Careless Mistake
by Kelli
Part 63
April 2006.......
Britney smiled as her eyes traced the delicate features of his face. They glided to his hair....those small ringlet curls that framed his face. And his eyelashes.....they were so long. Then he took a deep breath in his sleep and her mouth twitched. Since she couldn't resist any longer, she took her left hand and traced a line up his arm. She loved to touch him, it made her feel loved.
Suddenly the baby in her right arm started to rustle a little and cry.
"Shhhh, you'll wake up your daddy," Britney whispered.
She loosened the string to her nightgown and pulled it down a little so she could feed him. She glanced back down at Justin, who was still laying on her left side, sleeping. He shifted a little and snuggled deeper into her side, which made her giggle. The baby made a gurgling noise so she looked back down at him.
He was one week old now and she was exhausted. She didn't realize how much trouble it would be to have a two year old running around while trying to take care of an infant. Thank God, Justin didn't have anything scheduled for a couple of months so he could help.
She let her head fall back a little and lean against the pillow as her eyes closed. That's how Justin found her when he woke up a few minutes later. He stirred a little and stretched. He could hear that the baby was feeding so he glanced up and smiled at his son.
"How is he doing?" he asked Britney.
When she didn't answer he lifted his head and noticed that her eyes were closed. He looked back down at the baby again to make sure he was okay since he wasn't sure how long Britney had been dozing.
"You need to be burped, little guy?" Justin asked.
He lifted the baby from Britney's arm and picked up the burp cloth and started to rub his back. This movement startled Britney awake. When she saw that Justin had the baby she closed her eyes briefly before reopening them and watching the two men in her life.
"I can't believe I dozed like that," she said, rubbing her forehead.
"I don't think you had dozed too long," Justin said.
Good, he didn't sound upset with her, she thought. She turned a little so she was facing them and she held her finger out for the baby to grab onto.
"Such a strong grip," Britney said. She lowered her head and kissed his little hand.
"You're distracting progress here," Justin teased.
"But he's too cute to resist, aren't you Chase? I bet it's because you look like your daddy....yes, I bet it is."
Finally he gave a tiny burp.
"Okay mommy, we're ready for more," Justin said, holding him closer to her.
Britney glanced at the clock as she held Chase up to her breast again.
"I can't believe Mackenzie hasn't woke up from her nap yet," she said.
"How long has she been down?" Justin asked.
"Almost two hours....that's long for her."
"Yeah but she had her cousin to play with...it wore her out."
Britney smiled. "And isn't Evan so adorable? God, I can't believe how big he's gotten."
Justin nodded as he played with Chase's chubby leg.
"Mackenzie proved to me today what a good big sister she's going to be."
"Like you didn't already know that," Britney said, rolling her eyes.
"Well, of course I knew that but she was so good with Evan, the way she tried to play with him...."
Britney leaned over and kisses Justin's cheek. "I know, I was just teasing you. Go get her so we can have a family moment," she nudged him.
He rolled out of bed and headed toward Mackenzie's room. When he got there, she was sitting in her crib playing with her doll.
She looked up when she heard him at the door.
"Baby," she said, holding her doll up.
"Yes....how is your baby doing? Does she need to be changed?"
Mackenzie nodded.
"Baby diapwer diwty," she said, looking back down at her doll.
"Hmmm," Justin said. leaning against the railing of her bed. "You know what? We're going to start putting big girl underpants on your baby and see if she can tell us when she needs to go potty. Do you think she can be a big girl and do that?"
"Big girl undewpants?"
Justin nodded. "We'll talk to your doll about that later, okay?"
"'K."
Justin quickly changed Mackenzie's diaper, got her out of her crib and then set her down so they could walk to his room.
When she got to the doorway she saw her mommy and smiled.
"Mommmmyyy," she said as she ran over to the bed.
"Careful," Britney laughed as Mackenzie tried throwing herself on the bed.
Justin lifted her up and set her in the middle of the bed and then got on the other side of her.
"Chase eat-in?"
"Yep, Chase is eating. Did you have a good nap?" Britney asked.
Mackenzie nodded and leaned her head against Britney's arm.
Justin started to tickle the bottom of Mackenzie's feet, which made her throw her head back against a pillow and squeal.
"Justin, be careful, she's going to kick Chase," Britney said, holding her hand up over the baby to protect him.
Justin slid Mackenzie down a little farther on the bed so he could continue his "assault" while Britney pulled Chase away to burp him again. She covered herself and rested him against her shoulder. She laughed at Mackenzie's laughter.
"Okay Justin, leave her alone," Britney giggled.
"What am I doing?" he chuckled as he kept tickling Mackenzie.
"Daddy top," she said, trying to catch her breath.
"Daddy stop.....what?"
"Pease," she pleaded.
"Oh okay," he said reluctantly.
She scooted back up on the bed toward Britney.
"Hold him?" she asked Britney.
"Okay, lean back a little," she said.
Justin propped a pillow under Mackenzie's arm and Britney carefully leaned the baby against that arm.
"There....look at you," Britney said.
Chase started to squirm a little so Mackenzie's face got really serious and she started to gently pat his tummy.
"It okay," she said to him.
