The Baby Shift- Connecticut

by Becca Fanning

  Lionel

  The brain was a terrible thing, Lionel decided. In the wee morning hours, he sat beside Olivia’s crib and listened to her groaning wail. He’d tried everything. Diaper, feeding, rocking. His head hung in exhaustion, his brain firing only a third of its cylinders. If that. A terrible piece of human evolution! Although he was a Shifter, he was still operating with the same brain.

  In a fit of desperation, he bundled Olivia into a blanket in his arms and took her outside into the cool air. The houses were far enough apart that it wouldn’t be a problem. Nevermind that he wished he had human hearing since his Shifter hearing made the baby’s wails even more painful.

  A pair of headlights swung into the neighboring driveway, Melissa’s home. His pulse quickened. He would’ve felt partially embarrassed for her to see him in his pajamas and plaid bathrobe, but he was exhausted past the point of embarrassment. From what he could see, Melissa looked impressively refreshed after her work shift as she slipped out of her car. In the dim streetlights, he saw her point at him and hold up a finger.

  He collapsed into one of his patio chairs. Olivia’s crying had faded a bit, but not nearly enough for his ears. Suddenly, Melissa was in front of him. She held up a bottle of whiskey and two glasses.

  “You’re an angel,” he croaked weakly. She grinned as she sat in another patio chair beside him and placed the goodies on the table. Quickly, she poured two half glasses.

  “I feel your pain,” she told him with a wink. “We had an unruly bunch of business consultants acting like it was spring break tonight. I highly recommend whiskey for these kinds of trouble.” He accepted the glass, and she motioned to take Olivia from him.

  As soon as Olivia was in Melissa’s arms, her crying subdued significantly. He took a swig of his drink and muttered a half-joking string of tired curses. Melissa fired a smile at him and rocked the baby.

  “I’ve got one brother. He and his wife had their baby two years ago. I got used to helping out,” she said with a laugh and then glanced at his drink. “Drink your whiskey,” she told him.

  In the dim light, he admired her sharp cheekbones and plump lips. Her black hair was braided down her back tonight. She smelled of liquor and mint. It was a strangely seductive fragrance. He knew he was a beast—he wanted to pull her petite body onto him and just collapse onto her shoulder, smelling her hair while he slept for days. He cleared his throat and pulled on his animalistic urges to silence them. He wasn’t that much of a beast, but he was weaker to his primal desires when tired. It didn’t help that every time she rocked Olivia, Melissa sent a wave of her scent towards him. He held the whiskey close to his nose to block her scent.

  “Long night?” He asked.

  She looked at him. Olivia had settled down enough so that she could take a quick sip of her own drink. “I could ask the same of you.” She sighed. “But, yeah, it was long. One of my managers was sick, so I had to take over.”

  He nodded. “And with all those consultants, I imagine you needed the whiskey just as much.”

  She chuckled and dragged a hand through her hair, tossing it to one side. “Damn straight about that,” she muttered. He sucked in a sharp breath and tried to concentrate on the smell of the whiskey. He steadied his exhale and tried to appreciate how nice it was to have communication that didn’t involve crying. But Olivia wasn’t crying anymore. She was perfectly content, wrapped in the blanket in Melissa’s arms.

  “You got a trick?” he asked, wryly. She smirked.

  “Drunk adults are basically babies,” she assured him. “And I’ve got years of experience in dealing with that.” She looked down at the sleeping baby, a warm expression on her face. “Do you think that she’ll grow up to be a Shifter? Like you?”

  “You guess the mom wasn’t Shifter?” he asked with a half-mocking smile. He enjoyed sensing the heat growing on Melissa’s skin.

  “Just a guess,” she said quickly. “Since you’re out on your own. I’ve read that Shifters typically stay with their clans.” After a pause, she added, “Let me know if I’m being an asshole. I’m just curious.”

  “You’re fine, trust me. You’re the best conversation I’ve had all week,” he said and glanced at Olivia. A deep feeling of love spread throughout his chest. “It’s hard to say for half-Shifters. Sometimes, they can. Sometimes, they can’t. You can usually tell around age three.”

