Chapter 4: "How to Care for Him" with Jazz Fenton
Vlad made his way downstairs a few moments later. His jacket was buttoned up to hide the evidence of Jasmine's tears and he looked as well put together as he ever did. Vlad walked to the living room and was instantly furious to see that neither Jack nor Madeline were waiting there. While Vlad didn't find young Jasmin's story about her parents to be dishonest he actually was ready to give them, mostly Maddie, the benefit of the doubt.
'Where the fudgnuggets could they have gone?' Vlad wondered as he entered the kitchen and still didn't see the two. He went to look out the back door and was shocked to see drum after drum of ectoplasm. 'The sooner I get young Daniel out of here the better.' Vlad thought turning from the sight with a huff. 'I wonder if it would be possible to get Jasmine as well.' He thought for a moment before continuing with his task of finding the elder Fenton's.
After searching the whole house Vlad ended up back at young Jasmine's room. She was playing with a smiling Daniel.
"You're still here?" She asked curiously.
"Your parents, where are they?" He asked with frustration lacing his voice. "I've checked this whole flapjacking house and I can't find them anywhere."
Jasmine laughed at his creative swear. "The basement? That's where their lab is, and that's where they spend most of their time." She answered without missing a beat.
Vlad thanked her and went to leave but looked back when the small boy made a distressed noise. He was sitting up and making grabby hands at him.
"He wants to be picked up." Jazz said giving a sigh and looking at Vlad expectantly. He couldn't help but smile. Vlad knew that the girl was judging his next move, seeing if he was better than her parents or just the same. He couldn't help but laugh internally, thinking that there was no way he would act differently towards the child if she was not there. He moved across the room and picked the small boy up smiling at him.
Daniel laughed as Vlad picked him up and tried to grab his face again, but Vlad swung him lightly for fun the move made give a squeal of excitement. Jazz watched as Vlad played with the boy. Swinging him lightly and blowing raspberries at him the seemed to be having the time of his life as the room was filled with his laughter. When Vlad went to put him back down, at the boy's request, Jasmine stared at him with wide eyes.
"He's never laughed like that." She said a bit awed. Vlad just smiled at her not really knowing what to say.
Daniel made another small noise and held up a block to Vlad. Vlad crouched down and took it from him, not really knowing what to do with it.
"He wants you to put is on the tower so he can knock it down." Jasmine said when Vlad didn't move. Vlad noticed the small tower that Jazz had obviously been making and put the block on top. Daniel laughed again and threw his little arms into the tower making the whole thing fall over which he laughed hysterically about. The boy looked towards Vlad and pointed to the blocks.
"Now stack them back up again." Jazz said with a smile in her voice.
"Well he's quite easy to please, isn't he." Vlad said smiling as well and stacking the blocks back up for him.
Jazz shrugged. "Yeah, he's still just a baby." She said as she helped Vlad with the blocks. Together they played with young Daniel for another two hours before he started to get fussy.
"He's hungry," Jazz said picking the boy up. Vlad followed the young girl out of the room and into the kitchen. "You know they actually cleaned up the place up themselves before you came over." She said trying to make conversation. "Usually this room is a mess. Dished overflow the sink, the fridge could have some really weird things in it, and they like to work on their weapons while they eat and leave them and other parts laying around." As she spoke she put Danny in his high chair and went to get him something to eat from the fridge.
"We just started him on solid foods this month." Jazz explained. "He eats small things like mashed fruits and Cheerios, I tried to give him little bits of eggs yesterday he seemed to like them." Jazz said with a shrug and pulled out a small jar of baby food. "He can eat this whole jar sometimes, but usually he doesn't." She said handing Vlad the jar and a small spoon.
Vlad got the hint quickly and sat across from the boy intending to feed him. Jazz stopped him. "Bib," She said handing him one, "and burp cloth." She said handing him that as well. "Trust me, you'll need them." With that she sat close by and watched him feed Daniel for the first time, giving him tips on how much to put on the spoon, how to get him to actually take the food more readily, and only after Danny started fussing and flicked food at Vlad's face did she view it appropriate to tell Vlad that Danny was full and what cues to look for to tell on his own with an amused smile.
