Ilse'sPurpleSummer: She is isn't she? Such a little priss yet she was still so badass there. Take that Cooper. jadeMK11: Oh yeah, the hypocrisy in Cooper is just astounding. Boy needs a reality check in the worst way. Esha Napoleon and cathy: Thank you!
…
"Look at him Jamie," Mindy said happily. "He's so perfect."
James smiled and nuzzled the side of her face. He was sitting in a chair, his wife on his lap and their newborn son in his arms. It had taken Tryg pointing it out that Elizabeth looked like him but with Aiden it was more than obvious who he took after. Unlike Mindy's other children Aiden had not been born with blonde hair and blue eyes. His hair and eyes were clearly James and while Mindy had fallen absolutely in love with him James was just gawking. He had fallen in love too, there was no doubt about that, but the kid looked JUST like him. It wasn't even a resemblance. He was holding himself as a tiny tiny baby and it just felt absolutely surreal.
"You know…there might be a couple baby pictures of me that Grandma took buried up in the attic. If we found them and compared them to him, I don't think we would be able to tell the difference."
"Awww Jamie." Mindy nestled her head under his chin and kept staring at Aiden lovingly. "Daddy's mommy or Mommy's mommy?" He never ever really mentioned his grandparents. She knew all about Joseph and Caroline and knew how much they hated their on families so it wasn't surprising that he didn't talk much about them. It wasn't like he knew them or anything.
"Joseph's." He never referred to his father as such. When he was a kid he hadn't even done it. He refused to acknowledge that relation. "Grandpa and Grandma Keisner kicked the bucket when I was like…six months old. Car accident-or at least that's what I was told. I'm pretty sure Caroline offed them though."
She would. "Was Grandma Lawson nice?" Mindy asked as she tilted her head up to look at him.
He shrugged. "She was alright. Her and grandpa lived with us sometimes. Grandpa was a fucking lunatic that beat her and shit and terrorized my aunts and uncles and all that…I was happy when I killed him."
"What happened to Grandma then?"
"…She wanted to die so I killed her too." James adjusted his grip on Aiden and rested his forehead against Mindy's. "She was tired of life so yeah…"
"How old were you?"
"Eight. Second and third kill right now."
"The first was a homeless man," she said with a nod. He had told her about that already.
"Mhm." He kissed her and then rubbed the tip of his nose against hers. "I love you."
"I love you more," she replied. She looked at Aiden and smiled as he yawned. "Oh Jamie I want to hold him again."
James happily handed him off to her and she started cooing at him, absolutely delighted with the mere sight of him. James couldn't help but let a huge grin cross his face as he rested his chin on her shoulder. Being with Mindy was a thrill that never got old and on top of that they had the joy of Aiden now being with them. It really did thrill him beyond any definition although he was thinking that if and when Mindy got pregnant again, they needed an easier pregnancy. With Elizabeth there was the drama of Mark and Glen and him going to jail for murder and the placental abruption and with Aiden there had been…well he tried not to even think about that. Neither one of them knew the man's name still and they didn't care to ever find out. James had killed him and that had been that. Neither one of them wanted to think about what had happened during that awful time if they could help it.
Aiden started to fuss and Mindy shook her head and cooed at him. "Sssh Aiden Mommy and Daddy are right here." She kissed Aiden's forehead and kept talking to him and he settled back down rather quickly. "That's my good boy."
James wrapped both of his arms around Mindy tightly, falling in love with her all over again right at that moment. His own mother hadn't been able to stand the sight of him and he knew damn well she had never held him when he had been a baby. Grandma Lawson and the series of nannies that had tried to endure Caroline and Joseph's bullshit had gotten him through infancy but they hadn't loved him. They hadn't been what he needed. With every child he did have he vowed to give them what he never got but now with Aiden it really felt like he was looking at himself all over again. It was surreal really.
Mindy smiled and held one of Aiden's tiny hands between two of her own bitty fingers. "He's so perfect." She had said that quite a bit already but it was worth repeating. Some people say that all babies look alike really but they could all kiss her ass if they even tried to say that shit to her. Aiden was already a carbon copy of his daddy, even more so than Elizabeth and that was what she wanted. She didn't want her children to be like her, not ever. She hated herself she wouldn't ever want that for them. "Jamie? Do you have any of your old clothes from when you were a baby?"
"Somewhere I'm sure I do," James said with a nod. Mindy was handing Aiden back off to him so daddy and son could have more bonding time. Aiden had his tiny fist up to his mouth and he had drifted off to sleep. It was so precious that James held him more tightly and kissed his forehead. "Hey buddy." He was cooing at his son now without even really realizing he was going to start. "Good grief, that new uterus Mommy got put in must have been a cloning machine in disguise."
Mindy giggled loudly at that. "He came from YOU Jamie darling. My uterus had nothing to do with it."
"Me thinks it does," James insisted, He pulled her closer to him and nodded at Aiden. "When we get home you're going to have a lot of big sisters to play with. And there's your big brother Connor too but you two won't get to play because he can't play with babies. He's not careful enough oh no he's not. And then there's Oxa and Cotton and Spade and Snoopy and Spike…Daddy likes to throw things at Spike and scare him because he's so stupid. I taught your big sister Lizzie how to do it and I'll teach you too." He kept going on like that, just babbling about anything and everything really. Mindy was quiet as a mouse the entire time, just letting James carry on as much as he want. Eventually he did have to stop to take a breath and as he did he gave Mindy the biggest kiss he could and then nuzzled her neck happily.