  “Age three,” she repeated with glittering eyes. “Fascinating.”

  “Your muffins were amazing, by the way,” he said. She glanced up and blinked three times.

  “I’d forgotten I brought them. Thor thought I would chicken out.”

  His heart sank. “Thor?”

  She cracked a grin. “My cat. I’m teasing. He’s about all the socializing I get when I’m off work unless I go out with friends.” She looked around at the patio. “Your place already looks better than mine. I love your fire pit.”

  “You’re more than welcome to come over whenever,” he said and pointed towards the bottle. “Especially if you’ve got that. The best neighbors have great taste.” He liked watching her eyes twinkle with laughter. She gestured to give Olivia back, seeing his empty glass.

  “I can’t thank you enough,” he said after they talked a bit longer. She rose to go, carrying the glasses and the bottle with her. “Really, thank you. I’m planning on grilling soon. When can I have you over for dinner as a thank you?”

  She cocked her head to the side. “I’m busy all weekend, but I’m off Monday.”

  “Monday, it is,” he said. “You like steak?”

  “Love it.”

  He thought that maybe this new life was shaping up to be something good after all.

  Melissa

  “Grill night,” Raven kept telling Melissa on Sunday, over and over again. Really, Raven was becoming enamored with the idea that Melissa would start dating Mr. Handsome Shifter. Melissa ignored her teasing, and the shift went on as usual for a Sunday. When they were leaving, and Raven was counting out her tip to the bar, she slyly said, “Wear a cute sundress and your hair down.”

  Melissa might take that advice into consideration. On Monday evening, she glanced up and down at her appearance in her hall mirror, forever hedging on whether to bring a heavier sweater over the red sundress just in case the wind kicked up. Finally, she grabbed the light sweater and told herself that she could always walk back over.

  “Be cool,” she mumbled to herself as she walked over, toting a bottle of wine. She smiled when he waved at her from the patio deck.

  “Different alcohol today, I see,” he called playfully. Olivia was set up in her baby carriage, the shade drawn over her face although the sun was getting ready to set. Melissa placed the bottle of wine on the table, which he’d already set. She came up to Olivia’s seat and cooed a greeting and was rewarded with giggles.

  “How do you like your steak?” he asked.

  “Medium-rare if you can,” she said.

  He laughed. “Happily.” As he grilled their steaks, they chatted about random things: work, his house, her garden. She noticed that he pulled his steak off almost immediately from the grill.

  “Shifter,” he reminded her when he caught her look. She chuckled.

  “Fair enough. How’s Olivia?” she asked and tugged at the adorable baby’s socks as she did, earning another giggle.

  “Much calmer lately. I think perhaps your presence had a magic effect.” His eyes flashed with darkness as he pulled her steak off the grill. “I was honestly worried that Olivia was going to end up like her mother.”

  Melissa bit her lip, knowing this was a sensitive area. She got up to spoon out some roasted vegetables that were already done and ready to be served. She gave them both generous portions to make up for the monster-size steaks he’d purchased. “She doesn’t sound...awesome.” She searched for a lesser harsh word than bitchy.

  They sat down to dig in, and she grabbed the wine bottle, uncorked it with the easy hand of a skilled barmaid. He whistled and gave a
performative round of applause.

  “Liv’s already eaten,” he said, scrunching up his nose as he pointed his fork at the girl, Olivia was all giggles tonight. Melissa grinned and then took a bite of her steak. The flavors absolutely melted in her mouth. She let out an involuntary groan.

  “I’m not a monster,” she promised. “It’s just this is insanely good. Do you use a special marinade?”

  “Clan secret,” he whispered in a teasing voice.

  Her mind was tugging at other things. Olivia’s mother. His ex-lover. There was her stubborn curiosity again. Her insensitive questions, about to come out of her mouth—

  “You don’t have to feel bad for me,” he said. She stared.

  “What?”

