Infinite

I had a hard time getting Ronnie out of bed the next morning. He slept with his face against the pillow and the blanket pulled over his head. I had tried to wake him up before I got in the shower by kissing him softly and rubbing his bare back, but the man only stirred a little bit, promising he'd get up within the next couple minutes.

I groaned loudly when I walked back into the bedroom after my shower. Ronnie was still in bed, hidden from view by the black blanket. Charlie laid in my usual spot, his face ducked under the blanket too, but his body exposed. "Ronnie," I grumbled, grabbing the blanket so I could pull it off him, "Get up! We're having lunch with Paulie today."

He grumbled and held his blanket in place as I tried to get rid of it. "Go away, Atti," he muttered from underneath, "I'm not hungry."

"I don't care," I replied, getting a good grasp of our blanket. With one hard tug, I yanked it to his waist and held it so he couldn't pull it back.

He rolled over and looked at me with slitted eyes. Charlie dropped his head onto Ronnie's stomach, glancing at me from the corner of his eyes. "Why do I have to go?" Ronnie asked, pushing his hair out of his face, "You're good at that shit and it's not like you need moral support."

I crossed my arms. "If you don't come with you won't get lunch," I said, "Because I'm not making you anything when I come home."

He whined loudly but got out of his side of the bed. He sloppily kissed my cheek before he trudged down the hall to take a shower. Charlie whined softly as Ronnie left the room, but just laid in the middle of the bed. I opened our closet and shoved Ronnie clothes back onto his side. I changed out of shorts and a tank and into one of Ronnie's hoodies and a pair of tight fitting jeans.

I stepped back into the bathroom while Ronnie showered and dried my hair. We had managed to find a pretty comfortable routine. Neither one of us worried about the other person as we got ready. It didn't matter that Ronnie was trying to shower when I was finishing up and I didn't mind that he took longer than I did to get ready almost everyday.

"I've got to pick up my check later," I told him as he stepped out of the shower in a towel, "Cody called while you were sleeping and said it's there waiting for me."

Ronnie nodded, peering in the mirror over my shoulder. "We can run over there afterwards."

I turned around to face him and thanked him softly. "Go get dressed," I ordered with a kiss to the side of his mouth, "We've really got to get going. I don't want to be late and then drop the bomb on her. She might quit before we ever officially offer her the job."

Ronnie grinned. "Two for the price of one," he joked, "Offer to babysit one, get an infant free."

I chuckled and pushed his bareback out of the bathroom. I followed him down the hall, but instead of going into the bedroom, I called Charlie off of our bed. "Come on, lets go outside."

Charlie jumped off the bed and followed me to the living room. I slipped on a pair of flats and clipped Charlie's leash to his collar. We headed out of the apartment. I smiled at the couple who was making their way down the hall towards their apartment, just one down from Ronnie and I.

"Jules, Rebecca, how have you been?" I asked, stopping the hall with Charlie, "We haven't seen much of you lately."

"We've been great," Rebecca replied with a bright smile, "We're actually thinking about moving into a bigger place, so we've been out looking at different houses." She and Jules shared a smile.

The man took his girlfriend's hand and added, "We want to move to another place in our life, so we figured that we better find a bigger place before we consider marriage and babies."

"Speaking of marriage," Rebecca said, turning the topic back to me, "Are you and Ronnie planning on actually getting married any time soon? You've been engaged for a few months, are you making plans yet?"

I smiled softly at the thought of making definite plans to become Ronnie's wife. "We haven't picked a date or anything," I denied, "We're taking it slow. We don't want to rush into anything."

"It's not like you'd regret it," Rebecca said in a giddy tone, "You and Ronnie and so perfect together. I can't imagine you not being together forever."

I thanked the slender, brunette woman and pulled Charlie back to my side. "We'll pick a day eventually," I replied, "but right now we're just enjoying the idea of marriage."

Realizing that this conversation wasn't quite over, Jules excused himself and headed down the hall to their apartment. Rebecca grinned and rolled her eyes at her boyfriend. "Sometimes, I don't think he'll ever propose," she muttered playfully, "We've been together three years."

"It's not something you want to rush into," I said, "Being together longer just makes your relationship stronger."

She gave me a look. "You and Ronnie were only together a year before he proposed to you," she responded, "You didn't have to wait in agony, hoping that he'd ask you to marry him."

I chuckled and nodded my head. "You're right," I agreed, "Even before he proposed he was talking about proposing and having babies." I glanced down at the noisy dog beside me and patted his back. "So we settled on being engaged for awhile and getting a dog instead."

