Chapter 12: Confessions and Infections
"What time is it?" I grumble through a piercing wail. I cringe and roll into Elena, my ears ringing.
Elena remains still, the only indication that she's living being her soft snores. Mini's cries only get louder and angrier and I curse myself for spoiling her so much. I roll over again and up until my feet are brushing against the carpet.
It was too fucking early and I was too fucking tired.
I grumble all the way to her room to find her staring at me from the confines of her crib, blue eyes sparkling. My heart melts.
"Come here, baby. What's wrong?" I lift her in my arms and rub soft circles on her back as she wails. After a while I start to freak the fuck out, not gonna lie. She never cries non stop like this.
"Want your bottle, Mini?"
She sniffles and continues to cry, fidgeting in my arms. I do a light jog with her in my arms into the kitchen, grabbing her bottle from the top of the cabinet.
"Is she alright?"
Elena's voice startles me a little but not enough to turn around. "I don't know. I don't know what's wrong with her, she's freaking out and I don't... I don't know. Usually she stops."
My voice sounds panicked to even myself and I try to calm down but she just keeps crying and I'm so tired my eyes are drooping.
"Lemme see her."
I hand her off to her and immediately let out a breath I didn't even know I was holding. When her bottle is heated up, I grab it out the microwave and push it toward her.
She pushes back.
"Fuc-fudge!"
Elena eyed me warily before inspecting her head.
"Didn't she just come down from a cold?"
I run a hand through my bed hair and nod. "Yeah, we both did."
She hums and turns Mini's head to the side. "She feels like she has a fever. I think she has an ear infection."
"Infection? We need to take her to the hospital." My Mini rolls her head to look at me and cries more. "She's in so much pain."
Elena places a hand on my forearm. "We can give her a low dosage of Tylenol. Do you have any here?"
I nod, pointing haphazardly toward the bathroom. I didn't know that Mini could get sick like that. I figured she was pretty much immune to all those infections and diseases after she'd been with me for about a week without a glitch. I still treat her like the most precious little thing in the world, but infections sounded gross and to have one in your ear is even grosser.
Elena places her down in her chair and moves quickly into the bathroom. As she shuffles through the cabinets, I put my hand down to Mini for her to play with, which immediately distracts her. "How nasty is this infection?"
Surprisingly, she laughs, twisting open the cap to the medicine. "It's really common for babies, actually. You need to develop a higher 'nasty' tolerance."
I scoff at her. "You aren't the one changing diapers after you fix us beans for dinner." I lift Mini into my arms toward her and pat her bum. "It's poop city in there."
Mini wails and I silence her with a quick kiss. One of her hands reaches up to grasp her left ear and I inspect it. "There's stuff in there, I think."
Elena snorts and pulls out a pill from the tube. "Ear wax. Is it liquidy like pus, or blood?"
I crinkle my nose at her description. "Blood?" I pull Mini's ear toward me again to look through. "I don't know. I can't tell. What if there's blood? Is it severe?"
