While Auden's Away

by Fallen Ark Angel

Eli gets stuck babysitting Thisbe. He can't say that he hates it. Oneshot

While Auden's Away…

Eli was working on replacing a freewheel on a customer's bike when he heard Adam talking. Loudly, he might add.

"Eli? He's in the back. Yeah, I can get him. Eli!"

Frowning, the man stood up and went to go see what was going on. In the front of the store stood his girlfriend's father, his youngest daughter in his arms.

"Eli, I need your help with something. See, Heidi's out of town, as you know. I have hit a breakthrough in my new book, as you're probably aware. I'm sure Auden's told you."

No. He and Auden were kind of on the outs at the moment for some reason. A fight. He couldn't remember what it was about. Instead of mentioning this, he just nodded his head while staring at Thisbe. The toddler giggled.

"I need someone to watch her until Heidi gets back tonight. And if I knew anyone else, I would ask them. But you're not doing much these days, right?"

Robert always had to cut him down. Eli knew that he wasn't exactly thrilled about Auden dating him, but seriously? Even when he wanted his help, he still had to throw punches? Eli just nodded his head again, which of course made Thisbe laugh more.

"You can watch her then? Heidi will be back around eight."

Eight. Eli had no real plans. Plus, it wasn't that hard, watching the little girl. He had a handful of times. She was two now and, though she required attention, wasn't that hard to entertain.

"Great! Here's her diaper bag and, uh, I'm sure she'll need to eat at some point."

He's sure. Huh. Eli nodded while Robert West sat his daughter down on the ground. Giggling, she ran over to Adam and hit him in the leg.

"Ow. You're a hitter, huh?"

Eli glanced at them before back at his girlfriend's father, but the man was already walking to the door, not even saying goodbye to his daughter.

"You can watch her?" He asked Adam, who was now making faces at the girl.

"What? No. I'm leaving, Eli. I have plans today. You're the one that said you could baby-sit."

Sighing a little, Eli started walking towards the back. "Come on, Thisbe."

She giggled again before running after him. She liked Eli. He was nice.

"Adam, bring me her bag before you go."

As Adam was leaving, Eli rummaged through the bag, looking for toys. He found a teddy bear.

"Here," he said, handing it to her before making her sit in the corner. "Play. Stay. Okay?"

Giggling again, she cuddled her bear to her. Taking that as a yes, Eli went back to work on the bike. He was about done when he felt the toddler poke him. Frowning, he looked back at her.

"I thought I told you to stay over there?"

"E'dye."

"Dye? Like hair dye or you want me to die?"

"E'dye." She moved to hug him. He sighed a little before making her take a step back.

"Okay. You can stay here, next to me, but I'm working, alright?

"'ork!"

"Yes." He made her sit down. "Work."

She sat there for, about, half a minute, before getting restless.

"A'en?"

"Auden? She's not here."

"A'en!" The little girl was staring to get annoyed. The past few times she had seen Eli, he hadn't been with Auden and that was just unacceptable.

"Stop yelling."

"A'en!"

"I said-"

"Eli? Wallace? Someone?" The front door slammed close.

Great.

"In here, Jake," he called out as Thisbe sat up, waiting for the entrance of the new person. When she saw it was just Eli's brother, she laid down on the ground. This was so boring.

Collapsing into a chair the second he was in the back, Jake said, "Whose kid?"

"You know. This is Thisbe. Auden's baby sister."

"A'en?" Thisbe looked around, but couldn't find her beloved sibling.

"No," Eli said with a sigh. He finished with the bike he was currently working on and moved on to another. Thisbe followed him around the workshop as he worked. In the meantime, Jake started going into detail about his night.

"I mean, bro, if you had seen her, you would have done her."

"I'm with Auden."

"Still? Dude, I banged her the first night I saw her. She's no good."

"We've been together a few years now, Jake," he said, voice taut. He didn't like for Jake to bring up Auden's indiscretion. "Me and her have…hooked up many times since then. The older brother's always better."

"Au contraire, my brother. I am a skilled lover."

"So not going to have this conversation in front of the baby."

Baby? Thisbe looked around before hitting Eli in the arm. She was far from a baby. Ugh. Eli made a face at her.

