Author's Note: Ah, the fun continues :) Moonlight, CBS and all the other fun cool stuff isn't my creation, nor do I get any of the lucrative profits. I just play in their sandbox. A heartfelt thank you to everyone who has been reading my work. Please feel free to let me know what you like, and what you don't like,
Chapter 10. A morning in the sunshine
The sharp cries of the infant made Beth sit up quickly in surprise. She struck her head on the lid of the freezer, and momentarily saw stars. Vampires definitely feel pain, and she smiles a rueful grin. She glanced at her watch and saw that two and a half hours had passed since she climbed into the freezer. She climbed out of the freezer, turning off the baby monitor and grabbing a bathrobe out of the closet. As she fastens the bathrobe around her, she walks into the second room.
"Baby girl, what's wrong?" she asks to the red faced little girl.
Beth catches a whiff of soiled diaper.
"Oh honey, no wonder why you're crying."
Beth picks up the baby girl and opens up the new package of diapers. The little girl's cries soften to whimpers. The wipes and rash crème are still on the coffee table, along with the makeshift changing pad. Beth takes a diaper and sets it down on the coffee table before placing the baby on the partially unfolded bath towel.
"I'm sorry honey, my hands are really cold." Beth rubs them together for a minute, trying to take off the chill of the subzero.
The infant began screaming upon being placed on the towel, and seems to take no notice of Beth's cold fingers. Beth quickly unsnaps the baby's terrycloth pyjama-like clothes, and and swiftly takes off the diaper, cleans the baby and applies rash cream, before fastening on a new diaper. The baby stops crying and looks up at Beth with her big blue eyes. Beth places the soiled diaper into a plastic bag, then snaps together the snaps on Alisa's warm outfit. The little girl is still staring at Beth with her big blue eyes, and Beth leans over and tickles the little girl on her side. The baby smiles, then laughs heartily at Beth, who tickles the infant again, then picks her up.
"Hmm, baby dear, we seem to have a small problem, to the tune of one stinky little diaper, and one household full of sensitive noses." Beth laughed softly at the wrinkled nose face that the baby made. Maybe she understood stinky diapers.
Beth, still in her bathrobe, slips on her shoes and sunglasses, and while still carrying the little one and the offending plastic entombed diaper, goes to the front door. Just outside the front door, was the location she placed a soiled diaper yesterday out of mild desperation. This morning however, there was a note.
" Incinerator on the path north to the house. Otherwise, you put bad baby trash in the bathroom in the fresh lounge. Regards, Karl"
If Beth were human, she would have blushed at Karl having to deal with one poopy diaper, She smiled at Karl's note. She never considered that he was literate in English, and judging his penmanship, it could have been awhile since he's written last.
Beth looks over at the baby girl in her arms, who is now laughing and trying to grab a ray of sunshine.
"Honey, it looks like you could use a little sunshine yourself".
It was a beautiful sunny day, but first Beth had to prepare for the onslaught of sun to her still-sensitive self. She sets down the soiled bag temporarily, and retreated, with baby to the house. She went to the front coat closet and found one of Sara's long jackets, grateful that the two women were about the same size. She also found a wide brimmed hat. Beth went to her room and tossed the hat and coat on her bed. Still holding the infant, she walks into the semiformal living room and opens the hidden refrigerator, taking out an IV bag of prepackaged blood. She shifts the baby to her hip.
Beth smiled, all vampires need blood, cold, and rest. However, in the short term more blood can compensate for less time in the subzero and less rest. She supposes that the inverse could be true, more time in the subzero could compensate for less blood, but that's not a theory she has any interest in testing out.
She pours the contents of the bag into a thickly frosted glass. Right now, she's just aiming for speed, and prepackaged blood is just a fast way to meet her needs. She swallows the dark liquid, and glances down and sees that the infant is watching her intently, not concerned in the least that Beth's canine teeth have distended and she's sure her eyes have turned silver. Beth is relieved that the little girl didn't have some adverse reaction to seeing Beth's face transforming, so that she could eat. Beth finishes the contents of her glass, then walks over to the bar's sink and rinses out her glass, feeling her canine teeth recede back to normal.
She walks back to her guest room, and gently sets the baby on the bed, reclined in almost a sitting position with the help of a few pillows, with a couple more pillows to bolster her if she decides to roll. She walks to the crib and finds the beloved pink giraffe and hands it to the little girl, who squeals with delight. Beth opts to nix the shower, and pulls on her pants and sweater, puts on her shoes, finds a blanket and the stuffed blocks and places them with the jacket on the bed. Her gym bag made its way to her room sometime, and Beth tosses the remaining contents of the bag into the closet, before placing the blanket and the toys inside it. Beth then puts the long jacket on herself, the hat with the wide brim, and her sunglasses.
"Are you ready to go dispose of that dirty diaper properly, little one?" she asks.
