The Next Stage - 42. Time for a Nanny

“Where have you been?” seems to be Jasper’s new greeting for Leo these days, and with good reason.

“Kevin and I took a holiday to Bali for a fortnight. Does Ryan know you stole another baby?” Leo asks with a smile as he points to the infant Jasper is nursing.

Jasper rolls his eyes and steps out of the way of the door. “Is Kevin with you?” he asks, looking past Leo.

“No.” Leo shrugs, walking in past Jasper. “He went home. Felt really weird to fly home without him, actually.”

“Everything good with you two?”

“So good. Honestly, it’s like God had the foresight to make me the perfect man.” Leo grins, turning back to Jasper.

“If you believe what people think, I highly doubt God’ intention was to make you a porn star boyfriend that has the perpetual age appearance of a 19-year-old.” Jasper says in such a dull tone he has to force the most genuine smile he can to soften himself.

“If Kevin isn’t a gift from God, then I guess I should stop crediting him so much during sex, right?” Leo jokes. “Seriously, did you adopt another baby?”

Jasper gives a lamenting sigh, looking down at the sweet sleeping baby in his arms. “You missed a pretty intense fortnight.” It’s not that Jasper wants Leo to feel bad for living his life, but he’d gotten used to having Leo there as support. Him going MIA and not being contactable had a pretty bad effect on Jasper’s ability to cope with this latest problem.

The day after giving birth, Beth discharged herself against medical advice and disappeared. It was only 14 hours before she returned to the hospital in an absolute state, but that 14 hours Jasper had been absolutely frantic and no one could calm him. He’d been the one to find her sitting in a church back in their hometown two hours away. Hunched over a pew and crying in pain, blood from busted stitches soaking her shirt. She’d still tried to fight him from taking her home. She pushed Jasper hard enough to have him trip over a pew, luckily not breaking anything, but his bad wrist has been sore from bracing himself as he fell to the floor. It took her passing out from the pain before he and Ryan could call her an ambulance.

The trauma of the day couldn’t even end with knowing Beth was back in the care of medical professionals, because now her baby’s safety was in question. They’d discussed it the whole way home, that they didn’t want to lose Beth from their lives, but this baby wouldn’t be growing up in the foster system. It was gutting to have to talk about the reality of ‘if we take this child home, we may never see Beth again’, as something they were making peace with.

In the end, the baby wasn’t able to go home anyway, due to some complications with low blood sugars leading to seizures during the first week. And in that time, Jasper arranged for her as much mental health support as he possibly could. By the end of the baby’s second week of life, they finally met each other. The moment wasn’t special. Beth didn’t have the movie style emotional and maternal reaction they were hoping for, but she did express heartache at the thought of abandoning her child, an event she doesn’t even remember.

As soon as bub was healthy enough to leave, albeit with bi-daily pediatric appointments to ensure her blood sugars aren’t dropping and she’s gaining enough weight, Beth agreed to move in with Jasper and Ryan. The day after they got home, when the baby wouldn’t settle, Jasper had gone in to offer her some help and found Beth sitting in a numb state, just staring at the screaming child on her bed.

She’d looked at Jasper and told him she didn’t want to be here.

And that’s why Jasper is cradling the baby now. Beth was admitted to a mental health hospital specializing in birth trauma, post-natal depression, and grief.

Three kids under three. Jasper is coping by default, because if he falls apart, then everything will be truly fucked.

And throughout all of that, he’d managed to avoid the temptation of drinking. Even with Leo being too wound up in his own life to offer a single piece of support. But he’s here now, and damned if Jasper isn’t going to take full advantage of it.

Especially when Leo offers it.

“Okay, I have no idea what’s going on, but you look dead inside. Have you showered or eaten today?” he asks, concern on his face as he sweeps his eyes down and back up Jasper’s body.

“Not for at least the last 43 hours.” Jasper replies, still monotone.

“Give me the baby.” Leo demands.

“Jazzy and Elijah are sleeping in their room too.” Jasper tells him.

“Don’t you dare rush, alright. If you’re down here in less than 10 minutes, I’ll leave the country again, alright?”

