SISTERS, WHO NEEDS THEM?
Disclaimer: The only one we own is Hallie, so there. Ner!
Notes: This is the third in a series consisting of the Big Decision and
Hallie. Best read those before reading these.
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It hadn't been all that long since Evie had left the house for work and Rick was watching over Hallie with the help of his son. Or rather, Hallie was sleeping while Rick read to Alex. The baby had been asleep for the past couple of hours and they had taken advantage of that quiet time to catch up on Moby Dick. It was the damn longest book he had ever read, but Alex seemed to be enjoying it.
He loved this time with his father and was glad that Hallie was asleep. She wasn't that great in his opinion, all she did was eat, sleep, poop and cry. His parents kept telling him she would be fun, but thus far, his five-month-old sister was a bore to him. "Dad, do whales really eat people?" he asked, sort of afraid and anxious at the same time.
Rick smiled and ruffled his hair. "Not that I know of," he said. "Although I guess you'd have to be pretty insane to even want to get so close to a whale like that in the first place. But generally, I think they stay away from people so unless you're a crazy goon like Captain Ahab, you wouldn't really have a problem."
Alex nodded. "Do you know anyone who has a wooden leg?" he wanted to know.
From her place in her little bassinet, Hallie started to wake up. She rolled over onto her stomach, something she had just started doing the past week. She had a full head of dark hair like Evelyn and already she had her mum's delicate features. She quickly put her fist to her mouth and began to suck on it, making enough noise for those nearby to hear her.
"Nope, I never met anybody with a peg leg before," Rick replied, grinning. He looked up when he heard the little noises his daughter was making and he marked his place in the book, getting up to walk over to her. He lifted her up and out, holding her little body close to him and bringing her back to sit on the sofa with him beside Alex. "Hey there, sweetheart, did you get lonely?" he asked her.
Alex sighed. "Dad, she's boring," he commented, poking a finger at the baby's tummy. She lay cradled in her father’s arms still sucking on her fist, though when Alex poked her, she made a face then started to cry, more at being hungry than being poked at.
Rick rocked her gently, trying to quiet her wails. When she showed no signs of stopping however, he decided it was time to move things to the kitchen so that she could get her feed and he beckoned for Alex to come with him. "She's only a baby," he told his son, trying to make himself heard over Hallie's wails. "She can't do anything much right now until she grows."
She rubbed her face against his chest in search of the one thing he didn't have and sucked at his shirt, trying to get milk from him. When that didn't happen, she began to cry even harder.
Alex put his hands over his ears; amazed that someone so little could be so loud. "Doesn't she need mum for feeding?" he asked loudly
"We can feed her," Rick told him as they entered the kitchen. "Your mother stored some milk in the freezer before she went out so all we have to do is heat that up and give it to her." He began to get everything ready, humming softly to Hallie. "Hey now, just hang on a little longer," he promised. He grinned over at Alex. "Every time she cries, just think of it like your mother's singing, I always do," he said teasingly.
He laughed. "Mum can't sing," he said. "Can I hold her?" he asked over her loud cries.
Hallie took in a deep breath and let out a very loud cry, her whole head turning red as she did so.
"You'd better hurry up or she is going to explode," he said as he decided he better let his father handle things.
"You try holding a fussy baby and heating up milk at the same time," said Rick. He soon realized that he was going to need help while he got the bottle filled so he carried his screaming daughter over to Alex, helping him hold her properly. "All right, hold her carefully and shut your ears," he told him and he went back to getting her bottle ready, trying to be as quick as he could.
Alex held her cradled against him, but she seemed upset over leaving her daddy's arms. He lifted her up over his head and she cried louder, scared about not being supported. "Hey, hey it's like flying," he tried.
"Alex, hold her properly," said Rick, from his place at the stove. He did so, but Hallie still wouldn't stop crying so it was to Rick's relief when he finally goes her meal ready. He hurried back to the table, taking Hallie from Alex and holding her close, supporting her head and offering her the bottle. "Come on now, Hallie, it's dinner time," he told her.
