Mae
Ayla whimpers in her sleep for the tenth time tonight. She wiggles closer to Alice in her sleep and grips her sleep shirt, holding on tightly. She's so emotionally distraught from finding out her mother was cheating.
Which is totally understandable. I can't imagine hearing the details about my Owen mother's affair. She thought her family was perfect, only for that image to die so quickly. I know Ayla still loves her mother, there's just some lost love there.
Alice looks over at me and pushes her dark hair out of her face, her dark brown eyes flashing with concern. She pulls Ayla closer to her chest and rubs her back.
"Should we go get her father?" My girlfriend questions out loud.
"If it gets any worse, then yeah. I just don't want her hearing him argue with Iris over the phone." They've been arguing nearly all night.
Owen's shouts can be heard through the walls. They're arguing about Ayla. From what I can gather from only hearing one side of the conversation, Iris wants Ayla to come home.
Owen is refusing to allow that, stating that he needs to worry about Ayla. The usually levelheaded man refuses to let Ayla around somebody that could hurt her. Especially because she's in such a fragile headspace right now.
"I'm going to go grab her a bottle. She likes them and it'll help her relax. Be right back." I announce before throwing the comforter off my body.
Alice watches me go, her arms still wrapped around Ayla's whimpering frame.
In the kitchen I find the guys gathered around the dining room table. They look exhausted. Henry looks up upon my entrance and waves.
"How's Ayla?" He ponders, taking a sip from the steaming mug in his hands.
"Crying in her sleep. I came in to make her a bottle." I'm not even sure if there's any bottles or even her formula here.
"I brought some. They're new, so they need washed. We only have two cans of her special formula. More doesn't come in until the end of the week." Otto tells me.
Ayla's formula is specially made for her. After the school got her blood on designation day, they tested it to see if there was any vitamins she was low on.
As it turns out, Ayla was low on vitamin C and D. Her formula has supplements for that and her weight. They also asked her parents what her favorite drink was so they could flavor it as well.
That's why she loves it so much. It's flavored like vanilla milkshake. I have a feeling she's going to have a hard time switching from formula to breastmilk. We might do a mix of both.
"Thank you. It wasn't something I would've thought about when I was grabbing my stuff from your house." I admit with a shrug.
"That's why we're all a team." Otto stands and leaves the room, coming back with several bottles and a tub of formula.
He hands them to me and I get to work throughly washing them. Once finished, I boil some water for the bottle and pour some formula in.
The guys chitchat while I work, Lyle even offering to help. I wave him aside and finish making the bottle.
"Have a good night, everybody." I tell them once I'm ready to go back to the bedroom.
"You too, Mae." They all say at the same time. That's kinda creepy.
Back in the bedroom, I climb into the bed and hand the bottle off to Alice. She grabs it in her tattooed hand and gently rubs the nipple across the seam of Ayla's lips.
She latches on and suckles in her sleep. I watch as her whole body relaxes and she snuggles further into my girlfriend. The bottle was a perfect idea. Our baby just needed to relax and slip into her headspace.
Her big girl mind was running a mile a minute even in sleep.
"It feels so nice to be able to care for somebody." Alice admits.
I agree wholeheartedly. As a caregiver, we yearn to take care of somebody. It's like our heart is screaming for it. Ever since we met Ayla, we feel complete in a way that we didn't before.
It is hard with so many caregivers wanting to spend time with Ayla. There's probably going to be struggles with sharing the baby. As long as we can talk about it and come to some agreements, I think it will all work out.
"She's so sweet. As you know it was really rocky start. Ayla is still having a hard time accepting her designation. But when she slips into her headspace. Goodness, she's the sweetest girl ever." I whisper.
Ayla makes a gasping notice and Alice quickly pulls the bottle out of her mouth. She sits Ayla up and gently burps her. The baby lets out the cutest little burp and whines, mad that her sleep is being interrupted.
Alice lays her back down and slips the half empty bottle back between her lips. The baby finishes the bottle quickly and as Alice slips the bottle from her mouth, I stick a pacifier in.
I'm not sure if she'll like it. We both watch as she gives it a couple sucks, then pushes it out with her tongue.
"I don't think she likes those." Alice voices.
"Probably not. She sucks her thumb in headspace, so I thought she would would like a paci." I pull the blanket over all of us and snuggle in for the night ahead.
***
I awake to damp sheets. Sitting up, I feel around and notice that Ayla wet the bed. Both her and Alice are still asleep, snuggled up against each other like it's the most natural thing in the world.
Standing up out of bed, I round it to wake Alice. "Hey, babe. Ayla wet the bed. We need to shower and change the sheets."
She sits up, careful of Ayla who's still sleeping like the dead. There's a large dark wet patch on her shirt. We're both covered in urine.
"You go start the water and I'll wake the baby." I comment, already leaning down to wake her.
