Chapter 132: Kids
Jamie and Eddie are again passed out asleep in bed with Jessie in her bassinet next to them when suddenly the door knob to their bedroom door begins to carefully and quietly turn from the outside. The latch clicks open and slowly the door cracks open to reveal Mia as she cautiously sticks her head inside. She surveys the room to see everyone asleep and she smiles.
She opens the door just enough so she can enter and quietly tip toes her way inside and up to the bassinet. She peers in and sees Jessie flutter her eyes open so the young girl brings a finger to her lips in a shhhhh motion.
Having no clue what that actually means, Jessie just stares at Mia fascinated.
Mia glances at her Aunt and Uncle to see them both still fast asleep so she turns her attention back to Jessie. She flashes the baby an even bigger grin then moves to pick her up out of her bed…
….
Eddie slowly opens her eyes and glances at the clock. She does a double take when she sees how late it is "How has she not cried for food." Eddie wonders as she lifts her covers off her body. She sits up, yawns, then gets up and walks to the bassinet rubbing her eyes with her hands trying to wake up but when she gets there and looks down to see the bassinet empty, first she freezes in surprise…
… then confusion…
…she could have sworn when she woke up Jamie was still asleep next to her so she looks back at the bed to indeed see her husband lying there on his stomach dead to the world.
She looks back at the empty bassinet and that's when the sheer panic sets in "Jessie!" She frantically calls out "Jamie! Get up! Jessie's gone!"
"What?" Jamie mumbles out still mostly asleep so Eddie rushes over to him.
"GET UP!" She demands as she gives him a shove "Jessie's gone!"
Jamie pops his eyes open "What do you mean she's gone?"
"I mean she's not in her bassinet and we're both here!"
Registering what his wife is saying, Jamie's heart begins to race as he scrambles out of bed to check himself and when he indeed sees his daughter is not where she should be, his own panic sets in as he and Eddie lock eyes and the next instant they are both bolting for the door. They throw it open and rush across the hall to the nursery to find it empty.
"You take right." Jamie instructs "I'll take left." so the couple hurry down the hall towards the stairs each checking the rooms on their side of the hall as they go.
"Clear."
"Clear."
"Nothing."
"Not here either." They communicate back and forth and when they reach the top of the stairs, they both run down them as fast as their legs can take them but when they get to the bottom they halt to a stop and each let out huge breathes of air in relief at the sight of their daughter in her portable car seat carrier set up next to Mia who is sitting on the floor in the living room with Reagan and Jamko lounging on the other side and in front of her. They watch as the young girl reads from the Disney book in her lap to the group around her – expertly playing the part of every character of the story she is telling.
If they weren't just so fraught with worry, they might have found it sweet…
Taking in repeated deep breathes of air trying to calm down and get their heart rates back to normal, Jamie and Eddie stock over.
"Mia." Jamie interrupts super unimpressed as he checks on his daughter to see her perfectly content "Don't ever do that again!"
Mia looks up confused "Do what? I'm just reading her a story and not to toot my own horn here or anything…" She boasts "…but I'm pretty sure she likes it!"
"Mia!" Eddie chides "You scared the crap out of us when we woke up and discovered she was gone!"
Mia's face scrunches up in even more confusion "She's not gone, she's with me."
"Yes well…" Jamie bites back in frustration "…we didn't know that!"
Mia looks at her Aunt and Uncle to see how visibly frazzled they are and she realizes what she did "Oh." She sheepishly states in understanding as an apologetic look appears on her face "Um, sorry." She offers in regret as Eddie looks at her daughter to see her just sitting there watching everyone in fascination.
"How is she not hungry?" Eddie queries in confusion.
"I fed her." Mia simply replies.
Jamie and Eddie both look back at Mia dumbfounded.
"It… it was okay I did that..." Mia slowly and now hesitantly questions "…right? I mean she was hungry and you were asleep so I used the milk in the fridge – that's what its there for right? And don't worry I did that whole warm it up and test it first thing."
Silence as Jamie and Eddie just continue to stare at her floored.
"I… I thought I was helping…" Mia slowly adds now rethinking everything "Was… was I wrong?"
