#defendingjacob

After Jake’s nightmare that night, Annie helped Andy to find someone to help him. The doctor’s office was located in Newton. Before the first session, Andy was summoned by the doctor so he drove there to talk to him and give the doctor a head’s up about Jake’s situation.

“Jacob Barber?” The assistant called and Andy stood, “Follow me, please.” He followed her through a hall and to the office. The assistant left and Andy knocked at the door.

“Come in.” Andy walked in and was greeted by a man in his 50’s probably, a little bald, rounded glasses. The office was colorful, had stuff animals on the couch, and a play room to the left. "Jacob?”

“Ammm my name is Andy…”

“No offense but you don’t look like a three year old. I don’t work with adults. Maybe you are looking for Doctor Simmons, she is on the other side of the hall.”

“No, no. I’m Jacob’s dad. You wanted to see me before his first session.”

“Oh! My bad, I have to tell my assistant not to write the kid’s name when the parent is coming, she is new. Welcome Mr. Barber. Have a sit.” Andy took a sit in the chair in front of the doctor. “I need to ask you a couple of questions before Jake comes next Tuesday, I hope that’s ok.”

“Yes, of course. What do you want to know?”

“When did the first nightmare happened?”

“Ammm, God I don’t know. A year ago, maybe. I mean, he cried a lot when he was younger, I don’t know if he had nightmares then, probably yes.”

“Alright” the doctor started writing on his pad, “Do you know what the nightmares are about?”

“He says the monster wants to take him away from me. There were sometimes he said he is alone in some place he doesn’t know. Last time he said he doesn’t remember the dream.”

“How often are his nightmares?”

“They used to be daily”

“Used to be?”

“I manage to talk to Jake and let him know that it was just a dream, and dreams couldn’t hurt him. Or at least I thought I convince him. He sometimes doesn’t talk about what he dreams, he just sneaks into my room at night.”

“Ok, based on what you just told me, how many times do you thing he has nightmares?”

“About 3 o 4 times a week. As I told you he usually just sneak into my room, nothing like what happened the other night.”

“Has he ever been away from home?”

“Once, he traveled with the neighbors two weeks ago.”

“Did your neighbor tell you anything about Jake’s behavior? If he didn’t sleep or something like that?”

“No, she said he behaved, and he was a sweet funny boy. No nightmares, no nothing.”

“Are you married Mr. Barber?”

“No, I’m divorced.”

“How often does Jake see his mom?”

“He doesn’t, his mom left almost three years ago.” Andy’s jaw clenched “Jake was one.”

“I see this is a sensitive topic for you too Mr. Barber. Perhaps you need to talk it out.”

“I’m fine, we’re here because of my son.”

“Tell me more about what happened.”

 Jake has been seeing the psychologist for a couples of weeks now. Dr. Greene specialize in children psychology, and asked for Jake to be with him at least 2 times a week to start, Tuesdays and Fridays. Jake seems to like him, although for him everything he did during the sessions was just a game.

“Mrs. Barber?” Dr. Greene called for Annie right before they left home. “Can you please come in for a minute?”

“Sure, Jake sit here, I won’t take long.” She walked to the doctor’s office and he closed the door.

“Please, Mrs. Barber, have a sit.”

“I’m not a Barber.” The doctor stared at her “My name is Annie Johnson, I’m Jake’s nanny.”

“Oh, I see. My bad, it’s just Jake keep saying his mommy is waiting outside, so, I assume Mr. Barber got married again.”

“Ammm well not quite, his dad and I are together, you know like dating, I have been living with them for maybe a month now. I had some problems and they took me in.”

“I see.” The doctor wrote everything she said. “So you moved in and now you “work” as a nanny for Mr. Barber.”

“No, he hired me to be Jake’s nanny. But now we decided to give it a try.”

“Ok, you were first his nanny, and then you and Mr. Barber decided to have a relationship.” Annie just nodded and he kept writing “Well, Jake seems very fond of you, I mean he calls you mommy.”

“Yeah, it is still weird to me, it doesn’t bother me, and I have never told him not to call me that. Am I in some kind of problem? Should I tell him to stop?”

“No, no, you are not in trouble, he loves you. I just want to know more about the dynamics in the house. Jake mentioned his dad is a lawyer, right?”

“Yes, he is the ADA. He works in the mornings, comes home for lunch and then goes back to his office. He is at home by 6 or 7.”

“Ok, just for this week, next Friday I need Andy to come along with Jake.”