"Yes, very funny young lady." Vlad said with a smile of his own as he whipped his face of the food. "Now what are you going to eat?" He said seriously looking down at the girl.
"Umm...well mom and dad will usually cook dinner later." She stated. "Danny isn't on that schedule though so I always end up feeding him sooner and then putting him down for a nap while I wait. You might want to bounce him," she said motioning towards Daniel. "He gets gassy after he eats."
Vlad stood and pulled the small boy from the high chair and started bouncing him around. While he was doing that he looked at the clock and took note that it was about 6 o'clock and frowned. "When exactly do your parents come up to start making food?" Vlad questioned.
Jazz looked towards the clock and sighed. "Around 9." At that Vlad stopped his bouncing and looked at the small girl.
"Excuse you?" Vlad asked not believing his ears, "I could have sworn you said around 9."
Jazz just gave him a guilty look and nodded. Vlad immediately transferred the burp cloth to Jazz's small shoulder and handed her Danny, who fussed for a moment. "Hush young man, your sister needs to eat too." Vlad said getting up to look in the fridge.
Jazz just looked at him in shock. "You don't need to worry about me," she said. "I'm not even hungry yet. I'm used to eating late."
Vlad just shook his head. "No, this is totally unacceptable. You need to eat." Vlad said while looking to see what the Fenton's had that he could make the girl. Eventually he settled on a simple recipe for chicken alfredo. Which really was not so simple, but Vlad never did things the easy way. As soon as Vlad started cooking Jazz's stomach made her a liar by giving off a loud groan making her embarrassed and Vlad smug.
"Won't be much longer," he said to the small girl. "Just a few more minutes."
"Thanks," Jazz said quietly.
Vlad looked over his shoulder to the small child and smiled. "It's no bother really."
Before they knew it Vlad and Jazz were eating the pasta together while Danny was given Cheerios to entertain himself. Well they actually gave them to him to eat, but it was soon viewed as a lost cause as he was only interested in throwing the small cereals at Vlad and his sister. They both laughed at Danny's cute antics and threw the cereal back at him lightly making the small boy laugh.
Soon they were cleaning up the mess in the kitchen, Vlad even cleaned the dishes and put them away. "Thank you very much for the food Vlad," Jasmine said politely. "It was really good, better even than mom's cooking."
"Think nothing of it Jasmine," Vlad stressed. "Well I guess I should say good-bye and see you both in two days." Vlad said stretching out a kink that was starting to form in his back.
"No, you can't leave yet." Jazz said with a smile. "We have to finish Danny's routine."
"Routine?" Vlad asked looking at the small child curiously. And as if Danny knew they were talking about him he started crying. Jasmine gave Vlad a sly smile and held her brother up to him.
"Yup, routine." She said walking away when Vlad took the boy.
As soon as Vlad held the boy he knew what the girl was talking about and held the boy far away from him. The boy's diaper was soiled and he reeked! Quickly Vlad followed the giggling girl. He guessed this was something he will have to get used to. Instead of leading them to the boys room she instead lead them to the bathroom.
"I usually take him a bath about this time." She explained. Usually after dinner he'll poop and I figure if I have to take off his diaper now anyways why not also just take him a bath too. Besides he is usually messier than this after meals."
Jazz told Vlad how to change the diaper, which was absolutely disgusting but again if he was going to keep Daniel he would have to get used to it, and then how to give the boy a bath. Which was … amusing as the boy liked to sit in the water and throw it at them. She then had Vlad change him into a new diaper and pjs and then put him to sleep on the sleeping mat in her room.
"And that's it." Jazz whispered over the sleeping baby.
"Well that wasn't horrible." Vlad commented making Jazz laugh.
"Yeah, well Danny's a good baby." She said fondly.
