Sam stumbled through his front door close to two in the morning and groaned, hearing the loud cries coming from upstairs. He sighed and took the stairs two at a time and walked into the nursery, where Ainsley was pacing the floor, holding a screaming Gracie.
"Hi."
"Hi. What's wrong with her?"
"I don't really know Sam. Don't you think if I did, I would've stopped the crying?" Ainsley asked.
"Okay. Give her to me."
"No. Just go to bed."
"You're the one who needs to sleep." Sam muttered, rubbing the back of his neck. "Go to bed. I'll get her to sleep."
"I've tried everything Sam!" Ainsley yelled. "What, do you think you can walk in here and magically make her stop?"
"Okay! Relax!"
"You're not the one who's been sitting here trying to calm a screaming baby for the past half hour!"
"That's why I said give her to me!" Sam exclaimed.
"Fine!" Ainsley handed Gracie off to Sam and stormed out of the room, then Sam could hear a door, most likely their bedroom door, slam shut. He sighed and rubbed Gracie's back as she cried into his shoulder. Sam walked downstairs and grabbed the cordless off the coffee table. With a quick glance at the clock, Sam dialed a number, hoping he wasn't disturbing his mother. The phone stopped ringing on the third ring as Elizabeth picked the phone up.
"Hello?"
"It's me."
"Honey, what's wrong?"
"I don't know." Sam yawned, sitting down on the couch. "I got home from work just now and Gracie's screaming her brains out and Ainsley has had it. She says she tried everything so I figured I'd call you."
"Well she can't be teething yet."
"We would've noticed."
"And she's too young. Did Ainsley feed her?"
"Mom."
"I'm just checking Sam. Maybe she needs a diaper changed."
"She wouldn't be screaming like she's being murdered."
"It's possible she has an ear infection."
"What?"
"Yeah. You got them a lot when you were younger and God would you cry."
"Ainsley's taking her to the doctor's in the morning at around nine."
"She seems to be quieting down."
"I think she's falling asleep." Sam glanced down at his daughter, who's red-rimmed eyes were beginning to droop.
"Is she sleeping through the night?"
"If she's got an ear infection I don't think she's going to be sleeping but yeah she does."
"She should be fine until Ainsley takes her to the doctor. You can't do anything about it now. What time is it there?"
"A little past two."
"Yeah, you're not going to get any medication at this time of night. Call me tomorrow and tell me what's going on."
"Okay. Thanks Mom."
"You're welcome honey. Tell Ainsley I said hi and try to get some sleep. You sound tired."
"Yeah. Bye." Sam hung the phone up and sighed as Gracie whimpered in his ear. "Oh Gracie..."
Sam stood up and walked around the living room a couple of times until Gracie fell asleep, tears still streaking down her cheeks. He carried her up to the nursery and gently placed her down in the crib. Sam stood there for a minute, then headed out of the room and down the hallway to his closed door. He opened it quietly and walked in, shutting it behind him. Ainsley was curled up in a ball on her side of the bed and she looked up when she heard the door open and shut.
"I'm sorry." she whispered, tears trailing down her cheeks. Sam crossed the room to their bed and pulled her into his arms. "I didn't mean to yell at you. I just didn't know what to do anymore and I was losing it."
"Honey, why didn't you call me at work?"
"I figured it had to be important if you were still there."
"God Ainse, I don't care what I was doing, you should've called."
"Is she asleep?"
"Yeah. I called my mom. She said she may have an ear infection."
"Lucky we already have an appointment at the doctors tomorrow then." Ainsley muttered. "God, I feel like such a horrible mother."
"No, honey don't say that." Sam kissed the top of her head and held her tighter.
"Well I do!"
"But you're not."
"I feel like it."
"Hey," Sam pulled away from Ainsley and cupped her face in his hands, making her look up at him. "You're not. Okay? You had no way of knowing what was wrong. You did everything to get her to stop crying. She can't tell you what's wrong with her, at least not yet. So stop crying alright?"
Ainsley nodded and Sam wiped the tears off her face. She moved closer to him and kissed him softly, her lips lingering on his.
"You need to get some sleep." Sam said quietly.
"So do you." Ainsley mumbled, pulling Sam's tie off. She tossed it somewhere on the floor as Sam moved off the bed and headed into their bathroom. Once he came out Ainsley was under the blankets, her eyes following him as he walked over to the dresser, then to their bed. He laid down next to her and she moved closer to him, wrapping an arm around his chest. His arm went around her shoulders and she lifted her head for a second and Sam kissed her quickly.
