Chapter 2

Lucky for him Carter arrived soon after, and he was smart enough to just check if the door was open instead of knocking, he entered Daniel's apartment and found his friend somewhat falling asleep on the couch, he smiled a little, he never thought he would see his friend falling asleep with a baby on his chest but it was quite a sight to behold.

He placed everything he brought down on the coffee table and walked over to his friend and lightly shook him.

"Danny, wake up buddy" Carter whispered, Daniel slowly opened his eyes.

"Carter?" Daniel whispered back, still semi asleep, Carter smiled a little and glanced towards the baby on his friend's chest who was far into dreamland. His smile grew a bit more. He got up and took the baby carefully and placed her back in the basket.

"Hey sleepyhead, I brought some things she will need. I gave my sister-in-law a call and she told me what your baby will need" Carter told him with a smile. Daniel sat up and looked towards the bags on the table, he was a little shocked.

Carter had brought more than enough, cans on cans of formula, clothes, even diapers. 

"my sister told me to call her when I get here and she will give you some pointers, so you go take the call and I will work on getting a bottle made and maybe changing her diaper and getting her dressed," Carter said as he threw his friend to Daniel before heading over to the table to collect the can of formula and a bottle, then taking off to the small kitchenette. 

While waiting for the water to heat up, Carter watched as Daniel awkwardly called his sister-in-law with a notepad in hand ready to take notes on everything she told him, he shook his head a little.

He had known Daniel for about five years now and the man always seemed confident and sure about everything, but at the moment he had a bedhead, bags under his eyes, and was in a panic trying to figure out what to do with everything in his life suddenly changing.

Once the water warmed up Carter started making the bottle whilst Daniel took notes in a panic trying to catch everything Carter's sister-in-law told him.

They both had some experience but neither had the experience of actually raising a child, and Carter knew that much, he felt bad for his friend, he wanted to help but all he had was money to throw at Daniel but he knew Daniel wouldn't accept the money easily even if he needed it, so he was trying to concoct a plan in his head to help his friend.

"That's it" Carter whispered to himself, as he walked back to the living room, happy with the plan he had come up with.

Carter waited a bit and once Daniel was done on the phone he turned to his friend with a grin, which truly caused the other a bit of fear - Carter wasn't one to smile... rather Carter was quite cold to everyone except for those he was close to.

"Live with me" Carter said out of the blue as he placed the bottle on the Coffee table - Daniel just started at him like he completely lost it - it was the one thing everyone knew, Carter liked living alone - even his fiancée didn't live with him, neither of them really had time to deal with everything involving moving and sorting through everything to do so - plus both had quite different taste in decorations and furniture and his fiancée didn't really want to give up any of her furniture nor did she want to give up her apartment to live with Carter.

"Are you sure? I mean... I can manage here with her" Daniel said, he wasn't sure what to do... does he agree because Carter is his friend? but that would also make things a little awkward because Carter was also his boss - he couldn't imagine living with Carter if they weren't friends.

"Yeah,  I saw how much my sister suffered when my brother went on business trips abroad, it wasn't easy to raise my nephew alone, plus we work together, meaning we can catch up on work easier and we can work from home without you having to constantly travel, and she's still really small and everything is unfamiliar to her right now she is going to be a handful at least if you live with me you will be able to hand her off to me from time to time and get some rest" Carter tried convincing Daniel.

"Won't Angela get upset? I mean me living with you, raising a child together basically?" Daniel asked Angela was Carter's fiancée and she wasn't exactly subtle with her dislike towards Daniel for spending so much time with her fiancé, especially after finding out he was gay - she saw him as someone who was in her way.

"If she gets upset I will buy her something or take her to an expensive dinner and she will be happy again," Carter said shrugging his shoulders, Daniel shook his head a little then glanced towards the still-sleeping baby.

He knew it was, possible to raise her alone, it would be too much work and then because of that it would be harder for him to get to work which meant he could lose his job eventually or he might have to quit just to care for her and doing that meant his only income would be cut and he wouldn't have to funds to care for her so the only option he really had left was taking Carter up on his offer.

"If you are sure I'm not going to cause any issues between you two then I would appreciate the help" Daniel admitted, he knew he would cause problems but still - He wasn't ready to raise children, especially alone he knew he wouldn't be able to handle it but he didn't have much of a choice.

"Great! Then I will make some calls and get everything organized, I will call some movers to come pack your things and move it over to my house, and I will get a nursery and bedroom set up for the two of you" Carter said waving his phone around, Daniel didn't have much time to stop him or to say anything because by the time Daniel had processed all the words his friend just spewed the man had already left towards Daniels room to make the calls.

Daniel just sat there speechless... He just wanted to sleep after a long night. Why did his life just change in the blink of an eye?