You know, someday I might actually publish the stories I first started for this ship. But today is not the day, today is the day I publish something because I was salty about all the new Amians. (Not really, the ship is good I was just annoyed mine wasn't near the front anymore)
Ian and Dan might be a bit OOC, but look at it this way. Ian is desperate for a babysitter and Dan hasn't been a dick, Dan is happy for a job even if the person came off as a slight snob, and Natalie's four. And they don't know each other. Cut me some slack.
Summary:
In retrospect, if Dan Cahill knew that Natalie was so bent on getting her makeup no matter what, he would have just given the damn thing to her from the beginning.
"Okay okay, stop crying, we'll fix your dress don't worry. Now, how do we explain to your brother why half of the house is burned down?"
When Dan was offered the job of babysitting a cute looking 4-yr old by a young British man, he readily agreed, not thinking about it too much. He didn't muse into the fact that the girl had something that looked mysteriously like blood on her dress, or that the man's expensive suit seemed to be singed around the edges, or how desperate he looked. He only thought about how he finally landed a summer job, and happily accepted the proposal.
Amy had been hounding him for weeks, going around and stealing all his normal sources of income over the summer. She washed cars, sold lemonade, tutored, babysat, she even mowed lawns. It would have been impressive had Dan not planned on doing all of these jobs, but as it was, he was stuck at home watching Amy roll in money while the game console he was saving up for didn't seem any closer.
You couldn't blame him that when someone came to with an offer to babysit a kid for an above-average pay for only a month, he took it as a delivery from his sister and took the job with no qualms.
The day started off relatively normal, Amy was up and about by 6 AM while Dan snoozed on, probably how she landed all those jobs before him. By 10 o'clock, she was out and and working at her second job of the day as Dan finally rolled out of bed.
He freshened up, not bothering to change out of his clothes from yesterday as he poured himself a lazy bowl of cereal. He dimly wondered if anyone noticed the flyers he had put around the neighborhood the day before, before rolling his eyes and sarcastically whispering to himself about how Amy was already babysitting the entire neighborhoods children population.
He wandered to the living room, lounging on the sofa and aimlessly watching miscellaneous episodes from random shows. At a certain point he found himself being very invested in a My Little Pony episode before realizing how uncool it was and switching to his phone. From there, he played some mobile games and pestered his friends, letting time tick by as he shifted positions several times in between long segments of staying perfectly still, the only indication that he wasn't a statue being his fingers dancing across the screen.
After a while, he was made aware of the incessant knocking from the door. He ignored it, wondering if the person would give up if he didn't answer. The answer was no, and the knocking only got more frantic. Dan sat still and listened silently to the rhythmic thumping, before finally sighing and getting up.
"Coming!" He called, taking deliberately shuffling steps to the door. "Yeeeees?" He drawled, holding onto the doorknob and leaning out, his face almost smashing into the paper that was thrust out.
"Are you the one who put up this flyer?" A deep, slightly out of breath voice questioned.
Dan frowned, leaning back and looking at the paper. Lo behold, it was one of the flyers he put up yesterday. So someone did see it! That's was encouraging.
"Yes, that's mine." He answered, tentative hopefulness seeping into his voice as he wondered if he was finally going to get a job. Maybe a new console wasn't so far after all?
The paper sank out of his line of sight, and he was face to face with the person holding it. "Dan Cahill, was it? I've come to you with an offer."
"Babysitting, right?" Dan clarified, getting straight to the point. "Who is it and for how long?"
The man sighed in appreciation, glad that they weren't dancing around the subject. "This little ras– pardon the language. This little lady over here. Her name is Natalie Kabra, and she's 4."
Dan took her in from where she was hiding behind the man's leg. She was wearing a small, floofy lolita dress, her hair cascading down her shoulders in dark waves. Her eyes were huge, wide eyed innocence that hid seemingly infinite knowledge in pools of gold. Perturbed, he turned to look at the man instead. They definitely looked related, the same olive skin, dark hair, and amber eyes present in both. It was as if god was so proud of the looks on the man he decided to put them on a girl and send her down after.