I leaned back against the beige wall as Rebecca smiled, her eyes on the puppy. "You two are so open about everything," she said almost dream-like, "You talk about everything and there are no surprises."

"Maybe not from each other," I said, agreeing, "But there definitely still a lot of surprises in our lives." I shook my head at the amount of things that were still happening to us. "It's unbelievable."

"Like what?" she asked.

"Like my parents having another baby," I replied, looking smug as she looked shocked.

"Your parents?" she repeated, "Wow. That definitely is a surprise."

I nodded. "Yeah, we're going to be one of those families where our child's aunt or uncle is our child's age." I pulled Charlie back to my side as he tried to pull the leash from me. "Anyway," I said, "I should get him outside. Ronnie and I have lunch plans."

Rebecca nodded and smiled goodbye. "I'll talk to you soon," she promised, gently touching my arm, "and I hope everything works out with your parents' new baby."

"Thanks," I said, heading towards the stairs, "See you." I hiked down the steps and took Charlie out to the grass beyond the parking lot. Ronnie came down the stairs when I was taking the dog back up.

"What took so long?" he asked, patting Charlie's back.

"Stopped to talk to Rebecca from down the hall," I explained, "She and Jules are looking for a house."

Ronnie grinned. "Maybe we should just rent two apartments in the building. It'll be like having a house. One apartment is my room and the other is yours."

I rolled my eyes at the man. "You're clever," I said sarcastically, "Now go start the car. I just have to take Charlie inside and grab my things."

Ronnie did as he was told without a word. I climbed the rest of the stairs and let Charlie into the apartment. Ronnie had left my bag on the counter, so I grabbed it and quickly changed into a pair of tennis shoes.

"See you later, Charlie," I called as I backed out of the door, "Be a good boy." I locked it behind me and headed back down the hall and outside. Ronnie was sitting in the driver's seat and I could already hear his music.

He turned it down when I climbed into the car. "Where are we going again?" he asked, backing out of the parking space.

"After we get Nico, we're going to that Chinese restaurant on twelfth in Pasadena," I reminded him as he pulled out onto the street.

We grabbed Nico from the house, without saying much to either one of her parents, and headed off to get lunch with her potential babysitter. Nico was quiet in the backseat as we made the ten minute drive to the restaurant. Even though she didn't talk much usually, she was hardly communicating with us at all, body language included.

"Nico Moon, what's wrong?" I asked, turning around in my seat to look at my baby sister.

She looked at me and didn't say a word. Ronnie glanced in the mirror at her and repeated my questioned, actually managing to get a reply from the little girl who obviously loved him more.

"Mommy's having a baby," she murmured.

Ronnie glanced at me and I met his eyes. I nodded. "Why does that make you sad?" I asked, touching her little leg as she bounced it in the air.

She didn't reply, but she didn't have to.

"Everything will be alright, Nic," I promised, unsure of what else to say to the little girl. I had been nine when Frida was born and excited beyond compare, so I didn't have to worry about whatever it was that was running through my baby sister's mind.

Ronnie pulled up outside the restaurant and I pulled Nico out of her car-seat. Paulie was already waiting inside and when she saw the three of us, she grinned and motioned for us to have a seat. "You must be Nico," she greeted the little girl, "It's so nice to meet you."

Nico nodded shyly as I set her in the booth between Ronnie and I. Ronnie pulled her onto his lap and whispered something in her ear. She nodded and leaned back against his chest, her eyes on the woman across from us.

"Nico, this is Paulie, she wanted to meet you because she might be hanging out with you when Ronnie and I are busy," I explained, touching her cheek softly as she curled against the singer.

The meeting went alright. Of course it was a bit awkward with Nico being so quiet, but after a half an hour she managed to open up to Paulie, actually sending a few words in the baby-sitter's direction.

Ronnie and Nico were like two peas in a pod as he carried out a conversation with Paulie and Nico both.

"Nic, seriously, Paulie's favorite color is green too, if you don't believe me, just ask her," he said, motioning across the table, "She just said it."

Nico looked across the linoleum suspiciously as Paulie laughed, agreeing with Ronnie.

When the dark-haired man took Nico to the bathroom, I took the opportunity to explain my dad and Gina's current situation to Paulie. She folded her hands on the table and waited patiently as I brought up the subject.

"Honestly, the job is yours if you want it," I said with a smile, watching as she grinned and nodded her head, "but if you agree, there's something I have to tell you and a few more questions I need to ask."

"Oh, of course, go ahead," she agreed, nodding.

"Well..." I trailed with an almost embarrassed smile on my face, "Our parents have decided that they're having another baby," I said all at once, putting it out in the open, "So that means that in about six months there will be another baby for you to look after. I was wondering if you'd ever worked with infants before."

