Hey There Delilah

Chapter 3

*Luke's P.O.V.*
I'm in the door by 6:05pm, and up the stairs by 6:07pm. I go into my studio first, placing the guitar against Delilah's crib and the food in the fridge before heading down to the Cliffords' studio.

The door opens before I get the chance to knock.

"Luke!" I'm greeted by Michael this time. I give him a smile before hugging him, the Cliffords were like brothers to me at this point.

"Hey, Mikey! Just came to pick up my baby." He smiles and steps out of the way so I can enter. Their studio wasn't much bigger than mine, but it was definitely nicer.

More space even. I hated coming in here sometimes, hated that I couldn't give Delilah a better space like this one. I shake my head, searching the space to see Delilah sitting on the kitchen counter, clutching a teddy bear wearing a Nirvana shirt. Calum's right next to her, cutting up an orange.

"Daddy, Daddy!" She shouts when she sees me, dropping the bear in favor of reaching her arms out to me. I smile and rush over to her, taking her in my arms while picking up the bear along the way.

"Hey there, princess! Daddy missed you so much today. What's this you got here?"

"Oh, I picked up a few toys for her the other day. The rest are in her bag, I hope you don't mind," Michael says to me, making his way over to Calum and snaking an arm around his waist.

"Of course I don't. But, you guys shouldn't have to -"

"None of that, Luke. We're glad to do it," Calum says. After a few moments I nod, looking down at Delilah to see her hugging the bear tightly to her little chest.

"What do you say, Lilah?"

"Tank you!" She yells.

"Hush, what did I say about yelling Ms. Hemmings?" I chide her. Michael holds back a smile, burying his face in Calum's neck.

"Tank you," she whispers.

"Alright, well we should be heading home now. Don't want her staying up too late," I say, heading towards the door. Calum places the orange in a Ziploc bag, putting it in Delilah's baby bag and handing it to me.

"We'll see you two tomorrow, goodnight!" Michael says as I take the bag.

"I can't thank you guys enough," I say, opening the door and stepping outside.

"Anything to help, Luke. Bye-bye Delilah!" Calum says, closing the door. We make our way back to my studio, and I place Delilah on the bed. I take out the orange and put it in the fridge, also placing the teddy bear in her crib next to Pengy.

"Okay, baby girl. How about a bath and then some dinner?"

"Yes, daddy!" I laugh at her and start to take off her socks and shoes. "Moosic?" She says to me with wide eyes as I take off the rest of her clothes, placing her diaper in the trash can.

"Sure, beautiful. Lets put on some music." I reach behind me for the old CD player that sits on top of the cabinet, setting it next to Delilah and reaching for a random CD under the bed. American Idiot by Green Day. I turn the player on, placing the CD inside and hitting "play."

Delilah's face lights up immediately as Billy Joe's voice fills our tiny apartment. I smile and pick her up along with the music, moving into the bathroom and sitting her down on the toilet seat. I put the CD player on the sink, turning on the faucet in the tub and plugging the drain. I move to sit in front of Delilah, waiting for the tub to fill with water.

"Let's talk, baby. What did you do with the Cliffords today?" She obviously doesn't understand what I'm saying, so she settles for laughing. She grabs my cheeks in each of her hands, twisting and pulling and laughing at the funny faces she's creating. I laugh along with her, scrunching my nose at her.

"Yeah? That sounds like fun sweetheart," I grab her hands in mine, giving each of them lots of little kisses and turning to see the tub filled high enough for an 18-month-old baby. "Bath time now," I say to her.

I check the water with my hand to make sure it isn't too hot and I place her in the tub. Immediately she starts splashing the water with her hands.

"Lilah, no. We don't splash the water, understand?" I say as I turn and grab her wash cloth and a small hand towel from the sink. I wasn't letting her use the one big towel until I was able to wash it.

I lather the cloth with Johnson's baby shampoo, I'd have to pick up more baby wash too, and start washing Delilah's little body while humming along with the music.

"You want to know how daddy's day went?" I ask her, not at all expecting an answer.

"Guitah, Daddy!" She says. I smile as I continue to wash her up.

"That's right baby girl! Daddy played guitar today. And he met a little girl that had eyes like yours. Not as beautiful as yours, of course, but they looked similar." Delilah had tuned out at "little girl" and had started splashing the water again.

"Delilah, no. Don't splash the water, okay?" I turn the faucet back on and start to rinse her off with a plastic cup I leave on the sink, covering her eyes to avoid getting soap in them, she refuses to listen and still splashes the water.

"Delilah Hazel Hemmings, listen to daddy." I say in a stern voice, turning off the water. She juts out her bottom lip and tears start to form in her eyes. I barely ever use her full name, only when she's done something bad.

"Oh baby, don't cry. Daddy didn't mean to yell, princess. Let's get you nice and dry, okay?" I unplug the drain and dry her off with a towel. "Wait right here beautiful. Gotta get you a diaper."

I leave the bathroom and grab the baby lotion, a diaper, a onesie, and one of my clean Blink-182 shirts. When I get back to the bathroom, Delilah is trying to get out of the tub on her own. I drop everything on the floor and rush to pick her up.

"Woah there, little angel, always wait for daddy. Don't want you to slip and hurt yourself." I hoist her up and out of the tub, placing the towel on the floor and her on the towel. She holds two of my fingers and plays with them while I use my free hand to put lotion on her, along with her diaper. I finally pull the onesie over her head and wrap her in my T-shirt to keep her warm.

"Food, dada," she says to me.

"Yes, baby, food." I hang the wash cloth on the side of the sink and set Delilah down on the bed. Within the next fifteen minutes I've fed Delilah half of the soup, eating the other half myself, along with a small portion of the cookie. She didn't need a ton sugar just yet.

"Daddy," she whines as I throw the paper bag away.

"Yes, darling?" I turn to see her pointing in the direction of my guitar. I can't believe I'd nearly forgotten. "One second baby. Daddy didn't forget about your special song."

I finish cleaning up and grab my guitar out of the case, sitting it down at the foot of the bed. I lay Delilah down, wrapping her up tightly in my shirt so it'll be easier to move her to her crib when she falls asleep. I plant a kiss on her nose before grabbing my guitar and sitting down right next to her.

"Song?" She asks. I start singing right away, the chords coming automatically to my mind.

"Hey there Delilah, what's it like in New York City? I'm a thousand miles away but girl tonight you look so pretty, yes you do. Times Square can't shine as bright as you, I swear it's true."

I sing this song to my baby every night, sometimes in the afternoon too if I need her to fall asleep. Every night, for the past year and a half, she falls asleep to the sound of my voice.

She's knocked out by the time I reach the last verse, and when I finish I can hear her little snores. I set the guitar down quietly and pick her up, kissing each of her cheeks before I place her in her crib.

"Goodnight, beautiful. Daddy loves you."

***
Three chapters in one day yay!!! I really hope everyone who reads this likes it, I seriously can't get over how cute single dad Luke is with baby Delilah! leah112101 and I have some really great ideas for this book, and I can't wait to keep writing.

And if any of you have read my first book (I Think I Love My Best Friend) I'm sorry I haven't been updating ): but I'll try to get back on that as soon as possible. Love you guys!