Jaeger turned as he heard a low cry coming from the baby monitor on the coffee table. He quickly scooped it up, hoping to muffle the noise. Leaving Piper to sleep, and asking himself what the hell he was doing, he carried the monitor with him and ran up the stairs to the second floor of her home. He passed a larger bedroom—obviously Piper’s, judging by the hot-pink bra on the floor by her door—and stopped at the door to Ty’s room.
You can do this. You have to do this. Beckett and Sage will have kids one day, and you can’t keep avoiding Shaw forever. Go inside. It’s a baby, not a bomb. Piper’s baby...
That Ty was hers didn’t matter, shouldn’t matter. He had to conquer this fear at some point and it might as well be now. And if you have a panic attack and start dry heaving, Ty won’t tell anyone.
Just try, dammit.
Jaeger pushed open the door. In the glow from the night-light next to the crib, he saw Ty sitting up, rubbing his eyes. Hoping Ty wouldn’t yell, and ignoring his hummingbird heart, Jaeger lifted the baby and held him under his arms, his chubby legs dangling. “Hey, you. Why aren’t you asleep?”
Ty blinked at him, his eyes wide. He spat out his pacifier and grinned at Jaeger. So far, so good. Shaking hands and a tight chest, but he wasn’t about to have a heart attack.
Jaeger returned Ty’s smile. “Yeah, you’re cute. So, why aren’t you asleep?”
Jaeger caught a whiff of something very unpleasant and grimaced. “Aw, c’mon, you’re kidding me!”
Ty kicked his legs, gurgled and waved his hands in the air as if to say, Let’s see how tough you are, big guy.
He wasn’t that tough.
He should take Ty downstairs, wake Piper up and ask her to deal with her son’s full diaper. That would be the most efficient and least disgusting way to handle the situation. But Piper was exhausted and she really needed to sleep...
But Ty wouldn’t go back to sleep until he was clean and changed. Dammit. Jaeger didn’t change diapers; he hadn’t even changed any of Jess’s diapers. Andrea had insisted on doing everything for Jess, and being young and thinking he was dodging a bullet, he’d let her. Now he had no idea where to start...
Piper—he’d wake her up. He made the decision and then shook his head. If he could negotiate, fight and scheme his way out of various dicey situations in third world countries, he could change a baby’s diaper. Billions of people did it every day; it couldn’t be rocket science. All he needed was instructions, and he knew someone who could give him some.
Tucking Ty against his hip as he’d seen Piper and Ceri do, he dug into the back pocket of his jeans and pulled out his phone. He placed it on the table next to the changing pad and used his voice app to instruct the phone to call Linc. His brother answered within two rings.
“Where are you, Jay?” he demanded. “We’re starving!”
Jaeger lowered Ty onto the changing table and flipped on the lamp next to his phone. Ty rolled, and Jaeger slapped his hand on his rump to keep him from falling off. “Hold still, dammit.”
“Um...what are you doing?” Linc asked in his what-are-you-up-to voice.
“Trying to change a diaper on a wriggling baby,” Jaeger replied. “I need you to talk me through it.”
Linc didn’t reply, and Jaeger wondered if he’d lost the connection. Then he heard Linc’s voice and knew that he was on speaker. “He said he is changing a baby’s diaper.”
Beck’s voice rose from the mobile. “Tell him that’s he’s drunk and to catch a cab home.” Beneath their laughter, Jaeger heard amazement and concern. Yeah, well, he was concerned, too. He’d intended to avoid babies and kids for the rest of his life.
Okay, yes, Piper needed to sleep, but his decision to deal with Ty went deeper than that. There was something about this warm house in Brooklyn, and Piper, and being here with her, that made him feel stronger, better, able to face his past. Or at least, feel that it was time to try. “I’m being serious, and take me off speaker!”
“Not a chance in hell,” Linc said. “First, why are you changing a diaper and second, who does the baby belong to? Third, are you sure you are not drunk?”