Chapter 21
Mike woke up at just after six am, and he could hear Frankie babbling and Hannah and Emma talking. The two girls were standing at the end of his bed, by the playpen, watching Frankie and when Emma looked up and saw that Mike was awake, she ran and jumped onto the bed with him and started tickling him. Hannah had come around to the other side and sat down beside him. He finally bear hugged Emma to make her stop, and looked towards Hannah. She was pretty pale and she seemed to be in some pain because her eyebrows were slightly creased. He tucked some hair behind her ear and felt for a fever, and was thankful there was not one. He could tell it was going to be a rough day for her.
"Do you want to lay down in here for a bit while I get ready? I'm not sure what time Mallory will be here. You might as well rest up." She nodded and more or less just kind of collapsed onto the pillows next to him. Emma was still laying on top of him with one of his arms around her just watching them. She had always been more of a cuddler than either of his other two kids, and he didn't mind it.
"Emma, do you want to stay in here with your sister and Frankie? Don't get him out of the playpen. I won't be too long, I promise…what do you want for breakfast, your choice?"
"French toast? And yea, I'll stay in here. Can I go get my drawing book though?" He nodded yes, and she jumped off of him, but not before kneeing him in a pretty sensitive area. He must have gasped, because Hannah's eyes popped open.
"Are you okay? What did she do?"
"Don't worry about it, what's going on with you? Not feeling good, or just wore out from yesterday? "
"Dad, you and I discussed this…I want my dad, not my caretaker. I am tired from yesterday, and I know its stupid to tell you not to worry but don't worry. I just get tired easy. Now, please go in and take your shower. I think I can smell you!"
It served as a reminder to Mike to stop stressing so much about Hannah's physical needs and focus on her emotional needs. He covered her up with the blanket and checked on Frankie, who had gone back to sleep. Emma came in with her drawing pad and pencils and he gestured at her to be quiet. The kid was like a bull in a china closet normally but today she just nodded at him and sat down on the floor by the dresser.
He showered and shaved quickly, because he was worried about how the girls would handle it, if Frankie woke up. Hannah had apparently woke up and Emma and her were sitting up against his pillows propped up on the headboard looking at Emma's pictures.
"Oh, good you don't smell anymore except for your stinky aftershave. Can I have bacon with the French toast?" Hannah looked at him completely serious. He wasn't even sure how to answer her, other than to jump on the bed next to her and start tickling her, which caused Emma to jump in the middle of them and start tickling Mike. And Hannah had joined in with her. They were all three laughing, and Mike knew then, they would be okay. There were huge obstacles, yet to tackle. But he would be okay, because his girls were okay. He kissed both girls on the top of their heads and told them they could stay in his room. Frankie was back awake and was starting to fuss a bit, and he knew Kara would be at his door wanting her baby back soon.
He was regretting his decision to babysit Frankie when he had to change the little boy's diaper. How had he forgot about this part? The girls had come down stairs but were steering clear of Mike and Frankie. Both their noses were wrinkled up. Mike finally just decided it would be easier to bathe the little boy again, and he didn't particularly want to use the kitchen sink, so he carried him back up to his room and the bathroom. He wasn't exactly set up to give a baby a bath and had no toys, but Frankie seemed thrilled to just splash around while Mike held him up so that he wouldn't slip into the bathwater, he was soaked.
Tom wanted to check on both girls and Mike before he started his day. He hadn't planned on taking the day before off but when he briefly explained to President Oliver about what happened to Mike, he understood and told Tom that if he needed to do that again, it would be fine. The door was still locked and he hadn't brought his key with him, Emma opened the door for him, without even checking in the side window before slinging the door open and giving him a huge smile. He knew Mike wouldn't be happy with that, but also didn't feel right about taking it up with him, so he had to gently remind both girls not to just open the door.
"Girls, I just came over to check on you and your dad, but you have to be careful opening this door. At least look outside before you open it so you know if it's someone you know. Your dad is pretty famous now, and he has made some enemies. It would absolutely destroy him if something happened to either of you. Promise me? I don't mean to be mean to you about it, I love you both too, but I can't watch your dad go through this again."
