Alt Universe: If Skye died before the reunion
To say he felt better after getting that sleep would understate how he still felt. He was still exhausted. Even a day’s worth of sleep wasn’t enough. He’d hardly been sleeping for weeks, which only made the darkness in his head stronger. His gaze met Jess as she asked how he slept. ”Fine, I guess.” Truthfully, he didn’t remember the last time he slept that long or that deeply, but not much could seem more than just fine in his mind.
Then, as Jess began to move some papers aside, Kai looked around the room. Apparently Jess had been shopping while he was asleep. Baby stuff, diapers, formula. All stuff that he didn’t have for Scarlet, or would’ve been out of within another day. But there was no sign of Scarlet. Though, Jess must’ve been able to guess that she was what he was looking for, as she then said that Scarlet was asleep in Jess’s room. He gave a slight nod, before walking over to Jess’s bedroom, quietly opening the door just enough to where he could see her and hopefully not disturb her.
He didn’t know how long he had been standing there, looking at his baby girl peacefully asleep, but his attention was finally pulled away by Jess. “I know you want to keep watching her Kai, you need to eat.” He was hesitant. He wanted to stay with her, take in every moment like it’s the last memory he’ll have of her. However, the look on Jess’s face said she wasn’t taking no for an answer, so he carefully closed the bedroom door again and followed her to the table where she had set food out. He didn’t deserve all of this. Her taking care of him, taking care of his daughter for him. He still didn’t fully understand why she let him in and didn’t kick him out in the first place.
He touched the fork, but made no further movement to actually eat the food in front of him. He had hardly eaten anything the day before. It had certainly been a full day at least since he had eaten, but he had no desire to actually eat. He knew he was supposed to eat, and Jess knew he needed to eat, so she eventually stated, “For every bite, I’ll let you ask me a question about me and your daughter adventure today… and bloody trust me we got into some trouble together. She had the hardest time choosing if she liked the pink sundress or the orange one.”
Kai gave a weak attempt at a smile to Jess’s lighthearted comment about her and Scarlet getting into trouble and that Scarlet couldn’t pick between pink and orange. ”Why did you do, and get, so much for her?” he asked, referring to the amount of baby things newly scattered throughout the apartment. Diapers, formula, maybe even a couple changes of outfits, that made sense. Kai didn’t bring much with him for her, just enough for a couple days, and a single bottle that he had to clean out every time he fed her. But this was far more than that.
He watched Jess respond with no more than a smile, taking a bite of her own food as she looked at his. He hadn’t touched it yet. He didn’t necessarily want to, but he slowly began to take a bite.
“Well darling - I started with the basic necessities. And then, as I was getting some diapers, I saw some more cute stuff and I couldn’t help myself”
“How was she? Out, or just, while I was asleep?”
“Well, she’s a baby. So I can’t blame her if she wanted to be fussy all the time. Personally, I’d be kinda annoyed too if I was trying to tell people I was hungry and eveeerrryyy one was just like Oh my god, you’re so cute . But to answer your question; it depended on the time of day. She was usually pretty good… well… except that one time…”
“What one time?”
“Oh nothing, this older grandmother wanted to hold her and I triiiieeeed to warn her that I just fed the baby, and bam, out came some of the milk alllll over that woman’s dress. Though technically. I’m pretty bloody sure someone was also going to call the cops on me at one point but that’s for a whole different reason… oh well.”
“The cops? Why?”
“Oh you know me. I always get myself into binds - this time it was because I didn’t know your daughter’s name and ohhhh was that a bloody mess because I’m 1. not her mom, and 2. not her nanny. You see the conundrum. It’s okay, I didn’t get kicked out. I chose to leave”
”Jess…”
“Hey, I call that partially your fault. You never told me her name and I can only call her “Nugget” for so long. Or “Rolls” because… well I mean you’ve seen them, she has the most adorable rolls.”
“Oh…” he paused before finally telling Jess his daughter’s name. “Scarlet. Her name is Scarlet… just… just like her mom wanted…”
“Tell me about her. Scarlet’s mom.”
“She… she was one of the best people I’ve ever known… my best friend … she was kind, sure of herself but shy, and… her nose would crinkle when she was upset… just like Scarlet…”
“So that’s where scarlet gets her nose crinkle huh? I knew she had your eyes anddd. But that temper of hers and the nose - had to be someone else’s.”
“From her mom…” he said, before adding in a quiet tone, nearly a whisper, “she… she would’ve loved Scarlet…”
His mind was beginning to spiral again, part of him trying to not break down. What was even the point? All he could do was put his head in his hands, with his elbows resting on the table, barely registering his barely touched plate of food. It could’ve been seconds for all Kai knew, but after a few moments, Jess spoke up again.
Come on now - you don’t want to know about the rest of me and Scarlet’s adventure? We did a lot. You don’t even know about the little boy baby in love with her.
”What all happened? Just… tell me everything…” he said, finally looking back towards her.
”Oh love, that’s not how this game works. If you want me to tell you everything, then you finish your entire plate. If you want to ask me one question at a time. that’ll be a bite. So come on, back to eating we go.”
@benitz786 - Jess (aka the girl trying to get Kai to eat)