Ashley woke up the next morning next to John. He wasn't wearing a shirt.
"Cena you'd better have pants on" she said checking. To her relief he did.
"John you have to get up we both have planes to catch" she said shaking him gently. That didn't work " John wake up" she said shaking a little harder. She wasn't watching his arm and the next thing she knew he was kissing her.
"Wow that was one way to wake up" he said smiling.
"You're a jerk" she said
"I love you too honey" he said
"Sorry we aren't together anymore I'm breaking up with you" she said as she stood up.
"Wait why do you get to break up with me?" he asked
"Because I said so" she replied.
"Well whatever I'm going into the shower feel free to join me" he said
"Yeah maybe when hell freezes over" she yelled.
An hour later they were both showered and ready to go.
"You looked really good last night I almost forgot you were a punk goth" John said
"I don't need to advertise my punkness. A real punk doesn't need to show off... It's like a Karate man... The Karate man bleeds on the inside. A real punk is punk on the inside." Ashley said as she got into the car.
"Yeah whatever" John said as he got into the car as well.
They drove halfway through the town when they saw something that made them sick and man and a woman fighting over a baby in a carrier and then the man stabbed the woman and took off with the baby. They had to stop so they pulled over Ashley went to the woman's aid while John took off after the guy.
"John be careful" Ashley yelled.
"Ma'am my name is Ashley and I'm here to help and John is going to get your baby back" Ashley told the woman trying to keep her calm. The bleeding was very bad and Ashley wasn't sure if she could stop it she called 911 and they were on their way.
"His name is Talon Michael" she whispered "you and your husband take good care of him please he has nobody else" and then it was all over she died in Ashley's arms.
Ashley looked at her face she looked to be about the same age as her the woman might have been maybe a year or to older but not much. 10 minutes later John came back with the crying little boy. He was still an infant maybe 2 or 3 months. Out of instinct she picked the little boy up.
"Shh Talon it's ok" she said
"How'd you know his name was Talon?" John asked
"She told me she said his name is Talon Michael and for you and your husband to take good care of him he has nobody else and then she died" Ashley explained.
The paramedics and the police arrived. The paramedics took the body away but the police stayed to talk to Ashley and John.
"So what happened?" the cops asked John
"We were driving to the airport when we saw the woman in a fight with some guy then he stabbed her and took off. I ran after him but my girlfriend stayed behind with the woman she told her the baby's name was Talon Michael and asked if we would take care of him because he has nobody else" John relayed the story.
"I don't know what we can do for him all the foster homes are full" the cops said sadly.
"We'll take him" Ashley said
"Huh?" John asked
"That woman asked us to take care of her baby and there are no more rooms at the foster home we can keep him until they find him a home" Ashley said
"Normally we wouldn't allow that because you are American but we have no more room so go ahead and take him but are you sure he's mulatto"
"What does it matter what he is?" Ashley asked
"It doesn't it is just up here we don't have many mulatto children" the cop said
"Yeah well maybe you should have more"Ashley replied walking over to the car.
The cop and John exchanged a few words then John gave the cop his contact information and then they were on their way.
"Johnny we need to find the nearest Walmart or Toys R Us something like that so we can get him some stuff" Ashley told him.
"Ash do you realize what you have gotten us into?" John asked
"So I'll have to spend a few weeks at your house what is the big deal?" she asked
"Aren't you the one who is like I have a boyfriend?" he asked
"Bam will understand" Ashley replied looking down at the baby who was in a carrier sitting on her lap.
"He's so small" John said
"Yeah but he is a beautiful baby" Ashley said "I was about ready to punch that cop what the hell does it matter if he is mulatto"
"I don't know" John replied
"I also noticed that you called me your girlfriend" she said
"It sounded better than my friend at the time" John replied pulling into Babies R Us.
John wouldn't admit it at the time but he had fun baby shopping they got Talon lots of stuff most of it he didn't even need.
"They don't have any Red Sox stuff" John complained
"Sweetie this is Canada" Ashley said "we'll pick him up some Red Sox stuff when we get back to Boston ok"
"Yeah sure" John replied
They bought Talon a porter crib and some clothes, formula,toys,diapers, car seat and a swing because Ashley insisted all babies love swings.
"Only one hundred and seventy five dollars not bad" Ashley said
"Yeah we'll talk when it is your money" John commented
"John your son needs things" Ashley said
"Oh no he ain't my baby I agreed to baby sit nobody said anything bout him stayin" John replied.
"You are honestly going to hand him over to a couple of strangers?" Ashley asked in disgust.
"What the hell are we?" John retorted
"Those people could be crazy" Ashley said strapping Talon's car seat in correctly the she placed him into it.
"Ash he needs two full time parents" John tried to reason with her.
"What are we?" Ashley asked
"You have a boyfriend!" John exclaimed.
Talon started to cry.
"Now look what you did you woke up the baby" Ashley snapped. "shh it's ok honey everything is fine shh don't cry" Ashley said in a soothing voice. Talon went back to sleep.
"How did you do that?" John asked
"You just have to know how to talk to them" Ashley replied.
Ashley feel asleep too before he knew it they were at his home in Lynnfield Mass. He woke Ashley up and grabbed the carrier. He got some weird looks from his neighbors because he was holding a baby carrier. Once they were all inside and the things were in the living room they relaxed until Talon woke up screaming.
"John I think he is hungry can you hold him while I make a bottle?" Ashley asked handing Talon to John.
"Hey little guy Ashley is making you a bottle so you can stop crying" John said in a soft tone. Talon stopped crying and looked up with his big blueish-green eyes. He looked at John with such trust as if he knew John was there to protect him. Then Talon smiled and John's heart just melted how could he give this baby up. But then the rational part of John's brain clicked in. John traveled 300 days a year how was he going to take care of him oh yes living with Ashley half the time and with him the other half would really work wonders.
He heard Ashley talking to someone on the phone John guessed it was Bam.
"Yes Bam I am serious, what do you mean, Bam if you can't handle this then maybe we shouldn't be together anymore, fine then it's over, I'll get my things sometime next week, ok bye"
Ashley brought in the bottle a few minutes later but she didn't look like she had been crying.
"I heard your phone call" John said
"Talon needs me right now and if Bam doesn't understand that then he isn't who I thought he was" Ashley said.
I took the bottle from her and started to feed Talon.
"See you are a natural" Ashley said "just don't get nervous babies can tell and then they get upset"
"Ok" John said
"Oh and support his head a little more" she said adjusting John's arm.
"So how do you know so much about babies?" John asked
"I come from a big family so I've helped out with a lot of babies" she replied "ok now burp him" she handed John a cloth to put on his shoulder.
John patted him but he didn't want to do it to hard so that he would hurt the baby.
"Am I doing this right?" he asked
"Yeah perfectly" she replied with a smile.
After Talon was fed and changed they put him in a pair of his new pajamas and Ashley played with him on John's bed while John set up the porter crib.
"What a silly boy you are" Ashley said in a baby voice. Talon was laughing.
"Man you really are great with children" John said finishing the set up.
"It's not that hard" she said handing the baby to John who put him in the crib and covered him with a blanket.
"Are you sure he is going to be ok tonight?" John asked
"Yeah he'll be fine he might wake up a few times I'm not sure if he is old enough to sleep through the night yet" Ashley replied
"So you are single, I'm single and we have a baby wow I really think God is throwing us together" John said
"Yeah maybe" Ashley said laying down.
"Tired" John asked
"Yes plus we should get all the sleep we can we might now get much with Talon" she replied
John shut off the light and they both went to sleep.