Making Friends...

Chapter twenty two, Mr Helper Man

"How the fuck does this go together?" Noah questioned as we tried to put a crib together

"Quit your swearing, and look at the I instructions genius"

"The baby's not going to be here for two more months"

"I don't care, you can't swear so much"

"Whatever, you should go pick up the paint, in figure this thing out"

"Okay, I'll be back soon, I'll pick something up for dinner while I'm out"

"Okay, love you bye"

"Love you too, don't kill yourself with the crib please"

"I can't promise you that"

       I left the house with a laugh and drove to the nearest Home Depot, we picked out a light blue colour, we were going to do some extra detail to it all eventually so it worked as a sky. I picked up some Mary Browns and headed home.

"I got Mary Browns!" I called and set to bag on the counter, the paint cans on the floor.

      Noah came out of the baby's room rubbing at his temples and sighing.

"I think we need your moms help" Noah groaned

"I'll ask her to come over and help tomorrow, for now we eat, then I need to get to bed"

"I can't believe you let my sister drag you into helping her at work"

"I know, she can't really carry all that stuff though, and there's nobody else who can help her"

"It's your grave you're digging"

"Why do you say that?"

"She's gotten cranky, pregnancy hormones, plus she's picky about her equipment"

"I'll be fine"

"If you say so"

"I do, unlike you, she likes me"

"Ouch"

       We got plates and sat down with the food, after eating we headed off to bed.

       The next morning I rushed out of the house, not used to getting up early, I had to pick Nat up from her house and collect all of her equipment into my car. When I did pull up to her apartment complex she was sitting outside, a back pack slung over her shoulder and a hand resting on her stomach, I got out of my car when I pulled up beside her and took her bag.

"Where are the rest of them?" I asked as I helped her into my car

"By the door in my apartment, number twenty three" and she handed me a key

"Okay I'll be right back"

       I headed up the elevator to the second floor and found her apartment, I unlocked the door and opened it, there were three bags in the doorway, I picked them up balancing them on my arms the closed and locked the door before heading back down to the car. I placed everything into the backseat gently as to "not break her cameras". Nat is a photographer, and she's very tedious about other people touching her equipment. I slid into the car and turned to her.

"Where to?"

"We've got a morning baby shower and a wedding tonight, so first off, the park a few blocks from here"

"I know where that is"

       I drove us to the park and collected the bags, Nat took the back pack from me and we made our way over to the picnic tables covered in pick and blue.

"Twin baby shower, the moms over here" Nat smiled and lead me over to a spot with a few chairs where a pregnant woman was sitting with a few other lady's.

"Hi Magret, I'm Natalie Castaneda, and this is Emerson Barrett-Castaneda"

"Oh Natalie, you're right on time, now I didn't know you were bringing your husband" the lady, Margret smiled

       I nearly choked and tripped over myself while standing still, Nat laughed and tried to stop herself quickly, having a baby sitting on her bladder probably isn't the nicest thing.

"Oh, no, he's not my husband, he's my brother in law, I was going to drag his husband, my brother along but he's working"

"Oh I apologize, you can set up anywhere you like, I'm going to be sitting over here with the presents and everyone else will be sitting around on those tables or in chairs they may bring along so you pick the best spot"

"Okay, thank you Margret, Common Emerson, help the pregnant woman set up" she laughed

"Calm down Nat, you can't use that excuse for much longer"

"Nope, I'll be glad to get your child out of me, the thing likes to kick"

       Margret looked at us in slight horror as we walked away.

"Surrogate!" Nat called out over her shoulder to calm Margret down.

"Just set those down on this table here please"

       I set down the bags and she started pulling stuff out telling me how to put it together and which camera to put on it, after I set it up she had me clean all of the lenses while she ran to a washroom somewhere, after she came back and the lenses were clean there was a bunch of other people around, they all sat around at tables and mingled while Nat and I sat in the back, her snapping pictures here and there. When they announced presents were going to be opened Nat grabbed a camera and went up front while I stayed back with her stuff. The baby shower was a few hours long, little kids running around, games being played, food being eaten, nearing the end there were pictures with Margret. It was around three when the shower was over and we left, Margret and Nat actually ended up talking for about half an hour about pregnancy, the painful parts of it and their fears of child birth.

       We had to drive about two hours to the wedding and finally around five thirty we made it there. It was a late reception, the bride was gorgeous and the groom was very handsome, they said their vows, pictures were taken and then Nat and I set off to do wedding photos with the family's, grooms men, brides maids, bride and groom, all of that. Eventually there was the afterparty thing and we were set up taking first dance pictures then a makeshift photo booth. The night was awesome and reminded me of  how happy I was when Noah and I got married two years before.

"Okay, time to get home, thanks for helping out today, I'm probably going to pass out on our way back but just wake me up when we get to mine"

"Will do"

      It was almost one am by the time we made it back, I woke Nat up and made sure she got upstairs with her stuff before heading home myself. When I did get home Noah was there, still awake and watching tv.

"There's some food in the microwave for you" he said after I greeted him with a kiss

"Thank you" I smiled and found my food

       I sat in the couch with Noah and ate while we watched tv, after I finished eating we went upstairs and to bed, exhausted from today's events.

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:p