Chapter 30

Finn

"This your room Paisley," I cooed as I walked into the bright, cheery space. She was quietly taking everything in with big, wide blue eyes. Our eyes were the exact same color, but her wispy blond curls a few shades lighter than mine, though my hair had gotten darker over the years. It was the coolest thing having that connection, one of the best (if only) gifts my mother ever gave me.

"I'll put her bags over here and we can put her things away later," Nico said from behind me.

"There's no rush since her room's stocked with everything she needs anyway," I reminded him.

"Except for Mr. Wiggles," he laughed as he pulled out a teddy bear wearing rainbow suspenders. Benji had gotten it for her the day he found out "we were expecting" as he kept referring to Paisley's pending arrival. It had been in her crib ever since and you could tell she really liked him. She'd stare at him and grab at him with her little fists.

"Mr. Wiggles," I snickered, "I don't think we should have let Benji name him."

"Mr. Wiggles is a great name!" Benji objected as he walked into the room, I hadn't realized he was within hearing distance. Benji and Ajax were waiting at the apartment when we returned and had decorated the living room with balloons and a welcome home sign. "When can I hold her?" he whined, "she has to get to know her favourite uncle!" We heard a loud 'hey!' from the other room.

"Let me change her diaper and then I'll bring her out to the living room and you and Ajax can do all sorts of uncle bonding," I promised.

"That's my cue to leave," he mumbled, heading back out the way he came in. "Uncle Benji doesn't do diapers."

"If you want to babysit like you keep insisting, you'd better learn," Nico called.

"What do you think Ajax is for?" We heard a shout from the living room, followed by a, "Hey! I was only kidding!" Nico and I smirked at each other, Benji and Ajax were always entertaining company.

Nico stepped forward to take Paisley, but I didn't want to get in the habit of letting him do everything. There would be times I'd be alone with her and I had to learn to be just as capable as he already was. "No, Nic, I got this," I said as I brought her to the changing table. He'd set it up already with a dispenser for diapers, wipes and the special cream to protect her skin very handy and even some little toys that would keep her distracted while we took care of business.

Fresh things like onesies and little shirts and soft pants were folded neatly on a shelf below in case anything was soiled, so you never had to step away while she was on the table. There was even a handy strap we would start using when she got more wiggly.

"I bet she's hungry, I'll go get a bottle ready while you're doing that," Nico suggested. I nodded and he went off to the kitchen.

"You're so lucky Baby Paisley," I cooed, "you have so many people who love you already. You're going to be so spoiled...in a good way though," I assured her. I got to my task, laying her down carefully on the padded changing table. "How did you get so beautiful," I asked in a silly voice, then laughed at myself. She clapped her hands and I'm pretty sure let out a little giggle; she definitely was smiling as she looked up directly into my eyes.

I talked to her the whole time telling her about all the fun things we would be doing, the park that was only a short walk from the apartment, Ajax and Benji's pool and all of our friends who couldn't wait to meet her. Pretty soon I was all done and carried her out to the living room where Nico met me with a fresh bottle.

"I need to go wash my hands, who wants to give her the bottle?" I asked the two uncles.

"I do!" Benji shouted before Ajax could even open his mouth. He just chuckled and nodded.

"Did you wash your hands?" I asked.

"Yes, like 10 minutes ago, last time you asked."

"Okay then." I placed Paisley in Benji's arms and Nico brought over the bottle and showed him what he needed to do while I went into the kitchen to wash my hands.

The four of us spent a quiet afternoon with our new girl, until she started to get sleepy and Nico put her down for a nap with the help of his brother.

"Ajax and I brought stuff to make dinner, you're supposed to do that when a new baby comes home, to help out the new parents," he explained. "I've been reading all these parenting magazines and googling stuff. I'll go get it started."

I followed him into the kitchen and sat down on a stool. "It's not like one of us just gave birth to her Benji," I laughed.

"Still, you're probably going to have lots of sleepless nights, so you have to save your energy."

"Mia said she's mostly sleeping through the night already, but either way, we'll take turns."

"You two make a great team, you'll work it out."

"We do, don't we," I mused, looking off in the direction of Paisley's room. Would I have ever imagined myself here, right now, in this situation three years ago? Not in a million years. "Thank you," I said to Benji in a quiet voice that came out raspy. I don't know why I suddenly felt so emotional, but it was like we'd been on a roller coaster for so long, and it finally slowed down and approached solid ground.

Benji grinned. "I don't know...I mean...part of me was telling myself to stay out of it...but a bigger part of me knew it was meant to be and I just...had to...it was like my instinct pushed me on."

