Chapter 13

Sam awoke to the sound of a crying baby.  It was loud enough to warrent his 
attention.  He rolled over and threw the covers off.  He got up and checked 
on the baby.  She was crying and whimpering.  More out of instinct than 
anything else, he picked her up.  He walked over to the light on the table 
and flicked
it on with his free hand.  Not sure of what she wanted, he checked her 
diaper.  It was wet.  He went to retrieve another diaper.

Laying Kelly on the bed, he removed her sleeper.  The baby whimpered at the 
cold air on her skin.  He removed the diaper.  Before he had a chance to put 
on a clean one, she proceeded to wet again.  On the bed.  Sam groaned and 
looked at the ceiling.  "Thanks."

He picked up the cold, wet baby, and proceeded to the bathroom.  He grabbed a 
clean washrag from a pile on the shelf.  Turing on the bathroom light, he 
squinted at the brightness.  He wet the rag in warm water and wiped off the 
baby's bottom and legs.

He wrapped her in a towel and returned to the bedroom.  Laying her down on 
the foot of the bed, he quickly dressed her before she had a chance to repeat 
the incident.  Then he laid her back down in the bassinet while he went to
ponder the problem of the bed.  He stripped the thin sheet off, and balled it 
up.  Tossing it into the corner of the room, he went to retrieve the rag.  He 
soaked it in hot water, then returned to the bedroom.  Scrubbing at the wet 
spot on the bed as best he could, he tried to remove as much of the smell as 
possible. 

Kelly started crying again.  Sam finished his task and laid a towel over the 
wet spot on the bed.  He found a clean sheet and placed it on the bed, but 
didn't make the bed yet.  He went to the bassinet.

Kelly was again sucking her fingers and fussing.  Sam found a pacifier in one 
corner of the bassinet.  He placed it in her mouth and she sucked at it 
hungrily.  Sam sighed.  He left the bedroom and went to the kitchen.  
Removing the last bottle from the refrigerator, he set about warming it up
.
He knew that come morning, he would have to figure out how to make more 
bottles.  He glanced at the clock.  2:30am.  When the bottle was ready, Sam 
picked up Kelly and went to sit with her in the rocker.  She slurped the 
bottle he offered her with much zest.  Sam began humming a lullabye.  

Al had popped in the bedroom, but not finding Sam there he went in the 
hallway, and peeked in the living room.  Sam was sitting in the rocker, 
feeding the baby and humming a tune.  He had wanted to check on Sam once more 
before retiring himself.

Seeing Sam holding the baby, brought back the conversation he had with Donna. 
 He wished that Donna could see Sam now.

Noting that Sam had matters well in hand, he decided not to disturb him.  
Punching the code for the door, he slipped silently inside.

Sam had burped the baby once, and had resumed feeding her.  He noticed that 
this time she had spit up some of the formula when he burped her.  He wiped 
her mouth with the cloth diaper and resumed feeding her.  The room was dark 
with the exception of a small lamp he had turned on.  He continued feeding and
rocking the tiny baby. Humming the lullabye again, he relaxed into the role 
of father.  

A flash of blue light from the hallway caught his attention. It was only for 
a second, but very noticible to Sam.  He finished feeding the baby, and 
burped her once more before he got up to invstigate the light.  Finding 
nothing, he turned out the bedroom light and placed the baby back in bed.  He 
checked the rest of the house and still found no cause for the flash of light 
he had seen.  He
decided not to worry about it, and went to make his bed.

Sam hoped that Ziggy would come up with a reason for this leap in the 
morning.  While it was fun to be a father for a short time, this baby really 
needed her mother.  Sam made the bed back up, and went to turn off the lights 
in the rest of
the house.  Accomplishing that small task, he checked once on the baby, who 
was now fast asleep, and he crawled into bed for some much needed sleep.