KISS: Road Trip

Ch 43: H-home? (Paul)

I walked up to Gene's house, smiling at the sign begging people not to ring the doorbell and used the spare key to let myself in. Gene looked up from the lesson plans he was writing, still looking exhausted, but gave me a smile anyway. "Perfect, you're just the person I needed to talk to. Sit down."

I raised an eyebrow, slightly worried, and sat next to him. "What happened? Is something wrong?" He shook his head, smile getting bigger. "No, no. Me and Shannon were talking and uh...we're gonna move back to New York. She got a job offer out there and I found a teaching position and it's just cheaper to live there than here. And...and I want to be closer to you."

I sat back, heart racing, unable to even process what he was saying. "You--you--you--" I stammered, trying to get the words out. He nodded, eyes shining. "Yeah. We're gonna move to New York. Which is where you live."

"I--you--New York?!" I cried. He nodded again and I hugged him tightly, trying not to cry. "About damn time you came back home." Gene hugged me back, crushing my spine. "I know, I know." Nick woke up and started crying, interrupting the nice moment. Heaving a sigh, Gene rose to his feet, heading up the stairs. "Paul, do me a favor and get a bottle together for him, would you?"

"Gene you're saying that like I have any idea how to do that." "The instructions are on the box, man! You can read, can't you?"

He did have a point, so I did my best to heat up some water and pour the right amount of powder and the warm water into the bottle, praying that it would be perfect before putting the lid on and jogging upstairs and handing it off to Gene, who was holding Nick in the crook of his arm. "You sure you did it right?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. I nodded, giving him a grin. "Yeah! Only the best for my godson, you know that. But yes, I followed the directions on the box."

Gene nodded, holding the bottle as Nick drank greedily. "Yeah, Uncle Paul did a good job, huh?" Gene cooed, smiling fondly at his son. "Uncle Paul better hope he did a good job, otherwise he's gonna be in trouble." "Uncle Paul did just fine," I grumbled, folding my arms across my chest. Shaking his head, Gene walked back into the living room, sitting with Nick on the couch. "Yeah Nick, just you wait. Give it a few weeks and we're gonna be living in New York. You, me, your momma, and all five of your uncles. Not in the same house, thankfully, because your uncles drive me crazy sometimes, but you'll be able to see them a lot more often than if we stayed out here."

We hung out for a bit longer, Nick alternating between being awake and asleep as babies do. It was nice to talk, just the two of us, before Ace showed up as it was starting to get dark outside. "Hiya curly! Peter and Eric and Bruce are grocery shopping I think? I dunno, I wasn't really paying attention. How's being a dad?"

Gene let out a huge sigh, leaning back on the couch and closing his eyes. "I'm so tired," he grumbled, shaking his head.

"What, is having a kid difficult or something?" I teased. He let out an even bigger sigh, running a hand through his hair. "I love Nick more than anything in the world but I also really love sleeping, which I haven't been able to do for a long time. It's been a few weeks and I'm wiped."

Ace laughed, taking a sip of the beer he had brought himself. "I remember when Frankie and JoJo were at that age. Oh man it was terrible, when JoJo moved out of my parents' room they moved him into mine and he would not stop screaming at night because he was used to sleeping in their bed, but that was when he was like two or three. You have fun with that," he said with a grin.

Right on cue, Nick started crying again. Gene let out a groan, opening his eyes and pushing himself upright. "Dammit, Nick, just give me five minutes please," he grumbled. "No, no, we'll take care of him, you get some sleep," I said, jumping to my feet and heading into their room. I looked at Nick for a minute before realizing I had no idea how to take care of a baby or why he was crying. "Gene? What do I do?" I called.

"He's already asleep, curly!" Ace replied, before popping his head through the doorway. "I'll help you though, I had to take care of my brothers as babies! He's either hungry or he needs a new diaper or he doesn't feel good. So let's find out!"

Ten minutes later I was sitting in the chair cradling Nick as he drank from the bottle while Gene snored loudly on the couch. "Gah Gene shut up! Why would anyone sleep with you when you snore so loudly?" Ace muttered, throwing a pillow at him. Gene just kept sleeping. "Hey man, you know as well as I that when he's sleeping with a girl he's not asleep," I said with a grin. "With his wife, curly, they're married! And somehow this ugly bastard produced a beautiful baby boy, didn't he? You're beautiful, huh Nick?" he said with a soft smile.

Nick burbled happily in my arms, giving me an adorably toothless little baby smile and melting my heart. "Aww damn you are the cutest little fucking thing, aren't you?" "Mmm Paul watch your language around the kid. Shannon'll kill me if he starts cussing," Gene muttered. "Shh, go back to sleep curly, we'll take care of your baby!" Ace said with a grin. Gene squinted at him, raising an eyebrow. "You two are like the last two people I would trust with my son."

Before either of us could respond, Eric and Bruce and Peter arrived. "We're here!" Peter said triumphantly, dropping a bunch of groceries on the counter. Loudly. Which made Nick immediately burst into tears. "Aw did mean Uncle Peter scare you? Here, come to Daddy, it'll be okay," Gene cooed, taking Nick from my arms and giving him a warm smile and a soft kiss on the forehead.

To his credit, Nick immediately dropped back off to sleep, resting on Gene's chest. And within two minutes, Gene had also passed out. "Aww, adorable. He's a good dad," Bruce said, cracking open a beer and joining us in sitting room area. "I kinda want a kid, not gonna lie. Might have to talk to Carrie about that," Eric said absentmindedly.

"Eric you can barely take care of yourself, let alone a baby," Bruce said, raising an eyebrow.

Gene and Nick slept for hours, long enough for everyone else to head home and for Shannon to make it back from her night out. A fond smile spread across her face as she looked at Gene and Nick asleep on the couch, pulling out her phone to take a quick picture. "Hi Paul, thanks so much for helping with the baby tonight! And thank you for the food, that was so sweet of you all!" I nodded, grinning. "Of course! It was no trouble. Nick's just precious."

Shannon nodded, beaming. "He is, he really is. He's such a sweet baby," she said, before turning to Gene and kissing him on the forehead. "Gene. Let's put Nick to bed in his actual bed, yeah?" Gene's eyes flickered open and he squinted at her before handing off the baby. "Mm, probably a good idea. You do that, I'm gonna sleep on the couch for a few more minutes," he mumbled, rolling over and burying his face in the cushions. Shannon laughed, kissing Nick on the forehead. "Oh Paul did Gene tell you about how we're planning on moving?"

I nodded, giving her a huge smile. "He did, yeah! That's really exciting, it'll be nice to be able to have you guys in the city!" "Yeah, it'll be really nice to be closer to all y'all. You're all wonderful people and I'm really looking forward to knowing y'all better."

"Me too!"