But Who's Counting?

Chapter Twenty-Four

"Yeah, I almost fired Trevor from management. He wasnt doing what he needed to be doing. How the hell are you in management but aren't managing anything? You lose my f*****g files and then don't even attempt to recover them." Chance said, harshly glaring at his laptop. He stormed in here about thirty minutes ago and had not stopped rambling about Trevor.

"That's why you make copies." I remark, a slight smile forming on my face as I look at my laptop. I wasn't even doing anything, just staring at the work I should be doing.

"Not everybody is a efficient and organized as you, Parker." He barks. His angry tone causes me to laugh as he starts typing harshly. "You have s*x one time and don't know how to act." He mumbled under his breath, causing me to smirk.

Little did he know, it wasn't just one time. At least once a day would be better to phrase it. Sophia's hormones were all over the place and one minute she'll be crying out about how she's so 'fat' and the next she'll be crying out my name.

Pregnancy makes these woman horny.

With Leah, she was already a s*x addict, so when she was pregnant, it was the exact opposite. She wasn't craving or interested in s*x at all, not that I was either.

But then again, it's Leah we are talking about. She was probably sleeping with the next dude that bat an eyelash at her.

"That's not weird? f*****g your own kids?"

"They are inside the uterus, not the vagina."

"They come out the v****a. You're not scared you're going to break her water?"

"It's healthy to have s*x during a pregnancy. Semen supposedly helps with giving birth. It helps soften the cervix, making it easier for the water to break." I say, hearing my phone go off. I look over, seeing Maya FaceTime me. She was supposed to be at daycare, so why she had her phone, I don't know.

"I might have to test that theory out." He winks at me, causing me to throw the nearest thing I could find (which was a pen, but it could have been a stapler) at him. "Not with Sophia."

He makes another sarcastic remark after that as I answer Maya's phone call.

Immediately, all I hear are little kids laughing and talking. "Hey, what's wrong?"

"Daddy! You forgot to pack my lunch!" Maya's voice is panicky as I think back. I clearly remember packing her a lunch. She came into the kitchen while I was making and ate grapes. I finished it and put her lunch bag on the counter before running to go get my phone.

Shit.

I left it on the counter.

"There's no food there?"

"No, Ms. Amanda says we have to pack our own lunches, remember?" She said, looking over the camera to wherever. She slouches down even further in the corner before bringing her attention back to me.

"I'll bring you something."

"Okay. Can I have subway and cherries?"

"You can have whatever I get." I say before we say our goodbyes. I inwardly groan as I realize I forgot to give Maya her lunch. I also needed to complete a s**t ton of work so I really had no time to just leave.

"I can do it, if you want."

"No, it's fine. I just have to review and sign off on the Matzoki files."

"Matzoki? We signed off on those two weeks ago. Those were the files I was looking for. Those need to be shredded because we made a new contract.. remember?" Chance looks at me sideways as I sigh. I do remember a very vague conversation between Chance and I about the deal.

"So Which deals were left?"

"Nothing really, we are trying to get a meeting with the Matthew's. Besides that, everything is running smoothly. We need to go check on the secondary building sometime this week though." Chance said and something about that sounded familiar. I couldn't quite put my finger on it.

"Then why am i here?"

"I told you that you could work from home. You're the one who came in." Chance reminded me as I roll my eyes. "You want to take lunch?"

"Depends. Do I get to see Sophia?"

"No, asshole."

"I'm fine here then," Chance says, but gets up nonetheless. He closes his laptop before slipping it into his case. I do the same with mine, grabbing the charger since I know I won't be coming back today.

"I'm going to drop off Maya's food to her daycare first."

-

After what was supposed to be dropping off Maya's food which ultimately turned into picking her up, Chance, Maya, and I went to Sophia's apartment. That's where she was for the day, cleaning out her spare bedroom.

She invited us in and I set her food on the coffee table.

"Hey. I've been cleaning all day."

"You should stop, you don't wanna stress the babies."

"Sophia! Guess what daddy did today!" Maya exclaims, running towards Sophia. She clutched Sophia's legs as Chance took a seat. I groaned as I kissed Sophia's cheek. She smiles at me as Chance immaturely gags.

"What did he do?"

"He forgot to pack my lunch!"

"What?" Sophia acts surprised while shooting me a fake glared. Maya nods harshly before shaking her head. "This is why you should pack my lunches." She says, pulling apart.

"Can I have a water bottle, please?I drunk all of my lemonade."  Maya asks. Sophia nods, pointing at a opened package of water bottles. Only one water bottle was missing.

"How was everybody's day?" Sophia asks as she grabbed her food. She takes a seat on the love seat that sat next to the couch.

"Besides Alex forgetting his daughters lunch and him redoing paperwork that was done two weeks ago, it was alright. You?"

"It was fine. Crissy came over earlier and apologized. She bought me a ton of snacks and water." She mumbles, taking a bite of the sandwich.

