Family Affairs
Daddy Time
I am forever sorry this took so long to come into being. However, it's a very, very long chapter. On the positive side, I know where to go for the following chapters, before I get to write my favourite chapters of them all!
Characters: Prussia, Canada, Québec, Ontario, Nunavut, North West Territories
Rating: T
Disclaimer: There is a lot of fluff in this chapter. Please squeal if you want to. Also, THE UNIVERSITY CALLED ME FOR AN INTERVIEW, YAY!
A special heads up to P who helped me with the names and dates for the provinces and for putting up with my complaining.
Family Affairs
Daddy Time
"Dad, relax, they'll be here any moment now." Vincent told his father as the older man paced from left to right. They were at the airport waiting for two people to arrive and Matthew couldn't hold still.
"They should have been here by now." The Canadian nation said looking above the heads in front of him and trying to see if anyone who came out from the double doors looked like his son and his daughter.
"Their flight was landing at 12:05, it's 12:06, you have to give them time to get off the plane and get their things." His second son told him. Matthew chose to ignore the comment and continued looking at the people.
"Remember what I told you yesterday, no swearing in front of Nyla. She's starting to repeat everything she hears and I don't want her to sound like a truck driver. Am I understood?" Canada looked at Gilbert and Jean-Pierre in particular, since they were known for their cursing; especially his eldest.
"Don't worry, Matt, I'll hold my tongue." Gilbert affirmed for the tenth time.
"Jean-Pierre?" The French speaking province remained silent for a moment, but finally answered when his father sent him the greatest death glare he had gotten in a while.
"Ouais, ouais, m'a pas sacrer d'vant la p'tite. Crisse, j'pensais on avait arrangé ça hier!"/ "Yeah, yeah, I won't sweat in front of the baby. Christ, I thought we agreed to this yesterday!" Matthew hit him upside his head and Jean-Pierre chuckled; he had only been kidding.
It was quite some time Matthew last saw Rupert and Nyla and he was looking forward to having them stay with him for the week. Rupert, who represented the North West Territories, was three years younger than Jean-Pierre whereas Nyla, who represented Nunavut, was the baby of the family and wasn't out of diapers yet.
In his opinion, he didn't get nearly enough time to visit his children and half the time, he felt he was missing out on important moments of their lives. He understood they had to spend the most amount of time with their people in order to create strong bonds with them, but still, as a father, he wanted to be there for his children, every step of the way.
The only reason Canada got to spend so much time with Québec and Ontario was because they both lived very close to his main house and to his boss's office. Matthew sometimes missed the good old days when he was able to live with most of his children under one same roof, but those days were long gone and he had to content himself with visits here and there.
"Aye, c'est Rupert là-bas!"/ "Hey, it's Rupert over there!" Jean-Pierre exclaimed getting him out of his reverie. Matthew looked at where his eldest was pointing and saw his son walking through the doors with Nyla in one arm while he pulled their luggage with his other hand. Canada couldn't stand still anymore and stepped away from the others to get closer to the doors. When Rupert, a tall, burly man with short dark brown hair and dark eyes, saw him, his face split into a wide grin. Canada rushed to meet them and wrapped his son and daughter in a tight hug.
"It's so good to see you!" Matthew said as he slung an arm around his son's shoulder and took the suitcase away from him. "How have you been?"
"It's good to see you too, I'm fine." Canada smiled brightly as they walked back to the little clan. He would have taken Nyla, but she was fast asleep and Matthew didn't want to wake her up. He would have plenty of time to coo over her during the next week.
"Yo, Rupert! Ça va? Ça fait longtemps, l'frère!"/ "How are you? It's been a while!" Jean-Pierre said once they got to them. The older of the brother's walked to his cadet and thumped him over the back while Vincent came to stand close to them. Matthew stepped back to allow his children room to bond and went to rejoin Gilbert who was left with the luggage. It was funny to see the two older boys coo over the still sleeping Nyla.
"I guess the saying is true; give any person a baby or a dog and they'll turn stupid." Matthew didn't need to ask what his lover meant by that, since Nyla woke up at that moment and immediately, all three boys started awing over their sister. When the child spotted her father, she extended her arms towards him. Canada smiled, before he dragged Prussia with him to the others.
Matthew picked up his daughter with practiced ease and brought her close to him. He nuzzled her cheek lovingly, before blowing softly on her face which caused her to giggle. He then kissed her on the forehead and shifted her in a more comfortable position in his arms.
