"Carrie I'm home!" Mike shouted, entering the house from the garage.
"Damnit!" He heard his fiancé yell, along with Charlotte screaming through the monitor.
"Babe? Babe what's wrong?" Mike put his stuff down and walked into the kitchen. Carrie was crying in the middle of the kitchen, a pan of rolls were spilled over the counter, and the pot on top of the stove was bubbling over.
"Everything! I can't do anything right I'm a failure!" Carrie shouted, throwing the dishrag in her hand onto the ground.
"Hey hey, shhh." Mike approached her, pulling her into his embrace. "Calm down, it's okay."
"Tell me what's wrong Care." Mike lifted Carrie's chin up to look her in the eyes and wiped the tears off her face.
"Charlotte's crying, Maddy's pouting in the living room and won't talk to me, the pasta got over cooked, and I burnt my hand on the pan. Everything's a mess I can't do it all." She sobbed, collapsing in his arms.
"Shhhh." Mike held her tight and rubbed her back gently. "It's okay, take a deep breath, it's okay."
He placed his hands on her shoulders and looked into her hurting eyes. Carrie tried her best to mimic Mike and take a deep breath as he did while tears continued to fall.
"Let me see your hand." Mike spoke softly in hopes of relaxing his fiancé.
Carrie held her hand out to Mike and wiped the tears off her face with the other. The ends of her fingers were red and already starting to blister.
"Let's get some ice on it." Mike smiled and kissed her hand. Opening the freezer, he grabbed a piece of ice, wrapped it in a paper towel, and placed it on her hand.
"There, keep this on there until the burning goes away."
"Thank you." Carrie said quietly, giving him a very small smile.
"Now, tell me what else happened." He pushed a piece of hair behind her ear.
"Maddy's upset with me because I told her she couldn't watch tv until she cleaned her toys up. She started pouting and throwing a tantrum so I took the remote and said it was her choice but she wasn't getting it back until the toys were clean and so she told me she hated me, plopped herself down on the couch, and hasn't moved since. You don't think she really hates me, do you?" Carrie sniffled.
"Of course not Carrie, she doesn't even know what hate is. She's just frustrated. Let me talk to her. Don't worry, okay?" Mike assured her, rubbing her arm.
She nodded, wiping another tear off.
"It's okay, I promise. It's just a bad day, it'll get better."
"Thank you." Carrie smiled, wrapping her arms around him.
"I love you." He whispered, kissing the top of her head. "Go get Charlotte, I'll order pizza and then talk to Maddy."
Carrie threw the ice in trash and walked upstairs, leaving Mike to deal with Maddy in the living room.
"Hey there sunshine" Carrie cooed, approaching Charlotte's crib where she lay crying.
"Why you crying? What's wrong pumpkin?" She lifted Charlotte out of the crib.
Letting out a sigh, Carrie plopped down in the rocking chair and held her youngest daughter close.
When Charlotte continued to cry, Carrie checked her diaper and then finally decided she must be hungry.
Carrie looked around the pink nursery as she fed Charlotte, thinking about everything that was going on and how crazy her life was right now. She felt like she had one million and one things to do, she hadn't slept in weeks, her managers were already starting to get her back into shows and start on new music, and on top of all of that, she and Mike had a wedding to start planning at some point.
"Mind if I join you?" Mike pulled Carrie out of her thoughts when he knocked on the open door of the nursery.
Carrie smiled, nodding her head.
"I talked to Maddy, she's putting her toys up right now. She said she was sorry and she doesn't hate you." Mike sat down in the other chair beside Carrie and placed his hand on top of her free one.
"Thank you." Carrie grinned. "I'm sorry for snapping at you, it's just been a long day."
"Hey, don't apologize. It's okay, I know you're stressed. Everybody has bad days sometimes."
"I know. There's just so much to do it seems like it never ends. I just can't catch a break." Carrie sighed, trying not to get frustrated and cry again.
"Carrie you've got to stop feeling bad about asking for help. I know you like to think you can do it all, but sometimes you can't. You know that Ivey or Christina or any of those girls would help you in a heartbeat if you asked. I know you're trying to put it off for as long as you can, but eventually you're going to have to let Marisa start nannying again. An extra set of hands during the day would be a lot of help, plus Charlotte needs to warm up to her before you get back into work and have to leave her with Marisa for meetings and shows and such." Mike explained.
"I know, I know. I just, I don't know. I want to hold onto this time as much as I can before I have to start working full speed again. I just feel bad asking for help." She sighed.
"I know you do." Mike chuckled, standing up from his chair and kissing her forehead. "You've always been stubborn like that."
"That's why you love me." Carrie cooed, a big grin plastered on her face.
"Indeed I do." He laughed, kissing her. "I'm going to go downstairs and see how Maddy and the toys are doing, come down when you finish."
Carrie smiled as she watched him walk out the door. She still couldn't believe how lucky she was to have him.
Once Charlotte was finished, Carrie burped her, changed her diaper, and headed downstairs.
"Well look at that, I can see the living room floor again!" Carrie exclaimed, talking about the toys Maddy had finally cleaned up.
"I sorry mommy, I don't hate you." Maddy ran over to Carrie and hugged her. Carrie squatted down and smiled, side hugging Maddy with Charlotte still in her arms.
"It's okay baby, I know you don't. Thank you for cleaning up your toys though."
"You're welcome Mommy, I love you."
"I love you too pumpkin." Carrie kissed Maddy's forehead and stood back up.
"See, I told you everything would be okay." Mike wrapped his arm around Carrie's shoulder when she entered the kitchen. They both watched Maddy put up the last of her toys.
Carrie smiled, resting her head on his shoulder.
"I love you so much."
