It was now two am and the boys were getting tired, but they needed to stay strong and not sleep as they too were worried about something happening to the baby while they slept.

   A few seconds later just as the boys were starting to completely drift into sleep as they couldn't fight it anymore the tiny baby began to scream and cry. Waking the two boys up immediately as they rushed to tend to the baby.

  "Hey it's okay baby girl. Aw are you hungry? Yeah I bet you are. Come on let's go get you a baba. And let's let mama sleep okay because mama is tired and so dada is gonna take care of you," Carlos told his baby as he picked her up from Evie's arms.

  As he noticed her trying to reach for Evie and crying. He wanted to give Evie more sleep for herself and he wouldn't admit it, but he wanted her to sleep, so that he could watch his daughter. Evie always did everything and she always made him feel as though he couldn't handle caring for his own baby. Which upset him as he could handle feeding and caring for his own baby. He loved Mal and he knew how much Evie cared for the baby as Mal was definitely a mama's girl as she preferred Evie, but he was her parent too. And he wanted to care for her too as she didn't seem to be as comfortable with him even though he was her dad.

   Mal just kept crying as she reached for her mom who was sleeping. Carlos wouldn't admit it, but it hurt to see her act like that. He was her dad and he wanted her to want him too. He was a part of her life as much as Evie was. It hurt to know that his own daughter was crying just from being with him instead of her mom. He knew Mal loved him as she loved all the attention and the playful way he was with her, but she preferred her mom. And he loved how much Evie cared for and loved their baby, but he wanted her to love him the same way she loved Evie and he wanted to be a part of her life too.

    Carlos just sighed in sadness as he walked over to the baby things and found a purple bottle and some formula. As he filled the bottle with the formula and shook it before trying to feed the crying and hungry baby.

    He tried to feed her the bottle, but she just pushed it away and continued to cry. He sighed in frustration as the baby wouldn't drink the bottle even though she was hungry and he had just changed her so it wasn't that. She had to be hungry.

  He also knew how the doctor had made them promise that she would eat more which included nightly feedings which meant that she needed to drink the bottle.

  "Shh it's okay come on Mallory you need to eat. I know you're hungry. And I know that I'm not your mama, but please Mal just drink the baba for dada. Come on you need to eat the doctor said you need to eat more," the distressed young father told his crying baby as he tried to get her to drink her bottle.

  Jay just laughed at his younger friend who he thought was acting ridiculous. "Dude just force it down her throat you are stronger than her. It will be easy to force her to eat. Instead of acting like a wimp and letting your tiny baby control you" Jay told his friend as he didn't see why Carlos was just going to let the baby win. When all he had to do was shove the bottle in her mouth.

   Carlos just looked at his friend as though he were crazy. "Dude I'm not going to just shove a bottle down my baby's throat. She will eat when she wants to. I'm not gonna force her," Carlos told his friend.

    "Oh yeah because that's a great way of parenting. Just letting your baby decide when she wants to do something. Gosh no wonder Evie's a better parent than you," Jay told Carlos with a smirk on his face. He was joking, but Carlos didn't think it was funny.

  He was trying to be a good parent, but it wasn't easy when Evie literally did everything when it came to their baby.

   "Dude I am too a good parent and Evie is not a better parent than me. I'm trying my best here, but it's not easy when I can never even care for my own baby because she was taken from me and then when I did get her back Evie completely took over acting as though she's a single parent and i'm not even her dad.

   "Okay dude chill. I was joking. I know that you are a good dad. I was just kidding calm down before you wake up Evie or upset Mal more," Jay told his friend as he noticed him starting to get angry and raise his voice which was causing Evie to stir.

    Before anything else could be said Mal began to cry louder immediately waking Evie up. She began to panic when she noticed that she was no longer holding her baby. "What happened? I heard crying is Mal okay?"  the concerned young mother asked as she got up from her bed and walked towards Carlos who was holding their baby.

    Carlos just looked at Evie as he answered her. "Yeah she's fine. She's just hungry I think, but she won't drink from the bottle," Carlos told her as she was hovering over him. "Here let me try," Evie told the boy as she picked up the baby from his arms and the bottle from his hands. She just stuck the bottle in her mouth and smiled when Mal began to drink it.

