn't feel like it lately. He kept on reminding himself that he was a big boy, that he could take care of himself, but he couldn't get rid of the thought that his Mommy loved his baby sister more than him.
"Of course not," his Daddy said and ruffled his hair. "How could you say that?"
"I don't know," Nate felt a bit embarrassed now that his dad had said so, but the jealousy refused to lessen. "Mommy plays with Livy a lot."
"That's not just playing, Nate. Livy still needs a lot of attention, she's just a baby, remember? She's only 9 months old. Your mom and me have agreed that I should play with you while she takes care of Livy. And then when I play with Livy, you get Mommy. There should be no one left alone, but you can blame your Daddy here because sometimes he's busy working and couldn't play with you as much."
Nate should understand, as he wasn't only a big boy, he was also a smart boy.
Then again, how could he when everything Livy did just took all the attention? All the cheers, all the amused laughter whenever Livy did something 'funny', just didn't make sense to Nate, including what happened a few days ago.
The boy had come home in a high spirit, sure that his Mommy would praise him. Despite his weakness in math, his study paid off and he got the mark A in the last test, and he couldn't wait to show the test result to his mom. Who knows? He would probably get a kiss he could brag about to his dad. "Mommy! Mommy!" He called out as he ran up the stairs. "Mommy, where are you? I want to show you something! Mommy!"
He found his mom in his sister's room (as usual) and quickly showed the paper, "Look, Mommy, I got A-."
"Did you hear that, Nate?" Quinn didn't even look at Nate. Her eyes were fixed at the baby in her arms. "Did you hear what Livy just said?"
"Mommy, look at my test result-."
"Livy just called me Mommy!" Quinn smiled widely and kissed Livy's forehead (he wanted that kiss too, the older boy thought from the side). "Come on, Livy. Say it again. Call me! Say it again, smart girl!"
The baby cackled and beamed at Quinn, "Mee!"
"That's right! Who's your Mommy? I'm your Mommy!" Quinn smothered the baby's face with kisses. "Wait until your dad hears about this! Your first word and it's me-."
Meanwhile, Nate sneaked out and into his own room. He flopped down the bed and crumpled the paper in his hand into a ball before throwing it somewhere between his pile of toys.
But the one incident that made him explode was when his mom didn't come to the Parents Day, even after Nate made her promise over and over again until her mom snapped and told him to be quiet. His face fell when he saw that only Daddy came with an apologetic face. "Livy's sick, so Mommy has to take her to the doctor," his dad explained. "I'm taking you home after this, then I have to go back to work, okay?"
When he didn't receive a response, Sam nudged his son, "Nate? Did you hear me?"
"Yes, Daddy."
"...Mommy said sorry."
Nate didn't say anything, already determined on carrying out the plan he just thought of. There was no one at the house, so after his dad went back to work, he rushed to his room and pulled out his big backpack. He took one t-shirt and a pair of pants, two of his favorite toys, a Superman figure and a toy car, along with his piggy bank which he would've broke right then if not for the fact that it was a gift from Kate. Of course he needed to eat, so he went to the kitchen to grab some chocolates and instant noodles before filling up his water bottle. Now he was all set.
"Nate, where are you going?" Kate, who happened to be sitting on the front porch of her house, asked curiously as she saw her best friend walking sneakily with a huge backpack.
"I'm running away from home," Nate put his forefinger to his lips. "Don't worry, Kate, I'll come to play with you sometimes!"
"Okay!" Kate giggled and waved.
The little boy continued to walk, unsure of where to go. In the end, his feet took him to the park where he usually played with Kate. He decided he could take a rest for a moment while thinking of where to go next, so he put down his backpack and got on the swing.
He must've spent quite some time there, because the sun was setting when he snapped out of his daydream... and saw his dad walking towards him, looking out of breath but relieved.
"He's here, at the park," his dad talked into his phone. Most likely his mom was on the other side. Sam sat down on the swing next to him and stroked his hair gently. Nate waited for his dad to say something. Scolding him, maybe. But his dad just asked, "Enjoying your adventure so far?"
Nate shrugged and Sam continued, "Kate told us you were running away from home."
"Uh-huh."
"Care to tell me why?"
"Because Mommy doesn't need me."
Sam huffed and thought for a moment. "...You know, Nate, when you were still a baby, your mom never let you out of her sight."
Nate stole a glance at his dad, his attention piqued.
"She didn't take any work for a while because she wanted to focus on taking care of you. Every little thing you did made her happy. She would send me photos of you or both of you, and then I would rush to get off work and see my family. Once, you got a really high fever and she called me, crying and begging me to come home because she was so scared of losing you. I was scared of losing you too." Sam smiled at his son who couldn't take his eyes off him now. "But you made it. You grew up. Look at you now, a big boy. A big brother. Mommy feels safe now because... well, you can take care of yourself."
"But Livy can't," Nate muttered in understanding. "Livy can't take care of herself."
"You're such a smart boy, you know that? Don't think I don't know about that A mark you got on that math test. Mommy showed it to me."
Nate widened his eyes. "But I..."
"You threw it away? Well, Mommy found it and told me to give you a present. Me, being the bad dad I am, haven't got the time to buy you one."
"You're not a bad Daddy!" Nate shook his head.
"You're not a bad brother yourself," Sam brought his pinkie forward. "Promise me you would help Mommy to take care of Livy? Because Mommy needs your help too."
Nate linked their pinkies together and shook them. "Promise!"
"NATE!"
The boy flinched, knowing very well who the voice belonged to. His dad patted his back and he turned around to face his mom who was carrying Livy. Quinn looked angry and Nate inwardly prepared himself to get scolded as he wondered what punishment he would get. But soon he found out how wrong he was when Mommy suddenly burst into tears while hugging him with one hand, her other hand protectively clutched Livy.
"I was so worried, Nate!" Quinn cried and Nate felt so guilty that he cried as well. It was left to Sam to calm them both down.
It was already dark when they finally walked back home together, each of Nate's hand held by his parents. The boy stared at his sister, who happened to stare back at him, and said softly. "I'm sorry, Livy. I'm going to be a better brother, okay? You can trust your brother."
Livy blinked and opened her mouth, "Nut."
"Eh?" The two adults said at the same time and exchanged glances.
"Nut!"
Nate looked at his parents with a big grin, "Did she just say my name?"
No, it's not a cliffhanger but it's just the way I wanted to end this chapter ;) Still one more part for Baby Tales, and yes, it would be about Sam the dad. Sorry if it's not that long, but I really hope you'll like it.
RJRRAA: Hi there! Thank you :) I'm not really familiar with both terms but from what I search in the internet, baby blues is like the early terms of postpartum depression. I don't know which terms fit more the situation that Quinn had so let's just keep it that way, okay? ;)
Kera: Hi there! Thank you so much :) Well, maybe she's both stress and depressed but Sam finally helped her so it should be over ;) Updating it for you now :)
Guest: Hello :) I'm currently working on Date in Paradise so you'll see the update soon! Anyway, thanks for reading this story too.
Anyway, thank you for reading this story. Reviews are always welcome. I would love to know what do you think of it. Anticipate the next chapter soon! Thank you :)
