"Yeah, I waited 'til the kids were set up in the other room and cursed a blue streak at them."
"Good." He sighed softly, hungry and exhausted and in desperate need of a coffee.
"Christian and Maggie are fine and I haven't burned down the house, I swear."
"Excellent. Jenny is sleeping in ten minute bursts and I haven't had a bathroom break in six hours."
"Damn. You want me to come and spell you?"
"No. No, if you're okay with the older two. I may need you to come pick us up when they release her." He wasn't sure he could drive them home.
"I guess we could take the bus there…you've got the van, right?"
"Right. No. I'll be okay. I'll make it." He wanted to just cry.
"You sure. Maybe someone can look after the kids and I can take a cab?"
"I… I could call Jeannie. She's a good friend, maybe she could." He knew she would if he called -- they all had each other's backs when their significant other, or in his case, boss, was away.
"Sounds good. When are they springing Jenny?"
"I'm praying for this afternoon."
"Yeah? That'd be good. We miss her." Drake's voice was gruff.
"Uh-huh. I bet. She's not a happy baby."
"You don't sound like a happy man, either."
"I'm just tired." Hungry. Undercaffeinated. Thoroughly fucking pissed off that he hadn't seen the fucking ant nest.
"Tell you what, you can sleep in tomorrow."
"Yeah. Yeah, I hope so." His hands and arms were covered in bites and blisters, and he burned inside, knowing how bad Jenny hurt.
Drake grunted. "Isn't there anything I can do?"
"Keep Christian and Maggie settled. I'll call Jeannie in a second and see if she can let you get the car, bring me a cup of coffee."
"Okay. It'll all be okay."
"It will. Did you talk to Mindy last night?" He was so glad he hadn't had to see her.
"I don't want to talk about it."
"Oh, God." Oh, God. He'd fucked up, so bad.
"Yeah, she chewed me a new one and threatened to kick me out so things could go back to just perfect you." Drake sighed. "I'm sorry. I've screwed everything up."
"You? You've been a huge help. Tell her to scream at me. Remind her that Christian's first sunburn and when Maggie picked up a wasp's nest, I wasn't even there. And neither were you."
Drake chuckled. "So she's screwed up, too, huh?"
"They're kids, not dolls. They get hurt."
Drake chuckled. "I think I needed to hear that. She got to me."
"She's on the other side of the world and her baby's in the hospital. She freaked out." He sort of got it.
"Yeah. Yeah. Look, I'm going to let you go so you can call Jilly, uh, Jeannie? Yeah, that's it. Call me back when you know what's going on."
"I will." He sighed, rocked Jenny slowly, and hung up, searching for Jeannie's number. The baby was sleeping, and he thought she felt cooler to the touch.
Please, let the antihistamine work.
***
Drake tucked Maggie in, and kissed her forehead. "Sleep tight, sweet girl."
Her eyelids fluttered, but she was all but asleep already. Thank God. He'd been basically running the show for two days while Slayde dealt with Jenny and he was utterly exhausted. How had Slayde done this with three all on his own for just weeks before he'd shown up?
He headed downstairs, hoping Slayde had felt well enough to get something better than hot dogs together for adult supper. Poor fucker was covered in fire ant blisters.
Slayde was at the kitchen table, phone and a cup of coffee in front of him. "I ordered Chinese."
"How are you doing, man?" He sat down next to Slayde.
"Good. Everyone sleeping?"
The man had huge bags under his eyes. Mindy had taken one look at Slayde over Skype and just burst in to tears.
"Yes. It's time to relax. Maybe go to bed early after supper." God, why did everything he said to Slayde sound dirty?
"Yeah. We'll see. I'm drinking my coffee."
They still hadn't talked, even once, about that night in the backyard. It made him a little crazy. At the same time, the longer they didn't talk about it, the more he could pretend it didn't happen, that he was still safely in the closet. He couldn't even say that he worried Slayde would out him. The man was decent, honestly decent. He just wasn't used to anyone knowing, especially someone he saw every single day.
A knock came to the door and Slayde stood, moving slow toward the front door.
"Sit down, Slayde." Stubborn fucker. "I'll get the damn door."
"Yeah? Thanks." Slayde made it through to the couch and sort of collapsed down.
He shook his head. Super Nanny had to figure out when to let things slip a little. He paid for their food and grabbed a couple of plates before going to the living room. Slayde was sprawled out, coffee balanced on his belly, sound asleep.
He put the supper stuff down on the table and grabbed the coffee, looking down at Slayde. Even with the blisters Slayde looked… sexy.
Bright eyes blinked up at him. "Hey."
"Hey. Supper's here."
"Oh. Oh, sorry. I'm dozy."
"Eat first and then you can go to bed, yeah?"
"Oh, I need to get some stuff done. I haven't even looked at emails, anything."
"You know the world's not going to fall apart if you take the night off." Slayde worked too fucking hard. "It's been a rough few days."
"No shit on that." Those poor blistered hands worked to open the containers. God, that had to hurt.
He grunted. "Let me." And if the words came out more growly than he intended, it wasn't because he was mad at the man.
"I'm sorry. I'm just a wreck."
"You're allowed. You've got back up now, right?" He opened the containers and handed over a fork.
"Thank God." Slayde smiled at him. "You're a life-saver, man."
Oh. Oh, damn. That felt good to
