Hey everyone, sorry it's taken me ages to post an update. I've had some things going on and wasn't sure when I'd be able to get to writing, feel like writing much less feeling like updating. I hope everyone is doing well. I finally churned this update out because I needed a little bit of light and fluffy... i see is doing that annoying thing where it doesnt send notifications again. Sooooo hope you all see this update. 3 until next time.
"Good to be back at school?" Kaci asked smiling at Noah as he grabbed for her hand. He had walked to her house before school so that he could walk with her.
"Good that my punishment is over and I get to see you and Adam and Katie today," he smiled, "and I really missed football training; who would have thought!," he flashed her a grin.
"When are you allowed to have your phone back? Katie got mad at me last night and said I send too many snaps so we had a fight," she admitted.
"Aww, I'm sorry," Noah replied gently, "I think Katie might be a bit hurt because I knew what happened and was with you the entire time but you didn't tell her," he explained, "she's been a little funny with me too."
They walked along in silence for a second. He felt her inching closer. "Honestly I probably wouldn't have told you about it either if your Mom wasn't who she is. She made me feel safe, Trevor too."
"I know that, I'm glad that you could find comfort in my Mom and Da-Trevor."
"Its okay, Noah, you can call him Dad around me, that's between us and no one else, I won't tell anyone."
"Thanks," he smiled.
"Can I tell you some more news I have? You can't tell anyone else, though."
"Another baby?," she joked. She saw the smile fall from his face. "Wait, how did you know?"
Kaci laughed, "What? Are you kidding? Your Mom and Dad are adopting another baby!?, I was only kidding!"
Noah laughed with her, grinning from ear-to-ear. "We're not adopting, Mom is pregnant. We're having a boy, I'm gonna get a baby brother, isn't that insane?!"
"Oh my gosh! Noah that's so cool, I am so happy for you. Wait, you're happy right? I mean, take away the grossness of having to know your parents are doing it-," she blushed, wishing she hadn't made the comment out loud. Noah's face went red briefly too. He made a face.
"I'm pretending that never happened and you never made that thought cross my mind," he wriggled his shoulders like he got a bad case of the heebie-jeebies.
"I'm sorry, I'm so stupid, I don't know why I said that out loud, sorry, Noah."
"No, it's okay— I've never, ever seen my Mom so happy and it makes she and I closer too. I love that she's at home full time. I used to get mad and feel like she was avoiding me for work, but after that whole thing with Peter telling me about my biological Dad, we had a big talk about her past and about my Mom's ex that I kind of understand that it wasn't about me… you know?"
Kaci nodded. "Kind of like my Mom. I used to get so furious with her and be rude or mean because I was angry that she wouldn't take me and leave my Dad — but that one time she tried to intervene to protect me, he tried to kill her, so I understand that our Mom's do their best and sometimes it's not always perfect but they're trying."
Noah smiled as they approached school. He looked up and saw Ryan at the gate. He groaned. "Here we go," he muttered.
"Please just ignore him, Noah, please…"
"Benson, can we have a word?," he wanted to know.
"No," Noah replied. "I have nothing to say and I just want you to stay away from me and my friends."
Ryan sighed, Noah noticed a change in his behaviour — a little less confident and disappointed by Noah cutting him down. He glanced at Kaci, "Kace, could you please give me like… five minutes."
She stopped, staring at him to try to determine whether or not he was going to fight. "Its okay," he added, "I'm not gonna fight or even argue with him."
"Okay…" she murmured. She hesitated for a second before leaning in, surprising him with a kiss on his lips. He smiled at her and pulled her back toward him to try again. The second time was much better and he felt a sudden rush of feelings that hadn't hit him before. He grinned at her. "I'll meet you at my locker— your locker…"
"Our locker," she gave him a cute little smile as her cheeks went red.
"Okay," he smiled, the thrill of the kiss making him forget Ryan for a second. He watched her leave with a lingering stare before turning to Ryan, taking a few steps toward him, stepping out of the way of kids filing in to the school.
"Whats up?," he asked.
He shifted a little uncomfortably. "Your Mom tried to call my Mom a few times— I know she was trying to organise a time for you and her to come and chat with us."
"Yeah, your Mom didn't really seem too interested," Noah shrugged. "Its cool." In reality, it had bothered Olivia that Ryan's Mom was so rude and unwilling to discuss her son's behaviour toward Noah and Kaci and even more unwilling to have Noah apologise for fighting with her son.
"My Mom was pissed that you managed to clock me in my face a few times— but not with you, with me, for not being able to stand up for myself… for being a wimp or whatever."
"You're not a wimp, I guess I just managed to catch you when you weren't ready or expecting it. Bit of a dick move from me too. I actually am sorry and I don't even care if you make fun of me for apologising, but I don't want to be like you guys, I don't want to hurt anyone, not even you or Peter."
"I don't want to be like me or Peter either," he admitted quietly. "I'm really sorry for what we did, looking up shit about what your Mom went through and the stuff about your biological Dad. I'm really sorry about what I said to Kaci about Coach and what she went through —I didn't know exactly what had happened fully until after, but that doesn't excuse what I said…"
"So why do you say it? Why do you do all these things?"
"Peer pressure," he admitted, "I guess peer pressure and because I'm trying to take the shine off how shitty I feel about my own situation. Everything seems to just go so smoothly for you, you have the cutest girlfriend without trying, you just run on to the team and you're so naturally good— your Mom clearly is so successful and really gives a crap about you and then you get this awesome coach who is always looking out for you, who's fallen in love with your Mom and I guess it just hurts that I'm struggling all the time and you're life is so perfect."
Noah felt his face prickling with emotion. "I don't want to get emotional before the day even begins, but my life is not perfect, Ryan, my life has been everything but perfect but regardless my Mom is a good Mom and despite the hard things that has happened in our lives, she always encouraged me to be kind to everyone and you will get what you give. Do you really want others to hurt just because you're hurt?"
"I don't want to feel … alone."
