Hospital Beds

[n]

I quickly shut the alarm on my phone off. It didn't seem to bother June though and I was happy for that. I took a quick shower and brushed my teeth. I still feel pretty tired but I guess that's what I get for staying up late with June. I would do it again though.

The half a second kiss had alerted me to the feelings I was beginning to get for her. Those feelings I wasn't totally sure about... She's my friend... Not to mention I live in New York, not Atlanta. There's still plenty of time left in Georgia but at some point I am going to be going home...

"Norm?"

I froze in the middle of pulling my jeans on. "Didn't mean to wake you, Doll. It's still pretty early, why don't you go back to sleep?"

"What time is it?"

I zipped my jeans and walked over to the bed. I had been as quiet as possible to not wake June up. "Five thirty. I have to go to work. I was trying to be quiet but you still woke up."

"It doesn't matter." June's green eyes looked up at me. She looked really sweet having just woken up. "Does Mingus know you're leaving so early?"

"Yeah. There are pancakes in the freezer and most mornings he just gets up and makes those for himself so don't worry about anything like that." I got the last article of clothing on and bent down over the bed. I pulled the blankets over June's shoulders. "Go back to sleep pretty girl. It's early and you were up late." I bent down once more and kissed her forehead.

"Alright. Bye Norm."

"Bye JC."

*******

[j]

"JC?" Mingus called from the living room. I walked back to the couch with two glasses of chocolate milk and handed him one. We were watching cartoons on the couch which is where I had found Mingus with a plate of pancake when I woke up.

"Hmm?"

"Can I go to a friends house?"

"Where does this friend live?"

"At the end of the hallway. His Mom had the baby and he called this morning and said I could come over."

"Well..." I hesitated. On one hand this isn't my kid. I don't know if Norm would be upset if I let him go or not. But on the other hand he had let him go the other day... "If you let me walk down there with you and just make sure it's alright you can."

Mingus smiled and launched himself towards me. I fell back on the couch as I caught him in his tight embrace. "Awesome! Let's go!"

"Hold your roll. Give me ten minutes and we'll go."

Mingus sat and watched cartoons while I went in the kitchen. I found plastic baggies and a container and made Mingus a quick lunch to take with him. I slipped on my shoes and we walked down the hallway. Mingus ran ahead and began pounding on the door.

"Mingus! There's a newborn in there!"

The door opened to reveal a tired blonde in sweats holding a screaming baby. "Hello," she said with a smile despite it all.

"Mark said I could come play!"

The look on her face clearly said that while Mark said Mingus could come play, she did not. "Mingus honey, I'm sorry but I just can't add anything else to my plate today. Mark didn't discuss this with me."

"Come on Mom! The new baby is boring!" A blonde boy ran up, stopping at his Mother's side. He was full of energy. "Mom!"

"Honey-"

"Hi, I'm JC-"

"This is my Dad's girlfriend Mrs. B." Mingus smiled up at me. I froze in surprise. Should I correct him, should I not? Well... I guess it doesn't really matter.

"Uh, so I'm JC. Congratulations on the baby. If it's alright with you I could watch the kids at Norm's place? That might give you some time to relax a well, I'm sure it's pretty hectic with a new baby."

She smiled at me. "I'm Zelda. Are you sure that would be alright?"

"Definitely. Don't worry at all."

"Alright. Mark, be home by dinner time."

The three of us walked back down the hall. Mingus threw open the door and we went into the apartment. Without a second of planning both boys began shouting and running around. Pillows were flying through the room. I realized that I don't have the first idea about taking care of one child, much less two.

"Hey guys?" My words went ignored and I tried a couple of more times to get their attention but it was useless. I sat down on a bar stool by the counter and just watched two eight year olds turn into barbarians. They now used styrofoam swords to fight each other with. I wonder if Zelda would have allowed all of this to occur.

"Let's play a board game guys!"

"Yeah, let's play Monopoly!"

Mingus pulled out the board game and we sat down at the coffee table to play. I began counting money while the boys set up the rest of the board.

"I'm the car!"

"No me!"

"Well there's a train too, trains are cool aren't they?"

"No I want to be the car!"

"Me too!"

"I'll fight you for it!"

The swords were back out and I sighed. I watched the chaos resume and I just gave up. The boys are boys and I just don't know what to do now. I give up. There's a reason I had a breakdown in the kids ward. I sat on the couch watching them run through the room, fighting, throwing pillows. My phone rang twenty minutes later, pulling me from my thoughts. I walked to the bathroom and shut the door. A crash came right after I shut the door and I groaned. Anxiety flowed through my veins.

"Hello?"

"You alright Clint? You sound upset."

"I'm fine."

"You wanna tell me what exactly is going on over there?"

"What?" I asked, panicked.

"I've gotten a couple of calls that we need to get the noise under control... My neighbor said its been really loud over there for an hour."

My throat constricted and I felt terrible. I can't believe I got him in trouble because I don't know how to deal with kids. There's no way Norm will ever want to kiss me again when I am not even competent enough to babysit his kid.

"I'm s- sorry."

"Are you crying?"

[n]

"No." It was obvious from her voice that she was crying though.

"Clinton tell me what's going on."

"I- Mark called Mingus and said he could come to play but Zelda just had a baby and Mark didn't ask her and she looked so tired so I said I would watch them both but I don't know the first thing about taking care of kids and its fucking crazy and when I walked in here I'm pretty sure I heard something break and I'm just really sorry."

