Rushing through the stairwell of an abandoned library wasn't the brightest of ideas, but it was the only way for Connor to continue the pursuit of a known deviant abuser who had intentionally run down three innocent deviant's walking on the sidewalk just the day before. As the brash deviant gained speed and closed the distance between himself and the fleeing murderer the combined weight of the two men on the shaking wooden staircase caused the structure to finally collapse and as a result both Connor and the suspect plummeted down three stories to the ground floor of the old building, and were promptly buried under old wooden boards, drywall and dust.
Hank had been outside the library securing the front door when the stairwell collapsed and immediately radioed in the structural instability. As the dust settled the senior detective rushed over to the massive pile of debris and looked for any sign of life from beneath the rubble.
"Connor? Connor!" Waving his hand in front of his face Hank wafted aside the lingering dust and called out for the downed deviant. As he neared the debris and began pushing aside the loosen boards to begin the laborious task of unburying the trapped duo from underneath the smothering weight. "Talk to me, son! I need you to answer me!"
There was a subtle cough that sounded off from somewhere near the middle of the pile, and followed by a weak voice. "...H-Hank?"
"Connor..." Honing in on the voice Hank moved aside two more boards and revealed the dusty face of Connor as the deviant laid on his back trapped beneath the crushing mass. Kneeling down beside his injured partner and adopted son Hank put his left hand to Connor's right cheek and held his palm in place as he used his thumb to wipe away a smudge of blue blood from Connor's lower lip. "Shit, kid. What happened?"
"St-Stairwell collapsed. I couldn't get off of it in time."
"That I can see. How'd it collapse?"
"Age and too much weight that... shook the foundation."
Studying Connor's face carefully Hank could see that the deviant was in pain but hiding it well. Aside from his bloodied lip Connor's right eye was slightly swollen and had a deep cut running along his cheek just below his eye. His chin was scraped up, his hair was a mess and the upper portion of his chest was peppered with tiny scratches that stretched from his neck down toward his collarbone.
"How bad are you hurt, son?"
"...Bad."
"Talk to me. Tell me what's going on with you." The sound of approaching sirens filled the air as Hank stayed beside his son and refused to leave him alone. "I know you're in pain, so don't hold back."
"I... I fell on either a sharpened piece of wood," the deviant was beginning to breathe quicker as he felt the searing pain in the middle of his back beginning to sear through his core. "or a broken pipe. It's... impaled me."
"Oh, fuck... How severe is the damage?"
"It missed my biocomponents." Connor managed to answer honestly as he ran a self-diagnostic. "It nicked my left ascending Thirial line and I'm bleeding internally."
"Keeping talking, son." Hank encouraged as he heard the fire engine outside stop by the front doors and heard the sound of heavy boots marching toward the building. "What else?"
"I... I think I broke my right leg. It hurts, and I can't move it. Same with my right arm." Taking in a shuddering breath Connor managed to turn his head and nod at an unseen body just a few feet away from himself Connor closed his eyes and laid back a little to try to relax. "...The suspect is there. I can't detect any vital signs."
"Okay, kid. Just take it easy and we'll get you patched up and back home. You can take the rest of the day off and spend time with Hannah."
"...Yeah, I'd greatly prefer being home with my daughter right now." Watching as the firefighters converged on the pile of rubble Connor remained still and allowed the rescue personnel to free him from the debris, and transport him to the nearest Android Emergency Care Facility. "I just hope I can still take care of her while I heal."
Having returned to the house after being patched up, secured in braces and been given a Thirium transfusion Connor was taken upstairs to his bedroom to heal in the comfort of his own bed. With his right arm in a support sling with a plastimetal brace around his forearm to hold the fractured limb as stable as possible, his right leg in a similar brace from his ankle all the way up to his thigh, and protective bandages wrapped around his torso Connor was stuck on mandatory bed rest until his self healing program remedied the damage the technicians had already worked to repair.
