Dirty Laundry

In the morning I fed Kyle and laid him down to make breakfast and let Cerberus out. After breakfast Smith went out to play with Cerberus and I did the laundry. Once the blood was completely gone from the house I felt better.

''Is this really a poison coated dagger?'' Smith held the earring up to me. I nodded. ''My dad gave me a couple when I was fifteen..'' I took the earring from him and pulled it apart to show the blade.

''I knew they made things like this but I didn't think they released it to the public''
''They do..now adays any idiot can go on-line and buy it..minus the poison of course..''
I shrugged. Kyle squealed happily in his car seat off to the side and I smiled at him as he kicked and flailed his little arms. I turned back to breakfast and finished cooking.

Smith went up to his home office where he remained for the rest of the morning. I filled my day with cleaning and taking care of Kyle. Only one day and I felt like he was my son.
He was a beautiful bouncing baby boy with happy brown eyes. His little toothless grin turned my world upside down and when his little hands touched my face and reached out to me I
couldn't help but smile and sing to him. I've always loved babies, for the longest time I've wanted one of my own but I knew I was too young. Besides I've never dated someone let alone kiss someone. It's why I never thought marriage was a real possibility for me. It's impossible to get married and have children if you don't really date. Kyle was my little buddy.

Days passed by and with each day Kyle seemed to be getting bigger. I signed adoption papers and he was officially my son. It was a little weird to share custody with Smith. Officially we were 'mommy and daddy' but mommy and daddy weren't together in any way. Well to Landon we were together but that was Landon. Unfortunately I started developing feelings for Smith. As crazy as it sounded I was getting used to him. I guess it started when he started holding Kyle more. Whispering to him and coddling him. Yet still he never smiled or laughed. There were even some nights when Kyle would wake up and Smith would come in and ask if he could take care of him.

I was feeding Kyle on the couch one late night when the door busted open and Landon dragged Smith in with another man. Wide eyed I stood up.

''Oh my god what happened?'' I said worried. Landon looked at me then Kyle with wide eyes
''Uh..he slipped''
''Slipped my ass'' I growled. The other man was half awake and covered in knife wounds. Smith held onto the wall to keep his balance. I turned to the couch and set Kyle down blocking him with pillows so he couldn't roll off the couch and went to help them. Landon was sliced up as well but not as bad as Smith and the other man.
''Oh my god what did you do?'' I sighed and before I knew it the man I didn't know collapsed on the floor out cold.
''OK you know what screw the sugar coated BS and tell me the truth'' I glared at Smith. He sighed nodding

''Landon she knows''
''Damn it Smith''
''I couldn't get around it. You heard what happened a few nights ago. She saw''
''Fine. But I'm keeping my mouth shut. The last thing I need is Miri sending me or some other guy we know to kill her''
''Come on you two upstairs. Bring..who is he anyway?''
''Matt''
''Well bring Matt upstairs too'' I sighed. I went to the couch and picked Kyle up taking him upstairs. I kissed his forehead and laid him in the crib.

''Move the crib in our room..Matt is going to stay the night'' Smith said from the door. I nodded thankful the crib had wheels. I wheeled it into Smith's room and ground my teeth at the thought of sharing a bed with him. Sure I washed the sheets but I mean come on. OK mabe I was being a little immature. I went to the bathroom where Smith sat on the counter and Landon sat on the toilet

''You two look like shit'' I laughed with a sigh.
''Yeah well Matt is worse than us, poor guy is knocked out'' Landon chuckled. I cleaned their wounds and left Landon to shower. Smith showered in the bathroom in his room and
I went to mine where they laid Matt on my bed. I had to cut off his clothing, I sighed as I realized he needed stitches for some of the wounds. As I cleaned off all the blood on
him he opened his eyes.

''Who are you?'' He growled.
''Relax. You're at Smith's house. I'm his girlfriend'' I almost laughed at the word.
''Girlfriend?'' He asked raising himself to look at me.
''Yes..lay down'' I pushed him lightly. ''You lost a lot of blood..'' i sighed.
''I didn't know Smith was seeing someone''
''Yeah well you should know he's a private person''
''True. So how long have you been together?'' He asked. I paused as I heard Kyle crying.
''Long enough..'' I sighed.
''..Is that a..baby?''
''..Yeah''
''Is it Smith's?''
''yes'' I nodded.

Landon stood in the doorway drying his hair.
''Is it really? I've known the man since the Air force and he never mentioned anything about getting someone pregnant'' He said suspiciously. I sighed nodding
''Kyle's my son Smith was kind enough to adopt him as his own. He's a good man''
''do you love him?'' Matt asked. I smiled nodding.
''You could say that'' I shrugged.

Once I got the wounds sterilized I cleaned my hands
''Don't move I'm going to get Smith. I'm not that good at stitches''
''How much do you know?'' Matt narrowed his eyes on me.
''She knows enough'' Landon said looking at me with warning. I nodded as I walked out.
I walked into Smith's room and he was holding Kyle.