"Stop that."

"E'dye!"

"You don't hit."

Sighing, she reached out and patted his arm, as if that would make it all better. Eli sighed, going back to fixing the brakes on the bike in front of him. She sat back down, watching him diligently for a minute or so.

"Bro, I can't believe you're dealing with the kid. You do realize that your girlfriend's not even in town, right?"

"I'm aware. Her father and his wife are going through some hard stuff right now. Taking her for the day isn't that bad."

"The day? It's only nine! How long do you have to keep her?"

"Until eight tonight, at least."

"Damn. You're locked down for the day."

"It's not like I have a lot going on." He frowned when he realized where he had heard those words before.

And it was true, if he were going to be honest. Eli had dropped out of college again, really for no reason. He just couldn't take it. As of now, he spent his days here, working at Abe's Bikes, and the rest of his time doing competitions. After dropping out of school, he moped for awhile before getting back into them. He knew that he swore he'd retire, but there was something familiar about them. Something that made him drawn to them. He was making a pretty nice wad of cash, which didn't hurt either.

"More than I do. Of course, I'm having a pretty nice sex life going so-"

"You can't say that word around her."

"And why not? She won't remember it."

"Still."

Thisbe stood up and marched over to Jake. "Hi."

Looking down at her, he could only give her a nod. "Hey, shorty."

Short? He was calling her short? Eli groaned when the little girl, once again, hit someone.

"Thisbe!"

Running to Eli, Thisbe jumped on his back, burying her head in his blue hoodie. "Wha'?"

"Stop hitting."

Wrapping her arms around his neck, she closed her eyes. Eli smelled nice. He let her stay like that for awhile, if only because it kept her quiet. Over his shoulder, Thisbe quietly watched him work, sometimes giggling when Eli would mumble something to her under his breath. The whole time, Jake still sat in the chair, going on about some hook up from the other night.

"She was beautiful, Eli. Most beautiful girl to ever grace this-"

"-beach. Yes, you've said this many times before about many other women."

"She's different."

"Is she?"

"Yeah."

"What color was her hair?"

"Blonde."

"Eyes?"

"Green."

"Name?"

"…Huh?"

"Exactly."

The hours passed slowly. When it was finally time for lunch, Thisbe was quick to tell Eli she was hungry.

"'ood?"

"Huh?"

"'ood. 'ood 'ime."

"What?"

"She wants food," Jake said. "So do I."

Sighing, Eli stood. "I'll go get something from Last Chance. You watch…on second thought, I'll take her with me."

Jake shrugged. "Didn't want to watch her anyways."

Thisbe stayed on Eli's back, her little arms holding onto his neck for dear life as they walked down the street.

"E'dye."

"You want down?"

"No."

"You sure? I can carry you?"

"Yes."

He stopped to rearrange the child before continuing on to the restaurant. The tail end of October, the place wasn't busy.

"Hey, Norm."

The other man nodded at him. "Hey, Eli."

"Where's Isabel and Morgan?"

"Out of town. Left me here all alone. Said it wasn't that busy anyways."

Eli smiled a little. "They with Heidi?"

"Yep."

"That's why I've got Thisbe," he said, nodding at the little girl who was now standing at his feet. "Well, where's Colie?"

"Sick. Mira's taking good care of her though, I would guess."

"That's good."

"So what can I get you?"

After ordering, Eli sat down to wait for the food. Thisbe stood next to his legs. Randomly, she would look up at him, but when he would look back at her, the little girl would squeal and hide her face.

When they got back to Abe's Bikes, Jake was gone. Eli wasn't mad, really, seeing as it would be quieter with his younger brother gone.

He set out Thisbe's food on the ground before making her sit down. She smiled at him making him smile a little too.

"You want a drink? Huh?" He went to the mini-fridge and pulled out a Sprite. After grabbing her sippy cup and filling it up, he handed it to the little girl, who gratefully took a drink. "I didn't know you were thirsty. Sorry."

After setting her cup back down, she waited for him to sit next to her before beginning to eat. He smiled a little, watching her.

"You think we're friends, huh Thisbe?"

