The Parent Project

Tuesday

Samson's first night in the Lopez household hadn't been too bad. Sure, he'd cried at least three times in the span of eight hours but at least she'd been able to feed him, change his diaper and rock him back to sleep by herself. When the piercing noise hadn't stopped for at least twenty minutes, she'd googled some new parent tips and with their help she'd been able to get a solid four hours of sleep last night.

She groggily opened her eyes from her short nap as her phone buzzed in her hand at Joey's text. He was apparently downstairs waiting to help her out with the morning shift. Man had she got lucky being partnered with Joey. It wasn't even 8am yet and here he was, ready to start the morning and help out.

She stumbled down the stairs bleary eyed and opened the door, realising far too late that she was in pyjama shorts and a crop top, a messy bun and her glasses covering the majority of her face.

"Morning Lauren," Joey smiled, fully dressed and ready for school, "why aren't you ready?" He frowned looking her up and down.

"We've got ages until school,"

"Thirty minutes is a long time?" He said as he checked his watch.

"What?" Lauren raised an eyebrow as Joey showed her the time. With a noise of despair, she basically threw Sam at Joey without another word and ran back up the stairs. It was way later than she thought. She turned on the shower and ran back to her room grabbing clean underwear, a pair of jeans, a white t-shirt and a towel before sprinting back to the bathroom and stripping.

She stood under the jets deciding she didn't have enough time to wash her hair. She made quick work of the rest of her shower routine before hurriedly drying off and attempting to brush her teeth, put her contacts in and get dressed all at the same time. When she decided she was presentable enough for school, she grabbed her backpack from her room and the small bag she had filled with Sam's supplies and bounded down the stairs two at a time, skidding to a stop in the door to the lounge.

Joey was sat on the couch cradling Samson in one arm, a bottle pressed to their baby's lips as he made casual conversation with her Mom.

"It's certainly gonna be an interesting week," he was saying with a chuckle.

"Oh! Lauren, you're here! I found a baby carrier in the attic last night and thought you might like it for Samson so he's not permanently attached to you," she said, holding up a monochrome carrier.

"Thanks Mom," she shot them both a smile and headed inside, taking a seat on the arm of the couch, her side pressed against Joey's shoulder as she smiled down at their fake family.

"You ready?" Joey asked quietly as he removed the bottle from Sam's lips and handed it to her to put in the bag. He shifted so Samson was on his shoulder and expertly began burping the baby.

"Yeah, let's go," Lauren replied softly, "Joey's got Sam tonight Mom, so you won't see him later."

Lauren's Mom reached up to pat the baby on the head with a little laugh.

"Despite all the crying last night it is kind of nice to have a grandson," she grinned.

"Not for a really long time, if ever Mom, don't get your hopes up,"

She shrugged and waved them both off with a small conspiratorial smile.

-

"Sorry about that," Lauren mumbled as they walked to school, "I didn't realise the time, Sam kept me up crying through the night and I must've fallen back asleep after my alarm this morning,"

"It's okay! He was nightmare huh?" Joey asked as Lauren nodded her head dramatically, the baby on his shoulder now quiet, "Are you okay with the bag?"