Chapter Text
Jan 2013
Of course I´d be woken up at three in the morning by a phone call from my brother! I haven´t had proper vacation since.... What was it? Eleventh grade? And I´m not even sure whether that counts... And when works been finally going well and I managed to get a week off from the principal at the kindergarten I´ve been working at for the past three years even though it was mid January. However during Saturday right before I was supposed to go with my boyfriend at the time on a skiing trip, I fell ill. And what did Charlie do? Well, he went without me. He took a friend instead, as it was all paid for in advance, pity to waste it. And between him enjoying the snow and my brother enjoying the Puerto Rican sun, I was left alone in town. Sick. Thanks God for take away...
It was Monday night, well technically speaking it was Tuesday early morning, when Rick Astley´s Never Gonna Give You Up rang through my one-room apartment. Now, that song is a terribly annoying song at any time of day, but imagine being sick and sad and lonely and asleep when he starts singing We´re no strangers to looove! At three in the flippin morning! And it´s your annoying older brother, because of course he needs a ringtone at least as annoying as he is. Fumbling among all the useless crap I had on my bedside table and knocking some of it to the ground I try to wake up at least a bit. To no vain of course. I finally found the phone and sleepily answered it.
„Bebita, I need your help!“ my brother practically screamed into the phone. Now, if it was any later than three in the morning I could have been a bit alarmed by the fact that my older brother needed my help. But I was still more asleep than awake plus ill and he was obviously having a good time based on the Eminem songs blaring on his end of the line. „Bebita? ¿Oiteh?” ("Did you hear me?")
“A mi plín, Lin….” ("I don't care") I groaned rolling of the bed knowing that my good night´s sleep was over no matter what I say. When family needs help, you just get off your ass. Hitting the cold stones of the floor I groan again and let a few curses slip. “I am sick, I am tired, I am in dire need of caretaker. I´m not a functioning human being right now. Call someone else….” I said despite the fact that I was already halfway to the corner to what I proudly called a kitchen. Since I was awake anyway, I could make myself that herb tea that Mrs Stein from downstairs gave me when I helped her with the bags up the stairs.
“Remember my friend Dee? I mentioned him on Thursday, you actually met him once before I believe. The one that I´m theoretically helping with babysitting his sisters kid,” he said in rapid Spanish.
“And by theoretically you mean I ran off to a different country and left him alone?” The water in the kettle started to boil, so there was interfering noise from both sides of the line, so yeah, I wasn’t the sweetest person at that very moment.
“Bebita, there´s a small ill baby and a desperate uncle that need you. Cass, I´m begging you… Do it for the bebé. I´ve already called you a cab. It should be there in ten minutes. I´ll totally owe you like ´til forever! Please, Cass….”
How can I say no. I mean, sure the bitch in me wanted to go to hell, but the Miranda and kindergarten teacher in me kicked the bitch´s ass. With a loud sigh I put the tea back into the little cupboard that Lin helped me build last month and searched for coffee. There has to be some…. “Alright, I´ll do it. But you owe me really big time, mamao…” (“asshole”)
Without waiting for the usual string of thank yous and love yous and you´re the bests I threw my old cracked Nokia back on my bed. Cursing under my breath in any language I was able to remember at three in the morning I made myself a bit of that disgusting witch potion they call coffee. Yeah, I´m cranky in the early mornings. It took me less than three minutes to get dressed and ready and that´s how I found myself waiting in the chilly January air waiting for a cab. Luckily the cabbie was given an address because honestly that was something I haven´t thought about when I talked to Lin on the phone.
It was a rather quick ride. Whoever Dee was he lived near hear tiny apartment in a bit less tiny house. The cabbie stopped next to a brick house with a wooden door. “That´s it, chiquita!” he exclaimed in a terrible Russian accent. I paid him quickly the few bucks that he deserved for the few miles and added a few extra for the late hour and I got out.
From quiet afar I could hear the faint squealing voice of a very unsatisfied baby. When I heard the discomfort in the poor baby´s voice, I quickened my paces. Reaching the door I carefully knocked on it. Not too loud to disturb the baby any more than it already is, but loud enough so the uncle could hear me. And he did. “Come in!” And I obeyed. Following the cries I ended up in what looked like a living room with a kitchenette corner and a dining table. There were a few mismatched armchairs and chairs and a sofa and an old looking banged up TV in the corner. And there they were, pacing in the middle of the floor, a tall darker man trying (and honestly very failing) to calm down a baby. For some reason the baby was stripped down to its diaper and the man was shirtless. Actually, he had the whole just-got-out-of-mah-bed look going on with his shorts and bare feet and the glasses that were put on his nose rather crookedly. Why they were both basically naked I couldn’t comprehend as it wasn´t really hot and the man actually looked like he was shivering.
