Phases
INVOLVED: Mercedes Jones, Samuel Evans, and Carter Evans TIME FRAME: Sunday, March 22, 2020 LOCATION: Jones-Evans Apartment; Atlanta, Georgia SUMMARY: Mercedes comes home from a little grocery shopping, having left Carter with Samuel for an hour or so. Samuel gave Mercedes money to deposit into their account and a spat arose between the two.
Mercedes moved through the front door, holding a few bags from the store and her purse on her shoulder. She huffed softly as she moved for the kitchen and sat the bags on the counter. Licking her lips, she called out, “baby, I’m back,” to Samuel. She had only been gone for an hour and thirty minutes as she promised. She had deposited the money Samuel asked her to and did a little grocery shopping. It felt good to actually get out of the house too. She had been in the hospital, then holed up in the house with Carter for the last few days. She loved it, of course she did, but a little fresh air and sunlight did her good.
Samuel was in their bed; the TV was on watching him at this point in time as he laid there on his back. His eyes were closed, hair in a bun and a sleeping Carter rested on his side nuzzled near Samuel’s chest. Samuel’s hand rested on the baby gently and he released a snore softly as they slept together. Somewhere in Carter’s room were two dirty diapers filled with so many wipes they wouldn’t close. Samuel had to change his shirt twice from the boy throwing up and those rested on the ground next to the bed. He didn’t even bother putting another back on. Carter was laying with him with just a diaper on and nothing more and there were empty bottles cascading the bed.
Mercedes slowly but surely began to unpack the groceries, putting them up as she listened intently to the silence in the apartment. It was quiet. Too quiet. As she finished putting up all of the groceries, she washed and dried her hands before she moved to investigate. She moved out into the living room, looking around slowly. Nothing out of the normal there. She then moved for Carter’s nursery, her face scrunching immediately at the sight of the dirty diapers. “What in the world…” she mumbled to herself as she collected them both, forcing them closed as best she could before she threw them in the diaper trash can in the room. She then moved to crack the window, letting the room air out some. She shook her head as she moved into the bathroom, washing her hands again. Carter hadn’t been in his crib, so he had to be in the bedroom with Samuel. Licking her lips, she dried her hands, pumping a bit of lotion into them and rubbing it in as he moved for their bedroom. She entered slowly, eying Samuel and Carter asleep in the bed. She knew Carter had to be freezing as he was laying there tucked under Samuel’s arm in nothing but a diaper. Sighing softly, Mercedes ran her hand down her face before she collected the bottles from the bed. “Sam…”
Samuel grumbled in his sleep and he subconsciously caressed their son’s stomach as they both slept. As Mercedes walked into the room and called his name, he woke up immediately looking down at their still sleeping son. “I’m up,” he told her as he shifted to get up, sitting upright in the bed a little mindful of Carter.
Mercedes held two of the bottles in one hand as she looked at her fiancé and she said, “why doesn’t he have on any clothes baby, he can get sick and he’s too new to be getting sick,” she said in a motherly tone. “Also, the diapers?” she asked him confused.
Samuel looked at her and he blinked rapidly before he said, “he threw up twice, he kept messing up our clothes,” defensively. “I turned the air up a little so he wouldn’t be cold and there’s a blanket right here,” he told her. “He was hungry and fussy, and he had shit everywhere,” he told her.
Mercedes sighed out as she moved to set the bottles down on the nightstand. “Baby, he needs to be clothed,” she told him softly as she eyed the blanket that wasn’t even covering the baby. “Here,” she said as she moved around the bed, reaching for the sleeping child. “You didn’t want to throw the diapers away?”
Samuel looked at her and he looked away. “Understood,” he said to her patiently, he was trying not to get annoyed, she was Carter’s mother after all. “I guess not,” he said as he pursed his lips.
Lifting Carter out of the bed, Mercedes gently laid him against her shoulder, rubbing his back softly. She gazed at her Samuel before she turned and moved out of the room with their son. She walked him into the nursery, laying him down on the changing table and lifting the guard rails as a precaution before she moved around the room, grabbing him something to wear. She pulled out a long sleeve pants onesie and a pair of mittens, quickly moving back towards him. She lowered the railing, working quickly but gently to dress him in his sleep state. Once he was clothed, she lifted him back over her shoulder, kissing his plump cheek softly. “You have a nice time with daddy?” she whispered softly as she bounced around the room some, still rubbing Carter’s back. After a moment, she laid him down in his crib.
As she walked away Samuel shifted out of the bed and he picked up his dirty shirts moving to put them in their hamper filled with dirty clothes. He grabbed another shirt, putting it on and he moved to grab the kids bottles. He took them into the kitchen and unscrewed them before he began to rinse them of the contents that remained in them.
Mercedes pressed a tender kiss to Carter’s forehead before she made sure his crib was secure. Turning on the monitor and grabbing her own, she moved into the kitchen where she heard Samuel. She sat the monitor down and leaned against the counter, watching him quietly.