“Sure, I’ll talk to him.”

“Thank you that will be all. And don’t worry, you are doing a good job with Jake.” Annie smiled, shook his hand and left the office.

Friday noon, thankfully for Andy he didn’t need to come back to the office during the afternoon. He came home and changed his clothes to wear something more comfortable.

“Did he say why he wants me?”

“Not really. What I told you is what he said.” Andy seemed preoccupied “I’m sure it’s nothing, maybe he is just going to tell you Jake’s diagnosis. Perhaps he wanted to tell me, but changed his mind when I told him I wasn’t Jake’s mom.”

“Whatever, let’s go.”

The three of them left the house. Jake and Andy walked into the building where the doctor’s office was and on the meantime she went to the closest coffee shop for something to drink.

During the first part of the session the doctor asked Jake to draw a couples of things and asked him a few others.

“Jake, you know Annie is not you mom right?” The doctor said calmly.

“Yeah, but I wanf her to be,” Andy smiled when he heard that, “And she play wif me.”

“I know she does, and is so good you feel safe with her. But, you know what happened to your real mom?” Andy jaw clenched.

“mmmm no, I think she in heaven.”

“Why is that?”

“Mikey don’t haf mommy, and say she in heaven. Daddy not haf a mommy cuz she in heaven too.”

“Very well, ok Jake, you did so well today. I will need you to go to the play room, I must talk to your dad.”

“Can I use the Legos?”

“Sure buddy, just don’t put them in your mouth ok?” The boy nodded and ran to the adjacent room inside the office.

“A bit much to ask about Jake’s mom.” Andy said breaking the silence.

“Just doing my job Mr. Barber, you pay me for it.” He smiled, “I’m sorry if I interrupted your job.”

“I was free for the rest of the day. So, what is it, what is wrong with him?”

“Nothing is wrong with your son Mr. Barber. He is a healthy kid.”

“Then why is he having those nightmares?”

“Well for starters her mom, you told me before she left you, part of his nightmares have to do with her abandonment. At the moment he was very little, so his subconscious is just showing some repressed emotions he might have had during the time he was left alone in that particular day, and we will work on that. But…”

“But? There’s more.”

“The second part is, he misses you, and at the same time he is kind of jealous of you.”

“Wait, what? He is three! How can he be jealous of a grown ass man?”

“Because you’re dating his nanny. But let’s begin with the part where he misses you.” Dr. Greene passed Andy a bunch of paper sheets, Jake’s drawings in them. The drawings showed Jake in his trip with the Lopez family and some others showed him and Annie playing, doing housework, watching tv, etc. “What do you think is missing in those pictures?”

“Me?” The doctor nodded and passed another drawing, in that one, Jake was holding Andy’s hand, a big heart surrounding them, Andy’s eyes filled with tears.

“Andy I understand your job is demanding, everyone in Newton expect you to be a certain way, but your son needs you. Hiring a nanny is not a crime, we all need help with our kids once in a while; but she is not his mom, she is not you. Jake needs you to spend time with him.”

“Everything I do is for him.” Andy sniffed holding back his tears.

“And he knows that, but he wishes you didn’t have to work so much. He feels lonely, you are the only family he has. Do you know how much he talks about you?” Andy shook his head “He is so proud of you Andy. But, you work all day, he only sees you for lunch and dinner, which is not enough, you need quality time with him.”

“So what do I do?”

“Reduce your hours at work, spend the afternoons with him, I don’t know planned a trip, go camping, fishing. Trust me this will help Jake.”

“Why did you say he is jealous because I’m dating his nanny?”

“Well, the only constant factor in his life for now is her. But now, you guys are dating, so that takes some of her time to pay attention to you, Jake is not used to share Annie, and all of the sudden you want to spend more time with her. It’s confusing for Jake, it’s a new dynamic, he has to get used to it. You are doing nothing wrong with being in love, just be patient with him if he walks into your room, or if he stand in the way while you are kissing, it’s normal.”

“He does that a lot lately, when we are in the couch.”

“Yeah, he says you kiss her too much.”

“I didn’t know he was upset because we were together.”

“It’s not that. Jake loves to have Annie in the house, like I said he just needs to get used to the new dynamic, and it is different from people to people. You have the advantage he likes her, trust me I’ve seen kids who are not happy at all when their parents find a new partner.”

Andy left the office with Jake and met Annie at the coffee house. Nothing was mentioned during the trip back home. However, Annie noticed the change of mood Andy had after the session, he was serious, not talking, and he barely touched her or kissed her.

