Sweet for You (Sweet Pea Imagine) (Riverdale)

Chapter 44: Bite Back

Lexington was now able to sit up on his own, with the help of his hands of course. He loves to pick things up too. Then throw them so you have to pick it up. He is now eating some solid foods, but also on milk. He was on a full schedule now and sleeps completely through the night. You talk to him a lot still before and even during work. He stays with Toni at Thistle house while you and Sweet Pea are at school or work. He's starting to get upset when you leave, which is honestly one of the hardest things to do. Especially, since he learned hand motions for when he wants you. And, he's starting to bite.
"I'm here," you call through the house. "Toni?"
"Hi," she smiles coming around the corner with Lex. "Look it's mommy! She's here!" He squeals excitedly and puts his hands out.
"Hi, Lex, baby!" You smile widely. "How was your day with Aunt Toni? Was it fun?" He babbles something and you nod along. "Ooh. Sounds fun. Did you get Mrs Fluff our today?" He squeals at the sound of his favorite bears name. "You did! Well, tell Toni bye-bye. We gotta go see Daddy after we stop at the store. Say bye bye." You lift his arm and wave it.
"Bye Lexington," Toni waves as you put him in his car seat. "So. He bit me today." You snort a little before looking up at her. "He did! He grabbed my finger and chomped down on it. For a thing with few teeth, it hurt."
"Sorry," You sigh. "He bit Sweet Pea last night. It was honestly the funniest thing. I don't know how to make him not though. I usually make sure he has a teething ring. It's because he's still teething."
"Okay... He's too cute to be mad at anyways," Toni said. "Bye Lex! I'll see you Monday!" She waves at him as you bring him to the car. He likes car rides and looking at all of the moving trees and birds. He also loved music. Which was great for you because so did you. He did not like the store though. He got irritable in the car seat walking around. But, his mood quickly changes when you get home and Sweet Pea is waiting.
"Lexington!" Pea shouts cheerfully as the two of you walk in the door. It became routine. You sit the car seat down on the floor before he takes Lex out. "How was your day?" Lex blows spit bubbles and Sweet Pea gives a disgusted but happy face. He puts Lex in the playpen before coming behind you in the kitchen. You jump at the sudden contact and he kissed you. "How was your day?"
"Alice is on a tangent again," you sigh. "With the farm and whatever. Betty and I are basically running everything. But, I'm so happy to be home with my two favorite people." He chuckles at your remark knowing you were making fun of him. "Lexington bit Toni today."
"She probably deserved it," Pea shrugs. "She's a little gremlin. He knows."
"Or, he's teething and he needs more rings to go with him in the bag," you suggest. "I got some at the store."
"Okay," Pea nods. "We can go with that." You hear Lexington get fussy from the living room. "You know we have to let him cry for a few seconds."
"I know," you sigh. "But, he just has a little separation anxiety. It can be worse."
"He is okay," Sweet Pea wraps his arms around you tightly. "Listen, he just found Mrs Fluff. I can't believe you named his bear Mrs fluff."
"Sexist? Boys can't have female named toys?" You ask. "You afraid he's gonna be weak?"
"Don't do that," he shook his head. "I don't like that kind of teasing. You know, that is not true."
"I know. It's kinda fun to watch you squirm though," you laugh. "Guess what." He hums. "I love you."
"You do?" He chuckled. "Sometimes doesn't seem like it." You scoff. "Exactly."
"Touché Connor," you laugh. "Can I Please go see my baby now? I missed him."
"You miss him when you go pee," he muttered. "I missed him too." He follows you to the living room.
   "Hi, baby," you smile. "You wanna tell daddy what you did today? With Aunt Toni and how much you love him. He is feeling in the dumps. You'll learn just to automatically preach something off to make him feel better."
   "Not funny," he pinched your side and you squirm a bit. "And, you tell your mom that she is just trying to lure you into her little games. It's a Northside thing."
   "Well he is from the Northside," You point out and he gives you a confused look. "We live on the Northside."
   "I am from the Southside," he said. "He was made on the Southside."
   "I am from the Northside," you say. "Lives on the Northside. Will go to Riverdale High. Not that Southside High is a thing anymore. And, almost was kinda raised by two northerners." He gets up with a sigh.