Part of being a caregiver is having to deal with the nasty stuff too, so it's only natural that being peed on by our little doesn't faze me.
"Baby girl," I shake her shoulder, "It's time to wake up. You need to get in the shower." I gently keep talking until she opens her beautiful blue eyes.
The instant she sees me, she bursts into tears. Not caring about her wet shirt, I lift her up and set her on my hip, walking into the bathroom.
"Don't cry, angel. It's okay. We'll get in the shower and get all cleaned up." I coo, softly patting her back.
Alice is already in the shower and she holds her hands out. I place Ayla on the counter and strip off her grandfather's shirt, throwing it on top of Alice's discarded clothes.
I pass her over to my girlfriend before getting undressed myself. The shower is just big enough for the three of us. I wash myself before soaping down Ayla.
She's still crying, just not as hard as before. "We're not mad at you, angel girl. It's going to be a good day. Grandma told me about the horses she has out back. We're going to go see them after having a nice big breakfast. Doesn't that sound good?"
With my words and Alice's comfort, Ayla's tears slowly stop. She holds her arms out to me and I happily take her. The baby doesn't even seem fazed by our nudity. She just clings to me while Alice quickly washes herself.
Once clean, we step out of the water and quickly dry off. I head off to get myself and Ayla dressed while Alice strips the bed.
"Don't you look beautiful." I compliment Ayla once I finish dressing her.
She's wearing a blush pink, frilly sun dress that ties over the shoulders with white ribbons, white tights, and a pair of white ankle boots. I will say one thing, Ayla has the cutest sense of style.
Most would call her clothes childish and they would be right. Everything is frilly and pink. I love it and so does Ayla.
After tying her hair up in two braided pig tails, I slip on a pair of ripped skinny jeans and a blue tee shirt.
"I wanna gu see Lyle." She whispers, her baby talk adorable. It's clear that she's in headspace.
"Okay, baby girl. We'll go see all the guys." Lifting her up, I head out of the room and into the kitchen where I can hear the guys mingling.
They all turn when they hear Ayla shout, "Lyle!"
He sets down the tongs he's using to flip bacon and approaches us with a huge smile. "Good morning, beautiful!"
Plucking her from my arms, Lyle heads back to the stove and proceeds to teach our girl how to cook. I admire the two of them, only to be distracted when Ethan hands me a cup of coffee.
"I don't know how you take it. Cream and sugar are over there." He points to the table and I thank him, loading my coffee with sugar and cream.
I'm a little bit of a health nut, but my one guilty pleasure will always be unhealthy coffee. The color almost has to be white from the creamer before I will take a sip.
"That is just nasty." Alya's grandfather comments, wrinkling his nose.
I shrug and laugh, taking a sip of my heavenly coffee. It's much needed after the lack of sleep from last night.
Everybody seems to be in a better mood today. All except Owen. He sits in the living room, a cup of coffee in his hands as he stares at the ground. There's dark circles underneath his eyes and he looks exhausted.
Ayla notices him and wiggles out of Lyle's arms, skipping towards her father. "Hi, Papa." She mumbles, swaying from side to side in front of him.
He looks up and gives her a smile, lifting her onto his knee. "Hey, baby girl. How are you today?"
"I'm sad cause you're sad, Dada." She mumbles, snuggling into his body.
Owen shakes his head and cups her cheek saying, "Don't be sad for me, little lady. I'll be okay. You need to go and be happy. Dada will be okay with time. It'll make me happy to see you happy."
Ayla smiles and kisses his cheek, hopping from his lap. Owen watches her with a soft smile. Anybody can see how much he loves her. He's an amazing father and they share a special bond.
"I was thinking we could take Ayla to go see our house today. It'll give you some time to process without Ayla running around your space." Henry voices to Owen.
The other man looks at Henry and shrugs. "I don't mind Ayla running around me and being happy. It's good for her to be happy right now. But if you want to take her to get her acclimated to your house, then go ahead. Just have her back here before ten. I would like to say goodnight to her."
"Thank you." Henry turns and goes back into the kitchen, grabbing plates for each of us.
"Come on, Ayla. Let's get some yummy food." I call.
She runs back into the room, hopping up onto Alice's lap. Ethan provides a bib for her which he wraps around her neck. Platters of pancakes, eggs, bacon, and sausage are brought to the table by the guys.
I thank them and portion out Ayla's plate first. She immediately digs into the eggs, shoving them into her mouth with her hands. Everybody chooses to ignore that, focusing on filling their own plates instead.
"I'm absolutely starving. This looks amazing. Thank you, boys. You're truly some gentlemen." Ayla's grandma thanks them.
"It's no problem, ma'am." Otto tips his head in her direction, making the old lady blush.
I chuckle under my breath and take a bite of my food. This is amazing. I could get used to having a big family like this.