Moving On

Baby

Kelly's POV

I closed the car door, holding Arielle's carrier tight in my hand. When I made it up to the front doorstep of Mel's house, I rang the doorbell. When she came to the door, I greeted her with a smile and a hug.

"How are you?" She asked, looking down at Arielle even though she was asleep. "She's adorable." Mel said, allowing me to come inside. "Thanks girl." I placed the carrier and the diaper bag on the couch, forgetting about her stroller outside.

"Mel, can you do me a favor and grab the rest of the things from the trunk?" "Sure." I tossed her the keys in which she walked outside to go get the stuff.

As Mel did this, I carefully took the baby out of her jacket, careful not to wake her. When Mel came back and set the stroller and the rocking chair to the side, she asked me if there was anything in particular she needed to know even though it wasn't the first time she's watched Arielle for me.

"Everything she needs should be in the diaper bag. There're four bottles already made. The breast milk is yellow capped and the formula is pink capped." I explained. "Okay," Melanie said.

"I think that's all." I giggled, slinging my bag onto my shoulder. I gave Arielle a kiss on the forehead before walking to the door with Melanie. We hugged before I walked over to the car. "You two love birds have fun, okay?" She said smiling. "Of course." I replied, opening the car door. "And always use protection!" She whisper-yelled.

"Ditto." "Tell Arielle mommy loves her!" I waved before hopping into the car. Melanie waved as I pulled off, then closed the door. As I did so, I couldn't help but notice the red Nissan Altima parked along the street.

It looked like Jacob's car, but why would he be at Melanie's?

Melanie's POV

Arielle was now awake and crying, and I figured she was hungry because she had just woken up. I can usually get her to stop crying, but the things I was trying just weren't working like they usually do.

"Do I hear a baby crying, or am I just crazy?" Jacob stopped in the middle of the stairs, looking over at me and Arielle. He just woke up from a nap and is already asking questions. He then came over and sat down beside me, looking down at her.

"Hey cutie." He said, poking her playfully. She latched her tiny fist onto Jacob's pinky finger, making him smile. "Who's baby is this?" He questioned, looking up at me. The look on my face was like are-you-kidding? Almost immediately, she stopped crying.

"Kelly's." I responded quickly. "I thought she looked like her. Her name's," He paused, thinking about it for a second. "Arielle." We said simultaneously.

"Can I hold her?" I nodded and put her in his arms. "She seems to like you." He smirked, "Everyone likes me." "Mmmph." I rolled my eyes playfully.

I handed him Arielle's bottle, but when he gave it to her, she didn't want it. "Finger?" He said in his baby voice. Her eyes were wide and open while she clutched onto his finger. Occasionally, she got drool on it, but he didn't mind.

When Arielle started to grunt and strain, me and Jacob both already knew what was up. "Here, I'll change her." I held my hands out for her, waiting for Jacob to hand her over.

"I wanna do it." I was taken aback. "Well excuse me," I joked as he got up, took her diaper bag, and walked up the stairs.

I just sat there, breathing in and out, out of boredom before I walked up the stairs and into my bedroom. I watched from the doorway as Jacob blew on the baby's bare stomach, making noises.

"All better." He smiled, tickling baby Arielle as he clipped her onesie.

~~~~~~~~

I laid back and watched as Jacob stroked the baby's hair, finding it adorable. She switched her head to the other side as she got ready to fall out. At this point, he was rubbing and patting her back softly, a way for her to relax and fall asleep. "She reminds me of Noelle when she was this little." He whispered, looking over at me.

"Yeah, she does." It really just hit me that our babies would be off to college in a few months. When I looked back down at Arielle, she was already sound asleep. I would be too if someone changed me, gave me a bottle, and rocked me to sleep.

"I'm gonna go take a shower." I said, sitting up on the bed. "Okay. I'll put her down in a few." I nodded before walking into the bathroom and grabbing a towel from the linen closet.

2 AM

I woke up, trudging to Arielle. It's 2AM and she's awake crying, something that I haven't heard or been around too much in a while. I picked her up and brought her downstairs, waiting on her bottle to warm up in the microwave.

When it was finished, I squeezed some out onto my forearm, checking it's temperature.

There wasn't much left in the bottle, but in worked with what I had. It stopped Arielle's crying for the moment until about ten minutes later. All gone.

With her still in my arms, I grabbed another bottle from the refrigerator. Pink cap. That was the last of the breast milk, which didn't last very long.

I warmed this bottle up and did the same procedure, only for Arielle to reject it. Almost immediately, she spit the milk up. Each time I tried to feed her the milk, she refused.

"Come on, Ari. You never act like this." I whined as she cried and cried, and cried. It wasn't until I Jacob came downstairs when I felt some type of relief.

"Aww, what's the matter with the baby?" He said, cooing in his baby voice. This made Arielle look at him for a second and pause, but she continued to cry. "What's wrong, Mel?" He asked. "She won't drink the formula milk and I ran out of breast milk."

"You can't get more?" I made a face, "I don't produce milk. I'm not pregnant or nursing." I shook my head. Maybe it's the sleep.

"Oh yeah. Let me see her and the bottle." He said, sitting beside me on the couch. When he first started feeding her, she had no problem. But then, things went downhill... Again.

"Alright, kid," Jacob said, putting the bottle to the side. "You want attention, you're gonna get it." I raised an eyebrow. What was he up to?

He whined and cried just like the baby, making her stop. "Fake tears, huh?" She was crying, but no tears were coming out. At all.

"Been there, done that. Twice." He commented. The look on her face eased up. It was no longer red while Jacob made silly faces. This made her smile.

"Such a faker." He said, shaking his head playfully. I followed them both up the stairs as he continued to talk to the baby.

He must've seen the look I was giving him, even though he wasn't looking directly at me. He laid the baby down, wrapping her up in blankets.

"I saw that, hater." He smirked and I scoffed, "You got me messed up." I replied, climbing back into the bed.