In Another Life

Chapter 73: Mia

"Keith, sweetie, please stop crying." I half plead.

It's two thirty in the morning and my child won't sleep. Rikki can sleep though so that's good. I walk downstairs with him and into the kitchen. Maybe I should call Vicy, she'll kill me.

"Alright ankle biter, I really hope you're hungry." I say as I lay in his bouncy seat.

I warm up the bottle and feed him but Keith still cries. I sit down beside him and put my head in my hands. I have no clue what I'm doing! How did my mom do this? What am I doing wrong? Why won't he sleep?

"Please stop crying, baby boy." I say. "You're fed, your diaper is clean, what's wrong little boy?"

I pick him up and walk into the living room. I lay down on the couch with Keith on my chest and his crying clams down a bit. Shortly it's just a whimper. Sooner rather than later Keith is asleep and I smile.

"Goodnight, Keith." I yawn and close my eyes.

Rikki

I walk downstairs mainly looking for my girlfriend and child. Mia wasn't in our room and she and Keith weren't in his, this house is only so big. I walk down to the living room just to find everyone I was looking for. Minnie and Keith are both asleep on the couch. I smile and kiss my girlfriend on the forehead and pick up my son.

"Hi Keith." I say as I kiss his forehead. "Did you keep mom up all night?"

I walk him into the kitchen and set him in his bouncy seat. I go to the fridge to see that Mia used the last bottle last night.

"Christ." I mutter and grab a clean bottle from the cabinet. "Keith, this formula shit looks disgusting. I don't know how you drink it."

I mix the formula and heat it up to the proper temperature. I pick him up and feed him.

"Just you wait, Keith. Once you get older you can drink something from a bottle that's thirty times better than this shit." I say and he looks up a me.

"Are you telling our child about beer already?" Mia's voice wonders behind me and I laugh.

"Jack Daniels actually." I say as Mia comes up to me. "You look like hell."

"Thanks." Mia laughs. "Keith didn't sleep much last night."

"That's why you look like hell." I laugh and she smiles. "Hey! Look at that." I say as Keith finishes his bottle. "I'm getting pretty good at this dad thing."

"Yeah baby, you are." Mia smiles. "I'm gonna shower, don't forget to burp him."

"I won't Minnie." I say as she walks towards the door. "Hey, I love your scrawny ass, you know that right?"

"I love you to, Rikki." She smiles when she turns back.

Minnie is still, well, Minnie. She didn't gain a lot of weight during the pregnancy which only scared me slightly. Now that Keith is here, she's losing the weight pretty quickly. Mia was proud of herself when she broke a hundred pounds and by the time she gave birth she was only about one fifteen. She might barley break one hundred pounds when she's done losing the weight.

I reposition Keith so I can burp him but he looks at me for a minute. The way my child is looking at me I know this kid is going to puke on me.

So this is begin a dad.