[ FAMILY ] t i e s. - a tayvis story.

[ TWENTY ]

"I'm clean!" Koa said as she slipped her arms into her pajama top. "I can see the baby now!" She said excitedly, brushing some of her wet curls out of her face.

"In a second," Travis told his oldest daughter as he tried to dress his now middle child. Looking at Khi, he frowned a little. She wasn't the baby anymore. His little girl had been upgraded to 'Big Sister,' and it made him a little sad. She suddenly wasn't as little as she was just yesterday.

"Hurry up, Daddy. I want to see the baby!" Koa told her father, folding her little arms across her chest. She was the first to get out of the bathtub, and now she was just waiting for Travis to finish dressing Khi so that they could go into their parent's bedroom to see their mom and their newborn baby sister for the first time.

"I'm moving as fast as I can!" Khi told her older sister, causing Travis to laugh. The way these two bickered in multiple languages always got a few laughs out of him. He had two smart and talented girls, and looking at them both and how big they had grown made him excited to see how Kali would be. Would she be like Koa? Soft-spoken. A reader of every book she could get her hands on? Absolutely obsessed with Taylor? Or would she be like Khi? Sassy and argumentative? Adventurous? A daddy's girl? Only time would tell.

Travis quickly ran a brush through both girls' hair and placed it back on the bathroom counter. "Ok. Let's go see Mommy and Kali," Travis said to his girls. Before the sentence could even fully come out of his mouth, the girls ran out of the bathroom. Travis followed as closely behind them as he could. Before he could reach his bedroom door himself, Koa had opened the door and let herself in.

"Hi Mommy!!!" Khi yelled upon entering the bedroom.

"Shhhh, not too loud," Taylor told her daughter. "You don't want to scare the baby."

"Oh. Hi, Mommy," Khi corrected herself, whispering this time.

"Hi, baby girl." Taylor smiled at her girls as they climbed onto the bed. Koa positioned herself right next to Taylor. Koa crossed her legs at her ankles and held out her arms.

"I want to hold her," Koa insisted. Taylor looked up at Travis, who was still standing over by the bedroom door with a smile on his face. He leaned against the door frame and watched them.

"You have to hold her head really well, okay? Babies have really fragile necks," Taylor told Koa as she positioned Kali in her big sister's arms. Koa nodded eagerly.

"Hi, baby Kali. I'm Koa. You can call me KoKo like Bronzie and Magic do," Koa said to the baby girl in her arms. "Mommy, her eyes are funny." Koa looked up at her mother. "They're not the same color," she expressed, looking down into her baby sister's eyes. One of the little one's eyes looked like Taylor's eyes, while the other resembled Travis's eyes.

"She has a mommy eye and a daddy eye," Khi said as she leaned over, looking at Kali. Travis, who was still standing by the door, just gazed at his girls. His four girls. The three he helped create, and their mother, the love of his life. This was all he had ever wanted. A family to call his own, to care for, and to love. He took his phone out of his pocket and snapped a picture of the four of them. Koa holding Kali, as Khi pointed down at the baby, admiring her, while Taylor smiled down at the three of them.

"She does, doesn't she?" Taylor asked. She loved listening to the two of them discover things and announce what they saw. She didn't think either of them would notice Kali's subtle differences so quickly. They were observant, smart, and helpful. They were everything that she could ever ask for in her own children. She loved them to pieces, and she couldn't wait to build a similar bond with Kali as she grew older.   

Travis pushed off the door frame and walked into the bedroom. He walked over to the bed and got into his usual spot. As he got into the bed, ready to cuddle his little family, Kylie and Selena appeared at the door, wearing smiling faces. 

"Can we visit?" Selena asked, wearing one of her biggest and goofiest grins. 

"Of course," Travis replied. The two women walked into the room, plopping onto the couch. Everyone had filtered in and out of their room since Kali's birth, with Kylie spending the most time in the room with Taylor and helping out with whatever she needed. 

"Has Jason come in to see the baby yet?" Kylie asked. 

"No," Travis replied quickly, not even wanting to talk about his brother or his lack of excitement for Travis becoming a father for the third time. "I didn't expect him to, and I'm done trying to train him to be a better husband." Travis's words came out coldly. "I love you, Ky, but he's beyond help. He's too set in his ways." Kylie just nodded, agreeing with the words her brother-in-law was saying. She saw the same thing he saw. She knew Jason was beyond repair, but she had no idea how to approach the idea of leaving him.

"Uh oh. Koa broke the baby," Khi exclaimed as Kali started to cry, causing Koa to tense up.

"No I didn't," Koa argued back with her sister. 

"Then why is she crying?" Khi asked. 

"She's just hungry," Taylor replied. She took Kali from Koa and positioned the baby in her arms, preparing to breastfeed her. 

"Why are you doing that?" Khi asked, looking at Taylor, who was now feeding Kali. 

"Because she needs to eat," Taylor answered in the simplest way she knew how. She didn't want to say too much, but she also didn't want to sugarcoat the answer. That wasn't how they approached teaching or parenting. They answered as simply as possible in an age-appropriate way. 

"What is she eating out of your boobies?" Khi asked. Taylor laughed a little. Khi's confused face always reminded her of Travis. 

"Milk."

"Like a cow?!" Khi asked, her eyes growing wide. 

"Yes, when you get big and you have a baby, your body is going to make milk for your baby to eat." Taylor explained. 

"I am not doing that. I don't want to moo!" Khi said seriously. Taylor tucked her head down, trying to stifle her laughter while she heard Travis and Kylie letting their giggles get the best of them on the other side of the room. 

"Baby girl, you are not going to turn into a cow," Selena said, her hand over her mouth to hold back her own laughter. 

"Yes, I will, because Mommy said I'm going to make milk for a baby. And only cows make milk!" Khi defended her idea. 

"Baby, all mammals make milk for their babies," Selena tried to explain. 

"I'm not a mammal. I'm a human!" Selena just laughed, deciding to let the conversation go. They could pick the topic back up at another time. 

"Mommy, I remember when Khi used to eat like that, too!" Koa explained. Taylor was surprised Koa remembered that. She was only three years old when Khi was born, which meant this moment was one that Khi would remember and would be able to tell Kali about one day when she was older. 

"I used to eat like that?" Khi asked, a perplexing look taking over her face. 

"Yeah, and then sometimes you would cry after," Koa told Khi.

"Why'd I cry?" Khi asked, looking up at Taylor. 

"Because sometimes you would eat so much that you would have a tummy ache," Travis told his little one. 

"That's silly!" Khi said. "You don't eat more than your tummy can handle!" she said, which put a smile on Taylor's face. Hearing her daughter repeat words that she had told her to help her girls' relationship with food warmed her heart. 

"That's right, babes. You don't eat more than your tummy can handle," Taylor repeated. "But you were only a baby then."

"I'm a big girl now!" 

"You are. You're such a big girl. And you're going to be a great big sister." Travis told his daughter, kissing the top of his head. 

"I'm going to teach her everything I know," Khi said with a huge smile on her face.