Teen Dad Series

Now He's a Single Parent (Ashton & Kadia)

Considering Dani had decided to leave in the middle of the night, Ashton was handling things pretty well. He went through his day as usual--excluding the morning conversations, not that he didn't talk to Kadia constantly to keep himself sane-- and was able to go through all the usual things. He had to drop her off at his mom's before work that night, listening as she ranted and raved about how irresponsible Dani was. Work went smoothly, and he was back home and asleep in no time. 

It was the second day that things got hard. He woke up, noticed how empty the other side of the bed was and instantly didn't want to do anything productive all day. Moping sounded great. Ashton just wanted to not more for, like, ever.

He heard the front door opening and at first he was positive it was Dani. But instead his mom came storming into the room, opening the curtains with a flourish. Kadia squealed at the sight of Ashton, reaching out for him. He groaned, burying his face into his pillow. It was way too bright outside. 

"Ashton." The scolding voice of his mother went through one ear and came out the other. Maybe if he ignored her enough she'd go away. She could leave Kadia though. His little girl was perfectly fine cuddling the day away. "It's time to get up. In fact, it's been time. You missed the whole morning and you've got class in ten minutes." She reached out to rub his back, attempting to comfort him. "The world goes on, sweetie." She placed Kadia onto the bed beside him. "I'll make you some lunch."

He laid there for a while, listening to Kadia's baby noises. His mom right as usual. Life went on, the world kept spinning. He still had to be a dad. He still had to get up and get an education. He still had to go to work and pay bills and buy groceries and find Dani, ask her why she'd left, try to convince her to come back, ask her to stay--

Wait, what.

Ashton was seriously messed up. Maybe he missed Dani underneath all of the pent up anger he was currently feeling. Maybe he wasn't able to raise Kadia all by himself and wanted Dani to be there for her too. Maybe he would never be able to move on from this, mentally scarring his only kid, sending her into therapy at a young age, visiting her in a psych ward every other Thursday--

That's it, it was time to get up.

Ashton scrambled to his feet, running a hand through his hair and exhaling slowly. He couldn't let the thought of Dani drive him off the deep end. He needed to stay not-crazy at least for Kadia, if not for himself. 

He glanced down at her, watching her kick her feet out and grip onto the blanket, pulling it over her head. He lifted her up, carrying her out to the kitchen. He ate--an actual meal since yesterday, which was a big deal--and talked to his mom for a while. 

"I can't give her up now. Not after all the trouble we had to go through just to convince you guys it would be okay for us to raise her." He muttered, pushing the food around on his plate. He glanced up at his mom. "I'll figure it out."

She nodded, giving him a little smile of encouragement. "You're good at figuring things out. You'll be fine. Especially with your friends just down the road."

"Because they're all professionals at taking care of a baby." Ashton rolled his eyes. Luke was still in school, Calum was almost always at soccer training, and MIchael was always doing... something. None of them had been around a baby more than a few hours, with a parent in arms reach. But they could learn, just like Ashton had been doing. 

They'd all figure it out.