Synthetic

Chapter 29

Seven months later...

Ricky woke me up by climbing into bed and snuggling up to me. "Why're you awake so early?"
"Chris...it's 3 in the afternoon." I swore and sat up, checking the time and groaning.

"How have I slept almost a whole day away?"
"You needed your sleep so I didn't wake you up." He mumbled, shrugging and yawning. "Did you sleep?" Judging by the bags underneath his eyes, I think he didn't.

"Not really. You'll understand when you get up. For now, I'm having a nap. G'night babe."
"Night baby." I smiled and pressed my lips against his before climbing out of bed.

I stretched and cracked the bones in my neck and hands before getting dressed. I quickly ran a brush through my hair and walked out of the room, shutting the door quietly.

Ryan was sitting on the top of the stairs, frowning at his phone. "What's up, Ryan?"
"There's a girl."
"Oh no. There's always someone." I said teasingly, sitting down next to him.

"It's nothing bad, she's my sister. But she wants to marry one of my best mates and...I don't know, it's just awkward." It sounded it.

"Just tell her how you feel. Meanwhile, I'm going to figure out why the love of my existence was awake all night."
"He didn't tell you? Oh haha! This should be good." I shot Ryan a glare and walked downstairs.

And bumped into Ashley, who had a tired smile on her face. "Is he here?"
"He was born three days ago. I'm so fucking tired Chris. Ricky helped me with him all night, he's amazing."

"Where's Nikki? When did you even get here?" She laughed at my confused expression and shook her head. "Last night. Nikki's gone to England for some conference, and Ricky asked if I wanted to stay here."

"That was nice of him..." Okay, what does he want out of all of this? "Yeah. Wanna go see him?" My eyes lit up and I nodded, smiling widely. I felt like a little kid again, I loved it.

She chuckled and opened the door to the parlour. On the table was a car seat, with Ashley's baby inside. I flew over and couldn't stop cooing at how beautiful he was.

He definitely looked like Ashley and Nikki. His hair was that soft, almost non-existent type some babies had, and his cheeks were so chubby. His hands were still wrinkled slightly, but he was so fucking adorable.

"What's his name?" I asked in a hushed whisper, trying not to wake the sleeping baby. If I did, I don't think Ricky or Ashley would be happy with me. "Theo. Theo Misery." There was pride in her voice.

I wanted to be like her. Not a woman, no offence to women, but I wanted to be a parent. I wanted to share that pride she felt. But I couldn't unless Ricky wanted a baby.

"He's adorable."
"I know. And a little shit. I'm so tired, he's so hard to look after. I don't regret it, though."
"Go get some sleep. I'll watch this one for a while, you need some sleep," She hesitated before nodding and relaxing.

"Thank you Chris. Thanks so much...I really need some sleep."
"No problem." I waved as she walked out and presumably went upstairs to bed. I didn't take my eyes off of Theo, I didn't want to.

The only time I did, was when I was getting a cup of coffee, doing something to eat and going to the bathroom. The entire day passed me by without me even knowing, and I was focusing on a sleeping baby.

He woke up, screaming loudly. I jumped and swore, trying to dry my jeans, and not to shout out. I'd jumped and tipped red hot coffee all over myself. It wasn't a pleasant feeling.

I quickly grabbed Theo out and held him in one of my arms, grabbing all of his baby shit before I changed his diaper, wrinkling my nose at the smell and changed his clothes. He stopped crying for about five minutes and started again.

Even louder. I groaned and looked around frantically, I didn't know what he fucking wanted. Unless he was hungry. "Pass him here." I turned and saw Ashley standing there with a small smile on her face.

She didn't look so exhausted, she'd had a shower, and she seemed lively and brighter than before. I did as she asked and turned, to give her some privacy.

"You can look y'know. I'm sure my tits won't bother a gay lord like you." I shook my head and laughed sarcastically at her joke, turning around to see her baby latched on to one of her nipples.

It was fascinating to see, knowing that some ball of flesh, fat and muscle provided enough sustenance for a baby to grow and live off of. Ashley had a fond, caring look on her face while Theo fed, it was a look I hadn't seen for a while.

"Ashley?"
"Yes Chris?"
"You can keep a secret, right?" She turned to look at me and nodded, with a small crease in between her eyebrows.

"I wanna...I'm thinking of...I...I really want to..."
"To...?"
"Propose to Ricky." Her eyes widened the way they do in movies, over dramatic.

"You're being deadly serious?" When I nodded she smiled widely, with watery eyes. "I knew you was a good match for him. I knew it. I think you should go for it, I really do."

"What if he says no?" I sat down heavily on the sofa beside her and sighed, burying my face in my hands. "Chris, honey, he won't. I've seen the way he looks at you, he adores you. Besides, it's about time you settled down."

"Hey!"
"What? It's not my fault you didn't have a lasting relationship." I sighed and shook my head at her teasing tone before she grew serious again. "Seriously, Chris. You're lucky he's still asleep because if he heard this, he'd probably anticipate and hope for it to happen.

"And if it doesn't...well, I don't think I'll be able to pick up the pieces this time, I've got Theo and myself to look after. Ange helps me out, but right now he's cleaning the house for me and Nikki."
"I want it to happen. I want to marry him."

"Then do it. Don't just say it, Chris. Make it happen, I know you can." I definitely will. I'll do anything for Ricky. I was taken aback slightly, and started looking back at my life.

I'd killed, I'd hurt people, I did a shit tonne of illegal shit. And look at me now, in love and following the law to the letter. I wasn't hurting anybody, all I was doing was helping people. I definitely wasn't killing anybody anymore.

And I was prepared to marry the man responsible for all of this change to happen. I think Ashley knew I meant what I said, because as soon as Theo had fallen to sleep, and she'd covered up, she pulled her phone out.

"What sort of ring do you want?" She handed me her phone and I sat there aimlessly for about an hour, trying to find the perfect ring for Ricky. It couldn't have been something that everybody else had, it had to be unique and different.

"Here, what about this one?" It was a really nice ring. It was a skull, with two rubies for eyes and a heart shaped diamond for a nose. It'd be perfect for Ricky. "It's perfect."
"I'll order it now. Go upstairs, I think Ricky's awake."

I did, and he wasn't awake. I sighed as I laid down, relaxing almost instantly in the bed. I didn't know I'd been so tense and stressed while babysitting Theo, but I was so fucking glad it was over.

I pulled Ricky into my arms and kissed his head lightly before falling asleep quickly.