Baby be Mine

Chapter 10

[Mic]

By the time I get off work I feel completely bunged up. Bending over to pick my bag up sent a pain spearing straight to my head. Great, as if today wasn't hard enough. I was on the early shift, the first barista in after the manager. My alarm was set but Elsie decided she wanted to be up an hour before that. Thank you, baby girl. Then the next person meant to be in called in sick meaning it was just the two of us for most of the morning. Of course, this was the day everyone decided to come into Danny's. Even when the rest of the team started their shifts we were still snowed under.

My body was knackered, my head hurt and now I have the start of the cold the team is passing around. Got to love having a team full of uni students. Fresher's flu was making it's rounds.

I know we don't have anything at home to combat this and I don't have time to stop on the way home. Nancy has to pop back to her house tonight for a work commitment. She practically has to leave as soon as I get home. So straight home I go.

She tried to get out of it and questioned whether I was okay for the night repeatedly for the last two weeks. I'm lucky Nancy can work remotely, but with her being the boss, sometimes she needs to make a physical appearance. Especially since she quickly dropped everything to help me out.

It's going to be different having a night without Nancy. Just Elsie and I. But it's not something out of my ability.

Okay, it may be a little weird.

I have gotten used to having Nancy in the house, the adult company welcomed after months alone.

At the same time, I've been thinking about the future with Elsie.

For now, I am too young to adopt her. That won't always be the case though. Twenty-one. That's only about three and a half years. If I'm going to take over as her full-time parent, I need to show I can handle things on my own.

I haven't told Nancy that but a part of me is looking at tonight as an unofficial test.

One I'm passionate to not fail, because failing that little girl is not an option.

She'll be nearly four by then. Four. Right now, she is this tiny baby that I hold in my arms. She'll be a proper little girl then. Talking. Oh god, I can't wait to hear her voice. Walking. I won't have to carry her everywhere. Then again it does mean I will have to keep a permanent eye on her. For now, I can put her down and know she will still be there. If she's walking, I could look away for a second and she could be in a different room.

How can I want to watch her grow and want to stop her from growing in such equal measure.

When I get in Nancy is in the middle of changing Elsie.

"Hey Kiddo. Someone has been an angel all day and has just decided to absolutely destroy her nappy."

I smile as I walk in the living room. Nancy is wrestling with a happy, wriggly Elsie. Dirty nappy off to one side along with a lot of wipes.

"Did you use half the pack of wipes?" I chuckle.

Nancy gives me a look that screams 'I've seen things you won't believe', causing me to chuckle some more. Changing Elsie has gotten more complicated lately as she's learnt how to move her arms and legs better. It's amazing that something so simple as kicking out was a big mile-stone when she first did it. Now we just want her to stay still. Of course, she was kicking out before but now she seems more aware of when she does it.

She's a month old. A month already. So many mile-stones. The time seems to have flown by but at the same time it feels like forever ago that I first held her.