Looking up at him, she smiled back, thinking that he was praising her. Eli reached up and took off his baseball cap, replacing his own head with hers.

"You're not that bad of a friend. I think I can squeeze you in between Adam and Wallace. You decide which tops you."

She ate a fry before holding one out for him to take. Eli laughed a little before taking it. He ripped an onion ring in half and gave it to her. The toddle happily ate it.

"You still hungry?" He asked about ten minutes later. "We still have Jake's food. You want it?"

Thisbe let out an exasperated sigh before falling over.

"I'll take that as a no," he said before reaching over and poking her in the stomach. Shoot up, the baby began to roll around, laughing jollily. "So you're ticklish in your tummy, huh? So is your sister."

Sister? She sat up. "A'en?"

"Not here." He got up when he heard the front door open. "Come on."

She followed behind him into the front room. There was a customer. Someone Thisbe didn't know. Running to his leg, she hid behind it while he talked to the woman. Eli frowned down at her, but continued to talk to the customer. She had a bike she needed fixed. Eli told her to come by tomorrow. What was wrong was pretty simple to fix.

"You're shy today, huh?"

"No." She followed him as he pushed the bike into the back room.

"Sure seemed it."

"No."

"Hmm. Well then." He sat Thisbe on a stool as he went to work on the bike. When his phone rang, he almost answered it. Then he saw that it was Auden. "Not even going to deal with that."

He was so focused on working, that he didn't notice for a few minutes how silent the little girl was being. When he looked up at her again, she had his hat off, chewing on it.

"Thisbe!"

"E'dye!" She sighed, looking at him. "Wha'?"

"Don't chew on that."

"Namana."

"No."

"Namana!"

"No. Give it back if you're going to do that. It's not mine. It's…a friend's."

"'ake?"

"Jake's not a friend."

She giggled before putting the cap back on her head. "E'dye."

"What?"

Yawning a little, she began to climb off the stool. Reaching over, he grabbed her and sat her down on the ground.

"Sleepy?" After making her lay down next to where he was working, he pulled off his hoodie and wrapped it around her. "There. Naptime."

"No!"

"What?"

"No!"

Groaning, he got up and went to go get her stuffed bear from over in the corner. "This what you want? Huh?"

"Nana."

"Yeah." He gave it to her before going back to the bike. "Have a good nap."

"No 'ap?"

"For me? No. I don't nap."

She giggled for the umpteenth time in the past few hours before cuddling her bear to her to go to sleep.

Eli worked in silence for a few hours. During that time, Wallace came and went, Jake returned only to see a woman outside and chase after her, and Adam came back. He went to work alongside Eli and was there with Thisbe woke up from her nap.

When she opened her eyes and saw Eli, she smiled a little. Then, when she realized that the other man was in the room too, she decided to scare him. Standing up, she went up behind his stool and yelled. Scrunching up his face, he looked down at her.

"What?"

"You were supposed to be scared," Eli explained when Thisbe whined about her failed prank. Then, a minute later, she was whining about something else.

"Ah, man. I thought she was potty trained?" Adam said while the toddler whined.

"Probably is to some extent. She just didn't want to tell us she had to go to the bathroom, I guess." Eli picked her up before taking her to the bathroom. Once he was done changing her, Thisbe was wide awake. She kept running around the back room, wanting to play.

"I can take over from here, Eli," Adam said, smiling at the little girl. "You can take her somewhere. Like outside, away the shop."

Sighing, he grabbed his hoodie off the floor before pulling it on. "Fine. Come on, Thisbe."

She said some form of the word goodbye to Adam before grabbing her bear and following behind him.

Eli, having no real destination in mind, walked with little purpose, while Thisbe walked full of it. What was her purpose? To be with Eli of course! Teddy bear in one arm, the other holding onto his pants leg, she marched along, smiling at the few people they passed. In the end, they ended up at Gas/Gro picking up a few snacks.

"You like cupcakes?" Eli looked down at the girl before shrugging and picking up two, along with chips and another Sprite. When they got outside again, he headed back towards the store.

"E'dye."

"What?"

She just whined a little. He shook his head before picking her up, making the girl clap. At the bike shop, they just got her diaper bag before heading off to his place.

