Infinity Chapter 13 - Pictures and Mama's Temper

[itztigress3]

Chapter 13 – Pictures and Mama’s Temper
POV:   Emily
Word count: 5238
A/N: This is another crossover with koolies20


April 20, 2013; Saturday

I got up at 6, Zac was awake a few minutes later but Alexander was still asleep. I got in the shower about 6:15 and since Zac showered the night before, he just shaved while I was in the shower. I was getting dried off when Alexander woke up so Zac went to him and went ahead with the morning diaper change and put him in the white onesie that was laid out.

We were doing the family pictures today with Maddi at the park; we were planning to be there by 9 am. Tomorrow, Taylor was doing a surprise party for Jessica, Max’s sister. Maddi had said she could only do the pictures this day because of her birthday, a few days later Taylor apparently called Max and asked if he could do the party. It was strange and weird for Taylor and Max had even been a little confused but Taylor explained he liked that she didn’t totally flip out and that he had seen her poems online and loved them, Jessica had impressed him. Was it a little off for Taylor? Yes. Did any of us find it strange? Yep. But, it was a friend’s sister and if Taylor wanted to plan, prep, and do the party well, none of us were going to complain!

I put a robe on when I was dry because I knew Alexander would nurse soon and I was staying up here until he did, I could already hear my brother’s downstairs. Zac sat on the bed with him talking and playing for several minutes.

“Is his diaper bag ready for today?”

“Yes. I fixed it last night while you showered and he was asleep. Made sure he has plenty of diapers, three changes of clothes, some toys, and his pack n play is in the truck already. Likewise all the items we are taking are in the truck too, because Taylor tasked us with chips, snack foods, condiments which I went with packages of items and then the buns for the burgers and hot dogs.”

“Yeah, he said he was bringing the patties prepared and ready and the hot dogs. I think Isaac was tasked with drinks.”

“Yep. Taylor uses his secret mix of spices for the burgers so he was doing all of that last night. Isaac was tasked with drinks which included like seven different kinds, plus the ice and cups and stuff. He also has the largest coolers.”

He smiled. “I can’t believe he’s almost six months.”

“Me either.”

He was barely sitting up now, he was kind of ok but sometimes he did need help. At the moment he was chewing on the handful of sheet so I sat down and Zac brought him to me to nurse.

“While you do that I will go fix breakfast for you and I or at least help them.”

“Might want to put more on then, Christina would love the just boxer look.”

He slipped on a pair of jogging pants and a white t-shirt before he ran downstairs. I nursed Alexander and got to spend some quality morning time with him. Once he was done and burped I sat him in the crib and went ahead and got dressed. My attire was black blue jean shorts with a white button up sleeveless shirt. I would still need to nurse him during the day, so the buttons would make it easy. My black tennis shoes finished the attire.

Alexander’s suit for the day was black shorts, his white onesie and a light blue button up shirt that had drumsticks and musical notes on the pocket with his black tennis shoes. His six month checkup had been the day before and he was right where he was suppose to be, we could introduce solids right now but he was showing no interest at all, Zac had tried to give him a jar of bananas and he wanted nothing to do with it.

The other kids were also wearing black bottoms with light tops, most were wearing shorts. Natalie however had a white dress picked for Penny. I made it super easy with asking everyone to wear dark bottoms navy blue, black, or anything dark. The shirt style didn’t matter, and for the men it was a pastel type color nothing neon though and white for the women. I went downstairs to eat breakfast and greet everyone.

Nadine had William in her lap and he was eating his breakfast, or drinking it rather. Sheppard was sitting in the high chair and Christina was beside him, she was giving him oatmeal and the bananas that Alexander wouldn’t touch the night before. I greeted everyone and then we had breakfast. Once we were done everyone scattered to get ready.

Zac’s attire for the day had been chosen by Casey as punishment for Zac screaming at him two days after the fight, he screamed and yelled and it turned out Casey was innocent as Isaac had moved the file. So, he had brought the box to work Friday and here it was. I was ready so he opened the box as I was getting Alexander’s clothes and all I saw first was the color pink.

