Losing Control

Chapter Three

When Nancy and Chase walked in the door they were greeted by the sight of Rita walking back in forth holding a screaming Ian.

"Thank God you are home," Rita said thrusting Ian at Nancy. "I know that his tummy hurts because he keeps thinking of his tummy, but I don't know how to make him feel better."

Nancy took Ian and went to sit down on her bed. Nancy cooed soothing words in his ear as she placed him stomach down on her lap. She then began rubbing his back in circular strokes. After a minute Ian started passing gas and his screams became muted whimpers. Once Rita knew Ian felt better she remembered Chase.

"Where the hell have you been?" Rita demanded jumping into his open arms to give him a tight hug.

"Rita watch your mouth around you know who," Nancy scolded indicating Ian with the tilt of her head.

"Sorry but really where have you been. We were worried sick," Rita let Chase go to give him a glaring look.

"Wishing I was here," Chase said with a sad grin. Rita's glare gave way to a sympathetic smile.

"Well you are here now and we missed you so much. Ben, Casey, and Lily are going to be so excited. We’ll talk more tomorrow I'm going to bed. Goodnight." She gave Chase another hug and went over to Nancy to kiss her on the cheek. Ian smiled up at her and she kissed him as well.

"I'm sorry Rita. Thanks for sitting up with him," Nancy called after her retreating back.

"No prob, he's my brother. I'm just glad he feels better," Rita said already halfway up the stairs.

"Nite nite," Ian babbled.

"You feeling better my little man?” Ian gave her a toothy smile. "Yeah you’re feeling better. Let's get you back to sleep." Picking him up she cradled him in her arms. "Chase will you check the bathroom for me and make sure that Lily isn't still in the bathtub. I don't like her sleeping there," Nancy asked as she passed him to go into Ian's room.

"Yeah, sure," Chase said heading up the stairs to the bathroom. Knocking softly he opened the the door to find that Lily was still in the bathtub asleep. Going over to the tub he grabbed a towel and draped it on his chest holding it in place with his chin. Bending over he pulled Lily out of the tub and rested her against his chest wrapping the towel around her as best he could. He then headed down the hall to put her in bed. Nancy beat him to the door so she could open it for him. She followed him into Lily and Casey's room and he gently placed her on her bed and left the room so Nancy could change her clothes. When Nancy was done she headed towards the living room and found Chase sitting on the couch.

"Lily hasn't changed. We should get her a pool. That bathtub is getting too small for her," Chase suggested.

"I want to but we will need to put up a security fence so the neighbors can't see her skin."

"I can put up the fence. I have money saved and I start working at the Sanitation department on Monday as their newest garbage man."

Nancy sat down next to him on the couch and he put his arm around her.

"You a garbage man? Wow..."

"I drive backwards really well," Chase said with a shrug.

"I'm exhausted,” Nancy yawned. “Ben put new sheets on the other bed in his room."

"Okay," Chase said disappointed. He knew sleeping next to her wasn't for the best but he wanted to anyway.

Nancy wasn't asleep when she heard her door open. She didn't have to turn over to see who it was. The room got 10 degrees hotter with him in it. She felt the bed dip as he laid down next to her and wrapped his arm around her.

"I only want to sleep next to you," Chase whispered. Nancy didn't reply she just snuggled closer to him and closed her eyes. Nancy woke sweating and disoriented. Something heavy was wrapped around her and when she opened her eyes she was staring at Chase. Nancy then remembered that Chase had snuck into her room to sleep. She needed to get up before her temperature rose anymore but she didn't want to disturb him. He was sleeping so peacefully. And if it got too hot in the room the sprinklers would be set off and cool her off. It would also soak her room but Nancy didn't care. When Chase came to live with them his gift was out of control. Whenever he got mad or frustrated fires would break out. The worse was at night because he had even less control of the fire when he slept. Mindy had sprinklers put in throughout the house when after having a nightmare Chase set his room on fire and nearly burned the house down. Mindy and Nancy had cleaned up several wet rooms over the years but Chase had a pretty firm grip on his gift now. Nancy raised her hand to Chases forehead and pushed the hair out of his eyes. When she did Chase opened his eyes and Nancy was staring into his beautiful baby blues.

"Morning," Chase said gripping Nancy tighter.

"Morning," Nancy said giving Chase a slight smile, "You are making it really hot in here Chase."

"Oh sorry," Chase apologized and loosened his grip and cooled down the fire.

"Thanks, did you sleep well."

"Better than I have in the past month.”

"Yeah me to.” Chase looked at her mouth longingly and Nancy knew he was going to kiss her so she leaned in a little to meet his lips. Chase kissed her softly and pulled back.