"You don't have to feel alone. I don't want that for you either. I'm sorry your relationship with your Mom isn't great but that's not your fault… I don't want to be enemies, Ryan, I'd rather us be friends."
"I hate talking about this shit," he said, his voice thick with emotion, "its so stupid, I don't know why I'm crying." he was so close to crying that Noah could hear it in his voice.
"We don't have to talk about it here. Do you wanna hang out after school and kick the football around?"
"You'll probably tell everyone I'm being a cry baby and I don't actually blame you," he added, ignoring Noah's invite.
"No I won't. What you tell me is between you and me. You can trust me, I promise. We have about 45 minutes between the end of class and team training so I can hang out for awhile with you and we can kick the ball and talk properly and if your eyes water, so what…" Noah smiled.
Ryan dared himself to make eye contact, blinking back the film of water covering his eyes. It was one of the first times he had ever admitted how awful he felt to anyone. Noah's understanding only made him more emotional.
He held out his hand. They shook on it. Noah smiled. "Okay, I'll see you after school," Ryan agreed.
"I'll grab a ball from Coach on my lunch break and let's go to the junior field and we can walk across to the senior field when training begins," Noah suggested.
"Thanks Noah, I'll see you there."
/
"I have to ask," Trevor's boss, John Lattimore began, "have you been avoiding work because of the conversation we had the other day?"
Trevor took a seat and laughed lightly. "No, John, c'mon now, I'm not that petty."
John, his boss, with his greying beard smiled at him. "I know our conversation got heated last week, but I am glad that you've come back to chat. You and I have worked together for a long time, Trevor, both here at the middle school and high school and even the elementary campus— and we've raised through the ranks together, I don't want there to be any bad blood between us."
"I know, I know… but from my side of things John, as you've said we've raised the ranks together so you should know I would never put my job on the line. My duty of care is to all the kids and those kids did a number on Noah benson. You know me, I don't encourage violence or kids fighting and I love my football team, I wouldn't let anyone play who wasn't worth their spot on the team."
"Understood and I appreciate that, I actually went through the incident reports. I also spoke to his mother on the phone and there's a lot of hot air and blaming everyone else but her own parenting for that kid," he explained.
"That figures," Trevor rolled his eyes. "I appreciate that you have to follow up on stuff, John, but Olivia deciding to take what happened to Noah a little further is her prerogative. What Noah told her and what I was obliged to tell her as a parent with a child who had a head injury and destroyed personal effects at the hands of Peter Blasko, she was right to go and have a word to him or have her colleagues do so."
"Well I suppose we did exhaust all of our powers here at school and he didn't stop."
"Correct. My motto is always to hate the behaviour not the kid and Blasko's problem is his mother. I think his father has the right idea but gets steam-rolled by Mom."
"It was nice to see Ryan and Noah having a conversation outside of my office this morning before I brought them in here to apologise to one another."
"Really?" Trevor raised his eyebrow. "That's interesting." He sighed. "I hope there's a happy ending to this fight between them then," he added. "Because I'm going to be honest, Noah is going to be my priority. I will remain impartial when it comes to my team, but he is really important to me so…"
"I understand Trevor, and can I just say, I am so glad you've met someone and that you have a child on the way."
Trevor smiled, "Thanks, me too. Liv and I adopted a child and … she's also pregnant so, I was off with her because we had to check things out at the hospital, she's with her friend today, but I have to just be aware that she might need me."
"Wow! Is this kind of sudden? I didn't realise you and Captain Benson had been together for so long," he smiled. "It's nice to see you happy, Trevor, truly I mean that."
"Thanks," Trevor replied, "Lexi our adopted daughter was someone who came through the system at a pretty awful job and didn't have any parents, so we fostered her and then it worked out so well with Noah that we've motioned for the adoption and now we're receiving the finalisation of it next week."
"Oh, that's amazing," John replied — noticing that Trevor usually was a man who kept to himself who never ever shared his feelings; he understood from all that he had been through and had remembered him to be different before his wife's passing. Now, he was bright again, family and someone to go home to every day had certainly changed his disposition. Out of all of the teachers, Trevor Langan was one of the best, he thought, he was always patient and kind and successful in making all the kids feel important.
His misunderstanding of what was taking place at home — more than casually dating a student's mother made him realise that Noah was actually part of his family now. He couldn't be impartial so it had been prudent that Trevor had insisted that Noah was not to be in any of his classes, but rather only the football team.
"Yeah," Trevor nodded slowly, "she's a beautiful, resilient little girl. She has limited speech but I think she's catching up. She has a bit of abandonment issues so she doesn't like it when Liv, Noah or I leave her sight, but we're getting there… and now Olivia is pregnant," he laughed, "you know, its all kinds of crazy at home. I guess, Liv has been pretty sick and it just makes it a bit hard for her to manage Lexi… but she has a friend with her today. I'm actually thinking of calling my parents to come and stay for a few days to help out."
"And everyone gets on? Is Olivia's mother able to help?," he asked.
"Oh no," Trevor shook his head, "she doesn't have any family besides Noah and the family that she's made who… all work Shiftwork with her…but its fine, everyone is getting along just fine."
"Well, good luck with it, it sounds like you've got your hands full."
Trevor laughed, "Yep… anyway, Noah's starting back at training this afternoon. I've told Ryan he can also rejoin training but the jury is still out on whether or not the two of them deserve to play in this weekend's friendly game against McKinley Junior High."
"I'll leave that one in your capable hands," John replied.
Trevor got up and looked at his watch. "I'm off to get a coffee. Can I get you one?"
"Oh thanks that would be amazing," he replied. Trevor patiently took his order. "I'll bring it back on my way to my senior business class."
John thanked him and Trevor felt relieved that things had been smoothed out.