Both girls nodded at him, and he knew he had gotten through to them. Hannah looked a little pale and drawn and was pretty quiet, but Emma was bouncing around like normal. They told them that they had watched Frankie overnight and he was stinky so Mike was giving him a bath. As Tom headed up the stairs he could hear Mike talking to Frankie, and Frankie babbling back at him and splashing water.
"Come on Frankie, lets get you out of here. Your clean now and I'm soaked. I know its fun but I have breakfast to cook and I need to clean this bathtub before Hannah has her bath and your momma is gonna be here soon. " Mike had picked the baby out of the bathtub and the little boy promptly grabbed Mike by both ears and kissed his nose.
"I remember Lucas doing that too, Darian and I had kept the kids for you and Christine one weekend while you went on your anniversary trip. He was probably six or seven months old, and you all had been introducing new foods and the kid had some pretty explosive diapers. Darian had ran to the store, and so it left me to clean him up…my solution was the same as yours. Throw him in the bathtub. Anyway, he would grab me like that, and give me those big, sloppy, wet kisses."
Tom hadn't meant to hurt Mike but when he looked up, he could see the tears in his eyes. But he was also smiling at Frankie, so Tom knew Mike was happy to hear the memory. And then all of a sudden, Mike burst out laughing.
"Did Lucas pee on you too? Cause Frankie just did. Jeez, I'm too old for this crap!" He was laughing so hard that the tears were rolling, but he handed Frankie over to Tom with a towel to dry him off. Tom laid the baby down on Mike's bed and was handed a diaper and a onesie, and looked over at Mike, who's shirt was completely soaked in bathwater and baby pee. Mike walked over to the dresser to change shirts while Tom attempted to put the diaper and onesie on. Frankie was kind of wiggly and was still a little wet and had managed to get flopped over on his belly and was attempting to crawl across the bed, but his bare butt was up in the air because Frankie hadn't quite gotten the concept of crawling yet. Mike had gone around to the other side of the bed to try and catch Frankie and both men were hawling in laughter, Mike had not managed to get his shirt back on because containing Frankie seemed more important, so he was standing there shirtless.
Kara had come over to get her son, and Emma had let her inside, and a minute or so later Sasha came over, wanting to also check on Mike and his girls. Both women talked to the two girls for a minute when they heard the laughter from Mike's room. Hannah explained to them that Frankie had a gross diaper and Mike decided it would be easier to just bathe him, Mallory came in, mid conversation, also concerned about Mike until they heard him laughing upstairs.
All three women, very quietly crept up the stairs and around the corner to Mike's bedroom. Sasha snapped a picture with her phone, and then the women started laughing hysterically. The baby was trying his best to crawl over to Mike, with his naked butt sticking up in the air. Mike had knelt down by the bed, trying to get Frankie to come to him, all while Tom was almost doubled over in laughter. Neither of them realized that the women were standing there, until Frankie finally made his way to Mike, and Mike stood back up with the naked baby in his arms, and was not wearing a shirt. Again, not something the media needed to get ahold of.
"Why is the baby naked, and where is your shirt, Mike?" Mallory asked him.
"Well I had to give him a bath because his diaper was a disaster, and I was trying to dry him off, and then Tom had distracted me, and Frankie peed all over me. So I handed him to Tom and apparently Tom doesn't know how to put a diaper on a baby because Frankie got away from him and I had only taken off the wet shirt off…good enough explanation,ladies?"
Kara was struggling not to laugh at her boss, but took her son out of his arms, which caused Frankie to start fussing until he realized it was his mom holding him. Mike had grabbed a t-shirt and threw it on, because while he was very muscular, and most women didn't mind taking a second look at him, he was modest, and that was not something he was ready for, especially since 2 out of the women in the room worked for him and the third was essentially working for him, except she wouldn't accept money. Everyone agreed to go downstairs to give Mike a moment to resituate himself, and to get the bathtub cleaned up for Mallory and Hannah's use. Kara had grabbed the onesie and diaper and dodged into Emma's room to get Frankie dressed.
