Raising Alex

Jamie couldn't help the slight butterflies in her stomach as she walked up to the Kerr's house the next morning. On one hand she was excited to be starting a new job, babies always brought a smile to her face, and Alex sure seemed like a sweet baby. But on the other hand, she was not looking forward to another confrontation with Mitch. She wanted to be able to come up with some sharp witted reply if he was short with her or said something rude, but the man took her breath away and rendered her speechless. Jamie steeled herself as she knocked softly on the front door.

"Good Morning Jamie, I'm glad you're here." Madeline said with a smile as she opened the front door.

Jamie couldn't help the small wave of relief that washed over her although she was slightly surprised to see Madeline answering the door. She tried to glance casually over Madeline's shoulder searching for a glimpse of Mitch's towering frame. Apparently she hadn't been as sly as she'd hoped and her wandering eye was not lost on Madeline, "Mitch left for work already, it's his first day back in a little while so I don't think he'll be back here anytime soon." she said, suppressing a smile.

Madeline led Jamie to the living room where baby Alex sat in his swing that was softly rocking him back to sleep. He had his father's dark hair curled atop his head and just the tiniest, little fingers and toes. Jamie tiptoed over to him and knelt beside the swing watching the baby sleep, amazed at how peaceful babies always looked when they were asleep. She brushed her fingers softly over the dark pelt of his hair, his tiny hands, even his little sock clad feet, trying desperately not to wake him. Jamie couldn't help but smile as he wrinkled his nose, stirring just a little. Babies are so perfect, Jamie thought as she slowly rose to leave Alex to his nap. She wandered into the kitchen where Madeline sat drinking her morning cup of coffee and reading the paper.

"Alex is an adorable baby, Madeline. You must be such a happy grandma," Jamie said, sitting down at the table.

"He's the spitting image of Mitch as a baby, its unbelievable how alike they are." Madeline added, chuckling a little.

"Are you sure you're ready to leave him already?"

"I wish I could stay longer, but I've got classes to teach, in fact they've already started. Besides, with me here, Mitch would probably keep feeling sorry for himself. He's my only son and I'm sure I baby him a little. I was watching you in there with Alex, I know he's in good hands."

Madeline smiled at Jamie then, pouring her a cup of coffee and handing her the section of the newspaper that she'd just finished. The two women sat and chatted while enjoying the quietness of a sleeping baby. Madeline took the opportunity to show Jamie where the bottles and formula were, where things were in his room and, ran through his typical daily schedule.

The rest of the week continued much the same for Jamie. She'd arrive at 8 in the morning, and she and Madeline would chat like old girlfriends over a cup of morning coffee and the daily paper. They'd take turns taking care of little Alex, feeding him, playing with him, reading to him, and even changing his dirty diapers. He was such a pleasant baby, and Jamie was bonding with the little guy already. She and Madeline were becoming fast friends too, and she would really miss her when she finally left. And here Jamie thought she'd be making friends with med students!

Friday came all too soon for Madeline. She really was sad to be leaving her son and new grandson but she knew they would be well taken care of. Sitting down for lunch, neither woman spoke, afraid to mention Madeline's impending departure.

"So are you all packed?" Jamie asked quietly, pushing her salad around on her plate.

"Yes, packed and ready to go, you'll probably have to hang around a little later tonight and wait for Mitch to get home. Alex will probably be asleep by then."

At the mention of Mitch's name, Jamie got those same butterflies in her stomach all over again. She'd been dreading this day and Mitch was a big part of the reason why. The suspense of their next confrontation was killing her. Maybe she was blowing the whole thing out of proportion, she probably would have been upset too if her own mother had gone behind her back. But it wasn't Jamie's fault, and the more she thought about it the more pissed off she got. It wasn't necessarily his incredibly rude behavior, it was the fact that she'd been so caught off guard she couldn't stand up for herself! No matter, she thought, I've handled much worse, I can deal with one arrogant, self-centered....incredibly gorgeous guy. Jamie helped Madeline clean up the kitchen and waited with her until her cab came.