/
"Mama, Mama, Mama, Mama," Lexi twirled in circles, singing a little song to herself. Olivia watched on with a little smile despite how awful she felt. She could barely lift her head from the couch. "Mamaaaaaa, Mama, Mama, Dad-Dad-Dad-Dad-"
"Sweetie, Lexi, come over here with Mama," she reached her hand out. Lexi stopped and stared at Olivia, tucking her arm beneath the other as if to tell her no. "Come on, Mama feels a little sick, come and lay down before Uncle Sonny gets here…"
Sonny couldn't wait to come and spend more than a few minutes with Olivia and Trevor's new little girl and discuss her new pregnancy.
"No!" She furrowed her brows at Olivia.
"Yes," Olivia told her firmly, slowly easing herself up. "Come on, Mama will get you some milk and its time to have a little lay down and we can watch something fun together. Would you like to watch some Cocomelon?"
Lexi stared at Olivia before nodding with a smile. Despite her swishing stomach, Olivia reached for Lexi's hand which she finally took with some reservation. Olivia lifted her up, balancing her on her hip as she went to the fridge and took out a sterilised bottle and the carton of milk.
She prepared her daughter's bottle as Lexi watched on, Olivia setting her on the countertop and holding her with one arm, precariously balancing Lexi and also the bottle. She screwed the top on the bottle and picked her back up. "Do you need to go poopy before we lay down?"
Lexi shook her head, "No poopy."
"Okay, you tell Mommy if you need poopy okay?"
Lexi didn't answer her. They went to Olivia and Trevor's bedroom. Liv turned something soothing - a 12 hour aquarium that she discovered Lexi enjoyed watching for all its bright colours and relaxing music.
She laid her down on Trevor's side and got in to bed beside her. She handed her the bottle. "Okay sweetheart, we're gonna close our eyes for a little while." She didn't have to be told twice and Olivia was at least thankful for that— Lexi knew her bottle meant it was time to close her eyes. The blinds were drawn and the volume on the TV was soft. She faced her baby girl who she kept falling in love with over and over with every new milestone and began to stroke her hair, watching her drink her milk, the volume of it slowing down as she got sleepy.
"Sweet dreams, my darling, Mommy loves you so, so much," she murmured slowly. She picked up her phone, letting her drift off to sleep as she texted Trevor to update him.
"It's super early for an afternoon nap, but I am so exhausted and feeling so sick that I just have Lexi her bottle and she's falling asleep. Sonny is turning up at 1pm, so I'm trying to get half an hour nap in. I am really struggling today. I don't say that to make you feel bad, because I can do this, it's just so exhausting. Sonny will entertain her while I have a sleep though if the nauseousness doesn't go away before then. I love you have a great day and don't worry. I'm complaining but Im actually okay. I love you I love you I love you and Lexi loves her Daddy too."
She hit send and smiled to herself.
She saw that the bottle was about to fall from Lexi's mouth. She gently took it and smiled at her peaceful baby. She let Lexi stir for a moment. She opened her eyes and looked at Olivia before they closed again. She rolled on to her side, getting closer to her Mommy. Liv kissed her forehead. She set an alarm on her phone and let her own eyes close.
A little nap would have been great for them both.
/
After school Noah met Kaci at his locker which he was now storing some of her things in just to make it easier while she still had a shoulder injury. "Are you really gonna go meet Ryan? What if it's just a scam and he's there with his friends to ambush you?," she asked in a soft voice so that no one else could hear.
He smiled at her. "Its okay, I texted my Dad and let him know and he is actually going to just keep an eye out because I did think the same thing." He waited patiently for her to pack her school back, holding it open for her while she put her binder in and grabbed her math textbook for homework. "Is your Mom still picking you up?," he asked.
"Yeah, she and grandma are walking to meet me outside, Mom's gotta take it slow, she's still getting used to her body again… but it's nice to be able to have that time with her and Grandma."
Noah smiled. "Good, okay— do you want me to walk you out?"
"No, I'm alright…thanks Noah- for being so sweet," she paused, "I uh… I really liked kissing you today." Noah grinned at her. "Me too," he replied. "I'm sorry if its felt awkward and weird."
She shrugged. "Practice makes perfect, right?"
"Right…" he paused. "Do you want me to kiss you now?," he asked, wondering why she was staring at him with her adorable smile reaching her pretty blue sapphire eyes.
"Maybe?"
Noah smiled at her, placing a gentle hand upon her healthy shoulder and slid his arm with a bit more confidence around her waist. He leaned in toward her and kissed her on her soft, pink lips. She closed her eyes and leaned in to it. Noah let his mouth rest against hers briefly. He pulled away and then kissed her again, this time, trying to not be awkward, parting his lips a little. Surprising him was the very tip of Kaci's tongue grazing against his own. He tried not to react too eagerly, but it sure sparked something inside him that made him want to kiss her back just the same. From all he had read, it had instructed him to not be too handsy or kiss with too much tongue; just a slight bit was suffice- less was more.
He copied her motion and felt her arms around his waist as she kissed him back eagerly. He felt elated; successful finally in having his first proper mini-make out. It was giving him some kind of feeling he wasn't used to having and didn't really want to experience in the school corridors. He slowly and gently pulled himself back, closing his mouth an ending the kiss. Much taller than Kaci, Noah looked in to her eyes and smiled at her. He wanted to say something kind, not wanting to sound stupid or corny, but he really wanted to show her her liked her, not just that he was caught up in the heat of the moment. "I think you're the most beautiful person I've ever, ever met…" he murmured.
He watched a tiny smile spread across her slightly moistened lips. He felt a warmth fill him - a kind of happiness; like a cherry-on-top of all the good things that were happening to him after a few years of feeling lonely and as heartbroken as his Mom had been.
She wrapped her arms around him and drew him in for a cuddle. He closed his eyes and enjoyed having her that close. She tucked her head beneath his chin. He held her close for a moment and felt her sigh happily. Reluctantly she drew away after a few moments. "I better go meet my Mom."
"Okay," he replied. He held her bag for her, "are you gonna be okay carrying this with your shoulder?"
"Yeah," she nodded, taking it from him, wincing slightly as she slung it over her healthy one.
