Chapter 57: Reality Check
Jamie is in his office when his cellphone rings "Reagan." He answers.
"Lieutenant." Sid greets.
A smile plays on Jamie's face "Captain." He cordially returns.
A moment hangs in the air a both men note the accomplishment of their promotions but then Sid clears his throat "Not a social call." He continues getting right down to business "Where are you?"
"In my office." Jamie replies.
"Okay just got a call from the Warden at Otisville. Manny Ruiz is on his way to St. Benedicts. He's been beat up pretty bad."
Jamie squeezes his eyes shut and cringes "What happened?"
"Don't know for sure but if I had to guess…"
"Munoz." Jamie deduces.
"Yup." Sid confirms "And I figured you might want to be the one to tell his wife."
Jamie sighs "Yeah, I'll take care of it."
"I'll let you know if I get anymore information."
"Thanks Lieu… Captain." Jamie corrects before hanging up and heading out of his office. He sees Danny at his desk "Come on." He instructs as he gestures for him to follow him as he heads for the breakroom "Hey Eddie." He softly greets as he rounds the corner to see his wife resting on the couch.
"What's up?" Eddie replies – her eyes still closed.
"You're gonna want to get up." Jamie reluctantly tells her as Danny walks into the room.
Eddie pops her eyes up "What happened?" She demands.
Jamie sighs "Manny is on his way to St. Benedicts. He's been beat up pretty bad."
Eddie groans and slowly sits up "Oh no."
Danny frowns "Please tell me it's not who I think it is…"
Jamie nods "Likely Munoz."
"God this guy is like a cockroach you just can't get rid of!" Danny spits out "How the hell did this happen? The guy is in freakin' solitary!"
"I don't know." Jamie admits "But we need to let Rosa know… and let her decide if she wants to tell Mia…"
Eddie nods "Okay let's go."
….
Jamie and Eddie walk up to Rosa's apartment door. They exchange a look as Jamie lifts his hand to knock.
A few moments later, Rosa appears with a baby who is not Elena in her arms feeding him a bottle. "Hey!" She greets in surprise as she steps aside letting them in "What are you doing here?"
"Um Rosa…" Jamie begins "We need to talk…"
A look of worry immediately appears on Rosa's face "What's wrong?"
"Manny's been beat up pretty bad…" Jamie explains "He's on his way to the hospital."
Rosa's look of worry turns to fear.
"I can take you there." Jamie offers.
Rosa looks down at the baby in her arms "I… I can't…"
"Sure you can." Eddie finds herself saying. "I can look after this one. It will be good practice."
"But um… its not just Ben here." Rosa states "I have Elena and a toddler – Sammy – both currently napping."
"Oh um... well… I can handle it." Eddie reassures her.
"Eddie no offense but I can't just leave these children in your care. Their parents entrusted me…"
"Hey!" Eddie chides as she moves to take baby Ben from Rosa "Did I or did I not look after your daughter just fine for 4 weeks huh? I've got it covered." She insists "Now go!"
"Okay but when he's finished his bottle you have to burp him." Rosa begins to explain.
"Got it." Eddie confidently reassures her.
"Then its time for his nap and by that time Elena should be waking up and…"
"Rosa go!" Eddie instructs "If I need help, I have a village I can call. Jamie…" She instructs as she knocks her head towards the door.
"Come on." Jamie gently prompts as he opens the door.
Reluctantly, Rosa grabs her purse and phone "Call me if you have any questions."
"I'll be fine." Eddie insists.
Eddie watches Jamie and Rosa leave. Once they are gone, Eddie looks down at the baby in her arms and smiles "Hi I'm Eddie."
She continues to smile at the baby watching as he finishes the bottle then when he's done, she lifts him up onto her shoulder to burp him but a moment later she realizes she needs a burp cloth and she quickly looks around but it's too late as the baby spits up on her blazer jacket "Right." Eddie sighs "Won't make that mistake again."
Eddie looks around and sees an empty bassinet. She moves to lay baby Ben down into it then moves to the kitchen to grab a cloth, wet it and wipe the spit up off her.
