"Hey, Keegan," Camille greeted the two month old sitting in his carrier under an umbrella next to a lounge chair.
"Say hey to Camille," Kendall instructed reaching over and waving his brother's little arms.
"Hey, Camille," a teeny tiny voice said.
"Did he just? No, that can't be. He's only two months."
"It was me." Logan popped up behind her. "You still on for the double date tonight with Kendall and Jo?"
"Kiss and Tell 2. Already got the tickets." She pulled four pieces of paper from her back pocket.
Logan plopped down on the lounge chair on the other side of the carrier and brought Camille with him.
"Oh, Baby Keegan!" All three Jennifers squealed at the same time. They knelt down to play with him.
"Oh good, I found you." Mrs. Knight walked out of the lobby all sweaty in her workout gear. "I have a date tonight."
"With Mitch?" Kendall asked. "You're giving him a second chance?"
"And that's where you come in. I need you to watch Keegan."
"Can't. Logan and I are double dating."
"With our girlfriends," Logan quickly added.
"Sorry, Mrs. Knight," Camille said.
"It's fine. I'll find one of the other guys."
Luckily the two people she spotted upon entering 2J were James and Carlos.
"What are your plans for tonight?" She asked the boys.
"I think Lucy said something about seeing the movie Kiss and Tell 2. Not really her type of movie, but we'll probably just be—" James stopped when he realized who he was talking to.
"Alexa's working late and with the guys going on dates I'll be here waiting for her. Why?" Carlos asked.
"I got a date tonight."
"With Mitch?" James asked.
"You need someone to watch Keegan," Carlos surmised.
"Yes and yes. Don't worry, we're not going to a movie, James."
"Are you two getting back together?" He asked.
"I don't know." She crossed her fingers. "I hope so…I think."
"OK, there's a bottle in the fridge. He needs to be fed in an hour. He already had his bath so no need for that. Don't forget to burp him. Diapers and pajamas are in our room," Mrs. Knight rambled on to Carlos that evening.
"Is he coming to pick you up?" Kendall asked coming into the room dressed in a nice shirt and jeans for his date. "I'm picking up Jo and meeting Logan and Camille in the lobby."
"We're meeting at the restaurant and I need to go now before I'm late and he thinks I stood him up. Um, Keeg doesn't have a set bedtime, but he usually gets sleepy about 8. Just play with him and he'll let you know when it's time." She grabbed her purse and made for the door. "I guess that's it."
"Baby," Kendall muttered opening the door.
Jennifer looked down at her arms.
"Oh!" She handed her son to Carlos. "Now, that should be it. James is out with Lucy. Kendall and Logan will be out with Jo and Camille. Katie's somewhere around the Palm Woods. I'll be out with Mitch. You have our numbers in case you need one of us. I'm not sure what time we should be home, but I shouldn't be too late."
"Mom, Katie's on a date, too."
"Not that make-out movie?" Carlos asked.
"I don't think so. Not her thing. Too much kissing."
"We shouldn't be out too late," Mrs. Knight repeated hesitating by the door as her son walked through.
"Go on. Have fun," Carlos urged.
"OK. OK. OK. Well. OK. Yeah."
"Mom?" Kendall put his hand out for his mother which she slowly accepted.
"OK. OK. I'll see you later."
Carlos closed the door behind Kendall almost dragging his mom to the elevator.
"Looks like it's just you and me, kid, until Alexa wraps up filming for the day." His girlfriend, Alexa, was an actress and a spy, though he was beginning to think her acting work was just a cover-up so no one would suspect she was a spy.
Keegan gurgled at the announcement.
"Excited, are ya?" He looked at the baby in his arms. "What would you like to do? I don't need to feed you for another hour. I think Mrs. Knight just changed you so you don't need that. Um, play? What do you play with? You're too little for video games. But, you could watch me play. That wouldn't be much fun, would it? Oh, so your type of fun is spitting up, huh?" Carlos stepped into the kitchen and wiped the drool from Keegan's mouth with the nearest towel he could find. After doing so he laid Keegan on the baby blanket they kept spread out next to the playpen and near the orange couch just for the baby. "All right, well, I've never had to entertain a baby before. No, that's not true, but when Nina was born I was just six. I guess I could put you in the playpen and start dinner but I don't want it to be cold when Alexa gets here. You know I talk about her a lot. That's because I love her." Carlos's eyes widened. "I mean, um, good thing she's not here. I've never said that before. She's my first serious girlfriend. I've dated other girls mostly just one time dates like Sasha and each of the Jennifers, but I've never had a long term girlfriend before. I'm not just with Alexa so I can say I'm in a relationship. I really do love her. She's cool and fun and hot and sweet and funny and I can just be myself around her. Not too many girls appreciate me being myself since I can be sort of…I dunno…crazy. But, that's okay, right?" He rubbed Keegan's belly. "Being crazy is fun. I'm not crazy-crazy, I just like to do things like jump into the pool from the roof of the Palm Woods. It's okay for me to do that but you better not! I don't want to see you get hurt! You know what else is cool about Alexa? She's a spy!" Carlos's eyes darted around the room as if there were other people that could hear him. "Yep, just like in the movies. We helped her on a mission once when we got caught up with Sharky's at the Tween Choice Awards. That's how I met her, you know. That guy was trying to brainwash people into only wanting macaroni and cheese. Weird, huh? Yeah, and somehow we were involved because we filmed a commercial that included the brainwashing thingamajig. I like mac and cheese but I wouldn't want it to be the only thing I ever ate. I wouldn't get to eat corn dogs. I love corn dogs. When you're old enough and eating adult food you'll have to try one. I'm sure you'll like it. You might even fall in love with them like I did. I don't know how you couldn't. They're just so…" Carlos trailed off. "Darn it, now I want a corn dog! But, we're not having corn dogs for dinner. I'm making Alexa spaghetti because it's easy to make. I was going to try for something harder but then I got stuck, I mean, I ended up babysitting you so I changed my mind. Corn dogs are easy to make, too, but I can't just make her corn dogs all the time. I'd love it, but I'm not sure she'd find it 'romantic.' Besides, both Mama Knight and Alexa and Logan even tell me I need some variety in my diet, something about being healthy and making sure everything balances out or something. I don't know. Don't get me wrong. Alexa doesn't harp and nag and tell me what to do all the time. She's pretty easy-going." He smiled down at Keegan as the baby sucked on his fingers. "Good, huh?"
