Everything - t.r

t w e n t y s i x

Ava's P.O.V

I wiped at my eyes as I rushed to go pick up the screaming baby, mine and Theo's shouting must have waked him, "Chase." I sighed as he continued screaming as I held him, I just changed and fed him, now he's just being fussy. Theo was gone, leaving to go to work after we finished yelling at each other, although we're still beyond mad at each other, and I can't even remember what for. We have both been exhausted, we're only three weeks in to the whole parenting thing and I don't understand how people do this. It's beyond tiring, not to mention the strain it can start to put on your relationship.

"Baby, please." I begged, rocking Chase slowly, I love him, but right now I'm about ready to have a mental breakdown. I forced myself to stay quiet as he started, slowly, calming down. I bit my lip as I placed him in his crib, grabbing the baby monitor and taking it with me as I shut the door. I sat on the couch and just cried, I cried until I thought that I couldn't possibly have another tear in my body, but then they just kept coming and coming until eventually I fell fast asleep, clutching the baby monitor in my hand, knowing that I would instantly wake up if he started crying.

***

I woke up not to the sound of Chase, but to the sound of someone knocking on the door. I ran over to it and looked through the peephole to see Stiles standing outside, I swung the door open before he could knock again. "What the hell happened to you?" Were the first words out of his mouth, which made me remember why I had cried myself to sleep, I must look horrible, not to mention I still haven't gotten ready from this morning. I glanced at the clock as Stiles walked in, it's already noon, which means Chase needs to be fed... again.

"Can you go check on him? I need to make a bottle." I asked Stiles, I didn't have to look at him to know that he was nodding his head furiously, not wanting to be the one to push me over the edge for the second time today. I smiled tiredly as I heard Stiles talking to Chase over the baby monitor, I turned the volume up a little bit, "buddy, your mom is really tired, have you been crying all night?" He asked sarcastically, my eyes rolled without thought, of course Stiles would ask that.

I pushed the door open to see Stiles leaning over the edge of the crib, Chase staring up at him without a care in the world, I wish life was still that easy. "Come on, babes. It's lunch time." I mumbled, going over to the crib as my brother stepped back. I lifted him with ease, my stomach has started going back to normal, not completely but it's getting there with all of this time at home, I'm normally doing some kind of exercise when Chase is sleeping.

"What happened this time?" Stiles asked, sitting in the rocking chair as I sat on the bed, I shrugged. "I don't even know." I sighed, glancing up at him, my hair starting to fall out of its very messy ponytail. "We were both just so tired this morning and then we started yelling, and before I knew it he was storming out the door to go to work and I was taking care of Chase." I explained, knowing whatever the argument was about this morning was probably small.

Stiles nodded in understanding. "Enough about me, how's college?" I smirked, looking back down as Chase continued to drink his bottle. "Good." He mumbled a reply, I lifted my gaze for a moment, "I know that look." I told him, making him fidget with his fingers. "Oh really?" He protested. I stood up, placing the now empty bottle on the nightstand, grabbing the burping cloth. "Yes, Stiles, I do." I responded, "do you want to know how I know?" I added, watching the look on his face become curious.

"You have the same look on your face that I did whenever I thought about, Theo." I explained, hiding the pain on my face when I realized I had to use past tense terms, things have just been so rocky, it's hard to be so happy when you're always arguing with the person you love most. "I'm not in love with her." Stiles tried to lie but his voice cracked halfway through, his tell tale sign of lying. "Whatever you say." I rolled my eyes as I turned my back to him, changing Chase's diaper.

"You've been in love with her for as long as I can remember, why don't you just ask her out?" I asked, "if Lydia were to turn me down, things would be different, it would be awkward." He tried coming up with an excuse. I tossed the taped shut dirty diaper at him, making him make a noise I couldn't even describe. "Stiles, you're both old enough to make it be normal." I assured him, he raised an eyebrow as I turned around offering the baby to him. He gladly took him, claiming he needs a nephew bonding moment. "But seriously, you guys can make it work, and I want you to be happy." I smiled, plopping down on the edge of the bed.

"And I want the same thing for you, but sometimes that doesn't mean being with them will make you happier." He tried to hint subtly, normally I would take offense to him saying Theo wasn't making me happy, but I understand where he's coming from, if you were to meet us on the street we wouldn't seem like the perfect little family we started off as. "Stiles." I warned him, softly, he shrugged. "Just saying." He defended himself, raising the one arm that wasn't holding Chase.

"Ava?" I heard the familiar voice from the living room, "in here!" I called, watching Stiles as he zipped his lips, simply sitting there with his nephew. "Oh, hi Stiles." Theo mumbled, not expecting to see my brother sitting in here with me. "He just came over to see Chase." I explained, looking up at Theo. He nodded, kissing my forehead and grabbing the empty bottle off the nightstand, taking it with him as he walked towards the kitchen, shrugging his jacket off.

"I should go." Stiles mumbled, standing up, he came towards me to hand me Chase, but I pointed to the crib. He was still under a month old which meant for the most part if he wasn't sleeping he was close to it. I walked my brother to the door before awkwardly turning towards Theo, my boyfriend, yet it didn't feel like it right now. "What did we argue about this morning?" I asked, picking up some of the stuff from around the living room. Theo watched intently as I grabbed a binky off the floor, taking it to the sink to wash it.

"I'm not sure." He finally answered, coming up behind me at the sink. I felt that same rush as he wrapped his arms around my waist, just like when we first started dating. I bit my lip before turning in his grasp. "What did you do today?" He asked, gently wiping something off of my cheek. I tucked my loose hair behind my ear, "the usual, except I managed to squeeze in some rest." I told him, leaving out the fact that I cried myself to sleep because of him. He nodded, his eyes scanning over my face, I felt the urge to play with my fingers, as I felt like I was being ridiculed for my appearance.

"That's good, you need some sleep." His tone of voice gave away his disappointment in himself. I reached up, running my thumb across his cheek just as he had only a minute ago, his head basically rested in my hand. "I'm sorry." I told him, he furrowed his eyebrows. "I'm the one who left my girlfriend crying, while having to deal with our three week old son." He let out a dry chuckle at the end, "I'm the one who's sorry." He added. He glanced down at my lips before kissing me gently, "I love you." He mumbled, kissing my cheek after he moved back. I nodded, "I love you too." I smiled, glad to have our little moment. The stress from this morning practically melted off of me.