"Good morning, my love. Did you behave for Rupert?" The child obviously did not understand, but she smiled brightly at her father and put her hands on his face.
"Dada!" She replied. Matthew chuckled and gave her an Eskimo kiss. Nyla then spotted Gilbert at the back and quieted down. She recognized her family and was at ease with them, but when she was around strangers, it was an entirely different matter. She started squirming her displeasure and Canada turned around to see what caught his daughter's attention. He smiled when he saw Gilbert and pulled him closer.
"That's right baby girl, this here is Gilbert. He's family now, no need to be afraid." He brought up the child higher on his shoulder so that she could see the other man. She looked at him with her piercing brown eyes for a full moment and Gilbert couldn't remember the last time he felt so observed.
After Nyla felt she stared at the strange man for a good amount of time, she clapped her hands and smiled at Prussia. The Prussian gave her a gentle smile in return and then ruffled her hair, making Nyla smile some more.
"Hey, I think she likes you." Vincent said from his spot. Gilbert would have liked to say she would naturally like the awesome him, but children weren't his area of expertise, so he kept the comment to himself.
"Anyway, Gil, this is my other son, Rupert, and Rupert, this is Gilbert, my lover." The two shook hands and exchanged a brief hello, before the six of them headed towards the car.
As they were driving back to Canada's house, someone brought up the subject of sleeping arrangements. Matthew suggested Jean-Pierre and Vincent share Vincent's room while Rupert would take Jean-Pierre's room and Nyla would sleep in their room. Québec was the first to oppose the idea.
"J'veux quedallement dormir avec lui. Y ronfle fuckin' fort, pis y bouge tout l'temps. C'tait chill quand on était p'tit, mais pu maintenant."/ "I don't want to sleep with him. He snores fucking loudly and he moves all the time. It was okay when we were small, but not anymore."
"Jean-Pierre, what did I say about your language?" Matthew reprimanded him from the driver's seat.
"S'cuse, c'est sortit tout seul. Oké, pourquoi pas, au lieu, Vincent pis Rupert dorment dans 'chambre à Vince, vous gardez votre chambre, pis Nyla peut dormir dans 'mienne. Ça m'n'dérange pas. Au moins à ronfle pas, elle."/ "Sorry, it came out on its own. Okay, how about, instead, Vincent and Rupert sleep in Vince's room, you guys keep your room and Nyla can sleep in mine. I don't mind. At least she doesn't snore."
"No, but she cries at night sometimes." Rupert interjected.
"And we know how much you like and need your beauty sleep." Ontario taunted him. Québec hit him on his arm.
"Tait-toi, l'frère. 'Pa, sérieux, ça m'dérange pas qu'à reste ac moi, pis si à braille, ben à braillera, pis m'a m'occuper d'elle. Chu pas cave à c'te point là."/ "Shut up. Dad, seriously, it doesn't bother me if she stays with me, and if she cries, well then she'll cry and I'll take care of her. I'm not that stupid." Matthew looked at him through the rear-view mirror, before nodding his head. Jean-Pierre smirked at his younger brother and the rest of the car ride went fairly well.
When they got home, Ontario and Québec gave the grand tour of the house to their younger brother, while Prussia made lunch for them and Canada fed Nunavut. The young one started to get fussy towards the end of the ride and when Matthew checked her diaper, which was still clean, he figured his daughter was hungry. But apparently, Nyla preferred playing with her food.
"Come on, love, take one bite for Daddy." Prussia watched the younger man attempt to feed the child and had to admit it was quite endearing to see him make funny sounds as he tried to get her to eat.
"Ohm, num, num, mmh, yummy, yum, yum. That a girl." Matthew said when she took a spoonful of whatever she was being fed. Nyla was seated in her high chair and Canada was sitting in front of her. He scooped some more food on the spoon for her, but this time, it didn't work out so well. Nyla turned her head aside and closed her mouth shut.
"Nyla, come on, eat the yummy food. Here comes the airplane, open wide." Matthew made some airplane noises and raised the spoon above the toddler's head, but all that managed to do was get Nyla to be fixated with the moving spoon, her interest in the food was nonexistent.
"You're not going to be happy if you don't eat, Nyla, come on." Matthew made more funny faces to try to get his daughter to eat, but that only made her laugh. Eventually, the boys returned downstairs and Vincent went to see what was going on in the kitchen, while his brothers went to the basement. Ontario went to stand by Prussia when he saw his father trying to feed his sister.
