The pirates stood around watching their "scary" captain with his eight-month old, Nicolas, in his arms (teasing him, as well, not that he really minded). The little boy had his pacifier in his mouth, which he babbled around sometimes to try and speak with his father. However, he didn't know any real words, yet. In his hand, he held a book that was far too big for him and intended for children in around middle school (Nastasha argued with Argo that he would grow into the book and that he loved the pictures that illustrated the story) that he loved to carry around with him.
Argo pressed the baby to his chest, listening to the babbles, then held him horizontally in his arms. Nicolas was quiet, listening to the strong heartbeat within his father's chest. His arm that held the book flailed twice. Then, he dropped it, focusing solely on Daddy's heartbeat. He snuggled closer and looked up into his father's tender, smiling face.
"Argo, give him to me," Nastasha commanded, then realizing her mistake, quickly added, "please?" She held out her arms to retrieve the baby when Argo held him out to her. Nicolas cried out at first, then spotting his mother, opened his mouth as his father gave back his dropped pacifier. He watched his mother with minimal interest as she rocked him, speaking to him in as gentle a voice as she could muster. She had never been very good with children, but she certainly tried for her little son.
"Nicolas, hush," she told him as he began to yell just to hear his own voice above the teasing pirates, who had trapped Argo in a corner to comment on his "deadly behavior." She pulled the baby up in an embrace, her hand behind his neck for support (even though at his age he really did not need it).
"Nicolas," Argo started just before the pirates chuckled, teasing him anew. He looked sheepishly at the baby, watching him interestedly with big blue eyes that melted the giant's heart. In the baby's mouth was a bottle his mother was encouraging him to hold, but the child took more interest in his beloved father than the bottle being presented to him. His mother turned, drawing his attention from his father, and handed him the bottle. No sooner had he stuffed the rubber nipple in his mouth than he turned his upper body around to watch his father, his mother starting to scold him as she attempted to keep him from hurting himself.
Nicolas watched the giant flush at his laughing crew at another comment that the child did not understand. Nastasha, above him, grumbled at her husband's pirate friend, asking the big man for help only seconds later. Argo was more than happy to pick his baby up once more, Nicolas still focusing on the man. He seemed to concentrate intensely on the man's every move, some of which he attempted to copy.
Argo chuckled even as Nastasha huffed, beginning to grumble about her husband and the baby. The man lifted Nicolas upright when he began to wiggle, holding him by the arm wrapped around his lower back and the other under the child's bottom. As Nastasha continued to mumble to herself, more aggravated by Argo's chuckling as he watched her, Nicolas spun to her, stuffing his pacifier into his mother's mouth.
Much to Nastasha's surprise (and embarrassment when Argo and their crew began to laugh), Nicolas popped his bottle back into his mouth, measuring her reaction to his stunt. When she yanked the pacifier from her mouth, Nicolas, who had been watching his father, began to giggle, turning back to his mother. Ooooh! She would get Argo and the crew back, but her baby son? She couldn't…
Argo pulled the baby back to his chest, chuckling once more. "It would seem that he wishes for quiet." He began to pat Nicolas' back gently, watching his wife glare at him. He knew that if Nicolas were not in his arms, she would have gotten him good somehow.
Nicolas babbled, watching the pirates behind his father, the bottle in his hands not long forgotten. He stuffed it back into his mouth, laying his head on Argo's broad shoulders, watching him in an odd angle that made the big man cringe. He tried to adjust the child, but Nicolas twisted, setting himself back into the angle he wanted. Giving up, he pulled the baby back into his arms to hold him like a newborn.
Nastasha took the child from him with a smirk that he did not like at all. "I will get you back, honey," she told him, that smirk still on her beautiful face. He shook his head to clear his thoughts, heating up as a roar of laughter erupted from his impossible friends. How would he get through their teasing this time?
From the other room, Nicolas' high pitched giggle drowned out the grinning pirates.
A/N: I do not own the G Gundam characters.