A/N - thanks once again to saiken2009 for being an awesome beta...and for waiting so long for this chapter...sorry about that :-) enjoy
It had been a full two weeks since Micky had turned himself, Peter and Davy into children and Mike and Melanie were no closer to finding a way to reverse it. Unfortunately the books Micky had were useless in the fact that they didn't really explain what it was that Micky actually did and as far as either could tell Micky hadn't taken any notes. They were frustrated, but were getting the hang of taking care of three young kids. They even had a makeshift schedule of activity time, feeding times for Davy and nap time. They figured the best way to handle the situation was to keep it as organized as they could.
They continued to fiddle with Micky's machine here and there, but they had no idea what they were doing and didn't want to screw things up further. Also, they just didn't have the time; taking care of three children who depend on you for everything was a full time job. Especially with these three! Micky alone could be a nightmare at times. So they did what they could when they had a minute, but they were beginning to think they were stuck.
Mike and Melanie had just cleaned up after breakfast and were sitting in the living room with the kids. Micky and Peter were playing with some blocks on the floor, Melanie was bouncing Davy in her lap and Mike was playing his guitar.
"Hey, Mike," Melanie said. "Can you play Papa Gene's Blues? It's one of my favorites."
"Sure, babe," Mike replied, adjusting his fingers. "I'll never say no to a request. It's really groovy that you dig my songs."
Mike sang to her as he played and even though the rest of the instruments were absent he managed to make it sound whole. When he finished playing Melanie clapped Davy's hands and Peter crawled over to where Mike was sitting on the riser.
"Again, again!" Peter cried.
"Alright, Shotgun," Mike said, laughing. "I'll play it again for you." He did as Peter clapped along; loving every minute of it.
"More!" Peter squealed, once Mike had finished for the second time.
"You want me to play it again?" Mike asked. "Well ok then." So he played it again just for Peter.
"Again! More!" Peter said, jumping up and down.
"Pete, I already played it three times, man." Mike said, laughing to himself. "Why don't I play something else now?"
"No! Again!" Peter cried.
"Yeah, again!" Micky added. "Again, Papa!"
"Ok, ok," Mike conceded. "One more time, but that's it." So he played it once more then put his guitar back on it's stand before Peter or Micky could beg him to play it again. He didn't want to get sick of it; after all it was his song.
"Welcome to the joys of parenting, Mike," Melanie said, trying to stifle a laugh and failing. "Repeat performances for hours. You're lucky at least it was one of your songs. My little brother used to make me sing Row, Row, Row Your Boat over and over again when he was little." She whispered the last part so Micky and Peter wouldn't hear her and ask her to sing it.
"Merciful heavens that must have been awful," Mike replied, laughing as well. "Bet you never wanna sing that one again!"
"No, I'm good on that song," Melanie said.
Davy began to yawn and it was about nap time for him anyway so Melanie stood up to bring him upstairs. She didn't notice Micky had crawled over and was sitting right by her feet. When she went to walk to the stairs she tripped over him and went flying. She did her best not to fall so as not to crush Davy, but this resulted in her trip-running all the way across the room. Luckily she was able to turn herself around just before she crashed into the wall. She hit her back pretty hard, but at least Davy was ok. Melanie, however, was breathing hard and on the verge of crying.
"Holy shit," Mike cried, jumping to his feet. "Mel, are you ok?!" When he got to the other end of the room he saw that she had tears in her eyes. "You're crying! Where does it hurt?"
"Mike," Melanie whispered. "Take Davy, but calm down I'm ok. I just need a minute." She handed Davy off to Mike and sat down on the floor; holding her head in her hands. "I can't believe that just happened. I didn't even look down. That was so stupid. I could have hurt him really bad, or worse!"
"Babe," Mike said, sitting down next to her on the floor. "You gotta calm down. It was just an accident. Davy's fine." Micky and Peter also made their way over when they saw how upset she was.
"I don't even know how I was able to turn in time." Melanie said, shaking her head as tears began to stream down her cheeks. "Mike, I could have killed him. If his head hit the wall the way my back did.."
"But it didn't," Mike interrupted. "There's no sense harping on what could have been. Just be happy that Davy wasn't hurt and just watch your feet next time."
"Mama, cry?" Micky asked, plopping into her lap. At the same time Peter came up and gave her a big hug.
"No be sad, Mama." Peter said. "Don't like Mama sad."
"I'm ok, boys," Melanie said, hugging them both. "Just got a little upset for a minute, but I'm ok now." Melanie smiled, but still felt her heart pounding in her chest. This little incident scared the shit out of her.
"Come on, Davy," Mike said, standing up. "Let's put you down for your nap and let Mama catch her breath." Mike had become much more comfortable with Micky and Peter calling them mama and papa. He and Melanie had even gotten into the habit of call each other mama and papa when talking to the boys. Melanie thought it was adorable.
When Mike came back downstairs Melanie had calmed down and was helping Peter and Micky build a tower out of blocks. It was pretty tall, but then Peter decided he wanted to be Godzilla and knocked it down while letting out a loud roar.
