McGarry House of Hell
Part 1
CJ stood in the doorway to the bedroom, staring at Leo on the
bed. "I just want you to know that
we're never having anymore children," she said over Arianna's angry
howling. "YOU take her -- she won't
stop crying!"
Leo sighed and took his daughter into his arms. She only cried louder. He patted the bed next to him and CJ
collapsed for a few minutes.
"CJ, the fact that you had your tubes tied when she was born
kind of lessens the chances of us having more kids." he pointed out,
loudly over the screams of their 3-month-old daughter.
"Yeah, whatever. I'm
going to finish getting dinner ready, Michelle has a class tonight." she
kissed Leo and the baby before heading downstairs.
Leo paced the room for a while trying to calm down Arianna. She was, by far, much more difficult than the
other two kids had been. At least in his
opinion she was much harder to handle than Pat and CJ always said Rose was a
dream baby.
Arianna screamed until she
was purple in the face, and Leo finally laid her down on the bed, and he
climbed up beside her. She slowly calmed
down to a minor fussing, which had CJ flying up the stairs to see what he'd
done to shut her up. "Leo,
what...?" she finally said.
He shrugged. "I have
no idea -- she was turning funny colors, and I set her down, and she just...
stopped."
"Funny colors?" asked CJ.
"Yeah, from screaming, you know, like Josh gets
sometimes." explained Leo with a smile.
"Well, whatever. It
worked. Dinner's almost ready."
By that time Ari was gurgling softly and kicking her feet against
Leo. CJ went downstairs shaking her head.
Leo turned to talk to his daughter. "You know, you're driving your mother
nuts. She's set to go back to work full
time next week and you're not helping the situation." He kissed her head and picked her up to take
her downstairs.
Rose and Pat were in the kitchen helping CJ get dinner on the
table when Leo came in and deposited Ari in the porta-crib in the corner of the
kitchen.
Ari smelled the food and
screamed to be fed herself. CJ sighed
and went to pick her up after serving the food up.
"Can't we take Ari back?" Pat asked. "We can take her back to the baby store
and get a new sister that doesn't yell..."
CJ sighed as Ari screamed even louder, before finally latching on
and nursing. Even though she was getting
just what she wanted, though, Ari kept trying to push away from CJ, which was
making it very difficult for CJ to keep from crying.
"Leo, I don't think I can do this. I've had little sleep in the past few weeks;
I'm supposed to go back to work full-time next week. What if I can't do it?"
"You can. We will
figure something out." he said feeding her a forkful of casserole.
"Daddy, can I draw." yelled Pat as he jumped on the
couch, nearly on top of Ari who was almost asleep. Well, not anymore.
"Sure Pat, go in the kitchen."
Ari's cries were enough to send CJ over the edge. Leo took the baby as CJ's tears started. "Go take a bath, I'll get the kids ready
for bed."
He took Ari back into the kitchen to find Pat. Pat was just finishing up his drawing. He was showing great artistic ability for a
child of his age.
"That's great," he said to Pat as he admired his latest
work. "Hang it on the fridge and
let's take a bath. Rose, half an hour of
TV and then come upstairs."
"OK, Dad."
Leo gave Pat a bath and got Ari settled down in the bouncy seat.
"Okay, little man, go get yourself into your pajamas, and get
in bed," Leo instructed. "I'll
be in to tuck you in a few minutes, I promise."
"'Kay," Pat replied, streaking his way into his bedroom
to get into his pj's.
Leo laughed and went to check on Rose. "Sweetheart, time to get ready for
bed," he said.
"The show will be over in five minutes," Rose grumbled.
"Okay, as soon as the show's over," Leo stipulated
firmly.
"Okay..."
Leo went to check on CJ, who was sound asleep in the tub. Smiling, he kissed her gently on the
forehead, and then went to make a phone call.
"White House Residence..."
"Hey, Coop, lemme talk to the President, please," Leo
said, waiting patiently.
"Leo, what a surprise -- the family man cometh?"
"Very funny, Jed."
"Jed? This must be
serious..."
"It is."
"What's wrong?"
"We're going to need to scale back CJ's duties at work
dramatically, at least for a while."
"Why? What's
wrong?"
"Ari's being difficult -- CJ hasn't been able to sleep, the
baby cries all the time when she's being held or fed or anything, and CJ's just
running on full tilt."
"Have you taken Ari to the doctor?"
"Yeah, there's nothing wrong with her physically -- she just,
I guess, doesn't like being touched."
"You want me to have Abbey call her?"
"Yeah, I think maybe that would be a good idea."
"No problem. We'll sit
down tomorrow and talk about how to make things easier on CJ. You get some sleep yourself, Leo."
"I will. Thanks,
Jed."
"You're welcome. Good
night."
