Gray Area (sequel to White Noise)

Ch 14 - Little Hood Baby

"I don't think that's how you're supposed to do it, Luke."

"Hush, I'm concentrating."

"Good Lord, here's another snap! How in the hell do we get her out of this death trap?"

The scene in front of me was one of the most hilarious things I had ever experienced in my life. To my surprise, the boys had volunteered to change Avery's diaper. When I had offered to help, they shut me down, saying they wanted to do it all by themselves. So, here I stood in the doorway of the nursery, struggling to hold in my laughter while the three of them fought to free Avery from her onesie. From my vantage point, it looked like the onesie was winning.

After a few more struggles and several rude comments, they finally succeeded in unsnapping the damn thing. They let out a hoot of victory and shared some high fives, but their celebration was short-lived once they realized the worst was yet to come.

"Alright, boys," Michael began, addressing the other two. "We need a game plan. Ashton, you undo the diaper. Luke, you get in there with a wipe and clean up the poop. Then I'll swoop in with some powder and a clean diaper. Everybody got it?"

Luke didn't seem to be too thrilled with the arrangements. "Why do I have to be the one to wipe the poop? I think you should do it!"

"No way, man! I'm not doing that!"

"Well, I'm not doing it, either!"

"You have to! I sa..."

"Boys!" Ashton finally interrupted with a huff. "Calm down. I'll clean her. Luke, unfasten her diaper and hold her legs up."

Luke followed his instructions and did what he was told. To the boys' credit, they only slightly grimaced at the sight and smell of the messy diaper. I had fully expected them to give up the operation right then and demand I step in and finish. The clean-up seemed to go as planned with Ashton in deep concentration on the task. As soon as he finished, Michael swooped in with the baby powder and swiftly slid the clean diaper under her bottom. They fastened her up in record time and then stood back a bit to admire their work.

"I have to say, boys," I told them from the doorway, "I'm impressed."

You would have thought they had just won the lottery by the smiles on their faces. Luke turned to pick up Avery off the changing table and gave her a few little bounces before asking, "So, what next?"

Before I could answer, Avery started fussing. Luke tried his best to calm her, but it was no use. She started wailing, and I swear I could see the boys' hearts break. They loved that little girl like she was their own, and they absolutely hated it when she cried.

"What's wrong with her?" Michael asked hurriedly. "What did you do, Luke?"

"I didn't do anything!"

"It's okay, guys," I told them with a laugh. "She's probably just hungry."

"Oh, shit," Luke groaned. "What are we going to feed her? Tori left and took her boobs with her!"

Ashton looked at him in disbelief. "You can't be serious."

"No, man. Luke's right," Michael agreed, nodding his head. "What are we going to do?" He paused for a minute until his eyes landed on me. "Hey, Lex! You have boobs! I bet we could get some milk out of you!"

Good grief, they were hopeless. "Mikey, honey. That's not quite how it works," I told him with a shake of my head, hoping to God he was kidding. One could never tell with him. "Come on, boys. There's breast milk in the fridge."

The three of them followed me wordlessly into the kitchen to get our supplies, and I showed them how to prepare the bottle. Then we filed into the living room where Luke settled into the recliner with a still fussy Avery. I placed a burping cloth over his shoulder and handed him the bottle, but he looked up at me with a petrified look.

"I... I don't know how," he told me sheepishly. If he didn't look so completely adorable, I would have laughed.

"It's easy, Luke. Just sit her up a little like this," I paused to help him get the baby into position before continuing, "and hold the bottle at an angle like this. She'll do the rest of the work." Sure enough, Avery latched on almost immediately.

Watching Luke while he was feeding Avery was one of the most precious things I have ever experienced. He kept staring down at her with this awestruck look, and when he started softly singing to her about halfway through, I thought I just might die. When she finally finished, he looked up at me with the most breathtaking smile I had ever seen.

"I did it!"

"Yeah, Luke," I told him with a grin. "You did it. Now, you need to burp her." Once again, I helped him get the baby into position and went over the basic procedure with him. He caught right on, and it wasn't long at all before Avery let out a hearty burp.

"There you go, little princess," he cooed. "Good girl."

"Wow, Luke," Ashton commented. "You're really good at this baby stuff." The blonde boy grinned even more and continued to pat and bounce the now sleepy baby. Ashton was right. Luke really was good with her. His future baby mama was a lucky girl.

The four of us sat there for a while, just talking and goofing off while we watched the baby sleep. At one point, Luke passed her off to Michael, who immediately started humming to the tiny bundle, which made me smile. I'd never seen him in such a loving situation, and I couldn't seem to take my eyes off of him. I hated him for it. All this baby bullshit wasn't helping me keep up the trusty wall I'd been building up the past few years.

Before long, we heard the front door open, signaling the return of the proud parents. They both went straight to their daughter and smiled down at her fondly.

"How was she?" Tori asked. "Did everything go okay?"

"She was an angel, of course," I answered with a smile. "The boys had their first experience with a diaper change, then Luke gave her a bottle."

That seemed to surprise Calum. "You did? Nice job, man."

"Thanks!" Luke grinned, feeling very proud of himself.

"How was dinner?" Ashton asked. "Did you enjoy your time alone?"

Tori was the one to answer. "Yeah, we did. You guys were right. We really needed that." She smiled up at Calum, who beamed back at her, giving her a soft kiss to her forehead.

"Thanks for watching her, guys," he told the group of us. "We really appreciate it."

"It was no problem at all. We're all here anytime you need a babysitter." I stood up and stretched before continuing. "And on that note, I'm off to the apartment. If we're heading to Sydney in a couple of weeks, I need to start getting my shit together." I walked over to where Avery was still sleeping in Michael's arms and gave her a soft kiss. "Bye, sweet little Hood baby," and with a ruffle of his hair, "Peace out, Clifford."

I finished saying my goodbyes and made my way to the door, already thinking about everything I needed to get done before we left. It wouldn't be long at all before it was wedding time.

Next stop: Australia.