xp_logs | Sunday night

Terry and Bobby sit for the mansion's littlest megalomaniac. Some highlights and low points from the evening. Guest starring Scott in his first weekend back on duty.

Rachel Kinross yawned and made a disconsolate noise, little hands clutching at the stuffed alligator that was a new addition to her roster of toys. Although the alligator was soft and bright and she rather liked it, she wasn't entirely happy by the lack of familiar minds around her, post-nap.

"Maaaaaa," she protested sleepily.

Terry lifted her head from Bobby's shoulder as the protesting little voice filtered through the suite and the baby monitor. "I'll get her," she told him, getting up. She was actually glad that Rachel was awake. She hadn't seen her since coming over for tea with Moira the other day. She was smiling as she entered the baby's room, walking softly enough that even she thought her footfalls were quiet. "Hello, my wee lass. Are you awake?"

"Mmmm?" Rachel blinked up at the face leaning over her crib. Oooh! She gave a happy, if still sleepy-sounding burble and waved her hands. "Hee! Hee!"

Terry grinned even more widely at Rachel. "Indeed you are. Hello, beautiful. Did you want to get up and play a little?" She reached down into the crib, sliding her hands under the wee baby and lifted her out.

Rachel made another happy noise, until something dawned on her. The alligator! It was being left behind. She waved a hand at it, squeaking indignantly, and the stuffed alligator floated smoothly up into the air.

Terry started then laughed and reached out to corral the airborne reptile, bringing it in to snuggle in the crook of her arm with Rachel. "Sorry, baby, I didn't realise you wanted him to come along." She kissed the soft red hair over Rachel's solemn little face and hugged her. "Let's go out and see Bobby, okay?"

"Bah," was Rachel's pronouncement on that score as she snuggled closer. She liked all the redheads who liked her, especially this one. But she could take or leave the boy.

~*~*~

Terry was babbling to the little girl as she carried her out to the living room, silly nonsense that had Rachel waving the alligator in her face. She laughed and looked over at the couch at Bobby. "Look who's up? Dr. MacTaggart said she'd probably be hungry but she looks like she just wants to play."

Bobby glanced at the two of them, trying not to think too hard about the image of Terry holding a redheaded baby. Just no. "Oh. Um. What do you play with a baby?"

Terry rescued a clump of hair from Rachel's determined grip, making a face at her. "Wait a while, love and you'll have your own. Can't steal mine." She stopped by the couch. "I'm not really sure. She's not exactly a normal baby anyway." Rachel squealed to confirm that and hit Terry in the face with the alligator.

Bobby stared at them uncomfortably. Why couldn't Rachel have continued sleeping? It was much easier watching her that way. "True. So." He peered at Rachel and asked, "What do you want to play? Hit Terry in the face?"

"Bah!" Rachel responded empathetically and blew a raspberry at Bobby then giggled. Terry rolled her eyes.

"There's a blanket over there, can you lay it out on the floor?" Terry asked, nodding and dodging another swat with the alligator. "I can put her down and let her play with her toys."

Bobby nodded and got to his feet, spreading the blanket as instructed. This he could do. Follow orders, yep.

Terry followed and set Rachel down on the blanket, giving her the alligator and bringing over another stand-up toy with a mirror on it that seemed to totally entrance the baby. Rachel pulled herself up and grabbed the plastic edges of the mirror, squealing with pleasure at her own reflection. She bounced in place.

Terry grinned at her and Bobby. "She's just so cute, isn't she?"

"Yeah." Cute Bobby would definitely give her. That didn't mean he was comfortable being in charge of her. "So...now what?" He shoved his hands in his pockets, staring helplessly at Rachel.

Terry shrugged, "Let her play or play with her. We can fix her up something to eat too. She'll be hungry soon." Giving him a worried look, she wrapped an arm around his waist, "Are you okay?"

Bobby frowned at her. "I'm fine. I'll...go get a bottle ready for her, or something." He pulled away from her touch, uncomfortable with it with the baby right there--and uncomfortable with how much she seemed to enjoy being around said baby. Maybe they should cool down their relationship for a while...

Terry's eyes widened slightly and she stepped away, arm falling to her side. She swallowed hard, more than just a little bit worried. "Yeah, that would be good. I'll stay here and watch her." She sank to her knees on the blanket, focusing on the pastel animals and trying very hard not to feel guilty.

