It's a Hard life | Hardzello♡

57. In shock

Without hesitation, Joe opens the door of Mary's bedroom. Closely followed by Ben, he enters the room.
There they see Mary standing in front of Liz's crib, completely stiffened. She doesn't move anything, except for her eyes. Her gazes moves between the little Liz, and the empty crib that was intended for Gina.
There is a bottle on the floor that Joe assumes was accidentally dropped by Mary. It has burst open and milk has spilled all over the ground.
Both boys can see that the girl is in total shock.
Ben gives Joe a short nod towards Mary, as a sign to take care of her.
Joe gets the hint, and guides his sister to her bed to sit down.
Ben walks over to Liz and carefully lifts her up. "I'll make her a new bottle." He says to Joe before walking to the kitchen with the little girl.

"Mary? Mary can you hear me?" Joe asks as he turns the girl's head towards his with his index finger.
Mary just stares straight ahead, not looking at Joe. After a few minutes of silence, Mary's breathing starts to fasten. In panic she looks at her brother.
"Hey sis? Mary look at me. You need to calm down." Joe says as he looks her straight in the eye.
But instead of calming down, the girl suddenly bursts into tears. "She's... gone." She sobs, still in total shock.
With tears in his eyes, Joe pulls the girl into a hug.

Meanwhile, Ben is standing in the kitchen with the still crying Liz in his arms. While he's making her a bottle, the blond starts humming softly to the girl. That way he hopes she feels safe with him, although she isn't with her mum now. "I'm almost done sweetheart." He whispers.
Once he's done making the bottle, he sits down on the couch.
Liz immediately starts to drink eagerly as soon as Ben brings the bottle to her mouth. With her tiny hands clasped around the bottle, Liz looks at Ben with her blue eyes. It doesn't take her long to finish the bottle.
"You were really hungry, weren't you?" Ben says with a chuckle.
After burping the girl, Ben presses her close to his chest. "I hope your mum is okay." Ben whispers to her while gently caressing her cheek.
The baby girl yawns and closes her eyes.
"You're just like Joey. He also always falls asleep when I do this." Ben whispers with a smile. He closes his eyes with a smile on his face. He doesn't open them until he hears someone entering the room.

Joe smiles when he sees Ben sitting with Liz so close to his chest.
"How's Mary?" Ben asks softly so the baby girl won't wake up.
The ginger sits down with a sigh and shrugs. "It took her five minutes to get out of that shock. After that she went straight into a panic attack. It took me a lot to calm her down. Losing Gina really traumatized her." He says.
Ben takes Joe's hand when he sees the worried look in the boy's hazel eyes. "I didn't expect anything else. But, what now? Because if she's gonna stiffen every time she looks at Liz, this little girl will probably starve." The blond says with his eyes on Liz.
Joe sighs softly. "Well, for tonight Matt is on his way. But Mary is convinced she can't do this. I tried to persuade her to look for help, to cope with it. But she's sure Liz is better off without her." He explains.
Ben is about to say something, when a knock on the door is heard.
"I think that's Matt. I hope he can get through to her." Joe says before getting up to open the door.

---

"Are both your girls asleep?" Joe asks when Matt comes out of Mary's bedroom.
The boy smiles and nods. "Yeah, they are." Matt says. "But Mary is still convinced that she can't do it. It's almost like she's scared of Liz. She doesn't dare to hold her, and if she does Liz starts crying because she can feel Mary's fear." He frowns as he sits down.
"So what now?" Ben asks.
"We're gonna look for adoption parents tomorrow. Until we find someone, we'll just have to make it work, I guess." Matt says.
Ben frowns. "And this is something you want as well?" He asks.
Matt looks down at his hands. "It's not ideal. But I want the best for Liz. And for Mary."
Both Joe and Ben shoot the younger boy a reassuring smile. "It will be okay." Joe says before getting up. "How about we all go to bed? It's pretty late."
Ben and Matt nod in agreement.
With a smile, Joe takes Ben's hand and pulls him along to their bedroom.
"Goodnight." Ben quickly says to Matt before Joe can pull him into the bedroom.

Both Ben and Joe undress quickly before crawling under the covers.
Ben closes his eyes for a second, just enjoying the warmth of the covers. When he opens his eyes again, his eyes meet Joe's. Their faces only a few inches apart, their fingers intertwined. "Hi." Ben whispers with a tired smile.
Joe giggles softly when Ben yawns and closes his eyes. "Hi you." He whispers back.
As soon as the blond opens his eyes, he leans in to give the ginger a tender kiss.
Joe enjoys the feeling of Ben's soft lips on his, and parts his lips slightly so Ben can slip his tongue into his mouth.
Of course Joe would love to take the next step, but he can see Ben is really tired. With a smirk, the ginger rolls onto Ben's chest. "I have a plan for tomorrow morning." He says.
Ben raises his eyebrow, but can't help but smile when he sees Joe's eyes sparkle with excitement. "Oh? And what's that?" He asks curiously.
Joe grins. "Tomorrow morning I'm gonna wake you up with a bunch of kisses. And then we're gonna continue where we left off." The ginger pauses for a moment to see a smirk appear on Ben's face. "And then I'll take you out for breakfast so I can show you New York." He says before giving Ben another kiss.
Ben giggles and yawns once again.
Joe rolls off the boy's chest, and smiles when Ben snuggles close to him.
"I can't wait." The blond mumbles before burying his face into Joe's neck.
The ginger gives him a kiss on the head and starts tracing figures on the boy's back with his fingers. He giggles softly when Ben lets out a pleased noise.
"I love you." The blond mumbles.
Joe smiles widely. "I love you too baby. Sweet dreams."

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