Blind Faith (Sequel to Something to Believe In)

Eight

May, 1992

A couple Days after what Lyric called the Sabbat of Beltane–which he knew as May Day–Richie was enjoying having a Night to himself. He was able to sprawl out across his King-size bed however he wanted, even if that meant his head was hanging off one side, his feet hanging off the other. That wasn't to say that he didn't enjoy the Nights he got his shared girlfriend to himself, 'cuz he damn well did enjoy them. It was just that–much like the young woman in question–he enjoyed his alone Time, and prolly a lot more than any of his band mates besides Rob.

        Therefore, he wasn't expecting to feel something shaking him awake in the middle of the Night, his sleepy brain thinking it was an earthquake at first. Coming to the realization that there was a hand gripping his shoulder tightly as he was shaken quickly nixed that idea, though, and he reached over to turn on his lamp with a somewhat irritated groan.

        "What's up, man?" he grumbled, realizing it was the older brunette once he'd rubbed at least part of the sleep outta his eyes.

        "Keep an ear out for Zep once the Sun starts rising," Rob told him. "Lyric's going into labor, so I gotta get her to the hospital."

        "You're sure?" the younger brunette asked, startled a lil more awake.

        "Pretty sure her water broke before she could even get up to go to the bathroom," he answered, nodding.

        "Roooob–hurry it up before I rip your nuts off and staple 'em to the side of your head!" they heard from the master suite, her voice obviously drenched in pain.

        "Go–I got the lil man once he wakes up," Richie told him. "'Cuz I'm not guaranteeing I'll get back to sleep before his naptime, now that I'm conscious."

        "At least try since you'll need all the sleep ya can get," the older brunette chuckled.

        "Oh, I'ma try–I'm just saying it might not happen," he retorted with a chuckle of his own.

        "Just don't expect more than a phone call outta me for a while," Rob said as he rose. "From what the social worker said, it took Mishy around nine hours between going into active labor and actually delivering for Zep to be born."

        Nodding as he settled back down once the baby monitor was plugged in on his nightstand, the younger brunette said he'd call Bret and Rikki once the Sun was up. His clock said it was only one in the Morn right now, and they both knew that if either of them called the blondes right now, they'd prolly get hung up on before they could tell them what was going on. They didn't have the Time or Patienceta be dealing with that, so it was better to just wait till after Sunrise at the earliest to let them know they weren't coming into the studio today.

        After the older brunette'd left to take their girl to the hospital, Richie settled back down to at least attempt getting some more sleep. Considering it was only the wee hours of the Morn, he knew he wouldn't be any good by the Time the baby across the gallery woke, if he couldn't get back to sleep. From the soft noises coming through the baby monitor's speaker, though, said baby wouldn't be up for a good while yet. That gave him plenty of Time to try getting some more sleep before he'd to think about even getting up for a potty break. Luckily for him, getting back to sleep wasn't all that hard and didn't take long since he hadn't actually gotten up and his bed was still nice and toasty.

*         *         *

It was just after eight that Morn when Richie heard a key in the front door, followed by the alarm system being deactivated, from the kitchen. He hadn't gotten a chanceta call the blonde half of his band to let them know what was going on, 'cuz almost as soon as he'd woken up again around six-thirty, lil Zep was up and needed his Morn care. That'd started with a bath since he'd 'sploded his diaper again, and by the Time he'd gotten him cleaned up, dried off, and dressed, it was Time to get to work on breakfast.