Baby Boy - 6

Nicki got off of work early for the annual back to school barbecue. Her friends were "breaking her in" to the parents club by making her and Safaree host it. It had been more than a week since she'd had her heart to heart with Safaree and things were starting to work out between them. He and Sahara had been spending every day at her house for the past week. 

"I'm home." She sang out as she dropped some bags at the door. She smiled at the sound of tiny footsteps running her way. 

"Mommy!" Sade laughed as she wrapped her arms around her mother's leg and her sister did the same.

"Wassup?" He nodded.

"Hey." She smiled still looking at the girls before turning her attention to him. "Can you get the pool out of the trunk?"

"You got a pool?" He watched the girls run into the living room as the theme song for Doc McStuffins began playing. 

"Yeah..." She smiled as she kicked off her shoes. "Just one of those blow up ones."

"You really excited?" He laughed as he picked up the bags at her feet. 

"Yes!" She laughed and followed him to the kitchen. "I forgot those plates."

"I got them. We been running around all day." He began taking things out of the bags and placing them on the counter. 

"Oh, I had just told Nadir to bring them."

"What?" He stopped what he was doing and looked at her as if she had grown two heads. 

"Yeah, is there a problem?" She asked confused as she started unpacking the bags. 

"Yeah, you being fucking pregnant with my kid and seeing this nigga." 

"Mommy!" Sade ran in and began pulling on the bottom of her dress.

"Unless that ain't my fucking kid or something?" He spat.

"Excuse me?" She took her eyes off of Sade and straight into his. He was hurt. "You thought I was just gonna stop seeing him? Just like that?"

"Mommy?" Sade whined. 

"He know you pregnant? With my kid?"

"Yes! Is it so hard to believe that-"

"Mommy! Pee pee!" Sade jumped up and down. Nicki's face instantly lit up as she quickly picked up Sade and ran her to the bathroom. When Safaree reached the bathroom with Sahara at his side, Nicki was jumping up and down.

"She's doing it!" Nicki clapped.

"Pee pee!" Sade screamed as her potty began singing. 

"She pee peed on the potty. She pee peed on the potty." Nicki grabbed Safaree's hand and encouraged him to dance as a smile spread across his face. Soon, the four of them were having a mini celebration in the bathroom. 

"Okay..." Nicki composed herself. "I'll clean her up and you can start seasoning the meat."

"Alright." He smiled. 

"Oh, Safaree." Her face was now serious and his face matched hers. "He doesn't have to come." With that being said she happily turned her attention back to Sade. "Come on, baby. Mommy's so proud." 

After getting both of the girls dressed in their party outfits, Nicki stepped into her room to make a phone call. She made sure to close the door behind herself for privacy. She didn't know how the call would go but she knew that it had the potential to be disastrous. 

"Hello?" She said smally.

"Hey. What's up?" He sounded happy to hear her voice.

"Oh, nothing. Um, listen... I don't need those plates and utensils." 

"Okay?" He said. "You sound weird."

"Oh, I don't need you at the barbecue either." She said casually.

He laughed, "Well, of course you don't need me there." 

"It's just... Safaree is gonna be here, and all his friends... I just think it'll be really awkward. We still have our lunch date tomorrow."

He sighed, "You know what? Let's cancel that."

"Why?" She asked even though she knew the answer.

"You're not really in this. I'm willing to take you and all your baggage but you-"

"Baggage?" She asked offended.

"C'mon, Nic... The jealous baby daddy with the crazy baby mama, you have a kid, you're pregnant... You got a lot going on, Ma."

"Yeah..." She agreed.

"I have a lot of fun with you. I like you."

"I like you, too."

"Look, when everything falls into place, if I don't wife a nice, wholesome Indian girl... Call me."

"Boy, you know what they say?" Nicki asked.

"What?" He laughed.

"Once you go Black..." She busted out laughing and he followed. 

"Imma be waiting on you, girl."

"Hey, Nadir?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks for showing me how much I'm really worth."

"You deserve the world, baby." He stated. "I'll holler at you later though."

"Goodbye, Nadir."

"Until next time, Nicki."

After hanging up, she held her phone close to her heart. She bit her lip as she relived what was probably the healthiest relationship she'd ever been in or seen. Even the break up was perfect. But perfect was never for her. Something in her needed love to be messy, passionate and painful; it needed to make her feel alive. Safaree was far from perfect but he was trying. When she opened her bedroom door and her eyes fell on him wrestling with the girls, her heart pulled her in their direction to do the same. 

"Alright, nig... Be safe." Safaree hit the top of the car and watched his friends pull off before taking a seat next to Nicki on the steps of her porch. 

"That was fun." She smiled.

"Yeah, who gone clean all that shit up though?"

"Put your bad ass kids to work."

He laughed, "So they can jump me? Everytime I yell at one, the other one starts going off on me."

Nicki laughed, "They stick together. I love that. I hope that never changes."

"Yeah." He nodded as they both let their thoughts of the future pull them away. "Yo, imagine how they gonna be when the baby comes."

"Sade already thinks she's somebody's mama." Nicki rolled her eyes thinking about how she treated her baby dolls like real babies and bossed everyone around.

"Can you believe they two?"

"Going on 22?" She laughed. "But I think we've done a good job so far." 

"And we'll do good with the next one."

She looked into his face and nodded. She had agreed to keep their child, and like Safaree promised, he was there for her everyday so far. Her family was upset with her for having another child by him but she couldn't fathom making any other decision now that she knew exactly what motherhood was about.

"Nadir broke up with me."

"Word?"

"Don't sound so sad." She rolled her eyes with a smirk.

"He wasn't the one."