"Are you sure? You could leave it with me and when I'm done with practice, Dad and I could drop it off…" He really see that the weight of it wasn't very comfortable. "It won't be a problem, I promise."
"Yeah?,"
"Yeah, it's fine, leave it with me, take the books out and I'll put them in my bag." He paused and they quickly transferred the heavy ones to his own. He leaned over and zipped up his bag and handed her the shoulder bag back.
"Thank you Noah," she leaned over and kissed his lips briefly. "Text me when you're on your way over okay?"
"Sure…say hi to your Grandma and Mom for me…"
/
"How did you get so good at catching?" Ryan asked him as he gave all he could to knock Noah with his pass. Noah caught the ball with both hands, jumping a little. He couldn't help but to smile and shrug. "I've been working hard at it. Adam and his brother helped and Coach gave me pointers."
"You got really good…"
"Team-worthy?," Noah pressed. Ryan made his way over to him and gave him a shrug. "I guess with your speed and your size and the fact that you can catch — its looking good."
"So then why did you guys give me such a hard time?," Noah asked, "is it because I'm smaller than all you guys?"
Ryan shrugged. "It just seemed…out of the blue and I dunno… it was shitty of us, to be honest. Like I said earlier, you have this perfect life and then you walk on-"
"Wait," Noah stopped him, "who said I have a perfect life? You guys assumed something about me and its not fair and untrue." They headed back toward their bags. Noah picked up his and pulled out the bottle of gatorade that he had and watched Ryan reach in for a bottle of water with a few mouthfuls left. "Here… have this." He tossed the drink at his enemy-turned-something, he thought.
"No, wait, why?"
"Because you have like two mouthfuls left of your water. I have another bottle in here…" he pulled out another sports drink. He usually had one before and one after training.
"At least your parents care about you enough to make sure you have healthy food and drinks…"
"Oh," Noah smiled, "we argue about the gatorade. I'm lucky coach is on my side with that one." He paused, "But, I'm sorry that you feel like that about your Mom. I think… my Mom had a hard time with her own parent growing up so it's made her extra excessive with making sure I have the things that she didn't."
"I'll be that kind of parent too," Ryan agreed, dropping down on to the grass with his football. Noah took it as an invite to do the same. Now they were waiting for the rest of the team to turn up. "I wouldn't want any kids I ever have to feel like I do sometimes."
"Is there anything I can do to help?" Noah asked gently, "I mean-"
Ryan glanced at Noah, trying to figure out if he was being genuine or if he was just making fun of him. "What are you going to do to help my situation?"
"I don't know— there's a part of me that's afraid to offer something in case you think I'm looking for someone as a charity case, but I've been brought up to always offer what I have to help someone who doesn't have it… and to quietly let my Mom know so she could help too…I know that's not very cool but-"
"You say your life isn't perfect," Ryan replied, breaking eye contact, "but it sounds pretty perfect."
"It's not perfect and it hasn't been. I've never had a Dad or any family. It's just my Mom and I and she doesn't have any family either. She worked super long hours, sometimes I never got to see her for entire Christmas or birthdays or I'd have a nanny during vacations because of her job and I've always tried to understand that other people need her more than I do…and I'm good with that now, but I wasn't good with that as a kid. I got abducted by my biological grandma when I was younger and that took years to get over the anxiety of…"
"Seriously?"
"Yes…" Noah's voice trailed, "my Mom has had criminals use me against her, I've watched her get beaten and hurt when people came after her and me…" he paused, "and then she finally met a guy and he turned out to be an abusive piece of shit that hated me— he made good with us, promised us everything and literally left for another country without telling any of us and I had to watch my Mom go through that on her own and things were hard after that for so long until Coach stepped in to help with my grades because my behaviour slipped…"
"Oh…"
"I know it might not sound like a lot, but my Mom and I were always so close until that piece of shit came in to our lives. He made me feel bad about being so close with her and he made me change every thing that made me feel good about myself. He got mad at me for spending time with my Mom or kept trying to tell her I'd become gay if I didn't play soccer or football or a man's sport - or if she kept showing me affection… as if being gay is something bad."
"What a dick…"
"Yeah and then I had zero idea about my biological father until you guys threw it at my face and you have no idea what that caused between my Mom and I — I know she would have told me in her own time, but you guys blind sighted me with it and you have no fucking clue what it feels like to know you were conceived in violence and not with love."
"I'm sorry we did that. I don't want to blame Peter, but he did find it all and came to me with it… I actually did feel like it was too far, but you don't know that guy… no one says no to him and maybe I was a bit scared of what he'd say if I didn't want to join him."
Noah shrugged.
"And I have to be honest, Noah, a lot of babies aren't conceived with love. My Mom loves to tell me I was the unfortunate product of a one-night-stand."
"What's her problem with you?," Noah asked, "I wish parents that didn't want to be parents would just give their babies up for adoption… there are so many people wanting to be parents."
Ryan shrugged. "She just struggles with money and wants someone to love her. I think she wanted her life to be different." He fell silent for a second, "I know she loves me, she just struggles with her own mental health too and with money and everything else, she's not like a university educated woman like your Mom."
"Yeah but I bet she works hard too…" Noah remarked. "If you need something, I know it sounds lame but .. even lunch or something - or dinner, you can ask me, I'll never tell anyone, it'd be between us and not a single other soul…"
"Thanks Noah, that's nice of you but I'll be fine."
"Can we just cut the bullshit and be friends? I don't like feeling hatred toward people. Peter Blasko is a dick and I don't actually think you are."
"Yeah…" Ryan nodded, "I think we're cool now."
Noah smiled. "Now? I've always been cool…"
"Don't push it," Ryan laughed. "Anyway word is, Peter isn't coming back… apparently his Mom is trying to get him in to some private school…"
"Oh well, no great loss."
"They're just worried that the suspension he got from the team will limit his college options."
"No shit, it's not like he's smart enough for much else… he was always trying to copy from someone else."
Ryan couldn't help but to laugh because he knew it was true. Noah saw Trevor coming toward them with a bag of his training gear. "Is Langan a good guy outside of school?"