With Sumo as his only company while Hank went out to New Jericho Tower to pick up Hannah from the tower's "daycare center" Connor stayed on the bed and gently rubbed Sumo's ears with his left hand as he healed and waited for his father and his daughter to return home.
"Good boy, Sumo."
The sound of the front door opening and closing caught Connor's ear and made Sumo wag his tail.
"They're home."
After a minute Hank walked up the staircase with Hannah in his arms and he promptly placed the baby down beside Connor on the bed so Connor could give Hannah a gentle hug with his left arm. "How're you feeling, son?"
"Sore. But now that Hannah's here I feel better."
"Well, just remember you're down for three days because of all the damage you sustained. I'll be taking care of her while you heal, so you need to lay back and take it easy."
"I can still take care of her." Using his left hand Connor gently rubbed his palm along his five month old daughter's back as she managed to sit up on her own with only Connor's arm to support her. She was pulling on her daddy's left black t-shirt sleeve and making small noises around the purple pacifier in her mouth as she glanced about the bedroom curiously. "I won't try to carry her around, but I can still hold her and read to her at night."
"Sure. But when it comes to feeding her, changing her and overall keeping her wrangled up while she tries to crawl around you won't be able to do that."
"Is she crawling now?"
"Not quite." Hank rubbed his right palm down the back of Hannah's soft dark hair and smirked at how it was now long enough to come down to her chin, and soon she'd either need a haircut or Connor would have to figure out how to give her small pigtails. "She's trying though. I bet she'll be crawling in the next few weeks, and then we'll have to put the baby-gates up over the kitchen doorway, down the hallway and over the bottom of the staircase."
"That will be interesting."
Hannah started pulling harder on Connor's sleeve and made disgruntled noises where she sat.
Connor quickly recognized that particular sound and knew what his daughter was asking for. "Hannah's getting hungry. I had prepared her a vegetable blend to try for dinner tonight. It just needs to be warmed up for a minute."
"Veggies, huh?" Hank smirked as he picked Hannah back up and held her up against his chest. "Alright then. Let's get ya' fed and then see if you want to snuggle down with Papa for a while and watch an old movie."
"What kind of movie?"
"Relax, son. It won't be rated 'R' or anything like that."
"Right, of course. You know what you're doing."
"And before we settle down for the night do you need anything? Maybe more Thirium or a book to read?"
"No, my Thirium levels have been topped off and I plan on entering rest mode for a while to get my self healing program to initiate at full power."
"Okay. Come on, Hannah." As Hank took his leave of the bedroom Sumo grumbled and then followed after Hank to get to the ground floor as he wanted some food for himself. "Let's get dinner out of the way. Try not to make a huge mess, huh? It's a little hard to feed a baby with one hand and snap photos with the other hand at the same time."
Sighing to himself as he put aside the empty container of vegetable puree and used a small baby wipe to clean off his own face Hank stared at Hannah's even messier face and couldn't stop himself from the laughing. The small baby was looking up at Hank and smiling brightly with her gummy-grin as he cleaned himself off and set about wiping off her high chair a little with the same wipe.
"Welp, I guess bath time is a must." Standing up from the kitchen chair Hank plucked Hannah from the high chair and proceeded to carry her back upstairs so she could have a bath with all of her toys and have a little fun in the water before movie time. "When you have your first taste of birthday cake or ice cream then I get the feeling the kitchen's going to look like a food fight."
"Hank?" Connor called out to his adoptive father just as he walked past the opened bedroom doorway to get the neighboring bathroom. "What's going on?"
"Hannah liked your dinner, son. But she made a mess of everything."
"Oh, I see." Smirking at the sight of Hannah covered in a small amount of green color food made him feel proud. His daughter was eating well and she was enjoying the food that he was preparing for her. "I'm glad she enjoyed it."
"Yup. Now, I'm going to give her a bath and then get her settled down for the night."
"And Sumo?"
"He had his dinner and is out cold in the corner of the livingroom on his pillow. He's good."
"That's a comforting thought."
