DEAN THOMAS. (illustrates) wrote in theprofslounge, @ 2009-08-10 14:21:00 |
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Although Dean didn't consider himself a naive person, he had been certain that Deirdra "Teacake" Finnigan would calm down the second her 'Uncle Dean' was around. Neither Seamus nor Lisa could, but that didn't stop Dean from hoping and praying that he would have some sort of special touch when it came to quieting fussy babies. Of course, that would have meant that Seamus and Lisa would have yet another thing to be upset about -- that Dean, someone who'd never had a child of his own, figured something out about their child that they couldn't -- but Dean just wanted his friends to stop being so stressed out, no matter how it happened. He was hopeful that they'd be more grateful than upset. Unfortunately, Dean didn't have a magic touch. No matter how long he drove her around, she still cried. No matter how long of a walk they took, she still cried. No matter how much he bounced her and sang to her and lectured her about her wailing, she still cried. By the time Dean returned to his flat with her late that afternoon, he was exhausted. He couldn't believe that Seamus and Lisa had to deal with that all day, every day. He could barely handle one. He had discovered, however, just how much women were drawn to babies. They received quite a few strange glances at first, and he heard several women muttering about screaming babies and wondering what he was doing wrong, but for the most part, women wanted to help him out instead. Everything from holding the baby themselves to making suggestions based on what had worked for their sister's neighbour's cousin's baby, but nothing worked (as expected). It only took one sentence ("she's my best mate's baby, and he and his wife are so exhausted, so I thought I'd take her off their hands for the day...") for Dean to realise that taking care of a screaming infant had its uses. Even though he was tired as hell and was sure that the ringing in his ears would last for days, at least he'd returned home with several phone numbers in his pockets and dates lined up. "They really weren't kidding about you, were they, darling?" he asked Teacake as he got her settled on the sofa, the baby in an infant car seat charmed to rock gently. "Well, maybe we'll just watch a film instead, yeah? You'll wear yourself out eventually." Yeah, right. Dean doubted that, but he wasn't about to give up. After popping a movie in, he returned to the sofa and sat down next to the baby. It was a good thing he'd already seen the film and that it had English subtitles -- Koi Mil Gaya, because he had a soft spot for that weird-looking alien and for Hrithik Roshan -- because up until the first dance number fifteen or so minutes in, he wouldn't have been able to hear the dialogue. And then as Rohit and his little friends were singing and dancing in grassy fields and on train tracks, Dean realised that he could actually hear the music. And not just faintly, either. His first thought was that something must be wrong, and then the second was that Lisa and Seamus were going to kill him and he'd never get to babysit again. Eyes wide, he bent over Teacake to get a closer look. "Oh, God, please --" Upon closer inspection, however, she was fine. Breathing normally, wide awake, not turning funny colours or doing anything that a baby shouldn't do. She looked... content. Confused, Dean picked her up, just to make sure. One could never be too careful with babies, after all. The song on the telly ended, and within another minute, she was fussing again. "What is it, little one?" Then it dawned on him: was it the music from the movie? He grabbed the remote and sped through the dialogue to get to another song, and the answer became immediately clear. "Are you fucking kidding me? Holy shit, I did it!" Dean exclaimed with a laugh. "Good thing you can't understand me yet. So, you like Hrithik Roshan, or just the music? Guess we'll have to find out, won't we? You've got good taste already, either way. All right, since you're too young to see what's going on, I'll just tell you. You're going to love it. See, there's this bloke, and everyone makes fun of him because he's different and even though he's all grown up, he's still a kid mentally, but don't worry, it'll all work out, 'cause there's this alien..." |