*~*~*~*

"Please stop crying," Bobby pleaded, kneeling in front of an unhappy baby. In response she made a face at him and began hovering a few inches off the floor in what Bobby took as a very threatening manner. "Nooo...look, Terry'll be right back, I promise..." What was she doing in the bathroom, anyway? It seemed like she'd been gone forever, and Rachel had started fussing the moment she'd left the room. Babies hated him, he now had concrete evidence.

Terry had done her best to make sure that Bobby didn't have to do anything more for Rachel than the occasional helping hand. The sound of Rachel building up to a truly impressive scream let her know that it had been a good decision and one that she was going to regret going against. She pulled her hair back into a ponytail and hurried back out. "Rachel, sweetie, what's wrong?" she called before she was even in the living room.\

"She hates me," Bobby whimpered, backing away from the floating baby as Terry returned. "I knew this was a bad idea."

Terry gave him a flat look, "She doesn’t hate you. She's just a baby. Rachel, honey, come here." She held out her arms to the floating tyke. "What happened?"

"Nothing. You left," Bobby said accusingly, getting to his feet as Rachel quieted and sailed into Terry's arms. He flopped on the couch with a sigh, leaning back and looking very much not happy.

Rachel cooed at Terry and blew more raspberries at her. Terry hugged her. "It's just that she doesn't know you. I, at least, have the red hair like her mum and I've played with her before." She sat on the couch next to Bobby. "Look at her, she's just a little thing."

Bobby looked at Rachel, then at Terry, the baby cuddled in her arms. "Uh. Yeah." He stood up quickly, backing away from the lovely domestic scene they'd had going there. "Look, I just don't do well with babies. I told you this was a bad idea." He felt trapped. He wanted to just go, but he'd committed to helping. But that didn't mean he couldn't take a break. "I'm gonna...go for a walk. I'll be back soon."

Terry sighed and nodded. "All right. I'm sorry, Bobby."

"It's okay." It wasn't, they both knew that, but they'd already had that argument, so Bobby just sighed and headed for the door. He hesitated with his hand on the doorknob. "You'll be okay with her alone for a few minutes?" He felt guilty ducking out of his responsibility, even though he felt like he was going to completely freak if he stayed here much longer, watching Terry and Rachel bond, or whatever.

She just shrugged. "I'll be fine. She's only six months old. It's not like she's going to start her plans for world domination right now." Terry waved at him, "Go. Take your time."

Bobby hesitated a moment longer, then nodded and left, breathing a sigh of relief as the door closed behind him.

*~*~*~*

Terry pelted down the hallway after the gleefully squealing baby, calling over her shoulder at Bobby, "Do something! Call someone!" Sweet mother of God but this kid was fast. Get a bit of food in her and she was like a six year old on crack. "Rachel, sweetie, stop!"

"WHEEEE!" Oh, this was a fun game. And Terry ran Very Fast! Rachel paused as the stairs came up and then happily floated out over the railing and dropped like a stone, cackling all the way.

Mr. Marko was right. She was a demon! "Rachel!" Terry hit the banister and grabbed on to prevent herself from flipping right over it, taking the wood rail to the stomach, temporarily winding her. She recovered quickly and pelted down the stairs. "Someone stop that baby!"

Scott stepped out of the elevator just in time to hear the shrieked "-stop that baby!" and paused for only a moment before running in the direction of what he was almost sure had been Terry's voice. He came to an abrupt stop in the middle of the foyer, his eye narrowing at the sight of Rachel bouncing lightly in her TK bubble off the Persian rug at the foot of the main staircase, giggling.

"You again," he said dryly. The baby squealed happily, waving her hands at him. "I love it. My first weekend back on duty and what emergency am I responding to? Runaway six-month old." He didn't move closer, knowing damned well that she'd think he was chasing her and take off again. "Slowly, Terry," he soothed the older redhead who came running down the stairs.

"Mr. Summers," Terry stopped, startled. "I'm sorry. I was watching her but then she just took off. She pressed her hand to her stomach, eyeing both baby and teacher with the same amount of wary panic. "How do you keep a flying baby where you put her?"

