Bring (Baby) Me Back

The next morning...

When Rian heard the key on the front door, he immediately ran to the hall, not even giving Alex time to close the door before attacking him with questions.

"Where the hell were you, I was so worried! You didn't answer the phone, I thought you were in danger or something!"

"Calm down, I'm fine. I went to meet that witch and-"

"You did what?! You went to meet that psycho on your own? What the hell were you thinking, he could have killed you!"

Alex rolled his eyes at his friend's overreaction.

"Oh stop being such a worried mother, Rian! I'm fine, he didn't do anything to me, and I've got some great news."

"Don't call me that!" Rian exclaimed, following him to the living room. "And what are those news?"

"Well we found out the spell-"

"Alex!"

The boy turned to the direction of the calling and froze, incredulously watching Jack sloppily run to him with a huge smile on his face.
The baby grabbed his leg, still repeating his friend's name in excitement for him to be home.

Alex blinked repeatedly, not quite registering that he was actually talking. And more importantly, saying his name.

"Oh my god. He- he talks now?"

"No, he only says your name." Zack said, appearing from the guest room. "He started repeating it an hour after you left and didn't shut up, he just wanted to see you."

Alex picked baby Jack up, who instantly wrapped his arms around his neck and repeated his name in a softer way, clearly happy to be in his arms again.
He grinned, eyes tearing up a bit as he held his friend close.

"Now this is a nice surprise."

"You two are so adorable, you know? Clearly made for each other." Rian teased with a smile. "Can't wait for Jack to come back to normal so you can finally 'take care' of him."

"Oh fuck off, Ri."

Zack sat on the couch's arm with a worried expression.

"You do know Jack is not coming back to normal, right? The witch said that."

Rian lost his smile on the moment but Alex only grinned.

"About that... That's not entirely true. The spell is only temporary on his case."

"What?!"

"How do you know that?!"

"Well, I met the witch and-" Zack interrupted him, dumbfounded by his recklessness. "You went on your own to find that person? Are you crazy, you should have gone with one of us in case things got dangerous!"

"That's exactly what I said!"

"Oh can it you two?!" Alex half shouted to shut them up. "Just let me tell what happened!"

______________________________

Alex hesitantly walked to the alley, wondering if he really was doing the right thing in accepting his invitation.
When he got halfway inside he saw him, leaning on the wall with a cigarette in his mouth.

"Okay, spill. What did you find out about the spell?"

His voice was aggressive; he still hated that man and would gladly beat him up for what he did to his best friend.
The witch calmly finished his cigarette and talked as he threw it to the ground.

"I think it's better to go to my house to talk. I don't wanna be caught here talking about spells."

This time Alex refused, keeping him against the wall with one arm.

"We're not going anywhere, you bastard. Just tell me what the fuck did you find about that spell!"

"Whoa, calm down dude! Fine, I'll tell you." he paused before continuing. "I went through my spell book and found somehing about the baby spell."

As he didn't say more, Alex shook him up and growled his question.

"And what?"

"I found out that the spell is only permanent when you eat the whole recipient of it. In your friend's case, if he didn't eat the whole burrito, then he'll come back to normal after some time."

The boy sighed in relief, closing his eyes. Thank God I threw the rest of the burrito to the ground.
Still, he didn't lose his grip on the man, a doubt hurting him.

"How do I know you're not lying?"

The witch rolled his eyes. "If you had came with me to my house I could have showed you the book."

"You're a witch, can't you make the book pop up in your hand or something?"

The man stared at Alex for a while, an unamused expression on his face.
And then he snapped his fingers and the book appeared on his hand with a little smoke cloud. Alex staggered back with the shock.

"You're lucky I can."

He opened the book and searched for the right page for a few moments, and then showed it to him.
Alex read the whole page, his smile growing every minute. He was so relieved, now that he knew Jack wasn't gonna be a baby for the rest of his life he could rest.

"It doesn't say when it passes here."

"It depends on how much of the recipient he ingested. It can get off after some days, weeks or even months."

"Well, I don't care. What matters is that Jack is coming back to normal." he finally smiled to the man. "Thanks."

"No problem. And I'm sorry I did this to your friend, I really didn't mean to cause you all this trouble."

__________________________

"So Jack is coming back to normal in a few months max?" Rian asked, still skeptical.

"Yeah! I'm really relieved, I like the baby version but I don't think I'd be able to deal with it for the rest of my life!"

Alex was grinning, running his hand on baby Jack's back while he talked, and the two boys didn't miss the affection in his actions.

"Oh, I think you'd do a great job." Zack smiled, continuing before he could reply. "I agree though, I miss the original Jack, as annoying as he can be."

Alex yawned suddenly, and rubbed his eyes.

"Well, I'm going to sleep, I'm tired as hell." he looked down to his friend, who was fast asleep on his chest. "I think we both are."

"Oh he definitely is, after spending the whole night awake and not letting anyone sleep!"
"You wanna sleep here? I've got the guest room and couch available. Or you could both sleep in the bed, I don't mind it."

It was obvious what Alex was hinting to, and Rian flicked him off before walking to the front door, saying he had stuff to do before leaving.
Zack accepted the offer and went to the room right away with a yawn.

"Let's go to sleep too."

Alex laid down in the bed, watching baby Jack sleep as usual. His mind went back to the memory of his meet with the witch, to a part he didn't tell his friends for obvious reasons.

_______________________________

"You love him, don't you?"

Alex was walking away but stopped, just standing there without turning back.

"You do, even a blind person could see it. No wonder you're so protective of him or why you hate me, I messed with him."

"I don't love him in that way, you're wrong."

"I'm rarely wrong." the man appeared in front of Alex suddenly, making him step back. "Believe me dude, the moment you admit it to yourself things get easier. I hope that when your friend comes back to normal you do something about it."

"Yeah, whatever."

_______________________________

Alex slowly came back to real life, still thinking about that moment.

He wasn't sure if the witch was right or not. These last few days were a mess and he didn't have time to think clearly yet.
It is true that his affection for Jack grew in these days, especially because he just wouldn't leave him alone, but from there to call it love it goes a long way.

He sighed deeply, tired. He needed some sleep, thinking about this was too tiring right now.
"I think I'm starting to like you more than I should, buddy. And I'm not really sure of what to think of it." he whispered, closing his eyes and falling asleep a minute later.

He didn't see the huge smile plastered on Jack's face at the hearing of those words.