Failure

Jason let out an uncontrolled "Argh!" when the warm liquid landed on his face before stopping his 'attacker'. Jenny shot out of bed and headed into the bathroom to see what had caused Jason's scream and burst into laughter once she saw the scene of the culprit and the victim. "After so many diaper changes he finally got you, hmm?" Jenny said after her laughter had quieted down. "Yeah, he sure is a quick witted fellow." Jason said in an annoyed voice as he cleaned himself off. "Taking advantage of my sleepy state to take a shot at me." Jenny chuckled. "Well he never got you during the late night diaper changes before. What was so different tonight? Could it be that the two of us finally tired you down?"

Jason was still sounding a bit irritated when he said, "What are you talking about? This was nothing more than an accident." Jenny shrugged lightly as she replied, "Call it whatever you want but this wouldn't have happened before. You know that an after stream follows when you change a boy's diaper. So, the only reason that this could happen, is because you weren't in a state of mind to be able to think of that as you started changing him. The most logical reason for that would be fatigue from pushing yourself too hard. To be honest, I am surprised you managed to last this long. So, don't feel bad about not being to carry all that weight on your shoulders. You have already exceeded my expectations. So, how about you give the perfect husband and father role a rest now and let others help you. I won't think any less of you if you do. If you don't want that other person to be me yet, then let my mom help out. She stayed here to help us but you have barely let her do anything at all."

Jason let out a sigh as he let his hands rest on the sink and looked at Jenny, who was just finishing up with Charlie's diaper. Though he was a bit shocked by Jenny's words at first and by his own inability to hide him having a hard time, in a way he was glad that Jenny was able to look through what was on the surface. She was one of the few people that could see through the cracks in his mask and knew when to offer him a helping hand, even when he didn't want to ask for it himself, even when he didn't see he needed it. Her presence had allowed him to not be perfect all the time without making him feel like he had been anything less than that. Though this particular moment was a tough pill to swallow even with her well intended words.

"Perfect husband and father role, hmm? Those sure are some confronting words but I don't have anything to refute them... I guess you must be right but it sure doesn't feel very nice to be facing my failure like this. I really thought I would be able to make this work but four weeks was all it took to show me otherwise. It seems we learned nothing from Nick and Elizabeth's experience or maybe arrogance convinced us that we would be different." Jenny chuckled as she lifted Charlie up from the changing table and carried him in her arms towards Jason. When she was standing face to face, she gave him a hug.

As she gently rubbed his back in a comforting way she softly said, "There hasn't been a single day since we have been together that I have thought of you as a failure and it sure doesn't apply to today. You have been doing a wonderful job and you have helped me in so many ways. I don't know how I would have handled these weeks without you. But now I have mostly recovered and it is time for me to share a bit of the burden with you. So, don't look at this as me telling you that you aren't able to go on the way you have been but me saying that I don't want you to. Just like you don't like seeing me have a hard time, I don't like seeing you have a hard time either. Since our son has both of us to take care of him and a loving grandma who has left everything behind to be able to care for him in this first few weeks, we would be fools not to use those facts to our advantage."

Jason smiled gently as he put his arms around Jenny and placed a kiss on top of her head. He whispered "Fools indeed." before he said in a normal voice, "Let's go back to bed. Charlie needs his rest and so do we. Since both of us are quite tired, let's ask your mother to take care of him tomorrow morning and sleep in a bit." Jenny could already feel her previous tiredness strike again and with Jason's matters resolved, she no longer had a reason to fight it. So, she nodded as her head was still pressed against his chest. Jason took Charlie from her hands and they headed back into the bedroom. After placing Charlie back in his crib and each placing a kiss on his forehead, they returned to their bed as well. Once they were snuggled up close, they both fell asleep in a matter of seconds and didn't wake up until it was time for Charlie's next feeding round.