Lisa took a deep breath and blew it out as she stepped out of the psychiatrist's office. She had just finished her last session of two months. The administrative board had insisted that she do at least six weeks of counseling to deal with what had happened with Paul. She had convinced her psychiatrists give her two more weeks and tried to get more but the woman assured her that she would be okay. She hadn't wanted to end her sessions because then at least she had a reason to talk about it and people wouldn't expect her to be over it. But with no therapy people would expect that she was okay and she wasn't sure she was. She jut didn't want to feel trapped and be forced to deal with it all on her own while it destroyed her from the inside out.
She began walking down the hall towards the elevators. The therapy sessions had been helpful. She felt better and stronger than when it had first happened, but she was still unsure of herself. The woman had told her that she hadn't done anything wrong and most of the women that she dealt with who wasn't able to stop their attacker would consider her a hero. Lisa in turn told her that she still felt a little helpless. Like he had taken something away from her, her security. She also said that she felt guilty because she hadn't actually been rapped and there she was whining about it when women who had actually had worst done to them were managing to move own with their lives. The woman reassured her that it was okay to feel that way and that she shouldn't feel guilty because she had been through a traumatic experience. She told her that if anything, it proved how strong she was. Paul had came there with set intentions to do harm to her or her baby and she had managed to stop him from doing both. Lisa started to see and agree with her reasoning, but she still felt a little unsure of herself.
She stepped off of the elevator and smiled at the nurse whom she had become familiar with as she walked down the hall towards the resident's office. She walked in and heard Greg talking.
"You can't eat that," he aid firmly. "Give it."
She heard some determined babble in response and smiled to herself.
"Give it here," he said again. She heard the little girl's fussing becoming more strained and she could tell that they were now engaged in a battle for whatever 'it' was. The girl had a strong grip for an eight month old.
The fussing became more of a cry and suddenly she heard a smack. She gasped and walked around the cubicle to see Greg with a pen light in his hand and a shocked look on his face as he sat face to face with Hayden who was sitting on his desk. The little girl still had her hand raised and looked at her father with no remorse. Lisa couldn't help the laugh that escaped her.
"She just slapped me," he said still a little surprised at what had just happened.
"I know. I heard," she told him still laughing. She walked closer and picked up the little girl who had already began to fuss and reach for her. "What did Daddy do to you?" she asked.
"What did I do to her?" he said outdone by the way this was going. "I stopped her from catching a hospital born infection," he aid putting the pen light he had taken away from her back in his pocket.
"Hayden, you shouldn't hit your father," she said still trying to suppress another laugh. "It's not nice."
"Yet, it's funny," he said in reference to the huge smile that was spread across her face.
"I'm sorry," she aid as she began laughing, "but she smacked you pretty hard."
He smiled too. It was always nice to hear her laugh, especially after what had happened. "So how did it go?" he asked. He had finished his anger management course he was made to take four weeks ago. He had felt extremely bad and helpless the first few weeks after the incident. He hadn't been able to do anything he deemed helpful, although she would say otherwise. She hardly slept and when she did she would dream about what had happened. She would only sleep when he was there. She said she did when he wasn't, but she had been extremely tired and whenever he would get in bed and wrap his arm around he she would tense up and pull Hayden closer. He would whisper into her ear letting her know that it was him, but she would always turn over and examine his features in the dark just to be sure. He felt awful for her.
Surprisingly, either he or the psychiatrist had convinced her that she didn't have to cling to the baby all the time because she wasn't in any danger. She had finally started letting her sleep in the nursery again. A few days after, they had had sex for the first time since the incident. He had told her that he could wait if she wasn't ready. She had said she was and that she didn't want to let Paul take anything else away from her, something he was sure the psychiatrist had told her. He had thought that the talking part of their job was wacky, but he thanked the woman for that. But even more importantly, it seemed to be helping Lisa.
She thought about it and smiled . "It went well," she said with a smile.
"So are you gonna go back?"
"No, today was my last session."
"Hey, Lise," Steven said walking up behind her.
"Hey," she said as he handed Greg some papers.
"You know he let her fall," he said pointing to Hayden.
Her mouth fell open and she turned to Greg. Steven smirked at Greg wiaht a knowing look on his face, before walking away.
"He's kidding," Grege said as he placed the file on his desk and got up to walk her out. She wasn't sure if he was telling the truth or not but she soon got her answer when they walked in front of the nurse's station.
"Hey, sweetie," Barbara said as she reached out and touched Hayden's hand. "How's your head."
"You let her fall!?" Lisa yelled as she turned to Greg.
"I didn't let her fall," he said in his defense. "I tried to catch her but I couldn't quite grip…,"
"And she hit her head?" she added ignoring his attempt to defend himself.
"She didn't hit her head," he said shooting Barbara a mean glare. "She hurt her arm because…"
"Why weren't you watching her!?"