Vlad looked her over and grasped her arm lightly, "Because he has such an amazing older sister." He said resolutely. Jazz smiled lightly at the praise. "Well if that will be all," Vlad whispered as he stood up. "I really must be going I didn't plan on spending all day here and I do need to get started in squaring things away for Daniel if you guys are going to bring him over in two days. I will see you later Jasmine." Vlad said as he walked over and picked up his suit jacket from the floor, he must have taken it off at some point when he was playing with the children earlier.
Jazz stood up and gave Vlad a quick hug. "Thanks Vlad." Jazz said as she made her way out of the room and to the bathroom, presumably to wash up and get ready for bed herself. Vlad watched her go for a moment and shook his head. The girl was an interesting one, that was for sure. He couldn't be happier that he obviously got her on his side about having Daniel stay with him. Granted now that Vlad knew more about their family life he's not so surprised. The poor girl would probably do anything to get her brother somewhere better for him.
Scratching his head slightly in thought Vlad moved to put back on his suit jacket. Looking at himself in a hall mirror Vlad made sure he was presentable, which unsurprisingly he was, and made his way down stairs and to the basement. On his way he couldn't help himself in thinking once more if it would not be worth his while to make sure that he got the girl as well. Jazz was obviously smart, smarter even beyond her years, and her potential was wasted here. Jack and Maddie couldn't provide for her the way Vlad could. The two children could have everything they would ever need if he was their guardian. He would have to talk with the young girl first before he made any moves to keep her as well, the last thing he would ever want is for her to resent him for making a move that involved her so intimately without her consent.
Before he knew it Vlad was in front of the basement door. Sighing heavily Vlad opened the door and made his way down to their lab. What greeted him at the bottom of the stairs was disheartening. Yes, Vlad understood the desire to invent, to solve theories, to question the unknown, but these two were taking it a bit too far.
While Maddie was moving here and there working on a formula of some sort Jack was elbows deep in some sort of contraption, and both were so wrapped up in their own minds that they didn't even notice Vlad at the foot of the stairs. "Um-Hum!" Vlad coughed trying to gain their attention. Jack looked over and beamed. "Vladdy!" he said in excitement and motioned him over with a swing of his head. "Come over here and help me with something, will yea?" The jovial man requested.
Vlad tried to hide his disdain from being addressed by the man first and shook his head no, "Sorry Jack, I can't for I must be heading out, it's quite late."
This made the two scientists look towards a clock. "Oh goodness! Jack it's 9 o'clock!" Maddie exclaimed. "We need to feed Jazz!" She said as she went to put things away. Vlad got mad at her for not even mentioning that Daniel would have needed to be fed as well, as if she either had already expected Jasmine to have done it for them or "they act like he doesn't even exist most days" Vlad remembers Jasmine saying that only hours before.
"Don't worry about it Madeline," Vlad says snippily, which partially surprised him for he never thought he would ever talk to Maddie in such a tone before. "Young Jasmine is off to bed, I cooked her something to eat earlier."
Maddie looked at Vlad with relief. "Thank you so much Vlad." She said with a small smile, which put Vlad off. It was almost annoying how she could be so grateful to him because she forgot all about her own children.
"Think nothing of it." Vlad said dismissively. "Now I really must be going Vlad said waving over his shoulder and the Fenton's got back to work. "See you in two day?" He said.
"Two, days?" Maddie asked perplexed. "What happens in two day?"
"In two days you will bring Daniel to me." Vlad said flatly. "I'll be at the Grand Hotel, I'll be sure to tell the front desk I will be expecting visitors."
"Okay Vlad, see you there." Jack said distractedly already back at work on whatever contraption he was working on, while Maddie continued to work on her own project and didn't even acknowledge his statement. Neither of them really paid much attention to him, and neither asked further questions. They both just worked. If Vlad hadn't of gone to college with the two of them he would have guessed the work was stress related, but knowing them as he does he wouldn't be surprised if this was how they usually were.
"Very good," Vlad said with a roll of his eyes. "See you then."
And with that Vlad left.
See what did I tell you, quick. I can't do this all the time because I would literally die but I had this chapter written out and couldn't wait to share it with you all. I hope you enjoy it.