CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

May 14th

"Stop pinching her cheeks," Cat said, hitting April with a burp cloth.

"She doesn't seem to mind it," April said, squishing her niece's cheeks. "Do ya, baby girl? You don't care, huh?"

"Well her mother does so stop it."

"Mommy's grumpy."

"Mommy wants Ashley to sleep so Mommy can sleep."

"Then go sleep. I'll keep her. It's not like I'm going anywhere."

"Except school. Which starts in twenty minutes."

"I should get maternity leave, too."

"You're not the one that gave birth, I am. Give her to me and go to school."

"Ashley thinks Auntie should stay home."

"April!" Tara shouted from the kitchen. "Get your ass to school!"

Cat grinned and took Ashley from April, kissing the newborn's cheek. "Hi, baby. How ya doin'?"

"Mean ass," April said as she stood up from the couch. "Bye baby, I'll see you in eight long hours," she said kissing Ashley's cheek before grabbing her backpack.

"Say 'bye bye Auntie'," Cat said, making Ashley wave.

"I want hourly updates."

"You'll get updates when you get home, go to school."

As April walked to the front door, Cat made her way to the kitchen and stood next to Tara as she washed the dishes. "Hi, Nonna."

"Hi, my precious," Tara said kissing Ashley's cheek. "How's it going?"

"Good. I think I'm gonna get her loaded up and go to Mrs. and Officer Vega's house for a little bit so they can see her," she said as she pulled the side of her tank top down, sitting at the table.

"This early?"

"It's almost eight, Mom. They'll both be awake."

"I'm talking about Ashley being so young."

"Yeah. They have two kids, they know how to act around babies."

"She's two days old, Caterina."

"And?" She asked as she got Ashley positioned to eat.

"She's too young to be out and about."

Cat rolled her eyes. "She's gonna sleep the entire time, she'll be fine."

"I don't think it's a good idea."

"I didn't ask your opinion on it."

Tara sighed, shutting the sink off. "Whatever, Cat."

As Tara left the room, Cat looked down at Ashley as she nursed. "Nonna's gonna be like that for a really long time. She's a helicopter mom."

"Oh my gosh, she's precious," Holly said as she lifted Ashley out of her car seat. "How are you even able to walk, let alone drive? You had her like ten minutes ago."

Cat laughed. "I'm not sore anymore. Thank goodness."

"I'm in love, I haven't held a baby since Tyler was a baby."

"Oh! Speaking of Tyler, is he here?"

"He is. Tyler! Cat's here, honey!"

"Cat!" Tyler shouted from upstairs. His tiny feet carried him quickly down the stairs, jumping off the last two before running to Cat and throwing his arms around her. "Cat!"

"Hi, buddy," Cat said, picking him up and sitting on the couch. "I missed you."

"I missed you too. So does Daddy."

"Tyler," Holly said.

Cat smiled. "Well, you tell Daddy I said 'hello' okay?"

"Hey," Tyler said, turning to look at her stomach. "How come you're not fat anymore? Did you lose weight?"

"Tyler!" Holly scolded.

Cat laughed and shook her head. "No, but I had my baby. That's her," she said, pointing at Ashley.

"Can I hold her? I wanna hold her, can I?" Tyler asked.

"Yeah, but you have to sit next to me and you can't move her around."

"I don't wanna move her, I wanna hold her."

"Okay. Sit right here," she said, placing Tyler next to her.

"Be careful with her, okay?" Holly said, carefully handing Ashley to Tyler.

"She's little," Tyler said.

"Well, she's only two days old," Cat said.

"That's even littler than me."

"Yeah, she's brand new."

"What's her name?"

"Ashley."

"Can I call her Ash?"

"You can call her whatever you wanna call her."

"How's she sleeping?" Holly asked.

Cat shrugged. "Good, actually. She sleeps, but I have to wake her up to feed her because the pressure hurts too much to wait."

"Why don't you pump?"

"I don't have one. I really don't wanna bottle feed, I want her strictly breast fed. I guess I should start her on a bottle though. I can't just skip work until she's old enough to eat."

"You can always bring her with you. We're a small shop. Family owned and I'm the boss, so if you need to bring her with you then you do that."

"I don't want her to be a distraction."

"She wouldn't be. Just know the option is there."

Cat nodded and looked towards the door as it opened, revealing Trina and Tori.

"I don't care what you said to him, I don't want him hearing stuff like that," Tori said as Trina made her way upstairs.

"What did Trina say?" Holly asked.

"It wasn't Trina, it was Danny," she said as Danny walked in after her.

"Well I'm sorry, but I didn't say it to Tyler, so all's good," Danny said.

Cat looked away and took Ashley from Tyler, cradling her to her chest.

"I wanted to still hold her," Tyler said.

"In a little bit. I need to feed her," Cat said as she stood up. "I'm using your room," she said, making her way past Tori and Danny.

"Cat?" Danny asked.

Cat sighed and turned around, looking at him for a few seconds. "What?"

"You... have a baby?"

"Yeah."

"Oh... um..."

"What? I'm young? You're one to talk, you and Tori got knocked up in 8th grade."

"Hey," Tori said.

"I'm gonna go feed the baby," Cat said, making her way up the stairs.

She'd only been in Tori's room for a few minutes before the tall Latina walked in and closed the door behind her, sitting on her bed next to the redhead.

"Cat... is everything okay with you and Danny?" Tori asked.

"Why wouldn't it be? We're not together," Cat said, watching Ashley eat.

"There was something between you two down there."

"I don't have feelings for him anymore, if that's what you're asking."

"It's not... it's just... what is it?"

"I can't talk about it, Tori. I promised I wouldn't say anything as long as he stayed away from me."

"Oh... well, I didn't know you were here, I'm sorry I put you in the position."

"It's fine. It's not your fault. I just don't wanna be around him."

"What happened?"

"I can't tell you, Tori. I promised."

"Why can't you?"

"Because I don't break my promises. Just don't worry about it."

"How can I not? Did he hurt you?"

"Kind of."

"Did he... force himself on you?"

"No. No, it's nothing like that."

"Then what is it? Cat, you're my best friend. You can tell me anything."

"You'll be upset that I didn't tell you."

"Then tell me now."

Cat sighed and looked at Ashley for a few seconds before her eyes caught Tori's. "Danny and I were together while you were still with him."

"...What?"

"I didn't know. When I found out, I broke up with him. He begged me not to say anything because he said Tyler's mom wouldn't let him see him if she found out. I didn't know he was even with anybody, but I especially didn't know it was you."

"Cat, that's... that's not your fault. He cheated on both of us, then..."

Cat nodded. "Yeah..."

"Well... for the record, I wouldn't have kept Tyler away from him. Just because he hurt me doesn't mean he'd hurt Tyler. God, I thought you were gonna say he was Ashley's dad."

"Ew! No, I never slept with Danny. Robbie's the only guy I've ever been intimate with. Robbie's definitely Ashley's dad."

"Well... had it been an option, Danny really is a good father. We don't get along, but he's good to Tyler and that's all I care about."

Cat nodded. "I know... I used to be jealous because I don't have my dad."

"He's watching you. You know that, right? He's so, so proud of you."

"Yeah... when she's awake, she just... stares into space. I swear she smiled this morning. I think he's playing with her."

"Maybe he's her guardian angel."

"I hope so. But yanno, maybe it's Chris. Chris was so excited about her..."

Tori gave her a sympathetic smile. "Well, she's got two guardian angels that love her very much, so she doesn't have anything to worry about. She's protected."

"Let's hope she stays that way and doesn't end up like me."

"Like what?"

"Pregnant in high school."