"There you go," he said, depositing her on his bed. This was where most of his time was spent these days. His life had become mundane. Worthless. It was hard not to realize that if it was him who died that day and not Abe, at least Abe would be living his life.

"E'dye?"

He went and sat down in the chair, sighing a little. "What?"

She just giggled. He pulled his phone from his pocket and played the messages on his phone. The first one was from his mother. She was just wanting to talk though. How old was that message? He deleted it. The next was from Jake from a few weeks ago. He had called drunk. Delete. The third one, he actually listened to in its entirety.

"Hey, Eli…Are you mad at me? You haven't answered my calls in like two days. Are we okay? If not, at least text me. I'm not going to worry about it anymore."

The next one was from her too.

"You still haven't texted me, so I'm going to go ahead and assume that we are fighting. Whatever. Fine. Bye."

The next too.

"I'm just calling to say that I have a paper to work on now, so leave me alone. Bye."

Also the next.

"Eli, it's not funny anymore. Are you okay? Just call me. Bye."

The one from the day, she seemed mad.

"You know what, Eli, I don't care anymore. You're being a jerk for no reason. I don't care though. Call me, don't call me."

That was the last message. He sat his phone down on the ground and looked back at Thisbe. She was curled into a ball against his pillows, sucking her thumb.

"What's wrong with you?"

She moaned a little. "Mama. Daddy."

"Oh. You wanna go home? I'm sorry. Your dad's kind of busy right now." He hunched over and put his head in his hands, still looking at the toddler. "You comfy over there, though?"

"Yes."

He smiled softly. "You're fun, Thisbe. Maybe I'll babys- I mean watch you more often. Okay?"

She nodded, still sucking away at her thumb.

---

"There you are. I went by the bike shop and you weren't there." Heidi smiled a little, taking her daughter from Eli. "Hi, baby."

"Mama!" She giggled, cuddling against her mother.

"I'm so sorry, Eli," the woman said, turning her attention back to him. "I didn't think that Robert would push her off on you."

He shrugged. "I had nothing going on anyways."

"Don't say that. I'm sure you had work, right?"

Again, he just shrugged. Thisbe looked at him before giggling. He gave her a look that made her laugh louder before walking out of Heidi's shop and back over to Abe's Bikes. Jake was there with Adam, closing up.

"Hey, Eli," Adam said, looking over at him. "Get rid of the baby?"

"Yeah." He sat down on the bench outside, sighing a little. "What happened to that chick you were after, Jake?"

"Ah, you know. Wasn't for me."

"Right."

Adam chuckled a little. "What about you, Eli? What are you doing now?"

"Nothing. You?"

"Same. Probably just going to call Maggie or something."

"Another one of the women I left in the dust. You guys can only get my rebounds," Jake said as he started to walk off. Eli rolled his eyes before standing.

"Guess I'll see you later," Adam called to him as he walked away. Giving him a slight wave, Eli headed back home. When he got there, he grabbed his phone before stripping and climbing into bed.

He was busy playing all of Auden's messages again when the phone rang. Debating on whether or not to answer it, at the last moment, he answered the phone.

"Hello?"

"Eli?"

"Yeah."

There was a pause. "Are you sick?"

"No."

"Hurt?"

"No."

"Anything?"

"No."

"Then I'm mad at you."

He smiled a little in the dark. "Are you?"

"Yes," Auden said. "Where have you been?"

"Nowhere."

"Eli."

"What?"

"Why wouldn't you at least text me back?"

He couldn't remember, but he was sure that it was something important.

"I don't know. Look, don't call just to fight."

Again, she took a moment to respond. "What are you doing right now?"

"Bed."

"This early?"

"I'm not sleeping. I'm just…I was…" Waiting for her to call.

"You were what?"

"Nothing." He shifted a little. "What's going on with you, Auden? You coming down for Thanksgiving or what?"

"I might."

"Might? What else would you do?"

"I might just go be with my mom."

He snorted. "Yeah, sure."

Auden sighed. "So what were you doing these past few weeks?"

"Hasn't been that long, Auden. Besides, according to your father, I don't have anything going on."

"When were you with Dad?"