    Carlos just watched in anger and sadness that Evie had managed to get Mal to drink the bottle in the matter of seconds, but he couldn't get her to and he had been trying for hours. "It's not fair. Why does she only ever want you? I'm her parent too. Evie I'm sick of you acting like I'm not her parent too. We are both her parents. You need to let me help. I had it under control you didn't need to just take her from me and feed her when I was already doing that," Carlos told the young mother as he was sick of her acting as though she was the only one raising Mal and he was just some uncle.

   Evie just looked at Carlos with an offended look. "Excuse me for trying to feed our baby who was crying. And you did not have it handled. I'm sorry that I didn't want our baby to starve because you couldn't get her to eat. Carlos it's not my fault that she prefers me over you. She's a baby and I have been there for her more then you have, so maybe that's why. In fact I remember exactly how you reacted when I told you I was pregnant. You freaked out and said you didn't even want a baby. You only changed your mind when I gave birth to her three months early. You weren't even there for me when I was pregnant, so yeah maybe that's why I prefer to be the one in charge and maybe that's why she prefers me," the now angry young mother told the boy as she continued to bottle feed her baby.

   She didn't like yelling at her friend. And she knew that Carlos was trying to be a good dad, but it hurt when she had told him that she was pregnant and he had freaked out refusing to help at first. And he only came in to help when she ended up giving birth three months early and almost lost the baby.

   Carlos just looked at Evie as he knew she was right. Yeah he freaked out when she told him that he was going to be a father at fifteen. He was just a kid and he didn't think he would be ready to be a father. Plus he was afraid of getting attached to a baby that he was pretty sure wasn't going to make it. And he was worried about Evie herself. She was young and she was carrying a baby inside of her which required nutrients and food which she barely had enough of to feed herself and now she was feeding for two. He was afraid of becoming too attached to both Evie and the baby as he loved Evie and he knew that he would fall in love with the baby and he was afraid of losing them.

  Those feelings went away when Mal had been born early as he didn't care about not getting attached he already was Mal and Evie both become his world when he got the first look at his new baby, and he knew that Evie knew that he regretted not being there for her during the pregnancy, so he didn't understand why she would bring it up again.

   Jay felt so awkward and uncomfortable as he watched his two friends both argue and fight with each other. They both looked upset and he didn't understand why they were acting this way.

  "Guys just stop this. This is ridiculous. Evie I know that you didn't like how Carlos wasn't there for you during the pregnancy, but he is here now, so please just let him help. You can't do everything by yourself and he wants to help raise her. And Carlos you need to learn how to take responsibility. You can't just let her get away with not eating and you have to be willing to do things that aren't fun. Can we please just stop fighting and agree to these compromises because we have school in a few hours and we are about to completely change our lives by going against everything our parents have told us to do. And we need to be united for tomorrow and with the whole Audrey thing we can't be split. Were in this together," Jay told his friends in annoyance as he was sick of them always getting into arguments about their baby.

  And the truth was they needed to stay together they were going to stand up to their parents in a few hours and they needed to do it together as a single group not all fighting and broken apart. Plus Audrey was still out there and it would be easier for her to get revenge if they were all on their own.

  Evie and Carlos both looked at Jay and then at each other as they knew that he was right. "Carlos I'm sorry that I don't let you help. It's just that I love her so much and I have such a strong connection with her. I feel protective of her and I don't know why, but I don't like the idea of someone other than me caring for her, but you are her dad. You deserve to have the same feeling and connection that I have with her. I'm just afraid of losing her," Evie told the father of her baby as she handed Mal to him. Allowing him to hold her.

  Carlos just smiled at her as he sat on Evie's bed and motioned for her to come sit with him. Evie just smiled as she moved over to sit by him and their now sleeping baby who was clinging to Carlos. She put her arm around him as the two of them watched their sleeping baby together and enjoyed each other's company and the warm safe feeling as all their other worries vanished.

  They were enjoying their time of peace and safety just knowing that in a few hours that would be gone and they would have to face all the realities and the problems such as talking to their evil parents and hoping that Audrey wouldn't still reach them. But for now they were safe together like a family with both parents watching and caring for their sleeping baby. While Jay just sat on one of the chairs and smiled as he watched his friends who looked like a real family together on Evie's bed cuddled up and both holding onto their precious sleeping baby.

  He just sighed as he knew that the safe relaxing feeling they had right now wasn't going to last very long as they had so many things to worry about and it was about to start in only a few hours.