"I as watching her," he tried to explain again. "She just moves a lot faster now and I had thought that she would be fine in the chair…"
"I don't believe this," she said as she started checking the baby over.
"She's fine," he said. "If some people would just mind their own business…"
"Not my fault," Barbara told him as she picked up some files and walked to the back office.
After Lisa had made sure that she was fine and had given Greg an earful. She went to her car and headed towards the new aerobics class she had signed up for. There was a nursery at the place so she wouldn't have to worry about going back to get Hayden after the class.
"No, no, honey, don't touch that," the woman standing in front of Lisa told the toddler standing next to her. "You'll break it."
"Wow, look at all these kids," Lori aid as she stood beside Lisa. "I'd hate to work here."
"Yeah," Lisa agreed looking at the room full of kids, most of whom were crying. That was saying a lot for her, because Hayden was a handful, but she hardly ever cried. The kids there were crying even though they had lots of toys around them and they were receiving lots of attention from the day care workers trying to quiet them.
"I know it seems like a zoo in here, but they are good with the kids," the lady in front of them said.
Lisa only smiled as she could only guess the woman had picked up on her hesitance to leave Hayden there.
"Just try it for one day Lise," Lori told her. "We'll come in and check on her during the break."
Lisa sighed and walked up to the clip board and signed the paper, before handing Hayden over to one of the workers.
"She'll be fine," the woman told her again. "By the way, my name's Beth."
"Lisa. Nice to meet you," she replied. Lori introduced herself and the three proceeded down the hall after realizing that they were in the same class.
It was a burlesque cardio class and they found the class both enjoyable and entertaining. The class consisted of very seductive dancing and some older women and people with no rhythm had decided to take it upon themselves to enroll in the class. Lisa, Lori, and Beth took up residence in the back of the class. They didn't know if they got a better cardio work out for doing the dancing or an ab workout from laughing at the people. As soon as the instructor announced the ten minute break, Lisa headed down the hall to check on Hayden.
She walked in and scanned the room for the pudgy little face that belonged to her. She smiled to herself when she saw that Hayden's face was red from laughing as a girl that looked to be about sixteen held her and made funny faces. As soon as the baby would sigh and come down from one of her fits of laughter, the girl would either make another face or blow a raspberry in her stomach. She walked over with the smile on her face as the baby came down from another one of her fits of laughter. The girl was about to make another face, but she saw that the baby's attention had shifted to somewhere behind her. She turned to see what the baby was looking at.
"Oh, hi," the girl said with a bright smile.
"Hi," Lisa said.
"Is she yours?"
"Yeah," Lisa said.
"Are you leaving?" the girl asked sounding a little saddened.
"No, not yet," Lisa said picking up on the girl's sadness. "I just came to check on her."
"Oh, she's fine," the girl reassured as she turned back to the baby and bounced her around making Hayden smile again and grab for her face. "I'm Amy by the way. You have a really pretty baby."
"Thanks," she replied. "And my name's Lisa. Do you work here?"
"No," Amy told her. "I'm only fifteen. I'll be sixteen next month though. My mom comes here all the time. You might know her, Alice Macon."
Lisa thought to herself. She knew she wouldn't know the woman from the classes since it was her first day, but the name sounded familiar.
"Is your father Dr. John Macon?"
"Yeah, he works at Hopkins," she said with a smile. "You know him?"
"Yeah, he taught one of my classes."
"Oh, you're a med student?" the girl asked.
"Yeah," Lisa answered silently as a plan formed in her head. She had been searching for a babysitter. The day care was fine for the day time, but there were a lot of night events that she and Greg missed out on because they didn't have a babysitter. He had told her to call the agency, but she told him no. She wasn't leaving her baby with just anyone. The girl already had good credentials. She knew her father pretty well and had met her mother on a few occasions. She seemed sweet and nice and she liked Hayden, and Hayden definitely liked her.
"How would you like a job?"
The girl's eyes widened and her mouth fell slightly open as she was surprised by the sudden job offer. "If you're talking about babysitting, sure," she said eagerly.
They discussed it a little more and Lisa told her she'd talk to her father before they started. As she turned to leave, a little boy pushed over a small shelf of toys.
"Keep a close eye on her for me will you?" she said to the girl.
"Of course," the girl said with a chuckle, understanding her distress.
"Bye sweetie," Lisa said evoking a short babble from Hayden. She smiled at the way the little girl trying to communicate back with her.
"Hold on I'm coming," Lisa said to whomever was on the other end of the phone as she kicked the door close and balanced her backpack, gym bag, and a store bag with Hayden tucked under her arm. She dropped all of the bags and sighed. She balanced so many things all the time, she was sure one day she would make a mistake and drop Hayden instead of the bags. She adjusted the baby on her hip and reached for the phone.
"Hello?"