"Yeah," Noah smiled, lifting his hand to wave at him. "He's the best. Don't tell anyone but… he and my Mom adopted a little girl. I've had a new sister for a little over a month now, it's been pretty amazing. I always, always wanted to be a brother."
"Wow, how come your Mom keeps adopting?," he wondered, "is that too weird to ask?," he added.
"It's just that…" Noah paused and then shrugged, "Lexi, my sister, she kind of just showed up at the most perfect time. She and I have a similar backstory and she needed parents and Coach and my Mom just had this perfect opportunity so they took it… she's the cutest. I love her…"
Ryan could tell the way that Noah beamed talking about his sister, that he was genuinely happy about it. "Is she little?"
"She's about to turn 2…"
Ryan smiled. "My Mom's younger brother has a 2 yr old, he's pretty cool, I like hanging out with him and my Uncle."
"At least you have some family, I'm glad about that."
"Thanks… I'm glad that Langan is good and kind to you and your Mom after the other douche bag. But wait, tell me you don't call him Coach at home."
Noah laughed, "No, of course not… I just have to try to help him be as professional as he can at work."
"Hey guys, good to see you both getting along," Trevor smiled at the two teens sitting side-by-side who were chatting away looking a little serious. "But… you know I hate to see people sitting down on my field, so get up and help me set up some of this equipment, please."
Ryan got up with a groan and reached out to Noah to help him to his feet. "Thanks for the drink," he smiled, nodding at the half emptied red gatorade he'd been drinking.
"Welcome," Noah replied.
/
"Trevor just called," Sonny told Amanda as she let herself in to Liv's apartment. "He wanted to know if he should bring something for dinner home for Liv, but I don't really want to wake her."
Amanda kissed her husband softly on the lips. "Has she been sick a lot today?," she wondered. "Hi, by the way,"
"Yeah she was so unwell by the time I got here," he replied. Amanda reached out to the toddler that Sonny was bouncing around in his arms, starting to whine a little. "Poor thing, reminds me of how sick you were with Levi."
"I'll go wake her, she probably needs to eat something…" She turned to Lexi, "hi sweet heart, are you having a lovely afternoon with Uncle Sonny?"
Lexi stared at her for a second before smiling, "Yea!"
"Uncle Sonny?" Sonny gasped as if there was a hideous mistake. "More like…. Uncle funny!?" Amanda smiled but couldn't help rolling her eyes at her goofball husband.
Lexi giggled even though she might not have entirely got the joke.
Amanda passed Lexi back to Sonny and helped herself down the hall to Olivia's bedroom where she had hung out with her friend countless times in the past. She opened the door and made her way in. "Liv?"
She jolted awake before Amanda could say another word — a new parent side-effect, the ability to jump awake at the slightest noise or voice— usually a baby's cry. "Shit… what's the time?"
"Its okay, relax," she soothed her, "its just on five, but its fine, Sonny is still out with Lexi and Bella is at home with our kids, so don't worry, we've got things under control. Are you okay?"
"No, my stomach is just… fucked up," she groaned, "I can't hold anything down, Amanda. It's been three days and I've lost like 6 pounds, I thought I'm supposed to be gaining weight?"
"This happened when I was pregnant with Levi. It'll pass, Liv, I promise… maybe you need to have some protein or something though, if you're not getting enough nutrients in your diet—"
Olivia made a face. "I just want to eat…" she mumbled. "Anyway… I'll get up. Trevor won't be long now, surely."
"He wanted to know if he should bring something home for dinner for you."
She made a face and shook her head. "I don't want to eat anything."
"Poor thing, Liv… what about if I got you some crackers?"
"No, I really don't want anything. I just wanna see my baby, I guess, that might make me feel better."
She got up out of bed and followed Amanda back in to the living room.
"Ohhhhh, why are you sad my gorgeous baby? Mama is right here," Olivia forgot her gurgling stomach for a few moments and took her child from Sonny. She smiled at him. "Thank you so much for babysitting today…"
"You're always welcome Liv… we owe you a lifetime of baby sitting for everything you've done for the girls."
Olivia kissed Lexi's cheeks and cuddled her close. "Is there anything else we can do?," he asked, "would you like Amanda and I to get some dinner for her?"
"No, it's fine, I can manage. You guys have done so much, thank you."
Once her friends left she made her way to the kitchen with Lexi. "What would you like to eat today, my love?" She opened the fridge and looked for some left overs or for something quick and easy.
"Some potatoes?," she asked Lexi.
The toddler tried her best to repeat the words, "popos," she did love mashed potatoes.
Olivia smiled. "Okay, let's get you some potatoes. Mommy is going to put you in your chair and you can have some strawberries while we wait for the potatoes."
Olivia brought her highchair in to the kitchen and fastened her in it. She slid her tray over Lexi's lap and clipped everything in to place. She took out the fruit from the vegetable crisper and was so happy to see that Trevor had already hulled the storks and chopped them in to smaller pieces. He did tiny things that made life just that little bit easier.
"Here you go…" she put a small handful of strawberries in a bowl and placed them in front of Lexi while she grabbed the potato mash out of the refrigerator. She scooped out two large scoops and set it in the microwave. She wasn't a huge fan of prepackaged food, but she couldn't stomach cooking and she knew Lexi had to eat something, her bed time was usually not long after Trevor and Noah came home from training. Bath time and story time still had to be taken care of.
"Mama!" Lexi called. Olivia turned to her, watching her shove a couple of bits of strawberries in her mouth - red stains on her hands already.
"Yes? Is that good?"
Lexi nodded.
"Good baby, you enjoy that…" she went to the microwave to stir the potato and put it back for a minute or two.
/
"How did it go with Ryan?" Trevor asked, "you guys seemed pretty friendly at training, he even gave you some great passes."
"Yeah, I think we're good now," Noah replied, "sometimes I think people have a certain idea about you before they know anything about you. Maybe we had dumb ideas about each other, but I think its fine."
