Sleepwalking {GTA V}

4: Third Chance

It was nearly early November and the snow was falling hard. I stopped by Michael's after chugging a beer and realizing my life had no meaning other than annoying Michael and his loving family. Outside of him, I didn't really have much. There was Brad, but he didn't mean that much to me.

I knocked on Michael's door and heard footsteps running towards me, and the door pulled back and Jimmy stared up at me. "Hi Uncle Trevor!" He smiled, he was missing his left front tooth.

"Hey little man, is your dad here?" I step inside and shrug my boots off. Snow clung to it like a bee on honey.

"Yeah, but something is wrong with the baby." He shrugs.

Panic hits me like a smack in the face. "What do you mean?" I turn and try to find Michael before he responds. Michael is sitting in Alana and Tracey's room in the rocking chair that he bought when Tracey was born, with the baby in his arms. He looks up at me quickly.

"What's up?" He asks in a hushed tone.

"Jimmy told me something is wrong with her." I gesture the sleeping baby. I step towards them and can feel the old carpet through the holes in my old socks.

Michael shakes his head. "Not her, but Bella. Her mom."

"What's wrong?" My stomach sunk. Not for her mom, but for Alana.

"She was diagnosed with cancer. Lung cancer. Being in that strip club had an effect on her. And... her lungs. Too much smoke I guess." Michael says solemnly.

I shake my head. Fuck. "What's gonna happen, if... you know," I don''t have to finish, Michael shakes his head again.

"I don't know. I really don't," he shrugs while looking down at her solemnly. "I mean, obviously she'd live with us. I'm not letting her parents take my daughter from me. But if Bella dies, I know a piece of Alana will die with her long before she'll know it."

I didn't know what to say. I'd never heard Michael be so serious about something. But then again, Jimmy and Tracey never had to get news that Amanda had cancer. My heart ached for Alana. I begged in my brain that if there is some divine power, they wouldn't take her mom from her. "Wow Michael, that's scary..." I managed to say, so there wouldn't be an empty silence.

"I was actually about to bring Alana over to spend time with her, but it's also her weekend with the baby." Michael says and stands up, cradling her gently in his arms. "Do you wanna come?"

"Sure," I shrug. I kinda didn't want Michael to take her there for I wanted to spend time with her too.

"You caught us at a good time too, she's actually not crying for once. She has bad colic and I feel so bad for her. She wore herself out crying."

"Ouch," I say. I feel bad for her too. Crying always gives me headaches.

He puts her on the diaper changing table and quickly changes her diaper. After that he put her in a blue onesie with a yellow crescent moon on it, along with a winter coat. The cloudy sky demonstrated perfect lighting for her nap as she slept soundly through everything.

"I don't think we'll need the diaper bag if we're just driving to drop her off. Isabel doesn't live far from here." I nod in agreement, but I had no idea about these things.

"Glad to see you still remember how to take care of a baby." I say with a smirk.

"It's been so long since James and Tracey were this little I almost did forget," he says and looks down at Alana and a warm smile spreads across his lips. "I feel like I have a chance at raising a good dad again."

I raise an eyebrow. "It's not like Jimmy and Tracey are dead. You're still their dad."

Michael looks up at me and shrugs. "They hate me. They're at that age. And I can't really blame them."

While we are leaving, the kids say bye to Alana. I knew they loved her just as much as Michael does, and even Amanda can't resist. She had all of us wrapped around her tiny finger.

Michael and I leave the house and walk outside to Michael's car, a 1998 Rancher XL. He buckles her into her backwards facing car seat and joins me in the front. The radio plays classical music on a low volume and I frown at Michael. "It's good for babies, I heard." He shrugs. I just snicker at him.

"Soft," I say and turn my head to my window and watch the snow fall. I will never get enough of looking at it.

We drive down the snowy streets that are plowed regularly on the hour. Stopping at a red light, I notice that Michael is looking at Alana in the rear view mirror with admiration in his eyes and it's good to see a light return to his pathetic life.

I try to picture what she would look like when she's older and what she'll be into or do for a living. She could end up an astronomer or an accountant, maybe even working at Cluckin' Bell all her life if she wanted. I smirked to myself at the thought, but I know that wouldn't be true. I'm sure Michael, like Jimmy and Tracey, would put her through great schools and provide a great future with his money. A better future than ours.

We pulled into the driveway of Isabel's home and stepped out of the car. Her house was average, a 3 bedroom with a finished basement. Michael unbuckled Alana from her car seat and carried her to the door, shielding her face from cold snowflakes.

The snow crunches under our boots against concrete as we approached the front porch. He knocked on the door, and Isabel's father answered. "Michael," he nodded, opening the door wider for us.

"Mr. Brown," Michael says back respectfully.

We met Isabel's mom inside and she jumped up gleefully to see her granddaughter. "Oh hi precious," she says quietly.

Alana woke up and her eyes are staring at me as she moves her hand up to her mouth and sucks on her hand even while in Mrs. Kane's arms. Kane retreats to his recliner with reading glasses to finish reading the mornings paper.

"Hi Michael," Isabel says from the hallway that led to her bedroom. Michael looked away from Alana and at her.

"Hey, how are you feeling?"

"I've had better days," she says while walking towards her daughter. She's dressed in sweatpants and a loose t shirt and it's weird to see her dressed so casually when I'm used to seeing her in lingerie. It was unusual to think she was a normal girl. She was only a year out of high school. "Hi pretty girl," she says in a baby voice to Alana and she looks away from me and to her mom.

"Mom cmon," Isabel groans for her to give her Alana. I knew Mrs. Kane, or Valerie, didn't want to give her up. Who would? I don't like to.

"Sorry honey, she's just so beautiful." Valerie says while her eyes water. She hands Alana off to Isabel, and Isabel sits down on the couch with her daughter in her arms.

"Thanks for bringing her over Michael." Isabel says solemnly.

Michael nods. "Of course. I fed her an hour ago and recently changed her diaper. She also just woke up from her nap but it wasn't that long. About twenty minutes."

"Okay thank you," she says with a small smile. I could tell she was scared for I could see the fear in her eyes. Fear for her own life. Fear for her daughters.

Michael and I leave and to the diner to get lunch. We didn't talk about scores or money, just enjoyed each other's company. I could tell Michael missed Alana, and I missed her too.