The Room

Babies Here, Babies There

Ashley's Pov

"Mommy look!" Greyer exclaims as he runs over to Troian. He looks excitedly at the multicoloured popsicle in his hands.

"Cool, where'd you get that?" She asks him.

"Lucy." Greyer replies, beginning to eat the popsicle. Lennon walks into the room holding the same popsicle, climbing up next to me on the couch. One of Tyler's sons, Atticus, is fast asleep in my arms. I smile at the sight of the three-month-old cradled against me, missing when Lennon was this tiny.

"It's like Lexa." She says, motioning to Atticus as she talks about my sisters baby.

"You're right." I smile "They're both teeny tiny little babies, and adorable ones at that."

"Can I hold him?" Lennon asks, peering at the baby in my arms. She's grown to love holding her cousin Lexa, who is around the same age as Atticus.

"Well, he's fast asleep right now, so how about once he wakes up?" I offer "Besides, you have a popsicle to finish."

"You can hold Jasper if you want." Tyler says from the other couch "He's awake." Lennon just watches him shyly, giving no reply as she scoots closer to me.

"Sorry, she's shy." I apologize "But I'm sure she'd love to take up that offer."

"Okay," He replies "I'll bring him over there." Lennon watches Tyler carefully as he stands up and walks over to us, cradling baby Jasper in his arms. I put a blanket on Lennon's lap to help her support the baby, then Tyler gently sets the three-month-old in my three-year-olds arms. She smiles shyly as soon as she realizes she's holding Jasper all by herself.

"You look like you've done this before." Tyler says to Lennon. She peers up at him timidly, and to my surprise, she answers.

"I held my baby Lexa." Lennon answers quietly. I can't help but smile at her pronunciation of her cousins name, which she says as 'Wexa'.

"Your baby Lexa?" Tyler questions.

"Lexa is my sisters baby." I explain "She's not much older than these two." I motion to Atticus and Jasper.

"Oh so Lennon has a little cousin?" He smiles. It's the first time I've really seen Tyler do so today, and though it doesn't quite reach his eyes, it's a step in the right direction. I can't help but notice that he's lost that twinkle his warm brown eyes used to harbour.

"Yeah, she's pretty cute." I say "Almost as cute as these little guys." I look down at Atticus in my arms and Jasper in Lennon's, smiling as I do.

"They're really good babies," I think out loud "Not too fussy."

"Yeah, they're pretty sweet little dudes." Tyler nods, looking at his sons.

For the next few hours, everyone visits with each other, and it almost feels as if things are the way they used to be. It's nice, for the quick moment that it happens, only until I'm reminded of the constant anxiousness that I'm used to feeling. Lennon eventually starts to become less clingy to me, following Greyer around as he loudly makes his way through the house, talking to nearly everyone.

I end up sitting outside in the still-warm September sun, Ian and Sasha accompanying me. Sasha's eight-month-pregnant bump is perfectly round and adorable, although she's just ready to have her baby already.

"Are you having a boy or girl?" I ask her, still amazed at how much she's grown up.

"We don't know yet, we decided to wait." Sasha replies, placing her hand on her hand on her stomach.

"We as in me and her." Ian says sarcastically to me "It's my baby."

"Ha ha." Sasha rolls her eyes "You're hilarious."

"It's true, you just don't know it." He replies "Just you wait, it's gonna look like a spitting image of me, you might as well name it Ian Jr."

"Okay, on another note." Sasha chuckles "How have you been Ashley?" She looks at me sympathetically, giving me a small smile.

"I'm good." I say, only partially lying "I mean, given the circumstances."

"You do seem well, you're optimistic." She replies "After everything you've been through, you seem to be trying to move past it all. I'm glad, you deserve the best." I try and hide the happy tears beginning to well in my eyes, but she notices them and wraps her arms around me.

"Sorry." I sob, wiping a lone tear that trickles down my cheek.

"Don't be sorry." Sasha tells me, her eyes watery "Although I think these hormones are getting the best of me." She blinks back her tears, a smile still on her face. Even though they're tears of happiness, I know both of us are crying partially from being overwhelmed. Talking and connecting again for the first time in over six years brings a lot of emotions, especially given the reason why we haven't seen each other in so long.

"Mommy!" Lennon's voice exclaims as she runs outside and toward me.

I scoop her up onto my lap, kissing the top of her head "What's up buttercup?"

"We're playing a game!" She smiles "A chasing game."

"Is it tag?" I ask "And who are you playing with?" Not a second later, Tammin's now eight-year-old daughter Phoenix runs out onto the deck. Lennon shrieks and holds tightly onto me, laughing as she does. Phoenix tags her a second or two later, then takes a step back.

"You're it!" She calls "You have to go tag someone else, but not me because there's no tag-backs. My brother is in the kitchen I think, go tag him!" Tammin's second child, Jaxon, is around five or six years old. Lennon climbs off my lap and runs inside, barely giving it a second thought. She's becoming so comfortable and confident, I'm so proud of her. If we had this get together a couple weeks ago, Lennon wouldn't have left my lap.

After a few more minutes of sitting outside, Sasha, Ian, and I go inside as well. I grab some cheese and crackers from the little table of food Lucy set up, sitting down next to Shay on the couch. She leans her head on my shoulder, smiling up at me.

"Fine," I sigh jokingly "You can have one." I go to put a cracker in her mouth, but she sits up properly before I can do so.

"No, I wasn't asking for food." Shay chuckles "I was just admiring your gorgeous face and thinking how much I missed seeing it."

A smile comes over my face "I missed you Buttah."

"I missed you too, Benzo."

~~~

A/N: It snowed where I live I'm so happy! Also, I just had a shower that was so hot it should've burned my skin, but it felt sooooo nice🛀🏽
Here's a little QOTD: What do you want for Christmas?❄️🎅🏽(if you celebrate it)