Jasper doesn’t need to be told twice. He hands over the baby and sluggishly heads upstairs to stand under the hot shower and remind his body he’s alive.

There’s a fresh cup of tea made for him when he returns, 11 minutes later. Leo’s sitting cross-legged on the floor with the baby in his lap, while he folds washing and if Jasper wasn’t married, he’d propose to Leo on the spot.

“Can I hang out a load of washing while you’re here?” Jasper asks.

“Of course. There’s pizza on the way too.” Leo replies.

“I’m in the market for a second husband.” Jasper replies, and Leo gives him a smirk.

“Uh-huh. I’m sure Ryan would share you.”

“You can be my husband when he’s at work.” Jasper suggests, before realizing how bad that sounds. He heads off to get on with the housework, because this help is rare and likely fleeting.

Leo insists on Jasper sitting, in Leo’s words, sitting “your poor ass down,” as soon as Jasper is back inside. The baby is crying, but Leo’s working out the bottle situation. He’s shaking the bottle as he strolls to the door to accept the pizza and before Jasper knows it he’s got a whole box of pizza on his lap, a cup of tea by one side and a man feeding a baby on the other side of him.

For just a moment, he allows himself to feel relaxed.

“What time is Ryan getting home?” Leo asks gently, like he’s worried the question might set something off.

Jasper sighs, checking the time on his phone. “Another hour.” After a bite of pizza, Jasper continues. “He can’t afford to skip a day, because the show opens like, next weekend or something and they are doing dress rehearsals. He’d be here if he could, but this wasn’t exactly in our plans.”

**** 

“Hey. Good job today.” Elliott’s compliment actually sounds like it’s genuine today, which is a nice, confusing change.

Still, Ryan keeps his reply minimal. “Thanks.”

“I’m serious. You’ve not been your usual self lately, but today you were flawless. Your dancing was pretty good too.” Elliott winks as he makes a point of glancing down at the golden shorts Ryan’s wearing. “Are you getting nervous about opening night?”

“No. I’m excited.” Ryan shrugs, trying not to shift uncomfortably under Elliott’s distracted gaze.

His eyes finally leaving Ryan’s crotch, Elliott gives an amused hum. “It’s interesting that you like it. You were never the attention seeking one. Now look at you. Showing everything off. Is Jasper enjoying your shadow?”

There it is. Ryan had thought his kindness came out of nowhere.

“He’s my husband, not my competition.” Ryan comments.

“Sure. So, I guess he’s hyped that the promo photos for this show are coinciding with his album release? I'd wonder what will get more traction, but with you in those little gold pants I doubt it’ll be whatever he’s found to sing about this time.” Damien’s voice slips away as he leaves Ryan to mull over that point. He’d not even realized those two things were happening on the same day, but he’s certain if anything, his ass in sparkly gold pants will get lost under the onslaught of attention Jasper and Luke’s album will receive. Fans had been absolutely living for an Obsolete reunion, and though it wasn’t completely possible, they would never lose hope that if their support was loud enough, they would one day get to see the four living members take the stage together once more.

**** 

“Leo, hi.” Ryan frowns as he walks in the door to find Leo on the couch holding the baby, Jasmyn and Elijah both sitting on the floor in front of him watching cartoons.

Leo puts a finger to his lips and gestures to the couch beside him. Ryan steps closer and sees Jasper asleep beside Leo. A moment later Ryan’s phone buzzes with a text.

‘He’s just gone to sleep.’

‘If you’re hungry, there’s pizza in the fridge.’

Ryan smiles at his phone, texting back: ‘adding nanny to your resume?’

‘That’s personal nanny to you 😉 ‘

‘It’s good to have you back.’ Ryan replies, giving Leo a nod before heading upstairs for a quick shower while the kids are occupied.

Three kids are more manageable with three adults teaming up against them. While Jasper and Leo devour the left-over pizza, Ryan pretends he’s enjoying his lame excuse for a low carb meal with a side of protein shake and a multi-vitamin. Ryan takes over parenting as soon as he hears Jasper and Leo get into the discussion of his album release. Especially because Jasper is expressing disappointment in having not had a lot of time to build hype for it. Sure, he’d flung a few teasers into the world and his social media followers did most of the rest of the work, but he hadn’t actually planned an album release and now it’s only days away.