…
"Okay…who put the rocket up her ass?" Taylor asked to nobody in particular as she followed Elizabeth all around. She had been helping Elizabeth walk around and also letting her try to walk on her own. There had been some success in that department but Elizabeth apparently was opting for speed today so she had resorted to crawling all around, fully intending on making life as difficult as possible for Taylor. Now normally Taylor didn't mind following her around but on top of not staying still, Elizabeth was pushing shit over and throwing stuff all around. And every time Taylor tried to pick her up and distract her with something else, she would fuss and cry and throw a fit until she was allowed to do what she wanted again.
Amber shook her head and stepped in front of Elizabeth, trying to slow her down so Taylor could get a little bit of a break. "Come here Lizzie!"
"NO NO NO!" Elizabeth went around Amber and started going towards Mallow Mars, who immediately tried to head for the hills. Getting grabbed by Chelsea was more than enough for all the cats. None of them were really looking to add having to watch out for Lizzie as well. Of course, Elizabeth herself didn't take the retreating kitty very well. "MINE! MINE MINE MINE!"
"Oh dear…" Taylor scooped Elizabeth into her arms and tried to distract her with Lammy. "Here honey. Look at Lammy! Lammy wants to play yes he does…"
"MINE!" Elizabeth hugged Lammy's neck and then looked at Mallow Mars, who had taken refuge under the table. "MINE!"
"Is that all she can say now?" Thorn asked. She had come in from the living room, where she and Scarlett had been with Chelsea. She had been watching TV with Chelsea while Scarlett had been making plans for Taylor that the older girl had no idea they were even going to take place.
"I think it's all she likes to say," Amber said with a shrug. "She's in that selfish stage now." She reached up and tickled Elizabeth under her chin. "Aren't you Lizzie Bear?"
Elizabeth, clearly copying James whenever she put her fingers up to his mouth, grabbed Amber's hand and started nomming on them.
"Lizzie!" Amber pulled her hand away and quickly wiped her hand.
"That's DISGUSTING!" Thorn said as she wrinkled her nose.
Elizabeth cooed and started nomming on Lammy's face.
"Taylor, when are we going to go see Mommy and Daddy and Aiden?" Thorn asked. That was what she was originally going to ask when she had come in here.
"We're going after lunch," Taylor promised. "If Lizzie settles down long enough for me to feed you all…"
"Where is Cooper in all of this?" Amber asked crossly. "He's supposed to be helping."
"He's watching Connor," Thorn said.
"No, he's being MEAN!" Connor burst in through the door, his shirt all ripped up and blood coming from the corner of his mouth. "He's being MEAN and I HATE him!"
"For today?" Amber guessed.
Taylor's eyes widened at the sight of Connor. "What happened to you?"
"Well…" Connor took a deep breath and tested out his truly dramatic skills. "He was SUPPOSED to be building a fort with me. But all he kept doing was BITCHING about Daddy and I told him to stop over and over and over again. And he wouldn't stop so I told him to shut up and then he got MEAN and HIT me so I took a rock and SMASHED it against his face!"
"You did WHAT?" Taylor's eyes really did just about pop out of her head.
"Oh crap." Amber was already looking for Hurricane Cooper, who was surely going to be coming this way.
"High five!" Thorn was at least happy, mostly because as much as she didn't like Connor, Cooper was becoming even more of an asshole as the days went on.
Without even thinking about it Connor high fived her. Two seconds later they realized what they had done and gave each other very dirty looks. Obviously they were going to pretend that never just happened.
"CONNOR! CONNOR YOU LITTLE BASTARD!"
"Fuck!" Connor scooped Snoopy into his arms and took off running. Spike hid under the table as Cooper came tearing after Connor at top speed. Taylor handed Elizabeth to Amber and went after Cooper, only because she figured James would really not appreciate it if Connor got slaughtered. Amber shook her head and tried to keep her head back so Elizabeth wouldn't nom on her nose. She loved her sister but getting her spit on her face wasn't on her agenda today. "We're more adult than those two are Lizzie."
"I have to go wash my hand," Thorn announced, already taking off for the nearest sink.
"Yeah because we don't know where CONNOR has been!"
"SHUT UP!"
"Hey!" In came Scarlett and while still rocking the tiara, she had stolen one of James's dress shirts and was now wearing it as a dress. How she was not tripping over it Amber didn't know. "Where's Taylor?"
"Playing peacemaker with Connor and Cooper," Amber replied. "Connor hit Cooper in the face with a rock."
"Well GET her! It's time to play the game."
"What game?"
Scarlett straightened herself up and got a really proud look on her face. "Scarlett Lawson's Dating Game."
Amber just stared at her incredulously until she realized that she was completely serious. She slowly shook her head and just carried Lizzie into the living room so they could go join Chelsea. "Ridiculous. She's ridiculous Lizzie."
Elizabeth just threw her head back and screamed for her own amusement before happily chewing on Lammy's face.
"…And so are you."