''Matt needs stitches'' I kept my gaze down since he had a towel around his waist.
''OK'' He nodded putting Kyle down. I washed my hands then went to Kyle. He was fussy because I didn't finish feeding him earlier.

Smith walked out of his closet dressed in his pajama bottoms and went to my room. I could hear their muffled voices through the wall as I sat quietly feeding Kyle. Landon came in after
a few minutes and went to Smith's closet coming back out in boxer shorts and an under shirt.

''Can I hold him?'' He asked. I shrugged nodding and held Kyle up to him.
''Aww he's so cute, whats his name?'' He cooed. I almost laughed. I bit my lip to keep my giggle in.
''Kyle''
''How old is he?''
''Sixteen days'' before we adopted him smith found his birth records. His mother was Cassidy Kavernaugh and his father was Kyle Kavernaugh. He was named for his father.
''Who's the father if it isn't Smith?'' He asked. I shrugged
''Don't really remember. It was one of those nights''
''How old are you?'' He asked cocking his head to the side.
''Nineteen''
''..You're aware that Smith is almost thirty?''
''Yeah'' I nodded. Finally some answers about Smith
''Are you the same age as he?''
''Yeah..i'm twenty-seven too''
''Well age doesn't matter much to me. Besides I never liked guys my age too retarded''
I snorted. Kyle made a little peeved snort and started fussing. Landon burped him and he stopped.
''Where did you learn to take care of children?''
''I have younger nieces and nephews''
''Oh'' i nodded.
''Well I'll let you two sleep. Goodnight'' He gave Kyle back to me. I rocked him to sleep and laid him in the crib. Smith climbed into bed and laid on his back. I laid on the other side on my side not facing him. ''What happened?'' I asked looking at the alarm clock on the nightstand.

''I was off doing my own thing when i got a call from Matt. He needed back up, the next thing I knew we were being attacked so we called in Landon. They set us up'' He sighed.
''Was it friends of the men we killed?'' I asked. I felt the bed shift his weight towards me. I looked over and he was looking at me with stern eyes. I took it as a yes.
''Will they be back?''

''..I'm not sure but who ever it is they have a grudge against us three''
I rolled on my side facing him ''So what are you going to do?''
''I'm not sure..I guess kill them'' He shrugged. ''You're not even going to try to get answers?''
''They're mercenaries, they don't know a damn thing all they know is that money is what makes the world go round and the more green they get the less they care about whats going on''

''Isn't an assassin the same thing? Killing for money?'' ''..Some of us'' ''What about you?'' ''I do it because I was trained for it and it's all I know'' ''You don't like it?'' ''Does it matter?'' ''Well does it make you happy?'' ''To kill?'' ''Mhmm'' ''No'' he shook his head.

''Then why keep doing it?'' ''It's all I know it's all I'm good at'' ''I'm sure you could learn new things'' ''You can't teach an old dog new tricks'' ''But what if the dog isn't old?'' ''I'm old enough'' ''It's never too late to learn something new'' ''Go to bed'' He grumbled.

I shrugged rolling away not facing him. ''It's up to you Smith..if you don't like killing then do something else'' I shrugged closing my eyes. Unfortunately I couldn't fall asleep. I could also sense that Smith couldn't sleep either. I was so aware of him since he was so close. I didn't say anything but kept my eyes closed. I knew he knew I wasn't asleep but neither of us said anything and then Kyle started to cry.

I sat up and went to him and rocked him. ''I'll make him a bottle'' Smith said quietly. I shook my head ''He just ate..he doesn't need to eat again until six'' ''OK'' he sat back in bed. I hummed whispering to him in Spanish soothing him back to sleep. He fussed a bit in my arms snorting and sniffling.

I realized the problem was his little nose was stuffed. I grabbed the nose sucker thing and cleaned his nose. When he could breath normal again he stopped fussing and went back to sleep. His little hands were clenched in his sleep and his lips puckered sucking air as if he were dreaming about a bottle. I leaned in breathing his delicate baby scent of powder diaper cream and baby lotion. My nose glided over his soft skin and hair. I loved the way babies smelled. The way they felt in my arms and how light such a small being could be. It was an incredible feeling. Not many people thought that having a new born was the best thing, sure it had its downs like changing diapers and crying but there were also the beautiful moments. The ones that last for ever like how light they felt, how their little hands reached for your face, how their beautiful little eyes focused on you for the first time, their soft skin and gentle scents.

I changed his diaper putting new ointment then laid him in bed. He moved his head getting comfortable and I went back to the bed. Smith was sitting watching with a blank expression.
''What?'' I asked. ''Nothing'' He cleared his throat lying down. I shrugged lying down and snuggling into the covers from the chill. I closed my eyes and tried hard to sleep
finally succeeding into a light sleep.