“Casey has to be kidding me.”

“Is there another shirt in there?”

“No, I’m not wearing pink.”

“Why not? Your dad has pink shirts.”

“Yes, pink ones with real men wear pink on the front. This is a pink and white checked button up shirt. No.”

I slipped on Alexander’s shorts. “You heard him Zac, if you don’t wear what he picked out he’ll find something even worse. Which knowing Casey would take place during Hanson Day and do you really want to risk that?”

He looked at the shirt and finally got it out and put it on, the pants were black jeans and even I had to pause at the way they fit him. I let my eyes travel the curve of his ass and was distracted that I totally buttoned Alexander’s shirt wrong.

“I think I can breathe.”

“Might want to try to sit down first, I mean, you will at some point today and if you can’t here then you’ll have to change.”

He sat down in the chair and looked a bit uncomfortable. “Good news I can sit, bad news there cutting into my side and in other much more intimate areas.”

I fixed Alexander’s shirt and left him in the crib, I went to the closet and fetched a pair of his black jeans and took them to him. “If he says anything I’ll tell him I made the decision because you need to breathe.”

He made it up and when he took them off, there were deep red lines across his waist, and I found they were two sizes too small, so I tossed them on the bed and he finished getting ready and I put Alexander’s shoes on. Zac put his shoes on, black sneakers and then we got his diaper bag and went downstairs

When we came downstairs everyone was almost ready, William was fussing with Daddy about the suit they had which was a green button up shirt and black pants. Sheppard had on a very pale yellow button up and black shorts.

“Wow Zac, you went brave.” Joshua said.

“Hey, she said light colors. I am sure someone else will have the same color.”

None of my brother’s had chosen pink. George had gone with the same color as Sheppard and Joshua and Jason both opted for blue shirts. I was sure Christopher and Aaron wouldn’t be in pink either. We took the truck and Jason and Sophia rode with us, George and the other 5 took a rented van and followed us. Taylor and Isaac were already at the park when we arrived at 8:50. Taylor already had his stuff set up and ready to go, as did Isaac. Isaac had a white shirt on with his black dress pants, Taylor opted for dark blue jeans and a pale yellow shirt. We walked over and both of them looked at Zac and giggled.

“Next time you irritate Casey you might want to make sure it’s for a good reason.” Taylor said.

Zac just glared and sat the items down. Nadine and I put William and Alexander in the pack n play, while Sheppard ran around. He was very content when Natalie and Nikki arrived with the kids. Taylor’s boys were all in matching yellow shirts, same as his and Natalie’s shirt had yellow trim. It was a cute idea, Ike’s boys had blue and yellow stripped shirts and Nikki had a white polo shirt on. When his parents arrived Zac just groaned. Mac had opted with a blue shirt and his dad had a darker blue shirt on.

“Looks like you’re the only man here in pink.” Ike said.

“Perfect. I’ll never live this down.”

I giggled and finished laying out the condiments, noticed that Casey was running late so I text. Apparently he over slept and Maddi and Jess both were bugging him to hurry up. By the time she arrived with him, everyone else was present. I walked over and met them at the car.

“Oh my god! When you said forty people you didn’t lie!” She gasped.

I smiled. “No, I warned you and you know this family is huge. Where is Riley?”

“Jessica said she needed to be changed, so she’s changing her right quick.”

She looked over the crowd and I waited for it and saw her confused look.

“Is that Zac in the pink and white shirt?”

“It better be Zac but those pants I didn’t choose.” Casey said.

“Oh god, what did Zac do this time?” Maddi asked.

I couldn’t help but laugh, it was so obvious not something he would wear that everyone picked up on it!

“He screamed at me earlier this month, pulled an Emily on me! For something that Isaac done and that he knew about. I have him a choice and he went with this, why is he not in the pants?”

“Because while I totally love you for how tight they were, he couldn’t sit down in them without circulation being cut off. They are two sizes too small Casey.”

“I know that.” He said.