Leo helpfully suggests editing a song snippet and posting it, but Jasper is quick to remind him that with the kids it’s almost impossible to get anything done. As if needing to help prove his point, Jasmyn is climbing on him and shouting ‘dad’ in his face while he leans back, continuing his conversation like he’s barely aware of the kid on his lap. That’s when Ryan places a cup of tea in front of Jasper and swiftly hooks an arm around Jasmyn, whisking her away and declaring bath time.

“You look exhausted.” Leo comments when the kids are out of the room and Jasper’s tight shoulders relax.

“Honestly, it’s all a bit much right now.”

“How are you handling it?”

“I had a drink today.” Jasper admits with a sigh. “I understand why day-drinking is a housewife cliché now. It does seem to make the day easier.”

“Yeah. But you know how you get.” Leo gives an apologetic smile for bringing it up.

“I know. I just feel like I’m drowning in stress and that lightened it.”

“Does Ryan know?”

Guilt washes over Jasper’s face as he shakes his head. “He’d worry. And I know why, but also, I had one drink. Then nothing for the rest of the day. I even forgot about the drink a few times because I was so busy. He doesn’t need to worry about it, because one drink isn’t a relapse.” Jasper looks towards the stairs as Ryan marches down them with the baby wrapped up in a towel. Jasper reaches out for her with a loving smile on his face. “Is Jazzy finally in the bath?” he asks.

“Finally, yes. I’ve not had to ask someone to take their pants off that many times since you were a virgin.” Ryan says.

Leo spits his drink, laughing before high-fiving Ryan. “Nice.”

Ryan winks at Jasper, who is smirking but not taking the bait on this one. Instead, Jasper wanders off to dry and dress the baby.

By the time Jasper is heading back out to the lounge room, Ryan is coming downstairs with Jasmyn wrapped in a towel under one arm, and Elijah under the other. Both kids giggling like mad.

“Why do I have to hold the baby?” Leo asks as Jasper hands the baby to him.

Jasper gives a shrug. “Because you look cute holding a baby?” he flashes him a smile, heading into the bedroom to help Ryan dress their two.

“Babe,” Ryan says with a tone of hesitation while he’s dressing Elijah. “I completely forgot until someone reminded me today, but there’s going to be promo photos taken tomorrow for the show. Of me.”

“Of you?”

“Yeah.”

“That’s amazing. And when do I get to see these?”

“Saturday.”

“Tell me your ass is gonna be on a billboard?” Jasper flashes him a flirty smile.

Ryan laughs. “God, I hope not.”

“Why not? Afraid I’ll buy a billboard?”

Ryan smiles, then looks away guiltily. “You know that’s the day your new album is coming out, right? I didn’t choose when the promos would start. I’m really sorry...”

Jasper shuts him up with a brief kiss. “Your ass and my album all on one day? The fans are going to lose their shi- their minds.” Jasper censors himself, turning back to his daughter. “Now, let's go see what Nanny Leo is doing on Saturday, because it sounds like your daddies are going to need some time to celebrate.”

“So. How long are you here for this time?” Ryan asks, sitting beside Leo on the couch.

“For the foreseeable future.” Leo answers before catching the look in Ryan’s eyes. “Why?”

“I hired him so he’s now obligated to ask if he can go on a spontaneous month-long overseas fuck session with his boyfriend.” Jasper whispers across them as he sits on the other side of Leo with an equally scheming glint in his eyes.

“Are you doing anything on Saturday night?” Ryan asks.

“Please be offering a threesome. Please be offering a threesome. Please be offering a threesome.” Leo chants under his breath.

“Not quite. We were thinking more. You keep these three alive, and we go upstairs and lock the bedroom door for a few hours.”

“A few hours?” Leo laughs at the bold suggestion. “Why is so much of my job just me covering for you two while you fuck?”