Sam looked out the window at the dreary Saturday morning rain dripping down to splatter on the sidewalk.
"It's fine. We can just take her to the zoo tomorrow," Sam decided. She caught the strange smile on Root's face. "What?"
"My sister's coming to pick up Bear tomorrow morning," Root reminded her, looking somewhere between amused and… something else. She looked sad, which was an entirely new expression on her face.
"Oh," Sam breathed. She looked around and grabbed Bear's bag before she could make any more of a fool of herself. "We can take umbrellas, I guess. Better corrupt her while you still can."
"Me?" Root protested laughingly. "You let her stay up past her bedtime every night!"
"If by 'stay up' you mean let her fall asleep on the couch instead of in her crib, then yes, I do," Sam retorted. "And it's not like you ever put her to bed, anyway," she added, rolling her eyes. She reached for the straps holding a bouncing Bear in her high-chair. When she had the baby well in hand, she looked around and realized what was missing when Bear started grizzling.
"Is her pacifier still in the car? Here," she said shortly, thrusting Bear into Root's hand. Root jerked, causing Sam to freeze with her hands still gripping Bear's wriggling waist, but Root's moment of panic passed.
"You got her?" Sam asked with her brow furrowed.
"Yeah," Root breathed. She was staring curiously into Bear's eyes, transfixed by the baby's serious gaze. All of a sudden, Bear clapped her hands and gurgled happily. Root let out her breath lightly. "Yeah, I've got her," she repeated more surely.
Sam looked back and forth between the two.
"Okay," she shrugged. "Be right back."
She jogged out to the curb and retrieved Bear's pacifier. When she re-entered the kitchen through the back door, Root and Bear were solemnly regarding the jumbled contents of the cupboards Sam had stocked over the course of the week.
"Got it," she announced. She frowned. "What are you doing?"
"Bear's picking her lunch," Root announced. "You have thirty seconds," she advised the tiny human in her arms. For her part, Bear waved her arms and grumbled.
"She's only a few months old," Sam informed her, crossing her arms.
She had interrogated Root for more information on that front earlier in the week, but Root had merely shrugged and fed her some bull about vaguely remembering a birth announcement or an invitation to a christening, she could not remember which, arriving several months before. When Sam called her out for lying, she had merely added that if it had not arrived by email, she would not have noticed it at all. Sam had once again asked if Root had kidnapped Bear, and that time, Root had looked amused yet truly puzzled, and replied, "Why would I want a baby?"
"Half of it's going to end up all over her no matter what flavor it is," she continued.
Root ignored her pessimism.
"She's been drooling at this one longest," she noted decisively as she grabbed at a gaily-colored jar.
"She drools at everything," Sam pointed out with no small amusement. Root had been warming to Bear throughout the week, that much was clear, but this was the first time Sam had seen her hold the infant, and she was willing to bet it was the first time ever. About damn time, too. Maybe next time Bear came to visit, she would not need to practically kidnap Sam in such a ridiculous fashion.
Not that that would be so bad, actually. Bear was very little trouble, in Sam's admittedly limited experience. Root was much worse, and even then, Sam only wanted to strangle her some of the time. And she paid well, too.
Root's voice pulled her out of her thoughts.
"Are we going to the zoo or are you going to stare at Bear all day, Sam?" Root teased with a twinkle in her eye.
Sam scowled.
"There's the little firecracker we know and love," Root simpered as she bounced Bear. Bear babbled and chose that moment to throw herself from Root's arms towards Sam. Root lunged too and managed to hold onto Bear, but Sam easily caught Bear under her arms and pulled her onto her hip.
"She does that," she informed a gaping Root breathlessly, looking up at the taller woman. Catching Bear had put her much closer to Root than before, and Root's steadying hand on the back of Bear's onesie made a strangely familial grouping in the center of the kitchen. They paused there for a moment, and a smirk grew on Root's face. She opened her mouth, but before she could say anything, Sam stepped away.
"I'll get her dressed."
Sam collapsed in a sprawl on the sofa with a heavy sigh.
"Tired, Sam?"
Sam startled and raised her head. Root was curled up in a chair in the dark corner, glasses on and a tablet in her hands, cradling a mug against her side.
"After the week I've had? Yes," Sam answered. She could only manage a half-annoyed tone. "I hate zoos."
Root chuckled and rose from her chair. She padded across the room to settle gracefully next to Sam.
"The zoo itself or the people who go there?" she asked whimsically. Sam could feel Root's eyes studying her face, even before she turned her head to answer laconically.
"People," she admitted freely.
"C'mon, Sam, that one old man even called you cute!" Root prodded.
Sam chose to ignore that he had, in fact, commented on the cuteness of their 'family' and gone on to compliment Root on her luck in 'capturing' Sam's heart. Instead, she glared at Root. She was tired, that was all; that must be why her best facial expressions of imminent death were having no effect on the other woman.
"I think you like the zoo. I do." Root's declaration was accompanied by a self-satisfied expression as she settled her head on her hand, sitting sideways so that she could face Sam. "Why else would you insist on staying for four hours?"
"They only reason we stayed as long as we did was because Bear liked it," Sam grumbled. "She wanted to see the sea lion feeding."
Root grinned. They both knew Bear liked whatever she was placed in front of, then forgot about it as soon as it was out of sight. The exception was the stuffed bear Root had bought for her in the zoo gift shop, all the while grinning at her own cleverness. That particular toy had gone over exceptionally well, and was tucked in next to a slumbering Bear as they spoke.
"You know," she started casually, "I think I'm getting the hang of this baby thing."
"Right," Sam scoffed. "You've held her for five minutes, don't get ahead of yourself."
"I might ask my sister back for a visit, or if she wants another vacation, or anything," Root continued, ignoring Sam's sarcasm. "Who knows?"
"Well, I'm starting class in August," Sam pointed out. "I couldn't stay all day except on weekends."
Root raised her head and an eyebrow.
"Inviting yourself over, Sam? You like me that much?" she asked, half-joking and half-hopeful.
"No." Sam shook her head pityingly, but she smiled a little. Root got points for trying, even if her flirting was terrible. "I'd hate it if anything happened to Bear if you tried to take care of her. And," she added with a self-satisfied smirk, "you pay well."
"So there's no way you'd be here if I didn't pay you large amounts of money?" Root joked.
Sam shrugged and stood to stretch.
"I never said that," she pointed out. She looked back in time to catch Root's interested expression before creaking off toward the kitchen. "C'mon, we have to get all Bear's stuff together, including all the crap you bought her."
"I don't know where I put it all," Root murmured as she rose to follow. "This could take all night."
They shared an out-of-place smirk before turning away from each other, each a little confused, to start their mission.