Going Solo: Davis Gen 3.11

I ran upstairs to put on some pants while I waited for Mom to arrive. When I got back down stairs, Cora was on the floor playing with the one she'd called Hope. The other one, Grace crawled over to me. I couldn't be a father, being responsible for myself was one thing, but for another being, two other beings...not going to happen. Mom arrived about half an hour later.

"Thank goodness you're here," I said soon as I opened the door.

"Is everything ok? You call me over here at night and out of the blue."

"No, everything is not ok. I need you to help with that."

I stepped to the side allowing her into the house. Cora stood and gave her a small grin. Mom looked at Cora then at the girls on the floor, then back at me.

"Davis...what's going on?"

"Hello Ms. Gruber. I'm...I'm um...Cora Sidwell. Davis and I knew each other at University."

"Uh-huh...and by knew you mean..."

"Yeah..."

"Uh-huh...and those are his?"

"Mom, I swear I didn't know. She just showed up at my door tonight."

"I'm sorry for just showing up like this. I've been doing this on my own for the most part, but..."

"Mom, she wants me to take them!"

Mom leaned down to pick up Grace instantly slipping into maternal mode. The little girl giggled as Mom tickled her. She'd gone from having no possibility of grandchildren to having two in the blink of an eye. Only she didn't seem as shocked or thrown off by that fact as I was.

"Take them? What do you mean?" Mom asked as she played with Grace.

Cora filled Mom in on her predicament while Mom enjoyed playing with the girls. I walked outside to the bar to fix myself a drink because my nerves for once were shot.

"So, Mom, you'll take them right?"

Both women looked at me as if I'd lost my mind.

"Davis, these are your girls. Sha and I will help out of course, but no I'm not taking them anywhere."

"Mom! Seriously. This. Me. Not happening. I travel too often for work you know that. Plus what am I supposed to do with kids? Look at you. You are a natural with them. You're meant for this kind of thing."

"Why because she's a woman?" Cora asked. That anger was back in her voice as she turned to frown at me.

"Well yeah. Partially. She's a mother. She knows what to do. Do either of you really want to leave two toddlers in my care?"

Not that I thought my life was bad. I enjoyed the way it was going, so much so I wasn't ready to give that up yet. It would be easy enough to point out all of what they both probably thought were my 'bad' habits. I could paint myself the bad guy, no problem if that meant getting my way in the end. My job, the lack of space at my house, the fact that I slept like the dead. That last part got them. They didn't want the girls to be crying for hours on end stuck in a crib or something while I napped til noon.

"Maybe he's right. This was a bad idea. I'll just turn down the scholarship."

"Nonsense. You have done this on your own, and I know that's not easy. Cora, dear, we will work something out. Don't worry about a thing."

And by working things out meant Grace and Hope moved in with Mom and Sha. Cora's program didn't start for another two months, so she moved in with Mom and Sha temporarily. She wanted to make sure the girls were comfortable there.

Mom really seemed to like Cora, and every time we talked, she would make little comments about her being exactly what she'd imagined her daughter-in-law to be like. I'd already inadvertently given her grandkids, what more did that woman want from me?

The arrangement was that they would keep them when I had to travel and I was supposed to get them on the weekends. Since my house really didn't fit kids, I ended up spending nights at Mom and Sha's place. They converted my room back into a nursery since it was on the same floor as theirs. Cora occupied the mostly unused third floor, and when I'd stay over we'd have to share a bathroom since I'd also been kicked upstairs. I have to say that having kids had only added to Cora's figure which I got to see after accidentally walking in on her as she got out of the shower.

I'd been really good about keeping things between us strictly friendly until that moment, however she quickly put the brakes on the moment I carried her to her room. She told me I side tracked her life once, she wasn't going to let me do that again. I could have protested, but instead I left her and went to take a cold shower.

The two months passed quickly. Mom kept telling me to just sell my townhouse and move back in with them, but I couldn't do that. No girl would want to hang out and party when they learned I lived with my Mom. No, the weekend arrangement worked well. Plus the house didn't feel quite the same after Cora left.

**A/N**

So Cora is part of the household because, like Sha, I didn't want SP doing something with her when I needed her for the story. Now that she's 'gone to Uni' she won't be seen for a while (maybe...depends on how things go). But I have to watch her and Davis...I swear those two whenever I'm not controlling them they are running off to woo-hoo, sometimes they attempt risky woo-hoo. I just know they are gonna be popping out babies when left to their own devices.