  “I’m good at recognizing pity,” he said with a light laugh, but there was something of pain beneath it.

  “It’s not pity,” she fired back firmly. “It’s interest.” She cleared her throat, realizing how it might sound. “I mean, I don’t want to be rude to you. It’s just that I’m curious and I understand that it must be hard for you. Starting a new life in a new town with a new home and a new kid. That’s wild, honestly.”

  He gave a grateful nod, and his gaze fell to his plate as he sawed his steak. “Her name was Rebecca,” he said in a rough voice. She could almost make out the sadness beneath the anger. Her heart squeezed painfully. “She said that her marriage was unhappy and basically a sham. I met her at one of my events. The rumors about Shifters and organized crime aren’t untrue, but we mostly worked for crooked business execs. Somebody has to protect them.”

  She waited with bated breath as he continued, “Everything out of her mouth was a lie, I realized after our affair ended. Everything except Olivia.” His lips quirked upwards as his gaze settled onto the baby, who had drifted off to sleep with her blanket clenched tightly in her tiny fists. “I couldn’t believe it. She told me that she didn’t want the baby. We settled for a private adoption. There would be no stories of her cheating or secret baby among her socialite friends.”

  “Don’t you want to sue the pants off her for lying? And let her husband know?” She could hear the outrage in her own voice but didn’t care.

  He gave a dark laugh. “Sometimes, those moments cross my mind. I imagine revenge. Telling her husband, who is probably having his own affairs, who knows. But I think he’s as much of a dope as I was with Rebecca. Beautiful women, you ladies can do anything when you set your mind to it.”

  She wasn’t sure whether to feel flattered or offended by the remark. “Well, if I ever meet Rebecca, I’ll be sure to shove her pretty head into something hard as thanks for giving womankind such a great name.”

  They laughed together in their dark humor.

  “Olivia has a great dad. You,” she said softly. “My dad was a drunk. My grandfather thought it was his own fault, owning the bar and getting his son into the bar business. But it wasn’t Grandpa’s fault, and after my father passed away from liver issues, I inherited it at 25. It was terrifying. I suppose it felt like suddenly getting a baby.”

  His lips quirked upwards. “Curveballs in life are such a bitch.”

  She laughed. “You’re right about that. But it makes you who you are.”

  He raised his glass, and they clinked their drinks together. “We should go on a proper grief night.”

  “Grief night?” She asked with a raised brow.

  “It’s something we do among Shifters. A weird cultural habit,” he explained. “When you’re grieving something, you go out with your pack. You drink, you let loose, and then you go somewhere out into the country to get wild and run in your beastly form.” His eyes sparkled. “Do you want to plan one?”

  “I can’t Shift,” she said with a laugh and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “But that sounds interesting...”

  He grinned. “It’s usually a proper man outing,” he said proudly. “But I can make an exception for you.”

  She crossed her arms. “Sure thing and then we can have a nice discussion on gender equality.”

  They laughed though and drank the rest of their wine. When she left, she hugged him. She told herself that it was just her imagination that his fingers had lingered for half a beat more than was expected.

  ---

  * * *

  “A grief night doesn’t sound much like a great date,” Raven said bluntly at work on Thursday. “Are you going to smoke cigars and cry and then fuck?”

  “Raven!” Melissa snapped her towel at her from behind the bar. A nearby customer giggled. “You’re banned from talking about fornicating. You know that.”

  Raven rolled her eyes but gave a little smirk. “Whatever you say, Boss Lady. I think he wants more than grief, though, if you know what I mean.” She waltzed away with her tray to attend to a couple of women who’d just sat in her section.

  Melissa frowned, worrying a glass with a rag. What to wear to a grief night? She didn’t want to seem too desperate. As if sensing her thoughts, Raven came back and announced, “I think you should go for jeans and a sexy deep V-neck. Throw a flannel shirt around your waist. You can choose to slut it up or bro it up.” She winked. “I bet you wore a sundress like I said last time too.”

  Melissa simmered in silence as her employee sauntered away in victory.