Then she hears a familiar cry. She smiles and moves in the direction of the sound "Well hello Lanie girl!" Eddie greets as she walks towards the little girl.
"Who you?" Eddie hears a child's voice say.
Turning Eddie sees a little boy on a mat with a pillow and blanket rubbing his eyes.
"Dee!" Elena squeals as she holds her arms up to Eddie.
Eddie laughs as she lifts Elena up into her arms "I'm Eddie, or Dee." Eddie greets.
"Where Mrs. R?" the toddler questions.
"She had an emergency and had to step out." Eddie explains as Elena lays her head on Eddie's shoulder.
"Dee." Elena contently repeats.
Sammy looks at how comfortable Elena is with Eddie and shrugs in acceptance "K. I gotta go potty."
"Okay." Eddie accepts.
Sammy looks at her expectantly "Help."
"Oh." Eddie realizes "Um… yeah… sure." She hesitantly adds as she goes to put Elena back down but the baby doesn't like that idea and clings to Eddie.
"Na." Elena rejects.
"I gotta go!" Sammy pleads.
"Okay, okay." Eddie accepts as she decides to just keep Elena in her arms and help Sammy at the same time "Let's go." But once they enter the bathroom, Eddie quickly realizes she can't do both so she sets Elena down on the floor and moves to help Sammy.
Elena isn't exactly thrilled at being let go but she spots the toilet paper on the roll dangling down not to far in front of her so she reaches over and grabs it. When it starts to unwind, her eyes go wide in glee and she just keeps pulling.
"Okay, there we go." Eddie satisfactory states as she helps Sammy go to the bathroom. "Now we wash your hands." She instructs when Sammy starts to giggle.
"What?" Eddie questions "What's so funny?"
Sammy points behind her at Elena.
Eddie turns to look and her eyes go wide "Elena! NO!"
Startled by the forcefulness of Eddie's voice Elena starts to cry.
"Okay no, no don't cry." Eddie tries to soothe as she moves to remove the crumpled up toilet paper mess from around Elena and take her into her arms but having her new 'toy' removed from her hands only makes Elena cry more.
Suddenly Eddie sees Sammy walking past her to walk out of the bathroom "Whoa, where are you going? Wash your hands."
"Me can't reach." Sammy explains.
Eddie sighs in defeat completely missing the fact that there is a stool for him to use… "Okay come on, I'll hold you up." She offers before looking around trying to decide where to sit Elena. She sees the tub and decides that should be a safe place so she sets her down then lifts Sammy and holds him close to the sink but then realizes she can't turn the tap on or pump some soap into his hands so she puts him back down, turns the water on, lift the soap bottle squirts some into his hands then lift him back up so he can wash his hands. She and Sammy are almost done when Eddie hears the sound of bottles being knocked down behind her. Turning, Eddie sees Elena is dumping the shampoo bottle off the shelf and into the tub.
"No, no Elena." She pleads as she sets Sammy down and quickly turns the water off. She moves to grab the bottles away from Elena before she figures out how they open and scoop Elena up into her arms.
When Eddie turns back around Sammy is gone.
"Sammy!" Eddie calls in a panic as she hurries out of the bathroom searching for him. She finally finds him in the kitchen trying to open the fridge.
"Hungry." Sammy states as baby Ben starts to cry.
Eddie hangs her in defeat. She sooo did NOT have this… so she does the only thing she can. She pulls out her cellphone and dials a number.
"Eddie." Maria answers.
"HELP ME!" Eddie pleads "There's three of them!" She whines "And I can barely keep up with one!"
"Okay, Okay…" Maria soothes as she looks at Danny across her desk to see him looking quizzically at her "The cavalry is on the way." She promises as she starts to get up and beckons her head for Danny to follow.
"Hurry." Eddie whines before hanging up.
"What was that?" Danny questions
"Eddie." Maria states "I'll explain on the way."
…
Eddie had put Elena in the playpen and had quickly grabbed a cheese string from the fridge and was about to hand it to Sammy when suddenly she pulls her arm back in alarm "Wait! Do you have any allergies?"