Maddi giggled. “She’s trying to tell you that the crotch area was just too tight Casey. No guy is going to be comfortable if that area is that tight.”

“Right.” I said.

Jessica walked over with Riley as another car pulled in and a woman got out, I knew Maddi was having someone else help her just because of the size of our group and what we wanted, which they both had a list of positions we desired along with whatever they came up with. Added, they could split the groups and not need to spend ten hours doing pictures.

“Emily this is Rachelle, my assistant.”

She had curly black hair which she had pulled back, she was a little on the heavy side but looked fit. She was rather tall also, just a little above me and she had hazel eyes. Maddi introduced us and then they walked around and introduced themselves to everyone, Jessica followed me a little stunned herself and I showed her where the playpen was. Maddi said she was fine to watch whatever children weren’t being photographed at the time but Alexander and William weren’t use to her, so they didn’t seem thrilled.

We started taking pictures at 9:45 am. The first picture was all of us, everyone that was present. Maddi and Rachelle arranged us so that we were all intermingled because we were one family. The picture included all of Zac’s family and mine, down to the babies. It also included my two fathers, my Aunt Delilah and her two children, Natalie’s parents and her brother, and Nikki’s parents and her sister and her husband. In all there were 43 of us in the picture.

After that Rachelle took my brothers, none of them had chosen pink shirts Aaron and Christopher had gone with blue, Zander and Craig had opted for green and yellow. She began to get pictures that wouldn’t include me such as couples and families along with individuals. Maddi began to work with the Hanson clan.

Both Maddi and Rachelle seemed to be doing well, but about 11:15 Sheppard completely lost it. I’d never seen him throw such a fit before, he was screaming and crying, kicking anyone who picked him up.  I watched George because this was a test, he didn’t even raise his voice. Instead he let him scream it out a few moments and then got him a drink and chips and sat with him at the table for about twenty minutes.  Maddi got almost done with ours, she had gotten the girls, the boys, and all of us, individuals, and couples and she went ahead and did Isaac and Taylor’s family photos. But it was rounding 12 and Taylor was beginning to fire up the grill so we she elected to take a break.

I was fine with that because Alexander was getting a little fussy and he wanted something to eat as well, Jessica was looking a bit frazzled herself and Riley was also being fussy. So, while Taylor and Isaac cooked lunch Maddi and I sat on the bench just outside the group with the two nursing babies.

“This is a huge family.”

“It’s nice sometimes though. Is everything ok at home?”

“Yeah, we’re adjusting and getting kind of back to normal. I’m glad Casey is letting us stay though, my mom, Max, and Cody were all freaking about a hotel.”

“No, you need to be there and next month you’re staying with him too. He assured me it was fine.”

“He’s good with babies really.”

“That he is. What all is left?”

“Rachelle is done; everything else required you and Alexander, so she packed up and headed back. She has some clients late this afternoon as well.”

“She could have stayed for lunch.”

“I told her, but she opted to head home. I think she’s still a little hurt by what he did. The bastard used her.”

“Such a sorry guy he was.”

“You really do look like your brothers and it’s very odd they all look like Ace.”

“David looked like Ace too, same eye color and hair color. But, it’s weird because he doesn’t treat them any differently and he claims all three of the boys as his grandsons.”

She smiled. “He’s very nice, Nathanial is quite funny too.”

“There both great to have around and I couldn’t ask for a better grandparent than the ones Alexander has.”

She smiled and we sat there and finished, it was nice having so many because Alexander was always occupied and moving. But, he still wasn’t sure about Jess but his aunts, uncles, and grandparents were all fair game. Riley was pretty occupied herself by Taylor and Isaac’s kids, but Jessica didn’t seem to mind. Of course, Natalie and Nikki were watching them as well. I think Taylor got pictures of Jess with them all at some point. Taylor finished the burgers at 1 and by 2 we were all done eating and Maddi moved on with pictures. Zac’s parents and younger siblings left though, they were done and Nikki left with the boys and her parents, Natalie left with her parents but Ezra and Penny wanted to stay with Daddy, so she only took River. Taylor and Isaac stayed to help clean up and put away stuff and to just be around us.