"Where have you been? I've called you like five times," Greg said from the other end of the phone.
"I had to stop at the store, Hayden needed diapers. What's up?"
"Wanna eat out at Mel's tonight?"
"Uhhmmm, sure why not," she said. She would usually be tired, but she was becoming accustomed to the busy lifestyle and she had a little bit more energy after attending the aerobics class. Also, Mel's had good veggie burgers among other things. "But I'll be a while. I have to shower and get changed."
"Take you're time, I have to finish up here," he said. "Meet me there at six."
"She looked at the clock and saw that it was 4:15.
"Yeah, I should be ready by then."
"Well I'll see you later then."
"Kay, bye," she said hanging up the phone.
She went upstairs to get showered. She was almost ready to walk out of the door until she made the mistake of giving the girl a cheese puff and she ended up with a big orange drooly stain on the front of her shirt. She changed her quickly and hurried out of the door.
"Are you dining by yourself, sir?" the waitress asked.
"Uhm, no," he said. He proceeded to give the woman a description of Lisa so he could show her to his table when she got in. "I'm waiting on my girlfriend. She's about your height, with dark brown hair, bluish eyes that make her look extra scary when she's angry. Oh, and she'll have a midget with her with the same color eyes."
The lady looked at him a little confused about the midget part, but handed him a menu anyway and sat an extra one across from him on the other side of the booth before walking away and going back to the front of the restaurant. It was obviously a busy night for the place as it was packed with all types of people. Some people were there with their families while others were just there with friends or their significant others. They used to always go there before their schedules became so demanding and hectic. Since he was actually getting some slack now that he was almost finished his residency and since Lisa had just had a test that morning and didn't have to stud, he thought it would be nice for them to eat out. He always enjoyed the place and its atmosphere. He just never thought he be a part of the population that bought their kid there, but that's because he never thought he would have a kid.
"Aww, look how precious," he heard a few of the waitresses saw from the front, and a smile came to his face. He had well learned that reaction by now. He lowered the menu from in front of his face and looked towards the front of the restaurant to see Lisa holding Hayden as a few of the female waitresses fawned over her.
"Hey pretty girl," one of them said as she touched the baby's palm and smiled at her. Hayden only smiled back as the girl kept talking to her. After a few minutes of chatting with the waitress about the baby, Lisa finally made her way over to the table where he was.
"Sorry I'm late," she said taking Hayden's coat off. "Somebody made a mess of themselves." She loosened her grip on the baby who had been trying to get out of her grip and next to her father since she had noticed him. He reached for the little girl and she practically fell into his arms.
"Mommy's always blaming you. She can't ever admit that she's the reason for herself always being late," he told Hayden. The little girl smiled and began to babble something. Before he could stop her he saw her face coming towards his in one of her infamous open mouth kissed.
"No, do…," he quickly closed his mouth as he felt slobber cover the corner of his top lip. Lisa only laughed. She knew that he didn't like when she did that, but she thought it was sweet. It was easy getting babies to learn how to kiss, but you could write a book on how to get them to do it without getting slobber all over the recipient.
"We've gotta teach this kid how to give kisses with her mouth closed," he said wiping the slobber away.
"Don't wipe her kiss away," she told him. "She's being nice to you, which you should be happy for after that smack you received earlier. And you let her fall," she said eyeing him with a smile, knowing that one of the main reasons he invited her to eat out with him was because he wanted to see if she was still upset with him about that.
She wasn't upset anymore. She had long ago realized that the little girl moved around a lot and had had caught her about to crawl off of the edge of the bed herself a few times. The first time she had fallen trying to climb up on the sofa, she had been on the phone with her mother. Her mother told her that baby's fall, that's how they learn to walk. She had soon come to accept this. Her only job was to make sure that she didn't fall off of anything to high, and to clear a path so he didn't fall on anything to hurt herself.
"First off all," he started, "I wiped of the slobber, not the kiss. And are you ever going to let that go?"
"It's gone," she told him with a smirk. Then she remembered the conversation she had had with Amy earlier. "Oh, guess what," she said excitedly, but didn't give him a chance to answer. "I found a sitter."
"You, found a babysitter," he said a little shocked that she had found someone she deemed worthy enough to take care of Hayden. The only reason she had chosen the daycare that she went to now was because everyone that worked there had an extensive background in childcare are was enrolled in school in some type of childcare program. That made the bill they received every month pretty expensive. He was about to argue that they could find some place cheaper, but the look she gave him when he opened his mouth to protest quieted him quickly.
"Yes, I did?" she said knowing what he was thinking.
"Who might I ask is lucky or unlucky enough to gain your approval to babysit the little monster?"