The baby girl just laughs, chewing on that giraffe's left back foot. Adeptly, Beth picks up the baby and giraffe with one arm, picks up the gym bag with her other arm and slings it up to her shoulder. Beth walks back outside, and picks up the offensive diaper, and they go walking toward the north side of the house. When they got out of the shadow of the house, everything became bright, sunny and warm again. Finally, fifty feet ahead of her, Beth could see a large metal container. She walked up to it, and assumed from the bits of ash scattered about that this must be the incinerator. The directions, if there were any, weren't posted conspicuously. Beth started looking for some chute or door for the incinerator, and found a rather large sliding door on the side of the incinerator. She opened it up and slid the soiled diaper and bag inside, then closed the door. She got the chills, realizing that the incinerator was the perfect size for a body, and was possibly a way for Josef to get rid of his "problems", she could only hope these problems were already fully dead before being turned into an ash barbecue celebration. Beth moved to the east side of the house, that side of the house had more sun, which she didn't want personally, but it did have some luscious green lawn with some great shade trees, which was exactly what she was looking for. Still carrying the baby, she walked to the grass, and where the shade of the tree was dappled with the sun, she set down her gym bag and pulled out the baby blanket, smoothing it on the grass. Thank goodness it was late spring in LA, it was already warm enough for most people to don shorts and bikinis. Then she gently set the baby down on the blanket, removing her snap up white ducky jammies, and leaving her in just a long sleeve onesie. She handed the little girl a soft block, which she regarded studiously, then lunged to her side when she saw her giraffe again, and held it close to her as she smiled and babbled. Beth moved several feet away, to the complete shade of the oak tree. She watched the little girl, kicking her feet, waving her arms, and babbling a song.
Listening to the little girl cooing reminded her of a piece of advice that her own mother gave her about Erica and Elliot. Both babies had encountered a case or pretty severe diaper rash, and Beth and her own mother were watching the twins, and after changing the babies, her mother had announced that little baby bums needed fresh air to help them heal. It seemed to work nice for Elliot and Erica. Maybe the same would work for little Alisa, worst case scenario, she'd have a baby with a diaper rash and a soggy blanket to deal with.
Beth went back over to the little girl, and eased her out of her onesie, then took off her diaper. The diaper was still clean, and had rubbed off most of the rash crème that Beth had put on the little girl. She set the little girl back down, naked as the day she was born, onto the blanket. The little girl was laughing and kept kicking her legs. Beth set the onesie and the clean diaper in her gym bag, then retreated back to the shade. The baby girl was squealing with delight, and now chewing on the head of her much loved giraffe. She looked so cherubic there against the pale pink blanket, she looked over at Beth and grinned, before going back to her game of singing and attempting to eat the giraffe.
The warm morning breeze was gentle this late spring morning, and Beth realized that for the first time since her vacation prior to the LA fires five years ago, she was enjoying the simple pleasure of the morning. She may never be able to enjoy the sunshine or get a tan, but she definitely was enjoying this morning.
She looked back over at the gorgeous naked infant, clearly enjoying herself in the morning sunshine.
Twenty minutes later, she realized that even though she was in the shade, the effect of the sun was bothering her enough that she needed to retreat indoors. She went back to the baby girl and started singing a silly song while she dressed the girl. It was too soon to tell, but she hoped the fresh air helped the infant's rash.
She picked up the baby girl, who was clutching her giraffe again, and with one hand folded the blanket and placed it in her gym bag with the soft cubes. Looking over at the grinning infant in her arms, she smiled back and said softly "This was fun, wasn't it? We'll have to do it again sometime."
She walked back into the house, and upon returning to her guest suite, she gently set the baby in the middle of the bed, then she took off the jacket hat and sunglasses. She walked towards the second room and set down her gym bag.
"Well, baby girl, since we've managed to mess up the schedule enough, lets try feeding you, and see if you'll take a nap. If I'm lucky and you're quiet, and you're lucky and I get some freezer time, maybe we'll give you a bath and go visiting your mommy today."
The baby giggled, the closest thing to a response that Beth was going to get. Beth picked up a clean bottle from the table, and on second thought, picked up the handful of used ones and the container of formula, and after picking up Alisa, she trooped over to the freshie wing. It was now midmorning, and a group of humans were up, unbelievably gorgeous women (Josef's food), and dashing athletic men (Sara's food). It looked like the humans were having orange juice and bagels and cream cheese for breakfast, and while Beth didn't give them much attention apart from the polite "hello" and "good morning" routine, Alisa was most certainly having a ball. The baby girl would smile and coo at anyone who looked her way.
Finally one of the girls, Jacqueline, Beth thought, asked if the little girl was her daughter, implying the infant to be a vampire. Beth tried to hide her own smile. These women, while obviously fitting Josef's taste and décor, seemed to be missing some fluff upstairs. She contemplating saying "Yes, this is my daughter with Josef, I decided to let her pick her meal today; honey, which one of these girls would you like to bite for breakfast?" and realized that some of the women may actually take her seriously.
While Beth was contemplating a serious answer, the little girl threw her arms out to one of the shirtless broad shouldered tanned young men, shortly followed by the little girl trying to launch herself in midair. The man reached out to the girl, and asked "May I hold her?"
Beth nodded and handed her over to the freshie. "Daniel, right?" she asked, trying to remember his name.
