Debbie Novotny loved her son and she loved all of his friends like they were her own. She had so much maternal love to go around and Brian knew that. It was a miracle that he had managed to get Lindsay and Melanie to agree to let him babysit his son after the catastrophe that consisted of the last time he babysat Gus, but like the last time, there was an event going on that he didn't want to miss. So, he offered his surrogate mother the chance to relive Michael's childhood again, but, like the last time, she had to work the graveyard shift. She was his last resort. He had no one else to babysit, so he practically begged her until she agreed.
"Thank you, Deb," Brian said as he kissed Debbie on the cheek. He had brought all of Gus' things over to the diner just in case she had agreed. He knew that she had a graveyard shift when he drove to the diner because he had driven over to Debbie's house before making a detour to the diner. Vic had been the one to answer the door and told him that she had already started her graveyard shift.
Gus was still in his car seat, so Debbie unbuckled him and picked him up.
"Hi, sweetheart," she said. "How's my beautiful Gus?" she asked. Gus smiled as Debbie talked to him and took him out of his car seat, but before Debbie could do anything else, a customer caught her attention.
"I've been waiting for fifteen minutes. Can someone take my order?" the customer yelled. Debbie looked over her shoulder and gave him the famous Debbie Novotny look.
"Don't get your panties in a twist," Debbie replied as she comfortably rested Gus against her chest and grabbed her pad and pen before walking over to the table that had unnecessarily called out how long it had been since they sat down. There was a man and a woman at the table and the woman immediately took to the baby, who had rested his head against Debbie's shoulder.
"Who is this?" the lady asked. Debbie looked down at the baby and turned him around, his back against her chest and legs resting over her arm, so he was facing the couple.
"This is my grandson," she said to make things easier. Technically Gus wasn't her grandson, but she viewed Brian as her son, so she figured it would make things easier if she told people that Gus was her grandson.
"He's beautiful," the lady said. "How old is he?" Gus smiled and started moving his limbs happily when the lady paid attention to him.
"He's five months," Debbie replied, snapping her gum happily. The woman continued to gawk at the baby in Debbie's arms as the man sitting across from her took their order. It was as if Gus knew when the man had finished ordering because he started crying. Debbie figured it was because he was hungry, so she walked back over to the counter, placed the order she had just taken where it was suppose to be placed and grabbed one of Gus's bottle. She then grabbed a coffee mug, filled it up with hot water and heated it in it for Gus. After a few minutes of listening to Gus whimper, she tested the warm milk on her wrist. It was the right temperature, so she gave Gus, who's back was still resting against her chest, his bottle. No one else needed their order to be taken, so Debbie leaned up against the counter while Gus continued to drink his bottle. When he finished, Debbie put the bottle down on the counter and turned him around so she could burp him. She softly rubbed his back until she heard air leave the infant's mouth.
"That's my boy," Debbie said as she softly laughed. Gus, without hesitation, rested his head against Debbie's shoulder and neck. When the order for the couple was ready, Justin, noticing that Gus was about to fall asleep in Debbie's arms, took it to the proper table. When he finished, he walked back to Debbie and softly rubbed Gus' back, lulling the boy closer to sleep.
"Whenever Brain tries to do that with him, it always back fires on him," Justin mused, more to himself then to Debbie. He smiled at the thought of Brian trying to be a father. "How did you do it? You make it look so easy," Justin said as he looked at the woman who had stepped in as his mother.
"It's a mother's touch, honey," Debbie said with a laugh.
"You must have one hell of a mother's touch because from what I've been told, I was terrible at that age," Justin said, half laughing, half wondering if his mother said that just to make him feel guilty when she wanted him to do something for her.
"All babies are hard at this age, Sunshine," Debbie replied as she looked up at Justin, cupped his cheek and rubbed it with her thumb.
"Not based on watching you with Gus," Justin said. Debbie rolled her eyes. She had done her time with an infant, so she knew the ins and outs.
"I've done this before, sweetheart," Debbie replied. She looked back down at Gus, who's breathing had slowed down. Justin had stopped rubbing Gus' back, so she took it up, pulling Gus deeper into sleep.
"Clearly," Justin said. "You didn't even do anything and he's asleep." Debbie laughed before squeezing Justin's arm reassuringly.
"It's a maternal thing, sweetheart," Debbie said.
"What is it about being maternal do babies love?" Justin asked sarcastically. Debbie just laughed. "Or is it just you that they all love?" he added, still sarcastically.
"Shut up," Debbie said, just as sarcastically. That's when Debbie figured that she would move Gus back to his car seat. There wasn't anything else she could use as a crib, so she figured her best bet would be put him there. At least then she would know he wouldn't roll off anything and hurt himself. But when she tried to move him, his eyes fluttered open and he started to whimper.
"God, Debbie," Justin said. "Don't wake him up," he said, just as sarcastically as before. Debbie gave Justin her famous glare and comfortably rested Gus so his head was resting against her chest again. Gus cuddled into her body for more heat, his eyes closed again like he hadn't just woken up from being moved. Debbie noticed that he cuddled into her for more heat, so she looked around for his blanket. When she spotted it in his bag that was sitting on the counter next to Justin, she said, "Hand me his blanket, Sunshine." Justin did as he was asked and grabbed the blanket before handing it to the woman standing next to him. Debbie draped the blanket across Gus' five-month-old body and for the rest of the night, she walked around the diner to lull him into a deep enough of a sleep to put him in his crib.