"Good… now…" he checked his watch, "I'm really sorry but I don't have time for you to stay for longer than just a second when you drop Kaci's books off, okay?"
"I know, Mom's not well. I'm just gonna run them up to her door and then I'll be straight back out."
"Good. Thanks Noah. Your Mom isn't coping very well being as sick as she is so… Grandma is actually coming tomorrow morning on the train and I'm gonna pick her up from Grand Central after I drop you off at school."
"Ohhh, cool. Will Mom get mad?"
Trevor wondered for just a moment that maybe he should have checked with her, but finally he shook his head. "No, I don't think she'll get mad… Grandpa will come and join her on the weekend but they're going to stay at my apartment since I still haven't found anyone to lease it."
"Oh ok… well, if they wanted to stay at our place, they could stay in my room and I could sleep on the couch, I don't mind."
"That's so sweet kiddo, but no, I think they'll need a bit more room than that," Trevor replied.
They pulled up out the front of Kaci's apartment and Noah, true to his word, rushed inside. Trevor picked him his phone and called Olivia.
"Hi honey, how are you going?," he greeted her, dropping his voice a little as he usually did whenever he heard her voice — he always spoke to her gently and meaningfully.
"Hey…" her voice trailed off, "I'm doing a little better now that I'm up… I'm just waiting for Lexi's dinner to cool down a little and she's eating some cheese and she just had some strawberries while she's waiting."
"What can I get you to eat? You can't not eat… anything you want, I'll get it or I'll make it."
"No, I really can't stomach much. I had some soda crackers and maybe I'll have a popsicle later."
"Okay but if you change your mind… I'm just on my way home, Noah had to stop to drop Kaci's text books to her. It's cute they're sharing a locker at the moment because of her shoulder damage. Her locker was too high so he's letting her keep all her stuff with his."
"And she forgot her books in his locker?" Olivia asked with a smile.
"No, apparently he was helping her load her book bag earlier and it was too heavy so he volunteered us to drop them to her after training because she had to walk home with her Mom and Grandma."
"Aww, why is he so sweet…" Liv breathed, "Honestly… he's a beautiful soul."
"Annnnd," Trevor began, "he and Ryan had a heart-to-heart and met up before practice to talk. I am so proud of him, Liv, he really just chose to be the bigger person here and it shows… I really just have such a depth of love and appreciation for this kid…" he sighed happily. "And I am guessing Ryan hasn't got a lot of stuff, you know? Given the reaction or lack of you got from his Mom… I think there's a lack of distinct parental interest."
"Yeah… I'll say," her voice trailed off.
"I didn't say anything, but I noticed that Noah gave him his bottle of Gatorade for training, I think that was nice."
"I love that he is so compassionate and kind but sometimes I get scared that they'll take him for a ride with that and take and take and he'll get nothing in return…" she admitted, "but… I guess its all about learning, right?"
"I know a certain someone else who has that problem…"
"Oh," Olivia grinned as she tested the mashed potato, "yeah but you give certainly as good as you receive…"
Trevor laughed, "Olivia… that's not what I meant," he chuckled.
"Mmmhmm sure. Okay baby, I gotta go and watch little miss eat her dinner and try to engage her for a little while."
"I won't be long, Noah's just coming now, we're about 10 minutes away. When I get home I will do bath time so you can sit down if you like… Noah is going to make some pasta and we'll see if we can get you to eat."
Noah got back in to the car and gave him a thumbs up. "I don't think I'll be eating pasta. See you when you get back though, love you."
"Love you too."
/
"Trev… can I ask you something a bit serious?" Noah began as they parked beneath the apartment block.
"Hmm, am I gonna need to put my serious hat on, or is it a Dad-son conversation?"
"I don't know… I feel awkward as heck bringing it up, but… I want some advice," he admitted.
"Okay, well you can always tell me anything and I promise I'll do my best to give you advice and not make you regret coming to me," Trevor replied.
"Well… I told Mom the other night that I'd kissed Kaci a few times and it was weird and awkward and I felt nothing," he admitted, "and she said that if the feelings weren't there then it was okay and that I shouldn't force it or try to trick myself in to those feelings."
Trevor nodded, "Yep, that's good advice from Mom…"
"I kissed her today when I picked her up from her place this morning and … it was finally nice."
Trevor found himself smiling, "Ah, so the skill kicked in, huh? Sometimes it can be weird and strange the first few times, I think even I told you that."
"Yeah… and then this afternoon when we were at our locker we kissed again and …" he averted his eyes, "she… used her tongue." He covered his bright red face.
Trevor had to hold back his laughter. "Okay… and was that a problem for you?"
"Oh, no… it wasn't a problem at all," he said very quickly. Trevor let go of his laughter.
"Okay, okay, I don't think you need to sound so eager," he placed a hand on Noah's shoulder and gave him a squeeze. "Listen, I'm very happy that you had a nice moment with Kaci, but you know what's gotta happen now, right?"
"What?"
"We're gonna need to start having some very different discussions, we're going to have to have a safe-sex discussion and maybe I need to talk to your Mom about that first."
"I don't need that discussion," he shook his head, "I'm not going to have sex with Kaci, definitely not…"
"Well maybe not yet… but I think it's always good to know what to do and be prepared because sometimes things escalate in a way that you don't mean them to and then… if you're underprepared there might be some bigger consequences."
"No, no… I didn't tell you for this reason…" he sighed, frowning. "I told you because…" he paused, "I feel like it's the wrong thing to do to go and rush to Adam and tell him details that are between Kaci and I, he would probably tell Katie and I respect Kaci too much but I wanted to tell someone because I was worried that maybe there was something wrong with me that I felt nothing about kissing this girl that I find soooooooooooooo cute."
"Okay," Trevor nodded, pulling back. "Well kiddo, I am really happy for you and there isn't anything wrong with you and even if those feelings didn't develop, that's okay too— but they did and it's exciting and a sign of you growing up that you had your first real kiss and that you enjoyed it. Congratulations."
