Disarm

Chapter 29: Give me Some Room

**Jade**

I had to get out of my house for a few hours, between Chase, Billie and Finneas I feel like my house is overrun by toddlers and Claudia and I are in charge of them. Though, I will give Billie credit she seems to understand Chase on a level I don't; the two of them share a bond I don't comprehend, like the bond I had with Daphne. And as of late she's been the only one who can calm him down when he throws a tantrum, gets over tired, or she knows I'm in no state to handle his boundary pushing; which as of late has been frequent. Maybe I'm not cut out to be a mom.

"Miss Holland, you have a phone call, do you want me to send it to voicemail?" Leslie buzzes my office.

"No, I'll take it. Thank you." I say as my phone rings. "This is Jade." I say looking over the calendar of events I have up on my computer.

"Chase isn't allergic to bees, is he?" I hear Billie frantically ask while Chase cries loudly in the background.

"He's never been stung by one, so I'm not sure, but I don't think so. Why?" I ask picking up the receiver.

"He may or may not have gotten stung on the hand by a bee."

"Okay, try to pull the stinger out gently, give him some baby Motrin and make him a little ice-pack." I internalize a sigh, "I'll be home in an hour."

"Okay..." I hear her let out a sigh of relief. "Oh, wait. Where is the baby Motrin?"

"Medicine cabinet, middle shelf on the left." I say rubbing my forehead.

"Okay, thanks." I hear her say as she disconnects the call quickly as Chase's crying intensifies.

I sigh as I hang up the receiver and pinch the bridge of my nose as Daphne kicks my right side.

"Is it going to hurt?" I ask Dr. Hawn as she pushes the lavender gown up to the middle of my thighs.

"You'll feel a bit of cramping." She says, "but it won't be painful."

I nod and take a deep breath and close my eyes.

"I've already sent a prescription to your pharmacy. You may experience some heavy bleeding and cramping for the next two days, don't be alarmed if it looks like coffee grounds, okay?" Dr. Hawn says looking at me then at Daphne.

"She's in good hands." Daphne says rubbing my arm as I look up at her from the wheelchair.

"If you have any questions don't hesitate to call my office."

"Thank you, Dr. Hawn."

"I'm home..." I say carefully as I walk up the stairs not knowing what kind of chaos I'm about to walk into. As soon as I reach the top of the stairs I'm greeted with Chase's laughter and Billie singing some silly song she inevitably made up on the spot to calm Chase down. "I'm home." I repeat as I walk into the living room to find Chase sitting on Billie as she continues to sing the made-up song between laughter from Chase.

"Hi mommy!" Chase exclaims. "Billie gave me a band-aid." He says holding up his bandaged hand.

"She did?" I ask as Billie sits up slowly while Chase walks over to me showing me the blue cloth band-aid.

"Yeah!"

"What happened?"

"A bee bit me." He says looking up at me then over at Billie.

"It's because you smell like pancake syrup." Billie says walking over to him.

"No!" Chase exclaims. I try not to roll my eyes.

"Okay..." I say as Billie begins to argue with Chase. "How about we order a pizza? Mommy doesn't feel like cooking.

"Burgers!" Chase says rather adamantly.

"Okay, burgers it is." Sometimes its easier to give in to his "demands" than argue.

"What if I can't do this?" I ask as Billie sits across from me before tossing her damp towel into the hamper.

"Do what? Put a crib together?" Billie asks as she picks up the instructions.

"No, take care of a newborn. I can barely take care of Chase right now." I sigh, "let alone myself. What made me think I could do this."

"What's going on?"

I sigh and run my hand through my hair, "What if I'm not cut out to be a mom?"

"Isn't too late for that?" She asks eyeing my belly as she sets the instructions down. "Plus, you're a great mom."

"Then, why do I feel like a failure?"

"You aren't though. Jade, you need to give yourself some more credit. You put your life on hold for your nephew."

"What else would I have done?"

"You could have let Jason's parents take him and you could have stayed on tour with me." She shrugs, "but, you didn't. You put Chase's needs before your own. You're a wonderful mom and a great person." I sigh, as I watch her pick up parts of the crib, inspect them and then put them down again, "Yeah, maybe Fin should help us with this little project." She says shaking her head as she looks at the crib.

**Billie**

"No! No! No!" Chase screams in my face as I try to wrestle him out of his "big boy" bed.

"If you don't get out of bed, we can't have pancakes." I attempt to reason with him as he throws himself onto his stomach, "Okay, I'll go eat pancakes by myself." I shrug as I walk out of his room.

"Is he being difficult?" Claudia asks without turning to face me as she types on her laptop.

"That's putting it nicely. He's just being a jerk." Do I feel bad for calling a toddler a 'jerk'? Kinda. But is he being a jerk? Also kinda.

"He's a baby, Bil." Fin says shaking his head as he walks into the kitchen swallowing his last bit of coffee.

"A baby can still be a jerk."

"Jerk!" I hear Chase repeat as he pads into the kitchen and hugs Fin's leg.

"We don't use that language, okay buddy?" Fin says picking him up over his shoulder.

"Jerk!" He repeats with a giggle.

"Great." I say sighing as I roll my eyes.

"Who taught my child 'jerk'?" Jade asks walking, well it's more of a slight waddle, downstairs adjusting her oversized hoodie.

"Billie." I hear Fin and Claudia say in unison.

Traitors. "In my defense, I didn't know he was listening." I hold my hands up, causing my phone to fall out of my hands. "Plus... he was being one this morning. He yelled in my face."

I hear Jade sigh deeply as she shakes her head, "Look, I get it... he was being.... Difficult. But, please don't call my child a jerk, okay? I don't want to have to put you in a 2 minute time-out."

"Yes ma'am." I say nodding as I pick up my phone and go back to scrolling through TikTok. "Wait, what kind of time-out?" I ask looking back as her as she grabs a bottle of water out of the fridge.

"Where I send you to your room for 2 minutes without your phone." She says making her way into the living room where we are.

"Damn."

**A/N: I may or may not have taken the interaction with Chase from experience with my own nephew when he's being a "jerk" according to my sister.**