"You take good care of my boys, ok" Madeline said leaning her head slightly out of the cab window. Jamie smiled then, waving as the car drove off.

Jamie got set to wait around a while for Mitch to get home. Alex had woken up once hungry for his bottle but went back down shortly after leaving Jamie with not much else to do. She'd flipped channels for a while, she wasn't really a tv person, especially with all the trashy reality shows on lately, she'd much rather watch a good movie or read book. She had a soft spot for romance novels, something about all that passion put into words, it made her heart beat faster and sent jolts of electricity straight to her core. She knew they were kind of cheesy, but at the end of the day, she liked the happy endings and one day she hoped she'd have one of her own.

***************************

God he was exhausted and his head was killing him! He'd been working incredibly long hours since he'd started this new job, he hadn't spent any time with his son, and now he was going to be thrown in to full on parenting now that his mom had left. He had no idea what he was going to do, how he was going to balance work and taking care of Alex. He wanted Alex to have all the things he had growing up. Even though both his parents worked, his mom still made time to drive him to football practice and his father would toss the pigskin with him in the backyard or taking fishing or camping any chance he got. They'd taught him everything, from tying his shoes, to learning how to drive and his mother had even given him dance lesson. He wanted that for Alex, though he wasn't sure about the dancing, he'd need a beautiful woman to teach him that the way his mother had. He pulled his keys out of the pocket of his trench coat and unlocked the door. He walked through the kitchen and deposited his coat and briefcase on the marble counter top. Tiptoeing up the steps, he peeked into Alex's room to see his little boy sleeping soundly. He didn't know how it was possible to love another person that he'd known for such a short time. He quickly bent over his son placing a kiss atop the head of curls that so closely resembled his.

He stopped by his room to quickly change into something more comfortable and went to the kitchen in search of something to eat. I guess I better learn to cook some better food for myself now that my mom is gone he thought. He opened the fridge and found a plate of leftovers with a sticky note on it.

"Dinner, hope you like it. - Jamie" Wow, that was really nice of her, he thought, even after he'd acted like such an ass. Not only was she absolutely beautiful, but she seemed like a really nice girl, and she was taking care of his son. That alone made his heart melt. His mother was a great judge of character and while he'd been working the last week, she'd been becoming fast friends with Jamie which meant a lot about the type of person she had to be. Speaking of which, where was she anyway? If he had to guess, he'd probably been home for about a half an hour and she was nowhere to be seen. After nuking his dinner in the microwave, Mitch picked up the plate and headed to den to watch TV. He was going to park himself in front of the big screen and watch SportsCenter until he fell asleep. Pretty exciting Friday night, huh? Turning the corner, he spotted her sleeping form curled up on the couch, a small paperback book tucked neatly under her hands. She really was a beauty, model gorgeous, but sleeping like she was on his couch, she just looked so cute! She was so peaceful, he didn't know what to do. Should he wake her? It was fairly dark out, he couldn't imagine her walking home now and Alex was tucked into bed so he couldn't walk her home unless he woke him. He crept closer and nudged her gently to wake her. When the only response he got was a soft sigh, he knelt by the couch and whispered to her. "Jamie? Jamie....Wake up." Mitch watched her eyelashes flutter as she slowly came to. Realizing where she was, her eyes popped open and her cheeks colored. She couldn't help the sleepy moan that escaped her lips as she sat up and stretched like a cat. "...Mitch..."

The way she'd just said his name sent blood pumping straight to his dick. Her voice was husky with sleep and he caught a glimpse of the smooth taught flesh of her stomach and peak of her belly button. Mitch was so close to her, she smelled like vanilla and something spicy. It was almost intoxicating, his vision was blurry and he was sure it was clouding his judgment, because he caught himself just before he lent forward and their lips met.