Five minutes later, Mike finally came downstairs. Sasha had started breakfast for the girls and Mallory was checking Hannah's vitals. Her blood pressure and pulse were a little higher than what she was comfortable with, and Mallory told her that once her bath and breakfast were done, Hannah was to stay in bed and relax. He knew that if he had suggested it, Hannah would have vetoed the idea but since Mallory did, she was okay with it. It did cause him to resent the nurse just a bit, but he also knew that it was important that Hannah not get upset with him when he tried to take care of her. The lines between caretaker and dad got blurred pretty easily. In Mallory's own way, she was trying to help Mike just be Hannah's dad, because that was all she wanted.
Breakfast ended up being an even bigger free-for-all then the night before had been. Tom and Sasha had decided to stay over and "help" and Kara and Frankie were still there, Emma was bouncing off the walls. They had decided to give Hannah her bath while breakfast was prepared and she would just eat it when she got done. Only issue was that Hannah couldn't walk up the stairs, so Mike ended up carrying her up to the bathroom. Kara had decided to help with the bath and bandage change, so that if Mike needed help, she could help and not make Hannah uncomfortable with her dad having to give her a bath. Mike didn't like the idea of having to do it, but he would if he had too, but it made him happy that both Kara and Sasha had said they would be happy to help. He knew there would be times that both girls would need help from a woman and to have so many friends willing to give him that? It made him tear up just a bit.
The bandage change was a little painful for Hannah and Mallory was going to have to drain one of the blisters. Mike had gone downstairs with Frankie and was trying to contain Emma during breakfast when Kara hollered for him to come upstairs. Hannah didn't want any pain medicine and Kara wasn't strong enough to hold the girl down and so Mike was the only option. What happened next, made Kara's heart break. She had always pictured Mike as a bit of a hard-ass but her views had changed, first with the way he dealt with his grieving crew, and then with her own son. But seeing him holding Hannah was just heartbreaking.
Mike had gone and gotten Hannah's oxygen tank and the mask because she was already having trouble breathing. After that was hooked up and the young girl's face was covered with the mask, Mike pulled her onto his lap and started rocking her gently, much the same way Kara might rock Frankie, he was softly singing a lullaby to her, it was one that Kara often sang to Frankie. She could see the tears rolling down Hannah's face and could see the tears in Mike's eyes. When she looked at Hannah's feet, she saw the scars along with the blisters. While bathing her, she had seen the scars on Hannah's back, underarms and behind her knees.
Hannah had let out a cry that could be heard around the mask, when Mallory got the blister drained. But what shocked Mallory and Kara was that Mike had groaned in pain too. Hannah had scratched his arms with her fingernails in pain. The young girl realized that she had hurt her dad and started sobbing, which only caused her breathing to get more labored. Mike was trying to comfort Hannah while Mallory finished the bandaging, and not get blood everywhere. Kara didn't know what else to do other than to grab some gauze and tape and use it on Mike's free arm to bandage it.
It was so sad. Mallory ended up giving Hannah a sedative to calm her down and help with the pain. It surprised that Kara that Mallory had just walked to Mike's dresser and grabbed the preloaded syringe off a handmade dish. It was odd that Mike would have a preloaded syringe like that, but then Mallory quietly explained to her and Mike that she had loaded it the day before in case Mike needed to be sedated a second time. Mike didn't seem to care that Kara knew that he was sedated. His only concern was Hannah. It didn't take long for her to get calmed down and start breathing at a regular rate. Mike looked like he had been in a fight though. Besides the deep scratches on his arms, Hannah had elbowed him in the cheek, his nose was bleeding and he was holding his side. Hannah hadn't meant to hurt him and they all knew when she woke up, she would feel horribly about the bruises. Mallory finished bandaging Mike up, and decided he had a cracked rib from Hannah elbowing him. He wouldn't go to the hospital though.
Kara went downstairs to give Mike some privacy. She had offered to take Emma home with her, but Mike refused. She had never felt so heartbroken after witnessing the bandaging. She prayed that Mike and both girls got some relief soon. She would have never been able to watch Frankie go through anything like Hannah was going through, and it gave her a whole new respect for Mike.