Hills & Valleys : The Sophomore Sequel || Tori Kelly

No Money, Mo Problems

4 Days Later — monday morning
9:45 AM

Tori was wheeled down to the lobby as André held Ella in her car seat. It was release day and Tori was stoked. Laura patiently sat in the drivers seat of Andrés truck in front of the hospital entrance, waiting for the new parents. The nurse watched André set Ella's car seat correctly in the base and handed Tori her discharge papers. "Alright, momma. You and baby are in the care of dad. I know you mentioned that you have other kids, but you don't live here, so I would get baby girl to your pediatrician in six weeks when you get back. And you will get an email asking where you want your records sent in a week. That email will allow us to pass your info to your primary. Other than that, you guys are good to go," she smiled. Tori slowly, got up from the wheel chair and climbed into the back seat where Joey's carseat normally sat.

André hopped in the front next to Laura and they were off. The trip immediately set off on the wrong foot. "Owe," Tori moaned in pain as Laura went over a speed bump at the hospital grounds entrance.

"Sorry," the mother apologized, knowing how excruciating it was for Tori to jolt in different directions. "When you get back are you guys getting an SUV?" Laura asked. André glanced back at his wife to see her lying across Ella's car seat watching the newborn sleep.

"That's up to babe. I can rearrange the boys car seats to fit all of them, but I don't know if she'll want to do that for her car or not. Plus, funds are a bit tight right now for extra expenses now that we have an unexpected newborn," André honestly spoke. Laura was concerned, since she hadn't heard anything about money issues before.

"You guys aren't struggling are you?" Laura asked, ready to jump to action. André wasn't sure how much he could say, so he shrugged.

"Since I don't have a job right now we are relying on the movie and music, but now that we have Ella and our debts aren't paid off, this could be hard," he whispered, not wanting to hear Tori's mouth about informing her mom. Laura shook her head in disbelief.

"Well, you listen to me, if you all need to move back in, don't hesitate to do so, especially with Allwyn out of the house. I have no problem letting you guys come stay with us," Laura kindly offered. André went to respond when he heard Tori gasp in the back seat.

"Oh, my gosh," Tori said, sitting up and removing the blanket from over her daughters lap. "Ella," Tori whined.

"What?" André asked as Laura thankfully got closer to the hotel.

"Babe, she just had a major blow out. I can see it's up her front and I'm gonna guess it's up her back too. Never have the boys ever had this happen. I don't even know where to begin," Tori groaned, seeing the black tar like substance deep through her child's onesie. Laura quickly pulled into a random parking seven blocks from the hotel and parked the car across a couple of spots in the back. Tori quickly pulled the baby out to confirm that Ella had, indeed, pooped up her back and up her front. "What the hell?" Tori said, putting the peaceful baby back down as André came around the car and opened the other side.

Laura watched the two tag team their daughters first ever blowout, in a matter of minutes. Tori comforted the agitated baby while simultaneously wiping down the car seat and grabbing a new outfit. And André changed the baby and gave her a bath with baby wipes, careful not to catch her umbilical chord while cleaning it. She'd never seen them work like this before, because they usual had to tend to a baby by themselves. It was even odder for the couple, though. They were used to taking a baby and coming back together afterwards. With Ella, they only had one body to focus on and it made it easy to forget that soon they would have three to focus on.

—

After everyone was settled back in the car and the baby was clean, Laura finished out the six minute drive to the hotel. As the pulled into the parking lot, Tori became increasingly nervous. She'd already posted her baby on Instagram so the whole world knew, but she hadn't really talked to her friends or family about Ella other than her parents and in-laws. "Alright... I'm getting out to get your boys. Noah rode back home with dad and Kamari, Kayla, and Ryan have the boys and want to meet Ella," Laura said. Tori groaned, doing her best to get out of the truck.