"Sarah!" He called out heading in the direction of the bedroom where he knew his wife would be. "Morgan is coming over to..."
He paused and looked at the scene in front of him. His usually calm partner was frantically looking around the room that was now in complete disarray.
"Sarah what are you doing?" He asked carefully.
"I can't find my other shoe." She explained not pausing in her search.
"Your other shoe?"
"Yes I need my other shoe so I can go out. There is so much that I need to do, but I can't because I can't find my other shoe."
"Sarah I think you need sleep." He said carefully not wanting to upset her.
The new mother had probably worn herself ragged trying to take care of the house, their daughter, and recover lost memories. A lot had come back over the past year and a half, but there were still chunks missing. It was no surprise that she was going crazy over a lost shoe.
"I don't need sleep, I need my other shoe!" She exclaimed.
"Sarah." He tried again and walked towards her.
She was faster and more agile than him and slunk away looking under the bed for her lost shoe.
"I swear I had both shoes yesterday. Or at least I think I wore them yesterday." She babbled, something that she never did and made her husband even more worried.
"I really think you should lie down."
"I told you Chuck I can't lie down! I need to find my shoe so I can go out."
"You're not going anywhere right now you're delirious."
Her head shot up and stared into his eyes, "did you hide my shoe?"
"Why would I hide your shoe?"
"Because you don't want me going out!"
"Sarah I didn't even know you wanted to leave the house till now."
"Where did you hide my shoe?"
She stalked towards him ready to attacked, but this time he was faster and quickly pulled her into his arms and picked her up.
"Put me down!" She yelled.
He half listened as he lowered both of them onto the bed, but he didn't let go of her.
"You need sleep honey." He whispered and started rocking her like he did to their baby when she fought sleep.
She was almost out when her eyes shot open, "where's the baby? Don't tell me I lost the baby too!"
"You did not loose the baby, she's still in her bassinet." He calmly explained.
The two month old hadn't made a peep during the entire ordeal. That piece of information calmed her down and it wasn't long after that she finally fell asleep. Once he was sure she wasn't going to wake up he let go over her and gently got out of bed. He tip toed over to the bassinet and picked up his daughter. With one final look at his wife he closed the door so she could get the sleep she so desperately needed.
"Hey Chuck!" His best friend said entering the apartment. "Why do you have the baby?"
"Sarah had a break down over a lost shoe so I figured I'd take the baby so she can get some sleep." He explained. The baby in his arms started to fuss to prove his point. "Can you hold her?"
He passed the baby off and headed into the kitchen to prepare a bottle.
"Hey Baby B!" Not looking up from the baby in his arms he asked, "Are you sure you don't want to post pone this? We can try again tomorrow if that's better."
"No its fine. Sarah should sleep the entire time and hopefully Elle will too."
He walked back into the living room bottle in hand, "You want to feed her?"
"No thanks." He replied and tried to hand the baby back.
"You sure? Cause you're going to need to need practice for when you and Alex have your own."
"Which won't be for a very long time."
"Don't say that."
"Well I do have to propose to her before we can even think about having kids. I'm pretty sure Casey would murder me if I knocked up his daughter other wise."
"Good point." He took his daughter back, "you have to set everything up then."
"Deal."
He sat down on the couch and started to feed the baby, who eagerly took the bottle. Once the video game was set up and the baby finished her meal he tried to set her down in her chair, but she was having none of that. He quickly picked her up before the crying turned into a real wail.
"Come on Elle." He pleaded as he bounced her.
He knew it wasn't a real cry and just one for attention. Usually he would ignore, but he knew the instant she was loud enough her mother would wake up, so for now he would give in.
"You sure you don't want to cancel?" His best friend asked again.
"No, I have an idea. Hold her."
Once more he handed over the baby and walked to the closet. He pulled out the baby Bjorn and strapped it to his body. He indicated for his friend to put the baby inside. With baby safely attached to him he sat down on the couch, no more protests coming from his daughter.
"No more tears and she'll fall asleep in no time plus my hands will still be free to play." He wiggled his fingers to prove his point.
"Great plan." His friend nodded in approval and sat down next to father and daughter on the couch handing him the remote.
The two instantly got lost in the game and true to his word the baby fell right to sleep against his chest.
A few hours later he heard the bedroom door open and stole a quick glance to see his wife walk out.
"Hey honey, are you feeling better?"
"Much." She answered and walked over to the couch to give his a kiss on the head. "Are you playing video games with Elle attached to you?"
He looked down, he completely forgotten that the baby was there. "Um...yes. It calmed her."
"It calmed her?"
"She was fussing and I didn't want her to wake you up, so I put her in the Bjorn and she fell right to sleep."
He didn't have to look to know she was rolling her eyes.
"Can I have my baby now?" She demanded.
"But she's so happy." He argued, pretending like he didn't want to disturb his daughter but really he didn't want to pause the game.
"Chuck." She warned and he knew she meant business.
"Fine." He grumbled and reluctantly pressed pause.
He carefully unbuckled the Bjorn and took out the baby passing her to his wife.
"See perfectly happy." He smiled. "And you look so much better too."
"Thanks." She mumbled, he knew she didn't want to admit how much she needed those few hours of uninterrupted sleep.
He looked up at her his eyes shining and with his best smile.
"Fine finish your level." She sighed.
"Thank you!" He stood up quickly to give her a kiss and then quickly unpaused the game.
"Come on Elle." He heard her whisper to the baby, "let's give these boys some privacy to finish their game and you can tell me all that I missed out on."
