I'm hopefully going to post lots of update this weekend – if life doesn't interrupt.
:
Rhona walked into the living room, watching the floor as she went, carefully looking out for anything that might make her trip, she was holding baby Leo, "there you go," she placed him in Paddy's willing arms and watched as he doted over him, she then wrapped her arms around Paddy's shoulders, "I'm glad you're not working today on the amount of sleep you had last night."
Paddy smiled and picked up Leo's hand, watching his little fingers curl, "Me too."
Rhona looked at her partner, he looked exhausted, "Aaron in his room?"
"Yeah."
"Who was he on the phone to earlier?"
"Jackson."
Rhona's eyebrows rose, "Really, did Jackson call him?"
"Yeah."
She smiled broadly but then couldn't understand Paddy's less than happy expression, "but that's a good thing isn't it? After everything that happened in the hospital – it means that he's not as angry?"
"Yeah… hopefully,"
Rhona brushed her fingers gently across Paddy's head, feeling the smooth scalp, "Tell me what you're thinking."
Paddy sighed, "I have faith that Jackson will get better, that maybe in some twisted way Aaron giving him those pills has worked out for the best – it's lead him to get this treatment."
"And Aaron..?"
The baby gurgled and Paddy looked down, smiling and gently rocked him, "I don't know," it suddenly all felt like too much to deal with and so instead he settled down further into the coach, wrapped in Rhona's arms, "although I do know I want to like this forever." And he closed his eyes, Rhona smiled.
A couple of minutes later their peace was disturbed by Aaron hurriedly clambering down the stairs, Paddy and Rhona could hear him moving around the kitchen, they exchanged a look and then Paddy handed over Leo before heading towards the noise.
Aaron was sat on one of the kitchen chairs, he had his overalls on and was tying a boot lace.
"Aaron what are you doing?"
"Going to work."
"but –"
Aaron still had the same big grin from earlier "Paddy its fine – what should I do? Sit round here all day?"
"Yes, at least for today, you've not been home 24 hours!"
Aaron laughed, "right. I know you like worrying, but it's not a problem."
Paddy looked at Aaron, his movements were still erratic,
"have you seen my other boot?" Aaron spoke in an increased volume and he couldn't settle his gaze for long.
"No."
"Damn, I know it's down here somewhere, can't ever find anything with all the baby stuff around," but Aaron wasn't complaining, instead his smile broadened
Paddy stared wearily, he knew Aaron, knew all his moods, knew how he looked when happy but this went beyond happy. He couldn't sit still and it was as if he was high, if this hadn't of started before Aaron went to his room, Paddy would have suspected that he'd taken something whilst up there.
"I need a drink," Aaron suddenly got his feet and reached for the fridge, he grabbed the orange juice, drinking it straight from the carton but some of it spilt down his chins, "shit," he started and absently wiped it a way," he was too late though as it ran onto his t-shirt. "Ahhh, I need to change now!" he looked back towards Paddy, "Can you look for that boot."
Paddy felt genuine alarm at Aaron's erratic behaviour and knew he needed to keep him in the house but with the baby to think of; it needed to be done without creating a commotion. Behind Aaron, Rhona stepped into the room; she had a look of apprehension on her face.
"Aaron wait." Paddy intercepted, he took Aaron by the arms and guided him to a seat, "Just hold on."
Aaron looked alarmed and then squirmed roughly but Paddy held firm. Aaron hadn't had a proper full meal since before he went into hospital and that combined with his lack of sleep had weakened him. Paddy didn't know how to play it, but he wanted to keep Aaron in the house long enough to get Chas and Cain over "Right, listen," Paddy said this loudly as Aaron continued to move, "LISTEN." The younger man slumped slightly, giving up and Paddy sighed in relief, if things escalated he wasn't sure that he could handle Aaron – he'd never managed it before.
"What!"
Paddy thought desperately, "you can go once you've had some breakfast," it was the only thing he could think to say.
Aaron scrunched up his face to protest, "what?"
"Yeah that's all I want."
"That's all?"
"yeah."
Aaron gently plied Paddy's fingers from his arms, "You could have just said that."
Paddy didn't argue, keen to keep things calm, he dropped Aaron's arms and sat down in the chair next to him, "Yeah, sorry." He watched Aaron drop his head into his hands and start to laugh, "Christ, what's up with you Paddy?"
"Sorry, I'm being daft," he then looked towards Rhona and mouthed to her to call Cain and Chas, she nodded and quickly left the room.
Aaron laughed again; Paddy had seen him laugh more in the last hour, than the entire time he knew the lad,"I'll make you a bacon sandwich, just like you told Jackson."
Aaron looked towards the wall and blinked heavily, within a second his mood had changed.
"Aaron?"
"Ok."
Five minutes later and Paddy had the bacon in the grill, he'd made Aaron a coffee and found his other boot, Aaron had gone strangely quiet again and Paddy didn't know what this meant.
There was a gently tap on the door and Chastity and Cain Dingle walked through, they both had a look of apprehension on their face and Paddy smiled at them relieved.
"Hi," he began.
Chastity smiled broadly, "Hi," she then turned to look at her son, who had his head in his hands, "hello son, you ok?"
Aaron didn't respond and the three adults shared a worried glance, "Aaron?" Cain gently nudged Aaron's side and sat down in the chair next to him, this caused Aaron to lift his head, "Hi," he replied.
Chastity smiled again, "Just wanted to see how you were getting on, did you sleep well last night?"
Aaron nodded, "yeah."
Paddy coughed, "no he didn't," he felt a little bolder now with the backup, he was also aware that Rhona had left the house through the surgery with Leo, he didn't need to worry about the baby's presence.
Cain pointed to Aaron's clothing, "what's with the overalls?"
Aaron shrugged, "Was going to go to work."
Cain snorted, "not until you've had some proper rest."
Paddy waited for Aaron's response, earlier he thought Aaron would have kicked off, but now the lad's whole demeanour had changed, he'd gone back to barely registering is surroundings.
"Ok," he said and stood up, heading towards the stairs.
"Where are you going?" Paddy started, alarmed.
"I'm tired, I'm going to lie down."
"What about your bacon sandwich?"
"I'm not hungry."
Paddy sighed, as Aaron disappeared upstairs, both Cain and Chastity turned to look at him, "What happened earlier?" Chas asked
Paddy slumped into the chair, "I don't know but he wasn't like this," They both looked at him and motioned to continue, "he was bouncing around down here like he was on top of the world."
"I don't understand?" Chas raised an eyebrow.
Paddy sighed, they probably had to be here, "he was manic. He was tripping over his words and he couldn't focus on anything, then 10 minutes ago his mood dropped completely and I've struggled to get him to speak, I'm really scared for him"
"You think he needs a doctor?" Cain asked
"yes," began Paddy, but then his confidence faltered, "I don't know, he's just come out of hospital, maybe he just needs time to adjust, perhaps I'm just over reacting?"
Cain shrugged, "Rhona seemed pretty worried and she saw him as well."
"Yeah, she's taken the baby out, she wouldn't have done that otherwise," Chas agreed.
"No."
"Right," began Chastity, taking charge "he can't stay here," Cain didn't argue, but Paddy looked ashen.
"Paddy, you've got a baby now."
"I know."