Oh, Baby!

I was sat in the back of Brian’s car, settling baby as he drove us home. I was so incredibly tired that I was kept catching myself nodding off at random moments.
“Bri,” I began, getting his attention. “You still have three days of tour left.”
“We’ve cancelled,” he replied, simply. I was taken aback.
“Why?”
“I have something more important to do,” he gave me a soft smile. “We’ll rearrange dates. Our fans will understand.”
I looked at the little bundle sleeping peacefully next to me, lulled by the car. Though it was beyond my control, I felt guilty for dragging Avenged away from the last leg of their tour.
“Don’t beat yourself up,” Brain piped up, reading my mind. I gave him a little smile in return. The feeling of contrition didn’t stay long. It was overtaken by an a creeping joy as we pulled onto my street. I soon could see my apartment and it filled me with elation. I was bringing my baby home, with Brian. We pulled up outside, Baby stirring as the motion and white noise of the engine dwindled to nothing. I stroked his face, hushing him as we let ourselves out of the car. Brian unstrapped the car seat and we headed into the building, climbing the stairs to my apartment.
I looked around as we entered my home, realising how vastly different everything was about to be.
“Everything ok?” Brian asked, as he set the car seat down. I nodded, thoughtfully.
“It’s just strange that I left here pregnant, and then I’ve come home with a tiny thing that I didn’t have a day ago,” I replied, my gaze falling to the snuffling infant at his feet. Brian gently lifted him from the car seat and carried him to the sofa. I joined him, and we snuggled in close. Was this what being a family was going to be like? I pondered as my eyelids started drooping. The comfort of the couch and security of home had me dozing off.
I was jolted awake by baby making little complaining noises, working up for a feed. Brian was shushing him as he bounced him in his arms. The sight made my heart swell with pride. For all his worries about being a good father, he certainly played the part well now that the time had come. I almost didn’t want to interrupt the moment before me, but knew that we would be dealing with the racket of a hungry baby if I didn’t step in. I held out my arms and Brian smoothly passed baby between us. I settled him against my chest to feed and the peace was restored. Brian was beaming with pride as he watched us.
“I can’t believe we’ve got a baby,” he murmured, running a hand through his hair. “It feels so unreal.”
“I know. We actually have him here in our arms now. It’s actually happening,” I laughed, feeling slightly overwhelmed by the huge change in our lives.
“We should think of a name,” Brian suggested. I pulled a face at him.
“That didn’t go so well last time, did it?” I groaned, wearily. “I don’t even know where we’d start.”
Brian smirked, “We could always start with Ji-”
“We do not need two ‘Jimmy’s in this world,” I cut him off quickly with a giggle. “One is quite enough work, thank you.”
Brian snorted and went quiet in thought again. I could see that he was coming up with nothing.
“Bri, when the time is right, I’m sure a name will just jump out at us and feel like the perfect fit,” I reassured him. I’m not sure if he believed me. I didn’t believe me, but I had no better suggestions for the time being.