Carrying Hannah into the bathroom Hank turned on the faucet in the tub and began filling it with warm water and placed a few toys into the water for the small baby to play with. After placing down some towels on the bathroom floor Hank carefully removed Hannah's food stained 'onesie' and then worked on removing the diaper.
"Alright Hannah-Banana. Let's get ya' all nice and clean and then you can enjoy a movie with Papa while wrapped up in your favorite yellow blankie."
Hannah seemed to understand her grandfather's words and let out a happy sound at the offer.
"Okay, sweetpea." Picking Hannah back up Hank carefully placed her in her safety water seat in the tub so she could play without getting her head under the water, or toppling over. "In ya' go."
As soon as Hannah was in the water she let out small squeals of joy and grabbed onto the nearby yellow ducky as it floated by.
"The other night when Papa was out grocery shopping her bought ya' a special treat." Reaching into the small cabinet beneath the sink Hank retrieved a bottle of special baby formulated bubble bath and put a small amount into the tub, then placed the purple colored bottle on the edge for future use. "What do you think?" A cascade of purple colored foam that smelled of lilacs began to rising from the warm water and it quickly surrounded Hannah. "They started putting special stainless dyes in this stuff so now you can be messy and clean at the same time."
Upon seeing the purple foam all around her Hannah laughed and began splashing her hands all over the purple foam in an excited manner.
"You like it, huh? Maybe some day I can get ya' one of each color and let you take a rainbow bath."
While Hannah remained enchanted with the seemingly magical purple foam Hank located the yellow duck lost amongst all the purple and used it to make Hannah laugh as she continued to fuss with the lavender tinted bathwater.
From down in his bedroom Connor could hear Hannah laughing and that made him feel a little better. It was a comforting thought to know that his daughter had a wonderful grandfather to rely on, and that he wouldn't be alone as he took care of his daughter. "I wish I could see what's making Hannah so happy."
"Purple bubble bath!" Hank shouted the response without startling Hannah in the process. "She loves it!"
"...Purple bubble bath?"
"It's designed just for kids, son. As long as she doesn't have a bubble bath every night her skin won't dry out and she won't get any infections."
"Good to know."
As Hank set about using a small cup to dampen Hannah's hair enough to add some shampoo to her short dark locks Hannah herself seemed to figure out where the magical foam had come from and grabbed onto the bottle with both hands. She gave it a good squeeze and made an eruption of purple tinted soap ooze from the bottle in her grip. The slick surface made it hard for her to hang onto the bottle and as a result the entire bottle was dunked into the warm bath water that quickly reacted to the soap, and began a new burst of purple foam that quickly doubled, tripled and then quadrupled in size.
"Uh-oh!" Fishing the waterlogged bottle out of the bathtub Hank put it down on the nearby sink and turned off the faucet to try to keep the foam from getting any higher. After reaching his hands into the water and over to the faucet Hank's arms all the way up to his shoulders were covered in purple foam, and the foam was pooling over the edge of the tub covering his legs as well. "...That was my bad, Hannah. I should've put the lid back on the bottle and kept the bottle away from the water."
The small baby just laughed louder as the purple foam completely enveloped her and made the entire bathroom smell like a soft lilac flowerbed.
"Glad you think it's so cool. Papa has to clean this up and keep you from having any more bath time shenanigans in the future."
Thinking quickly Hank gently blew aside the surrounding foam so he could finishing shampooing Hannah's hair, and managed to use enough clean water to rinse it back out. Afterward he rinsed the rest of the foam from her skin and scooped her up and out of the tub.
"Okay, Hannah-Banana. Time to dry off." Wrapping her up in a warm and soft towel Hank carried Hannah out of the bathroom and into Connor's bedroom where the deviant father was listening to everything happening. "Alright. You two hang out while I drain the water and clean up the foam. That stuff isn't supposed to stain anything but I don't want to take any chances."