  Lionel – Grief night celebration – near kiss

  Lionel had his phone propped up on the kitchen island with a list of things that he wanted to bring. The most important, he thought, was the makeshift underwear that a Shifter could use to make sure that he wasn’t fully nude after transforming back. Shifting was never kind to clothes. He was packing a backpack for the adventure today. In the corner of the room, his older sister, Cassandra, was thoroughly enjoying herself.

  “Tell me, Olivia,” Cassandra drawled as she touched Olivia’s nose gently. “Who is this human vixen who has absolutely seduced your father after such heartache?”

  “Cass,” Lionel called out with some annoyance. His sister had been giving him a hard time about Melissa all morning. He’d purposely declined to name her or that she was his neighbor, knowing that Cassandra would’ve marched right over to introduce herself. Well, she’d see Melissa walking over when they climbed into his car.

  “I don’t get to meet her,” Cassandra said, complaining to Olivia as she cuddled the baby.

  “You’ll get to meet her later.”

  Cassandra gasped. “There’s going to be a later?”

  He laughed and shook his head. “I’ve got to go.” He went over to kiss baby Liv and then kissed his sister on the cheek, a traditional Shifter greeting for siblings. He hurried out of the house just as Melissa was loping over. He could practically hear Cassandra squealing inside. “My sister’s watching Liv today,” he told her as they hugged. A strange human greeting that he didn’t quite understand, but that he liked, nonetheless.

  “How cool!” Melissa said as she brought along a tote bag with a whiskey bottle screen-printed on it. “She came all the way from New York?”

  “She travels a lot for work. She happened to be in town when I mentioned needing a babysitter,” he said as they pulled out of the driveway. He waved to Cassandra, who was nearly glued to the front windows. Melissa offered a wave as well.

  “Where are we off to first?” Melissa asked. “I’ve never been on a grief night.”

  “Well, we have a few hours until the sunset,” he said as he glanced at the sky and pulled onto the roadway. “I figured a drink and dinner. Then, through some family connections, I’ve found a place with a nice farmer who agreed to let us hang out near his lake.”

  “Dinner sounds great,” she muttered and patted her stomach. “I’m starved.” He drove them a bit further away from the downtown area to a nice cozy restaurant. It was highly recommended online. He wanted to impress her with the pop art interior and modern décor. They made their way over to a nice booth in the corner of the room. He rolled up the sleeves of his button-up shirt and told her that the dinner was on him tonight.r />
  “You don’t have to,” she said.

  “Nonsense,” he said. “It’s your first grief night.” After placing their orders, he glanced up, and a dark look flashed across his face. A man in a nice suit from across the room, hugging a much younger woman in a short dress, waved. Lionel offered a reluctant wave back. He recognized that man and thanked his stars that the old geezer wasn’t coming over to chat.

  “He was an old client,” he said in a low voice when he saw Melissa watching the exchange. “Not one of the cheerier ones. I suspect he embezzles much of his money.”

  She raised her eyebrows. “Delightful.”

  “That’s a grief moment,” he told her with a pointed finger and a wicked grin. “We drink to that. The unfairness of the world.” And they did, taking a sip of their beers.

  “I like grief moments,” she said with a laugh. “Well, I like drinking to them.”

  “If more humans adopted Shifter practices, you guys wouldn’t need therapy,” he said with a laugh. She rolled her eyes.

  “Human practices aren’t that awful.”

  “Sure,” he said with a smirk. “Now, let’s get to grieving.” He made a thoughtful look. “I’m grieving for my bitch ex-girlfriend who lied to me.” They drank. The server arrived with bread and their appetizers.

  “My employees are always bitching about not getting enough hours and then never want to work,” she said. They cheered to that and drank. By the time their entrees came by, a massive prime rib for him and roasted chicken for her, they were on their third beers.

  “Part of grieving,” he announced after they’d finished and moved to desserts. “Is also cheering the positives. The good side of our natures, the lighter side of life.”

  “The lighter side,” she repeated. “I’d like to find that.”

  He grinned. “I wish you could Shift.”