Sammy looks at Eddie confused "Huh?"
"Are you allergic to anything?" Eddie presses "Dairy, nuts, olives, onions?"
"Um no?" Sammy slowly replies still not quite understanding.
Eddie struggles with what to do. Does she take this toddler's word for it that he's not allergic and give him the cheese string or does she play it safe, put it back in the fridge and have the child throw a temper tantrum.
Eddie again pulls out her phone and sends Jamie a text.
"I want cheese!" Sammy whines.
"Hang On." Eddie placates as she types
Ask R if Sammy is allergic to anything. Want to give him snack.
A moment later she gets a reply Allergic to nothing.
Sighing in relief, Eddie hands the cheese string to Sammy.
He takes it but then immediately hands it back "Open."
Eddie rolls her eyes in realization. "Right." She states as she quickly takes it back, opens it and hands it back. Sammy happily takes it and goes to sit down and eat while Eddie moves towards a still crying Ben "What's wrong buddy?" She begins but as she gets close her nose picks up a scent "Oh that." She states "Okay. Gotta change a diaper. I can do this." She decides as she looks around for supplies. "Um must be a change table somewhere." She deduces as she picks Ben up and begins to walk towards the bedrooms but suddenly stops and looks back at Sammy. "Don't move." She instructs "Seriously. Do NOT move from that spot!" She commands before disappearing down the hall. She finds the change table and lays Ben down on it she then looks around for supplies and sees 2 different size diapers "Right because different babies at different ages need different diapers." She realizes as she pulls 2 diapers out and looks at Ben "And which size are you? No answer? Shocking. Okay well let's take your pants off and see what you got on." she decides.
Eddie goes through the process of removing Ben's pants and when she does she realizes the bands on the different size diapers are different so she can easily tell which diaper to use.
"Okay see. I can do this." Eddie confidently decides.
She goes about the process of removing the soiled diaper and cleaning Ben up when she hears the door open and close in the living room "MOM I'M HOME! Mia calls "Hi Elena, Hi Samm… hey what are you doing?" Mia's voice chides "Get down from there this instant! You know you're not supposed to climb that!"
"MIA!" Eddie calls in a panic "What's going on in there?"
"Aunt Eddie?!" Mia calls back in surprise.
"YES! IS EVERYTHING OKAY?"
"IT'S FINE!" Mia calls back "WHERE ARE YOU?"
"CHANGING BEN!"
A moment later, Mia walks into the room holding Sammy's hand as he walks in beside her "Where's Mom?" She inquires but a second later her eyes go wide, she drops Sammy's hand and leaps to grab a cloth on the second shelf of the change table before reaching up and tossing it over Baby Ben's little winky.
A moment later, Eddie and Mia both see the cloth turn wet.
Mia sighs in relief "You gotta watch that with boys." She explains.
Eddie blinks her eyes and just looks back and forth between Ben, Mia and Sammy "Oh. Right."
Eddie watches as Sammy turns and is about to walk away but without even looking at the toddler, Mia's hand reaches out and grabs his hand "No." She rejects "You stay right here." She instructs before once again addressing her Aunt "So where's Mom?"
"She and your Uncle Jamie had to take care of something last minute so I'm filling in looking after these monkeys."
"There are monkeys?" Sammy questions in excitement as he starts to look around "Where?"
"She means you silly." Mia explains before looking at Eddie and then back at Ben in curiosity "You ever actually change a diaper before?"
"Um no." Eddie admits.
"Alright, let's see how you do." Mia decides "You gotta learn sooner or later so show me."
"Wait, so you have?" Eddie states in slight surprise.
Mia looks at Eddie like she just asked the most stupidest question in the world. "I'm 10 and my Mom runs a daycare service, of course I know how to change a diaper."
"Oh. Right." Eddie accepts as she reaches to begin the task.
"Uh huh okay good." Mia mutters as she watches "Okay no, move that a bit over." She instructs.
Eddie goes along following Mia's instructions and when she is almost finished, her cellphone in her pocket rings "Can you see who that is?" Eddie prompts to Mia.