Maddi was doing pictures of my brothers and I with family and the kids. Craig even requested the same picture of me with them, me laying in their arms.

“Do you have some obsession with that particular pose?” I asked.

“I like seeing how much you’ve all changed over the years.”

“Hey, I think it’s a great picture.” Ace said.

One of the last poses was Ace, Delilah and all of us kids including Zac. The only ones left were Zac, myself and Alexander and then Alexander with his godparents. It was pushing four by now and I was getting tired, Maddi showed signs of being tired, and Jessica was holding Riley who was asleep and I paused, trying to remember if Alexander had napped but I was sure he’d fallen asleep sometime after his lunch.

“Let’s do you and Zac first, then we’ll do family and then singles.” Maddi said.

“Ok.” We said.

Zac took Alexander to Casey, who would hold him while we did couples shot, he then returned to me. Maddi began to arrange us in poses and getting the picture but after ten minutes Alexander began to cry, However Casey was use to him, so he knew what to do. Casey tried to bounce and swing and he kept getting louder.

Maddi stopped. “Maybe he wants one of you, we can take a break.”

We walked over and Zac took him and tried but he kept getting louder. I tried and he wouldn’t stay still in my arms and he was strong for 6 months old, when I nearly dropped him Maddi caught him and tried, but he just got louder. Isaac tried and then handed him back to me. I bounced and talked and he grew quiet but I realized quickly he’d inhaled and was holding it. God bless Zander who knew exactly what to do by blowing lightly in his face. But, that didn’t stop the screaming.

“Come here Alexander.” Taylor said. I gladly handed him to Taylor, our resident baby whisperer.

Taylor rocked, cooed, bounced, and tried some weird combination of all of that and nothing worked. In fact, it seemed to make him even louder and all of us were quite shocked when Alexander twisted and caught Taylor directly in the nose.

“That looked liked it hurt…” Maddi said.

Taylor walked to Zac and handed him over, because he’d started kicking too and I know he got him square in the ribs, but handing him to Zac he kicked and I was positive he’d caught him in the groin just by his face but Zac didn’t say anything just took him.

“I take that back, Zac are you ok?” Maddi asked.

“I will be, didn’t hurt that bad.”

I was concerned because he’d never done anything like this, not even when he wanted one of us badly it was just crying this was screaming.  Zac had to hold his arms down because it really looked liked he wanted to hit him, but he couldn’t quite control the feet and I know the kicks to the ribs had to hurt.

“This is so familiar…” George said.

“Familiar? Seriously? Did Sheppard do this?” I asked.

He smiled at me. “No Emmy, you did that when you were about that age.”

“Me?” I asked.

“What? You think you’re screaming and crap started after you were an adult? Please, you did this a lot as a baby.”

I stared at him blankly. “I did this?”

“Yeah, we tried to prevent you from being cranky, but I don’t think he’s napped today at all, so he’s probably just tired. You use to scream when you were tired.”

Casey was just staring at us; Maddi walked over and patted his back. “Didn’t we tell you he would probably have mama’s temper? Sorry but I told you so!”

He glared at her for a moment. “Funny.”

Alexander kept on and I was kind of surprised when Craig walked over to Zac.

“I’m the only one that hasn’t tried, so what the hell. I’ll watch out for the hands and feet, but it looked like that last kick really hurt and I am sure the first one hurt.”

“Yeah, I think he’s hit that same spot a few times.”

Craig took him from Zac and then walked away from all of us, I looked at Christopher confused but he just kept us here.  Craig walked near the river and sat down on a bench there. We could still hear him screaming but the longer Craig had him the quieter he became.

“Seriously?” Taylor asked.

“Hey, anyone is fine with me.” I said.

“You can’t calm them all Taylor, you may be the whisperer but sometimes you have off days.” Casey said.

“I’m betting he’s going to be hungry and tired, it’s probably not a good idea to push him anymore today. The poor baby’s been in thousands of pictures.” Maddi said.