Smirking at the idea of Hank cleaning up a mess during bath time was too amusing to not react to. Holding Hannah up against his left side Connor used his left palm to gently rub the soft towel against Hannah's right shoulder to ensure she was still warm and had all of the bath water dried from her delicate skin. "I heard that commotion, Hannah. It sounds like you found the bottle of bubble bath and decided to accidentally add more."
The small baby smiled at her daddy and laughed a little as if she understood what she had done, and was amused, too!
"I'll remember to look for that special bubble bath for you, Hannah. It'll be a little while since I can't get up and walk around, but I promise I'll find you a new color to play with during bath time."
Hannah kept making small noises and leaned forward a little as if trying to crawl. She put both of her hands on Connor's left shoulder and pulled at his t-shirt sleeve excitedly.
"Are you trying to crawl? If I could safely put you on the floor I would let you try to do so."
With the bathroom quickly cleaned up, the purple foam rinsing away down the drain and getting mopped up from the floor with bath towels fairly easily, Hank dropped the towels off in the laundry room downstairs. Returning to Connor's bedroom Hank scooped Hannah back up and smirked at her smiling face as he held her to his chest in a gentle manner.
"How severe was the mess?" Connor asked as he watched his adoptive father bonding with his own adopted daughter.
"Nothing I couldn't handle. I'm going get this little lady changed into a clean diaper and soft 'onesie'. Hopefully she'll fall asleep during the movie and will go down easily for the night."
"Thank you for taking care of her."
"What did I tell ya' about thanking me for taking care of my own granddaughter? I'm happy to do it, and no thanks are necessary."
"Well... I still want to thank you anyway."
"You're welcome, son. Now get some rest and let your healing program do its thing."
It was almost ten o'clock at night and Hank was ready to go to bed. Sumo was already asleep and snoring from his pillow in the corner of the livingroom. The movie he had chosen to watch that night, 'The Wizard of Oz', had played out in full and while Hank had become drowsy Hannah was still alert and awake. She had been sitting up at Hank's right side while wrapped up in her yellow blanket, but had soon fallen over his lap to lay down, but she refused to fall asleep just yet.
"Man, I thought that'd put your right out, Hannah-Banana." Hank stated as he gently ran his right fingers through her now dry and twice as soft hair. "It used to put Cole to sleep long before the twister took Dorthy to Oz. I'm gonna' need to find something else to help you lull to sleep."
Lightly Hank picked Hannah up from where she was laying and let her snuggle down against his chest as he carried her upstairs to try a new approach. As he passed by Connor's opened bedroom door Hank noticed that the deviant was still awake and was already peering through the doorway as he had heard Hank walking up the staircase. "Can't sleep either, huh, son?"
"I cannot." Noticing that Hannah was still awake he gave his daughter a small smirk. "I take it she isn't ready for bed."
"Nope."
"Could you get me one of her books so I can read to her? That usually helps her fall asleep."
"Sure." Laying Hannah down beside Connor again Hank walked into her bedroom across from Connor's bedroom and pulled one of her many children's books from the shelf above the changing table. "Let's see..." Eyeing over the books Hank was impressed by the selection Connor had purchased for Hannah, and his blue eyes went wide at one book in particular. "Wait, did he seriously pick up Grimm's Fairy Tales for Hannah?" The large book was full of the older and more macabre version of the fairy tales that Hank had known ever since he was a child. "I think this one will have to wait a few years before she can take a look at it. I don't want her to have nightmares."
After selecting a much nicer and more familiar story, "Good Night, Moon", Hank walked into Connor's bedroom and passed the book over to him so he could begin reading to Hannah.
"Thank you." Taking the book from Hank's hand with his left hand Connor hooked his left arm around Hannah to hold her safely at his side as he awkwardly began reading to Hannah with just his left hand to support the book upright. "She really enjoys this story."
"I'll be downstairs showering. Hopefully by the time I'm done Hannah will be asleep and I can put her down for the night."