Mia reaches into Eddie's blazer jacket pocket to pull out her phone to see Maria's name displayed "Aunt Maria."
"Okay answer that for me okay?" Eddie requests.
"Hi Aunt Maria!" Mia greets.
"Mia?" Maria questions.
"That's me."
"Oh you're home."
"Yup. Just in the nick of time too!" Mia laughs "Or Aunt Eddie would have gotten an unwanted face wash because she's changing Ben's diaper but don't worry, I saved her. What's up?"
"Ah." Maria notes in understanding "Well I wanted to let her know we were on our way to help – she was a bit overwhelmed - but we're stuck in a traffic jam."
"Oh okay…" Mia accepts "I'll let her know but it's okay. I'm here now. I got it under control."
Listening to only half the conversation Eddie suddenly realizes how grown up Mia sounds.
Maria laughs "I bet you do. We'll see you as soon as we can."
"K." Mia accepts before hanging up and sliding Eddie's phone back in her pocket again "Did Sammy get his snack?"
"I gave him a cheese string." Eddie replies.
"Okay come on then." Mia instructs the little toddler "I'll get you your apple slices and juice too."
"YAY!" Sammy happily exclaims.
Eddie turns her head to watch Mia and Sammy disappear from view. She shakes her head in awe, finishes getting Ben redressed then picks him up to walk back out into the living room to see Mia in the kitchen cutting up an apple with an apple slicer. She pulls out a plastic bowl, puts a few slices in the bowl then hands it to Sammy who takes it and moves to sit in his little chair at his little table.
Eddie then watches Mia grab a cartoon of apple juice from the fridge, pick up 2 plastic cups and carefully fills each cup one quarter full. Once done she picks up one cup then moves to fill the rest with water before securing a sippy cup lid onto it. She walks to Sammy and hands it to him "Here you go."
"T'ank you!" Sammy sings in appreciation.
"Well I'm impressed." Eddie admits in awe.
"What?" Mia questions as she moves back into the kitchen to grab the juice and put it back in the fridge.
"When did you grow up?" Eddie seriously wonders.
"I'm just helping out." Mia deflects with a shrug as she picks up the second cup and does the same thing – filling it with water and securing the lid.
"I swear it wasn't that long ago I was handing you glasses of apple juice." Eddie points out "And why are you diluting it?"
"Too much sugar." Mia simply explains as she walks over Elena "They'd be bouncing off the walls if we didn't dilute it, this way they still get the taste but its better for them."
Elena looks over at Mia walking towards her "MeMe!" She exclaims in delight.
"Yup, it's me." Mia confirms with a smile as she hands the little girl the cup.
"Huh." Eddie notes "Good to know."
"You should put Ben back down for his nap now or he'll get cranky." Mia points out as she walks back to the kitchen.
"Oh. Right." Eddie realizes as she moves to put him in the bassinet again.
"Are you hungry?" Mia then asks as she picks up a cloth puts some soap in it and washes it under the tap "I can make us sandwiches or something."
"Done!" Sammy sings so Mia squeeze the water out of the cloth and walks to Sammy. She holds it out to him. He takes it, wipes his hands and holds it out to Mia.
"Face too." Mia reminds him so Sammy pulls the cloth back and wipes his face.
"Good job Sammy." Mia praises when he's finished and she takes the cloth back.
"I big boy!" Sammy proudly states.
"Yes you are." Mia commends "Want to play with your trucks now?"
"Yes pwease!"
"Off you go." Mia states giving him permission so Sammy gets up and moves to a corner of the room set up as a play area.
All this time Eddie just stood there watching and she can't help but think - here is Mia, a ten year old girl in complete control of the situation whereas she, Eddie, an adult and mother to be was completely lost and flailing around – what kind of a mother would she actually make and panic starts to set in. Her breathing comes quick and shallow and her heart starts to race when she come to the conclusion – not a very good one.
"Aunt Eddie?" Mia questions in concern as she looks at Eddie "Are you okay? You don't look good."
"I… I think I need to sit down." Eddie breathes out as she shakily reaches for the couch.
...