   "Really," you can hear anger rising in his voice and you feel it radiating from behind you. "Bring that up? Why? Sorry that Reggie is so perfect and he ran off with you and was willing to do everything for you. Sorry that I am not him."
    "I didn't say that! It was just a joke," you argue. "You always go off with this. With bringing Reggie up! Honestly, when is that going to end? I don't love Reggie! He is my friend! He is not the father of my child and not the man that is living in my house! He's not the one who I spent months trying to get over. He is not the one who makes me literally want to drop everything for!" Lexington starts crying from his playpen looking up at the two of you.
   "No he's just the one to always come sweep you off your feet and make you feel better," he shook his head. "He's your prince in shiny new clothes and sharp jawline." You groan. "He's the one who you said you still loved in Nebraska and got with. Maybe you should go be with your perfect Northside boyfriend and have the perfect Northside family. Because we all know the Southside is just too damn disgusting for a princess!"
    "Oh my god!" You yell in frustration. "You are such a hypocrite!"
   "Really? How?"
    "Do you not remember when you were with the lovely, Carrie? Over the summer and god knows when else," you say. "What happened to not bringing them up?" He shook his head and laughed angrily. "And, you know what, I'm tired of you bringing up the north and south side thing and Reggie. And whatever else you want to bring up right now. We are adults!" Lexington screams loudly and starts crying. "There is no north or Southside anymore. Remember?"
"It really feels like it," he said walking away as you lean down and grab Lex. You bounce him lightly and try to comfort him.
"Where are you going?" You ask trying to calm your temper and Lexington, who was scared.
"Out. Why don't you act like the northside Princess you are and call your prince. " He slams the door shut behind him and you fall to the couch with Lexington. You feel anger and sadness well up in your chest and heat rise to your face. Tears start to roll from your eyes as you try your best to comfort your baby. You wanted to scream, but that wouldn't do well with Lex.
"I'm sorry, Lex, sometimes people just fight over stupid, stupid things," you sniff. "But, everything is gonna be okay. I promise, baby." You hold him close and rock him. He calms down and falls asleep next to you. You bring him upstairs to your room and lay down. You play with his hair and watch him sleep until you exhaust yourself and fall asleep next to him. Tear stained face stuck to your pillow with your arm protectively around your baby boy. Thinking of how much this moment hurt and how he didn't deserve it. You didn't want him to have parents who fought, especially in front of him.
You wake up a few hours later, it was dark outside and there was no sign of Sweet Pea coming back anytime soon. Lexington was awake and playing with his feet. You get up and bring him down to the kitchen to get make him food. You watch him eat his little bits of fruit and play with it. After, you give him a bath and put him in bed clothes. You put him on the floor in his room to find a book for the night. When you look again, he was gone.
"Lexington?" You begin shaking a little. "Lexington!" You hear a little raspberry from outside the room. You rush out to see him crawling down the hall. "Oh my god! Of course." You pull him up. "Look at you! Crawling! Such a big boy! Mommy is so proud of you. So, so so proud." You let your breathing calm. "And, you get to sleep with her tonight. Yeah! We are gonna share a bed and have a sleepover! It's gonna be so fun." He claps his hands and you nod. You read him his book as he lays on your side looking at it and after he falls asleep again, you start crying again. You were overwhelmed with everything going on. You had made a stupid remark and it caused everything just to fall. Your baby was crawling and biting. You were basically alone and lost in a pool of panic and you didn't want to call anyone. But, obviously someone wanted to call you because your phone lights up the dark room and vibrates.
"Y/N/N," Cheryl calls. "What are you doing?" You can tell by the sound of her voice you knew that she knew. You sniff looking at the dimly lit ceiling. "Oh honey, I'm so sorry. It's going to be okay. Where's your baby?"
"Sleeping," You sob. "He seen the fight, Cher. He was in the same room." You shake your head. "He seen it all."
"It's okay. You know it's not the same," she whispers. "You are not your parents. We are not."
"How do we know?" You shake. "How? It starts and never ends. It's a spiral. He crawled. Cheryl, he crawled into the hallway. By himself. He's biting too. And, Sweet Pea left. He walked out. He left."
