Another shortie-but-goodie. I had the most fun writing it, actually! I adore baby Mo so this was a really fun and quick write. Enjoy!
"How are you doing? I haven't seen you in person since the accident. Craig said you showed up at the pub a couple times but I've missed you at the flower shop," Brooke said when he opened the door for Louie and Mo.
"Well, the flower shop isn't wheelchair accessible."
"It wasn't, sir. We're getting that fixed."
"Good. I don't want any of my businesses to be inaccessible for anyone." Louie followed behind Brooke as the other man let him and Mo, who sat patiently in Louie's lap, into the house.
"Are you excited for your playdate, Mo?" Brooke asked the little kid, offering him a fist bump.
"Yeah!"
"Paige, come meet Mo!" A little blur of sneakers and sparkles appeared next to Brooke, bouncing up and down on her heels, her sneakers lighting up every time. Mo thought that was the coolest thing and pointed them out to Louie.
"We'll get you some light-up sneakers soon," Louie promised, kissing his head and setting him down.
"Do you like dolls?" Paige asked.
Mo nodded solemnly.
"I got lots of dolls! Come on, you can play with them and we can have a tea party. I have Skittles!" Mo was pretty sure that he had met his new best friend and ran off with Paige.
"They're gonna get along great," Brooke said with a laugh.
"Of course, Paige gets along with everyone."
"Thanks for suggesting this, Brooke. Mo has only met kids in the family and if he's gonna be ready for preschool next year it's important to me that he knows how to get along with other kids too."
"Oh, it's no problem. Paige loves making new friends and Mo seems like a sweetheart."
"He's a cuddle bug and a troublemaker. I love him with my whole heart, Brooke. I didn't know what that would feel like. I thought I knew because I loved my niblings so much but fatherhood is so completely different."
Brooke nodded.
"Paige is the best part of my life. As much as I love my business and Craig, nothing can compare to the love in my heart that I have for Paige."
"I can tell you're a really good dad."
"You too, Louie. I'll go check on the kids upstairs and then we can get some coffee and chat."
"You know I own a coffee shop now? The one near my house. It's called The Lonely Bean."
"You'll own half of Duckburg soon."
"That was always the plan," Louie laughed. Brooke didn't know that Louie had used to be a criminal mastermind, but he did know that Louie was an entrepreneur who liked to control what he could. Thus, buying his favorite businesses to ensure they wouldn't go under.
Brooke moved through the house, a little worried it wasn't up to snuff for the billionaire. Of course, the billionaire had a toddler now and his own house would be a wreck if it weren't for their new maid.
He peeked into his daughter's bedroom, which was a messy explosion of colors. Paige was her own charming and energetic person but she shared her love of all things bright and pretty with her dad, always getting excited when he brought home flowers from his shop to liven up the space.
Mo was wearing a load of costume jewelry, mostly beaded necklaces looped around his arms like bracelets and a little tiara.
"He's a Princess," Paige informs him.
"Vampire Princess," Mo added, eating a red Skittle.
"Ooh, scary. You kids have fun! We'll just be downstairs, let us know if you need anything. Don't eat too many Skittles, lunch is in an hour."
"Okay, daddy. Have fun playing with Mo's daddy."
"Papa," Mo corrected.
"Have fun playing with Mo's papa!" Brooke smiled to himself and then went back downstairs.
"I have a papa and a daddy," Mo told Paige, "and I had another dad and a mommy but now I just have papa and daddy."
Paige nods, intrigued, "I have a daddy! And my mommy lives in St. Canard with Odelia and sometimes Craig comes to have a sleepover with daddy. Because mommy loves Odelia and daddy loves Craig."
Mo nodded like all of that made sense to him and popped another red skittle into his mouth.
"Trade you my reds for your yellows?" Paige offered. Mo did not know why anyone would ever want the yellow Skittles and readily agreed. Paige really impressed him and her liking the yellow Skittles (so that he didn't have to eat them) was another positive mark in his book. And her name was Paige! Like books! That was cool too. Not as cool as his name but still cool.
"You like books?" Mo asked.
Paige shrugged.
"I like pretty books! And I like coloring books."
"I like coloring books," Mo agreed, happy to find more common ground. Paige was very quickly becoming a favorite of his.
"We could color! I'll go get my books!" Paige abandoned her own costume jewelry, the little kiddie table, and the tea party in favor of bolting over to her rainbow-shaped bookshelf. Mo very carefully took off his "bracelets" and his Vampire Princess tiara and then followed Paige over to the bookshelf.
"Can I wear your sunglasses?" Paige asked after handing him a book and a fancy box of crayons.
