New York Surprise!

Chapter Four

Taylor's P.O.V

Screaming, screaming and more screaming is what wakes me every single night. Usually Aubree is content and quite a loving baby but over the last few days all she seems to do at night when I lie her down, is scream and scream until she wakes herself up. Sighing I sit up and turn on the dim bedside light which makes Meredith side eye me. I'm beginning to think there is something seriously wrong with that cat but I ignore it as a more pressing matter of my baby screaming is prominent. Crossing the room a few steps I peer over at Aubree who is point blank screaming at this point as if someone is murdering her. It's been half an hour since we last did this dance and at nearly 12.45am, it's a bit ridiculous. "Hey, hey, hey..." I coo as I lift her tiny body up and cradle her in my arms. She snuggles down in the swaddle and looks at me content. I frown and then lie my hand under her bottom making sure she hasn't wet through her diaper and her abc pyjama onesie but she's bone dry. Instead I lie my hand on her crib and notice how cold the sheets are. Carefully cradling her I carry her back to my bed which is nice and warm and I lie her on my previously vacated spot and surround her in pillows. Turning on the baby monitor I carry it out with me and go downstairs where I boil water for a hot water bottle. Coming upstairs ten minutes later Aubree is sound asleep and Meredith is sitting watching her. As I approach the bed Meredith looks at me and I pat her telling her she's a good kitty before I lie the hot water bottle in the bassinet and cover the blankets over it. Figuring ten or so minutes will warm it nicely I sit on the edge of the bed with Meredith cuddled into me as we both watch Aubree, finally at 1.30am I'm getting tired so I scoop up miss Aubree and carefully switch out the hot water bottle for my little princess. Covering her back in I hum a little because I've discovered she likes it and I carefully move back to bed and turn off the light. Lying there for five minutes before closing my eyes the next thing I'm aware of is Aubree grumbling and looking at the clock I see it's nearly 7.00am so that's not too bad.

After changing Aubree's diaper and feeding her a bottle she's ready for another nap which I put her in the downstairs travel crib that I've set up for her. Setting her in I decide that I will change her after she wakes up from her nap. I'm not too worried about her being dirty because we worked out the new baby bath last night. It's really cool, kind of a two in one as she sits on a little plastic almost sling like material that has holes in it and I can just pour the water over her and it drains away immediately rather than covering her in cold water when it cools down. You simply place it on the edge of the sink allowing the lip to be overtop to minimise the chance of it spilling and it works perfectly. So does the little giraffe hooded towel that I brought her the other day, it's warm and fuzzy and I can wrap her up in it. Overall the first few days have been going well. I haven't heard from Laura yet so I have no idea when she will come out and check the apartment, maybe it is supposed to be a spur of the moment thing to catch you unaware but its fine I don't really mind. So far the only contact with the outside world I've had has been through scrolling twitter and tumblr. Not much else going on because I want to bond with Aubree more and she's so cute and adorable that I can't leave her, plus no one else knows about her apart from security who have all met her and all went shopping for a few things for her from them. It included a three pack of football inspired onesie's probably meant for boys but their colours were dark blue and grey so I figure that I can use them around the house as well has baby socks and leggings which were striped, spotted and a few solid colour ones which will come in handy at home when she is just chilling out. It was nearly lunchtime before Aubree had been fully changed, fed and burped before I had a moment to myself again. Aubree was happy though, in her electronic swing that I just set to the lowest motion and she was just lying there happy, that is until the doorbell rang. I reach for my phone as a message comes in from security that my parents are on their way up. Sighing I reach for Aubree who is screaming because she hasn't heard the doorbell before. Cradling her against my shoulder as her tiny head lolled into my neck searching for warmth I open the door. My mom is standing there obviously about to re-ring again. "Hi mom, dad." I state moving aside to let them inside. "T-Taylor..." Mom manages to choke out as dad stares at me. I nod and move back towards the living room where her swing is set up. "What?" I question turning to face them once Aubree is settled and swinging again. "That's a baby." I nod following my dad's logic. "Yeah dad, a baby. You know like Austin and I once were." I state not even remembering the fact that they don't know yet. I sit down on the couch and observe Aubree falling asleep again. "Whose baby is that exactly?" Mom questions sitting next to me as dad selects the chair opposite. I turn and face mom and it hits me at once that I didn't tell them yet. "Oh my god, I haven't rung you recently have I?" I question as they shake their heads and look at me wondering what's going on. "I adopted her, the baby. I named her Aubree." My dad smiles instantly and begins to laugh obviously thinking that I'm kidding, my mom on the other hand is silent and looking around her before saying, "Scott! Cut that out." Dad stops immediately as he looks at mom questioning her. "Do you think all this stuff is Taylor joking?" She questions him as she gestures around her and I look seeing packets of diapers, unopened toys and bags of clothing to still be washed and dried. "Taylor?" He questions looking at me. "I adopted her dad..." then I launched into the whole story and an hour later, lots of questions and a few cups of coffee for dad they know the full story. "So you named her Aubree Alison?" Mom questioned looking at me, I nodded and smiled. "It seemed fitting and I like my middle name, hopefully she will like it too." I state looking at Aubree watching the world around her. I stand and move towards the swing stopping it as Aubree watches me. I lift her up and hold her against my shoulder, "can I hold her?" I turn and see my dad standing with his arms outstretched. I nod and move towards him. "Go see grandad honey..." I whisper as I press a kiss to her forehead before handing her over and turning to see my mom reaching for a tissue on my coffee table. "I wasn't expecting this Tay," mom states as I smile softly at her. I know they never expected this, not now at least and not by myself but I think I'm doing okay alone and then mom says, "What did Tree say?" My heart freezes as I turn to mom in a panic and she shakes her head at me, "silly girl. You should call her now." I scramble for my phone and scoop it into my hands. "Can you watch her for ten or so..." I question gesturing to the phone and mom waves me away, "Of course we can, we raised you didn't we?" I nod and move away to call Tree.

