Chapter Three
Sirius awoke to a high pitched wail in the middle of the night. He immediately launched himself towards his wand. Once he grabbed ahold of it, he took a moment to take in his surroundings. He was back at his childhood home, not in the middle of some war as he had immediately assumed half asleep. The screaming had dulled down to a loud cry and it was coming from Brielle's nursery.
Sirius groaned and got out of bed. He walked to the baby's room and looked around the room carefully to make sure nothing had actually startled the baby that could cause her harm. A clash of thunder made him jump and caused Brielle to cry louder. He realized what had scared the baby. "Brielle, its only thunder." He whined as he picked the now three month old and carried her to the rocking chair.
He sat down and rocked her back and forth. This soothed her cries to hiccups. He placed his finger in her hand. She had a thing with holding his finger. She always held on so tightly, as if afraid he'd leave her if she let go. He began to sing softly to her. He never thought himself to have a nice singing voice but Brielle loved it. Her eyelids began to droop and before he could finish the song, she was back to sleep. Sirius moved very slowly in taking her back to her crib. He set her back down in her crib but she refused to release his finger. He had to gently detach her hand from his finger. He felt this odd and ridiculous warmness fill his chest. He smiled and ran his finger across her cheek. "What are you doing to me, Community Service?" He sighed and went back to his bedroom.
He lay down and argued with the covers for a few minutes before finally getting comfortable enough to go to sleep. As soon as he closed his eyes, Brielle began sobbing loudly again. Sirius closed his eyes tighter as if that were going to make her calm down. "I never want any more children." He groaned. "None."
….
Brielle had been attempting to grab her feet for the past hour. It had been her mission. Both Sirius and Remus had been studying her doing this while they ate their breakfast. She finally got ahold of them and let out a squeal of delight. Sirius and Remus applauded her as if she were the final act to a fantastic opera. "Bravo, Squeaker, Bravo!" Sirius congratulated her. Brielle let go of her foot then to clap as well, then looked from her foot to her hands and grabbed ahold of her foot, squealing again in delight.
"If only I found my foot as fascinating, I'd never be bored again." Remus said.
Sirius took Remus's bowl as well as his own and took them to the sink. "She also thinks vomiting on someone is just about the most hilarious thing on the face of the planet." He said. "I'm starting to wonder whether or not she does it on purpose the way she giggles afterwards."
"She's being raised by you. I can only assume that Brielle will inherit her father's mischievous ways." Remus said teasingly.
Sirius was mixing up a bowl of baby cereal. He had read the baby books and they had suggested that he introduce her to this once she hit the four month mark, which she had done the week before. "Eh, Ryan really wasn't much of a joker. Neither was Rowena to be honest." He said as he took the cereal over to Brielle whom he had in her highchair. He put the tray back on the highchair, which upset Brielle for she could no longer grab her toes.
"Sirius, I meant you." Remus said softly. "You're her father."
Sirius set the bowl down on her tray, ignoring her angry whines and shoves at the tray and turned to face Remus. "No, I'm not." He said, a touch of impatience in his voice.
Brielle was mumbling baby speak, something she had recently begun. No real words had derived from this. Just random sounds repeated over and over again. Brielle seemed to think she was truly speaking though, enunciating more when she was mad and slurring when she was sad. She was angry at this moment because Sirius was not paying attention to her. She did not want food. She wanted her foot! She pushed the bowl off her tray and screamed "DADA!" at him.
Sirius turned back to her, flabbergasted. "Did she just- I swear she just-" He turned around to look at Sirius, who had a very knowing smile growing across his face. "They were just baby garble. I'm not her father."
Brielle was angry again. What would it take to get his full attention? She wanted to grab her foot! She was having fun. She smacked her hands upon the table. "DADA!" She screamed again.
"To Brielle, you are." Remus said softly and left the room.
Sirius turned back to Brielle. "No, No, I'm Sirius." He said sweetly. "You can just call me puppy if it's easier."
Brielle smacked her hands on the tray again, as if she were the judge at a court hearing. Telling Sirius to shut up. "Dada!" She said forcefully and grabbed ahold of his finger. "Dada."
Sirius's eyes swam with tears and he ruffled her hair. "Yeah, baby, I'm your daddy." He said tearfully. He began to recognize all this stupid emotion that made his stomach fill with tiny insects and made him feel oddly warm all of a sudden. It was love. This child had captured his heart with one simple word. "Dada." He finally felt as if he were whole again.
