Hiding From My Baby Daddy

Chapter 16: Coincidence or Fate

Milo's Pov:

I was cleaning my apartment while Liam was lying in his crib, pointing at the little animals on his baby mobile and babbling. I was humming to some music that was playing on my stereo, enjoying my day off. As I was cleaning I came across a box that I had avoided unpacking for three months. It was a box full of memories with Elliot. I put my broom aside and picked up the box, moving to the living room and sitting on the shag rug, putting the box in front of me. Liam started to whine a little so I went to pick him up, bringing him to the living room.

Sitting in front of the box again, this time with Liam sitting on my lap. I skimmed the top of it with my hand, picking up some dust that had collected on it with me. I ripped off the tape slowly, nervous, but I knew I had to do it at some point. I opened the flaps up and took a look at what was inside, involuntarily gasping a little. Liam didn't understand what was happening of course, he was a baby, but maybe one day he would personally know this pain, but like all mothers, I hoped he wouldn't.

The first thing I took out was the shirt I stole from him the night we met. I looked at it for a moment and put it on the floor next to me. The next thing I took out was another piece of clothing I stole from him, this time it was his sweatshirt. I held it up to my face, smelling it, it still smelled like him. I placed it on top of the shirt and looked back at the box. I took out a baby blue teddy bear that had a purple bow around its neck. Liam seemed to take a liking to it so I held it by him, watching his little fingers try to grab at it.

When I was still pregnant with Liam I got a pretty bad cold and had to stay home for almost two weeks. Elliot was there for me the entire time and bought me the teddy bear because he didn't know what to do or get me. I kept the bear by Liam and looked back at the box again. This time I took out a picture frame with a pressed flower in it. It was one of the flowers Elliot had gotten me on our first date. He pressed it and framed it, then gave it to me saying how the flower wouldn't die, much like our love. I put it down and looked at the last thing in the box.

It was a little tin box. I opened it to see all the pictures we took together and had developed. Some were polaroids that we took at the beach, others were just cute photos we took, and others were from dates we had. As I started to go through them I felt a tear drop on my hand. Putting the little box down I wiped my tears that I hadn't even known were there. I don't know how long I was crying for but I don't doubt it was somewhere between the sweatshirt and the teddy bear.

I put everything back in the box besides the sweatshirt and the teddy bear, wearing the sweatshirt and keeping the teddy bear by Liam. I put Liam and the teddy bear in the crib and started to clean the house again, feeling a tinge of sadness and comfort. I finally finished cleaning the apartment but I had to go run some errands and Liam had just gone down for his nap so I knocked on my neighbors door. I lived next to a guy who was my age and he was in medical school but he was able to come over sometimes to babysit Liam while I worked or went out.

He had to study a lot and he had a roommate so whenever I needed to go out and he was home he would come over, take care of Liam, and study at the same time so it was a win win for both of us. His roommate opened the door with a smile on his face. "Hey what's up Milo?" "Hey Ryder is Fabian here?" "Yeah he is, do you need him to babysit little Liam?" "Yeah I gotta go run some errands so I was wondering if he could watch him." "I'll go ask him, you can come in and help yourself to a drink." "I always do." He chuckled and went towards Fabians room while I went to the fridge and grabbed a lemonade.

"Hey Milo!" Fabian said cheerfully, walking out of his room followed by Ryder. "Well you seem awfully cheery today, what happened?" "Oh nothing, I just passed the biggest test I've had so far with a good grade!" "I'm so proud of you!" I said, hugging him. "Anyway, I was wondering if you could babysit Liam for like an hour or two?" "Of course I can, I love the little guy. I don't need to study tonight so I'll be giving him extra attention." "I'm sure he'll enjoy that." "I wanna come!" Ryder was suddenly super excited.