"I see him a lot. Small town and all." He opened his eyes for a moment, taking a moment to remember that she wasn't in the bed with him. "Today, though, he brought your sister by."

"Isby? Why?"

"Heidi was out of town. He needed 'work time'."

"Did I hear doubt in your voice?"

"I…It's not like your father's some wonderful author. He just thinks he is."

"So hateful today." He heard Auden ruffle some papers. "You drink any coffee today?"

"Some."

"You need more."

"I agree." Accidentally letting a yawn out, he cuddled deeper into his bed.

"Tired?"

"I didn't sleep yesterday at all."

"Why?"

"Just couldn't. Went into work around six, planning on leaving later, but I got busy. Then your dad showed up and dropped off Thisbe."

"What did the two of you do all day?"

"What's with your millions of questions about my day? Huh?" He sat up. "How was yours?"

"School."

"Fun."

"You know it."

Eli laughed a little. "So I'll see you for Thanksgiving, right?"

"I don't know. Maybe."

"Well, maybe I'll leave town too."

"Maybe."

Sighing a little, he said, "I'll talk to you later, Auden."

"Yeah, later."

When the phone call was over, for some reason, he didn't feel like it was finished. But what could he do?

---

"E'dye!"

He looked up from putting a bike in the back of a customer's truck, but saw nothing. When he looked across the street, he saw Thisbe standing there, Leah with her.

The young woman too had dropped college. Well, Eli dropped it. She flunked. No more frat boys for her.

"Hey, Eli."

He nodded at both of them before going back to the man before him. "All set."

"Thanks."

After shaking hands, the customer left. When the truck was gone, Leah let go of Thisbe's hand and she ran to Eli.

"E'dye!"

"Hey," he said, smiling when she wrapped her arms around his leg. "Hey, Leah."

"Hey. I don't mean to bother you, but she wanted to see you."

"Why?" He looked down at the toddler. "What d you want?"

She just rubbed her head against his leg. "E'dye. Manadamba!"

"Yeah, sure."

Giggling, she patted the top of her head. "Rap."

"What?"

"Rap!"

He frowned, not understanding what she wanted. "Hey, Leah, I'm about to take off for a competition. Can you tell Wallace and Adam for me? I can't get either of them to answer their phones."

"Yeah, I can tell them for you."

He reached down and patted Thisbe's head. "See you later."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Bye, Thisbe."

She gave his leg a quick hug before taking a step back. "Bye-bye."

---

The days after Eli got back from his competition were spent repairing bikes and texting Auden. After a few though, he's normal schedule was once again broken up by Thisbe.

"E'dye!"

He frowned when he heard that and went out into the front room to investigate. There stood Mr. West and his youngest, one clearly distraught, the other perfectly happy.

"What's going on?" Eli asked when he took in his girlfriend's father's grim expression.

"I'm sure Auden's told you."

"No. What? Is someone hurt?"

"No, no." He sighed, looking around. "I suppose she doesn't know."

"Know what?"

"Me and Heidi…I'm leaving today. For awhile."

"Oh."

"Heidi's not well. Taking this well, I mean." He looked down at his youngest. "You watched her once. I was just thinking…I need to leave to make my flight."

Eli looked down at the happy, oblivious little girl. He couldn't deny her because…where else would she go?

"Yeah. I can."

Auden's father looked around. "You don't seem very busy today anyways."

"No. Uh, Thisbe? You should probably tell your dad bye now."

The little girl, who was rolling around on the floor, jumped up. Rushing over to him, she hugged his leg. "Bye-bye!"

He frowned a little before patting her on the back. "Here. Last time, Heidi complained that I didn't leave her any toys. This bag has some stuff in it for her to play with. Colors and stuff."

Eli nodded, taking the bag and the diaper bag. "Alright. Thanks."

Robert nodded before saying goodbye to Thisbe one more time. Then, he was gone. Eli was shocked slightly by this, if only because Robert was typically so loving towards his youngest child. Well, not loving, but at least interested. For the most part, his girlfriend's father was pretty self-absorbed.

"Well, Thisbe, what do you want to do? Huh?" He carried the bags into the back room. "You want to play with your toys or are you sleepy?"

