You're Mine

chapter 15

Thursday, 2nd July:

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"Why do babies even cry?!", Owen whined. It was 4:30am and Leo had woken them up for the third time this night. He was walking through the bedroom, rocking the child in his arms, and was watched by his friend, who chuckled.

"You know, I saw a meme the other day...well, before I was kidnapped.", Amelia started, making her colleague hope that she was finally going to talk to him about it but again, she didn't. "It said: Imagine if a baby screams that its leg is itchy and some weirdo smelling like coffee tells them to calm down and chew on their pacifier."

"Not helpful.", the redhead informed her. "Can you take him? I know he's my foster son but my arms are failing and I don't want to drop the screaming monster.", he explained with a big sigh, making her laugh at him before she reached for the six-month-old.

"We still have to attend the party at the hospital on Friday. Who's going to watch the kiddos?", the neurosurgeon questioned, poking Leo's chubby cheeks which made him laugh and caused Owen to roll his eyes.

"I hate you so much right now, you can't even imagine!", he complained. "I walked through this room to get him to calm down and you just poke his cheek? What the actual cheesecake?!", he sighed again.

"I get what you tried to do there but maybe you shouldn't have.", his friend kept roasting him. "Get some sleep, I'll take care of Leo-bear.", she promised. "We can talk about the event tomorrow."

Meanwhile, Layla had woken up as well and was now wandering through the hallway to go see her daddy when she noticed another slightly opened door. Curiously, she walked in and was suddenly standing in Logan's room.

"Wogan!", the little brunette whispered. "Wogan!", she repeated and tried to climb into bed with him, which woke the boy up. He tiredly turned on the lamp on his nightstand and realized that Layla was in here. "Me sleeps with you?", she asked cutely.

"Yeah, sure.", the ten-year-old agreed, lifting her into the bed to cuddle up with him under his blanket. They shared his pillow and her stuffed donkey was laying in between them. The young brunette protectively wrapped his arm around the little girl. "Good night.", he mumbled softly.

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Friday, 3rd July:

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"AMELIA!", Owen stormed into the bedroom, waking his friend in full force. "LAYLA IS GONE!", he told her terrified, causing her to sit up straight. "I went to look after her and Leo since I know that Logan likes to sleep in when he can and...she...she's not there.", he panicked.

"Owen, take a breath! The front door is locked, she can't have left. Let's search the house.", the brunette decided and realized her thighs were sore. "Oh my God, what you did with me yesterday in that bathtub was hot but I knew it was too rough.", she joked, making him chuckle before he remembered that his daughter was missing.

"Let's start looking!", the trauma surgeon ordered and left the room. They had checked the living room, their bathroom, the other bathroom, the kitchen, the office, Leo's room and Layla's room but she was nowhere to be found.

"Wait, who's Logan talking to?", Amelia wondered, slowly opening her son's door only to find him all snuggled up with the three-year-old, reading one of her books to her. "Found her.", she informed her boss, who walked into the room too, relieved to see the girl and actually enjoying the cute sight.

"Daddy! Mommy! Hi!", Layla giggled as she saw who she thought were her parents, catching her mother figure off guard. Well, how was the kid supposed to know they just lived together as friends with double benefits?

"Sweetie, I am not your-", the neurosurgeon began but was interrupted by her colleague, who cleared his throat loudly, causing her to glance up at him in confusion. "What?", she whispered.

"Don't say anything you might regret at some point.", Owen mumbled through his teeth. "Did you two have a sleepover?", he changed the topic when Leo started crying and Amelia excused herself to go get him.

"Good morning, Mr. Leo!", the brunette greeted the small boy and lifted him into her arms to calm him down. She thought about what her boss had said. Would she regret not being the kids' mother? But what was that supposed to be? Friends taking care of their children together. Well, that was basically what they were already doing.

"Layla wants you to help her pick an outfit.", the redhead suddenly appeared in the doorway. "Logan is taking a shower to get ready. I'll get Leo ready and Layla is all yours. Then, I'll make us breakfast. And I texted my mom about the event. She can come here and babysit but let's just leave for dinner and maybe an hour of talking to sponsors before we come back home, yeah?"

"Deal.", Amelia smiled at her friend. She had fun co-parenting with him. But could she be the mother of Owen's kids? She had always thought James would be her children's dad. And they were in love, other than she and her boss, who she was just screwing for fun. He was nothing more than the rebound. Or was he? "Hey, honey!"

"Mommy, I wanna wear dress!", the little brunette explained to her mother while she grabbed her hand and pulled her into her room. "But I has many dresses! So which one?", she cutely shrugged in confusion.

"Uhm, maybe the purple one with colorful sprinkles?", the neurosurgeon suggested softly, putting the stack of small dresses on the bed and sitting next to it with the girl in her lap as they looked at them, one by one. Layla shook her head. "Okay then, the yellow one with suns? Fits today's weather.", she continued but heard another no. "This green one with pirates maybe?", she wondered, watching the three-year-old's face light up.