Chapter 10: Barley takes a Break
I need to be specific about the age since I might flip flop on the age. In the next chapter, I'm mashing two ideas together, anyway enjoy reading. Baby Angel is 14 months old
"Coochie coochie coochie coo…" Barley tiredly cooed at his baby daughter and tiredly tickled her tummy. Angel giggled and squirmed around. Then Barley released one big yawn.
Barley had dark circles around his eyes as he slowly bounced Angel in his arms. Ian came in with concern
"Uh, Barley...Are you okay?" Ian asked
"Oh yeah…" then another yawn came from his mouth, which Angel giggled at.
"Are you sure? That was one big yawn…" Laurel asked coming into the living room with the laundry in her hands.
"No No no...I'm okay…"
"Maybe tomorrow, your Mom... I can take care of Angel…" Ian suggested.
"No no...I got it…" another yawn came from Barley. Laurel took her granddaughter from his arms as he almost lost his grip on her
"Barley...I know you're trying to be a good father to Angel...but being a father also means putting trust in others to take care of her…"
"I know but-" Laurel placed a hand to stop him
"You need the rest...Angel is in good hands…" Barley looked at Angel who was trying to squeeze her grandmother's nose. Barley sighed through his nose and nodded his head
"Can I at least put my baby to bed?" Barley asked reaching for Angel. Laurel gladly gives Angel back to Barley and he takes Angel to his room to put her down.
The next morning there was whining from Barley's room. Ian was luckily up to investigate. He opened the door to find Angel trying to reach for Barley
"Whoa Whoa Angel…" Ian tried to scoop up Angel but she was a little heavy.
"Hey, big girl...Your Uncle Ian, Gramma, and Grandpa Colt are going to take care of you today." Ian reassured Angel. She whined a little and pointed at Barley
"Dada…" She spoke sadly
"Don't worry...He...He just needs a little rest...That's all…"
Then Laurel opened the door
"Hi, Angel...Hi baby girl…" Then angel wings flapped in Ian's arms making it a struggle to try and hold her. Laurel quickly took her before she could fall
"Hi, you ready for a good day?" Angel squealed happily, making Laurel chuckled
Then a stinky smell came into the air making Ian cover his nose.
"Smells like you need a diaper change" Laurel then placed her on the changing table and as soon as Laurel opened the diaper, she acted a little dramatic, making Angel laugh.
"You're a stinky girl…" Laurel cooed as she tickled her granddaughter's tummy "Who's a stinky girl…"
After Angel was changed, Laurel took her out of Barley's room so he can rest.
"Your papa needs rest honey bunch…." Laurel told Angel who was squirming towards the door.
"You wanna go to the park…" This made Angel turn to her grandmother. "Yeah, you wanna go to the park…"
"Yeah...I remember Barley telling me that she likes butterflies...I know a park where there's a bunch of them" Ian reminded.
Angel made a bunch of noises and clapped her hands.
"Yeah come on let's go to the park." Laurel cooed. With that, the Lightfoot's were out of the door.
Angel was so excited when she arrived at the park. She flapped her wings in Laurel's arms and squealed a little and had a big and bright smile on her face
"You're excited huh…" Ian asked. A large Ba came out of Angel's mouth
"Yeah somebody's excited…" Laurel saw was the baby was looking at. "You see butterflies…"
"BA," Angel squealed
Then Laurel set her ground in a nice spot for her and Ian to sit. "Go get em, Angel"
Angel then crawled towards an orange, black and white butterfly, who nearly flew away at the sight of her. Angel sat down and extended a hand out. The butterfly then flew in her hand then onto her nose making her giggle. Then the butterfly flew away causing Angel to try and reach for it, whining sadly as if to say "Please don't go…" The baby's lower lip quivered and she was about to cry until Ian rushed to her
"Hey, It's okay...Sometimes, they get a little scared…" then Ian looked up and gasped. "Look, Angel…" Ian pointed up and saw the butterfly coming back along with an armada of them coming towards Angel.