"Did I just hear a monster in the living room?" Mike asked.
"Me!" Peter shouted. "I a monster! ROOOAAARRR!"
"Oh man, what a scary monster!" Mike cried in play terror. "Babe, we better get outta here!"
"You're right!" Melanie cried. "We better run away!"
"No!" Peter squealed. "Just me!"
"Wow, that scary monster was you all along shotgun?" Mike asked. "You sure fooled me."
"Me too!" Melanie added.
"Monster!" Micky yelled.
"Uh oh, Mike," Melanie said. "We've got another one!"
"Don't worry, Mama," Mike said in a heroic voice. "I'll save you!" He picked Micky up by his ankles and held him upside down.
"No, Papa!" Peter cried. "Micky!"
"Oh, well why didn't ya say so?" Mike said placing Micky back on the floor. Micky giggled with glee.
After the monster game was over Mike and Melanie put Micky and Peter down for their nap and cleaned up the living room. Melanie prepared Davy's bottle while Mike went up to get him. He didn't want him to cry and wake Peter and Micky. When he returned he placed Davy in Melanie's arms so she could feed him.
Before Melanie even got a chance to give Davy the bottle he had latched onto her shirt. Mike turned and saw this before Melanie had a chance to do anything.
"What the hell is he doing?" Mike asked, sounding a bit upset. "Davy, get your mouth off of there. You're too damn young!"
"Mike, relax," Melanie started.
"Relax!" Mike interrupted. "How can I relax when my friend and bandmate turned infant is sucking on my girlfriends breast?"
"It's not what you think it is," Melanie said. "He's trying to latch on to me to breastfeed. It's a natural instinct in infants." She turned her head to face Davy. "You aren't gonna get anything from there though, little one. Here, try this." She placed the bottle to Davy's mouth; which he gladly began drinking from.
"Oh," Mike said. "Sorry, I just didn't know they did that. Makes sense, though I suppose."
"It's ok, Mike," Melanie said. "You're still learning. This is just like being a real first time parent."
"Yeah," Mike replied. "Three times over."
When Davy had finished his bottle Mike took him from Melanie and changed him. Then he placed Davy on the floor with some toys. He and Melanie sat on the floor as well to watch him. This was the only quiet time they had until they put the boys to bed at the end of the day. Usually they fell asleep not long after so this was their one opportunity to talk about important things.
"Hey, Mel," Mike said, nervously. "Can I talk to you about something?"
"Sure, Mike," Melanie replied. "What's wrong?"
"Well," he started. "Nothing's really wrong. It's just that we're kinda going through our savings a little faster than I thought we would and I really think we need to start thinking about jobs before we're in big trouble."
"Oh, ok," she replied. "What kinda jobs do you think we could get? We would have to work separate schedules so someone would always be here with the boys."
"Well, hold on a second," Mike said. "I saw this ad in the newspaper this morning." He handed her the newspaper with one ad circled in red marker. It was for an all acoustic gig down at the Kaleidoscope. Auditions would be held in a week. The gig would pay $200 and there was a chance for future gigs as well.
"Oh, you're gonna sign up for this?" Melanie asked.
"No," Mike replied. "We're gonna sign up for it. Me on guitar and you singing. I heard you when you sang to the guys awhile back; you have a beautiful voice!"
"I don't know, Mike," Melanie said. "Playing gigs and singing in front of people, that's your bag. I don't think I could do it."
"Sure you can," Mike argued. "Like I said your voice is beautiful and besides you won't be alone. I'll be right there with you."
"I don't know, Mike," Melanie said, panic rising in her voice. "What if I screw up? Or they don't like me. Or I forget the words? Or…"
"Come on now," Mike said interrupting her. "I got faith in you. And we cold really use the money. Then we won't have to work separate schedules and never see each other."
"Well," Melanie said, thinking it over. "I guess you have a point there. Never seeing you would be a stone drag. Not to mention having those three alone." She paused and looked down at her hands for a moment before continuing. "I guess we can try, but we got a lot of rehearsing to do and not a lot of time to work with. We better get started now."
"Yes!" Mike cried, giving Melanie a kiss on the cheek before running to get his guitar. "I knew I could talk you into it! What song should we do for the audition?"
"That's all you, babe," Melanie said with a smile. "I dont know the first thing about picking a song for an audition."
"Hmm," Mike said, trying to think. "How about this one song I wrote before I met the guys. I think your voice would sound perfect singing it. It's called Different Drum."
"Play it and then I'll see what I can do," Melanie replied.
Mike sang the song to Melanie as he played his guitar. She had to admit it was a pretty groovy song. She would have to tweak the way she sang it a bit. She just couldn't do a Texas accent. When Mike was finished he wrote down the lyrics for her and played it again as she sang. As he predicted, it sounded amazing.
"See, I told ya," Mike said with a big grin. "You sounded great! We'll keep rehearsing all week when Pete and Mick take their nap and by the time the audition comes you'll be more than ready!"
"Thanks," Melanie replied, blushing a little. "Let's just hope the judges think so too."