"E'dye." She happily trailed behind him. "A'en?"

"She'll be here soon. Not today though."

She sat down next to Eli. "Rawanama."

"Here." He opened the bag and poured it on the ground. "You play."

"E'dye."

"Yeah." He sat back down on a stool and went to work. "So be good."

Humming to herself, Thisbe began to play with her toys, never realizing that her parents had split up.

"Dude, why are all these toys all over the floor?"

Eli sighed. "Jake, you can clearly see that Auden's sister is here, yet you still act like a douche."

"So I can't say sex in front of her, but you can say douche?"

"Obviously."

"Obawabsay," Thisbe mimicked. Eli smiled a little to himself, but didn't comment on the girl.

"Here, I'll play with you since Eli won't," Jake said, getting down onto the ground with the toddler.

"I'm working."

"Bah! Work." He reached out and took a toy from Thisbe's hands, but having no malice intent. He just was going to play with her, but it upset her.

"No!" She started to cry, making Eli frown down at the two of them.

"Jake-"

"We're playing."

"That's playing?"

He handed the toy back to the girl. "There. Stop being a baby."

Baby? She reared back before hitting him in the eye with the toy. Eli laughed, but still told Thisbe not to hit.

"'ake!" She turned away from him. "No."

"Fine," Jake said. "I didn't want to play with you anyways."

The day moved slow for Eli, as he was actually tired. Around noon, he took Thisbe back to his apartment, leaving Jake and Adam, who came in finally, to run the store. On the way, they stopped for lunch, but by the time they got to his place, Eli was dead tired. Auden wanted to talk all night last night, which he was fine with…until he had to work all morning.

"Here." He sat her on the ground before grabbing the pillows and blankets off his bed. "Lay down."

He made her a bed on the floor before getting into his own stripped down bed. It was cold, being up there without a blanket, but he'd rather let Thisbe have it so that she didn't complain.

His phone going off about two hours later woke him up.

"Hello?" He whispered when he saw that the toddler was still sleeping, her teddy cuddled to her.

"You have my sister?"

He relaxed into the bed. "Yeah. What? You dad call you?"

"Heidi," Auden said, sighing a little. "Where are you?"

"Home. She's sleeping."

Auden groaned. "I can't believe that their doing this now. And to just leave her with you…It was my dad's idea. Heidi didn't know where he went or who had Thisbe, but I had a hunch it was you when Dad didn't have her."

"She's been pretty good today, actually, so I don't mind." He closed his eyes. "She's not the worst kid in the world."

Auden sighed. "So you said that you were napping?"

"Yeah. You probably were too, huh?"

"Just finished with my classes for today, so I was about to when Heidi called."

"Just go to sleep, Auden. Nothing you can do from where you are. I've got Thisbe for the day though, so it's all alright."

"You're great, Eli. Really. Thank you."

"I'm not doing it for you. I mean, what else do I have to do?" He glanced over at the toddler. "She gives me something to do, at least."

Auden yawned loudly. "Well, I'm going to take a nap. I'll call you tonight, okay?"

"Alright. Bye, Auden."

"Bye."

He laid there for awhile, waiting for something, but he wasn't sure what. He wanted to fall back asleep, but he was finding it hard. When he felt something on the bed with him, it shocked him, but then Eli realized it was just Thisbe.

"I made you a bed down there."

She patted his face. "E'dye."

Lifting her up, he sat her back down on the ground before standing. "You want to do something? We can go back to the shop if you want."

"No!" She struggled to lift up the pillow from the ground to help him clean up. He took it from her, giving her a pat on the head.

"You're a big help, Thisbe. Thank you."

She gathered up the blanket and held some of it up to him, squealing when he thanked her one more time.

"Then what do you want to do?" He asked, moving to sit down on the ground with her. "Huh?"

Picking up her stuffed bear, she made it sit in his lap before picking up a toy lion and making him take that too. Slowly, his lap started to fill with toys as the toddler handed them off to him.

"What are you doing? Huh? Are you sharing?" He smiled as she gave him something else. "You're so nice."

She just giggled before she quit handing him things. "E'dye."

"What?"