"Does he always get like this?" Gilbert asked the younger man as they both watched with mild amusement Nyla avoid getting fed.
"You mean pull dorky faces and do silly things around babies? He does it all the time. He definitively got that from granddad Arthur; you know the whole parental instincts and skills with children. It's endearing and funny to watch him coo over a baby."
"Why are you being so fussy today? You're usually not such a picky eater." Matthew said more to himself then to the others. The comment caused Gilbert to laugh and the Canadian snapped his head in their direction.
"If you think it's so funny, you try." Canada got up from his seat and handed over the container of baby food and the spoon while he stood nearby with his hands on his hips and a smirk on his lips. Prussia took the food and sat down where Matthew had been just moments before.
"I will. You'll see, I'll make her eat because I am awesome like that." Gilbert had no idea what he was talking about, but he had watched his lover feed the child. He figured it couldn't be so difficult. He put some food on the spoon and tried to get the baby to eat it.
Nyla was certainly enraptured by Gilbert and he had her full attention, but the final test remained to see whether or not she would eat. Prussia felt slightly under qualified for this job. Never in his very long life had he ever thought he would one day be spoon feeding a baby. Ever. Oh what would they think of the awesome Prussia if they saw him now?
"That he's a failure as a stepdad." He thought to himself, when Nyla didn't take the food. She seemed to be too mesmerized by his eyes and wouldn't stop looking into them.
"It's not so easy, is it, Gil?" Matthew taunted him. Gilbert wanted to prove to him he could do this, so he tried once more and this time, surprisingly, Nyla opened her mouth and took the food.
"Ha! See, I told you I was awesome enough to feed her!" And just as he said that, the baby grabbed the spoon that was still in her mouth and chucked it at Gilbert. Both Vincent and Matthew cracked up with laughter. Nyla, thinking she did something good, clapped her hands and gurgled.
"Not awesome, kid." Prussia murmured to her, as he retrieved the spoon.
"Alright, let me do this." Ontario grabbed another spoon and pushed the Prussian aside to feed his sister.
"Watch and be amazed." The two older men did indeed watch as Nyla managed to take the spoon out of her brother's hand and catapult food onto his face.
"I see you have a hand on things. And here I thought she was supposed to eat the food. I guess I've been doing it wrong for almost 140 years." Vincent glared at his father as he wiped baby food from his face. He tried again and this time, his sister knocked the spoon out of his hands. Ontario sighed just as Québec walked into the kitchen.
"Bon, bon, bon, là, j'pense que t'as assez niaisé là, l'frère, pousse toi d'là, pis laisse moi faire."/ "Well, well, well, I think you've fooled enough, move aside and let me do this." Jean-Pierre pushed his brother and took his seat.
"Oh, parce que tu penses que tu vas être capable, toi?"/ "Oh, because you think you'll be able to do it?" The short answer would have been yes, but Matthew nudged his second eldest and told him to quiet down. They watched as Québec turned the chair around so that his chest was pressed against the back of the chair.
He then looked into Nyla's brown eyes and she looked into his blue ones. They stared at each other for a while before Jean-Pierre nodded. The others had no idea what just transgressed between the two; it was a special understanding between the eldest and the youngest of the family.
There was another moment of silence, before Québec put his hand in his pocket and then pulled it out quickly. It now had a hand puppet. The others would have laughed at that, but what happened afterwards was even more absurd, if not endearing at the same time.
"Aboudi booboo, googalitiputi, bazzuzu." Jean-Pierre said prompting not only his sister, but the others as well to start laughing. Prussia and Ontario were in stitches whilst Canada simply had a fond smile on his face. Québec continued stringing make-up words together while waving the puppet with his right hand and with his left one; he put food on the spoon.
He then brought the spoon to Nyla's mouth, but she didn't take it so Jean-Pierre hid the puppet behind his back. Nyla voiced her displeasure. The older sibling brought the puppet back out and tried feeding her again. This time, she opened her mouth and ate her food.
Québec continued entertaining Nunavut and feeding her at the same time much to the shock of Ontario and Prussia. Canada simply nodded his head in approval, before going to finish the lunch preparations.
By the time they finished eating, Nyla started fussing again and Matthew went to change her diaper. While the boys did the dishes, Matthew then took care of Gilbird and Kumajirou and Gilbert was left with the baby. She was simply put in his arms with the instruction of getting her to fall asleep. Prussia had no idea what he was supposed to do.
