Little Gaskarth

Part 2

I could barely sleep the rest of the night, all I could think about was this little person sleeping in the hospital bed. She had her mom's eyes, with my nose, and her hair color is a mix of her mom's and mine, but it was the messy texture of mine. She slept like me too, her mouth is ajar, and her head is tilted. It was nearing six am, I quietly stood up and exited the room to call Jack. It rang a few times but was quickly picked up.

"Dude can you not call me in the middle of the night?" Jack mumbled into the phone, I chuckled at him.

"Charlotte is sleeping and it's 6 am not the middle of the night." I laughed at Jack's groans.

"Alex anytime before 10 am is too early, is this the "dad" life or something?" He joked.

"I don't think I'd consider myself a dad yet. I'm merely a guy who just showed up and talks to her." I confessed that it is really who I am right now.

"You're gonna stay right? You're gonna tell her you're her dad?" He asked concern laced his voice. Am I? Can I actually do this? Balance tour and being a dad? And do this alone?

"Y-Yeah. But I don't know how I'm gonna do that. I can't just run off for months with her on tour. She wouldn't have a normal childhood. I don't know how to balance it." I sighed.

"Alex, touring and making music is your job. We will figure this out. Just go be a dad. Okay? Go figure out her favorite color, what ice cream she likes." Jack responded. I know he's right.

"You know soon I'll have to figure out a bedroom for Charlotte. You wanna rally the boys to help us out?" I chuckled.

"A kid's bedroom! I'm gonna call everyone." I could feel Jack's energy through the phone.

"Good luck to them. I'll talk to you soon Jay." I smiled, he is truly my best friend.

"Okay, good luck bud." We ended the call and I took a deep breath. Favorite color, ice cream, be a dad.

I walked back into the room and took my seat next to Charlotte's bedside. A couple of hours later, Charlotte shifted in bed and opened her eyes. She quickly closed them and scrunch her nose because it was too bright.

"Good morning sleepyhead," I whispered, Charlotte shot up in bed and a smile grew on her face.

"Alex!" she cheered

"You stayed?" She asked tilting her head

"Yeah, why wouldn't I?" I asked back.

"Mommy sleeps in her own room," she replied.

"Well, I didn't want you to get lonely," I answered and she smiled as she lied down facing me.

"I wanna go home," she mumbled and looked at me.

"We can go home soon," I replied.

"I miss mommy," Charlotte started,

"But mommy was sad and wanted to be an angel." she followed up.

"Do you remember what happened?" I asked.

"Yeah mommy was crying, she kept telling me that she was going to heaven. So we went into the car buckled me in really tight and she didn't put on her seatbelt. We drove down one of the big roads and she didn't turn so we went into the grass. I don't know mommy is gone now." she spoke solemnly but there were no tears, almost as if she knew what would happen. She pulled her bunny close to her chest and watched me.

"Do you know my dad? Are you a friend of his?" She asked tilting her head.

"I'm not sure, sweetheart," I said honestly as if it was planned the doctor walked in, the social worker was close behind him. She sat down in the chair on the other side of the bed.

"Good morning Charlotte. How did you sleep?" The social worker asked.

"Good, Fuzzy did too. But I don't think Alex did, he looks tired." she giggled the last part and put her hand up as if she was telling a secret. The social worker chuckled at her silliness.

"We are gonna figure out who your dad is. So the doctor is gonna use this cotton swab and rub it against the inside of your cheek. We are also going to do that with Alex." She explained to her.

"That's because mommy liked Alex." She giggled, we all looked around at each other. She knew Mary told her.

"What do you mean sweetheart?" The social worker asked,

"Mommy would tell me stories about Alex. She said she loved him and that he loved her." Charlotte giggled.

"Stories?" The woman asked,

"Oh, mommy would tell me all her stories. He was also in the stories with Jack." Charlotte said looking at me. Stories with Jack, what those stories could be are endless. Soon the doctor was done and took the swabs to get tested.

"Alex do you know Jack? Mommy used to talk about Jack. Oh and Rian, and Zack." She commented.

"Yeah, I do know Jack, and I also know Rian and Zack. Do you want to see pictures of them?" I asked. She nodded and sat up. I pulled out my phone and pulled up a picture of the four of us.

"You see the one with the funny hair? That's Jack. The one next to him is Rian, and the one next to me is Zack." I explained.

"Are you guys friends?" She asked, I chuckled.

"Yeah, they are like my brothers. I love those guys." I smiled, we sat together in comfortable silence. Until the social worker renter the room.