“Thank you so much for the food, Malachi,” Reggie said, eyes turning toward me. “So you and Sierra, huh? And you don’t care at all that she’s pregnant?”
Sierra slapped Reggie on the ass. “Reggie!”
“What?” Reggie asked, looking at Sierra worriedly. “It’s a legitimate question. This is a big deal. And though you may not see that, it is. Like for real. You have an innocent little baby that’ll depend on you for everything here soon. I like Malachi, but I need to know if he’s going to protect you.”
“I’d protect her with my life,” I said to the woman in front of me. “And no, the pregnancy doesn’t bother me. Not at all.” I paused as I thought out my next statement. “I feel kind of like this baby was my idea, you know? Like I played a part in her conception. I feel like this kid is mine, even if it’s not really.”
“You do?” Sierra said, voice soft.
I looked at her.
“I do,” I confirmed, my eyes completely on hers. “Would you have done it had I not told you to?”
She thought about that, her tongue darting out to lick her lower lip, then she slowly shook her head. “No.”
“Exactly,” I said. “If it hadn’t been for my encouragement, I think you would’ve waited. But, saying that, I’m thinking of this baby as mine, now. It’s been a few days at most since we’ve decided to do this. I don’t know about you, but I feel like it’s been something for years.”
Her eyes were wide.
“This isn’t really the place I foresaw us doing this, but yes, I feel like that, too,” she whispered huskily.
“It’s the hunger. It does weird things to you.” Reggie laughed.
My eyes flicked to hers. “How’s Dare?”
Her eyes lit up.
“I’ll let Sierra tell you!” She clapped her hands. “She’s with him today.”
Sierra was with Dare every shift. Though Reggie was his mother, it’d been decided that while they were at work, Reggie wouldn’t provide Dare care. A, she wasn’t going to be the one to have to deal with the worst if the worst ever became a possibility, and B, Reggie needed to be productive at work. Having her own kiddo to care for might make that not as possible.
“He’s a little wiggle worm today.” Sierra smiled. “He’s pulling off wires left and right. And, as of today, he’s officially off any breathing machines. He’s doing it all on his own.”
I grinned wickedly. “Can I feed him yet?”
“Nathan hasn’t even done that.” Reggie snickered. “Though not for lack of trying to get him to. He’s just a scared little bitch.”
That caused all of us to burst out laughing, and eventually, even more of the nurses and doctors came in and grabbed a few bites to eat before heading back into the NICU.
I had fifteen minutes left in my lunch when Reggie asked, “You want to come in and hold him?”
I looked at Reggie with surprise. “Can I? I don’t have much time, though.”
“Sure!” she said. “Just wash up real good and grab a gown.”
So that was what I did.
And I even got to feed my first baby… ever.
“Oh, this is so going in his baby book.” Reggie smiled at the photo. “Daddy is a wiener and won’t feed his baby a bottle, but scary Malachi can and did.”
“I heard that!” Nathan rumbled from the front of the room.
I’d seen him come in. I’d also laughed my ass off inside when those words had slipped from Reggie’s mouth.
Sighing because I really did need to get back to work, I slid the bottle free of Dare’s mouth and placed it on the table next to the glass box that the ladies kept calling an incubator.
“Do I still have to burp him?” I asked as I looked down at the baby in my arms.
He was getting bigger. Much bigger than the first time that I’d seen him.
Though he was still small as fuck. He was about the length of my baton at this point.
“Yes,” Sierra said, not bothering to look up from her chart.
“Yes,” Reggie said from across the room where she was changing the bed linens of another patient.
So that was what I did.
Using the entire stretch of my hand, I propped Dare’s head and most of his body up using my fingers and carefully tapped him on the back with two fingers.
I was actually kind of terrified.
Which was what had Sierra laughing.
“A little harder, honey. You’re not going to break him,” she urged.
So I moved up to three fingers and patted him slightly harder, but not too much.
I didn’t care what she said. I wasn’t beating this kid on the back when he felt so tiny and fragile in my hands.
Seconds later, it came as a rather large surprise to hear him burp so loud he could’ve done a grown man proud.