Samuel began to wash the bottles now, using streaming hot water as he used some bottle cleaner that she had gotten. He used their bristled brush and stuck it inside, swirling it around the bottle before he rinsed it and repeated the task. He felt her eyes on him, but he ignored them as he continued to clean the bottles and rested them on the drying mat she bought specifically for his bottles, on the counter.
Watching Samuel, Mercedes bit her lip and she walked up behind him wrapping her arms around his midsection as she pressed up against his back. She inhaled his scent and let out a content sigh. “So…” she began sweetly. “Outside of exploding diapers and being thrown up on, how was your father, son hour?” she asked him.
“Okay, I guess,” Samuel replied back to her as he washed another bottle and he rinsed it, placing it on the mat as well before he turned the water off. He stuck the brush back into its holder on the sink before he dried his hands.
Mercedes rested her head on Samuel’s back, clutching him lovingly, her hands on his abs. “Just okay?” she asked him softly.
“Yeah, I mean he’s a baby,” Samuel said to her as he wiped the counter down from where he split a little breast milk earlier.
Sighing once more, Mercedes nodded and she said, “that he is,” as she walked out of the kitchen. She moved into their bathroom, pulling her hair up into a bun before she moved into the bedroom and began to undress.
Samuel placed the cloth in the sink before he moved to walk out of the kitchen, he moved into Carter nursery quietly. He thought that she had the other monitor and would hear him, he made sure he put whatever he ‘messed up’ back neatly before he took the trash out of Carter’s can. When he did, he tied it off to sat it aside before he placed another one of his bags in and left his room with the trash. Samuel fixed his messy bun with one hand tucking hair away and he walked out of the condo and tossed the trash down the shoot at the end of the hallway before he moved back into their space, bare foot.
Mercedes pulled her shirt off, tossing it into the hamper before she adjusted her maternity bra a bit. Taking off her jeans, she tossed them into the hamper too before she walked over to the drawer, catching a glimpse of herself in the mirror. Truthfully, she didn’t look bad. She had a bit of extra stomach pudge but that was all. It wasn’t terrible like she saw some women. She was only a few days postpartum and basically looked how she did before pregnancy, give or take a stretch mark or two and that extra stomach pudge. She placed her hand against her lower stomach longingly, actually missing her belly a bit.
Samuel moved into their room looking over at Mercedes, he didn’t touch whatever she was going through. Instead he minded his own business. Women had a way about things and he knew from experience to just not speak unless spoken to. He moved to sit down on their bed and he grabbed the remote changing the station.
As Samuel entered the room, Mercedes quickly turned away from the mirror, tucking a loose piece of hair that had fallen from her bun behind her ear. She continued to the dresser, opening up a drawer and pulling out a pair of short-shorts. She stepped into them quickly before she opened one of Samuel’s drawers, pulling on one of his t-shirts. It drowned her. She let out a hum as she looked around for the baby monitor now. She glanced around the room before she walked into the bathroom, not seeing it there either. She bit her lip as she quickly moved out of the room and into the kitchen, snatching it up off the counter. She attached it to her hip protectively before she moved back into the bedroom with Samuel, grabbing a baby book off the nightstand as she climbed into bed. It was mid-day but she was exhausted.
Samuel watched her as she put clothes on and began to walk around the room cluelessly, he looked to her oddly before he looked back at the TV. Samuel licked his lips before he got up when she settled and moved into his sock drawer. “Dallas came and brought me this after you left,” he said easily tossing her ten-thousand dollars. He sat back on the bed and looked at the TV again biting his nails.
Mercedes looked at the money as it landed on the bed and she picked it up with pursed lips as she fanned through it. “And what the hell did Dallas do to get all of this money?” she asked him as she tossed it back to her boyfriend as he sat down. “We don’t need his drug money,” she said knowingly. “We’re fine…” she shook her head before she mumbled to herself as she flipped the book open, “crazy… what kind of example does that set for Carter?” she shook her head more.
Samuel looked back at her as the money dropped down beside him, he picked it back up and tossed to her. “That is my money, he owed me,” he told her with a raised brow. “You don’t know anything about some drugs and Dallas. Don’t be talkin’ like that,” he said angrily to her as he turned back around to the TV. “Carter is a baby anyway; he doesn’t know what’s buying his damn pampers…” he said lowly.
Mercedes looked at Samuel with an arched eyebrow as he tossed the money back at her. She looked at it, “he owed you?” she asked him. “It’s drug money regardless and you know that,” she said to him as he got angry with her. She looked him up and down and said, “I’m not depositing this and you shouldn’t want to,” she told him as she tossed it back. “He needs good examples of men in his life,” she said to Samuel, “a drug dealer? Not a good example,” she said, shaking her head. “You brought home money yesterday and didn’t have to sell a single drug to do it, you worked hard for it, you didn’t take the easy way out,” she said, “that is what Carter needs to see,” she said with a huff.