"Thanks," Noah smiled, a little bashful.
"And I am really honoured that you wanted to tell me and that you knew that it wasn't the best thing to do to run to your friends and tell them something that should probably just stay between you and your girlfriend."
"Thanks," he said again.
"Come on lover-boy, let's go inside and see Mom."
/
Olivia gave her son and partner a hug and a kiss hello, happy to see them both after a long day. Noah disappeared almost immediately for a shower while Trevor greeted his baby with a big hug and a bunch of kisses before leaving her to finish her dinner.
"So, just quietly, your son got a kiss with tongue today," he told Olivia quietly, "and the sweet kid that he is, wanted to tell me because he was excited and knew he shouldn't be telling Adam about it because it's not the right thing to do…"
"What!," she hissed, "should I be worried?"
"Nah, I told him that he and I should have a safe-sex talk but that I'd be discussing it with you first and he was adamant that that was nowhere near what was going to happen…"
"I don't think that's where this is headed, but…maybe he might need a refresher," Liv told him quietly.
"You've already had the discussion?," he wondered. He was a little surprised.
"I talked to him about sex when he was 12, I gave him the full birds and bees talk and muddled through it with as little awkwardness as possible and bless him he had a thousand questions and my kid is too curious for his own good — or at least he was, so Uncle Sonny had to give a little top-up talk, but we spared the details…"
"Well, I don't want to speak out of turn, so if you want to give him that safe-sex talk, I'll leave it with you-"
"No, no… if you're comfortable, please, you do it, I can't answer questions from a male perspective, he needs to be given the full talk, Trev, condoms, respect, consent, emotions—everything, I don't want him to only be aware of the mechanics-"
"I will, I will, I promise. You're right though, I don't think that he's rushing to have sex, but he's old enough to be well-informed and I dare I suggest that if the state of his Health teacher's reputation is anything to go by, he won't be learning much in that class."
Olivia finally cracked a smile. "Surely it's not that bad…"
"That guy is so old I'm surprised he even remembers what sex is. Probably tells them that they have sex for procreation and that it's evil to do it for enjoyment."
They both laughed. "Now, listen, I think you should go and take a long, hot shower or whatever you need to do, I can finish up here with Lexi and bathe her quickly when while Noah works on dinner."
"What a team we are," she smiled. "But, I don't mind, I slept a lot of today. Sonny arrived just after lunch and I was asleep for almost three hours…"
"Yeah, but you should go have a shower, I know you don't get as much time for that kind of stuff right now. Just go take 20 minutes for yourself, love, its alright."
Olivia leaned over him and kissed his mouth softly. "Love you." She relented and turned her heel to head off down the hall, pausing to kiss her baby.
/
"So wait, does Olivia know I'm here?" Georgie asked Trevor, "she might not want me in the house, honey," she added. She hoped that would never ever be the case, but she was still just getting to know Trevor's partner and a few things had made her wonder if Olivia was bothered by her interference the last time they'd visited her and her husband.
"Don't be silly, Olivia loves you guys, she will be nothing but grateful to have another set of hands around, I promise." He smiled at his Mom. He looked at Lexi who was in her stroller. He had told Olivia that he was taking Lexi with him while he had the morning off to give her some time to herself.
When he left she was a little sick, but still managed to get up and start taking out some food to prepare meals for Lexi and pulling something out for dinner, optimistic about perhaps being able to eat. She had a doctors appointment later in the afternoon after a workmate from the medical examiners office had suggested that she could take some anti-nausea meds to combat her morning sickness.
"It's so nice to see you, honey," Georgie spoke to Lexi as they made their way to Trevor's mustang. "When we get to the car Grandma is gonna give you a big, big, big cuddle!"
Lexi grinned at her, pulling the pacifier from her mouth. She waved and mumbled at her. "What did you say, baby?" Trevor asked. "I didn't hear you." Lexi tried again, Trevor, Liv and Noah had become experts at deciphering what she was trying to say. "She said hi Grandma," Trevor told her.
"Hi my sweet baby!" Georgie greeted her. She leaned down and kissed Lexi who wriggled around trying to free herself from her stroller.
"No sweetheart, you have to wait until we get outside," Trevor told her firmly, placing his hand over her chest. "Stop wriggling about, okay?"
Lexi glared at him with a frown. She began to cry.
"Oh, Trevor, come on, I can take her…" Georgie went to intervene.
"No, Mom, she has to learn a little patience. I don't want her to think she can do this and get her way the second she gets in the stroller," he told his mother firmly. "She has to wait," he said more to Lexi than Georgie.
They got out to the car and Trevor loaded the trunk with a small suitcase that belonged to his mother. He turned to his daughter. "Thank you for your good waiting, sweetheart, now grandma can take you out of your stroller and have a cuddle before you go in to your car seat and we go home and see Mama."
Georgie took Lexi out of the stroller and gave her a big hug and a kiss. Lexi seemed happier but became grumpy again once she was strapped in to her car seat. "She's starting to really hate being restrained or told she can't do something," Trevor told his mother with a laugh.
"Yep, I remember a certain little man that protested very loudly," she teased.
Trevor smiled. "It's a new experience," he told her, "this being a Dad stuff, we were certainly thrown in the deep end."
"It looks good on you, honey, I don't think I've seen this kind of happiness on you in many years…" she was careful to not say the words she wanted to say in case he took offence.
"Since ever… And I feel terrible saying that, but…" he paused for a second before forcing the words from his lips, "Olivia and I have hit this groove where life is kind of comfortably mundane and just beautifully ordinary and I've never been happier or more fulfilled."
Georgie touched his arm and smiled. "That makes me very happy for you, Trevor. I think while I'm staying though, I could babysit and you could try to take Olivia on a date or some time for the two of you. Despite how quickly you've both settled in to one another's lives, you should take advantage of the excitement of still being reasonably new and in love and enjoy that."