He was young, perhaps around Amy's age, and Dan found himself wondering how he landed himself a 4 year old daughter. His eyes were darker than Natalie's, and he was a couple centimerters taller than Dan despite being on the step below him. His hair was messy, and Dan had an inkling that him looking so ragged was a rare sight. The man was also wearing a suit, looking more like he was ready for a funeral than for a drop off.
Dan held the door open and moved to the side. "Well? Come on in, we can discuss it inside."
The man looked relived, and stepped inside. Dan led them to the living room, telling them to sit down as he sprinted up the stairs and grabbed one of Amy's babysitting registration packets. Heading back down, he was surprised yet not to see them both still standing and looking quite lost.
Sitting down on the couch, he patted the place next to him, before wondering if they were supposed to sit across each other. He immediately abandoned the idea, Amy was the formal one, not him. The man tentatively sat down next to him, pulling Natalie into his lap.
"Okay, so first things first. You fill out this packet, and then we discuss the hours and pay." Dan handed him the pen and packet, pulling Natalie into his lap against her will so that he could have room to write.
"I suppose I get your information afterwards?" He asked and was affirmed by Dan's hum as he pet Natalie's hair. The man leaned over the table, filling it out with quick and easy strokes.
"Woah!" Dan exclaimed softly as he tilted his head to look at her. "You hair is super soft! How'd you get it like that?"
Natalie's previous discomfort at being in a stranger's lap dissipated and she gave Dan a half smile that looked out of place on her young face. "Aloe Verra does wonders to your hair."
Dan gave another hum of acknowledgement and continued threading his fingers through her silky locks. He rubbed at her scalp, scratching lightly as she closed her eyes and let out a soft sigh of comfort. She leaned into him and he continued massaging her head, watching her father. Dan smiled into her hair, she was like a little cat.
A few silent minutes passed and the man handed the packet over to Dan, who stopped playing with Natalie's hair. He looked surprised at how natural Natalie looked in Dan's arms as he took the packet and encircled the girl with his arms, holding the packet out for both of them to read.
"Okay then, Ian." Dan read off the packet, skimming the contents, "She's four, has no allergies, doesn't have a set sleeping schedule, doctor, physician, relatives..." He mumbled, eyes flicking across the pages before stopping short. "Parents, Isabel and Vikram Kabra? Didn't you say your name was Ian?"
Ian gave a sort of haughty chuckle and Dan has the fleeting idea of punching him just for how annoying it sounded, before realizing how ridiculous the idea was in perspective. "Natalie isn't my daughter. She's my sister."
Dan blinked, realization dawning on him as he gave a small "Ohhhhh", nodding slowly. That would explain why Ian looked too young to be a father. Realizing he blanked out on them, Dan shook his head to get back his bearings. "Small differences." He blustered as Ian gave him a knowing smirk.
"Okay so you want me to take care of her from ten to three for... a week?" Dan frowned as he read what was scribbled there.
Ian shrugged, "I need to gauge your ability as a babysitter first. We'll see how it goes for one week, and then if it goes well you're welcome to come back."
Dan grinned, "Fair enough. So when do I start?"
"Tomorrow. You'll be taking care of her at our house, and I'll pay you... eighty per day?" At Dan's expression, he hastily added, "Of course, good work comes with bonuses."
Dan stared at him in silent shock. Eighty bucks a day for a week, and with bonuses? Even if he didn't make the cut and didn't come back after the week, this one job could set him for summer! Not letting his nerves show through, he gave Ian an easy smile. "Sure, that works. Where do you live?"
Ian waved his hand in dismissal. "I'll come to pick you up, there's no need for you to come over. See you tomorrow then?" He held out a hand.
Dan looked at it for a second staring at the outstretched hand like it was a foreign language, before hesitatingly reaching out and giving it a small high five, clapping their hands together lightly. Ian looked at him in confusion, the expression mirrored on Dan's face as they looked at each other with mutual befuddlement. They stood awkwardly before Ian finally retracted his hand, standing up.
"Natalie, come on." Ian called as he headed for the front door. Dan escorted them down the hallway, and held the door open as they left.
Watching them head down the street, he yelled out, "See you tomorrow!" Before waving cheerily as they shifted to look at him. Dan couldn't see their expressions, but he could see where Natalie looked up to Ian and said something, and Ian nodded in agreement before turning away again.