"I don't think Rachel here stays anywhere she doesn't want to say," Scott said good-humoredly, then winked at her. "Smile, kiddo. No harm done." He moved very, very slowly towards the giggling baby. "Hey, you," he said coaxingly, holding out his arms. "Remember me? I'm attached to one of the other redheads. The one you learned how to do this from."

Terry watched, still struggling to control her breathing--that hit on the railing had shaken her more than she'd thought--and tried not to be too tense. "She scared the life out of me when she went over the rail like that. What if her bubble had popped?"

"That would have been bad," Scott conceded, still smiling at the baby, still inching forward. "But unlikely, from what I understand. So much of her TK is instinctive. Are you all right?"

"Aye, just ran into the banister up there when she went over." She sat down on the step anyway and gave Rachel a stern look. "I know you're proud of yourself, little miss, but you aren't as clever as you think."

Rachel giggled and floated up into the air. Scott froze, eyeing her. "No, Rachel, that was not a challenge. Terry wasn't asking you to prove her wrong."

"Heehee!" Rachel blinked big grey eyes at Terry and then cooed, bobbing gently in that direction. Scott stayed where he was, watching.

Terry folded her arms. "I'm perfectly serious, Miss Rachel. I don’t think it's very funny. Would you do that to your mum? Make her fuss and worry?"

"Oooo?" Rachel sniffled, hovering perhaps a foot away from Terry. "Oooo?" she said again, with a definite undertone of Woe.

"If you're saying you're sorry, I'll accept your apology but I don't think it's very nice to harass your sitter." Terry uncrossed her hands and opened them to the floating baby. "Do you want to go back upstairs now?"

Rachel sniffled again and floated into Terry's arms, the TK bubble vanishing as soon as the girl had a good grip on her. She cuddled, whimpering a little, and Scott didn't bother repressing the smile.

"I think that's an apology," he said to Terry. "You want me to come upstairs with you just in case she makes another break for her?"

"I'm hoping she's reformed but aye, she seems to like you. Or at least, you distracted her enough to settle her down." She cuddled Rachel automatically, resting her cheek on her head. "I'm really sorry about this."

"It's really all right, you know. It's not as if she doesn't do this on a regular basis. It's just more nerve-wracking, I know, because you're responsible for her at the moment," Scott said, laying a hand on her shoulder and squeezing briefly as they headed up the stairs. "But no harm done."

Terry nodded and sighed. "I'm beginning to regret volunteering. She's a handful and a half. I think Bobby is never going to let me talk him into anything again."

"It'll do Bobby good," Scott said wryly. Rachel burst abruptly into tears, but didn't start shrieking, at least. "Hey," Scott soothed, then looked thoughtfully at Terry. "Overtired, maybe?"

"She ate a bit ago and then took off." Terry frowned thoughtfully and lifted the baby to her shoulder, rubbing her back. "Rachel, sweetie, let's get you in your jams okay?"

"I suppose you never know with her," Scott said as they reached the third floor. "You never know with any baby, obviously, but one that's telepathic... who knows what she's picking up on?"

Terry's frown deepened then vanished as she made a deliberately attempt to think only good thoughts. "I hope it's not me upsetting her." Well, okay, good thoughts and some self doubt. "She likes those Baby Einstein tapes. I'll put one of those in and see if it helps."

"She's probably just missing her parents. I remember she was fussy on Muir when we came back - Nathan and Moira didn't take her out to the funeral, of course." Scott smiled at the baby, who was still sniffling. "Baby Einstein, huh?"

Terry smiled, "I don't know who gave them to her but they're really cute. Babies teaching things like Beethoven and stuff. I read once that babies like to look at other babies."

The door to Moira and Nathan's door was right there before they knew it, and Scott paused, smiling. "You know you can call Jean and I if you have any more trouble tonight?" he asked Terry, then made a funny face at Rachel, who blinked at him. "And you, behave."

"Mah," Rachel said, sounding petulant and more than a little tired. She promptly buried her face in Terry's shoulder.

Terry chuckled softly, "Thanks, Mr. Summers. It looks like her break for freedom tired her out. Maybe she'll sleep a bit now so that she can try it all over again at midnight." She kissed Rachel's head, "Don't take that as a suggestion."

"Just make sure you shut the nursery door," Scott said with a chuckle as he turned away. "Good night, redheads. I need to go find my own."