"Do you think I should make a salad with the spaghetti?" Carlos asked as he fed Keegan his dinner.
Sucking down the formula, Keegan sat in his carrier on the kitchen table and just stared at Carlos as if to say "what do I know? I'm just a baby."
"I don't know if spaghetti is enough. I would make garlic bread or something but we don't have any," he sighed. "I've told her time and time again she can just come right on in," he said when he heard knocking on the door. "Come in!"
"That smells good." After kissing Carlos hello, Alexa checked the pots on the stove containing the pasta and the sauce. "Why don't I make a salad while you finish feeding Keeg?"
Carlos winked at Keegan.
"So Mrs. Knight deemed you ready to babysit Keegan?"
"What do you mean 'deemed me ready'? I'm perfectly capable of taking care of a baby."
"I'm sure you are. Have you ever done it before?"
"Um, I babysat Katie once."
"Was she a baby?"
"No, she was twelve and James might have been with me." Keegan's coughing brought Carlos's attention back to the baby. "Oh, are you okay?" It was a light cough. "Don't be sick, don't be sick."
"It's okay, 'Los, babies cough. Sometimes milk goes down the wrong pipe or something. If he stops he's fine."
"Are you really okay?"
Keegan responded by continuing to suck on the almost empty bottle.
"How was filming today?" Carlos asked his girlfriend.
"You know, the same. Nothing exciting. Ran through a few scenes."
"I'm sure you did great." He got up to kiss her and check on the food. Keegan had finished his bottle so he placed it in the sink.
Shortly thereafter the couple sat down to a nice dinner of spaghetti and salad. Carlos thought it was better than going out. He could be alone with his girlfriend. With Keegan there it even felt like a little family.
Woah. Did he just have that thought? Did he really want a family with Alexa? He didn't know and tried shaking the thought out of his head.
The tiny yet loud wails of Keegan brought Carlos back to reality.
"Oh my gosh, is he okay?" Carlos asked worriedly. He jumped up and put a hand on the baby's forehead. "No, not hot. He just ate so he's not hungry." He peeked at the baby's diaper. "Nope, no need for a diaper change. What do I do?"
"First, you stop panicking," Alexa came over and rubbed his shoulder. "And second, I'll see what's wrong with the baby."
Carefully, Alexa picked up Keegan from his carrier and started walking around the room. She had just stepped toward the dome hockey when he let out a rather large burp.
"There you go. You just forgot to burp him, Carlos." She patted Keegan on the back and a minor burp came up along with a bit of formula. "Baby's spit up sometimes," she added at the horrified look on Carlos's face as he handed her a towel to clean up. "You're so cute." She pinched Carlos's chin while still bouncing Keegan up and down.
Alexa sat down on the orange couch and Carlos joined her looking forlornly at the forgotten food on the table.
"You really have no idea how to take care of a baby, do you?"
"I—I—" Carlos's face fell. "No."
"This is good practice for when we have one of our own one day."
Carlos coughed.
"I want to have ten or twelve."
Carlos coughed harder causing Alexa to laugh.
"I'm just kidding. I don't know how many I want to have, but I'm busy with my career right now so they'll have to wait."
Carlos nodded as he got up to get a drink of water. He stopped drinking when he heard the baby cough, locking eyes with Alexa.
"He might have a cold," she said.
"Oh gosh, what do we do?" Carlos began to panic. "We can't call Mrs. Knight. I don't want to interrupt her date."
"Calm down, Carlos," Alexa spoke soothingly.
"I can't calm down. Keegan is sick on my watch!" He snapped his fingers. "I know. We'll call Logan!" He didn't mind interrupting Logan's date.
"We probably just need to give him some cough medicine," Alexa suggested.
Carlos had already picked up his phone and dialed Logan's number.
"Carlos, I'm on a date," Logan said a bit perturbed into the phone.
"Keegan's sick!"
"OK, call the doctor or Mama Knight."
"But you're—you want to be a doctor so I thought—"
"If it's serious he needs a doctor, Carlos."
"It's a cough, just a cough. He has no temperature."
"Everyone has a temperature."
"OK, Lo-gan. He doesn't have a fever."
Logan gave Carlos instructions on giving a 2 month old cough medicine and told him next time to consult with a doctor.
Keegan screamed when Carlos came at him with a syringe full of cough syrup, the fake cherry flavor. Alexa sat on the couch holding him but he kept turning his head so Carlos couldn't get the tip in his mouth. In one particular loud screech Carlos was able to squeeze the sticky red liquid into the baby's mouth.
Carlos collapsed on the couch next to Alexa glad to have that ordeal over. She put her arm around his shoulders as the baby snuggled into the two of them. She kissed him and after he kissed her back, he kissed Keegan on the forehead. Maybe he could handle baby-sitting….maybe.
.O.
Later that night, Jennifer walked into a quiet apartment. Quiet except for the sound of the end credits of a movie rolling on the TV screen. Asleep on the couch, intertwined in each other, with the baby somehow in both adults' arms, were Carlos, Alexa, and Keegan. It was such a cute image she had to take a picture and although it was too good to break up she just had to put Keegan to bed.