I walked into my parents' house, setting down the carrier as I was immediately swarmed. Kristin pulled Bandit from the car seat and cooed.

"She is so precious," she said. "I love her so much. Oh, Mikey, let's have another."

"Maybe now isn't the right time," Mikey said with a small smile. "You're fucking crazy, Gerard."

"I have a daughter who I love with all my heart," I said. "I don't think that's crazy."

"Where's Frank at?" He asked.

"His mom's," I said.

"He isn't going to be much help with Bandit, is he?" He asked.

"No but I wasn't expecting him to anyways," I said. "We may be married but she's my child and I'm the one who is responsible. Frank will babysit and stuff sometimes, though, when I'm at work and she's not big enough to go to daycare."

"And we'll be willing to babysit whenever you need, too," Kristin said. "I would love to take this little sweetheart off your hands. Rowan, come meet your baby cousin."

She ran over in a little red dress and smiled.

"Wubby," she said.

Wubby was her favorite toy, she basically calls everything she likes Wubby.

"This is Bandit," Kristin said, kneeling down so she could see.

Rowan poked Bandit's cheek and giggled. But the poke woke Bandit up and she began to cry. Rowan gasped and panicked before smacking Bandit in the forehead.

"No!" Kristin exclaimed. "You don't hit!"

I took Bandit, rocking her and calming her down. Kristin went to give Rowan a talk about hitting and Mikey helped me carry my bag into the living room.

"Where's mom and dad?" I asked.

"They went down the street to see a neighbor and say hello but they'll be back in about five or ten minutes," Mikey said. "Mom is so excited to see the baby, she has been waiting all day for you to come."

"Thanks for carrying that for me," I said, glancing over at the Christmas tree that had presents stacked up beneath it. "Jesus, why are there so many presents?"

"Kristin might have gone a little bit overboard with gifts for Bandit, she was just so excited," he said. "She misses when Rowan was that little."

"Rowan is the cutest, I love her little blonde hair and her blue eyes," I  said. "Bandit's gonna have dark hair and dark eyes. I think that's adorable too. I love the way brown hair seems golden in the light and brown eyes look like little pools of soft honey."

"I've seen pictures of her mom and if she looks anything like her then she's gonna be beautiful," Mikey said.

"The dad isn't so bad looking either, Jamia showed us a picture one time," I said. "Star football player and national honors society. Hopefully she gets the brains, I definitely didn't."

"Do you ever think you're gonna start looking for a real partner?" He asked.

"I don't know, I'm happy right now," I said. "I've never been this happy, actually. I've got a daughter. Right now I just have to stay with Frank but if I meet someone in the next few years that I like then maybe something will happen but I don't know right now. As long as I have Bandit then I think I'll be just fine."

"I just hope you thought all this through," he said.

"I have," I stated.  "I'm overjoyed, Mikey, I've been waiting for this for so long."

"I'm glad you're happy, I know that you've been waiting a child for a long time," he said.

The door opened and a squeal of excitement rang throughout the house. My mom came over and took Bandit from my arms immediately.

"Oh my god, she is the cutest," she cooed. "I could just eat her up, my goodness. She is the most precious thing I have ever laid eyes on."

"She is," I agreed. "The fucking cutest baby on the planet, other than Rowan,"

"I've got the cutest baby ever," Mikey said.

"Rowan is adorable," I agreed.

"I think Bandit is a cute name, it's very unique," my mom said. "I wasn't sure about it at first but it's really grown on me. Where's Frank at?"

"His mom's," I said. "We're not really married, remember? It's all just fake."

"But he's such a nice boy," she said.

"We're best friends and that's it, mom," I said.

"You two would look so nice together," she said.

I rolled my eyes, shaking my head.

"I'm just gonna divorce him," I said. "We aren't actually a real couple."

"That's a shame," she mumbled. "He was always so sweet in high school, he used to come over and help me do the dishes and go grocery shopping for me. He was like the son I wish I had."

Mikey and I both scowled and she laughed.

"Why didn't both of them come over here?" My mom asked.

"I think his grandpa was in town," I said. "Otherwise they probably would've."

"How were the roads coming up here?" She asked.

"They were alright, not too slippery," I said.

"Did you come straight from the hospital?" She asked.

"No, I went home for the gifts and to get Bandit a change of clothes before I came," I said.