"Good night," Leo sighed, hanging up the phone and
rubbing his eyes. He went into Pat's
room, tucked him in, and groaned inwardly at the thought of trying to get
Arianna into her pajamas and into bed for the night.
Bucking up, he very gently picked her up out of the bouncy seat
and she opened her eyes briefly, snorted, and went back to sleep. Sighing in relief, Leo changed her diaper and
got her into her pj's, and into bed, under the covers.
When he went back into the bedroom, CJ was getting dried off.
"Why didn't you tell me I fell asleep," she mumbled,
wrapping a towel around her wet hair.
"Are the kids..."
"The kids are in bed, even Ari," he assured her, kissing
her on the cheek. "Relax,
sweetheart, and get some sleep."
"How did you manage that?" she asked, grateful that he
had gotten her to bed but a little put off that Ari seemed to respond better to
Leo.
"I don't know. She
fell asleep in the bouncy seat and I managed to put on her pj's without waking
her up. Why don't you go to bed? I'll get up with her later, there's plenty of
bottles you pumped in the freezer."
She sighed and reached for
her nightshirt. "Okay, yeah,
whatever -- I just want to sleep for a year..."
"Maybe not a year," Leo said with a smile. "Will a whole night do?"
"Yeah," she sighed, heading out to the bed and sinking
onto it with a tired moan.
Leo went to the kids' bathroom and threw the dirty clothes in the
hamper, wiped off the counter and recapped the toothpaste. He went into the master bathroom and changed
into his own pajamas. Part of him wanted
to just crawl into bed too but he remembered the stack of files that were
waiting for him in his briefcase.
Dragging himself down the stairs he resigned himself to spending the
next few hours reading.
About an hour later, Ari woke up and started screaming. Leo grabbed a bottle and stumbled back up the
stairs. Pat was sitting up in bed,
crying, too, so Leo picked Ari up and plugged the bottle into her mouth, and
sent Pat into the big bedroom with CJ.
Ari didn't want the bottle, and went right on screaming angrily.
Rose came in and said, "Am I too young to move out?"
"Yep, but I'll take her downstairs to feed her. You can go sleep with Pat and Mommy, if you
want."
"No thanks." muttered Rose as she headed back for her
own bedroom.
Leo stood up and carried a screaming Ari back down to the living
room. She was obviously hungry but not at all interested in being held. He propped her up in the corner of the couch
and fed her that way, not holding her at all, just holding the bottle up for her. It seemed to work and she did finish the
bottle, dropping off to sleep when she was through.
Leo sighed and let her stay there.
He finished his reading, or rather, finished enough of his reading to go
to bed for the night. He picked Ari up
and she immediately woke up and started screaming.
CJ flew downstairs in a flash, scooping Ari up, and making the
screaming worse.
As CJ's own tears of frustration started Leo took the baby back
from her and wordlessly sent her back to bed.
He dragged the porta crib into the living room and put her in it. She calmed down from completely frantic to
merely agitated within a few minutes. He
grabbed a pillow and blanket from the hall closet, settling himself down on the
couch for the night.
CJ came downstairs a few minutes later, an overnight bag in hand,
and grabbed her purse. "I'll be
back," she promised as she walked out, not allowing Leo a chance to even
say a word.
A minute later Michelle walked in the front door.
"Was that CJ driving off at this hour?" she asked as she
dropped her bookbag by the front door.
"Yeah, the baby's been fussy tonight and I think she just had
enough."
"You want me to do anything before I go to bed?" she
asked.
"No, we're fine. Don't
worry about it."
Michelle shrugged her shoulders and went through the kitchen to
her room.
Twenty minutes later Jed called to say CJ was there and not to
worry.
"Don't worry? Easy for
him to say." muttered Leo to himself as he hung up the phone.
Ari gurgled contentedly
from her port-a-crib, and Leo sighed as he bedded down for the night.
CJ curled up under the covers in one of the bedrooms in the
residence, and tried not to cry anymore than she already had. She managed to get 6 straight hours sleep for
the first time since Arianna was born. Unfortunately 6 straight hours did have its
price and she woke up in serious need of the breast pump. Which she had somehow managed to remember to
bring with her.
Abbey came in as she was finishing, and said, "Leo called a
while ago, asking if you remembered the pump."
"Yeah," CJ replied, holding up the offending hunk of
plastic. "Don't ask me how, but I
did."
Abbey chuckled. "Can I
sit down?"
CJ nodded as she tucked her things away in the bag again. "What's up?"
"Leo's worried about you."
CJ sighed. "I
know."
"You want to talk about it?"
"I guess so." said CJ as she rubbed her eyes tiredly.
"OK, how about you grab a shower and meet me in the
kitchen. I'll take this," she said
reaching for the bottle of milk.
"Sounds good. Thanks Abbey."
"You are more than welcome."
CJ smiled a little, and got
dressed after Abbey left. When she went
to the kitchen, Abbey was waiting with a plate of hot buttered toast with fresh
raspberry preserves. "What do you
want to drink? Milk? Juice?"