"Something seems sketchy about that." Chance says as the same time as I say, "I don't trust her."

"I guess. She didn't stay for long. She just took one of the waters and le-"

"Sophia!" Maya screams at the top of her lungs, "Why is the water so spicy?" She cries. Immediately I spring up, seeing her begin to panic.

"What do you mean?" Sophia stands up, as well as Chance. I hold Maya while grabbing the water bottle. She took a large gulp of it. Chance passes me his drink, to cool her off as he inspects the water bottle. Chance himself takes a swing of it before spitting it out.

"What the f**k?" Chance roars, almost frightening me. His voice got ten times deeper and he looked like he was going to spit the water out.

"Did you have one of these?" He asks Sophia, she shakes her head no, quickly. I see her disappear and she returns not even a minute later with the ice tray.

"What is it?" I ask, seeing him close the bottle and going to grab another bottle. He opens it and takes a swing as Sophia gives Maya a ice cube to suck on.

"Straight vodka!"

"What?" Sophia and I both question. Maya downs the drink and sucks on the ice as I grab the bottle from Chance. I take a small sip. Indeed, it was vodka.

"Crissy bought this over?" I immediately ask, seeing Sophia nod.

Now, I was outraged. Not only did Crissy attempt to get a woman who was pregnant to drink straight vodka without knowing, but she also had my three year old daughter drink it — thinking it was water. I already didn't like Crissy but this threw me over the edge.

"Sophia, don't even speak to her anymore. She tried to get you to drink straight vodka while you are pregnant. Now, Maya has taken a arguable large amount of Vodka because Crissy thought it was cool to disguise it as water. I don't care if she's apologized but there's something wrong with her." I almost yell at Sophia, extremely angry. Next time s**t like this happens, I'm calling the police.

"I didn't know." Sophia frowns as Maya finally calms down, no longer complaining about the spicy water. "I know but Crissy did." I say, lookin at Sophia. She had a protective hand around her stomach as she stared at the water bottles.

"There's something wrong with her." Chance grumbles, taking the whole case of vodka filled bottle to the kitchen.

"Why did Crissy make the water spicy?" Maya questions, sucking on another ice cube.

I shrug before picking her up.

"We are going back to my place where I can guarantee there are no vodka filled bottles." I announced, grabbing Sophia's food and Maya's hand before anyone can protest.

Chance is right behind us as Sophia slips into her shoes and grabs her car keys and Maya slips out with her bookbag.

"Maya, can you go lay down or something?"

"Can you go lay down or something?" She mocks me, smiling while she hopped from spot to spot.

"Maya." I say, dragging her name out.

"Maya." She mocks again, this time throwing a piece of popcorn in her mouth. She stood in her matching Mickey Mouse pajama set while I stood in my gym shorts. She smiled crookedly at me as she waited for me to speak again. Instead, I pinched the bridge of my nose.

Sophia fell asleep a hour ago and ever since then, Maya decided she was bored. All Maya did for the last hour was hop from couch to couch and room to room while caring around a bag of white cheddar popcorn. Sophia had braided her hair into two braids before she had fallen asleep, so Maya's hair was out of her face.

"Daddy, why can't we do something fun?"

"What do you wanna do?"

"Disney world! Like how you said if we won the championship, we could go. We still haven't went." She remarks, shoving a fistful of popcorn in her mouth. I begin to argue back at her but knowing she was just bored, I decided not to. We can go in like March.

I told Maya and she immediately began swelling about how excited she was.

"Wait, are the babies gonna be here by then?"

"Hopefully not."

"What do you mean 'hopefully not'? You don't want our babies?"

"If they come in March then they won't be fully grown."

"How aren't they fully grown? I'm not fully grown and I have already came."

"I mean it has to grow into a baby." I correct myself, seeing as Maya roll her eyes.

"You know I've watched the Rugrats movie before, right? I know you just pick which ever babies you want."

"Then why does Sophia's stomach get big?" I immaturely retort. Maya's steps up, already ready with a reply.

"Because that means she wants a baby. Duh. Her stomach got really big so that just means she wants two babies." Maya says with a big smile as she rolls the popcorn bag up and tucks it under her arm. She triumphantly walks away to the kitchen, leaving me shaking my head.

"Alright Maya, for real. It's time to go lay down. Go in your room and watch something."

"Fine, father. I love you." She stands on her tippy toes in a attempt to give me a goodnight kiss. I pick her up, kissing her hair.

Her small hands grip my face before she laughs. "Daddy, you need to shave. You feel like a cactus." She says as I put her down.

"Yeah yeah. Goodnight love bug." I say as she runs off to her room. I turn the light off before heading upstairs.

Sophia is already sleeping in my bed, so I simply slide into the spot next to her, kissing her forehead goodnight.

-

"Daddy?"