More silence.
"You burp her?" Eddie suspiciously questions.
"Yes." Mia replies.
Another silence.
"Works for me." Eddie suddenly just accepts as she turns and starts back up the stairs.
"Eddie…" Jamie questions confused as he watches his wife walk away "…where are you going?"
"To pump milk and then back to bed." Eddie replies "You had Erin, Jessie's got Mia."
Jamie watches his wife disappear up the stairs then looks back down at his daughter and Mia "Huh." He breathes out in true realization that Eddie is right "Next time leave a note or something k?" he instructs his god daughter before he starts for the stairs too.
Mia watches him leave then looks at Jessie, Jamko and Reagan and she smiles "Now!" She happily quips to the audience around her "Where were we?" she inquires as she turns her attention back to the book in her hand.
…..
Jamie follows his wife into the nursery "Can you believe that?" he states in awe with a shake of his head.
"It's like we won the lottery." Eddie replies as she grabs her breast pump "Now walk me through this, what other kinds of things did your Mom get Erin to do?"
Jamie looks at his wife in surprise.
"Oh it's not like I'm going to just let Mia raise her." Eddie adds at seeing his look as she sets everything up "But she clearly wants to help and if her helping helps me keep my sanity you can bet your ass I'm gonna use her!"
But then Eddie pauses and looks up at her husband "How your Mom had 4 of you I'll never understand."
"Well like you just said, she had help."
"Right." Eddie agrees "So again, what kind of help was Erin? What did she help with? What did she do?"
"Picking me up from school…" Jamie begins to list "…helping me with my homework, making me dinner."
Eddie frowns "Those are all things when you were older, I want to know about when you were a baby."
"Well hmmmm…" Jamie begins in thought "…let's see…" he ponders as Eddie looks expectantly at her husband eagerly awaiting his answer before suddenly a look of disbelief appears on Jamie's face "What are you asking me for?" he throws at his wife "I was a baby!"
"Oh. Good point." Eddie realizes "You wouldn't remember. Call Erin." She then instructs "Ask her."
"Seriously?" Jamie deadpans.
"YES!" Eddie insists "And if you don't, I will!"
Jamie just stares at his wife.
"Fine. Give me your phone." Eddie then decides. "I'd get mine, but I'm a bit occupied over here."
Suddenly Jamie and Eddie hear Jessie start to cry so both look in the direction of the sound.
Beat.
"So what do you think?" Jamie inquires of his wife "Should I go see what's up or do we want to see if she can handle this on her own?"
"Hmmm…" Eddie ponders but the next second Mia's voice sounds from the bottom of the stairs "UM HELLO UP THERE? ANYBODY STILL AWAKE?" so Jamie sighs "Guess I'm going." He tells his wife before simply disappearing out the door "I'M COMING!" he calls to Mia.
"Excellent." Mia breathes out in relief as she watches her Uncle come down the stairs towards her.
"What's the probl…" Jamie begins but then his nose catches a whiff of something foul "Oh that."
"Yeah I'll change a regular diaper but I'm not touching that with a ten foot pole." Mia announces "All yours!" She quips before starting to climb the stairs "Reagan! Jamko! Come!"
Jamie watches Mia and then the pets walk past him up the stairs before he walks over to his daughter "Oh geez." He breathes out "I haven't even seen it yet and I can tell this is going to be a messy one."
….
Eddie looks up the second she sees her husband enter back into the nursery carefully holding Jessie away from him "Well so much for your second Mom idea." Jamie states as he walks to the change table "At the first sign of a little mess, Mia bolted like a perp trying not to get caught." He explains as he gets to work on cleaning his daughter up "I think we are just going to throw this outfit out."
"Really?" Eddie whines "I liked that outfit."
As a reply, Jamie gingerly holds up the soiled outfit displaying it for Eddie "You want to wash this?"
Eddie frowns "No." She grumbles so Jamie just drops it in the trash.
Silence.
"So she really just… turtled?" Eddie inquires of Jamie of Mia's actions but Jamie can't help but huff out a laugh "No she didn't turtle, she ran like a hare and took Reagan and Jamko with her."