That just made the little girl laugh more. "E'dye!"

Dropping all the toys, he reached out and ran a hand down her face. "Come on. Let's go for a walk."

Jumping up to follow him, Thisbe laughed as she shadowed the man. For someone that spent the first few months of her life screaming her head off, she sure was a happy person. Eli pulled on his hoodie before taking her outside.

"E'dye?"

"What?"

She grabbed his pants leg, just to be safe. Glancing down at her, he instead grabbed her hand, making her smile.

"You wanna go walk down to the beach? You can't get wet, but you can look at the water."

"Yes!" She started bouncing up and down, but making sure not to let go of her sister's boyfriend's hand. "E'dye!"

"You're excited. Why? Huh?"

"E'dye! Yes! 'ater!"

Laughing a little, he led her towards the beach. She wanted to be picked up halfway there and he readily did so.

"Here," he said when they made it. After setting her down, he sat down on the ground. Thisbe picked up some sand, giggling as he fell through her fingers.

"Daba."

"Yeah."

She climbed into his lap, making him frown.

"I thought you wanted to play?" He asked as she shifted around in his lap to face the ocean.

"O'den."

"Yeah, it's the ocean."

Reaching over to his arms, she made him wrap them around her. "A'en?"

"She's not here," Eli sighed as he watched the waves. "Now what do you want to do?"

Leaning back against him, she didn't say anything. She just made sure that he kept holding her. Wouldn't Auden be so jealous? That's what she got for leaving. Now, Eli was her boyfriend and there was nothing anyone could do.

"Let's go," Eli said a few minutes later. He got up, holding her in his arms as he started back towards his home. ON the way, he happened to pass his mother.

"Hey, Mom," he said, giving her a halfway hug because he had Thisbe in his arms. "Where are you going?"

She smiled at him. "I'm headed to Heidi's. She called."

"Where's your car?"

"Your father has it."

"You need a ride?" Eli asked, nodding a block over, where his truck was still parked. 'I can give you one."

"No, Eli." She looked at Thisbe. "And what are you doing?"

"P'ay E'dye," Thisbe said, giggling. Eli talked to his mother for a few more minutes before walking away. When they got to his place, he immediately collapsed on the bed, making her laugh.

"What do you want to do? Huh?"

"Daddy?"

He gave her a sad look. "I don't know where he is. Later, though, I'll take you home. Okay?"

She nodded before sitting back down on his floor where her toys were still scattered about.

---

"I am so sorry, Eli."

"Eh, your sister isn't that bad."

"Still. You shouldn't be brought into all that."

"It's not so bad. It's just one night," Eli said, glancing at the little girl, who was sleeping in his bed. "Just until your stepmom gets better."

"Until," Auden sighed. "What are you doing right now?"

"Making something to eat."

"What did you feed Thisbe?"

"Burgers. Same as lunch."

"You'd make such a great dad," Auden said with what he sure included an eye roll.

"Why, Auden, I didn't realize you were offering."

"I'm not."

"Sure."

"You are really annoying me."

He kept stirring the macaroni. "You sound really good to me right now."

"Good?"

"Yeah. Hot."

"Hot. I sound hot to you as I discuss my father's divorce. Great."

Eli went to go sit down in the only chair in the room, deciding to eat the mac'n'cheese straight from the pot. "I didn't mean it like that. You always sound hot to me."

"Isn't Thisbe with you?"

"Sleeping. In my bed, I mind you."

"It's not like you were going to sleep anyways."

"Touché."

He heard his girlfriend sighed before her typing could be heard. After taking a bite of his food, he asked what she was doing.

"Studying. You?"

"Eating."

"I wish I was with you," Auden whispered.

"I wish you were too. But it's okay. I have your sister to keep me company."

Auden laughed a little, making him smile. "I guess she's giving you something to do while I'm gone."

"Yeah. It's been pretty boring. I can't wait until you get here for Thanksgiving."

"Me either." She paused. "When did Heidi say to bring Isby back?"

"Tomorrow morning. She was real embarrassed about not being able to keep her. Said though that making her go to sleep is hard."

"Is it?"