Later that night Annie walked into the room after tugging Jake, Andy was on his side of the bed reading a book.

“Alright, what is it?”

“What?” Andy lifted his gaze from the book.

“Fucking talk to me! You been acting weird all day! What did I do?”

“You did nothing, and I’m trying to read here. Do you mind to be in silence for once?”

“For once?! Are you calling me loud?!”

“You are kind of yelling right now.” He said nonchalantly.

“Fine!” She took a deep breath “If is not me, then it must be something the doctor said, what was it?”

“Nothing.” He stood and walked to the bathroom to brush his teeth.

“Then why are you acting so defensively?”

“I said is nothing and if you don’t mind, I would like to spend the night alone.”

“What?”

“Go to your room.”

“I won’t go until you tell me the fuck is going on?! Is it Jake? Is something wrong? I want to know.”

“Why?! You are not his mother!”

“You’re right,” Annie held back her tears, “I’m not, but I’m the closest for him to have one! Good night Andy.” She turned around and went to her room, the loud slam of the door made Andy flinched.

“Fuck.”

Andy was tossing on the bed, he thought it was silly for him not be able to sleep without Annie next to him. He kicked the sheet off his body and walked to her room, the door was open letting Andy see the bed was empty. Did she leave? Andy was a dick he knew that, but he was trying for her to spend more time with Jake and thinking what he would said to Lynn Monday morning. He walked down the stairs and notice the light of the TV and the figure of Annie sitting on the couch with a bag of chips, the sound of her chewing overlapping the low sound of the show she was watching.

“Thought you left.” Annie didn’t answer back, “It’s almost two, aren’t you tired?” Again no response, Andy went to sit next to her and she stood up “seriously, are you not talking to me?”

“Well, you wanted to be alone and in silence, so I’ll let you be.”

“Honey, please.”

Annie walked and stopped right in front of him, Andy hugged her by the waist placing his arms under the oversize shirt she wore as pajamas. She caressed his hair, her fingers massaging his scalp.

“Talk to me.” She whispered.

Andy told her everything the doctor said, “I thought Jake was happy. I thought I was doing right when I accepted this job.”

Annie kneel in front of him, her hands grabbing his face to make him look at her. “You did. Andy you are a great dad, look around you, everything Jake has is for you, but I have to admit the doctor is right. You need to spend time with Jake, create memories with him, he will grow, enjoy his childhood. I’m sure Lynn will understand, explain the situation just like you did to me.”

“I’m sorry I was a dick earlier. I was just trying for you guys to have some time alone.”

“It’s alright, I understand. But from now on, during the afternoons, you and Jake will spend time together, I will be off your back. Deal?”

“Deal.” Andy gave her a peck on the lips.

“Oh! I know!” She stood up and Andy was taken aback from the sudden energy Annie showed. “Let’s visit my brother this weekend! I’m sure he won’t mind and, we can take Jake to Fenway! Oh my god! I’m such a genius! It’s gonna be so much fun!” Andy laughed when he saw how confident she sounded at her statement. “What?”

“It still amaze me how much energy you have, you are always so vibrant.”

“But you like it?” Annie smiled at him bating her lashes.

“It’s one of the things I love the most about you.”

“Good! Soooo are we going to Fenway?”

“That’s a great plan. Besides Jake has never been to a baseball game.”

“Perfect! We need to introduce him to the best baseball team!”

“Sure your brother won’t mind?”

Another day at the Barber’s house. Andy was sitting in the living room with a cold beer in his hand, the summer breeze calming the heat on Andy’s forehead, the TV was on when the sound of footsteps made him turned around. Annie was walking towards him with a smile on her face, he loved when she smiled; he thought it was one of the most genuine smiles he had ever seen. She picked her jacket from the couch.

“Jake is sleeping” she put her jacket on, “Do you need anything else?”

“Stay” he thought, “No, I think I’m ok.”

He stood up and walked Annie to the door. They were in silence looking at each other and then to the closed door.

“Well, I should go” Annie stood on her tip toes and kissed him on the check. He could smell the fresh scent of her body spray, a scent he has grown to love.

“Stay” he said out loud this time and took her hand.

“I thought you’ll never ask”

Andy grabbed her by the waist and kissed her roughly, like if his life depended on it. He pinned her against the wall while his hands roamed all over her body.

“Wait,” Annie stopped him, “We have time, do it slowly.”

