Chapter 5 - Gen 6 - Neo

Violets baby bump was growing quite rapidly and it would not be long now, I was both very nervous and very exicited about our first baby that was due very soon!!

"I wish I could tell what sex the baby is!!"  I grumbled

"Don't worry - you will be able to soon with a little more training  maybe next time!!"

"Oh there is going to be a next time is there!!"  I laughed

"Of course!!"

"So what's the atmosphere like today - good or bad??"

"So - so - you know!!"

Since Shantel had moved in and Natasha had moved out - we never knew from one day to the next what the atmosphere was going to be like around the place!!  To say Nial had not taken Shantel moving in lightly was an understatement - he was not happy at all!!!  He was angry and said that Natasha had done it out of spite and it was a good job that she had moved out because he would have killed her!!!!  Meanwhile his moods were up and down like a yo - yo, somedays you might look at Shantel and Nial and say they were madly in love - the next day you would say they hated each other.  To be honest with you, I really don't know who I felt sorry for the most - Nial - the caged lion who was not taking to being tamed very well, or Shantel - the love sick puppy who is so blinded by her feelings she could not see straight!!!

Today was a so - so day - it was civilised - for now!!

Standing watching my brother eating salad with Shantel, I knew there had to be a reason for his strange behavour - usually these episodes ended up with them arguing and in him storming out and dissappearing for hours which I am convinced was just a set up on his behalf, because I am sure he is still seeing Kandice!!

"I am going to the Art Museum later there is some stuff my agent wants me to do"

"mmmmmm do you want me to come with you?"

"No Shanty you DON'T have to follow me everywhere - I can't breath, your suffocating me!!"

"Don't start again, I only asked!!"

"Well, don't if I wanted you to come I would have asked you!!"

"Keep your hair on!!"

I had heard enough - I was getting out of the way, just in case!!

I am sitting out of the way, reading this pregnancy book for probably the 10th time, just waiting for the explosion - some times they came, sometimes they didn't !!!!  But it makes me wander - just why do they keep themselves in this situation day after day, why not put it right, because from where I was sitting this "relationship" of theirs, if you could even call it a relationship was not working from what I could see!!

Me and Violet were yet to have cross words with each other, but those two were constantly at it!!!

Shantel did not really say too much about what was going on with her and Nial to Violet - probably did not want to hear the I told you so's!!

We were all ready for the baby to arrive - it was just a waiting game - today - tommorrow - anytime now!!!  I stopped in my tracks when I went into the babies room and spotted Nials old teddybear in the babies cot.  

"Nial why is your old teddy in the babies cot"

"Dad told me to give it to you when the time came"

"What?"

"Dad told me to give it to you he said it was to always stay with that wish book he gave to you, and he did not explain what he meant by when the time came, but I presume as that book has to go to one of your children eventually then the teddy should too."

"When did he tell you this?"

"A while back in the cemetery"

"YOU  have seen him, his ghost, at the cemetery - YOU??"

"Yes and don't sound so surprised"

"When, why, I don't understand - you ........"  I was confused and he cut me short

"I have spoken to Noah too"

"I don't get it after all the times you nagged me not to go there - you were going too!!"

"No not until recently and I think I understand why you did now"

That's when we heard Violet screaming from upstairs - the baby was coming

I went to the hospital in a daze and came home in a daze!!

My head was not making any sense of the conversation me and Nial had just had, and while my head was swimming with that, it was also swimming, watching what Violet was going through to bring our little boy into the world.  My little boy, that sounds so strange!!!

We called him Oliver and he is Excitable and Artistic.

and he keeps us awake at night!!!!

It did not take us long to get into the routine of looking after a baby and there were four of us to look after him in the house, well three because Nial just stands and stares.  I really don't get him sometimes, he does not pick Oliver up, but he is the one who probably stands there by the cot the longest, just staring at his little nephew.

Its funny what will trigger off a memory!!

The first thing I remember from when I was a child was Nial, not my parents but Nial, and not because he was nasty too us either, quite the opposite in fact.

My very first memories are of how Nial always used to take me and Noah out into the garden and spend hours reading books to us.  I used to love my big brother back then - whatever happened along the way to make us like we are now??

I loved coming home every night from work so that I could see Oliver and he was most times awake and ready for a feed when I got home.

His clock was all out of sync, he slept during the daytime and screamed the house down all night.  We hardly had any sleep and had to put a cot in the bedroom so we did not have to keep running up and down the stairs all night long!!

 I was excited when I got home from work today because I had had a promotion to Medical Intern.  I found Violet upstairs relaxing on the bed, and what she had to tell me dampened my mood a little.

"I have something to tell you" she sounded serious

"Am I going to like it??"

"Maybe, maybe not, I think you will like half of it but not like the other half so much!!"

"Ok well give me the worse half of it then"

"Shantel is pregnant and doesn't know how to tell Nial"

"OMG!!!!  I would not even like to hazzard a guess as to how he is going to react to that one!!"

"He has told her strickly no babies - she thinks he might go mad!!"

"Oops - well it takes two remember"

"I know that and you know that but will he think of that when he is going off on one??"

"I hope she does not want me to do her dirty work for her!!"

"No, but she wants to know if you will hang around just in case"

"Ok  - so what about the half I am going to like??"

"Shantel is not the only one who is pregnant"

"What you?"

"I think so - I am not 100% I keep throwing up and am going to see a doctor tomorrow"

"Errrm"  I coughed

"Oh yeah, you know I keep forgetting"

"You are married to a doctor and you keep forgetting!!  Charming!!!"