Shuffling his way back to the ground floor of the house Hank checked his phone sitting on the bookshelf, happy to see no missed calls or messages waiting to bug him, and then made his way into the ground floor bathroom. As he showered off for the night Hank noticed that the lilac scent of the bubble bath was still clinging to his skin and he just laughed again.
"Good thing that flowery smell isn't intoxicating. And it's a better smell than spit-up and dirty diapers."
Having just finished the story Connor looked over at Hannah and saw that she had fallen asleep and was cuddled up at his left side with her head resting on his shoulder. Keep his arm wrapped around her Connor pulled her in a little closer and gave her a gently kiss atop her hair as he closed his eyes to enter rest mode with his young daughter cuddled up alongside him. Cybernetically Connor turned off the overhead light and left the room nice and dark to ensure that Hannah would be able to sleep peacefully.
Quietly Hank ascended the staircase and peeked inside Connor's dark bedroom where he was able to see the deviant sleeping with Hannah right beside him. Not wanting to disturb Hannah's sleep Hank smirked and ran his right hand through his damp locks of hair.
"Goodnight, you two. See you in the morning."
Retiring to his own bedroom for the night Hank kept his bedroom door open just in case Connor needed his help, and plopped down in his bed with a satisfying drop. The soft pillow under his head felt even softer and the quilt even warmer as he wrapped up for the night to begin his own well earned rest.
The sound of disgruntled and impatient crying awoke Hank with a start and he promptly rose from the bed to check in on Hannah. Stepping into Connor's bedroom Hank saw that Hannah was sitting upright on the bed beside Connor and was crying loudly. Connor was rubbing her back and saying soothing words to her as he was still unable to get up and help take care of her.
"Sounds like Hannah's in a mood today." Hank stated as he picked up the crying baby and immediately figured out why she was so upset just by a single whiff coming from the baby. "Oh, she needs a little clean-up."
"...More than that."
"Huh?"
"She, uh, I believe the proper term was had a 'blow-out'."
"Uh..." Daring himself to check Hank peeled back the yellow blanket and saw a distinct stain on the seat of Hannah's purple 'onesie'. "...Yup."
"I'll clean her up."
"Connor, no. You're hurt and you can't even sit up right now thanks to get impaled through the back yesterday. I'll clean her up and you'll keep resting."
"I can handle one diaper change."
"Not while you're stuck on your back." Carrying Hannah into her own bedroom across from Connor's bedroom and gently unwrapped the blanket from around Hannah, and then laid her down on the changing table. "Okay, Hannah-Banana." Opening the top drawer of the table Hank pulled out a small bottle of potent smelling menthol and eucalyptus cream used normally during cold and flu season, and put a small amount under his nose to block his sense of smell. "Papa will get you cleaned up and get ya' fed soon."
Hannah continued to cry and fuss as her soiled 'onesie' was removed and only got louder once the warm layer was removed making her feel cold.
"I'm sorry, sweetpea. I hate the cold, too." Working fast Hank cleaned up the practically destroyed diaper, cleaned up Hannah and then used a cool baby wipe to give her a quick little bath to ensure she was entirely clean before he gave her a fresh diaper and a clean green 'onesie' to wear instead. "There..."
Tossing the dirty diaper and wrapping Hannah back up in the yellow blanket Hank carried her and her dirty clothes downstairs so he could begin a load of laundry and get Hannah set up in her highchair.
"Feel better?" Hank asked as he secured Hannah to the seat and watched her quiet down. "I know I would!"
Entering the laundry room Hank started up a wash of the towels from the night before and the ruined 'onesie'. Using a generous amount of detergent the experienced father new the drill with getting baby clothes cleaned, and had no problem doing multiple loads of laundry in a single day.
"Now, how about some breakfast? I know you have some applesauce waiting for ya', and I bet a fresh bottle of formula will make you happy." Opening the backdoor Hank called out to Sumo, who proceeded to get up from his pillow in the livingroom, and let the massive dog outside for a few minutes. "Good thing I have today and tomorrow off. It'd be weird taking you to New Jericho Tower because I was at work and your daddy couldn't watch you today."