Andy took a breath and kissed her again, this time he did it slower, enjoying the feeling of her lips on his. They walked towards the couch and Andy lay on top of her. His kissed her neck and heard her moan his name, and that was enough to make him hard. Soon their clothes were scattered all over the floor. The tip of his cock was grazing on her entrance; Andy slid slowly into her, feeling the warm embrace of her walls around him, but when he slid out he came.

Andy opened his eyes abruptly, it was the third time this week he had this kind of dream. It all starter after he share a bit of his personal life with Annie, up to this day he didn’t know why he did it. She was an amazing girl, kind, smart, and she loved and care for Jake, it was not hard for Andy to start feeling more than just friendship for her, but she had a boyfriend, and he was her boss so it was not appropriate. After a couple of days, he thought his infatuation will banish, but one night he dreamt about her. His dreams were innocent at first, the two of them watching TV, she snuggled by his side; or having dinner, or the three were just running and playing around the backyard. Soon those dreams started to became more intense, first it was just kissing and now he dreamt he had sex with her in every room of the house, Jake’s room included, and he wasn’t proud of it.

Summer was coming, the nights were getting warmer; Andy had showered and slept naked the night before. He rubbed his eyes and when he sat, he saw the tent on his sheets and a small wet stain where the tip of his dick was, he kicked the sheet off and took his semi hard member on his hand and started to stroke it; he was focused on the dream he just had, it wasn’t long before he came all over his stomach. It’s been so long since the last time he slept with a woman, that he actually wondered if sex had changed in all the years he hasn’t had any.

Andy stood and took a cold shower before getting ready for work. His days were pretty much the same. He woke up at 6, some times, if he was in the mood, went for a run, other times he lifted weights on the guest room, took a shower, changed and then woke Jake up and got him ready for daycare. He arrived at the office at 8 every day, worked on his cases, sometimes he had meetings, some others he talked to his clients, and he picked Jake from daycare, had lunch with him, waited for Annie and then came back to the office.

Today it was a slow Thursday at the office it was 4 and he was doing nothing, he was sitting in his office listening to music from his laptop in a low volume. He closed his eyes, stayed like that for a moment and then opened one of the drawers in his desk. He took out the folder where he had the report he made about his now nanny, he opened it and there it was the picture he stole from her Facebook page, she was looking straight to the camera and fully smiling. He smiled at the picture when Anthony and Sebastian came in, and he closed the file.

“What are you doing?” Sebastian asked.

“Why don’t you ever knock?” Andy said a bit annoyed by his friends’ attitude.

“Cuz if we knock you won’t let us in.” Sebastian said proud of his answer and smiled, “so, I will ask again, what are you doing?”

“Ammm nothing… there’s nothing to do today.” Andy was trying to hide the folder under his laptop.

“What is that?” Anthony asked, pointing to his desk.

“What?” Anthony pointed to the folder, “oh! This is nothing… new case… I was reading it.”

“What is it about?” Sebastian said.

“It is about… ammm a woman… and his ex-husband,” Andy didn’t know what to say, even though he was a lawyer he was a terrible liar. “You know… a bad divorce; and he attacked the woman.” He finished.

“Can we look?” Sebastian kept talking, “We are very bored.”

“No, this is private.”

“Come on man!” Anthony said, “It’s not like we are going to be talking about this case outside this office, let us look.”

“No, why don’t you go to your department, I’m sure Pam will give you something to do.”

“Actually, she kicked us out because we were playing hockey” Sebastian commented.

“How were you doing that?” Andy raised his brow, crossed his arms and turned to see Anthony.

“We made a ball of paper and grabbed some brooms from the closet.  And I was winning! But mister sore loser here decided it was a good idea to throw the broom up in the air, and well we broke a computer.”

Andy was paying attention to Anthony’s story when Sebastian interrupt them.

“Your client looks so much to your nanny.”

Andy turned to see Sebastian reading the file he had on Annie.

“Gimme that!” Andy tried to take the file away from Seb but he was faster.

“So, since when you use your free time to dig into your nanny’s life?”

“I told you to gimme that!”

“No, I’m Reading it.” He sat on the couch across the room, “the nanny’s name is Annabelle Marie Johnson, how cute.” Seb smiled to Andy.

“Dude, did you really make a file on your nanny???” Anthony said, “That’s…”

“Creepy” Seb finished and showed the picture that a moment before he was looking at, “She is pretty, Andy.”

“I’m not creepy,” Anthony snorted at Andy’s statement, “I wanted to know if this girl was not a psycho and if I could trust Jake to her.”