“No kidding.”  I replied.

Yet, that defeated the purpose of today, sure we had family pictures but these were supposed to be his six month pictures too and we didn’t have a single photo of just him, he was always with someone. Not to mention there wasn’t a single one of us with him, we were in groups. I felt Zac’s hand on my shoulder and the quick peck to the cheek.

“Maddi, could you meet us back here in the morning? We can do early and then you guys can proceed with your plans.”

She glanced at Jess who was currently feeding Riley and had Penny sitting on her lap talking to her and Ezra was sitting there listening.

“We can do that, the other stuff’s not until 2 right?”

“Yeah.” Tay said.

“Let’s do that because he’s sounded very upset and if he’s tired and cranky he’s not going to want to take anymore pictures and you deserve good ones.”

“Yeah, Jess looks a little frazzled too and she’s had most of the kids during the day.”

She began to pack up her camera’s and equipment and Zac, Taylor, and my brother’s began to clean off the picnic tables and clean up, we were all clean freaks so it was mostly repacking what was left. I helped and then quietly walked to the bench where Craig was sitting with Alexander who was about asleep in his lap.

I sat down beside him and looked down at Alexander; he gave me a brief smile but remained right where he was, snuggled up to Uncle Craig.

“Thank you.”

He looked at me. “He just needed to be away from everyone and hear the river and quietness. He’s tired Emily, he didn’t nap today. He’s also hungry but I will assume there are no bottles here.”

“No, there’s not. I can feed him right quick.”

“He’s quiet; if he gets whiney we’ll go that route but let’s let him choose.”

He was rubbing his eyes still a bit though and he looked so frazzled. “How did you know what to do?”

He shifted slightly, Alexander didn’t move, just cuddled up to him closer.

“It was a month after I met you, right after your twelfth birthday. I asked why you missed a week of school and you didn’t want to tell me, at the time you weren’t very forthcoming about what David was doing. You sat in the living room for like an hour just sitting there quietly, and then you exploded. Do you remember that?”

I laid my head on his shoulder. “I do. It was the day I told you everything he’d done to us. When I told you the first time that he’d knocked me out and why he kept me home. What does this have to do with him having this meltdown?”

I felt his head lay on mine and the soft kiss to my forehead. “Because what calmed you down was me taking you to that river behind the house, I sat there and held you for two hours Emily. I figured maybe if it worked for you, he’d be the same.”

Alexander was very close to sleep and I think the only thing keeping him awake was the decision on whether he wanted to eat first. I saw Zac come around and he had one of Taylor’s camera’s, he snapped a few photos of us sitting here on this bench acting like some dating couple and then he walked away. He didn’t say anything, didn’t ask us to move, just took some pictures and walked away.

“That was strange…” Craig said.

“I married a strange guy; you should know this by now.”

“That I do.”

“I know you don’t want me to give you any advice but you should know it’s been driving me insane and I have to say something. I believe that you and Christopher would make great parents to a child, I know you didn’t want children but Craig I don’t believe the reason is what you told him.”

I felt his head shift and look down at Alexander. “I never had an interest in having my own kids, I mean really I’ve known since I was 10 that I liked men.”

I giggled some. “But you told Zac you did think about you and I at one point, you never mentioned that to me.”

“That boy I swear, I may have to borrow the paddle myself. It’s not like you didn’t detect that, but I knew it wouldn’t be fair to you. But, I know the mechanics to making babies and two men just can’t, my sexual preference is what limited me to the decision that kids weren’t for me.”

“And then Christopher brought up the surrogate and other stuff, making it a possibility.”

He glanced down at Alexander who was kind of napping off and on; it seemed he was still veering toward sleep over food.

“You know I didn’t think I could calm him down either, I was sure it was just going to be Zac holding him until he just cried it out. It’s just…it’s not really wondering if we can do it.”

“Then what is it?” I asked.

“I got the impression that he wanted to choose someone himself.”

I gently hit his arm. “You think Chrissy would cheat on you with a woman just for a baby?”