Almost an hour later my parents are still here, deciding to stay for a few days to get to know Aubree and having called Austin and told him he is catching the next flight out to meet his new niece. I think it's cool that they are so on-board with it and willing to consider her family despite her not being blood but when I voiced that my mom simply said. "She's your family, so she's our family too." My heart practically melted on the spot. Due to them staying they were more than happy to change Aubree and put her in bed before walking away to give Tree and I room the second my fiery red haired publicist stepped through the doors. "Three god damned days Taylor!" She states the minute she sees me, causing Aubree to cry and my mom to stand up tall making Tree move backwards slightly and my dad to frown as he rubs Aubree's back in an attempt to calm her down. Instead I gesture for her and within a few minutes she is settled and nearly asleep so I hand her back and my parents disappear upstairs with her. Only Meredith remains but once she discovers that Aubree is gone she's gone to upstairs in search of the little girl probably. It's amazing how attached Meredith is already and I know that the bond will grow more as Aubree gets older. "Yes, I've had her for that long and I know I should have called you but to be honest it's my decision Tree. No one elses, and I expected this from you but you have to admire my courage for wanting to do it all alone, no rumours of me having a one night stand or anything. Just me adopting a gorgeous baby girl and locking myself up to have her all to myself, I haven't posted anything online because I want to make your job easy, like you make mine easy. I watch Tree smile as she breathes deeply and then sits down. "Okay, I understand that. Let's start at the beginning." So the story telling session begins again and as I finish it, Aubree wakes up from her nap. I look at the monitor and say, "want to meet her?" Tree nods and follows me and by the time Aubree is up and changed into a fresh diaper and in Tree's arms, Tree has melted and become a puddle of water on the floor. I watch as she cuddles her and allows Aubree's fingers to hit her face and just generally let a baby walk all over her. It's sweet to watch and to be honest it's what I expected from Tree eventually. When Tree finally leaves a few hours later all is forgiven and we have moved on as Tree begins to draft announcement's due to be opting out of interviews because Aubree is so young.

The remainder of the week progresses with Austin and Aubree bonding immediately through Aubree throwing up on him but Austin didn't seem to mind, in fact he got his own back when she spat up on me after I burped her. It was nice to gather the family and to see that Aubree is accepted into my family and mom and dad love her so much already that they have been and brought cute outfits for her to wear when we do eventually go outside. My favourite that they brought is a long sleeved onesie with two apples on the front of it, paired with a pair of navy leggings that are covered with apples and a bright red stretchy hat to go with it. The hat even has tiny fake leaves coming off the top of it, like she is an apple. Austin went nuts and brought her lots of little long sleeved onesie/bodysuits that are a little on the big side but she will be able to grow into. One even says, 'I'm cute and my uncle is single'. I laughed at that one but I mostly loved the little moments, I had managed to group message all my friends and ask when they were next in town because it was urgent. Karlie sent me an individual message asking me if it was to meet Aubree and I confirmed it. We all managed to agree on the following Saturday afternoon and some hinted on a new man which made me laugh, if only they knew. The only other exciting thing to happen while my parents were still in town was that Laura came and did the check on us, she told me that I was doing a wonderful job and when I explained that half the time I had no idea what I was doing she said that I sounded like every new mom, nervous which made me feel relieved that I wasn't alone in my thoughts. My parents left on Saturday morning, taking my jet back to Nashville because I wouldn't need it for a while so it made sense to have it go back and have maintenance done on it. My brother was flying back to finish college at Notre Dame so he left a little earlier and just flew commercial, when I waved my parents off at the door with Aubree strapped to my chest I turned to look at my living room and thought; 'how do I tell my friends?'