"Thanks Mom… I actually think if Liv is feeling good maybe one night this week, I'll take you up on it. We haven't had a proper date out really since…" he thought about it, "I can't even remember, truthfully. Since we started seeing one another, maybe."
"Well, then you both really deserve it…" she smiled at him patting him on the shoulder.
Once they arrived home, Trevor passed Lexi over to his Mom and grabbed her bags from the trunk. The toddler was asleep, the car always proving to be relaxing despite her initial fight against being strapped in. "She's exhausted, she barely slept last night," he told his mother, "we think she's having nightmares and she doesn't always sleep very well… and neither do we," he added with a little chuckle.
"Poor sweetheart," Georgie murmured, kissing her warm forehead and running her hands softly through Lexi's golden curls. "You know, Trevor, she could pass for your biological child…"
He smiled and shrugged. "Liv said that actually, but I don't care… If she was green and had black hair, Id still love her the same," he replied, not wanting anyone in his life to get caught up on biology or try to make his little girl fit a mould.
"Sorry," his Mom apologised, "I didn't mean anything by that," she said quickly.
"Its okay, come on, let's go see Liv…"
/
Olivia was on the couch in her pyjamas with her hair half-up, upon her head, half of it fallen out of her topknot. She was trying to stomach some dry cereal, eating honey cheerios one by one without milk. "Hey baby," she greeted Trevor, glancing up.
"Hey sweetheart," he replied, "I have a visitor with me…"
Her eyes widened in shock. "Are you serious?," she asked, quickly feeling about for her hair, almost dropping the bowl of cheerios.
"Relax," he said quickly, realising she suddenly became self-conscious. "Its okay, you're fine as you are…"
Georgie appeared from behind him, holding a sleeping Lexi. "Oh, sweetheart…" she murmured, laying her eyes upon Olivia who looked a little gaunt and pale. She passed Lexi to Trevor who went to lay his baby down.
"Georgie!" Liv exclaimed, smiling but her smile quickly turned to tears as Trevor's mother gave her just enough time to engulf her in a warm hug. "I'm so glad to see you," she admitted through her tears. She loved Trevor's Mom and just how warm and gentle she was; exactly like her son.
"I'm glad to see you too, sweetie," she pulled away, smoothing Liv's hair. "You poor thing, you are so pale."
"I feel so awful," she breathed, "I'm so miserable and I want to be happy about the baby…"
"I understand," Georgie smiled weakly at her, pulling away. She wiped away her tears. She understood from what Trevor had told her that Olivia didn't have a mother and no one to turn to for maternal warmth or guidance; she had all but made the decision to step up to that to whatever degree that Olivia allowed her to and it became immediately apparent that Olivia needed someone. "I'm here for as long as you need me to be, I'm going to help out with Lexi during the day and get to know my beautiful grand babies and my lovely daughter-in-law if that's okay with you."
Olivia sniffed and nodded, reaching up to wipe her tears. "I'm sorry that I'm so emotional."
"Don't ever be sorry for being emotional, sweetie, you're pregnant, you're a new Mom again, you're hormonal and you're doing it largely on your own while Trevor goes to work and Noah is at school… you're allowed to have emotional days, especially when you're not well either."
"Hey," Trevor greeted Liv, "I just put baby down for her nap, I have to go to work soon, do you want me to come to the doctors appointment with you?"
She shook her head, "No, baby, you go to work, I'll be fine. Thank you for bringing your Mom here," she smiled through her glassy eyes. He leaned over and kissed her forehead.
"I would have been here a week ago if I knew," Georgie interjected.
"Thanks Mom, we appreciate it so much, Noah is gonna be excited to see you too."
Georgie smiled. "I'm looking forward to seeing him." She turned to Liv, "I can come with you to see your doctor if you like, or I can stay home with Lexi if that's easier for you- I'm here for whatever you need."
Olivia smiled and wiped her eyes, feeling Trevor playing with her hair, sitting on the arm of the couch on the other side of her. "Thanks Georgie… I'm really happy you're here." She turned to Trevor, "Thanks baby, your Mom is the gift I didn't know I needed."
Georgie grinned, "I'm so glad, I was anxious when Trevor told me that you didn't know I was coming…"
"Oh no, you're always welcome, always, all of you—please don't ever worry. The apartment isn't huge, but our place is your place."
Olivia hugged her again and Trevor felt grateful that he'd made the right decision.
/
Olivia came from her bedroom wearing a pair of tights and Trevor's NYU sweatshirt that she had all but claimed as her own. She felt cosy in it and she still made him wear it so it smelled of him. It was such a comfort that she felt silly for indulging but still loved to wear it anyway.
"Are you sure its okay to leave Lex with you?," she asked Georgie who pulled a tray out of the oven with oven mits. Whatever she was cooking smelled amazing. "What are you making? If my stomach didn't feel so bad I'd be in to that…"
She showed Olivia as she put the glass casserole dish on a chopping board. "Its a chicken, broccoli and rice casserole with a cheesy top…"
"Oh maybe I can force some down because it looks so good, Georgie…" her voice trailed off. She glanced up at Trevor's Mom. "Thank you for cooking…you didn't have to."
"I love to cook, sweetie," she told Liv, "it's actually one of the things that brings me so much happiness and helps me relax."
"Okay but please don't go buying any food, you let me know and I'll buy whatever you need."
"Firstly, stop worrying so much and secondly, it is absolutely okay to leave Lexi with me. When she wakes up, I'll give her a lil milk and change her diaper and organise a fruit snack for her."
"Thanks," Liv smiled. "I find that if you give her the milk while you're changing her diaper it stops her from trying to escape… she might tell you that she wants to go to the potty, we're doing number two's in the toilet at the moment if you want to use that…"
"Of course, don't worry Liv, I promise to text you if I need anything. I babysit for Sadie and Chloe all the time."
"Oh, I know… I just don't want to burden you."
Georgie waved her hand, "This is me getting to be grandma, not a burden," she replied. "Good luck at the doctor. You let me know if you need anything."
Liv thanked her and left to go to her appointment.