Eli shrugged before realizing that his girlfriend couldn't see the gesture anyways. "I just told her a story and then laid her down. After she realized that I wasn't going to take her home and that I wouldn't leave, she fell asleep."

"She's probably scared, being there with you."

"Nah. She likes me."

"Is that so?"

"Yeah. She loves me."

"Oh?"

"Yep. Just like her big sister."

Auden yawned a little. "Eli, as much as I would love to pull an all-nighter, I have morning classes."

"Well, I'll talk to you tomorrow, okay?"

"Yeah. Bye."

"Goodbye, Auden."

After he hung up, Eli slowly ate his food while staring at the wall next to his bed. Around two in the morning, Thisbe began to get upset.

"Mommy!"

Eli jumped up, startled. He had drifted off in the chair and she had scared him. "W-"

"Mommy!" The toddler was sitting up in bed, confused about where she was. Rushing over to her to shut her up, Eli picked up the little girl.

"Shhh. What's wrong? Nothing. It's me. Eli. You're with me. Shhh," he whispered in her ear as he moved to turn on a light. "It's just me."

"E'dye?" She moaned, wrapping her arms around his neck.

"Yep. You're sleeping over with me, remember? Yeah." He rubbed her back as he sat down on the bed. "It's okay. Here, look, you want your teddy? Huh?

Not moving in the slightest, Thisbe closed her eyes. "Daddy. Mommy."

"They're not here right now. I've got you though."

And why did he have her? Heidi should be able to take care of her own child, right? Wrong. She was taking this separation the hardest. Especially because he told her as he served her divorce papers.

After calming her down, Eli tried to put the baby back on the bed, but she would whine.

"Well, if you don't want to sleep and I don't want to sleep, we might as well leave," he told her, standing up. "You wanna come with me to do some stuff? Huh?"

"Yes," she whined, closing her eyes.

The town was mostly dead that late at night as Eli walked towards Abe's Bikes. Using his key, he unlocked the door and turned on one light. Thisbe was now sleeping in his arms.

"There we go," he whispered as he laid her down on the ground before wrapping the toddler up in his blue hoodie. He made sure that she was alright before getting to work. He was rare to go into the bike shop so early just to work, but what else did he have to do? He couldn't just sit there and watch the toddler sleep. Plus, he himself couldn't find sleep. Or at least he thought…

"Eli?"

He jumped, almost falling off his stool. "Huh?"

"Dude, did you sleep here?"

Rubbing his eyes, Eli realized that he was still at the shop. "Guess so."

Wallace laughed a little before looking down at the little girl. "Why do you still have the baby?"

"She hates being called a baby," Eli yawned. "But, uh, Heidi wanted me to keep her for the night. I'll, uh, drop her off around ten."

"In the morning? Because, Eli, it's one in the afternoon."

"What?" He jumped up. "No one ever woke me up?"

"I just got here. Adam's been here, but he didn't mention you. I guess eh wanted to let you rest."

Slowly, Eli got to his feet and picked up the toddler. She whined.

"You overslept, silly," he whispered to the baby. "You know that?"

"E'dye," she mumbled, not opening his eyes. "No."

"Yes." After nodding at Wallace, he walked out of the store and started for Heidi's house.

"Mommy!" By the time they got there, of course, Thisbe had whined herself out and was okay, which Eli was happy about.

"You're late," was all Heidi said as Eli walked over to the couch.

"Overslept," he said, handing the toddler over. She cuddled against her mother, giggling. "Are you, uh, okay?"

She rolled her eyes at him, seeming to be annoyed, an emotion he had never dealt with coming from her. "Thank you, Eli. For watching her. You can go now."

"Her toys and stuff are still at my place, but-"

"You can hand them over later."

"Yeah, sure," he said, not missing the awkward tension in the room. "Bye, Thisbe."

She cocked her head. "No s'ay?"

"No stay."

"Bye-bye, E'dye."

"Bye."

When he got back to his place to sleep some more, he couldn't help but feel slightly sad about Thisbe not being with him. Being with her made being without Auden a little less harsh, if only because she gave him something to do. Most little kids were like that. He just needed to have a kid. Yeah…Or not, he decided, looking around at the mess Thisbe had made. Definitely not.