Jamie must have still been drunk with sleep because she could have sworn that Mitch was just about to kiss her. He'd been leaning so close, obviously trying to wake her up but once their eyes had met, they'd just been frozen as if in a trance. Jamie didn't know what she would have done had Mitch moved his body just that little bit closer, but for now she didn't have to worry about because he'd apparently had a change of heart. "I...uh I'm sorry, you hadn't come home yet and I must have fallen asleep" Jamie managed to croak out, sleep still thick in her voice.

"No...it's ok. I'm sorry to wake you, but its uhh...it's getting late. It's already dark out, I'm not sure its safe for you to walk home alone."

Jamie blushed at his concern. Her complexion was still light enough that the color was visible in her cheeks. She glanced down at the silver watch that had been a graduation gift from her foster family, it wasn't particularly late, nearing 9:30 but he was right, it would be dark out and she didn't quite feel comfortable enough with the area to walk alone. "I can call a cab" she said. "No, no, I wouldn't want you to do that, umm, Why...why don't you stay here? You can sleep in the guest room?"Jamie opened her mouth to protest. Mitch must have noticed it too because he spoke before she could get a word out. "Please?" He smiled shyly at her then. "Look, it's late and you're tired. If Alex weren't asleep I'd drive you right now, but you don't want me to wake the little guy do you? Just stay here and I'll drive you home in the morning." Jamie still looked a little skeptical so he shook his head and continued...."Look, I know I acted like an ass before, I'm really sorry, I'm not such a bad guy really. I guess pride got the better of me that day and I can't apologize enough for my behav..."

"Ok" She'd whispered it so softly Mitch wasn't sure he'd heard her correctly. "Ok?" Jamie nodded her head in conformation, and Mitch couldn't help the slow smile that spread across his face. "Ok" He said as he nodded too. "Come on, I'll get you something more comfortable to sleep in."

Jamie followed Mitch upstairs and down the hall to where his bedroom was, she hesitated a bit at the door but Mitch waved her toward him. He opened up one of his drawers and pulled out a pair shorts and a T-shirt from his alma mater, handing it to Jamie. He walked her back down the hall to the guest room. They stood awkwardly at the door for what seemed like minutes, almost like at the end of a first date, before Jamie finally broke the silence. "Thanks" she said quietly.

"Don't worry about it" Mitch said with a casual shrug of his shoulders. His hair was still slightly too long and the movement shook a few curls into his eyes a bit. Jamie thought it made him look boyish and oh so adorable. Just as she was about to retreat, she heard Mitch's voice again.

"Hey Jamie..." he said. When she stopped and turned to face him again, he continued, "Thanks for dinner. That was really, really sweet of you." She couldn't help but blush again as he gave her another of his shy smiles and turned to head back to his room.

She closed the door to the guest room and changed into the clothes Mitch had given her. Although she was fairly tall for a woman at 5'10, Mitch probably still had 5 or so inches on her and his overall bulk meant that his clothes draped shapelessly over her slender yet distinctly feminine frame. It was a bit warm so she decided to forgo the shorts and sleep in just his shirt. Once she'd taken off what she'd worn that day, including her bra, she could never comfortably sleep in one, she slipped the soft cotton over her head. The shirt was well worn, the white letters imprinted on the fabric were faded from being washed so many times. The fabric brushed over her breast and nipples and settled at the top of her thighs. She could smell Mitch on the shirt, like a summer rain or the ocean or something, she couldn't quite put her finger on it. All she knew was that she really liked it and she wouldn't mind being completely enveloped in it. She pictured Mitch wrapping his strong arms around her as she nuzzled into the hard planes of his chest. Tonight he'd seemed almost shy at times around her, and when he'd woken her up on the couch she'd kind of gotten the feeling that he wanted to kiss her. Jamie wasn't naive she know men found her attractive but Mitch had shown no ulterior motive in inviting her to stay the night. He seemed genuinely apologetic about his previous outburst and she could read just a touch of shame in his eyes. She decided then and there that she would give him a chance. Maybe they could even be friends? It would certainly be nice to have someone to talk to...well, other than little Alex who obviously couldn't talk back.