Beyond the Family Ties

Part 2

She was woken no more than an hour later by a mewling cry, struggling upright in a panic as she quickly blinked back sleep, her heart pounding in her chest as she tried to get her bearings. This wasn't her room, and there were no heavy footsteps patrolling the quiet hallways over her family's townhouse. No thousand thread Egyptian cotton sheets and the familiar comfort of a Colt .38 Special Combat gun in her nightstand, or the rich smell of expensive wooden panelling and soundproofing. Just the keening sound of a baby, thin blankets wrapped around her shivering form on the lumpy pull-out sofa, and the sound of sirens outside the rent controlled shoebox apartment. It hit Becky like a freight train, and she scrambled for the laundry basket, scooping up the little baby with alarm shooting through her. Something was wrong.

It was a moment later that footsteps padded across the hardwood floors and a shadowy figure stumbled out from the partitioned area, fumbling for a lightswitch. Becky blinked back sharp tears as the sudden brightness made her eyes water.

"Sorry. I don't know what to do. I don't know what's wrong with her."

Freen let out a muffled laugh, her eyes screwed shut as she stifled a yawn, and shuffled into the kitchen, pulling a pot out of a cupboard and filling it with water. "She's hungry. Probably needs changing too."

"What?" Becky dumbly asked, a stricken look of horror on her face as she eyed the wary bundle.

Pottering around in the kitchen, Freen grabbed the baby formula peeking out of Becky's duffel bag, as well as the bottle and the pack of diapers, scattering them across the counters, before giving Becky a tired smile. "You've never been around a baby before, have you?"

Shaking her head, Becky gingerly held the bundle in her arms, handing her over to Freen with some relief when the young paramedic came over to take her. She ushered Becky to her feet as well, the trio making their way into the kitchen, where Freen talked her through steralising the bottle and scooping the correct amount of baby formula into the bottle, enlightening Becky with the information that she'd been a babysitter while in high school and college. She didn't look old enough to have been to college, but Becky was in her third year at Yale and only eighteen, so she wasn't one to be talking.

The baby cried the entire time they waited for the water to boil, and both women tiredly blinked back the burning feeling in their eyes as they waited, with Freen gently rocking the baby, giving Becky a soft smile of understanding, although Becky couldn't help but feel guilty. Her relief was plainly visible when the baby latched onto the bottle, falling silent as she drank, and Becky seemed to sag slightly as Freen gently nudged her hand holding the bottle a little higher. She awkwardly winded the baby afterwards, letting Freen gently help her hold the baby properly, before she softly patted her back.By the time her daughter was asleep again, Becky was wide awake, and realising the weight of her circumstances. It wasn't going to be easy.

"She'll need feeding every two or three hours," Freen quietly told her, hovering nearby as Becky settled back down onto the edge of the sofa bed. "You going to be okay?"

Nodding, Becky ran a hand through her curling hair, blinking owlishly as she held the infant in her arms. "Thank you," she murmured to Freen, as the blonde girl turned the lights back off, her footsteps quiet as her shadow passed back towards the partition leading to her bedroom. "I'm sorry."

"Get some sleep," was the quiet reply, and Becky let out a quiet sigh as she wrapped herself back up in the blankets, the din of the city audible in the sudden silence of the apartment as Freen climbed back into bed. She knew she wasn't going to be getting much sleep that night.

Three more times she had to feed the baby that night, and change her diaper twice, choking back sobs whenever Freen emerged from her bedroom to help. Becky wasn't used to being around children, let alone a newborn baby, and her hands trembled as she tried to put the diaper on, and she was terrified every time she picked the baby up, unsure if she was supporting her head properly. More than once, she'd had to wipe a few hot tears off her cheeks as her frustration got the better of her, and Freen was kind enough to pretend that she didn't see them as she patiently coached Becky through it, or offered to do it herself.