“Sure, sure,” Sebastian said. “Boyfriend, Daniel Mathews; argh sounds like a douchebag name. Criminal Justice… Maybe is he who you should be digging Andy not your nanny.”

“I’m not going to do that.”

“We can do it!” Anthony said clapping his hands. “Let’s found out, who your competition is.”

“No! She is happy with this guy, so cut it out.”

“Where did you get this picture?” Seb asked Andy.

“Her Facebook.”

“And did you send her a friend request?”

“Of course not, I made this file before I hired her, that was months ago.”

“You should totally do it now dude.” Anthony said.

“I won’t. You know what, now I totally understand why Pam kicked you out of her department.”

Andy leaned on his desk and rubbed his temples. He felt embarrassed; he snapped back to reality when he heard the click of a camera going off.

“What are you doing?” Andy asked Sebastian.

“If you are not going to date her, maybe I will.”

“Don’t you dare!”

“Why not? Sebastian smirked, “gimme a good reason, why I shouldn’t call her and ask her out?”

“Because,” Andy head was going fast, but couldn’t think of a good excuse, “because, she has a boyfriend, and she loves him.”

“That never stop me before.” Seb stood and gave Andy the file back. “You know what I think?” Seb paused for a moment, “I think you like her.”

“Well, you are wrong,” Andy lied, “We are just friends.”

“Ok then so, since you two are just friends I could give her a call.”

“Who is just friends?” Pam came into the office.

“Andy and his nanny,” Anthony said, “did you know he made a research about her?”

“Did you really?” Pam asked Andy, “I told you she was a nice girl, and to be honest I thought you were joking when you said you’ll do it.”

“Why are you all here?” the four turned to see Lynn at the door, but she wasn’t alone, another woman was with her. “Shouldn’t you be working?”

“They broke a computer.” Pam told her.

“Traitor!” Seb said.

“Look,” Lynn said annoyed, “I still don’t know how you two,” she stared at Anthony and Sebastian, “Passed the exams to become detectives, cuz you act like children. And as for the computer, you’ll pay for it, both of you, understood?”

“Yes, ma’am!” Anthony and Sebastian answered at the same time.

Both left the office to go back to their department upstairs.

“Are you really going to call that girl?” Anthony asked Sebastian once they were out Andy’s office.

“Of course not, Andy likes her.”

“I don’t think he does.” Anthony replied

“Dude use your eyes! Didn’t you see Andy’s face when he saw her on poker night? His eyes lit when he saw her.” Sebastian told him,

“He was acting kind strange a while ago.”

“Exactly and I think he needs a little push.”

“Come on man, don’t do anything. It’s Andy’s life, if he is not ready to move on you can’t force him, no matter if he likes this girl or not, is his choice, not yours.”

“Fine! I won’t do anything.”

Lynn waited till the two detectives were out of sight and looked back to Pam and Andy.

“Well, now the reason why I’m here. As you know, Mrs. Stevenson retired so let me introduce you to my new secretary, this is Stacy, she just moved here, and I hope you all make her feel welcome.”

Stacy was skinny, had black long hair, pale skin and a pointy nose.

“This is Pam Duffy, chief detective, she works upstairs with the two men that just left.” Pam smiled and Stacy bowed her head. “And this is Andy Barber. He is the ADA.”

“How you doin’?” Andy extended his hand and a flirty smile spread across her face and answered his handshake.

“I’m well, thank you.”

“So,” Lynn continue, “since you have nothing better to do Andy, would you mind give Stacy a tour, when you’re done, you can go home.”

“I better go and check on those two before they break another computer.” Pam left and leave Andy alone with Stacy.

Andy half smiled at Stacy and started walking and showing her the building from the reception up to where Pam’s department and office was.

“What brings you to Newton?” Andy Asked.

“A new start I guess, I recently divorce.”

“Sorry to heard. Amicable I hope.”

“Not quite, but it was for the best. I really hope this place allow me to have a better life.”  She said without stop staring at Andy.

Andy was not sure what it was but he didn’t like the way Stacy looked at him, nor the way her voice sounded when she talked, but again he just met her, maybe she was like that on a daily basics.

“I’m sure you will be comfortable here, everyone in Newton is very welcoming.”

“I’m sure they are.”

After they finished their little tour, Andy said goodbye to Lynn and headed to the elevator. Meanwhile Stacy saw Andy up and down while he walked away and smiled to herself, she took her phone out of her purse and dial her client’s number.