Eddie heavily sighs in defeat.
"She is only ten Eddie." Jamie reminds her "I know sometimes she seem older but really, she's just ten."
"And how old was Erin when your Mom started to get her to do stuff?"
"Okay." Jamie admits "Maybe I didn't think that one through."
"But you're right." Eddie relents.
"Man, I love hearing that." Jamie interjects in satisfaction "It's so rare!"
Eddie shoots her husband a look "I'm serious. You're right. Mia is only ten. We can't really expect big things from her I mean she's still into Disney and fairytales and… and Santa! Wait she's still into Santa isn't she?"
"I think so." Jamie replies.
"So see, there you go, she's still a kid."
"Well I like to think we are all still kids at heart." Jamie points out.
"True." Eddie agrees "I mean Danny still calls you Kid."
"Huh." Jamie suddenly breathes out in realization as he thinks.
"What?" Eddie prompts.
"Does he?" Jamie questions "I'm trying to remember the last time he called me that – certainly not since she was born."
Eddie looks at her husband in surprise "Really?"
Jamie continues to think "I think so – granted haven't seen him all that much since we haven't been at work."
"Right." Eddie agrees as Jamie begins looking around on the change table "Less opportunity."
"Hey where did the diaper cream go?" Jamie inquires.
"It should be there." Eddie replies.
"Well I don't see it." Jamie counters.
"Look harder." Eddie presses.
"Oh there it is." Jamie notes.
"Told you." Eddie tacks on.
Silence.
"He'll still call you Kid." Eddie decides "It's too ingrained in Danny's DNA now to NOT call you Kid – kinda like me calling you Reagan – I'm surrounded by Reagans now but yet somehow I can't help it, I call you Reagan..."
"When I'm in trouble?" Jamie finishes.
"No." Eddie rejects "That's not the only time I call you Reagan."
"Yeah it is." Jamie insists "That's the only time you use that now."
Eddie scrunches her face up at her husband "Really?"
Jamie nods.
"Huh." Eddie breathes out "Yeah well you never call me Janko anymore!"
"Because Janko…" Jamie purposefully calls her "You changed your name to Reagan and I recall someone once saying she liked the name Eddie."
"So you're saying you don't like Jamie?" Eddie questions.
Jamie rolls his eyes "How did we get on this topic?"
"Kid." Eddie reminds him "It just kind of snowballed from there." She dismissively explains "Okay I think that about does it, I'm all milked out."
"Uhhhh…" Jamie hesitates as he looks at his daughter "You sure? She's doing the whole hand to mouth thing."
Eddie heavily sighs in defeat "Give her here…"
….
Jamie and Eddie are in the kitchen putting the pumped milk in the fridge when Mia walks up to them.
"Here you go." She announces as she holds her hand out to them "This is what it looks like."
"This is what what looks like?" Jamie inquires as he glances at her.
"My courtesy card." Mia explains as she gestures for Jamie to take what's in her hand "From now on if I take Jessie, I will leave this behind for you."
For a moment Jamie silently eyes Mia then reaches over to take the business card in her hand.
"I decided I'd model it after your courtesy cards." Mia easily explains as Jamie looks down and there on the little rectangular white paper in purple lettering reads
Hi Mommy and Daddy,
Don't panic I'm with Mia
and he can't help but huff out a laugh "Perfect." He accepts as he turns slightly and shows the 'card' to his wife.
Eddie looks over and reads as well but then she let's out a "Hmmmm… can you make it bigger?" she requests "We're usually pretty tired - might miss seeing something that small – and white."
Mia looks at her Aunt and frowns "Even with the purple?" She questions.
Eddie shrugs in deflection.
Mia's face twists and contorts in thought "Okay." She accepts as she bobs her head up and down mulling over that request. "Let me see what I can come up with." She adds as she takes the card back, turns and disappears into the formal dining room.
Jamie turns to look at his wife "You really wouldn't see that?"
"Of course I would." Eddie confirms as she lowers her voice a bit so Mia can't hear "I'm just getting her to use her imagination. I want to see what she comes up with."