"He's growing," she calmed you. "He is going to be okay. He won't even remember the fight. It will be okay." You close your eyes, unable to speak. You were shaking with sobs. "I can come over."
"No, I'm okay," you say. "I will be okay." You were more telling yourself that. "Thank you."
"Are you sure? It wouldn't be anything," she said. "I will make you tea."
"No, I'm really okay, I will talk to you tomorrow. I don't want to wake him up," you sigh looking down at him. "Bye, I love you."
"I love you too," she sighs before the phone goes dead.
You lean your head back against the headboard and let yourself cry. You did it silently so Lexington wouldn't wake, but he did move more into you. You held him close to you and closed your eyes again. Trying to calm your brain and your breathing. You listen to the wind outside and watch shadows in the room and hope no ones decides to come into your house tonight. But, that would only make the night a whole lot better, wouldn't it. Lexington stirs again and his little arm reaches over yours. You pull yourself down and hold him close to you and kiss the top of his head, which was still damp from his bath. You pull the blanket up to his stomach and close your eyes letting his scent lure you to sleep.
The next morning, Sweet Pea was still not there and Lexington was still sleeping. You move him to the little basinet in your room and move it to the bathroom so you can shower. He slept so peacefully through it all and for the rest of the morning which was strange. You feel his face which was burning up. He was sick. You sigh sadly at him as he shuffles in his sleep. You take him on a walk to help calm his fever. The warm air will help him feel better and it does for a while. He likes the park so you let him watch the kids, but get antsy when a man was watching you. And you notice him everywhere you go, so you rush home. You knew him from somewhere, but you couldn't place it. You just knew it wasn't good. Your worst fear was someone taking Lexington from you. Hurting him. The man follows you to your street. You find Sweet Pea there in the living room taking his shoes off. He gives you a weird look at you rush into the house and lock the door.
"What is wrong with you?" He asked and you shook your head leaning against the door. "Y/N, what is wrong?" He becomes more intensive.
"Someone was following us," you say shaking your head and fall to the floor. "All around the park then here."
"Following you?" He said. "Who?" He pulls Lexington out of the stroller. You shrug. "Okay... It's okay. They aren't gonna take him."
"I've seen him before," you say. "I knew him from somewhere!"
"Okay... I am just gonna put him in the playpen, okay?" He speaks slowly and you shake your head and put your arms out. "Okay. Here." He slowly passes the sleeping baby over to you, though you were still on the ground. You sit in silence, looking at Lexington. "I'm sorry, Y/N. For starting a stupid fight and then leaving you alone. I'm sorry for screaming at you in front of Lexington, I know that was the one thing you didn't want. I'm sorry for not being there today."
"I started the fight with that stupid joke," you mumble.
"No, I took it out of proportion. I know you don't love Reggie like that and he's just your friend. I know that you aren't just a Northsider. I don't know why that even came out. You're right, there is no north and south. There is just Riverdale," he said. "And, I was just being stupid. I don't want to lose you or him, please. I can't lose you."
"I thought that I lost you," you chuckle numbly. "I thought that I finally did it."
"You know you can't lose me," he said. "I'm so sorry, baby."
"He was scared," you sigh. "He was so scared, crying. His eyes and..." You shake your head, feeling tears flood your eyes.
"I know. I'm sorry," he said. "I am so sorry. I know that you were very adamant about not fighting in front of him because you didn't want to be like your own parents. I am so sorry that it happened."
"I don't want it to... Not again," you say. "Please."
"It won't," he said. "This time I mean it. I won't start a fight because of my jealousy. I won't even get jealous. I won't get mad about comments about being a north or south. I won't fight with Reggie."
"Okay... And, I won't make the comments. I won't do something to make you jealous. I will stop going to Reggie when I need something."
"No, he's your best friend. You aren't throwing that out," he said. "Not over shit like this."
"Okay... Then, I guess we have an agreement," you say. "I'm really sorry about the remark though. I have a thing for one upping people."
"I know," he laughed. "Now, you should get off the floor. Try to think where you've seen that man and I will call the dumbass king. He knew something was up."
"Don't call him king," you shake. "It's weird."