Mo felt a little bit of panic welling up in his chest. His sunglasses made his eyes not hurt and he didn't want his eyes to hurt but he wanted his new friend to like him and what if she didn't like him if he didn't let her wear his sunglasses?
"I need them," he said meekly.
"Okay," Paige said simply, "my friend Callie wears glasses too."
"Papa wears glasses sometimes."
"I have some sunglasses but I left them at mommy's house. I don't know when I'm gonna go see her again but I'll show them to you when I get them back. They're shaped like hearts! And they're purple. Purple is my favorite color. And yellow and blue and green and pink and red and orange. What's your favorite color?"
"Red."
"Like the Skittles! You can have my red bead necklace if you want. I have a lot of bead necklaces in all the colors. Except I gave the silver one to Callie because it matches her glasses. She likes silver but if I had glasses I would want them to be purple."
"I have purple sunglasses. I have lots of sunglasses."
"Oooh, cool!"
"My eyes hurt if I don't wear them."
"Oh! Callie's eyes hurt if she doesn't wear her glasses too." Mo didn't understand why he felt mean feelings towards someone he had never met but he didn't like it. He didn't like Callie.
A brief quiet settled over them as they began to color. Paige had loads and loads of fancy crayons. Mo really liked her room except for the obvious lack of a race car bed.
"Mo, look! I gave the picture people vampire fangs!" Mo's little mouth made an O. He wished he'd thought of that. He also didn't know how Paige could've colored faster and better than him. He was very impressed.
"You can have it because you're my friend now and you like vampires. I think they're kinda scary. Have you seen hotel… hotel…" Paige frowned, struggling to remember the name of the movie.
"Hotel trans?" Mo asked, and Paige lit up
"Yeah!"
"I love that movie!"
"It scared me a little," Paige said solemnly, "that's why I have that night light now." She nodded to the Tinkerbell night light next to her bed.
"The vampires in that movie weren't scary!"
"Johnny scared me," Paige said with a shrug.
"Oh. Okay." Mo finished his drawing and wrote his name and handed it to Paige. It wasn't as good as hers.
"Thank you so much, Mo! You write your name so good!" Paige ran over to a little magnetic chalkboard over her bed and attached the new picture with a smiley face magnet. Mo felt real good about that until he saw a coloring page with a giraffe and Callie's name right next to his picture that didn't even have any cool vampires or giraffes in it. Callie was officially his enemy.
"Kids! Lunchtime!" Brooke called up the stairs.
"Race ya!" Paige said, barreling towards the door. Mo followed her out but Paige was a little older and bigger than him and her long legs carried her to victory.
"Are you guys having fun?" Louie asked when the two little gremlins appeared in the kitchen.
"Yeah! We had tea as vampire princesses," Paige said.
"And we colored! Papa look what Paige gave me!" Mo proudly handed over his new picture.
"This is nice, you did a wonderful job, Princess Paige!" Louie praised.
"Thanks! Mo colored really good too but I hung it up on my magnet board already."
"Papa, I need a magnet board."
"Okay, Bug. We'll get you one."
"Can Mo spend the night?" Paige asked, pleading with her eyes.
"Sorry, sweetheart. Maybe some other time." Brooke wouldn't mind having the little boy over but Louie had an apprehensive look on his face so Brooke decided now wasn't the best time to suggest it.
"Awww. Okay." Paige was soon distracted by some yummy grilled cheese, and then showed Mo their garden and the bees.
"They're already besties," Louie laughed as they watched Mo and Paige run around a little longer.
"I'm glad you could come over today. And I'm not just saying that 'cause you're my boss."
"Well, you're my favorite employee, after your boyfriend of course."
"Craig was really bummed that he couldn't come hang out with us today."
"That's okay, I'm glad the pub has been busy since reopening."
"Me too. It makes Craig so happy, he's poured so much into that business. It's his kid. He loves Paige too, but I know his business is different to him than mine is to me. I love being a florist, but it's a means to an end for me. Craig is more passionate... Does that make any sense?"
"Yeah, I get it. Before Mo and Boyd, my business was the most important thing to me. I read all the business guru books there were."
"And it worked, Mr. I-own-a-coffee-shop-now."
"The Lonely Bean, don't forget it. I'll tell Simone to give you the employee discount."
"Thanks," Brooke said with a smile, beginning to tidy up.
It was only a few minutes later when Mo came inside, tuckered out from running around in the August heat, climbing into Louie's lap and nearly passing out.
"Naptime," Louie said apologetically, "Thanks again for having us over."
"Any time, Louie, it was a blast. Paige, say goodbye to your new friend!"
"Bye-bye, Mo! Come back soon!" Mo gave his new bestie a thumbs up and then they headed home, feeling tired but full of joy after a long morning.