"Oh." Jamie notes "I thought her modeling it after our cards was pretty good."
"She can do better." Eddie insists "I want her to think outside the box." She admits as she draws the outline of the rectangle shape of the courtesy card in the air with her fingers.
"But I like boxes." Jamie cheekily throws back.
"I know." Eddie admits with a flash of a smirk before she turns serious again "But one of the many things you taught me on the job is how important it is to think outside the box and if she wants to be a cop, she needs to learn to think like that too."
"Noted." Jamie agrees impressed.
A few seconds later Mia reappears "Do we have any chopsticks?"
"Ummm…" Jamie breathes out as he opens a drawer and shuffles a few items around "Here." He announces as he pulls out a set still wrapped in paper.
"Perfect, thank you." Mia quips as she swipes them up, turns and departs for the formal dining room again.
"Chopsticks?" Eddie questions.
Jamie shrugs "Guess we'll see what she comes up with."
….
15 minutes later Mia walks into the kitchen and deposits Jessie's mini Miss Minnie onto the island with purpose "There!" She declares "No way you are missing that!"
Looking over Jamie and Eddie see the mini Disney stuffy now holding up a 'flag' made using the chopsticks with a larger neon version of Mia's original card.
Eddie gets an impressed look on her face "No…" She confirms "No way I'm missing that. Thank you Mia."
Mia smiles happily in return at her success "Is she napping now?"
Eddie nods "Yes." right as Jessie begins to fuss over the monitor so a frown appears on Eddie's face instead "Correction… no." She amends as she looks at her husband "Why is she up? She's fed and changed."
"Because!" Mia eagerly jumps in with an answer "She wants to see how the story ends!" she decides "Here!" She adds as she swipes up and holds the mini Miss Minnie out to Jamie "Swap you one baby for another!"
Trying really hard not to laugh at Mia's enthusiasm and words, Jamie takes the stuffy and the second he does, Mia hurries for the living room, swipes up her Disney book and runs for the stairs "I'm coming Jessie!"
Jamie and Eddie watch her leave.
"Yup." Jamie sincerely confirms in awe a moment later "We totally won the lottery."
"Don't worry Jessie…" Mia's voice comes over the monitor "…I'm here so now where were we?"
Eddie looks at the monitor as Mia begins to read.
"Time for a bedtime story." Eddie suddenly decides as she swipes the monitor up off the counter and makes a beeline for a couch. She sits down, puts the monitor on the coffee table, grabs a cover off the back, lays down and covers herself.
Jamie tilts his head slightly in thought as he watches his wife's actions. The next second he makes a beeline for the other couch across from her and does the same – sits down, puts the mini Miss Minnie down next to the monitor, grabs a cover off the back, lays down and covers himself.
At hearing movement, Eddie cracks an eye open to see her husband settling in across the coffee table from her. Without so much as a word, she simply closes her eyes again and a silence between the couple follows – the only sound in the room is Mia's voice over the monitor reading and that's when it hits Eddie.
"Hey Jamie?" She prompts.
"Yeah?" He replies without opening his eyes.
"We gotta remember people can hear us over the monitor – especially when we go to your Dad's house."
"Oh. Right." Jamie notes "Good point."
Silence.
"Night." Jamie suddenly adds causing Eddie to chuckle a bit "Night." She returns.
Beat.
"We'll be lucky to get an hour." Eddie points out.
"30 minutes tops before Mia's running back downstairs disturbing us." Jamie corrects.
"I'll take it." Eddie accepts as they both drift off to sleep listening to Mia's 'bedtime' story.
...
A few minutes later the front door opens and Rosa enters. She stops short at the sound of her daughter's voice so she looks in it's direction and there she sees 2 sleeping forms on the couches.
She quietly shuts the door, turns and walks over to the couches. She looks at Eddie, she looks at Jamie and then she looks at the table and the monitor and the stuffy. She leans down to pick the stuffy up and when she reads the message on the flag she quietly laughs and shakes her head wondering what the backstory behind that is before she silently puts the Miss Minnie back down, turns and heads up the stairs to check in on Jessie and Mia just to make sure everything is a-okay.
...