Britney smiled up at Justin, who happened to catch her glance.
"Can you get the camera?" she mouthed to him.
He nodded and quickly got up to get the camera out of the closet. He stood back a little and snapped a few pictures of the two of them.
"This one should go out with the Christmas cards," Britney chuckled.
"One more," Justin said as the flash went off.
"You okay?" Britney asked Mackenzie.
She nodded as she kept looking at her baby brother.
"Did you see the nice donation the movie studio made to our Foundation in Chase's name?" Justin asked, looking back up at Britney.
"No....when did you hear about that?" she asked, pleasantly surprised.
"Before the nap. There's a nice letter downstairs."
"That was nice of them."
Justin nodded. "That was a good idea to suggest that people donate money instead of getting us gifts we don't need."
"I come up with them sometimes. Oh look, his eyes are closing," she said softly to Justin.
"You've got the touch," Justin told Mackenzie.
"He seeping?" Mackenzie asked her daddy.
"Looks like it. Just stay like that for a little bit so we make sure he falls asleep, then we'll put him in his basinet, okay?"
"Otay," she agreed.
Britney leaned down and kissed the top of Mackenzie's head.
"I'm going to take this opportunity to run to the little lady's room," she said as she scooted off the bed. Justin chuckled.
"Daddy, I want to pay wif Evan," Mackenzie said, looking up at Justin.
"Well, he's not here right now," Justin said, pushing a strand of hair away from her forehead.
"He not he-ah?"
"No, he's with Aunt Lauren and Uncle Bryan back at the hotel."
"Oh," she said and looked back down at Chase. "Chase seepin," she giggled, covering her mouth with her free hand.
Justin chuckled. "Yes, he is. Let's put him in his crib, okay?"
"Okay," she agreed.
Justin took the baby and put him in the bassinet, which was across the room just as Britney came out of the bathroom.
"You hungry?" Britney asked Mackenzie.
She nodded so Britney held out her hand.
"Well, let's go make something to eat. You coming daddy?" Britney asked when they reached the doorway.
"Yeah, I'll be right down," he said, setting up the baby monitor.
~*~
A few more weeks pass by and Britney began to feel more and more tired.
"Maybe you should call your doctor," Justin said, rubbing her back. She was resting against his side as they watched TV one night.
"And tell him what? I'm tired?" she yawned.
"Your system has changed because of the baby, maybe you're lacking something."
"I'll call him tomorrow."
"Speaking of appointments, I bet Chase has grown an inch since his last doctor's appointment," Justin smiled.
"At least. He doesn't fit in my arms like he used to. He's going to be tall like you."
"He's growing like a weed," Justin agreed. He lifted his head and looked down at her. "When I fed him the bottle tonight, he didn't seem to drink as much. Have you noticed that?"
Britney thought about it for a minute. "I don't know...it's hard to tell when I'm breastfeeding how much he's actually eating, but I time it, and it's been taking the same amount of time," she shrugged. "Maybe he just wasn't as hungry tonight."
"Maybe," Justin said.
"Speaking of which," Britney said, glancing at the clock, "he should be waking up soon for his next feeding."
"Is it that late?" Justin asked. He had been enjoying this quiet time with his wife and hadn't noticed.
"Mmhmm."
"Do you ever think about the difference in our lives now compared to when Mackenzie was born?" he asked after a few moments of silence.
"Like....." She was trying to figure out where he was going with this.
"Us....our lives. Everything was so crazy back then. Look at us now....a boring married couple."
She slapped his leg. "We're not boring.................are we?"
He chuckled. "No, we're not, but you know what I mean." He leaned down and kissed her.
"You don't think Chase will be a more well adjusted child than Mackenzie, do you?" Britney asked with a cautious tone.
"No, I don't think so. I think Mackenzie has adjusted just fine. I mean considering we weren't married and weren't really "together". Then we were touring, everything was so crazy, I think she turned out pretty damn good."
"Me too," she smiled. "Our lives were nuts, weren't they? I should have given into my feelings sooner and maybe we would have been married," she said, almost sadly.
"Heyyyy, I didn't mean it like that," he said, lifting her chin with his hand.
"I know. But I think about that sometimes."
"Well, don't. There's a reason for everything."
"You're right."
She leaned up a little closer to him. "I kinda liked that little tease a minute ago," she said, licking her lips as she gazed at his.
"What.....this?" he asked before kissing her again and pulling away.
"Hmmhmmm," she said, keeping her eyes closed and leaning toward him again, but he kept teasing her by pulling back farther.
Finally she opened her eyes.
"Hey," she said as she started to pout but Justin covered her lips with his own and kissed her deeply.
He started to move his hand up and down her thigh as he adjusted them on the couch so he was laying more on top of her, without crushing her. Her hands roamed his back and one found it's way to his curls.
They broke apart when they heard the baby cry.
"Shit, I almost forgot where we were," Justin said as he sat up straight.
"Well, that was fun while it lasted," Britney said, patting his shoulder as she stood up.
"How much longer do we have to wait?" Justin asked to her retreating back as she left the room. All he heard was her laughter, which made him chuckle. "Too long, whatever it is," he mumbled to himself.