"We'd better go, it's 2.50 and Kevin'll be dead on time knowing him." LeighAnne said, standing up. Brian passed Jake to Nick reluctantly.
"You sure you don't want us to stay?" He asked, looking anxious.
"No, Brian. It's between me and Kev. He can hardly yell at me in a hospital, they'll just have him removed, the security here's tighter than at MTV." Nick laughed.
"I noticed." Brian agreed. "That's one of the reasons why your mom was so set on you coming here."
"And I thought it was the calibre of the nursing staff." A pretty young nurse joked as she came into the room. "Everything ok in here?" She asked.
"Yeah, everything's fine." Nick smiled. "I changed his diaper." He announced proudly and LeighAnne and Brian had to hide their smiles.
"Really? Good job." She praised giving Jake a once over. "He's gonna need another feed in about half an hour ok? Just heat it up like I showed you. If you need any help just come and find one of us."
"I will, thanks a lot." Nick smiled.
"They really help out, huh?" LeighAnne asked smiling.
"Yeah, they're great. It's a good job really or my mom would have had to stay with me, I have no clue about how to take care of a baby, those books were no help." Nick complained.
"We'd better go." Brian said suddenly. "It'd be pretty awkward if we were here when Kev arrived."
"Yeah, we might have to kill him and we don't want Jake to witness something that traumatic before he's even 24 hours old." LeighAnne smiled. "Bye sweetie." She kissed Jake softly. "We'll be back tomorrow." She added kissing Nick on the cheek.
"You don't have to come here all the time you know, you must have better things to do." Nick smiled.
"You must be joking right? Like I have any choice in the mater. I had to physically restrain Brian this morning to stop him being here on the dot of 12."
"I don't even want to think about how you did that." Nick laughed. "I'll see you guys tomorrow then."
"Yeah, bye, Nick. Call if you need anything, and I mean ANYTHING." Brian emphasised. "Bye, Jakey."
"Will you quit it with all this "Jakey" shit?" Nick demanded mock seriously.
"Whatever, you know it's cute. We'll see you tomorrow." Brian stuck his tongue out childishly as LeighAnne dragged him out of the room.
Nick busied himself tidying up his room a little and eating some of the fruit that his mother had left him. He'd just picked Jake up to sit down and rest when Kevin walked into the room, knocking on the door quietly.
"Hey." He greeted softly.
"Hey." Nick smiled tiredly.
"You feelin' any better?"
"Yeah, they gave me some pain killers, I could hardly move when I woke up. Every muscle in my body was aching. It was like, you know when we've had a long break and then we have to learn new dance routines with Fatima? The feeling the morning after."
"Ouch." Kevin could definitely sympathise.
"Yeah." Nick sighed. "It was worth it though."
"How's he been?" Kevin asked.
"Great. He's really well behaved. I've hardly heard a peep out of him except before when he was hungry. He's definitely got a good set of lungs on him." Nick smiled happily.
"Cool." Kevin couldn't help but smile at the look on Nick's face. He looked happier than Kevin had seen him in a long time, he looked radiant. Kevin had to admit that he'd been worried about how Nick would cope with being a father but he seemed to be doing fine. Jake was only just 12 hours old though Kevin reminded himself. "I brought you a present." He remembered suddenly, noticing the bag that he was carrying.
"You did?" Nick looked excited, he was still such a big kid when it came to getting presents. "It's not grapes is it?" He asked, his smile fading a little.
"No, it's not grapes." Kevin laughed. "It's for Jake really." He added.
"Cool What is it? Let me see. Oh, actually, hang on, I just have to put a bottle in the microwave to warm it up for him. He needs a feed soon." Nick put Jake in his crib gently whilst he took the bottle of formula out of the refrigerator and put it in the microwave in a jug of water. "It won't take long." Nick's words proved true as the microwave beeped and Nick took the bottle out, squeezing a little on his wrist and then setting it on the night-stand by his bed to pick up Jake when he was satisfied that the temperature was right.
"How often does he need feeding?" Kevin asked.
"Every three hours during the day." Nick replied, picking up the bottle when he had Jake settled comfortably. "And whenever he decides to wake up for one during the night, which hopefully won't be too often." Nick laughed.
"There's not much in that is there?" Kevin indicated the bottle.
"No, I said that when the nurse was showing me how to make it up but when they're this small they just have a lot of small feeds, he probably won't drink all of this. He'll start to have more milk less frequently as he gets older." Nick explained. "Which hopefully means he'll be sleeping through the night pretty soon. The nurse who was helping me said that all babies are different but that he's got a really good appetite." He added proudly. "So, what did you get him?" Nick asked, remembering about the present that Kevin had mentioned.
"It's nothing special." Kevin admitted. "I just wanted to get him something."
"How are we doing in here?" The young nurse who'd been in earlier came breezing back in. "Oh, very good. I was about to remind you that Jake needed his feed. He's doing so well." She told Kevin. "You'd think he'd done this before." She laughed as Nick blushed. "And every time I come in here you've got another visitor."
"This is Kevin." Nick introduced. "Kevin, this is my nurse, Michelle."
"Oh." Michelle smiled slowly, a look of recognition coming over her features as she realised who Kevin was. "It's nice to meet you."
"Yeah, you too." Kevin smiled.
"Ok, better get on with the round. Don't forget, just give me a shout if you need anything." She left the room just as quickly as she had come in.
"They're always doing that, the nurses and my midwife, I think they must have coffee on tap in the staff room." Nick laughed.
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