“You guys must be freezing!” I exclaimed in horror. I grabbed a blue blanket that was thrown over an ancient looking sofa and I put it over the baby. Without waiting for an answer a carefully took the baby from the man, no Dee, and wrapped the blanket around it. Walking around the small living room space I started mumbling (hopefully) calming nonsense to the baby. And it worked. I paced around the room for what seemed like hours when the baby was calm enough for me to sit down with it.
It seemed that Dee was waiting for me to sit down, or stop doing the calming ritual, because the second my butt hit the cushions of the armchair he was sitting on the coffee table opposite of me. “You´re Lin´s sister?!” he yelled whispered over-dramatically, disturbing the baby a bit. I smacked him lightly and cooed over the baby again for a few more minutes before it was calm enough for me to answer him.
“Yeah, I know. I don’t look like Lin at all! Heard it a million times, boy. I´m adopted…” I cooed some more to the baby. It was so tiny and was only wearing a diaper beneath the blue blanket so at that very moment I honestly had no idea what the gender could be. It took me a few moments to come out with a question that could get me out of that problem. “So, what´s the name?” I asked quietly.
“I´m Daveed,” he said prudly.
“Yeah, I know.” I didn’t. “We´ve met before…” Or at least that´s what Lin claims… I´d remember meeting him. I quickly checked the diaper and her temperature. “I meant the baby´s name, man….”
“Ah.. yeah… sure.” Daveed nervously drummed his fingers on the dark surface of the coffee table. “Her name is Jamie.” So it´s a girl! Suddenly, I totally see how obvious it is that she´s a girl… “She´s my sister´s daughter and I am beyond helpless!” He ran his along fingers through his hair and made an even bigger mess among the dark curls. “I mean, we´ve survived three days alone, I even took this way off, because my sister really deserves the free time. After her noon nappy she seemed tired and didn´t really react to my funny faces. I´m seriously afraid… After I called Lin she even threw up a bit, hence the nakedness of us both…” He motioned to his naked torso and I could feel my cheeks redden. When you´re as pale as me and as shy as me, it´s a disaster. I tried to look anywhere else than him and prayed to God that it was dark enough in the room.
“Daveed, just because she doesn´t find your silly faces funny doesn’t mean that she´s going to die. Maybe you´re just not so funny…” I heard him finally. He seemed to relax a bit. His shoulder slumped down a bit and his hands stopped moving around and fumbling with stuff on the table. “Let´s have a bath and try to get her back to sleep.” I pushed back my own qualmishness and entered my full teacher/caretaker mode. “Lead the way to the bathroom,” I said standing up. “Though on second thought, please get dressed before you get sick as well. I can´t handle two sick babies at the same time…” I said and I just had to smile when a pout appeared on his face. Actual five years old.
“I´m a grown ass man, women. I can handle a bit of cold!” he exclaimed in the most fake angry voice I have ever heard. He motioned to an open door before he disappeared into the room next door, closing the door behind him. Shaking my head I entered the bathroom.
I haven’t grown up in a big house, but man this was small even by my standards… There was a small pink baby tub in the corner and a bunch of other baby bathing stuff that I could use. Putting the tub somewhere reasonable and filling it with warm enough water whilst holding the tiny baby was a serious battle but I won! I took the diaper off and after checking the water temperature one last time I was finally able to wash Jamie. Sometime after we started the “bath” Daveed apparently came but he stood in the doorway, staying out of my way.
“You´re great with her! Do you have one of your own?” he asked after a while of nothing but silence and water noises. He was probably just trying to chit chat, but I was taken by surprise and I chuckled loudly. Which Jamie didn’t take very well. I had to coo over her for a bit, but it didn´t help, so I didn’t answer him until after I finished the bath and took Jamie out.