“You keep kissing me like that and I'll start thinking you like me,” Nancy joked. That wasn't the right thing to say because Chase's grin faded and he rolled away from her. She sighed in disappointment.

"Nancy, Ian has a full load and I need to take a shower. All hands on deck." Came Rita's voice over the baby monitor.

"I forgot how it was in the morning around here. I've only been gone a month and it seems I have forgotten a lot of things." Chase said sadly.

"More like buried the memory. Mornings around here are crazy. I would try and forget that too," Nancy said grabbing her robe and putting it on. When she made it to Ian's room he was crawling on the floor.

"Can't you stay in your crib?" Nancy asked Ian as she picked him up off the floor. Ian's answer was to give Nancy a slobbery kiss on her lips. "Okay lets you get you smelling pretty again." Nancy laid Ian on the changing table and quickly changed his diaper and put him in a fresh one piece. "There you go my little man. You are back to smelling good and looking handsome."

Nancy put Ian on her hip and went to make her rounds to see if everyone was out of bed. First stop was Ben's room. Nancy found that he was up but in dog form. Today he was a poodle. "Ben please become two legged and get dressed for school," Nancy instructed and went to Casey and Lily’s room.

Knocking she opened the door to find Lily doing Casey's hair and they were fully dressed. "Breakfast is in 10 minutes," Nancy said and closed the door. Rita was coming out of the bathroom as Nancy passed her. "Breakfast in 10 and we’re leaving in 30 so don't dawdle." Rita gave her a salute.

When Nancy got to the kitchen Chase was frying bacon and making scrambled eggs.

"Ohh that smells good," Casey said running into the kitchen with Lily right behind her. Casey skidded to a halt making Lily smack into her when she saw Chase.

"Chase!!" Casey and Lily both squealed running towards him. He dropped the spatula and scooped Casey and Lily up giving them a hug. "I'm so glad your home."

"Grab a plate and dig in," Chase said. Casey was already filling her plate before he had the plates safely on the table. Lily was right behind her filling her plate as well.

"Rock on. I love bacon." Ben said snagging a piece off Casey's plate before he noticed Chase.

"Hey," Casey protested, "get your own. But Ben wasn't listening because he was slugging Chase in the stomach. Chase wasn't expecting the assault and doubled over. Ben had quite the punch.

"Where the hell have you been?" Ben demanded his face twisted into an angry frown. "Do you think you can come and go without any word? You made Nancy worry. She cried most nights missing mom and worrying about you."

"Ben that's enough," Nancy said stepping into the kitchen with Ian. Casey and Lily were staring at Ben with their mouths hanging open.

"It's not enough Nancy. He hurt you and this family. It’s not right. You could have called," Ben insisted.

"Ben's right. I should have called but I was selfish. I needed time to grieve in my own way and I wasn't thinking about how that would affect you guys." Chase was startled that Ben was almost as tall as him. Ben reached his shoulder.."I'm sorry Ben. I let this family down and I'll make it up to you.” The bravado went out of Ben and he gave Chase a hug.

"We will see," Ben said taking a seat at the table.

Rita came down last and sat at the table to eat. Nancy gave Rita Ian so she could put on some clothes to take them to school. When Nancy was done dressing all the kids were ready to go. Chase was sitting at the table with Ian and they were both enjoying bacon and eggs.

"I'll be back in a few minutes Chase," Nancy told him. With that Nancy ushered Rita, Ben, Lily, and Casey out the door and into the minivan. Casey and Lily got dropped off first at the elementary school and then Rita and Ben at the high school. Nancy was back home within 20 minutes. The schools were close to their house. That was one of the reasons Mindy picked that neighborhood to live in.

It was 7:45am and today was Thursday so she had a class at 10am. That gave her some time to shower and dress properly and get to school on time. Chase was still in the kitchen with Ian. Nancy got a plate from the cabinet and sat down at the table to eat. After she filled her plate with eggs and bacon she said a quick prayer and dug into her food.

"How is it?" Chase asked.

Nancy let out an appreciative moan, "So good." Ian was still chewing on a piece of bacon that Chase gave him. "Is that good?" Ian just smiled. Chase got up and placed Ian on his hip. He then took the empty plates off the table and put them in the sink.

"I figured Ian could stay with me today. I don't start my job until Monday," Chase said looking at Nancy.

Nancy swallowed her last bite before she answered, "That's fine I'll call Mrs. L and let her know. I need to get ready for school." Nancy gave Ian a kiss and she went to get dressed. Forty five minutes later Nancy was ready to go, said goodbye to her boys, and went out the door to school.