For the briefest moment she accepted what he had to offer, but then pushed the rubber nipple out of her mouth. She gave him a look, which said 'do you really think I'm going to take that over a nice warm breast?' Then she wrinkled her face and cried harder.
"I think we should call mum," Alex shouted, covering his ears again.
Rick sighed, deciding to wait a few more seconds before he tried her with the bottle again. "Sssh, mommy's not here right now, but you have to eat, sweetheart," he said soothingly. He tried her with the bottle once more, hoping she would drink from it this time.
She looked at him as if he had lost his mind and took in a deep breath about the same time the bottle was put into her mouth and let out a loud bellowing cry, waving her arms in distress.
"I'm calling mum," Alex said quickly and moved for the phone.
"It's okay, Alex, we'll cope," Rick called over the din. He placed the bottle on the table, deciding to leave that for the time being as he tried to calm Hallie down, rocking her in his arms and humming to her softly, stroking over her angry little red head.
He snuck into his father's office and decided that mum should know about this, so he rang the museum. "Mum, Hallie's going to explode and dad thinks he's got a hand on it," Alex said when she picked up. He was tired of hearing his sister cry and he wanted him and his dad to finish up with their story.
"All right, darling. I did have a few more things to do but I'll see to them later," Evie replied and once she hung up, she got into the car and headed for home.
Alex picked up one of his sister's rattles and took it back into the kitchen, shaking it for her, but now she was just plain mad.
Rick was almost at his wit's end by this time, about ready to start screaming along with his daughter. He looked up when Alex came back into the room. "Where did you sneak off to?" he asked as Hallie began to protest even louder at the sight of the rattle.
He made up a fib and a reasonable one at that. "I had to go to the bathroom and besides, I wanted to go someplace where she wasn't crying." That last part was the truth.
She screamed louder and pressed her face against her father's chest, trying to suckle anything at this point, rubbing her face against him in vain attempt to get milk.
Rick stared down at her as she nuzzled at his chest. "Try as hard as you like, but you're not going to get fed that way," he told her. He closed his eyes, sighing. "If she won't drink from the bottle, most likely she'll just cry herself to sleep," he said to Alex, wishing he could do something for her, but unfortunately, he wasn't mommy and couldn't settle her down by giving her what she wanted most.
Not getting anything from him made Hallie that much more angry and she cried harder, still rubbing her face against his shirt.
"I'm going where its quiet," Alex announced, deciding that when mum got home it would be a good idea to be make himself scarce so that he wouldn't get yelled at for calling her.
It was a few minutes later when Evie walked through the front door, and after putting her bags down, she made her way into the kitchen. Hallie had more or less quieted down having found her fist to suck on, and her father had his eyes closed, looking completely frazzled. Evie smiled at him, moving his hands away and taking her daughter. "Did you give daddy a difficult time?" she asked as she sat down beside him and in a moment had the baby nursing which calmed her
instantly.
He looked over at her tiredly. "A difficult time is only the half of it," he told her. "She wouldn't feed at all, I couldn't get her to calm down and-" he broke off suddenly and looked at his watch. "What are you doing home so early?" he queried.
She rubbed a hand over the baby's back. "Hmm? Oh, Alex called and said she was being difficult so I decided to take pity on you and come feed her," she said, not knowing that their son had been told not to phone.
"Alex called you?" he asked, now realizing why his son had crept off earlier on. "I'll be right back," he told her, quickly kissing her forehead and heading off up to Alex's room. He knocked on the door. "Alex?" he called. "I need to speak with you."
Alex had been working on a model car, painting it red when his dad knocked. "Come in," he said, acting as though not a thing in the world was wrong.
He stepped into the room, closing the door behind him and decided to get straight to the point. "You called the museum," he said. "I told you we could handle it. Hallie was almost asleep anyway by the time your mother got home."
