The Sidemen Baby

Chapter 12

Josh's POV:
We did it.
We won.

The reality of the situation didn't hit me until they were arresting Lucy right infront of the courthouse.

"Veronica Rose Bradley is now legally your child." The judge's eyes flicked between me and Ethan, his smile evident in his tone. "I hope you two know what you're getting into."

Ethan was basically radiating joy. He looked like he was about to explode with happiness, and he was chatting excitedly with the tiny baby in his arms.

"-And now there's no way they can ever mistreat you again" He burst out cheerfully to her.

"Pap!" Ver giggled and cuddled him. She was not understanding why he was so happy all of a sudden, but she seemed glad that he was.

I felt two arms snake around my waist from behind as I was getting everyone in the van. I knew it was her before she said anything, just from the way she held me.

"I'm proud of you Josh. You're a great daddy." Cat's tiny voice cooed softly, just loud enough for me to hear. I could feel her press a small kiss to my back, right between my shoulder blades.

"Well." I slowly turned around so I could hug her back. The top of her head came up just to the bottoms of my ears when she was standing up straight, which was rare for her. "Don't be too proud yet because Veronica's nap time is coming up and um. I'm gonna need someone to take my joy out on. In various places and positions an- hEY!"

Simon pulled me back by my belt, tugging me towards the car. "Lunch now. No sexy talk infront of the kids." He gestured to all of the guys staring at us in various stages of shock/excitement/disgust. "They're very impressionable."

I climbed in with Tobi and Cat on either sides of me, letting Simon drive us to lunch.

The front of the car consisted of Simon, JJ and Vikk, all talking about Veronica's future. The middle of the car was taken up by Veronica, Harry and Ethan, all babbling to one another in an unrecognizable baby language. The back held Tobi, Cat and I, all relaxing after a busy morning.

"Josh, I've been meaning to ask you something." Tobi piped up from beside me.

"Well. Go for it."

He gulped and stared at his hands for a minute, trying to think of a way to get his thoughts out.

"Um. Well. Veronica is living with us now. For good. We have a long list of things to do. And I think that now would be a good time for Anastasia to come down."

My eyes widened. Tobi met Anastasia in Germany for gamescon a little while back. She was basically running our whole meet and greet with almost no help. He hadn't spoken much about her since then, but he was quite charmed by her when we were down. I knew that he had an girl, and that he'd kept in touch with Ana, but I didn't think to put two and two together.

"Tobi...." I stared at him as a grin broke out on my face. "Are you two..."

"Er. Yes. We're a thing. But if I'm gonna raise a baby I want her to be part of the kid's life, you know? She means a lot to me. So I thought I'd ask if it was alright with you guys before I invited her to move in. She can help with renovating that horrid guest room unto a nursery." He wrinkled his nose at the thought of the hideous area we 'forced' our guests to stay in.

By now everyone was peering back at us, all nodding and agreeing with murmurs and grumbles.

I smiled at my old friend. "Of course. If she makes you happy she's welcome. Shoot. If she makes you that happy I'll even pay for the flight down." I teased and grinned as his face erupted into one of relief.

JJ whipped back to look at us. "Wait what?! Anastasia was a chick!!"

Vikk groaned and smacked at him, trying to get him to shut up.

He raised an eyebrow. "Yes. She is a woman. Why's that a problem Jide?"

He continued to look bewildered, glancing at all of us before back at him. Everyone was trying to get him to shut up, but he wasn't listening.

"Um. Tobi. We uh. We thought you were gay."

His face fell and he stared at him in disbelief.

JJ continued on. "We thought that you were secretly with Josh this whole time and just didn't want to bring it up." JJ grinned, enjoying our confused looks as people started groaning and shouting at him. "We accept you bro it's just. You don't need to get fake girlfriends to hide it. That was a bit extreme. And we all know Cat was hired as a cover from the start. No offense Josh but you look like you're paying her to pretend to be your girlfriend. How else could you get a girl like that?!"

"WAIT WHAT?!" The backseat yelled in unison. Everyone was confused and talking over each other, trying to be heard over all the commotion.

Tobi and Cat were trying to convince JJ that he was wrong, Ethan and Harry were gossiping about the scene Harry and I witnessed a few months ago, and Vikk was trying desperately to get JJ to sit back in his seat. Simon just stared at the road with an amused look on his face until Veronica....

"TOP IT!!"

The little voice rang out, louder than everyone else's. Everyone went silent immediately. Veronica was crying and looked flustered, too much noise for her tiny ears to handle.

"Top!" She sobbed again, quieter this time, despite no one talking. Her little hands were covering her ears and she looked miserable, snot and tears mixing together down her tiny face.

The Dad in me took over and I made Simon pull over at the nearest parking lot, before taking the distressed child into my arms.

"It's okay now little bear. It's okay. Daddys got you. We're sorry we were too loud. We forgot. We'll be quieter now. I promise." I murmured quietly to her until she calmed down, rubbing at her eyes and face.

Harry passed me a baby wipe and I washed her grubby little face and hands with it, feeling glad that she wasn't too mad to resist cuddles.

She glared around the van and sucked angrily on her thumb, obviously displeased with our eratic behavior.

Eventually she fell asleep and took her home, having forgotten all about lunch for three more hours.

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In the next chapter there will be another time skip, to a few days before her first steps