Time passed us by in such a flash that we barely realised that Christmas Day was upon us before it had almost completely passed by. We’d been caught up in a solid routine; life now a flurry of feeds, naps and diaper changes. Brian was the perfect doting father, involved in every way he could be. I didn’t know it could be possible, but I fell more in love with him every day. Every bath time, every cuddle, every whispered “I love you” to our son made my heart soar. Amongst it all, we’d somehow managed - with a lot of help from our Avenged family - to get the contents of my apartment moved to Brian’s house. It felt weird leaving the apartment that I’d grown so attached to, but Brian’s house signalled the beginning of a new chapter in my life. We were settled on the sofa, enjoying being cuddled up as Baby napped in his bouncer when Brian suddenly gasped and sat up. I steadied myself with my hand as I tried to regain my balance.
“What's wrong?” I asked, still shocked by his sudden movement.
“It’s fucking Christmas,” he blurted out, leaving his mouth hanging open in disbelief.
“Is it?” I frowned, making a futile attempt to count the days on my fingers.
“Yes, it is. And we aren’t ready for the party. Fuck!”
“What are you on about, party?” I raised an eyebrow, this was the first I was hearing of it and I’d no idea what was going on.
“The Sander’s Christmas party,” Brian groaned, his head in his hands. “They throw one every year and everyone goes.” He checked the time. “We can still make it on time if we leave now.”
“I’m in my pyjamas,” I replied, dumbly. “What do we do with Baby?”
“He can come with us,” Brian smiled and his eyes lit up. “It would be nice for Matt’s parents to meet him. And everyone will be there and get to see him.”
I weighed it up in my mind and decided that it would be nice to get out of the house and see people. Especially people who had treated us so well the past week, bringing gifts, food and kind words as often as they could.
“Alright, let me brush my hair and find clothes that don’t have baby sick on them,” I grimaced at the thought.
An hour later, we were arriving at Matt’s parents’. They owned a grand, 3 storey house, pool out back and a huge, manicured garden at the front. We approached the door and I could hear laughter coming from inside. I could see a Christmas tree, merrily lit up through the window and a couple of the Avenged boys beside it. Jimmy caught sight of us through the window and disappeared quick as a shot. Brian reach for the door but it was ripped open before he could even grab the handle.
“YOU GUYS MADE IT!” Jimmy screeched, overly excited at our presence. He pulled Brian into a hug and, looking over his shoulder, noticed the little pile of blankets in my arms. His voice dropped down as quietly as he could manage (which wasn’t quiet at all) and he cooed, “And you’ve bought Baby Jimmy with you!”
“He’s not called Jimmy,” Brian retorted, rolling his eyes and sighing in mock exasperation.
“Sure he is,” Jimmy replied with a cackle, disappearing quickly before Brian could argue any more. I giggled as Brian rubbed his temples.
“Jimmy isn’t an awful name, you know,” I began, grinning wickedly. “It’s kinda cute for a baby.”
“Don’t you start with that shit,” Brian warned, but he smirked as he said it.
We finally got into the house and were immediately swarmed by friends and family. I happily passed Baby over to Matt’s mother, who was besotted instantly.
“Want a drink?” I asked Brian, who paused from his conversation with Matt’s father to give me a nod. I ventured into the kitchen and poured Brian a Jack and Coke. He deserved something a little stronger than the coffee he’d been surviving off of since we came home. I stuck to soda water, mindful that I’d be looking after and feeding Baby for the evening. As I reappeared and handed Brian his drink, I was immediately sucked into conversation with Zacky and Johnny. The evening flew past, everyone full of Christmas cheer and the buzz of being together. Before long, I was getting tired and Baby was getting restless.
“Shall we head home soon?” I hinted at Brian as I yawned. He nodded, and let out a yawn of his own before chuckling.
“Fuck, we’re already those people. We’re so lame,” he laughed.
“We’re not lame, we’re parents of a newborn and we’re fucking tired,” I reminded him, rubbing my eyes. We located our child, currently in Jimmy’s arms. He was usually the life and soul of the party, but he’d put it on hold as soon as we’d walked through the door. I settled onto the sofa next to him and put an arm around him.
“Hey, I was just enjoying my time with him,” Jimmy said, softly. I gave him a squeeze.
“I’m glad you dote on him so much, Uncle Jimmy,” I smiled, my heart warming at the amount of love that surrounded our child.
“Uncle Jimmy? I told Bri that I wanted to be Uncle Knifemaster,” he frowned, making me snort with laughter. He carefully slid Baby into my arms and I wrapped him up in blankets for the walk home. We said our goodbyes to everyone and headed home, Brian buzzing from the alcohol and I buzzing from the friendly atmosphere.

We awoke to hammering on Brian’s door. I rubbed my eyes and looked around. Baby was sleeping soundly in his moses basket whilst the TV played softly in the background. We’d fallen asleep on the sofa watching something, I couldn't remember what. Another series of urgent knocks came and I nudged Brian who’d began stirring.
“Someone’s at the door,” I whispered, shaking him gently. He checked the time.
“It’s fucking 4am,” he complained as he stood. “Yeah, I’m coming,” he called out irritably, as the knocking started again. He stumbled off to the door. I checked on Baby before following, hot on his heels. He ripped the door open and Zach was standing there, pale and breathing heavily.
“What’s going on?” Brian asked, his expression quickly changing from anger to concern. Zacky was shaking his head, tears in his eyes.
“Jimmy’s in the hospital bro,” he began, his voice cracking. “Dude, you need to come.”
I gave Brian a slight shove and nodded at him.
“Go on, go. He needs you,” I urged. I could see Brian was struggling to process what was happening so I gave him a quick shake and then pressed his car keys into his hand.
“Go, Brian. Drive safe and call me as soon as you know what’s happening.”
His fingers closed around the keys and he gave me a nod still speechless. I watched from the doorway as he and Zacky hurried towards his car, silently praying that everything would be ok. Brian started the car up and pulled out of the driveway. I watched them go until the car was out of sight and I was left alone with only guesses as to what was happening.

Notes