"Oh, and you are?" She laughed and he shrugged. 

"You okay?"

"Yeah, it's not like I was madly in love with him."

"You wanted to be though." 

"Eh." She shrugged. She was as he pushed his brows together and watched a guard instantly be put up. She followed his eyes to the car that was creeping up the street with the lights off. 

"Yo, let's go in." He said. 

"Okay." As soon as they stood the car sped up and parked on the curb. The windows were tinted, preventing them from seeing inside. Misha hopped out and walked swiftly towards them.

"Really, Safaree?!" She said when he met her in the middle of the yard. Nicki sucked her teeth when she saw one of Misha's friends get out of the car and stand near it. 

"I don't want my fucking kid over there!" Safaree yelled in her face.

"You can't make that fucking decision! Where's my motherfucking daughter, bitch?!" Misha screamed.

"Chill with that bitch shit, yo." Safaree said.

"You think I won't call the fucking police on y'all?!" Misha looked back and forth between Nicki and Safaree. 

"Hold up." Nicki stepped forward. "I ain't got shit to do with this. If you want Sahara-"

"Shut the fuck up."

"She's drunk." Safaree said. "That's why I don't want my fucking daughter over there."

"Fuck you." Misha said. Nicki was shaking trying to keep her composure. "Go get my fucking baby, Nicki."

"No." Nicki said. 

"Oh, really bitch?"

"Misha, get the fuck outta here." Nicki said. The more she stood there, the more upset she became. She felt herself losing her senses and growing ill. She didn't have a good feeling about leaving Safaree though. 

"Come get her, Jay!" Safaree called to Misha's friend.

"Fuck no! Give her the baby!" Jay yelled. 

"Look, Misha." Safaree watched as Nicki put her hand on her temple and blinked as if she were trying to refocus her vision before speaking again. "Just come back in the morning and I'll have her stuff together."

"Fuck you!" Misha said before pushing Nicki. Without thinking, Nicki pushed her back. Just as Safaree jumped in between them, three more women got out of the car. 

"The fuck are you doing?!" Safaree yelled at Misha before feeling the sharp pain down his spine from being hit with a baseball bat. As soon as he turned to snatch the bat away, Misha took it upon herself to attack Nicki. 

Two days later Nicki sat up in her hospital bed watching Sade run around. She laughed as her mother failed to keep up with her. When Nicki's mom sat down and threw her arms up, Sade began hysterically laughing and slapping her leg. 

"What's wrong with the girl, Nicki?" Nicki's mother asked. 

"I'm still trying to figure out." Nicki laughed. All of their heads turned to the knocked at the door.

"Daddy!" Sade yelled as she hugged his legs.

"Hey, baby." He picked her up with his free arm and kissed her. 

"Hi, Safaree." Nicki's mother said as she approached him. 

"Hi." He watched as she took Sade from him.

"We're gonna go down to the play room."

"Bye, baby." Nicki blew a kiss to Sade and she blew one back. 

"Um, hi." Safaree said as he approached her bed. She continued to look out of the window. "I got you these flowers."

"Thanks." She refused to look at him. She was too pissed. 

"You look good." Misha hadn't left a visible mark on her. "Is the baby... You know..."

"They didn't tell you?" She looked at him and folded her lips. She looked as if she wanted to cry.

"No. They told me to talk to you." He huffed. "Yo, tell me my baby-"

"It's fine." She said. "But I have gestational diabetes. That's why I fainted." 

"What does that mean?"

She shrugged, "When they talk to me I just hear that Charlie Brown sound." She sighed. "If I don't get my sugar levels or whatever under control then I'll have to take insulin. It's a high risk pregnancy but we'll be fine as long as I excersise and watch what I eat." 

"So, Misha didn't hurt you or the baby?"

"I wish that bitch would have." She cut her eyes at him.

"Nic-"

"We just talked about this shit, Safaree!"

"I know. Look, I-" He sighed. "I went to her crib after work and she was high and drunk and some nigga was holding my fucking baby. Rah Rah's hair hadn't been combed in days, she smelled like piss..." He shook his head.

"Why didn't you tell me? Thats your problem. You're always being fucking sneaky and secretive. If you would've told me that I would had no problem with her staying with me."

"I know."

"I'm sitting here thinking that she's knows her kid is at my house when you fucking kidnapped her." 

"I didn't think I could kidnap my own child."

"Welp, your name isn't on her birth certificate so legally you kidnapped her."

"Misha's still in jail."

"I could've went to jail. If it wasn't for the fact that I'm pregnant, my daughter wouldn't have her fucking mother. Do you realize that, Safaree?" Because the paramedics could vouch for Nicki's claims of being pregnant, the police wrote the incident report as her defending herself and her unborn child.

"I know. I'm sorry."

"It's always some next level shit with you." She shook her head. "And I want my money back."

"Money?" He looked at her funny.

"Who do you think bailed you out?" She asked. "I was saving that money to move my kids into a nicer home, get them into better schools..."

"I got you."

"You don't got me. You've never had me." She said coldly. 

"I'm not trying to keep fucking up, Nicki!" He yelled. "I'm fucking trying! If you can't recognize that then fuck you! The other night was partially my fault, I get that. I own up to that. But you know I would never want no shit to pop off like that with you. I love you, girl! You know this."

Nicki stared straight ahead at the white wall as tears streamed down her face. The events of the past two days alone were overwhelming her. She quickly wiped her face when the nurse came to the door.

"Is everything okay, Ms. Maraj?"

"Yes." She forced a smile. "Everything is okay." 

"So..." He sat on the side of the bed and rubbed her thigh. "What do you want?"

"For everything to be okay. For real."