"Speaking of change, I think someone needs a change of a diaper," she said, holding her out to me.

I grabbed her diaper bag and went into the bathroom, giving her a quick change before I went back out. My phone buzzed with a text from the groupchat that included Frank and Jamia.

Frank: Merry Christmas, Mia

Jamia: Merry Christmas, Frankie!

I shook my head, biting my lip. Jamia definitely had a crush on Frank but she was young and Frank was too nice to tell her off, as much as he wants to seem badass. Their relationship can only go south and I didn't necessarily want the mother of our child to hate us.

"Gerard, will you help out by setting the table?" My dad asked.

I nodded, handing Bandit off to Kristin. I set plates and silverware around the table before going to help bring dishes of food out. Nothing was better than my dad's Christmas turkey dinner. It was one of my all time favorite parts of Christmas.

"I'm gonna go put Bandit down for a nap," I said. "Do we still have that old bassinet from when Mikey was a baby?"

"We do, I put it in my room for you," my mom said.

I went into her room, smiling when I saw the little blue bassinet. Mikey  was born premature and had to sleep in my parents room when he was first born. Because they didn't want to put the crib in here, they just got a little, easily portable bassinet instead.

"Alright, beautiful, time to go to sleep," I whispered. "I will see you soon."

I laid her down and she fussed for a little bit before calming down. I shut the door slowly and quietly.

"I can't wait to show you all the cute little outfits I got her," my mom said as we sat down and began eating.

"Oh, we kept all of Rowan's baby clothes so you can have them if you want," Mikey said.

"Thank you," I said.

"We call it the pink box, the little box of mostly pink clothes," he said. "I never thought I would ever see so much pink in one place."

I chuckled. "I get what you mean after I got Bandit. It's not completely pink but there sure is a lot of it."

"She got her vaccinations and everything?" My dad asked.

"Yep, she's all vaccinated and perfectly healthy," I said. "She is absolutely perfect. Both her biological parents are smart and athletic and in good health, too, so hopefully she gets some good traits from them and doesn't end up in dummies math like I did."

"It was not dummies math," My mom denied. "It was Extra Algebra."

"AKA dummies math," I said. "It's okay, I know that I struggled with school and I've come to terms with that."

"You aren't dumb," she said. "You just needed a little extra help and that's okay."

"I hope that Bandit doesn't have as much of a hard time with school as I did," I said.

"I'm sure that she is going to be great," my mom said.

I nodded with a small smile. I was halfway done with dinner when I heard crying from the other room.

"I can warm up a bottle for you," Mikey said.

I nodded and went back to go get her. I shushed and bounced her until the bottle was  ready and sat at the table cradling her in my arms while I fed her.

"Okay, okay, present time," Kristin said.

I moved to feed her in the living room and Rowan opened Bandit's presents for me since my hands were full. There were endless amounts of tutus, pacifiers, onesies and stuffed animals.

"I love all of this, thank you," I said. "And I know little bandit will absolutely love it too. I can't wait until she's bigger and can play and sit up and laugh."

"If you think she's cute now just wait a few days," Mikey said. "Babies faces get a little smooshed up sometimes from being born but in a few days she will be ten times cuter. She's cute now but just wait, she'll have you wrapped around her finger."

"She already does," I said. "She's daddy's little girl and that is never gonna change, I love her so much. She already has me wrapped around her little finger."

"You're never gonna be able to say no when she wants a new toy, it's so hard to resist putting a happy smile on her face," Mikey said.

We were just finishing up with presents when Frank called. I went to the other room and set Bandit into the bassinet as I answered.

"Hey, what's up?" I asked.

"I was just calling to have you tell your family merry Christmas," he said. "And I wanted to check up on you and Bandit."

"It's all good here, Bandit is an absolute sweetheart," I said. "But thanks for checking in."

"Yeah," he said. "We never go this long apart, miss you."

My heart skipped a beat as I snorted.

"What was that?" I asked. "Sarcasm?"

No, I'm serious," he said in a completely even tone. "We were always spending so much time together that it feels weird not being by your side. It's like the whole holding hands out of habit."

"Okay, Frank, I'll see you tonight," I said.

"See you," he said.

I could hear his breath on the line for a moment as I waited for him to hang up but when he didn't I hung up myself.