The Book Of Me & You

"Call It What You Wanna - Good Intentions, or Denial"

9 Days Later

"Yeah, he got in trouble again - this time it involved a book or something, I don't know." He spoke quietly into the phone, pressing it deeper between his cheek and shoulder

"Well, did you talk to someone at the nursery about it?" She asked, her voice getting choppy from moving rooms

He shrugged, massaging the clear liquid into the baby's scalp, "They wanted me to take him out for the day, but Bunny is too swamped right now, and I can't afford to miss any more work" It got weirdly silent on her end, prompting him to raise a brow, "What else is there?"

"Well... " Margaret started, "We're worried about you... you haven't really seen anyone since... have you?" She heard his deep exhale through the receiver, "I'm just saying - you need to be around people. People other than Bunny, Ethan, Emma, and John. Have you been to classes? Or talked to Nora?"

"Mom!" Ricky snapped a little too roughly, prompting both children to look at him, "I appreciate your concern, but I'm fine" He lied, swallowing roughly, "Amy made her decision and there's nothing I can do about it, so I'm not. I'm fine, alright?"

She sighed, relenting, "Alright... You know Shakur and I have been talking, and we think Ethan should -"

"Oh no. No, you can't be thinking -"

"That a summer job would be good for him? Yes, we do. And I think it would be good for you too"

He cocked a brow, running a cup of the bath water all over Emma's body, eliciting a squeal, "How so? I'd be babysitting him more than I already do. Does he even know anything about anything?"

"I heard that!" A rough shout came from the other room

It was silent for a few seconds between them as the cranky children sharing a bathtub were starting to get restless. Ricky sighed again, "Look, no promises, but... I'll talk to Bun - "

"Well, I may have already done that..."

"You - huh? Why?"

"I came by earlier to see you - to see how you were since you've been dodging my calls... and well, I ran into Bunny in the shop. We got to talking, and she thinks it's a good idea as well."

"Yeah, well, Bunny is desperate, I guess -"

"No! No Em-ma dat is bad!" John shrieked, grasping onto a small rubber sail boat that his sister had in her hands

"I gotta go." He rushed off, ending the call and attending to the outburst

John splashed Emma, frustrated, pointing a chubby finger, "She - she jus thr-owed my toy at me!" Emma squealed again, flailing her arms roughly into the disappearing bubbles. John's brow furrowed, standing up in a haste, "st-op spw-ash-in me!"

Blowing air from his cheeks, Ricky grabbed the towel hanging above them, and wrapped John up, lifting him out of the tub so he could do the same to the too-tired baby now puckering her lip out at him.

"What are you doing?" Ricky questioned his brother, who was typing on, and moving his laptop around the table

Ethan glanced up quickly before returning his attention to the task, "Fixing your laptop's Webcam, no wonder you can never get a picture."

John joined them a few minutes later, the Ninja Turtle pajamas he was wearing on backward, "Daddy..." he trailed off as he watched Ethan fiddle with the pesky device until their faces stared back at them, and he threw his hands up in success. He glanced up to his father, busy pulling his sisters grabby hands away from his face as he kept his gaze on Ethan. "Daddy... um, um, I jus want to s-ee mommy?" John didn't understand everything, but he could tell by the way his dad's eyes shifted back and forth and he took a deep breath through his nose, that he wasn't happy with his question. He bit his lip, resting his head on his arms atop the table, "pwease daddy..."
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