We're in it together now

 CW felt nauseous lately. He must have lost a good twenty pounds since Miracle came home. It wasn't like he was sitting around all day thinking of tomorrow. It was right now. He was a bit lightheaded. It might have been his blood sugar or his blood pressure. Really, he was too young to think like that. However, Crystal did. She could see him stagger to get things done around the place. But he was on it, even if it felt like more things were added daily to Daddy duty.

Not that he hated it, but it was new to him. He'd never held a baby until Miracle, and it was unbelievable then, but now it was life. His life. Her life. Their life. It pained him that he hadn't accomplished more. To be ready for something so extraordinary. He wanted to think clearly instead of being muddled with the could-of and should-of memories that dragged him down.

It was hard not to be sad, knowing he wasn't good enough and in his head, he might never be.

"Well, stop thinking that way, will you?" Darry told him his family would help him out.

"What? He's done more..more for me..than he should." CW winced, remembering how his dad had come through for him with his wisdom teeth problem last year. "I can't ask-" CW shook his head no. 

"They already know about the baby," Darry told them. "Who do you think sent me?" Darry's brow furrowed with concern as he shook CW's shoulders.

CW sighed. "I don't get it, I'm just a stranger-"

"You remind us a lot of my older brother." Darry shrugged. CW went to tend to the baby while Darry filled him in on how his brother was bipolar. "He won't let any of us help him now."

CW still wasn't sure where he fit in. 

"Why do you think we always help out at the homeless shelter?" Darry asked as he took the baby from CW. "We miss him, even if he doesn't want us to."

"But he could get help." CW looked at Darry as if this was just nonsense.

"If he wanted to, but he doesn't." Darry smiled at the baby. Still, CW knew there was more about this no-name brother of his.

"Look, my dad knows people," Darry told him.

"So?" CW wasn't expecting the lottery. Just a full-time job would do. Well, one that paid more than minimum wage. "Maybe I could get on at the slaughterhouse, or-" He didn't know. It would have to be one of those jobs nobody would really want. 

"There are jobs at the veteran's hospital." Darry nodded.

"I wouldn't have to kill small animals, would I?" CW looked at him out of the corner of his eye.

Darry cracked a smile.

Big wheels keep on turning

 Carol could handle it. She would find someone to cook. Unfortunately, her husband was the only fry cook she could find. 

"But it's like being in the Navy all over again." He laughed about it. Only Carol was serious about the Coffee Shop. She didn't want to hear about any Navy stories when he was a cook; that was decades ago.

Eventually, her daughters came around to help. It just wasn't the same without Crystal. The customers let her know soon enough.

"It's just temporary," Carol assured them. Of course, it was nice to see her girls helping out at the diner. 

"I had no idea you had waitress skills." Carol teased her stoic Tyra, who was actually smiling. 

"Ma, are you sure you can do this?" Tyra was concerned.

"It's only temporary," Carol promised. Yet she enjoyed filling in. She loved the customers. She wanted to have great food. But it was a bit iffy. She was thankful they could sell the bakery's pies and muffins. She knew somebody wasn't fond of making over-easy eggs. Actually, she ended up having to do that when anyone wanted them.

Thankfully, she had the waffle recipe and she did know how to make a good cup of coffee. She was pleased when anyone asked for another cup of coffee.

Crystal Q&A

 

 What are you reading? Infant care books

What are you eating? Anything in sight, but I only got scrambled eggs and toast this morning. You'd think I would get more after having a C-section.

What are you drinking? Apple Juice

What’s in your cart? A lot of baby girl things, even if I can't afford them.

What are you thinking about? How freaked out I was. The shock of not knowing I was even pregnant. I feel so upset that I wasn't getting ready for a baby. I didn't even get to enjoy being pregnant.  I didn't know. And I...I'm just exhausted. Still, it makes me sad. Thinking I could have...Oh, but she's all right and well, CW and I can't decide what to name her. It even sounds funny to say, "Our baby."  But I know I have to keep moving. I need to get my act together. So I'm making CW read all these books with me. Actually, he's reading them to me, and we can do this. We can. We have to. I'm pretty sure Miracle should at least be her middle name.

It's a new Day

 

When Cedric saw CW coming into the ER with Crystal, he couldn't imagine what might be happening. Finally, it hit him.

"When did this happen?" Cedric wanted to know when he helped CW get ready for the new arrival. It was all happening so quickly. He knew CW was in shock.

"Right now," CW sputtered. "I mean, there was a time or two I wondered if..if this might happen, but I was afraid to say anything. I didn't want her going off the deep end. Really, I just wanted to be there for her. I wasn't thinking it would be the three of us."

His brow furrowed as if he might be in thought of what might be next as he crawled into the blue paper suit. CW looked as if he might be ready to work at the hospital.

"I dunno what to say," Cedric told him, that he was probably Crystal's closest family. "She's been solo most of her life. It's just. You two? Having a kid." Cedric looked at CW. Was this twenty-something-year-old really going to be on board with the idea of fatherhood?

"I just want her to be all right," CW confessed that he loved Crystal and he'd do what he could to support her.

"I know you do. You just have to keep telling her that until she believes it. She can be..." Cedric shook his head. "So testy. And to think how she wanted her sister's baby and now she's having one." Cedric remembered how motherly she was when Cedric and his partner adopted Crystal's sister's baby. Crystal thought then that might be the only way she'd ever be a mom. But now.....

There was no time to waste. CW was in his surgical attire, waiting to help with the baby.