The morning went about smoothly and Hank didn't have any more issues with diaper changes or messy bath times. As he laid on the floor beside Hannah atop her soft yellow blanket Hank tried to get her to crawl over to him, but she just laid on her tummy and proceeded to chew on her soft foam alphabet blocks and made small noises. Sumo was laying on his pillow in the corner of the livingroom watching his two human masters with his tail thumping with a happy rhythm on the hardwood floor.
"I can't wait for you to start crawling around and walking, Hannah-Banana. That'll be a wonderful sight to see."
The small baby just made noises and reached for her toys as Hank stayed beside her.
"I'm going to check on your daddy for a minute. Just stay here and keep playing with your toys, Papa will be back soon." Making his way up the staircase Hank knocked on Connor's opened bedroom door frame and looked in on his healing adopted son. "How ya' doing, kid?"
"Better." The swelling around Connor's right eye had healed entirely and the deviant was pulling his right arm from the supportive sling keeping the limb immobilized across his torso. "My arm has fully recalibrated and healed, my leg is at eighty-two percent functionality and my abdomen is at sixty-six percent functionality."
"Good to know. Maybe you'll be able to get up and walk around a little by tomorrow morning, and be a hands-on dad again."
"I hope so. I dislike not being able to change my own child's diaper."
"It'll be fine soon enough, son. Hannah's doing okay without you constantly holding and cuddling her."
"Yeah, I know."
"Do you need anything?"
"I'm okay."
"Cool. I'll be downstairs with Hannah again, and I'm going to see if I can find a movie to use as a nighttime tool to help her fall asleep easier, or take naps during the afternoon."
"That's a good idea. I know which songs she already enjoys, so if you can't find a movie to use perhaps some music will work."
"Even better." Making his way back down that staircase Hank returned to the livingroom and saw that Hannah, despite being left on her blanket in the middle of the livingroom, was now right in front of Sumo's pillow with the massive dog gently pressing his nose to her hands as she tried to pet his fur to the best of her uncoordinated ability. "Hannah... Are you crawling?"
The small baby just made small noises and continued to fuss with Sumo's soft fur.
"Aw, man. I wish Connor could see you crawling right now. He'd be so proud." Sitting back down on the floor atop the blanket Hank called out to Hannah and tried to get her to crawl over to him. "Hannah-Banana, can you come back to Papa?"
Turning to look at Hank upon hearing her name and his voice she just smiled and continued to play with Sumo's soft fur.
Sighing at the sight Hank decided to get back up and start making lunch and getting a headstart on dinner for Hannah and himself instead. "You're definitely your father's daughter. You like dogs, too."
Without a repeat of the incident from the night before Hank was able to feed Hannah and give her a bath without any problems, but it seemed as though Sumo decided that the smell of the lunch and dinner that had been cooking all day long was too delicious to pass up. Despite normally being very well behaved and knowing not to get into the garbage or climb up on the kitchen table Sumo just couldn't resist...
Knocking over the full garbage can Sumo helped himself to some scraps of food and had a good time sifting through his forbidden treat all night long. After indulging on scraps of old food Sumo laid down in the middle of his mess and grumbled as he rolled about, ate some more and then discovered he had overeaten and was now very uncomfortable.
The following morning Hank went about his usual routine of waking up, checking in on Connor and then doing the same for Hannah, having no idea of the mess waiting for him in the kitchen.
"Good morning, son." Hank leaned into the opened bedroom doorway and saw that Connor was sitting upright in his bed while using both of his arms to support his weight as he moved about. "Hey, look at that. How do you feel?"
"Stronger." Connor confirmed as he pressed his right hand to torso where he had been impaled and could feel that his artificial skin had regenerated beneath bandages wrapped around his abdomen, and could feel it even through the fabric of his black t-shirt. "Much stronger."
"Sounds like you're going to be able to get up and walk around a little today. That's good."