He smiled, showing his perfect smile, impressed that Beth knew his name. Beth turned towards Jacqueline. "Little Alisa here is completely human, I'm watching her for a friend. At the moment, we're making use of instruments designed for the human influence, such as dishwashers, microwaves. And, it appears this wing has a relative monopoly on all human-acquired appliances, I hope our intrusion doesn't bother you."
Beth explains herself while she tosses the dirty bottles in the dishwasher, and prepares a new one for the infant. She pops it into the microwave, sets the adjustments and presses the start button.
Daniel was still holding Alisa, and by the looks of it, he was quite at ease. "You must have a lot of younger brothers and sisters." Beth said, smiling.
"Not quite", he replied, while playing a game of peek-a-boo with the favored giraffe "My nephew is a few months older than this baby girl, and my niece is three. My job here, my brother would kill me if he knew, its helping pay his way through med school."
The microwave dinged, and Beth silently cursed herself for forgetting the thermometer. "Daniel," Beth smiled sweetly, "I need to ask a favor." Beth pulls out the bottle, screws on the nipple, and shakes it gently. Daniel may be the only one here familliar with testing bottle temperature.
"Sure, no problem." he responded, clearly pleased, and he set the little girl in the lap of Jacqueline, and Beth tried not to cringe. Jacqueline wouldn't drop the kid, she reasoned, but she still found herself saying "Jacqueline, please keep a hand on her, she doesn't know how to sit."
The little girl smiled and batted her long eyelashes at Jacqueline, who soon found herself sitting on the floor, playing a game with the stuffed giraffe, while holding the girl close to her.
Daniel walked up to Beth and stretched out his neck, closing his eyes, showing his plump jugular vein and his pulsating carotid artery, singing with blood. "Whoa, this is a misunderstanding." thought Beth.
She patted Daniel's shoulder in a comforting way. "I'm sorry Daniel, that wasn't quite the favor I needed. You see, I can't tell the baby's bottle temperature. Do you mind putting a few drops on your wrist and letting me know if it's a decent temperature?"
Daniel laughed. At least he had a good sense of humor. "Aww, I thought you needed a midnight or midday snack or something." The rest of the group laughs friendly at Daniel's eagerness to feed Beth.
Daniel expertly turns the bottle over and after a few drops hit his wrist, he smiles and says, "That's just right for the little girl."
"Thank you so much" Beth says, as she collects the container of formula, then collects the giggling Alisa from Jacqueline. "I really appreciate your help, both you Daniel, and Jacqueline."
Jacqueline giggles, and Daniel blushes. Beth heads back toward the guest wing, and once Daniel thinks she's out of earshot, he says to the group "She wanted me, her eyes almost turned silver… if that baby weren't in the way, she would have had me right there in the kitchen."
Beth laughed. The dynamic of the freshie group had changed now that it was co-ed, but their antics have only gotten more amusing, instead of the catty bunch who pretended to wear haloes every time Josef walked by. She kind of preferred it, except for the fact that the males were too excited to offer themselves to Beth any opportunity they had.
Beth walked back to her guest suite, picking up a burp cloth on her way over to the sofa. She curled up, settled Alisa into her lap, and popped the bottle into the little girl's mouth. The little girl starts sucking down her milk, and just as they both get settled, her mobile phone starts ringing.
Mumbling a curse word under her breath she answers it.
"Hello?"
"Hey Beth, I figured you'd be asleep and I'd leave you a message."
Mick is on the line, and Beth can't quite read his tone of voice.
"I've got news about Tom Cudelli" he continued.
"Good news, I hope." Beth said, looking forward to helping reunite Alisa to her family.
"Well, not so good news. His secretary said he's doing research out on the Galapagos Islands, and isn't due back for two more weeks. I called his travel agency to put word out to his chartered ship that there was a family emergency and to call me. But even if he starts coming back this minute, it'll take several days, he is in a pretty remote area."
"So I have this baby for who knows exactly when?"
"Did I mention I have good news? I got his home address, a company was listed on the deed which was why Ryder couldn't pull it up, and I'm headed there in a few to find out what kind of information I can pull on our daddy-to-be, and if I don't have any leads to follow from there, I'll be back in LA later today."
Alisa spit out her bottle and started to fuss, and instinctively Beth held her to her shoulder and patted her back lightly to burp her.
"What are you doing awake, Beth?"
"One word Mick. Baby."
"Oh geez. Is the kiddo keeping you awake?"
"Yes, no, and we're about to change her diaper and see if we can both catch a nap"
"I won't keep you then."
"Good luck with the house search" Beth said, then hung up the phone.
The little girl's eyes were already starting to close. It definitely wasn't close to the mother's note of naptime, but maybe the sunshine was a good thing for the baby.
Gently, Beth changed the little girl's diaper, and redressed the infant. She placed the little girl in her crib, found the giraffe and placed it nearby the little girl, then covered her with two blankets. In her sleep, the little girl sighed, then started softly snoring. Beth could hear her heartbeat start to slow as the little girl eased into a deeper sleep.
Beth quickly went to the bedroom, undressed, turned on the baby monitor, and climbed into the freezer. She was going to take advantage of every moment of cold she could get, as it now seemed like her temporary parenting duties weren't about to ease up.
Quickly, she fell asleep.