Who: Audrey Baxter and Frank Hardy When: Februaryish... in the rain Where: Baxter Bakery What: Random Encounter Rating/Warnings: Low/None Status: Complete
Audrey was desperate. It was raining outside, and the car seat was covered in spit-up, the seats were all soaked, and at least the baby was clean! But Audrey had to dig keys out of her purse, and hold the umbrella and hold the baby, and she just. wanted. to. get. in. her. car. She felt flustered and anxious, and grabbed the first passer-by she could, nearly dropping her umbrella in the process.
“Can you help me? Please?” The poor woman looked like a drowned rat.
Frank was not sure why the rain had given him a craving for soup in a bread bowl, but he was definitely sure that he knew just the place to get the perfect bread. Honestly, it was a shame the bakery did not deliver, but it was not too far from the brother’s apartment for a carryout order. He parked in the small lot, opening his umbrella as he ducked into the oncoming storm. It was a short jaunt to the building.
Or it should have been. Halfway through the line of cars he noticed the woman struggling with her purse. Frank moved forward, intending to help in some way. He had barely opened his mouth to ask if she wanted help with her umbrella when the woman in question grabbed his sleeve and pulled him over anyway. “Sure, I-” The rest of his sentence was cut off as instead of an umbrella he was handed a small human instead. “...Hi there.” He quickly adjusted his arms to cradle the baby, fumbling a bit with his own umbrella in the process.
So, the baby was tiny. Only a few weeks old. A couple months, tops. And she was swaddled in a pink blanket over a giraffe print onesie pajamas. Complete with hood. The hood even had a little Giraffe head on it. Pink hair. It was precious.
Audrey, relieved that she now had use of both hands, gave a little sigh as she dug through her purse and pulled out her keys. “Thanks!” She said, clicking the fob that opened her car door. It was a mini-van, and the door swung open all on its own at the click of the fob. “I would have just apparated, but I’m not as comfortable doing that as I once was. And with a baby? That would just be ridiculous.” She motioned for the man to follow her to the car, and had to pick up a couple of things that had fallen out of her purse and onto the ground.
“Apparated?” Frank asked, curious. That was not a word he had heard used to describe how to unlock a vehicle. Perhaps it was a new brand of remote key app? It would have to be a relatively new one, considering his co-workers had not yet thrown the name around the office. The gadget bloggers had taken an immediate liking to their fluff story compatriot and were often trying to weigh down his phone with yet another app that he absolutely had to test. For science, of course.
Frank was not entirely sure which car her wave was supposed to indicate. He wished he could bend down to help her. Unfortunately, neither he nor his Dream self had ever been in the situation where he needed to be able to multi-task while holding a small human being. There was a lot to be said about mothers and juggling and he would be the first to say that he was most definitely not ready to attempt such feats himself. Which only left him the option of following the woman to her car after she had successfully retrieved her things by herself.
As they reached the car, Frank looked down at the tiny baby in his arms. He gave the infant that same goofy smile adults reserve for baby animals and small children. “Hi there.” The smile was still there as he glanced up at the woman. “She’s really quiet.” The reporter marveled. He did not have much experience with kids, but from what he had been told by friends, crying and screaming came part and parcel with dirty diapers and carefully supported necks.
“Yeah, um… disappeared in one place, and reappeared in another,” Audrey explained. Duh, tall-dark-and-handsome stranger who was now holding her baby. Get with the program. She shoved things back into her purse, then tossed it onto the front seat, along with the umbrella and whatever else she needed to get out of her hands. “I’d hate to splinch myself. Or worse, Bea.”
She turned back to face the guy, giving him a bright, tired smile. “She’s such a good baby. Her brother was, too. He’s almost… is he really almost three now? I guess he must be.” She held out her arms to take the baby back. “I can’t thank you enough for giving me a hand. I was swamped back there.”
Disappeared? Reappeared? Frank’s brow furrowed before clearing up in a moment of clarity. “Magic! You can do magic!” In Orange County the chances of running into someone from the network always seemed to be far higher than it should be. Mathematically, the probability of running into one of maybe a hundred people in a county of over three million should have been relatively low. However, Frank was finding that whenever anything out of the ordinary was going on, the thirty thousand to one odds reversed. He simply had not expected that being handed a baby in the middle of the sidewalk would be one of those out of the ordinary events.
“I’m glad I could help.” Frank carefully handed the newborn back to her mother. This time, his umbrella barely dipped at the exchange. The baby was just so small. Granted, he knew that babies were supposed to be small, but he had been barely a year old when Joe had been born and Frank had precious little experience when it came to babies in general. She was definitely adorable, though. Perhaps because the infant was gurgling happily in her mother’s arms instead of wailing as loud as her little lungs could manage.
Audrey turned to smile at the man, a little surprised that it’d taken him that long to catch on. But then again, she couldn’t blame him. It wasn’t exactly normal, was it? But she nodded. “I can do magic. The real kind, not the top hats and rabbits kind.” She accepted the baby back then turned to put her into her carseat. “You’ll have to come by the bakery some time. I’ll get you a free latte and a snack--it’s the least I can do.”
Orange County never ceased to amaze him. Frank’s grin was still a bit giddy as he put his free hand into his pocket. He looked for all the world like a five year old who had found out what one of his Christmas gifts would be. Magic was real. She was definitely a Dreamer. He wondered if he knew the world she Dreamed about or if, like him, it like being caught in a loop of her real life. “That would be really nice, thank you.” It would be rude to spurn her generosity after all. It had nothing to do with the fact that she mentioned bakery, which could possibly mean that they had apple pie. Frank stepped back to let her be on her way.
“Anytime. Really. Just make sure to mention that we met before when you come in. With the newborn and everything… my memory’s not so great.” Audrey gave him something of a smile, then closed the car door and turned to shake his hand before she popped into the car to head home. “Appreciate the help! I’m sure I’ll see you soon.”