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The rush of moving made the entire Lafitte-Winchester household extremely tired. The apartment was only quiet for a few minutes before the cries of their daughter woke them. A familiar dread hit them, both knowing that they weren’t going to sleep that night.
“Ben,” Dean groaned as he turned onto his stomach, burying his head in the pillow. “Is it your turn or mine?”
“Mine,” Benny said in response. “But, you’ve been so maternal lately, I was going to let you take care of her.”
“We could both just get up.”
“Dean, I love you, and I love our daughter, but I carried about twenty boxes and unpacked everything in the span of a few hours. I’m sore and can’t move.”
“And you don’t think I am too?” Dean turned his head, so that he was facing Benny’s face. “Walk it off, Lafitte.”
Benny sighed. “Okay. If I’m not back in ten minutes, I need backup.” He gave Dean a peck on the forehead before getting up and shuffling to the nursery.
Dean smiled contentedly as he got a few more blissful seconds of sleep. He was almost back into a dream when he heard his boyfriend call for him from the nursery.
“I didn’t think you were serious about the whole backup thing,” Dean said as he shuffled his way into the nursery. He was greeted with the sight of Benny touching a hand to her forehead. “Is everything okay?”
“She’s burning up,” Benny said, not taking his hand away from her. “I know she was sort of fussy earlier today, but I just thought she was cranky about moving.”
“I thought she was too,” Dean walked up to Benny and Taylor. Benny passed their daughter over to Dean, who also placed his hand onto her forehead. “Oh my God, you’re right. Should we call the hospital? She’s never been sick before.”
“Hospital is a little bit much, don’t you think?”
“Well, I’m panicking. Do you have any better ideas?”
“One of our moms?” Benny suggested.
“Yeah. You call your mom, I’ll keep my eye on Taylor.” Benny nodded and walked out of the nursery to get his phone.
“Looks like it’s just you and me for a little while Taylor,” Dean said as she settled her head in between his neck and shoulder. Her thumb found it’s way into her mouth and she began sucking. “You’re a lot more cuddly when you aren’t feeling good, aren’t you, Tay?”
She buried her head deeper into his shoulder. Dean caught a glimpse of a shine on the side of her head. Her grandmother, Dean’s mother, had insisted that she get her ears pierced. Dean nor Benny were exactly big fans of the idea, but Mary had insisted. She had it done at the hospital, so everything was sterile, Dean and Benny had been following every single direction when it came to cleaning it. Yet, her ears still looked red and inflamed. “Have you been messing with them?” Dean asked as he moved her sound so he could get a closer look at them. The earrings were studs and looked flat against her ear, they were sure she wouldn’t be able to even pull on them herself. “Maybe you have a little ear infection, kiddo. Nothing that daddy and papa can’t fix. Just hold on a little while longer.”
A few minutes after bouncing her up and down, Benny walked in as he just finished his phone call. “Okay, thanks mom. I’ll call you back and tell you what happens.”
“So, what did Toni say?” Dean asked as Benny put his phone away.
“She gave me a list of the things it could be, and to spare you the heart attack with all of the things that could be wrong, we should just bring her to the hospital and not assume things.”
_-_
The drive there went by quickly. Benny sat in the backseat with Taylor while Dean drove. Benny spent the time entertaining her by humming or distracting her from her uncomfort by playing with one of the toys that they had grabbed before they left their apartment. Dean had said that the only good thing about living on campus with their daughter was that they were close to the hospital. They both knew that something like her getting sick would happen eventually, but neither expected it to happen when she was only 3 months. “Do you think we did something wrong?” Dean said from the front seat.
“Kids get sick, darlin’,” Benny countered. “Kids get sick all of the time.”
“I get that, but she was really warm. And when you were talking to Toni I noticed that her ears were pretty red.”
“When did you start calling my mom by her first name?” Benny asked, looking up towards the front seat.
“Well, I wasn’t sure if I should still call her Ms. Lafitte, because she’s sort of my mother in law.”
“We’re not married.”
“That maybe so, Ben. That doesn’t change the fact that I’m expecting a ring eventually,” Dean chuckled. “Anyway, like I said, it’s probably an ear infection. But I still can’t help but imagine something is really wrong.”
Benny nodded. “Yeah, you’re probably right about the ear infection. Other than that, nothing will be wrong with her De. I promise.”
“You don’t know that.”
“But I can always believe.”
_-_
“It’s a good things you guys came when you did,” Dr. Harvelle said as she put took the otoscope out of Taylor’s ear, who was too distracted with the strings on Dean’s sweatpants to pay attention to the pain. “Looks like she has a minor ear infection. Well, right now it’s minor. It could have gotten a lot worse if you hadn’t noticed it.”
Dean smiled and looked over at Benny, who was standing next to the chair that Dean and Taylor were sitting in. “Ear infection, I was right.”
“I never said you were wrong,” Benny smirked, then directed his attention to the doctor. “Is there anything we can do that might help her get over this a little quicker?”
Dr. Harvelle nodded. “I can prescribe some anti-inflammatory medicine. You two did really good for first timers. I expected a little more panic.”
“Thanks,” Dean said, turning Taylor around so that she was leaning her head on his shoulder again. “But believe me, I was white knuckling the wheel the entire drive here. I was worried something was really wrong with her.”
“How are you two taking parenthood, by the way?” The doctor said as she began to change the tip of the otoscope and clean everything up. “I know your family came together a little quicker than expected.”
“Yeah,” Benny agreed. “Thirty-four weeks. Her adjusted age barely has her at two months.”
“She’s been doing pretty good for us. We can still get sleep in most of the time, and-”
“Although I am happy about how Taylor is doing, I asked about you,” Dr. Harvelle said. “How is parenthood treating you?”
Benny and Dean looked nervously at each other. Truthfully, they had started out really rocky at first. Dean had found out about the pregnancy when both of them were still seventeen. Neither of them expected Dean getting pregnant, much less actually keeping the kid. Then there was keeping up with school during the pregnancy, and college looming over both of them while taking care of Taylor.
“We’re managing,” Benny said, not looking at Dean. “Right?”
“Yeah, we can make this work.”