I melted a little because of how adorable she sounded but I was disappointed in Mingus. We had talked about JC needing rest and how I expected him to be on his bet behavior.

"I'm on my way."

"Norm you can't leave work."

"Fortunately I can and apparently I need to."

"That's-"

"That wasn't meant as a dig at you. My son can raise Hell, I know it. Do you want me to bring you anything?"

"No, just get here and restore order to this place. I suck."

"You are perfect. See ya soon."

I hung up and ran my hands over my face. "Is there anything else I'm in today?"

"Not today Norm. Are you heading out?"

"Yeah, Mingus is being a monster today and I need to get over there and deal with it."

*******

As I approached the apartment I was better able to hear the shouts of the boys. Loud was putting it mildly. I heard June shouting 'boys' every few seconds in an attempt to restore some sort of order and it irritated me further. I opened the door and everything froze immediately. June was in the middle of the floor looking like she had given up entirely.

"What the fuck is going on in here?"

"Fun is what's going on in here," Mingus shouted joyfully. I almost laughed, but I held it back.

"Mingus remember how I wanted you to be on your best behavior? June is here to rest, not be ignored when she asks the two of you to calm down. Go to your room while I walk Mark home."

"Dad-"

"Go. I'll come get you when it's time for dinner." Mingus sighed and stomped to his room. I pulled June into a quick hug and kissed her forehead. "I'll be right back. Go lay in bed, alright?" Mark and walked to his home and he knocked on the door.

"Back so soon? Hi Norman, it's good to see you again."

"You too, Zelda. Congratulations on the baby."

"Thanks. Mingus introduced me to your girlfriend, she's lovely."

My eyebrows raised and I nearly corrected her but I decided to leave it. "She's quite the catch."

"Did the boys behave well?"

"Well they were typical boys," I laughed. "We were getting a few complaints about the volume level so I thought it would be best to cut the day short."

"Well next time Mingus will have to come over. Please let him come soon!"

"Definitely, Zelda. See you."

I walked back to the apartment. Mingus was still in his room and June was laying in my bed. I grabbed the broom and dustpan and swept up the glass that broke when the boys were playing.

"Hey buddy." I gave Eyes some attention until he decided he was done with me. I walked to my room and crawled into bed with June.

"I'm not very good with kids."

"You're great with kids, you're just bad with discipline."

"God you'll probably never leave Mingus with me again."

"I will too. Listen, one kid is enough but two kids is a lot to handle. The two of them are used to going all out when they get together too, so really I should have warned you."

"No, I mean, I could have not brought them over. Mark told Mingus he could come over but didn't tell Zelda first and I didn't want to disappoint them. Sorry about whatever broke. I'll pay for it."

"It's not a big deal." I put my arm on June's hip and nuzzled into her neck. "I heard that you're my girlfriend."

June laughed. "That's how Mingus introduced me to Zelda. I didn't know what to say to that. I figured it would probably give her a better peace of mind to think she was leaving her son with Norm's girlfriend rather than Norm's friend."

"You're probably right about that." I placed kisses here and there on June's neck before settling down and wrapped my arms around her. "What do you want to do for the rest of the day?"

"I don't care. You shouldn't make Mingus sit in time out too long, it wasn't that big of a deal."

"I told him you were here for rest. Aside from that he blatantly ignored you trying to get a handle on the situation. He also knows to not get that fucking wild. I won't make him sit in there the rest of the day, but he's going to be in there for at least an hour."

"I suck with kids. You'll probably never leave him alone with me again."

"Are you kidding? You probably never want to be left with him again."

"That's not true. Mingus is an awesome kid. I really like him actually. I just can't do more than one kid at a time by myself apparently. How was work?"

"Good. Kind of a slow day for me. The weather is shit so we're all just standing around a lot."

"You don't film when it rains?"

"Not often. We mostly are interested in shooting sunny scenes, you know to capture the heat and get us all sweaty."

"It would fucking suck not have air conditioning."

I laughed and squeezed June. Eyes jumped on the bed and started rubbing against her and she extended her hand out and started loving on him.

"Do you like cats?"

"I'm more of a dog person honestly, but I love cats. I love all animals except snakes."

"So if I had a pet mouse..."

"I wouldn't be afraid of it but I probably wouldn't touch it."

Again I laughed because of her. "Well I don't have one just for the record."

"I'm kind of happy about that."

"Me too. So when are you going to show me your art?"

"When are you going to let me leave these four walls?"

"We will be, tonight. Mingus and Chandler are having a sleepover at Chandler's. After we drop him off we can get dinner and then you can show me your art. Sound like a plan? Feel free to alter those plans at your whim."

June smiled up at me and bit her lip. "Sounds perfect. Now go get your son out of time out."

It was a good feeling knowing that June cared about Mingus and what made him happy. "You're such a softie." None the less I got up and let Mingus out of time out. We started playing video games on the couch.

"Did you like hanging out with June today?"

"Yeah, she's awesome. Sorry for getting so crazy. I think Mark has a lot of energy because of having to be so quiet with the baby."

"You're probably right about that. I want you to apologize to June before we go though, alright?"

"Alright. Dad?"

"Yeah?"

"I told Mrs. Mark's Mom that she's your girlfriend."

"I heard about that. Is that what you think?"

Mingus shrugged. "Not really."

"Well she's not my girlfriend for the record."

"It would be okay if she was Dad. I don't think she has cooties like other girls." At least Mingus gives me permission for the feelings that are bubbling up to exist.... even if I don't give it to myself.