Part 465

"Well, good morning Sunshine!" Becca said, being rewarded with a smile and an enthusiastic kicking of tiny feet. She giggled and picked up the squirming infant, only to curl her nose in distaste. "Yuck, you’re soaked."

Nick chuckled as he pulled on his jeans. "I thought you were happy that GT slept all night?"

"Shut up," Becca groaned good-naturedly. "Your daddy thinks he’s funny," she said to Garrett.

"Damn good looking too, "Nick grinned.

"And modest, Garrett, let’s not forget that special quality." She looked over as Nick pulled on a sweatshirt. "Where are you going?"

"To harass Sarah and Howie."

"Nice," Becca drawled, rolling her eyes and grinning.

"I’m hungry. I want to see what they have planned for breakfast."

"Something easy, I’m sure," Becca said as she snapped Garrett’s dry sleeper in place. "Sarah has a doctor’s appointment at 11, then she and Howie are going sightseeing and shopping."

"Sounds great to me. I’d like to look around, too."

"Uh huh," Becca agreed neutrally, rolling her eyes.

"Bec, we don’t have to-"

"I’m going to feed Garrett. Let me know what you find out." Turning her back she slipped open her gown and settled the baby against her breast.

Nick started to say something else, but Becca had closed herself off completely, humming to the baby as he nursed. Dammit, he had a really bad feeling about this little side trip and he hoped like hell he was wrong. Any other time he’d talk to Sarah and Howie about it, but not today. He knew Becca didn’t want to bring them down, so he decided to do his best to keep her spirits up and play it by ear. "Back in a bit," he said, ruffling her hair and heading toward the door. He took one step outside and muttered, "Holy fuck, it’s COLD."

Becca smiled as she listened, and then began to converse with her son. "Poor daddy, I give him such grief and I have no idea why he puts up with me." A small hand patted her breast and she slipped her finger into it, smiling as he curled his tiny finger around it to hold on. "It can’t be the sex, we can’t have any of that for a couple weeks yet. What?" she asked, looking into his wide blue eyes. "My money? You really think so? I dunno, Garrett, he has a ton more of it than I do."

Becca closed her eyes and leaned her head back against the window. Denver. Why the hell was she here again? What was that saying … ‘you can run but you can’t hide’? "Boy, don’t I know it," she said. "I’m a classic example of what not to do with your life. Well, at least something good came out of all this," she said looking down at her son’s sleepy face. "No, make that two things. I have your daddy now, and I have you, which is a lot more than I had the last time I was here." Dammit, I’m not going to cry, she thought to herself as indeed, huge tears rolled down her face.

Table for one please? Pity party, right this way.

She hoped Nick was going to be gone for a while, because she really needed to just have a good cry and get this over with. Garrett was almost asleep as she gave in to the sobs that had been threatening since last night, and as she lay him back down in his porta-bed she wiped her face and headed for a shower. It was impossible to think of Denver without realizing how she’d felt stepping off of the plane in the middle of the night. She’d had nowhere to go, and had only picked Denver because there was a flight leaving right after she’d arrived at the airport. Denver had seemed so unlike her that she assumed no one would ever think to look for her there, and she’d been right. Maybe too right.

She remembered waking one morning to realize that Nick hadn’t really found her and begged her to come home as she’d dreamed so vividly. Her raging hormones and fear had played games with her mind the entire time she’d been there, and now here she was, getting ready to relive it all. The water began to get cold and she knew she’d better get dressed and fix her face before Nick came back. Time to put those college acting classes to good use.

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