She rolled her eyes at him. "She's not a monster," she told him. He always claimed that they little girl became evil whenever he was left alone with her. She knew he was over exaggerating. She was just active and he just didn't want to have to run behind her all the time. She also didn't let him sleep whenever she was awake. He would put her in the bed next to him with a few of her toys to occupy her so he could finish sleeping, but she wouldn't let him sleep. He would usually just give up on sleeping and get up and play with her. "And Dr. Macon's daughter is going to be babysitting."
"Isn't she like eleven?"
"No, she' turning sixteen," she told him.
"How much are we paying her?"
"I was thinking maybe eight dollars any hour…,"
"Eight dollars an hour?" he asked a little shocked. "That's more than I get paid."
"It is not," she told him as the waitress came up to them to take their order.
"Can't we get away with paying her four?"
"Greg," she scolded him for even thinking the thought. She had had a nice talk with Amy, and knew that the girl would be getting a car for her sixteenth birthday. That meant if they wanted her to be their babysitter they would have to pay her a decent amount. She figured eight dollars an hour was good for a teenager with a car.
"Fine," he said allowing Hayden to stand up in the booth next to him. She had wiggled her way out of his arms and used her little hands to hold herself up in a standing position. He knew the only other option was to not let the girl babysit and they continue staying at home on weekends are going places they could only take the baby with them.
"Greg stop her," Lisa said, noticing the baby was not standing on her toes and reaching her hand to play with the woman's hair who sat behind him. He grabbed the little girl's hand, but not before the woman turned around with a smile.
"I'm sorry," Lisa apologized.
"Oh, it's fine," the woman said with a smile. "Hello sweetheart," she said looking back at Hayden.
She only stared at the woman for a few seconds before deciding she really didn't want to talk to her and crawled back into her daddy's lap. The woman only laughed and turned around to continue the conversation she was having with the rest of her family.
"We can't take you anywhere can we?" he said. The little girl only smiled and began playing in his face.
They talked a little while longer before Lisa got up to go to the bathroom. While she was gone, the waitress brought their food. Greg picked up a fry and held it right over Hayden's mouth. The little girl opened her mouth, waiting for the fry to enter, but it never did. Greg had a smirk on his face as the little girl kept her mouth open and reached her hand up to try and grab the fry. He only raised it a little higher so she couldn't reach it. He noticed Lisa sliding back in the booth across from him.
"Look Lise," he said highly amused by the goings on.
"Don't tease her," she told him, as she watched the little girl stand on her toes and try to climb his chest to get to the fry.
"Her arms are so short," was his only reply.
"Greg," she said, but before she could tell him to stop again. The little girl sighed and babbled something as she turned her attention away from the fry, her daddy was taking to long to give her. She spotted a plate full of things that looked just like they yummy thing he had in his hand and before he could stop her she had leaned over and grabbed a hand full of them.
"No," he said trying to stop her, but it was too late. Lisa grabbed her hand and tried to pry it open, but the little girl only gripped them tighter, squishing a few of them in the process as she geared up to throw a tantrum.
"Wait," Lisa said as she managed to pry the fries from her hand. The little girl started to get louder in her fussing, but immediately stopped when her mother placed two fries in her tiny little palms.
She giggled and began bending her knees as she 'danced' to the up beat song that had just come over the radio in the place and stuck a fry in her mouth making it soggy as she continued her movement. They only laughed at her, making her let out a hearty laugh of her own before she resumed her dance.
They ate and talked for a while, neither of them really in a rush to get up and leave. It was always nice to get out, the three of them, since they rarely got to do it because of their schedule. The waitress brought Hayden a cookie, after which Greg told them they weren't paying for it. She laughed and told them that it was on the house, after the little girl had seemingly taken a liking towards her. She of course made a mess of herself with it. After Lisa had cleaned her up, she was a little cranky and cried to go back to her father. Not long after, she had fallen asleep in his arms. They stayed a little while longer, but decided to go not wanting to keep her out too late. The managed to get her coat on without waking her and Greg went to stand in the front of the restaurant, while Lisa signed the receipt for the waitress. As usual, he got complemented on what a beautiful baby she was by the people passing by that adored the little girl sleeping peacefully in his arms, her head resting against his chest. He replied with 'thanks' which Lisa had taught him to be the appropriate response and not the 'I know' he used to give.
He saw Lisa walking towards him with a pastel cap she had pulled from the diaper bag, and he immediately began to protest.
"No, why do you always put that goofy hat on her?" he asked as she proceeded to pull it down on the baby's head. It was one of those with the little pom-pom on top and the flap that goes over the ears. It was night time and considerably colder out. She didn't want her getting sick.
"It's not goofy," she told him as she continued pulling the cap down on the baby's head. She looked down and smiled when she saw Hayden's eyes were slightly open. "I think it's cute." She kissed her nose and the little girl smiled sleepily before her eyes closed again and she fell back into a deep sleep. Lisa interlaced her fingers with his free hand and they walked out of the restaurant together.
A/N: I hope you likey, and don't forget to review.