Note:I've changed it so that Rach is only five months. Seems like I made a miscalculation.
Don
"I shot a kid today, Dad" I confessed. "She was about to kill her twin"
"You did what you had to do"Dad told me gently.
"She was only seventeen" I continued. To think that if I had gone elsewhere to grab a bite to eat, the other twin would have been dead. It never got easier. No matter how much training, or how many times I'm told that I did the right thing, the guilt sunk into me. This job really got under my skin!
Dad and I talked some more, and as always, I felt better afterwards. Natalie didn't come home until like midnight.
"Sorry I'm late" she said as Dad kissed her. "On the way home, I saw an injured dog."
"As long as you're home in one piece." he said, and offered. "It's late. Why don't you stay over, Don. The sofa bed's got an inflatable matress." Natalie had bought it because the guest room became a nursery.
"Though you might not get much sleep...Rach still cries" Natalie said.
"Not like before" Dad said quickly. He didn't like me to drive late at night.
"Before she left the womb?" she joked. Sometimes I got the feeling that Natalie was annoyed at my and Charlie's visits.
I decided to stay, if only to help out with the baby. She cried several times, and I was the first one to get to her.
999999999999999999999
In the blink of an eye, Rachael turned eleven months! Of course, Dad began to plan a party for her first birthday. He always had the best ones when me and Charlie were little, despite the occassional mishap, like the time he hired a mobile petting zoo to come to the house; a goat started to eat mom's roses, and an escaping rabbt hopped on my cake. Mom made up for that by letting me have extra ice cream. I vaguely remember a baby crying from riding a pony, but I don't know if that was Charlie, or some cousin.
I thought about what to get her as I went to pick up the kid from the sitter. Dad and Natalie were to go to some show they got free tickets to thanks to a client of Dad's. I guess the private sector has some advantages.
Rach and the sitter's kid seemed to be fighting over a toy, while pulling it and screaming. Quickly, I took the toy away, picked up my sister, thanked the sitter, and took her to my place. Gina, my girlfriend of a few months, came over and cooed over her.
Around eight, Natalie called.
"Hey! We're at intermission and I was wondering how you guys were doing?" She always liked to call in if she had to leave the baby with someone for a long while.
"I feed her a while ago, and she's going to bed soon."
"Great! Thanks!"
We made small talk about the show, and it was time for her to go back.
A few days later, I went to see Dad at his office to pick at his expertise, but just as I got in, I heard them arguing about Dad's plans for Rach's first birthday party.Quietly, I left before they could see me.
TBC
a/n- the next chapter will be longer and better.