"I'm glad it did," Nico said, walking out with a baby monitor, Ajax not far behind. He walked up behind me, wrapping his warm arms around my middle, pulling me back into his solid chest. "Look where we are now, baby," he said quietly in my ear. I leaned my head back on his shoulder, closing my eyes, basking the moment. Yeah, everything felt perfect right now.

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Nicolas

2:00 a.m.

I'd placed the baby monitor on the night table right next to my ear and found myself lying there just listening. I'd already gone in to make sure she was still breathing about 10 times. Mia had said that Baby Paisley, one of her many nicknames, often woke up around 2:00 a.m. for a diaper change and a bottle, but then would generally go back to sleep until 7 or 8:00 a.m., but I still couldn't help but worry that everything was alright.

I stared at the clock for 15 minutes. Why wasn't she up? Was everything okay? Maybe I should go check on her. I looked over at Finn who was sleeping soundly. He'd gone in and checked on her at midnight and told me to wake him if he didn't hear her cry for her night feeding. Of course I wasn't going to. I was awake anyway.

Finally I heard some quiet fussing, not crying yet, but I could tell she was starting to wake up so I quietly jumped up and ran down the hallway. When I peeked down into the crib her fussy face turned into a little smile and she clapped her little hands together. "Hi Munchkin." She reached her hands up to me and did this little thing where she squeezed her fingers together then opened them several times. We'd realize it was her way of saying pick me up, so I carefully lifted her into my arms. "Do you have kisses for Papa?" I asked as she began mouthing my chin. "I see you need a new diaper," I chuckled. "I think Papa can take care of that and then we'll get you a bottle." Paisley gurgled in response and made little smacking noises with her lips.

Once she was in a fresh diaper and fresh onesie I tucked her into my arm and went into the kitchen to warm up one of the bottles I'd already prepared. After I checked it on my wrist we returned to her bedroom so I could grab a burping blanket to put on my shoulder. I'd already learned the hard way that they are a necessity. We'd put a day bed in her room so I got seated comfortably against some pillows and Paisley quickly took the bottle and settled in the crook of my arm.

Halfway through the bottle I burped her and then gave her the other half. When she was finished and I'd burped her again I went to put her back in the crib, only to have her fussing the minute I put her down. "Hmm...what's up Baby Paisley? Does your tummy hurt?" I asked. Yes, Nicolas Salazar is now using words like tummy, onesie, fussy and perfecting the raspberry sound on a certain little belly. As long as it doesn't get out, I can still keep my image of the fierce, cold as steel businessman.

I bounced Paisley around the room for a bit then sat down on the day bed and let her lay on her stomach on my chest. I'd read that the warmth and sound of the parent's heartbeat often comforted small babies. While she settled down I rubbed her back gently.

Finn

8:17 a.m.

"Wha??" I rubbed my eyes to make sure I was seeing the clock correctly. I never used an alarm because Nico seemed to have this internal clock that woke up at 6:30 every morning, and then he'd wake me up at whatever time I needed or when he was leaving if he had an early breakfast meeting.

I looked beside me on the bed, but it was empty. Maybe he just forgot to wake me? But I usually liked to get up around 7:30 at the latest. I sat up and stretched then dropped my feet to the floor. Stumbling my way to the bathroom I used the toilet then threw some cold water on my face.

Paisley.

Oh yeah! I'd better go check on her before I do anything. I washed my hands before trotting down the hallway to her room. I noticed the kitchen was still dark, so Nico wasn't up making breakfast. Maybe he was giving Paisley a bottle or getting her dressed.

The lights were still dimmed in her room when I walked in, my eyes had immediately gone to the empty crib before I scanned the room to the daybed. Nico was sound asleep stretched out with Baby Paisley asleep on his chest.

Oh my god. I ran back to my studio and grabbed my camera. This was the sweetest thing I'd ever seen. Quietly I snapped several pictures from different angles. Luckily my camera didn't need a whole lot of light and there was enough coming in through the windows directly on the daybed for the pictures to come out perfectly. I figured I might as well leave the camera in Paisley's room. She would probably be the main subject of our picture taking for the next...oh, 18 years or so.

I sat down on the bed and rubbed Paisley's soft little back.

"Hey....what time is it?" Nico asked groggily after a few minutes.

"Almost 8:30, I can't believe you slept this late."

"Mm...I didn't really get to sleep at all until about 3 or so...I guess...first night home. I couldn't really sleep."

"You kept checking on her didn't you?" I chuckled.

