Heaven Help Us

Babysitting

I quickly made sure Jeph was still asleep before I hurried down to open the door and let them in.

Sammi held an alert Adam, and Alice was wrapped up in a blanket, being held by Jinxx.

“Is everything okay? Come in,” I told them, letting them in.

Sammi held onto Adam and Jinxx carefully set Alice on the couch.

“Andy, man, I’m so sorry, this is extremely sudden and last minute, but my mom is really sick and she’s just been sent to the hospital. We have to get down there. Could you watch Alice and Adam for a couple of days?” Jinxx said quickly. He was stressed, I could tell. His mom had been ill for a while, we all knew. All of us were hoping for her to get better, but right then, it didn’t look so good.

“Of course. Take as long as you need. I’ll find Jeph’s crib and make sure the kids get to school. It’ll be fine. Seriously, take as long as necessary. I’ve got this.” And I did. I was confident that I could do it.

“Thank you so much, Andy.” Sammi said gratefully. She had tears in her eyes; she loved her mother-in-law as much as she loved her own mother.

She handed me Adam and I watched them leave.

Alice woke up and sat up groggily.

“Uncle Andy?” She asked sleepily. Adam wiggled in my arms a little, staring at me with the blue-green eyes he’d inherited from his parents.

“Yeah?”

“Where’s Mommy and Daddy?”

I didn’t know what they wanted me to tell her, so I decided on a vague answer. “They had to go visit your grandma for a bit, but they’ll be home soon.”

I sat down next to her and we sat in silence for a few minutes. The only sound in the room was the noise from Adam sucking on his pacifier.

Finally, I took out my phone and called Rain.

“Andy?” She said sleepily. She must have been in the same time zone as us. “Is everything okay?”

I glanced at Alice. “Yeah, one second.” I quickly told Alice I’d be right back, and, still holding little Adam, went into the kitchen. “Jinxx’s mom is really sick.”

“How sick? Is she okay? What’s going on?”

“I don’t know for sure how she is right now, but I know she just got rushed to the hospital and that Jinxx and Sammi are on their way down to Iowa to be there for her. Is it okay if Adam and Alice stay here?”

“Yes, of course. Should I come home?”

“No. Your fans are looking forward to seeing you. I can handle it. Just…where’s Jeph’s old crib? And do we have any baby stuff?”

“Jeph’s crib is in the guest room closet, and you have my key to Sammi and Jinxx’s, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay, tomorrow, take the kids and go down there to get some clothes for them and bottles and stuff. Most of Jeph’s baby stuff is boxed up, but I think there’s a bottle in the back of the cabinet. You can warm up some milk for him, I’m pretty sure. But tomorrow, definitely pick up his formula and diapers. Other than that, you should be fine. Oh, and speaking of diapers, there’s some in the back of that closet as well.”

“Thank you so much, babe.”

I could hear the smile in her voice. “No problem. Oh, one second.”

I heard movement and then a door opening.

After a few more seconds, I heard another door open.

“Of course,” She muttered. “One more second, Andy….Dante, wake up. Wake up, D.”

In the background I heard Dante wake up. “Huh? What? The fuck’s going on?”

“Dante, it’s just me. And you fell asleep on the fucking couch again. Dude, you know that’s bad for you, especially since there’s a show tomorrow.”

“I know, but I was working on some riffs…what’s going on?”

“Jinxx and Sammi are on their way to Iowa because his mom’s in the hospital-"

“Oh no, is she okay?” He asked, concerned.

“I don’t know yet. But anyways, Andy’s taking care of Alice and Adam. Can Alice sleep in your room while they’re there?”

“Oh…yeah, of course.”

"Alice can stay in D's room." She said.

“Okay, I’ve got to go, babe.” I told her. Adam had started to get a little fussy.

“Alright, good luck Andy.”

We hung up and I went back into the living room.

“Uncle Dante says you can sleep in his room if you want.” I told Alice.

She looked up at me and then nodded.

“Come on, kiddo.” I smiled at her and she grabbed my hand as I led her to Dante’s room.

She didn’t hesitate to climb up onto the large bed and curl up in the soft black comforter that Dante had had for years.

“’Night,” She mumbled, already in the phase of mostly asleep.

I smiled down at her and then went to go find the crib for Adam.

I carefully set him on the guest bed, making sure that he wouldn’t roll too much and fall off or suffocate himself before I dug around in the closet to find a nice sized box with the crib’s pieces in it.

“Shit…” I mumbled to myself. How was this going to work? I couldn’t just leave him alone in here while I took the box upstairs, could I?

I sat next to him for a moment and let him hold my finger with his tiny little hand.

“I need to get this crib set up, but I can’t leave you alone…” I argued with myself for a moment before deciding that sleep was necessary for the both of us.

Quickly, I made sure that he was in the center of the bed before grabbing the box and running as fast (and as quietly) as I could up the stairs to me and Rain’s bedroom. I set the box down and then rushed back down to the guest room, where Adam was just fine, grabbing onto his feet and looking around.

I sighed in relief and picked him up and made my way back up to the room.

“This is a little tougher than I though,” I muttered to him as we reached the room.

I set him in the middle of the bed, once again making sure that he would be okay, before reading the instructions for the crib very quickly.

Thank god it wasn’t too hard…it only took me about thirty minutes and a minimal amount of swearing.

I set the small mattress in the middle of it with a fresh sheet on it and set Adam into it on his blanket.

I sat on the edge of the bed and carefully dragged the crib closer to it so that I would be sure to hear him if he started crying or something.

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I'm thinking about giving them another kid sometime in the future because it fits into the idea I had for one of the short story/one shot/one chapter things I'm going to do. If I do, what should his name be?