MENDED

fifty

alex

i let out a low, sleepy whine as i woke up. without opening my eyes, i rolled onto my side, and i reached over to grab saylor so that i could pull her closer to me. when i was met with nothing, i patted around for a few seconds and even extended my arm further. when i still didn't feel anything, i opened my eyes to see that saylor was no longer in the bed. i frowned.

i yawned as i sat up. i balled my fists up and rubbed at my eyes. i eventually got up and went to the bathroom to piss and then brush my teeth. once i was finished, i started to walk out of saylor's room as i rubbed at my eyes again.

"good morning," i greeted, still groggy, as i stood in the doorway. when i dropped my hand from my eyes, i looked down, and i let out a yelp as i jumped back. "what the fuck?!"

as i shut the bedroom door again, i heard saylor laugh loudly. i also heard the child that was in the living room babble nonsense.

"why the fuck is that thing here?!" i called out through the door.

i feel incredibly indecent right now; i mean, for fuck's sake, i'm only wearing a pair of boxer briefs.

"my friend needed me to babysit willow again," saylor replied; she had said her name pointedly to correct me calling her "that thing."

i grumbled to myself as i stepped back from the door to put some clothes on. i did not want to start off my morning with that.

once i was dressed, i peeked my head out of the bedroom door. i locked eyes with saylor. "can you take it back?"

she sent me an unamused look. "she is not an it or a thing. and no. i can't."

i frowned.

i looked over to willow. she was considerably bigger than the last time i saw her, considering she was practically a newborn then. she was actually walking around now as she chewed on some toy and continued babbling on.

that's just what i need: for her to be walking around.

"come out of the bedroom, baby," saylor let out a small laugh. "jeez, what happened to 'i'm not scared of babies?'"

"i'm not scared of them," i narrowed my eyes as i hesitantly walked into the room. "i told you, they just freak me out."

as i walked to sit in the chair that was across from the couch, willow started to walk towards me. my eyes widened, and i practically leaped to the chair. i pulled my knees to my chest, and i watched as she sat on the ground.

i looked over to saylor, and my eyes narrowed again as i saw that she was holding back a giggle. "this isn't funny!"

"you're right; it's hilarious," she let her giggle out. "priceless, actually."

i continued to narrow my eyes at her. while i did, she called willow over to her. i scooted back in the chair as willow walked by me. when willow reached her, saylor picked her up and pulled her into her lap. she whispered something in her ear.

"alex!" willow said loudly as she threw her hands out with a wide, toothy grin. it came out as "ah-wex" though.

oh.

saylor looked over at me. the proud grin on her face told me that the two of them had been working on that all morning.

my brows knitted downwards as my face softened just slightly. i watched as willow wiggled out of saylor's lap and off of the couch. my eyes widened as she started to walk towards me.