She nodded a bit slowly. "Not as a nanny, but I worked at a daycare when I was a senior and watched them there, but never on my own. I am qualified to take care of them though," she explained, "Of course having two to look after would be a lot more work, but Nico seems like a very relaxed little girl."

"Yeah, she is," I agreed, "and I'm sure her mom will take some time off to spend with the new baby right after it's born, but after that he or she will fall into your hands if I don't have the time off."

"I would still love the job," Paulie said with a nod of her head, "Nico and I will have a few months to become friends then by the time the baby comes she'll be okay with me sharing my focus with her little brother or sister."

I grinned and held my hand out to her across the table. "Then you're hired," I stated, shaking her hand, "I'll get you a copy of my parents' schedule and write down the dates and times when they'll need you and get you phone numbers and everything. I just have to run it past them though and set up a day for you to meet them," I explained, glancing to the left as Ronnie carried Nico from the bathroom.

"All better," Ronnie sung as he dropped back into the seat next to me with Nico on his lap. He stuck a bite of noodles in Nico's mouth and chuckled when she tried to spit it out. "Nic, eat the damn thing," he laughed.

Nico finished the bite, but refused to open her mouth for another one as Ronnie tried to feed her the last of her meal.

"Ronnie, Atticus, I have to be going, if you don't mind," Paulie said after a little while, "I've got some things I need to take care of before I head home." She gathered her things and shook hands our hands before she left. Ronnie asked the three year old to shake Paulie's hand and she did it. She also waved goodbye as the babysitter walked out of the door.

"Ron, we should get going," I said not long after Paulie left, "I have to get my check before Uno's closes between lunch and dinner in an hour," I explained, getting out of my seat and motioning for Ronnie to do the same.

Ronnie rolled his eyes at the thought of having to see the manager. "I'm not going in," he said, "I never want to see that dick again." He got up and carried Nico with him. She wasn't at all bothered by the moving.

"Language," I reminded, "But pretty soon you won't have to."

"Yeah," he agreed in a sarcastically thrilled tone, "I'll get to see Brett instead."

I lightly smacked his arm and shooed him out of my way with my hands. He awkwardly side stepped to the edge of our booth and backed out of my way so I could leave the money and the tip centered in the middle of the table. He headed out of the restaurant with my sister and I followed him.

We took Nico back home before he headed to Uno's. Ronnie stayed in the Cadillac as I carried the brunette child into the house. Where, surprisingly, both our dad and Gina still were. It took a minute to find them, but they both were sitting in the small family theatre, curled up together on the large couch in the front of the room.

"We're back," I said as I pushed the door open to the dark room, the sound of the movie tipping me off that they were in there. I flipped the lights on as I walked in and one of them paused their movie.

They looked over the back of the couch simultaneously. Their heads followed me as I walked down to them. "So, did we like her?" Dad questioned, "What'd she say about adding another Gurewitz to her roster?"

"She was okay with it," I said honestly, leaning against the back of the couch. I dropped Nico onto Gina's lap as she laid back against my dad, "She's glad that the baby won't be here for a few months though. She wants the time to bond with Nic."

"She sounds like she knows what she's doing," Gina said happily, "I'm glad that we found someone capable." She sat Nico down on her thighs and straightened out her clothing, unzipping the little jacket and tossing it on the chair next to her.

I nodded slowly, arms crossed over my chest. "If you guys weren't doing anything today you could've come meet her. She's a little anxious that she has yet to see your faces," I explained, slightly annoyed that they blew off the lunch to watch movies.

"Today was the first day we've both had off in such a long time, Atti," Dad said, his fingers resting discretely against Gina's stomach, "We wanted to take the time to be together, but we really appreciate that you did this for us, it means a lot."

I nodded. "Yeah, I know." I glanced back towards the front of the house. "I've actually got to go, though," I murmured, "Ronnie's waiting in the car and we've got to pick of my last check before the place closes."

"Alright, we'll see you soon, Sweetheart," Gina stated, patting my hand, "Thank you again."

I mentioned that it was no problem again and headed out of the large house. Gina always got super maternal when she was pregnant. Her busy schedule didn't matter and she evolved into mother of the year. I didn't matter that a month after the baby born she morphed back into the same pre-occupied person she was before. Pregnant Gina was the most pleasant person I'd ever met. Part of me wished there was a pill she could take that would make her believe she was pregnant everyday of her life.

I pulled myself back into the car and smiled at Ronnie, giving him the okay to head back to LA. He pulled out of the driveway quickly and maneuvered towards Uno's for the last time. Both of us were thrilled that we weren't going to be back there anymore after this.