milliways_bar | (no subject)

Entry tags:

(no subject)

Charlie ambles downstairs. He's wearing Bartleby's sweatshirt again. Yes, it's big enough to fit a small island nation inside. It's also warm.

He sits at the bar and looks around.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"I shouldn't come close until I won't upset him. No reason for him to feel this." He longs to put his finger in Seth's fist and feel his strong grip.

"I know." She says. "He doesn't let me hold him very much either right now. But the past two days he's been sleeping a little bit better than before."

"That's good, at least."

She nods. "Charlie. . ."

She stops and sighs. Why is it that there's always so much and so little to say at once?

"Yeah?

"Oh, by the way. We've been invited to a party on Sunday at Indy and Mike's. Indy is Loralei's boyfriend. Richard and Armand are invited too. Probably a lot of others."

"Oh?" She grins, appreciating the change of topic. "That sounds nice. I met Mike a few weeks ago. I liked him."

"He's a good kid. I've only talked to Indy once or twice--we got drunk together once. But he makes Loralei happy, so yay."

Knock knock.
Who's there?
Interrupting Mike.
Interrupting Mike who?

"BABY!"

Says Mike running at full tilt towards Claire and Charlie. When he sees the baby's asleep only his volume is lowered, enthusiasm is still running on eleven. He even mouths BABY! again for good measure.

Claire's eyes widen as Mike bounds towards them. She looks at Charlie and starts laughing. "Hey, Mike."

"Hi, Mike," Charlie says, grinning.

He waves to them both, points at the baby, and then again mouths the word BABY!.
Half track mind this one. There's a pause, some might say a comedic beat.

"Good evenin' folks. How are/were your respective days?"

Mike's excitement has woken up Seth. He whimpers a bit but the good vibes are too much for even him to be crabby so he ends up blowing a spit bubble instead.

"Mike, this is Seth." Claire grins. "Seth, Mike."

Charlie wishes he could take Seth out of the carrier so they can play with him, but instead just smiles and watches them.

Cringing at first, he didn't mean to wake the baby, but it quickly melts when he sees the baby's eyes open.

"Hiya Seth, I'm Mikey. That was the best spit bubble ever. This kid? Genius."

He seems quite serious about this.

"I'd offer to let you hold him, but I know how much you'd hate that." Her eyes sparkle mischievously.

"He's brilliant," Charlie agrees solemnly.

Mike has begun his mantra of pleasepleasepleaseplease. I guess he does want to hold the baby afterall.

"That's ivy league spit bubbling right there. No doubt in my mind."

Claire pretends to think it over before finally giving in with a giggle. She gently lifts Seth out of his carrier and shifts him over to Mike, helping the turtle angle his arms to best support the baby's head.

"Ah, there you go. Yeah, hold his head." She smiles and Seth squeaks in contentment.

Charlie smiles, watching them, and gets off his stool. "I'm going to try and get some sleep," he says softly to Claire. "See you later.

"Take care of my boy," he tells Mikey, and heads up the stairs, his hands in his back pockets.

Mike looks down in amazement at this precious little bit of a person he's got nestled in his arms. Absently he wishes Charlie a good night and promises. Hell, for this little guy, he'd promise just about anything.

This is as close to a baby as Mike has ever been. He beams with nye palpable joy.

"You do good work Claire."

Seth does his new trick for Mike. His new trick is blowing five spit bubbles in a row.

"Thank you." She says softly and smiles at Mike. "How have you been?"

"Great and getting better all the time."

A leathery green and slightly warmer than room temperature hand gently brushes Seth's forehead.

"How about you? You've heard about the party, right?"

"I have. Charlie was just telling me about it. Thank you so much for inviting us." She beams. "I haven't gotten to do much here. A party sounds fun."

"Well, I can't promise fun, but I can promise a slinky dress for every woman who wants one, and mushroom puffs."

She laughs. "You have a supply of slinky dresses laying around or something?"