Having a baby was like doing six different things at the same time, with one hand, while standing on a bus. When she was done crying, she was hungry. When she was done being burped, she needed her diaper changed. Carly was exhausted, but she couldn't sleep. Ever. She was on full time Baby Emma patrol. She never complained, though. The last thing she needed was to have a big fat Told-You-So thrown in her face by her parents.
But they were noticing, too. The deep blue circles that never faded. The cute grin and sparkling eyes that no longer appeared. She stopped listening to music, she stopped reading. Her grandma was kind enough to watch Emma during the day on weekdays, but after school and on Saturdays and Sundays, she was all Carlys. That was why all of a sudden, one Saturday morning, they appeared at the Parker/Nichols residence with a baby, a diaper bag, and a crib.
"Even if it's only for a week," Carly's mother begged Audrey. "My daughter needs a rest. A real one. And it might be a good idea for Drake to spend some time with her."
Audrey surveyed the situation, then slowly nodded.
"All right. We'll take her."
Drake came jogging down the stairs and stopped when he saw the sight. "What's going on, Mom?"
"We're going to be taking Emma for a week," Audrey replied, with a smile pasted on her face. "Won't that be fun?"
He stared at the bundle of stress and time, wrapped in a pink baby blanket in her grandmother's arms. Everyone was looking at him expectantly. He should be thrilled, that he got to hang out with his…baby for a week. His baby. The thought made him sick to his stomach.
"Whatever." He turned and walked into the kitchen.
Carly's dad sighed, and her mom put her face into her hands. "I know that we asked Emma live with us all the time, at least for now. But she isDrake's too."
"I know," Audrey assured them. "She'll be fine here. This week will do him good, I'm sure of it. He's just not used to it. He's only a little boy, practically."
"Carly's not exactly collecting social security," her father reminded Audrey gently. "But you're right. Maybe they'll…bond." Drake's mom nodded, and the two parents left.
"I hope so," Audrey murmured to their backs. "I really, truly do."
Drake bit into an apple in the kitchen, after silently listening to the conversation between his and Carly's parents. He then quietly whispered to himself.
"Don't count on it."
In the days that followed, baby Emma got acquainted with her daddy's family. She absolutely loved her Uncle Josh, who played with her toes and made faces at her. He's basically a big baby himself, Drake smiled to himself, but quickly wiped it off his face. He interacted a bare minimum with his daughter. He held her occasionally, but when she cried, he handed her off. He didn't put her to bed, or feed her. Her crib was in his parents' room. He acted as if she were just some strange guest in the house, invited by his parents.
Walter didn't like it. "We need to force him to act like her father," he argued. "We're not her parents. She's his responsibility, and how do you expect him to own up to it unless we make him?
But Audrey disagreed. "He needs to want to," she said. "This is hard for him. We want him to want to be her father, not feel like he has to be. Otherwise…nothing will change."
But Drake didn't want to be anybody's father. He was a brother, a best friend, a boyfriend. He wasn't a dad. He didn't want to worry about bills and making lunches. He wanted to play guitar. He was already stressed enough with two jobs, desperately trying to raise money to help Carly. He didn't want the actual baby in his house, too. God, why did everyone think this was going to be so fucking easy? This wasn't a joyful baby born, it was an accident. A mistake.
On Tuesday night, the night before his huge biology test, he was woken up by a loud scream. He sat up in bed, alert, before realizing that the baby's crib was in his room, and that she was awake and crying. What was she doing here? He did feel a tad bit bad, though. His parents had been really nice about her, always getting up in the middle of the night to rock her back to sleep. His mom and done it already to him and Megan, and Josh's father to him. Now it was his turn. He wasn't ready, but whether he liked it or not, he had to be. It was his turn. Right here, right now.
He stood up and padded over to her crib. He then reached out his arms and scooped her up. She looked into his eyes, her own glorious blue ones filled with fear. She doesn't recognize me, he thought to himself, not sadly or happily. It was fact.
She reached up her little arms, so soft and sort of pudgy, and howled. She wanted her mother, not him. He didn't know what to do. Well, he was used to that feeling.
So he improvised, and opened his mouth.
"My gift is my song, and this one's for you
And you can tell everybody that this is your song
It may be quite simple but,
Now that it's done,
I hope you don't mind,
I hope you don't mind,
I put down in words,
How wonderful life is, now you're in the world.
I sat on the roof, and kicked off the moss.
Some of these voices, well they've got me quite cross.
But the sun's been kind, while I wrote this song.
It's for people like you, that keep it turned on.
So excuse me forgetting, but these things I do.
See I've forgotten if they're green or they're blue.
And, well, the thing is, what I really mean.
Yours are the sweetest eyes I've ever seen."
She stopped crying and snuggled up to him. She was warm in his arms.
Audrey peeked her head into Drake's room. And there he was, holding her, and looking at her with complete adoration. Father to daughter, like it was meant to be.
A/N: the song Drake wrote is from Moulin Rouge, also sung by Elton John. Go rent Moulin Rouge, it's the best movie ever.