Scömìche One Shots (*PG-R*)

Baby Talk (Part 2)

Guys, I'm a fucking idiot and posted a draft of this that literally just said " ' ".  Thanks for calling me out or I wouldn't have noticed. Well, here's the real thing 😁 I know this is way out of order in the book from part 1 but they're not that connected so it doesn't matter what order you read them in!

Mitch groaned when he heard the happy babbling from the crib and covered his ears with his hands, trying to fall back asleep. His movement didn't go unnoticed and she shrieked incoherently, banging on the bars of the crib to get his attention. He sighed and forced his tired body to scoot to the opposite end of the large bed where he had moved Rose's crib to, scooping the baby into his arms and setting her on Scott's empty side before pulling the covers over them and cuddling her to his chest.

Of course, he didn't expect her to let him sleep now that she was awake and bored but he also wasn't expecting her to take a fistful of his hair into her tiny hand and pull, giggling when Mitch screamed and tried to pry her fingers out of his locks. "OW! Really, Rose? I just wanted a nap, baby" he whined, checking his time on his phone and surprised to see that it was already 7pm. He pulled up a game on his phone and handed it to the antsy baby, snuggling her to his chest again as she tapped away aimlessly at the pretty colors on the screen.

He wrapped his arm around her and buried his aching head in his pillow. It was almost night and he was still in bed after an awfully timed nap, and guilt started creeping through him as he realized he hadn't taken Rose outside of the house in two whole days. Caring for a child by himself was exhausting, but he shouldn't have let it get so bad that they were waking up from naps at 7pm and not leaving the house for days. It was wrong to keep her cooped up, even if she was way too young to care. Scott used to either walk her around the neighborhood or take her to the park daily, no matter how tired or busy he was.

Mitch felt awful and decided to get them out of the house. Was he really so bad of a parent that he would fall apart and start neglecting their daughter when Scott wasn't around? That was unacceptable and he was incredibly disappointed in how lazy he had been the past few days. He got the two of them dressed and settled her into her carseat, handing her a warm bottle of milk while he tried to decide where to take her. He popped in a CD of nursery rhymes and smiled into the rear view mirror when Rose babbled along, trying to make noises similar to the ones she was hearing as he drove them out of the neighborhood.

He decided to go through a Dairy Queen drive through and get them a sundae, pleased with his idea when Rose squealed in the back seat at the mention of ice cream. He balanced it on the passenger seat as he drove them home, parking the car in the garage before scooping her up and taking her to the porch, setting her on his lap so they could watch the sunset together. He pointed out all the colors in the sky while he spooned the creamy dessert into her mouth, bouncing her on his knees when they both fell silent after a while.

He leaned back into his chair and pulled her back to his chest as he tried to coax her into finishing the rest of the ice cream once he'd had his share. He tried to airplane it into her little mouth when she refused and after a few minutes of him trying she stubbornly knocked the container out of his hand and spilled the melted cream onto both of them. He sighed and picked the carton off the floor, setting her on his hip and sliding the porch door shut behind him before heading upstairs, the cranky baby in his arms whining into his ear. She was sticky and tired and getting upset and Mitch couldn't wait to get her into her crib for the night. He felt heavy and didn't think he could handle her for much longer tonight.

As he cleaned her up and got her ready to sleep, he couldn't help but get frustrated at himself. He had meant to take Rose out but instead had just strapped her into her carseat and taken her through a drive-thru, their whole excursion lasting less than an hour. She was tired and cranky and he was putting her to bed again just hours after her nap without anything exciting happening in between and he hated himself for it. She needed to be entertained and played with and although she seemed to be pretty happy, Mitch felt as if he hadn't been fulfilling her needs for the past couple of days. No, weeks. He was such a shitty single father and felt his heart break for both of them when Rose started crying as he finished buttoning her onesie.