I heard a small voice repeating 'Daddy' now, was it a dream or was it reality? When I felt my body being tapped, I realized it was reality. My eyes fluttered open only to be met with Maya's teary ones. I was immediately on alert upon this sight of her. I sat up, looking back to see Sophia sleeping peacefully. Her hand laid on her round stomach while the cover was in between her legs.

"What's wrong?" I asked my daughter. She sniffed while I rubbed my sleepy eyes.

Even in the darkness, I could see her face. Her hair was wild while the tears streamed down her chubby red cheeks. It looked like she had been crying for a few minutes now. I went in to hug her but she stepped back.

"Daddy, I wet the bed. I had a scary dream." She cried softly.

"Is that why you're crying?" I asked, grabbing my phone and standing up. I stretched before looking back down. Maya looked up at me, shaking her head. My eyebrows furrowed as I began to exit the bedroom to clean up her sheets.

She followed close behind before whispering.

"Well, yes that's why I'm crying but I don't want Sophia to know. I don't want her to know I wet the bed because then she's not going to hang out with me anymore. She's going to leave because she thinks I'm a baby."

"It's okay, muppet. Cmon. Hop in the shower real quick. Use a towel off the shelf. I'm going to change your sheets and get you some more clothes." I said, closing my bedroom door and turning the hall light on. She nodded before walking towards the bathroom. She stopped right in front of the door before turning back and looking at me.

The tears cleared from her eyes but now they were worried-filled. I raised my eyebrows, silently asking a question. She opened her mouth before closing it repeatedly.

"You're not going to tell Sophia, right? Daddy, I don't want her to know."

I put an imaginary lock on my lips, telling her silently that I wouldn't tell Sophia.

She nodded before pushing open the bathroom door and shutting it behind her.

I made my way towards the steps.

Maya really looked up to Sophia. She didn't want her to know that she had an accident because she didn't want Sophia to leave. Why would Sophia leave because of that? She had an accident, so what? It's not a big deal. Obviously, to Maya it was, since she didn't want Sophia to know but I know that even if I did tell Sophia, she wouldn't care. She definitely wouldn't leave. She'd probably help clean up.

Maya loves Sophia. She asked me if Sophia was her real mom, even though I know she knows it Leah. I have repeatedly told her it's Leah. She just doesn't believe me, simply because of the fact that she hadn't met Leah.

I couldn't blame her, if I never met my mom and there was a female who became a constant in my father's life I would question too.

Only problem is I don't want to take credit away from Leah. Sure, she left Maya on my door step only to never be seen again. Maybe she tricked me into giving her a child, but at the end of the day she did go through the pregnancy and have Maya cut out of her.

I made my way down the stairs, across the living room, and into Maya's bedroom. The light was off but the nightlife wasn't. The small blue light illuminated the corner of the room near her bed. I threw the pillows onto the floor and stripped the bed of its sheets. I put the sheets next to the door before grabbing a new pack of sheets out the dresser. I quickly replaced the spoiled sheets with new ones and I got out some new pajamas for Maya.

I grabbed her clean underwear, basketball shorts, and a T-shirt. I grabbed her oatmeal lotion, placing it on top of the pile. I tucked the pile under my arms and picked up the spoiled sheets. As I walked up the stairs, I heard Maya singing slightly. I opened the laundry closet and tossed the sheets and her wet clothes into the washer, turning it on, before closing the closet.

I knocked gently on the bathroom door.

"Come in!" Maya said, almost quietly. I pushed open the door, seeing a little steam come from behind the shower curtains. I placed the pile on the sink while Maya stuck her head out.

"Thank you, Daddy." She said,m. The shower went off right before I said 'you're welcome.'.

I grabbed the towel off the shelf and passed it to her. I picked at my nail as she stepped out the shower. I looked up, seeing the fluffy blue towel was wrapped around her body.

"Did you being my oatmeal?"

"Right here." I smiled, passing the lotion to her. I stood, turning to return to my room. Just as I hit the door, Maya spoke again.

"C-can I sleep in your room tonight? With you and Sophia and the babies? I don't want to sleep in my room again."

"Yeah. Cmon and get dressed."

I decided to help her get dressed so we could speed this process up a little. She stepped into the shorts and pulled the shirt over her head. We lathered lotion up on her and then she put a little on her face.

I picked her up, threw the towel over the door and grabbed the lotion. I carried her to my bedroom, where Sophia was laying peacefully. I turned the hall light off and enter my bedroom. I placed her lotion on my dresser before laying on my bed with her on top of me. She gave me a kiss on the cheek before laying on my chest.

"I'm cold, Daddy."

I pulled the cover up and wrapped a arm around her. She lazily put her leg next to me.

"Goodnight Princess." I said, looking down at the curls in my face. Her body shifted as she whispered a "Goodnight Daddy. I love you."

She was already still tired, so when she yawned I knew she was about to fall asleep.

"And I love you more." I whispered.