A light || Ricky and Nini

Chapter 199

Ricky POV

"I texted Nini the address of this hotel, she wants to come by and see Lucas before we head out to lunch." My mom nods and gives me a grin. "Things are going well with her?" I laugh and run my hand through my hair. "Better than well. Oh shit, is it okay that she's coming by? Because this is totally your kid." She laughs again, shaking her head. "It's totally fine Ricky. I'm glad she wants to be a part of all of this, especially because it can be a lot." She admits and I breathe out. "That's the truth." I chuckle and I follow her gaze as Todd enters the room. "What's up honey? Did you talk to Jason?" I furrow my eyebrows and try not to outwardly ask what was going on, but my curiosity was getting the best of me as Todd stared at his phone with concern etched across his face. "No. His phone keeps going to voicemail, and like right to voicemail so his phone is either completely powered off or he's hitting ignore as soon as I call." My mom frowns deeply and I look between them, trying to figure out who would talk further. When no one says anything, I speak up. "What's going on?" I ask and Todd looks at me, rubbing his neck in frustration. "I can't find Jason. I have no fucking clue where he is, and he won't answer his phone." I don't want to admit that I almost couldn't care less, but this was Todd's kid, and my mom seemed worried so I mustered up a little emotion. "Oh no, when's the last time you heard from him?" Todd frowns and checks his phone again. "Hours ago. Like when he left the hotel." I nod and my mom puts her hand on my shoulder. "Honey where do you go when you're upset? Or want to be alone?" I bite my lip. "Nini's house?" I joke but the seriousness makes me change my answer. "The skate park. But Jason isn't into skate boarding." I say and my mom sighs. "Yeah you're right. Babe, I have no clue what to do." She directs the second part of her sentence to Todd and he rubs a hand over his forehead. "I don't either. I think I'm going to go out and look for him. He doesn't know Salt Lake, he couldn't have gotten that far." I watch my mom nod, scooting to brace herself on the end of the bed. "I'm gonna check the entire hotel." Todd rushes over to her and stops her from getting up. "No you aren't, you can't leave Lucas alone and you shouldn't be trekking around right now." My mom frowns but looks at me. "I'm just fine. The doctor said to keep moving. And Ricky could watch Lucas?" I shake my head and then nod. "No yeah I can do that. I can just send Nini up to the room? We can watch him for a bit." The couple in front of me looks relieved and Todd nods. "Okay, okay if you could do that it'd be great Ricky. Maybe you and Nini can walk Lucas around the floor so that you're not confined to the room? I appreciate this so much." I smile and look at Lucas resting in his makeshift crib. "Absolutely. You guys go find that ass- dude." Todd hides his smile while my mom prepares to scold me (I can just tell in her eyes) but Todd puts his hand on her shoulder and helps her up. "We won't be longer than an hour buddy."

"So Jason just disappeared? Really cool of him since his step mom just had a baby." Nini tucks her hair behind her ears, sitting in front of Lucas and admiring him. "I know, and they're all freaked. I mean he's 17, at this point they should probably trust him not to commit felonies." Nini grins and scoots into me as I take my place next to her, wrapping an arm around her small frame. "I hate him, but I hope that he comes back soon because those two shouldn't be worried about their 17 year old son." Her hand reaches forward to tuck Lucas' swaddled blanket under his chin and I nod in agreement. "I'm glad I didn't choose this time around to be an asshole to them." I admit and Nini looks back at me, smiling proudly. "I don't think you're ever a jerk to them, you just have strong emotions." She giggles and I run my fingers through her hair. "Uh huh, *asshole*" I pretend to cough and she laughs harder, falling into me a bit more. A moment of quiet passes before she speaks again. "Your text... about you not being able to wait for ours..." she gestures to Lucas. "I couldn't pay attention to what the girls were saying the entire time after. I... I can't wait either." She says shyly and I smile, pressing my nose into her neck and wrapping my arms tightly around her body. "It's going to be amazing."

"So did they actually say we could take him around the floor? He's like two days old, what if I drop him? Or he-" I cut Nini off and by laughing and I lift Lucas up. "You won't babe, your maternal instincts will probably kick in in about 2 seconds, and you don't even drop pets." She giggles, probably from the memory of the time I dropped a kitten at Seb's house, right after the group had told me he was a newborn and must specifically be careful with him. Nini takes Lucas from me hesitantly, but as I had told her, she smiles gently and all of a sudden she's cradling him like it's something completely natural. "Lead the way Ricky" her soft voice interrupts the mental picture I'm taking of her and I nod, pressing my hand to the small of her back and leading her from the room.

"He's so cuteeee I just want to keep him." Nini whines as Lucas wraps his small fist around a few locks of her hair. I grin and press a kiss to her temple. "Someday you'll be able to!" I chuckle and she gives me wide doe eyes. "But-" I laugh a little louder shaking my head. "You can't bribe my mom to let you keep him!" A smile spreads on her face and she stops walking to adjust his blanket. I take the opportunity to wrap my arm tighter around her waist and I run my hand across the side of the infant's head. "But we get this one day. And we'll actually get to keep them." I promise to her quietly and her bright eyes meet mine. "My baby fever is at an all time high now, but I've got a feeling that with you, it'll always be pretty much there." She laughs and I press a kiss to her lips before guiding her to walk with me.

As we walk, Lucas only stirs whenever Nini squeals too much and I only let go of her when she has to adjust him in her arms. We don't stop, and we loop the floor too many times. But it's heaven until it's not. It takes only a moment for Nini to fully stop her walking, for her body to go completely rigid and her eyes to fix coldly on something, someone. "Nini?" She doesn't answer me and I try to direct my gaze to where she's staring. Her eyes are on a tall man, leaning against one of the decorative tables while typing something out on his phone. He looks familiar, and I try to place him but Nini's reaction sends my heart beating rapidly and I keep trying to check in with her. "Babe what is it? Who is he?" I pester her with endless questions but she doesn't answer any, only continues to stare straight at him. "Nins?" I plead and I see her eyes start to well up with tears. Then, the man sees us and his eyes widen, his face pales, and he looks like he's seen a ghost. Almost as if Lucas can sense the stressful situation, he begins to whimper and it breaks Nini out of her trance. (I silently thank the little dude, two days old and he can get someone's attention effortlessly). She rubs her thumbs across Lucas' blanket but it doesn't stop the little whines from the infant. I can see Nini's legs start to shake shake so I reach forward to pull him out of her arms, in case she ends up dropping him from whatever emotions she was feeling. When the weight of the child is out of her arms, it breaks Nini's trance completely. She finally speaks, her voice breaking and sounding weak. But her next words, (or word) almost makes me drop the little child I had removed from Nini's arms to prevent just that.

"Dad."