Henry immediately takes the bottle out of Aaron's mouth and places Aaron on his chest and shoulder. He starts to rock him and rub his back. I high tail it over to them and check Aaron's pamper by feeling it.
"Did you bathe him?" I ask and Henry nods but keeps rocking him.
"Well the bottle is half empty so he can't really be hungry." I reason.
"He shouldn't be he had a full bottle before this one." Henry says and nods towards the bottle he just put down.
"Maybe he has to burp?" I suggest and Henry nods then starts patting his back. Aaron's still crying and I'm surprised the boys haven't come in here yet. I walk to the back of Henry and grab Aaron's fingers and start rubbing them.
"Hey Aaron, what's wrong little man? Everything will be okay bubs." I coo to him in a soft and gentle voice. I continue doing that saying whatever comforting thought comes to my mind. Eventually he burps and instantly quiets down. Henry turns around and smiles at me. Before he can say anything I hear a loud thud and the boys yelling "Mommy" along with more crying. Henry and I race out to the living room to find Ashton crying on the floor and holding his head.
He's got a small incision on the side of his forehead and there's a little bit of blood on the coffee table. I rush over to him and I try to first get him to stop crying. He just keeps crying so I sit down and scoop him up into my lap and rock him. I rub his back and let him get it all out. Soon his crying lowers to just sniffles. I get up, taking him with me and I carry him to the guest bathroom. I search around in the little cabinet and I get out Neosporin, alcohol, peroxide and the kiddy band aids. I set Ashton down on the sink and he looks at me all teary eyed and runny nosed. I wipe his nose first and wash my hands.
"Okay bubs, now I've gotta clean your cut so it's either gonna be alcohol or peroxide." I say softly.
"The man-lady who watches after me uses alcohol all the time." Ashton says and I just nod my head even though I'm a little mortified that he felt the burn of alcohol at an age younger than he is. I dab a little alcohol on a cotton ball and press it to his cut a few times before I hold it there and wipe it. His hand shoots out and grabs my wrist. I pull my hand away and toss the cotton ball.
"I'm sorry." I say.
"It's otay Mommy." He mumbles. I get the Neosporin and put a little on his cut then I let him choose a band aid. He points to the Green Arrow one and I smile then put it on for him. He jumps down as I start putting everything away. I throw out all trash and turn off the light. We walk back to the living room but I stop and tell Asthon to shh.
"Alright boys, listen whatever happened cannot happen again. It hurts Mommy and I really bad when any of you get hurt. And I don't want anyone making fun of anyone for crying, it is okay to cry. I don't ever want to hear you laughing about Ashton or anyone else crying ever again. That is not a sign of weakness that is how you refuel and get strong again. Do you hear me?" Henry says in a stern fatherly voice. I can only see his back and he's got his finger out and pointing at the boys. They nod their heads.
"Now go see if your brother is okay." Henry says and he turns around but I realize it too late. The boys run towards us and engulf Ashton in a hug and start asking if he's okay. He answers them and they run off again while Henry just stands there looking at me. He's really got more to him than most people think. I just shake my head and walk to the kitchen or try to.
"Charlotte." Henry calls sharply. I freeze but then I continue walking. I don't want to hear anything he has to say. I put the baby's bottle in the fridge and as soon as I close the door I'm pushed up against the fridge door. Henry is right in front of me and frowning at me.
"What do you want?" I sneer at him. I cross my arms.
"Your plate is in the microwave, damn hoe." He says and I roll my eyes.
"I'm going out again tonight." Henry says and I just laugh. Of course he is, he doesn't care about anything does he?
"Whatever, make sure you have your keys. We'll be out." I say and then move to the microwave. I heat up my food.
"Where are you going?" He asks me.
"I'm going to take the kids out to the park today or maybe the zoo. I'm undecided for right now." I say. I look at his face and I literally see no change whatsoever, does he not care about spending time with his kids ?
"Huh, that's cool. Take pics." He says and walks out. I grunt and stab my eggs angrily then eat them, chewing harshly. Once I'm done I clean up the kitchen and leave. I find Henry playing with the boys, pretending to be a pirate.
"Alright boys, we've got ourselves a treasure chest argh." He says and the boys giggle.
"Daddy pirate do we get to open it?" Avan asks.
"Oh wait argh." Avan adds and I have to stop myself from laughing.
"Aye matey, we've gotta make sure it's not booby trapped." Henry says and freezes when the boys immediately all laugh.
"Ha, Daddy said booby." Aiden says and continues laughing. I just smile at their innocence.
"You guys are something." I hear Henry say and I walk up to all of them.
"Can I have Aaron?" I ask Henry and he looks at me weirdly for a second.
"Um yeah um sure." Henry says but he makes no move to hand me the baby.
"Um Henry," I starts but he snaps back into himself.
"Right right, here." He says as he gets up and hands me the baby.
"Thank you." I say and sit down on the couch and I start to smile at my baby. I take his little hands and rub his little fingers as I hold him upright.
"Um can I come with you guys today?" Henry asks me pulling my attention away from Aaron. I look up at him and although he looks sincere I know this will go away in another 5 minutes. I roll my eyes and look down at Aaron who is now sleeping.
"I want to say no but I'm not going to deprive these kids of being with both parents like some people do." I say. Without even waiting for his response I get up and take Aaron to his crib upstairs. I head to the bathroom and turn off the light since no one is using it, gotta save money now. I immediately feel Henry behind me. I didn't even hear him come in. I turn around to face him.
"Back the fuck up." I say and push him away from me. I sit down on the edge of the bed and Henry faces me.
"What do you want ? Where are my kids ?" I fire at him.
"In Avan's room, what's up with you?" He asks me and I nearly throw a pillow at him.
"You're shitting me right?" I ask and he slowly shakes his head 'no'. I laugh.
"Wow, you really are stupid. You don't recall the discussion we had yesterday before you left or the one we just had this morning?" I ask him. He walks over to me and he drops down to my level. He just stares at me and I go to lean back but he just holds me down in place and leans closer to me. I try to use my legs to kick him.
"Stop struggling." He says and I growl at him.
"Get off me then." I snarl and he just starts laughing.
"God you're so damn difficult." He comments.
"I'm difficult ? You're the fucking difficult one. You act decent one minute and the next you're a huge prick. I'm not the one that hates someone so much I went out of my way to ridicule them despite knowing how much I meant to them. You want to talk about difficult ? You've made my life difficult and I'm done. I'm sick of your shit, I'm sick of it I'm sick of it I'm sick of it." I say to him, my anger steadily rising. I get a burst of strength and anger which fuels me enabling me to lunge and tackle Henry. I start punching him in the face but he grabs my fist before I do any real damage aside from a busted lip. I growl at him and get out of his grasp only to wrap my hands around his neck fully intent on choking him. But I stop.
My hands hang loosely around his neck.His eyes are swelling with so much emotion it's overwhelming. He's not scared an ounce, he actually looks saddened I'd go so far as to say depressed. I don't know why or maybe that's sorrow? Whatever it was, it made me stop and slowly get off him. We got ourselves together silently. He takes the baby and I pick up the keys off the dresser. Needless to say we go through the day without talking much to each other but by paying our attention to keeping the kids happy and spending time with them.