her and much more / joe mazzello

sixteen

joe woke up to an unusual noise. the clock read 2:13am. vivian hadn't woken up yet because she was exhausted from working over 12 hours the previous day for milk cosmetics. joe slipped out of bed and went to paisley's room.

joe opened the door and turned the light on to see paisley crying in her crib. "what's wrong baby?" he rushed over and picked her up. she immediately cuddled into his chest. "you never cry baby girl, what's wrong? tell daddy all about it." i saw in the rocking chair and rubbed her back.

"da..seep."

"you can't go to sleep?" she hummed. "did you have a bad dream sweetheart?" he cooed.

her arms wrapped around his neck tighter, signaling to joe that she did have a bad dream.

"i'll stay with you until you fall asleep again, sugar sugar." she kept nodding into joe's chest.

"siiii" joe listened to her word.

"what hun?"

"siiii" he tried to analyze what she said.

"sing?"

"ya" she took a fistful of joe's shirt.

"what do you want me to sing?"

"queee"

"ahh, a queen song." joe thought for a second and softly started singing love of my life.

"wov you" paisley mumbled softly while joe continued to sing.

"i love you too." he brought his hand up to push her hair back and noticed her forehead was really warm. "baby are you feeling okay?" he shifted a bit so he could see her. she shook her head.

joe kept her cuddled into his chest while we made his way to the changing table, searching for the thermometer.

"hold still." joe mumbled and placed the thermometer in her ear. he kissed the top of her head and bounced her lightly in his arms. "you missy, have a fever of 101.2."

joe put the thermometer in his back pocket and immediately went for the paper taped on the wall with all the phone numbers needed for paisley's health and emergency contacts. "da?"

"what sweetie?" joe had held her tightly as he dialed the on-call pediatrician.

"i no goo."

"i know, honey. daddy's going to fix it."

joe sat back in the rocking chair as the phone rang. finally the pediatrician picked up. "hi, my name's joe mazzello and my daughter paisley mazzello has a fever of 101.2 and i was wondering if i could get some help on what to do?"

after about a ten minute phone call and paisley starting to cry again, joe knew what to do in this whole situation.

joe found the children's tylenol and tucked it under his arm. he grabbed her blankie from the crib. paisley grabbed onto it as joe turned the lights off and headed for the kitchen. "you wanna take your medicine with a juice or water, baby?"

"wa." she yawned and shivered.

joe filled up a sippy cup with cold water and sat her on the counter. he measured out her dose before looking at her. "this isn't going to taste good, baby."

"oh-tay." joe held the cup to her mouth and helped encourage her to take it.

"you got this! you're a strong girl." she started making a face and coughing. joe put her sippy cup to her mouth and she drank almost all her water. joe then filled it up more just incase she needed it.