"Not that often...maybe...okay, maybe every 20 or 30 minutes," Nico admitted with an embarrassed grin. "She's just so...little," he said quietly as he looked down at the little baby tucked under his chin.

"What do you have going on today?" I asked, knowing I had a class at 10.

"Well, I thought Baby P and I would go into the office while you're at school. Not that I have anything I can't miss, but everyone is dying to meet her. Why don't you drop us off at the office on your way to campus?"

"Okay, I have Senior Studio, so I'll be there about 3 hours, then I just have a quick meeting with my advisor, so I'll be back to pick you up just after lunch."

Paisley began making her little waking up noises, quiet squeaks and babbling. "Look who's awake," I cooed as I lifted her off Nico's chest, leaning down and giving him a quick peck on the lips before I stood up. "Why don't I get her some breakfast while you shower and then you can eat while I shower."

"When are you going to eat?"

"I'll have something while Paisley drinks her bottle. We have that fruit salad and the whole grain bread I like, I'll make some toast and strawberry jam. I'll also start the coffee," I held Paisley up and she cooed back at me, "Daddy can show you how to make coffee while your bottle warms up, right peanut?" I got an excited high pitched shriek in response so I assumed she was in agreement.

When we got to Nico's building I drove right into the private parking garage after keying in a special code. From there Nico and Paisley would take his private elevator up to his floor. "Do you have everything you need?" I asked as Nico held Paisley to his chest and put a small diaper bag over his shoulder.

"Yeh, I'm all set," he said confidently.

"What about the car seat, do you want to take it up so she has something to sleep in?"

"Don't worry baby, I have that all covered," he said, giving me a long kiss before stepping back.

"Wait..." I pulled out my phone and snapped some pictures of Nico holding the baby with the diaper bag. It was just too surreal. I gave him a big grin. "You sure you have everything? Bottles, soother, diapers..."

"I promise baby, I have everything I need."

"Baby Paisley's going to get confused if you keep calling me baby."

"She's smart like her Daddy, she'll figure it out," he replied, beaming.

"Okay, see you in a few hours. Call or text me if you need anything."

"I will."

Reluctantly I got back in my car, watching Nico press his code into the elevator. As soon as they were on, I drove back out to the street and headed to campus.

Focusing on my current Senior Studio piece was difficult. My instructor kept coming over and asking if everything was alright, and I had to keep assuring him I was fine. When he wasn't looking I sneaked my phone out and checked for texts or looked at the pictures I've already taken of Paisley or Nico and Paisley. Finally it was time to clean my brushes and put away my supplies. I thanked Dr. Sandholm and headed to my advisors office. Once I checked in with him and talked about my progress and the business classes I wanted to take next semester to help me run Juntado, I bade him goodbye and practically ran to my car.

On my way :), I texted to Nico.

Drive carefully, he replied, adding an xo to the end.

After parking the car and climbing onto the elevator I shuffled my feet and bounced in frustration at the slow rise to the top. Finally it opened onto the floor which held Nico and Ajax's offices. I greeted their executive assistant and headed straight to Nico's office. He was sitting at his desk working at his laptop. I looked around, but didn't see Paisley.

"Where's Baby Paisley?" Nico looked up and smiled. He waved me forward as he got up and headed to an open door just to his right. A door I'd never seen before. I followed him in to a fully equipped state of the art nursery. Paisley was napping in a beautiful crib, her little thumb in her mouth as her eyes moved in REM sleep. "What's all this?" I whispered.

Nico motioned me out of the room back to his desk where I noticed that he had a direct view of the crib when he was sitting in his chair.

"Remember the small boardroom that used to be there?"

I did remember, it was a room between Nico and Ajax's offices where they could have meetings with the top executives of the firm. I nodded, still confused because I didn't remember a door directly from his office before.

"I had the boardroom relocated, a door installed so I could see in from my desk and the nursery built. It's fully stocked, diapers, extra clothes, toys, playpen, easy chair for comfortable feedings and a small kitchen area with everything I need to make bottles." He plopped down in his chair smugly, grinning from ear to ear.

"You really are something else," I laughed. No wonder he took only a small diaper bag.

"Hey, I'm just a modern father balancing work and my family." The smile on his face looked like it would require a jackhammer to get it off. "Come here," he said pulling me into his lap so I was straddling his legs. "We have a while before she wakes up. I'll call down for some lunch to be brought up for us, but first I need some love from my other baby."

I rolled my eyes, but hell, I couldn't resist and let him pull me down into a long, sweet kiss that held the promise of more to come when we were in the privacy of our own home.