“Sorry,” I whispered, not really sure to which one of them I was apologizing. Probably both for different reasons. “I have none. I mean no kids. I´m only twenty-five, there´s no rush. And I work with kids all day four days a week so it´s not like I have a lack of kiddy time.” I explain as I dry Jamie carefully.
Daveed slipped around me and started to tidy up the few things that I used. “Gosh you´re awfully young!” he blurts out. “Ehm, I mean. That´s quite a big age difference between you and your brother… Now I feel really old for some strange reason…”
“Well, Lin´s thirty-three. That´s the whole purpose of that damn trip. To celebrate it.” I just can´t stop the eyeroll from happening. “So, that´s an eight years age different. Well, I guess that´s not little? How old are you old man?” He couldn’t be any older than Lin for sure. He seemed closer to my age than to Lin´s…
“Grah!” he screeched. I got frightened that he got some sort of an attack before I realized that it was supposed to be laughter. Little Jamie has had enough of us and started screaming bloody-murder again. “I´m gonna be thirty-one in a few days kiddo, so yeah. I guess old man is fair enough.” He chuckled opening the door and leading me to a room across the hall. “That´s her room.” Well, the bright pink Jamie of the door isn’t obvious enough…
“Gimme a few minutes.” I closed the door in his face opting to dealing with Jamie on my own as he was both distracting me and upsetting Jamie with his chuckles and shenanigans. It took me only a few minutes to find my way in the beautiful room. As old and unorganized the whole house seemed at times, the little girl´s room was absolutely gorgeous. All pink and white and new. With mountains of plush toys. I chose a rather lovely unicorn themed onesie for her. Within minutes she was asleep in her crib. I guess that keeping people awake at three in the morning was tiring. A grabbed the baby monitor and sneaked out of the room.
And then it happened! Honestly the best thing that has ever happened in my whole life, or at last that´s the thought that went through my head at that moment when the wonderful smell of pancakes hit me. “Yes, please…” I whispered as I neared the kitchenet corner. Daveed was standing there at the stove, a pan in one hand and a fork in the other and at that moment he looked like a food god. But I guess that was just my hunger and tiredness and queasiness talking… “I hope you like pancake,” he said over his shoulder. It´s the least I could do… You´ve literally saved my sanity.”
“Yeah, no biggie. It´s just a pity you didn´t call at a more decent hour, we could have solved it easier and I would have put on something more reasonable than a sun dress over jeans.” He turned around and obviously only then really looked at what I was wearing. In his defense though, I put a way-too-big-for-me hoodie that my last boyfriend has left behind after I kicked him out. Seriously, I was so out when I was getting dressed that I´m just happy that I managed to put a bra on, since I was getting a bit over heated from all the action in the last half an hour. I slowly took my hoodie off and sent a few deadly glares at him, when he started to chuckle. “Dude, I can unsave you. Gimme my pancakes and shut it.”
He pointed at the old wooden table that had various pancake accessories on it. Even strawberries! In a very unlady-like manner I slumped down in the chair and picked a pancake from the big pile. I was on my second pancake with maple syrup and strawberries when he said down in the chair opposite to mine with the rest of the pancakes. “I may have overestimated the number of people who will be eating,” he shrugged.
Of course it made me laugh. The idiot is quite funny! But it also provoked a coughing fit that really didn’t sound well. I was still down with a cold. And after Jamie was asleep and I wasn’t desperately needed and the rest of the adrenaline from all the action vanished I could feel my sickness coming back.
“Hey, you alright?” Daveed asked, worry apparent on his face.
I tried to smile over the coughs and answer: “Yeah, it´s just that I´m not feeling very well myself. But I heard that you were desperate and scared shitless so I just had to come and save the day, didn’t I?” It brought a doubtful smile to his face, but nevertheless it still counts as a smile.
“I think you should lie down for a bit.” Without waiting for an answer, he stood up and took my hand, leading me to the room next to Jamie´s room. There was a quite big double bed with a purple floral bed spread and with what looked at that moment like the most comfortable pillow in the world. He helped me get under the covers and took my shoes off. “I´ll let Lin know, that you´re here. Is there anyone else I should tell? A parent, boss? Roommate? Boyfriend? Girlfriend?”
I mumbled a no and try the battle with my jeans but after less than a minute I give up and just bury my head deep in the pillow. I think he says something about tea, but I don´t pay attention to him anymore. With a quiet “Me llamo Cassia…” I finally go back to sleep.