"I'd like to be able to resume taking care of Hannah today."
"How about you let me take care of her until noon, that way you have the chance to get around on your own without worrying about a baby being in your arms if you're still feeling a little tired?"
"That's a good point, thank you."
"Right. I'll go get Hannah ready for the day and you just relax up here for a while longer." Walking into Hannah's bedroom Hank looked down in her crib and saw that Hannah was already awake and in need of a diaper change. "Good morning, Hannah-Banana. Let's get ya' cleaned up and Papa will make you something nice for breakfast."
Like a real pro Hank changed Hannah's diaper and 'onesie' in a matter of seconds and picked her back up from the changing table. As he held the baby in his arms he noticed Hannah's hand reaching toward one of her toys on the floor and he knelt down so she could reach.
"You want the bear or the blocks?" A loud 'clatter' sounded off from down in the kitchen and Hank was immediately on guard. "Uh, alright. Here, Hannah." Putting her down on the playmat in the middle of her bedroom floor Hank stood back up and stepped out of the room. "Stay with your toys while I figure out what made that sound."
Connor spoke up from his bedroom as Hank walked past. "It sounded like a metal cooking pan hit the floor."
"A pan? How did- Sumo..."
"Sumo?"
"He hasn't climbed on the counter since he was a pup, but I get the feeling he fell back into a bad habit last night." Walking down the staircase Hank marched into the kitchen and sure enough Sumo was licking up a pan and standing in the middle of his mess. "Sumo!"
The dog lifted his head up to look at Hank, licked the sauce all over his maw, and let out a shameful whimper as he tucked his tail between his legs.
"You've been so good and haven't done this in years, why do it again?"
Sumo whimpered again and submissively sat down at Hank's feet.
"Yeah, yeah... You're sorry." Looking at the mess all over the floor, the strewn about garbage and the food sticking to Sumo's fur Hank knew he had quite the chore ahead of himself. "Come on, bath time."
Grabbing onto Sumo's collar Hank pulled the dog out of the kitchen, down the hallway and into the bathroom. Removing the dog's collar Hank turned on the faucet in the tub and gave the large Saint Bernard a disappointed look.
"You were bad last night, Sumo."
Sumo whimpered again and looked at the bathtub warily.
"Yup. You're getting a bath and today you're get half-portions for your meals. I don't know what you ate but I can tell," Hank was almost impressed by Sumo's distended stomach and shook his head. "you had more than enough."
It took almost an hour for Hank to give Sumo his bath, put Sumo on his chain out in the backyard and clean up the kitchen. As he stood upright and stretched his tight back Hank glanced about the room, his eyes settling on the highchair, and his thoughts immediately returning to Hannah upstairs. He had been so preoccupied with cleaning up the messes and making sure Sumo didn't eat something that'd make him sick that he had completely forgotten about getting Hannah her breakfast.
"Uh-oh, Hannah." Moving quickly across the kitchen and livingroom to get to the staircase Hank returned to the bedroom only to see that Hannah was no longer in her room. "Hannah?!" Turning around quickly Hank was relieved to see that Hannah was in Connor's bedroom and that Connor was sitting on the floor cross-legged. "Hannah... I'm so sorry, sweetpea. I got distracted."
"It's okay, Hank." Connor reassured the senior detective as he let Hannah climb all over him. "She's just fine."
"Why'd you settle with her on the floor?"
"I didn't." The young father beamed proudly. "She crawled over to me all by herself."
"She crawled?"
"Yeah. She made it all the way over here and pulled herself onto my lap."
Hank slowly knelt down on the floor and watched as Hannah managed to crawl about and make small noises while spending time with her daddy on the floor as he finally healed enough to spend time with her.
"Well, then..." It didn't take long for Hannah to crawl over to Hank to get some love, too. "I guess cleaning up that mess was worth it."
"Sumo?"
Nodding a little Hank confirmed the source of the mess. "Sumo."
-next chapter-