He sat there, on the couch, with the small child on his lap and the two of them looked at each other expecting the other to do something. Finally, Prussia, the former kingdom, the ex-nation who had kicked ass, sighed and passed a hand though his hair. Nyla observed him before puffing out her cheeks cutely and mimicking him. Gilbert was taken aback and backed his head a bit. She did the same.
He then raised an arm to see if he wasn't hallucinating and she raised her little arm as well. They continued doing this for a little while longer before Gilbert ruffled up her hair and laughed loudly.
"You're not so bad after all, kid." He told her affectionately. Nyla gave him a shy little smile, before gurgling something and trying to hug him around the stomach. That only caused her to topple on his midsection and Gilbert froze up for a second. Nyla stayed like that, with her arms stretched on either side of the Prussian's body, her head turned to one side and an adorable little smile on her face. It took him about a minute or so before he put his arms around her small body protectively.
"You're not so bad indeed."
The rest of the afternoon and early evening went by with nothing earth shattering happening. Rupert, Vincent and Jean-Pierre went outside to play a game of tag football, until it started raining, Matthew took care of some things for the office and Gilbert ended up falling asleep on the couch with Nyla napping on him. The Canadian made sure to snap a picture.
After supper, while Matthew went to draw water for Nyla's bath, Jean-Pierre insisted on keeping his sister with him while his father got things ready. So while they waited, Québec brought his sister in his room and sat her on the middle of his bed. He then retrieved her stuffed baby seal that was a gift from their grandfather out of her bag Rupert packed and sat down in front of her.
The two of them played together, which mostly consisted of Jean-Pierre doing funny voices with "JayJay" (the name of the baby stuffed seal) that made Nyla laugh. When Matthew came to retrieve his daughter, he found her perched on his son's knees which were raised in the air. Québec was holding her in a steady position while he made her "fly". Canada had to bite the insides of his mouth in order to stop himself from squealing over how utterly adorable it was.
Matthew wished he brought his camera with him, but unfortunately, it was downstairs on the counter. He knew if he went to retrieve it, by the time he would return, it would be too late. Lucky for him though, Gilbert happened to be on his way upstairs. Matthew motioned to his lover to get closer and Prussia walked over to him.
When the Prussian was standing beside him, Canada put his hand in the other's pocket and found the cell phone he was hoping to find. He quickly navigated through the menu until he got to the camera option. He positioned the phone and snapped the picture. He looked at it as he leaned against the wall and Gilbert wrapped an arm around his waist. Jean-Pierre must have felt watched for he turned around just as Matthew put the phone back in Gilbert's pocket and left his hand there.
"Qu'éssé qu'vous faites icitte?"/ "What are you doing here?" Québec eyed them suspiciously as he sat back on his bed and placed his sister on his knees.
"Rien, rien. The bathwater is ready. Est-ce que tu veux la laver?"/ "Nothing, nothing. … Do you want to wash her?" Jean-Pierre shook his head and handed her over to their father. For some reason, he never bathed his younger brother or sister. He would do anything else, but not that. Matthew shrugged and headed to the bathroom with his daughter. Gilbert remained leaning against the doorframe and observed Jean-Pierre who picked a book and tried to read, but stopped when he realized his stepfather had not moved.
"Quoi?"/ "What?" He asked as he put his book down.
"You know, I don't mind her staying in our room." Prussia added after a moment.
"Nah, really, it's okay. End your room 'as too many window. Dere's a storm coming end my room 'as less window so she'll be less scared. Also, dere h'are more trees next to your room. Dey might scare 'er too." Gilbert looked at the man before him and allowed himself a small amused smile.
"You really do care about your family, don't you?" Québec's cheeks became bright red and he sputtered while he tried to deny it.
"N-non! I told you before, I simply do it because she's 'ere, dat's all." Prussia shook his head. He knew a lost cause when he saw one.
"Whatever you want to say. Anyways, I still think you have a skill with kids." With that said, he left the younger man to his own devices.
Meanwhile, Matthew was humming to himself as he gently washed Nyla. He let her splash around and play with her rubber ducky, before draining the water and pulling her out. He wrapped her in a fluffy towel and held her in his arms for a minute or two, before going back to Jean-Pierre's room to dress her.
Surprisingly, his eldest made him dress her and remained on his bed. When Nyla was fully clothed, Canada put her in her crib, made sure she had JayJay, before cranking the windup mobile, giving her a kiss on the forehead and then wishing her pleasant dreams.
