The teacher's baby

30.

Hayden

When I get out of the bathroom, I get met by William's voice calling out to me. "Hayden!Come and play with me!"

I look over to the couch where he is sitting with two stuffed animals in his hands.
Where did they come from?

Mr Nelson is there too, but he is standing next to the couch.
They are both staring at me, which makes me feel a little uncomfortable, but I still decide to walk up to them.

William jumps up from his seat and rushes over to me. "Here! You can have Olly if you want." he says,"Or Dizzy. Whichever you'd like."
He holds both his stuffed animals out towards me, with a big smile on his face. Even though it's a nice gesture, I can't help but feel intimidated by it. It's probably because I'm still confused and don't really understand what's going on. I mean, things were normal when we came home, and now it's like THIS.
"Or if you have your own toy, you can play with that one. You have a stuffed elephant, right? What's its name?"

"Grayson" I blurt out without hesitation.
I immediately put a hand over my mouth out of pure shock and embarrassment as I realize what I've done.
But wait, how does William know about Grayson?

"Ooooh... Grayson is a cool name!" William exclaims. "You can bring him if you want. Then, you and me, and all of our stuffies, can play together. Even Daddy can join if he wants to. Right, Daddy?"

He turns his gaze towards Mr Nelson, and I automatically do the same. I guess that I'm just too used to Mr Nelson calling himself daddy so that whenever I hear that word now, I instantly associate it with him. I'm not proud of it. But it is what it is.

"Yes, of course I can join you." Mr Nelson says. "But William." He adds, but now, with a more serious tone in his voice. "If Hayden doesn't want to, he doesn't have to. Okay?"

I look at William, and his happy expression immediately changes to a frown. "Yeah, I know..." he says with a childlike tone in his voice.
Even though I find this absurd, I get no chance to really process and react to what's going on because Mr Nelson instantly puts the attention back on me again.
"So, Hayden." He says calmly.
"What do you say? Do you want to play with William?"

This is actually an easy question. The answer is either yes or no. But getting put on the spot like this makes me nervous for some reason. I guess that I'm afraid of making the wrong choice. I just don't want to make them disappointed. Especially not Mr Nelson.
Plus, William and I have made some good progress today, and I don't want to ruin that. 

So, if you look at it that way, the right choice would be to say yes.
I mean, what's the harm? It's just the three of us here. No one else is around to see whatever we are doing. And I won't be the only one making a fool out of myself because William is playing with stuffed animals, too.
And now that I think about it, it's been a while since I spent some time with Grayson, so now would be the perfect time to take the chance to do so.

"I'll be right back..." I say under my breath and scurry over to the bedroom without shooting them a second glance.

I pick Grayson up from his spot on the bed and hold him close to me. His scent and his warmth make me feel all fuzzy inside.
Before going back, I even consider taking the pacifier with me, but I stop myself from doing so. That would be going overboard. It would be too much. I get flustered just thinking about what that scenario would look like.

When I return to the living room, William's face lights up, and he sits down on the couch again and motions for me to sit down, too. I walk over there, but Mr Nelson takes me by the arm and stops me from sitting down. "It's better if you two play in the nursery, or..."
He lets go of my arm and moves the coffee table away to the side.
"... you can play right here." he says and points with his hand towards the carpet that is placed between the TV and the couch.

I immediately sit down on the carpet, and William follows right after. It may be hard to believe - I can barely believe it myself - but it doesn't feel awkward at all. We just start to play, like it's the most natural thing in the world. We begin by introducing ourselves and our stuffed animals to one another, and then it's on.