Plan B(aby)

10.

BRIELLA CARTER

A month and a half later, I find myself walking through the target while Sebastian innocently reached for everything that caught his eyes. Nikolas was somewhere in the store, undoubtedly picking out the best gifts for whoever made his nice list this year.

Christmas was in a week and in all honesty, I had been slacking this year. I hadn't found a single gift for anybody. Usually, I have been on top. Everybody had gifts by now usually. Nik, Sebastian, Mom, Marlon, the neighbors... Even Dad.

Speaking of, he reached out to me recently. He was claiming he had changed since his baby momma (number two, not my mother) had gotten into a freak accident. He said she passed away on the way to the hospital and he sounded really shaken up about it. I stalked his Facebook and Instagram and he looked healthy — even sounded healthy. Of course, I knew my father and while I wasn't exactly sure about him being a changed man, I knew he wouldn't lie about something like that.

He said he wanted to get to know Sebastian and actually make up for the failure he was as a father to my brothers and I. He also wished that we meet our sister and be apart of her life. Marlon, surprisingly, was into the idea more than any of us and quite frankly, I think that's only because Nikolas and him are attempting to show me that people change -- *cough cough* Noah.

I had not spoken to Noah since the day Sebastian's leg broke -- which I had completely moved past. After a long talk with my mother, she told me that children get hurt sometimes and there's no way for us to actually prevent that so I needed to calm my nerves.

Sebastian didn't even care that he had the heavy cast on his leg. He couldn't walk yet so it only affected him when he attempted to crawl, which he just gave up on since it wasn't comfortable.

He was saying way more things now, randomly blurting out any word out of the last sentence he hears. Currently, his favorite word was 'yes' since he knew that meant he could have/do something that he wanted. Sebastian made a lot more facial expressions that reminded me a lot of Noah. They both do this thing with their eyes when they smile and their dimples become more prominent. Across that last month or so, I've also noticed similarities that I either ignored or just didn't think much of between Sebastian and Nikolas.

"Mommy." Sebastian says, his voice full of annoyance. I look down, seeing him reach for a PAW Patrol themed blanket. I pick it up, seeing his eyes light up and just how empty my cart was. I was aimlessly pushing it around this store while I just thought.

"Do you like this?" I hold it in my hands as Sebastian smiles widely, his cheeks balling up. He shows his teeth while looking at me expectantly.

"Yes!" He responds, reaching for it again. I roll my eyes before giving it to him. He'd say yes if I offered him a blowtorch, black T-shirt, and a Tesla.

"You say yes to everything." I mumble, returning back to the task at hand. I needed a gift for Nikolas. Shopping for Nik was hard though because he practically had everything that he wanted and especially hard when he was also in the same store and could possibly be being himself that same exact item.

"Mommy!" Sebastian says again. I look towards what he's reaching for this time, my phone, and give it to him.

I taught him how to unlock it, putting his thumb over the home button so he can go to what he really wanted: YouTube.