She was full of glee and flapped her arms and wings as if she's pretending to be like them. Laurel then snuck a picture of the butterflies and Angel.
Then Angel started to flap her wings and she was a little airborne and the butterflies flew away and she tried to follow them
"No No No No" Ian quickly grabbed his niece. "Your not a butterfly, Butterflies belong in the wild-" then Angel started to growl, looking at something else
"What's wrong Angel...Why are you growling?" Ian tried his best to coo. He looked in the direction that She was looking at and saw a unicorn eating at the garbage can
"Oh no…" Ian thought. He also remembered that Barley told him that Angel hated unicorns.
Two weeks ago, He was walking into the living room after making himself a sandwich, he spotted Angel at the window. Barley saw this too coming out of his room
"What's wrong Angel...What do you see?" Barley asked. The brothers approached the window and saw a unicorn eating trash. Angel then banged on the glass with both of her tiny hands
"Hey hey...What did Daddy say about the windows?" Barley reminded Angel of picking her up. Angel made a few noises and she flapped her wings and crawled towards the backdoor
"No no...You're not going after the unicorn, let it be…" Ian scolded her
Then Barley chuckled a little. "I see what this is...Unicorn Patrol huh"
"Ba-ba" Angel responded.
Ian's thoughts were interrupted when Angel started to squirm and squeal in his arms. "Woah Woah…" Laurel luckily caught this too and raced towards the pair.
"Unicorns again huh...You don't like unicorns huh" Laurel asked Angel.
Angel stuck out her tongue at it, signifying her answer, making Laurel chuckle
"Sometimes you're hard to understand like Barley…" Ian commented making the baby girl giggle
Then thunder struck making Angel whimper.
"Shh shh...It's only thunder Angel...It's okay" Ian rubbed Angel's back.
"We should go before it starts to rain on us"
When they got home, the rain was pouring left and right and wind blew in every direction like a tornado. Luckily they made it home or else they would've been caught in the storm
Then lightning flashed followed by a big boom of thunder causing Angel to cry in Ian's arms
"Uh It's okay Angel it's okay...Shh," then thunder boomed even louder as well as Angel's cries.
Ian tried his best to bounce her in his arms but her crying got worse and worse and Laurel took her in her loving arms
"Ian, she can sense that you're scared too….Shhhh" Laurel hushed Angel
"She can…"
"You know...Babies can sense when your calm, nervous...or even stress and they can feed off of the energy…"
Then thunder and lightning clashed once more making the already terrified baby scream.
"No no Shhh, Gramma here Angel….Don't you cry" then Laurel felt her granddaughter shaking so she gave her a bunch of kisses on her forehead to try and calm her.
"Thunder's not going to hurt you, sweetie...It's okay baby…"
Then Barley exited out of his room all refreshed from his rest. Angel then reached for him.
"Oh, you want your daddy…" Laurel cooed. Angel then cried, even more, when thunder struck again.
Barley then rushed over to the pair and took Angel in his arms.
"Shh Shh shh shh shh shh" Barley hushed his daughter. Angel nuzzled into his arms. "It's okay…" then Angel softly babbled to him
"I know you hate thunder…" on cue, thunder boomed making Angel's cries more. Ian grabbed the rocking chair in Barley's room and gave it to him. Barley sat in it and slowly rocked Angel, resting her head on his shoulder, shushing her quietly again.
Then Laurel helped Angel by grabbing her blanket from her bassinet and carefully draped it over Angel.
Then Barley hummed a gentle lullaby to Angel. Angel then opened her eyes and looked up at Barley who kissed her head softly. He looked up at Ian and Laurel
"Thanks for watching her today...I really appreciate it…"
"Well, We can watch her again next week if you want…"
"Well...Yeah...that's okay...I learned every once and a while a father might need a bit of help, right Angel?"
A sleepy noise came from the baby and she fell asleep in her father's arms. Then Barley placed her in bed and Laurel showed him the picture of her and the butterflies, making him smile