"Abbey, if I ever drink another glass of milk, it'll be too
soon," CJ sighed, sitting down.
"Orange juice okay, then?"
"Yeah..."
"So, what's wrong?" Abbey asked, getting the juice out
of the fridge.
"I don't know. Ari is
so fussy. The other two were never like
this. I've been watching what I eat, no
chocolate, no caffeine, no broccoli, no onions but it doesn't seem to be
helping." she groaned as she reached for some toast.
"What does the pediatrician say?"
"She couldn't find anything wrong with her. Just a high-need infant. And I'm scheduled to come back full time next
week. I don't think I can do it."
sighed CJ.
Abbey nodded. "I'm
sure Leo and Jed will work something out," she said quietly. "Meanwhile, I'm going to contact a
couple of people, and see what's what, and you're going to get some rest."
"I can't rest -- I have three children, under the age of
ten," CJ sighed.
"CJ, you have to rest and you have to eat," Abbey said
as she pushed the plate of food closer to CJ.
"I know." whispered CJ.
"Have you considered hiring more help at home?'
"No, Michelle is fine.
She's a huge help with Rose and Pat.
I don't want to hire someone just to take care of the baby."
"Why not?" asked Abbey, trying to coax some information
out of CJ.
"Cause that would make me feel like a total failure."
"You are not a failure at all, let alone a total
failure," Abbey scolded. "Look
at yourself, CJ -- you have three beautiful children, a wonderful husband who
loves you to the point of worship, a happy home life, a good, steady job,
friends who love you, and there is nothing there to point you out as a
failure."
"Except my youngest seems to hate me." muttered CJ
bitterly.
"Honey, I know this isn't the best suggestion and some groups
would have my head if they heard me say this, but have you thought about
weaning the baby? You could always pump
if you don't want to use formula. I just
think it would be easier if other people could feed her regularly. Or if you don't want to wean her completely,
start setting aside certain feedings for her to get the bottle. Try and get her on some kind of schedule. It will be better all around."
"I've thought about weaning her, but I'm just not ready. She's my last child and I'm not ready to give
up nursing."
"That's fine. Then
work on the schedule and start having Michelle give her a bottle during the
day. Keep pumping to keep up the
supply. Let Leo get up in the middle of
the night. He doesn't need much
sleep." she said with a grin.
"True." smiled CJ.
Abbey put her arm around CJ's shoulder and hugged her. "I know it's hard, but things will work
out just fine, you know."
"Yeah," CJ sighed.
"Sure they will..."
"They will," said Leo softly from the doorway.
Abbey got up to leave them alone.
She patted Leo on the arm as she passed by him.
"Hi. You get some
sleep?" asked Leo as he kissed her forehead.
"Yeah, look, I'm sorry for running out like that last
night."
"You have nothing to apologize for, sweetie."
"Thanks" said CJ with a weary smile.
"You get some rest?" he asked softly.
"Yeah... where're the kids?"
"Michelle's taking Rose to school and she's going to take Pat
and Ari to the park. At least while
they're there, it's okay to let Ari scream like a little monster."
CJ grinned.
"I'm heading to my office, you go home and go back to
bed." he said as he grabbed the last piece of toast.
"I'll walk with you. I
need to grab a few things out of my office before I go."
"An hour CJ," warned Leo with a smile. "If you aren't out of here in one hour
I'm having the Secret Service drag you out."
"Yes, sir" she smirked.
"No siring me," he growled, kissing her. "You know
how I hate that."
"Yes, I do," she said with a smile. "I'll see you later," she promised,
kissing him.
An hour later CJ let herself in the front door of their
townhouse. Michelle and the kids were
still at the park. She made a cup of tea and read the paper while CNN played in
the background.
She heard the sounds of little footsteps on the landing about 45
minutes later. Pat bounded in the front
door and landed in her lap. He babbled
on and on about the trip to the park while Michelle put a sleeping Ari into the
porta crib and went to start some laundry.
CJ and Pat cuddled on the couch until Ari started to fuss. Pat slid off her lap and looked at the baby
with a scowl. "I'm going to play in
my room." he declared as he went up the stairs.
"OK, kiddo, let's try something," muttered CJ as she
picked Ari up. She took her upstairs and
settled her down in the middle of the big bed.
CJ unbuttoned her shirt and lay down next to the baby. She propped Ari up on her side and settled
herself down on her side, propping her head up on her hand. She managed to feed the baby that way,
without holding her in her arms. Ari
seemed to be ok with it, for the moment, at least.
With a sigh of relief, CJ lay down and dozed off. She awoke to Pat's little voice, scolding
Ari. "No, no!" he said. "Don't pull mommy's necklace!"
"Pat, it's okay," CJ mumbled, opening her eyes. "You want a snack?"