“It’s how he phrased it Emily. It really felt like he was very willing to just have sex with some woman until she was pregnant.”

“Craig, you should know better than that. Christopher hasn’t been with any woman. He mentioned a surrogate I think he meant in vitro as the method there.”

He rubbed Alexander’s leg gently, his eyes were closed but he was still moving some. “I don’t know Emily; it just felt that way to me. It’s not that I didn’t just shut him down on the idea; I just don’t think I could let some woman in. I mean, how does Zac handle Casey being with you?” 

“Pretty well since we still have the arrangement and all, but Casey is also with Zac and there are times where we’re all together. Casey and I aren’t trying for kids and we know little cutie here is Zac’s. I think you need to talk to Christopher about how your feeling and I know you hate that, but Craig he loves you and you love him. I believe that you two can work this out, whether you choose to use a surrogate and in vitro and have that child belong to one of you or whether you adopt a baby. But, you need to talk to him.”

Again, he kissed my forehead. “How come you always know what to say?”

Alexander whined some and I went ahead and got ready as much as I could before Craig handed him to me. It was clear he was still very tired but he latched well and was nursing well, he didn’t even mind the shirt covering him up more.

“I know Zac enjoys that view so much.”

“He does. To answer your question, because I can read your signals and when I was there and he told me your body language told me it wasn’t just because you didn’t think the two of you could raise a child, it wasn’t because you felt finances or time would be an issue. There was something else and I pretty much knew it was because you felt like he was going to be actually having sex with this surrogate. Craig, that’s not the case. If you both decide that one of you would be the father, there are ways to get the swimmers that doesn’t require sex. Just talk to him, let him know how you really feel about this.”

“Did you and Zac actually decide to try for him or was it really just an accident?”

I looked at Alex and smiled. “I stopped taking my birth control two weeks after our first anniversary. We decided then it was worth it to roll the dice. He was no accident but we weren’t like actively trying, he was a pleasant and welcomed surprise.”

“Do you really think I’d be a good dad?”

I looked at him. “I do believe you would be.”

Again, he kissed my forehead. “I’m going to let you nurse him in peace.”

He got up and left me sitting there to finish nursing him and I saw Zac walk over and he still had the camera Taylor had brought.

“Zachary, what are you doing?”

“Getting one for our personal scrap book.”

He got a few and then sat down beside me. “He looks so tired; I can’t believe we missed his nap.”

“It’s ok. Did we get everything cleaned up?”

“Yes. Everyone has left but Casey and his crew, Jason and Sophia, and Velma. She cannot make it tomorrow. So, as soon as you’re done we’re going to take a few of her.”

“Ok. He’ll probably be pretty tired but we can get some asleep. He’s slowing now.”

“Craig seemed happier, is everything ok?”

“Yeah. He was afraid that Christopher wanted to conceive a child naturally. Not the case, I told him they needed to talk.”

He giggled. “Christopher really isn’t into women. Man spends too much time staring at Craig or me.”

I poked his arm. “You’re very nice to stare at and the pink shirt suits you.”

“It isn’t bad.”

When Alexander was finished nursing and full Velma came over and got him. Surprisingly he did very well for about 30 minutes, gave us time to get several pictures of him with her alone and a few of Velma, Casey, and Alexander. Then he started getting fussy so I got him and rocked a bit. It was more than we could ask for. We then split up and we headed home where I found Nadine and Christina cooking and they refused to allow us to help. Alexander had cat napped on the way home and he was just not having interactions with anyone there. I took him up-stairs about 8:30 and he nursed one more time and being in the quiet room meant as soon as he was changed and in pajamas he was out. I turned the baby monitor on and went back downstairs.

“He finally give up?” Zac asked.

“Yeah, nursed very well, changed, in pajamas and I laid his suit aside for in the morning and he was out after five minutes.”

“We will have to remember naps for him.”

We sat in the living room with the family for a bit, talking and enjoying being there and we finally went to bed about ten. Alexander was still asleep and he didn’t wake up that night at all.