Dan grinned at their retreating backs. This was going to be fun, he thought.
He definitely did not think that now.
The second day, or rather, the day the entire thing started, had began slightly more chaotic than the day before it.
He woke up early, well, earlier than his normal schedule due to a tense feeling low in his stomach. It felt heavy, like he had eaten something that hadn't agreed with him, so he obviously first went to the bathroom to settle it out.
Half an hour and one annoyed family later, he emerged ready for the day, but not without the strange feeling. He dismissed it as nerves, and surprised his entire family by coming down to breakfast.
"Oh!" His father said with a warm smile and an easy twinkle in his eye. "Look who decided to show up! Did your bed kick you out?"
Dan laughed and pulled up a chair, inhaling the succulent aroma of waffles and sweet syrup. "Something like that. I got a job!"
Amy looked up from her papers in surprise. "Really?"
"Really," he boasted, leaning over to peer at her papers. He noticed some graphs and pie charts about how much she was making and groaned, looking away.
Huffing, he crossed his arms and leaned away from Amy, who was giving him an eyebrow waggling grin. "Well this job pays a lot so you can get of your high horse," He harrumphed, taking a vicious bite out of his waffle. He narrowed his eyes at her silent laughter, furrowing his brows and turning away.
"Well?" Any giggled, wiping a tear from her eye. "How much does it pay?"
He finished his waffle, taking a swig of milk. "Oh you won't believe it," His smug reply came. "It pays ei—"
He was interrupted by his phone ringing, everyone at the table looking towards it in minor awe. People never called Dan. He was a text-only person, even with his jobs. He might call on some rare occasions, but never the other way around.
Looking at the number, his eyes widened in realization as he snotched the phone up. "I'll be taking that," he mumbled, putting it up to his ear and immediately getting out of his chair, nervously pacing.
"Hello? Is this Dan Cahill?" An out of breath voice came through. Dan could make out the sounds of things crashing and someone screaming in the background, but Ian's voice was so close to his ear the older man must have been cupping the mic.
"Yeah-uh," Dan swallowed. "That's me. Ian?"
"Oh thank god," relief swept through his tone and Dan smiled awkwardly. "Listen I didnt know what time I was supposed to pick you up but are you available right now?" A tone of urgency overrode the relief.
"What, now?" Dan asked, alarmed. "Isn't it an hour early?"
They both winced as another crash came through the speaker. "You didn't hear that. And yes, now. As soon as possible. Don't worry, I'll pay you more."
Dan looked over at where his family was looking at him with unconcealed interest. "I-I mean I guess? Sure?"
"Great. I'll be over in five," his voice pulled away from the mic, calling out to someone else. "Natalie! Your babysitter is coming soon!"
Immediately the crashes stopped, and Dan could hear nothing but his own heartbeat and Ian's breathing. "Who is it?" Natalie's voice asked softly.
"It's the boy we met yesterday."
She scoffed. "You're hiring him? Look at you, brother. Going down to peasants because everyone else ran away."
"Hey!-" Dan's offended exclamation was it off by Ian's biting reply.
"Well we've only come to this for one reason, and it isn't me not paying them well. Get in the car before I call Miss Grayson."
"Better him than her, I suppose." Natalie muttered while passing by. Ian waited a few seconds before turning back to the call, this time his voice a reasonable distance away from the phone.
"Get whatever you need ready," He told Dan, who was too in shock to do anything else but nod, even though Ian obviously couldn't see it.
"You just nodded, didn't you?" Ian snorted.
"Wha–I–No!" Dan blustered furiously, refusing to admit that he had indeed nodded.
"Yeah, I believe you," his sardonic reply came. "Be ready, Natalie gets impatient in the car." The phone clicked, and the buzz tone played.
He just hung up on Dan.
"Why that!" Dan glared at his phone, as if that would make it connect again. Shaking his head and shoving it into his pocket, he stomped upstairs, ignoring the questions from his family.
Oh he'll be ready. He'll definitely be ready.
Ian expected him to quit, Natalie would try to make him quit. He'd prove both of them wrong. If there was one thing Dan Cahill didn't accept, it was defeat.
AN: Long chapters? What are those? Also you can pry young!Natalie being the bane of Ian's existence from my cold dead hands.