"On va écouter un film en bas, est-ce que tu viens?"/ "We're going to watch a movie downstairs, are you coming?" Québec looked at the crib where his sister was quickly falling asleep and then back at the door. Matthew knew what his son wanted to do so he left the room. Jean-Pierre counted to ten before getting up and walked to the crib. He made sure the covers were all smoothed out and caressed his sister's cheek.
"Bonne nuit, la grande, dors bien."/ "Good night, sleep well." He gave her a quick kiss on the forehead, before dimming the light and snatching something on his way downstairs.
When he got downstairs, he found his two brothers sprawled on the white couch and his father and stepfather on one of the other red couches. Jean-Pierre pushed Rupert and Vincent so that he could have his side of the couch, before getting comfortable. They had already started the movie and when he came to grab some popcorn, he found his two younger brothers ate the whole bowl.
"Crisse, le film yé à peine commencé pis vous avez déjà tout mangé?"/ "Christ, the film only started and you've already eaten everything?" Matthew heard his son complain and got up to make a couple of more extra bags, before Jean-Pierre started a fit over the snack. He had forgotten how much of an eater Rupert was and how much Vincent loved popcorn. He figured he could make some more since it wasn't his lazy son, the one who complained, that would get up and make some for them.
After Canada made three more bags, he put two of them in a large bowl for his sons and the other was for him and Gilbert. As he returned to the living room and handed the bowl to Rupert, since he was sitting in the middle, Matthew noticed Jean-Pierre had the baby monitor sticking out of his back pocket. He ruffled his hair affectionately, before going back to the other couch and sitting close to his lover.
In the end, it was a good thing Rupert sat between Jean-Pierre and Vincent since, even though there was someone between them, they still managed to taunt each other and fling popcorn at one another, but at least it wasn't as bad as it could have been had they been sitting next to each other. It was quite funny to see the usual quiet and reserved Rupert hit both of his older brothers upside their heads when they started to vocally tease each other.
Once the movie was done, Rupert and Vincent headed downstairs, while the other three went upstairs. Matthew stopped by Jean-Pierre's room to make sure Nyla was sleeping soundly, before going to his own room where Gilbert was waiting for him. Jean-Pierre simply removed his shirt and jeans before crashing on his bed, not even getting under the covers; for some reason, he was dead tired.
Québec was sleeping peacefully when he heard wailing. He immediately woke up and even though he was half asleep, his mind was bright and awake as he made his way to his sister's crib. He would have thought the storm outside wouldn't have awakened her, but apparently, the heavy rain and the occasional thunder clap had.
He picked her up in his arms and brought her close to his chest. Immediately, the toddler clutched him tightly and buried her little head in the crook of his neck. Québec made gentle shushing noises and rubbed her back in a circular motion in the hopes of getting her to quiet down, as he walked towards the window.
"R'garde, puce, c'est juste d'la pluie, ya rien là. La pluie n'est pas méchante."/ "Look, it's only rain, there's nothing to it. Rain is not evil." He whispered in her ear in a calming voice. The child looked up in her brother's face trying to see if he was telling her the truth. Jean-Pierre gave her a gentle smile and held her closer still.
Matthew was snuggled comfortably to Gilbert's side when he woke up for no reason. He was about to fall back asleep when he heard crying. He managed to untangle himself from the bed sheets before slipping on his sweatshirt and walking to his son's room.
When he got there, he paused by the door yet again to observe. It always amazed him, despite what he wanted the others to think, Québec was very caring (when he wanted to) and really had paternal instincts. He didn't show it often, but Jean-Pierre had a tender side; it was just buried deep, deep, deep, deep down somewhere.
"Un jour, j'espère que tu auras tes propres enfants pour leurs donner tout l'amour paternel que tu as."/ "One day I hope you will have your own kids to give them all the paternal love you have." Matthew thought to himself. He watched silently for a little while longer and upon realizing Jean-Pierre had everything under control, he walked back to his room, a proud smile on his face.
OWARI 7
TO BE CONTINUED
KNEEL BEFORE ME.
I was going to split it in two, but then I thought against it.
All this because of a kid and his dad on the bus on Friday…
I do accept anonymous reviews.
Started writing: April 10th 2010, 5:14pm
Finished writing: April 12th 2010, 9:56pm
Started typing: April 13th 2010, 2:38pm
Finished typing: April 14th 2010, 10:14pm