"I love you."
"I love you too." Ainsley settled her head back on Sam's chest. "I didn't think it'd be this hard."
"Honey, we're still new at this. It's only been two months. No one expects us to be super-parents."
"I know but I feel bad that I just let her cry like that."
"You didn't just let her cry like that. You tried getting her to calm down. It just didn't work. It happens." Sam said softly. "Why don't I take a few days off?"
"I called my mother this afternoon. She and my father got into another fight so she's moving up here to get away from him."
"Are they getting a divorce?"
"She always says that but she sticks around because he's her source of money. She'll rent a place up here for a few weeks, months at the most then go home."
"Let me guess, she's offered to help with Gracie."
"I asked her."
"Ainse, you know, I can take off work. I don't have to be there 365 days a year." Sam said.
"What is the problem?"
"Because now she'll be here in DC saying how all I do is stay at work and am incompetent father."
"Well we all know you're not. Just because you work like every other father on the planet doesn't mean you're incompetent. I don't understand why you let her get to you so much." Ainsley said. "I don't want you taking off work. It's an election year and I know how much it means to all of you to win and the only way the President will get reelected is if he has the best standing by him and that's you."
"What if I want to take off work? I only see Gracie when I come home and by then she's asleep or practically asleep."
"Well Sam, she's two months old. You're not missing much."
"That's not the point."
"I know what your point is because I'm going to be going through it next month when I go back to work. I don't want to miss out on her Sam but we can't always be here. We need to go to work so we can raise her." Ainsley said.
"Yeah..." this came out as a sigh from Sam and Ainsley sat up, watching him for a minute.
"Honey I know how much Gracie means to you and I know how much you love her and I know what you're trying to do but don't try to be Super Dad. Don't worry about my mother because what she says in a bunch of lies and honestly, I could care less about what she thinks. Second of all, you're not your father Sam."
"Stop." he groaned, rolling onto his side so his back was towards Ainsley.
"No because I know that has something to do with this." she tugged on Sam's shoulder, making him roll onto his back. "I know you're trying to win Father of the Year award."
"Haha."
"I'm not kidding. You'll keel over if you try any harder. You've told me what it was like growing up and I'm telling you that you're giving Gracie a great life so far and I know that it's going to get better as she gets older. I don't know why you're trying so hard to please my mother. Honey, I'm telling you that very few... like... .05 of the population of the world has that honor. Everyone else she could care less about."
"Are you one of those people?" Sam asked.
"I used to be."
"Yeah?"
"Mhmm... back in high school when I had dreams of being an actress and had the gorgeous boyfriend."
Sam quirked an eyebrow, making Ainsley smile.
"My mom thought I'd move to Hollywood with my high school sweetheart Ryan Greene and once I dumped him and went to Smith she wasn't pleased. Ryan is one of the people that have pleased my mother."
"So... being a lawyer and having a gorgeous husband doesn't make her pleased?"
"Nope. She wanted me to be some glamorous thing that I didn't want. I was glad when I got accepted to Smith, then Harvard. I could finally get away from her and her beauty queen hopes for me." Ainsley said, laying back down. She propped herself up on her elbow, her hand brushing Sam's tousled hair out of his eyes. "But I could care less because I'm happy and nothing is going to change that."
"Well I'm glad I satisfy you."
"Yeah..." Ainsley put her head back down on Sam's chest and let out a sigh.
"What?"
"Sam, my parents are unhappy."
"I've noticed honey."
"Yours are divorced."
"I've noticed that too."
"Do you... Do you ever wonder if we'll turn out like them?"
"I don't want to talk about this."
"Sam, just answer me."
"No! Why the hell would we? We're supposed to learn from their mistakes."
"That doesn't always happen."
"We've been married a year. What you a divorce already?" Sam rolled onto his side and Ainsley laid there for a minute then sat up slightly, resting a hand on Sam's arm.
"Honey, I don't want a divorce. I don't ever want a divorce." she said softly.
"Well good cause I don't either."
"I don't want to turn out like them."
"We're not." Sam rolled over so he was facing Ainsley and wrapped an arm around her waist. "Don't worry about it."
"How do you know what's going to happen?"
"Because I love you more than anything and I won't ever let it happen."