It was funny, in a way that had very limited humor, how things had changed, Elliot used to joke with her about her stripping. But now... as much as he tried to hide it, Rae sensed his insecurity. She felt terrible about it, too. Still, when he called her “Little Miss Dancer,” it was hard to ignore that fact. Was he ashamed of it? Sometimes it felt that way. “I could claim to be the brains of this outfit, but no one would believe me,” she joked.
“I knew you would,” she smirked a little bit. And if you didn't, Little One would look at you with it's inevitably adorable eyes and make you feel so bad...” another little grin as she poked him in the arm. “Uncle David will probably cherish diaper duty. I have a feeling that we're gonna be fighting him to give Little One back.”
Sometimes, it was easy to forget that as long as Rae had been without her mother, Elliot had gone two-and-a-half years longer. “The day we met,” Rae smiled wistfully. “You know... looking back now, it was so weird, calling you Zimm.” She snorted a little laugh. “I remember the looks I got in the kitchen, sneaking you those two forties, too.” She shrugged and shook her head no. “Since I was always something of a daredevil, I still say it was equal back then.”
Once again, Rae laughed. “And plutonium? People would totally mistake you for a cartoon dog.” She smiled once more. “Least sexy to spread, definitely. But most delicious to eat. I miss cheese. Just... not on my body. I think it'd remind me too much of Cheese Man from Grand Central. His stalking totally put Leo to shame,” she chuckled wryly. God, was she ever glad Leo hadn't shown up at Sing Sing yet. “Chocolate, though? I think I kind of want to snag a bottle of chocolate sauce for... reasons...” she wagged her eyebrows. “What do you think?”
Guilt poked at her when he looked down. “Hey. You do. You make me want to be better in every way, okay? I mean it. You make me want to be stronger and smarter, and be the best mother I can be...” she told him. She wanted him to be proud of her. She wanted to be good enough.
She chuckled when he got defensive. “All right, all right, no more jabs at your cleaning skills,” she smiled a little more genuinely now. “Little One is pretty much the best motivation for anything, isn't it?” she asked.
The seriousness with which he told her that he thought Little One was a boy made her grin. So you think Little One's an Andrew David, hm?” she asked. “Well, I think it's a Nadia Mary,” she said in a playfully challenging voice. It didn't matter to her, though. She'd love it, no matter what gender it was.