 Today Shantel was trying to pluck up the courage to tell Nial she was pregnant.   Nial was having his daily stare at oliver sleeping in his cot, I was reading in the chair and Shantel walked in and picked up the baby.  I hope she does not think she is going to use him as a shield!!!!!

"You should hold him - he won't bite" Shantel said to Nial

"No - your ok!!"  Nial said

"What is your problem - you need to get some practice in"

"What do I need practice for!!"

"You never know!!"

"I know - I'm not having any kids!!"

"HERE HAVE HIM" she thrust Oliver at Nial and he had not choice but to take him

"NO Shanty"

"YOUR SELFISH - JUST SELFISH" she screamed at him and ran off in tears.

Holding Oliver he turned and looked at me

"Women - I swear I will never understand them - do you??"

"Sometimes!"

"So you tell me - what was that all about??"

"Maybe she was trying to tell you something"

"See that's the difference between men and women if we need to say something we say it - women - just keep having hissy fits all the time and expect you to understand!!"

"Maybe she is too scared to tell you because of how you might react"

"What could she be scared to tell me?"

"Put my son down first so you don't drop him and I'll tell you"

"See that's why I did not want to hold him in the first place - I'm scared I might drop him - I dropped Noah once you know when he was a baby"  Nial said casually as he lay Oliver back down into his cot

"So come on - tell me do you know what that was all about?"

"She is pregnant"

"OH SHIT!!!"

He stood there for a moment in shock then I could see his face changing and he looked far from happy.

I followed him as he went looking for Shantel, she was outside staring into the fish pond.  It was only then that I noticed, she was now a vampire - how had I missed that!!!!

"Get out of the sun you idiot!!"  Not the first thing I expected him to say to her

"Go away Nial" she snapped at him

"Is it true, are you pregnant?"

"Yes -  now go away!!"

"GET INSIDE - NOW!!"

He ended up pulling her inside by her arm

"How could you let this happen??"

"I don't know - you was there at the time as well you know"

"Ha, ha, you are so funny!!!  You did this on purpose didn't you"

"Of course I got myself pregnant just to piss you off - grow up Nial!!"

"Now what are we going to do?"

"I don't care what you do frankly, I am getting sick of your attitude towards me - I am having this baby whether you like it or don't - if you don't - you can move out and Ill look after it myself, we don't need you!!"

"Shanty ..."

"You go while you still can, I know that's what you want - I was not trying to tie you down if that is what your thinking - I did not want this - but I don't want you here if you don't want to be here - and this baby does not need a part time Dad who does not want the job, it will be better off without a Dad at all - so you go - your free - off the hook - I am done with you!!"

 He just stared in my direction not saying a thing.

I kept my mouth shut - I was saying nothing to spark him off - he was deep in thought and I was really worried about what he might do - walk out and leave her to bring up this baby alone.  Nial had never been one for commitment, he could not even commit to making Shantel his girlfriend even though they technically lived together.   A baby, was he really capable of being a Dad to this baby??

So I was surprised when he hugged her and said

"Don't worry we will work it out!!"

I was just as surprised when I walked in later to find him feeding Oliver, I am not sure if it was holding him once and not dropping him had given him the confidence to do it or whether he was actually getting in some practice

 Oliver had his birthday
I was really pleased that he turned out to have my hair colouring
He had Violets lovely green eyes

 Now aren't things supposed to get better when babies become toddlers??  Well with Oliver, it didn't -  it got a little more complicated.  We were having a hard time convincing him that he needed to sleep at night and play all day.  He was up and about and at his liveliest in the middle of the night while we were trying to sleep.

We were becoming exhausted and had to come up with a compromise, we had to fill our bedroom with toys and let him play during the night while we tried to get some sleep.  That way he does not get bored as he has toys to play with instead of sitting in his cot squealing his head off.  He knows exactly how to wake us up when he wants feeding or his nappy changed.

I am now a Resident at the hospital so things were getting busy for me as well as the research I had to keep studying , I had longer shifts and emergancy call outs at all stupid times of the day and night.

We now had two heavily pregnant women camped out on the couch, looking like beached whales moaning about their achy backs and achy feet

I can now tell what sex these babies are too, which I had fun with because I know that Shantel is having a girl and we are having another boy, but I did not tell either of them that I knew!!
Things between Nial and Shantel were just so - so - they did not really communicate much, Nial did not really seem interested in the baby that was on its way.  He really needed to pull himself together!!!

I was enjoying teaching Oliver to talk, he actually picked it up quite quickly.

"That used to be your favourite book!!"  Nial said
"Your just saying that!"

"No I am not you always wanted me to read that one to you, I bet I still know it off by heart!!"

"You sure it was not Noah because I don't remember it"

"You probably wouldn't you was only his age!!"

It was Shantels baby that came first which we expected anyway.

They bought home a baby girl they called Codie.  I could not really tell how Nial was feeling as he had a kind of blank look on his face - hopefully it was just the shock!!

Less than 12 hours later it was our turn to go off to the hospital, because our baby was on its way.  Another little boy that we called Ole, like Oliver he is also Excitable and Artistic.

"You make me laugh" I said to Nial

"Why?"

"Your just standing and staring again!!"

"I know"
"Your not going to drop her, you know if you just relax"

"Someone needs their nappy changing"

"Mines fine its yours I think"

"Where's Shanty?"

"You idol pig - Vi and Shanty are sleeping - its all down to you bro"

"Great!!!!"

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SIDE STORY

Trouble in paradice

Chapter 6

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