He continued to paint, ignoring his father. "But mum said that she was almost done with her day and...and Hallie needed her," he replied, trying to defend his actions. "Look, dad, it's just about done," he said, ready to change the subject
Rick sat down on the bed, putting his head in his hands. "Alex, your mother has just taken almost half a year off work because of this baby. Now that she's just started work at the museum again, she can't be running back and forth all day long just because Hallie decides to have a tantrum. It isn't fair on her and it might get her into trouble."
Alex put his car down. "Well, maybe she should stay here. That way, I get more time with you, Hallie is happier and we are all happier,” he said, going to get a puzzle. "Want to help me with this?" he asked
Rick sighed and looked up, patting the space next to him on the bed for Alex to sit down. Once he was seated, he said, "Alex, tell me what you think about your sister." He wanted to know if Alex really had wanted to get away from the baby's squalling or whether it was something that went deeper than that. He knew that both he and Evelyn had been spending a lot of time with their daughter lately and he realized that Alex must sometimes feel neglected.
Alex had been the center of their lives for all his nine years on this earth and now that Hallie was here, he wasn't sure where he stood. "I think we should give her away," he admitted. "All she does is cry and eat and you and mum make a big fuss over her. She's such a bother! Why can't I just be the one you love?" he asked and there was a hint of anger in his voice as well as a hurt that went fairly deep.
Rick was beginning to feel a little guilty by now. He could understand his son's feelings of jealousy and resentment towards Hallie for seeming to take their love away from him. He gently placed a hand on Alex's back. "Alex, I love you very much and you know your mother does too," he began. "I know you've gotten used to being an only child, but now that Hallie is here, that doesn't mean we love you any less. Right now we have to be there for her all the time because she's so young. Yes, she cries a lot, but she's a baby, that's her only way of communicating. It'll get easier as time goes on, I promise."
He pulled away. "Well, I don't like her. You and mum thought about only what you wanted, and not about me. If you had asked me about getting a baby, I would have said no. We can't even go to Egypt because she is here. What if I decided to give her away?" he demanded, placing both arms across his chest and pursing his lips.
Rick sighed again, wondering why both of his children could be as difficult as their mother sometimes. "Well, the house would definitely be a lot quieter," he said, trying to make light of things. "And I'd like to think that we would miss her too."
He tried not to laugh, but did anyway. "Okay, okay, I won't get rid of her. I still think mum should stay with us though. Hallie likes it better when she's home and then you and I could have more time to do stuff," he said, sitting next to his father again.
Rick smiled at him. "Well, if you feel that strongly about it, I guess I could have a word with your mother to maybe get an afternoon off once in a while." He reached out and ruffled his son's hair. "You used to be just like Hallie you know," he remarked. "I had to stay and take care of you while your mother went to work and sometimes you wouldn't feed from a bottle either. Once, you even tried to feed from me."
He grinned. "I did, but you don't have boobies like mum has so I bet I got mad like just like Hallie," he said, laughing. "Hey, let's read more Moby Dick," he suggested.
His father laughed. "Okay, you go run downstairs and bring it up here," he replied as he stretched out on the bed. "Your old daddy needs some rest after his long day."
Alex thought about that and then lay down with him. "We can both rest here and mum can take care of the baby," he said snuggling up, glad to have his father all to himself.
Rick moved them both so that they lay against the pillows and he closed his eyes, smiling at how nice it was to finally get a little peace and quiet after all they'd been through. "We can read some of it later, we only have about another six hundred chapters to go through," he murmured sleepily.
He giggled. "Oh, it's not that bad," he said, resting his head on his father's chest and closing his eyes. "Dad, why didn't you and mum have a boy? That would have been much more fun," he mumbled before falling asleep.
After Hallie had nursed, Evie rocked her to sleep then carried her up to her room to place her in the crib. She walked down the hall and peeked into Alex's room, finding her two guys asleep in his bed. She shook her head smiling and got a quilt, pulling it over them kissing first her son's head, then moving to her husband, kissing his lips. "My poor love," she whispered, then went off to curl up with a good book.