Samuel looked to her and picked the money back up. He stood to his feet and gazed at her angrily. She was all off base and she didn’t even know it. He didn’t care how he got money. He got it because they needed it. To survive, to provide for Carter. Their son would grow up to need money for a multitude of things, especially college, he would be better than Sam. Sam would stop at nothing to make that happen. “You are talking out of your ass right now Mercedes,” he said bitterly. “This is my money,” he voiced loudly, “I need to provide for my son!” he argued. “I don’t care how he got the money; this is mine now,” he repeated, “and Carter won’t want for anything all because you want to be judgmental. Carter can be whatever the fuck he wants to be but not if he has a worthless as sorry-ass, stupid-ass, broke-ass father!” he yelled harshly. “I’ll deposit the shit my fucking self,” he said as he walked away from her.
Mercedes looked at Samuel, shocked by how upset he had become and she blinked slowly, listening to him as he yelled at her. She flinched a little from the harshness and the validity of his words. She couldn’t believe that he didn’t care how Dallas got the money. Did he not care about the way it could affect their son? If Carter grew up to know that Dallas sold drugs, he might think he could do the same, especially if Samuel condoned it. Accepted it for what it was. At his final harsh yell, Carter began screaming and crying in his crib and Mercedes jumped out of the bed quickly as she rushed to him. She moved into his nursery, dropping the railing and hoisting him up. She cradled him in her arms and bounced him lovingly. “It’s okay baby,” she whispered, “it’s okay, it’s okay,” she repeated over and over again as she tried to sooth him.
Samuel watched as she ran off to their son and he moved to place the money he had in his backpack. Whenever he tried to do right, people always found something wrong with it. He licked his lips as he lowered himself on the couch hearing Carter cry. That upset him most of all, that and the way she flinched when he yelled. He ran his hands over his face as he gazed out the window beside him.
“My sweet boy,” Mercedes breathed out quietly. “It’s okay baby,” she said kissing his forehead now, still trying to calm him. She laid him over her shoulder, rubbing his back and patting his bottom now. “Carter,” she said softly as he wailed. She moved to sit down in the rocking chair in his room and began to rock with him. She rubbed his back in soothing circles as he cried loudly.
Samuel continued to listen to Carter screaming and crying though he knew his mother had him. He didn’t move for a long while before he figured he needed to comfort the child himself. Samuel picked himself up off the couch and he moved towards his room, looking at her he reached out for the boy. Samuel hoisted him up and placed him over his shoulder, pecking his cheek and he said, “shh baby,” softly to the baby. “Everything is fine,” he said as he rubbed his back as he walked out the room with a sigh.
Mercedes tried her hardest to sooth Carter, racking her brain trying to think of something. She had sung to him every now and again when he was in her belly and that calmed him down. She wondered if it would do the trick now. “Here comes the sun, doo-dun doo-doo,” she began to sing The Beatles song. “Here comes the sun, and I say, it's all right, little darling, it's been a long cold lonely winter, little darling, it feels like years since it's been here…” she trailed off as Samuel walked in taking Carter from her. She sighed out as she stopped singing, watching him walk out with Carter.
Samuel kissed his son’s cheek once more as he began to quiet down some now, he bounced him subtly in his arms. He continued to rub his back as he moved into the living room with him. “I love you,” he told the kid softly. “I’ll do anything for you and no one will ever stop me from doing what I have to do for you,” he said.
Mercedes sat there, listening closely as Carter began to quiet down and she deflated a bit. Why couldn’t she get him to calm down? Licking her lips slowly, Mercedes stood up and she tip-toed into the living room, peering at Samuel and Carter discretely before she moved back into their bedroom and she plopped down on the bed.
Samuel sat down on the couch with his son, looking to see if he were asleep. His eyes were closed and he was quiet so he only assumed he was as he continued to rub his back gently. Thankfully, he was obviously doing something right.
Mercedes sat there, feeling so defeated before she crawled up the bed and curled up on her side. She didn’t understand why Carter wouldn’t calm down for her or why Samuel was so upset with her for her feelings about Dallas and drugs and even the influence on Carter. Sighing out, tears began to fill her eyes and she sniffled softly.
After a while, Samuel moved to stand with Carter and he walked into his room placing him back into his bed comfortably. He placed a little blanket over him, closed his window, looked to his monitor and then walked out again. He made sure he stayed in the living room, away from her. He wasn’t really upset but he was annoyed and didn’t want another argument to happen.
Mercedes could hear Samuel placing Carter back into his crib over the monitor and she sniffled harder as she cried, more tears rolling down her face, falling into the pillow. Taking the monitor off her hip, she sat it on the nightstand carefully before she slid under the covers and pulled them over her head, crying herself to sleep.