Greetings! Welcome to one of my favorite chapters in this series. I love baby Claire lol. Anyway, I'll leave you to read the story. Please, enjoy.
"Claire, look at Daddy." Ratchet smiled at his 5-month-old daughter in her high chair. "Claire Bear lookie!" He made funny faces and silly noises at the infant. The tiny little girl giggled and smiled at her father. "Daddy is silly isn't he?" Ratchet finally got some mashed food into the little girl's mouth.
Which almost all of it fell out of her mouth but hey some of it got in.
"Messy little eater," Ratchet used the baby's bib to clean up Claire's chin. "Reminds me of your mother."
Kori's voice came from the kitchen. "Think again. She got that from you." She teased.
"Claire," Ratchet talked in a funny voice to the infant. "Giggle if you agree with Daddy." He, of course, made funny faces to make Claire giggle. "She says Daddy is right." He called to Kori.
Kori came to the kitchen door and leaned on the door frame. "She's not even 6 months old yet. How can she say anything?" She smirked and crossed her arms at Ratchet.
"She's smart." Ratchet smiled at Kori, eyebrow raised. "Like her mother."
Kori laughed and came up behind Ratchet and wrapped her arms around his shoulders. "That's rich." She rested her chin on top of Ratchet's head. "I'll make you pay later."
"It's almost naptime." Ratchet smiled mischievously. "You can make me pay then."
Kori rubbed Ratchet's shoulders gently. "If you can get this one to nap right away for the first time in her life." She ran her fingers through the fur on the back of his neck, giving him goosebumps. "And we don't lose track of time like we usually do."
"Don't tempt me." Ratchet gently pulled Kori's face down to him, gently kissing her lips.
Little Claire started to fuss in her high chair, kicking and making little grunting noises. Kori sighed and gently soothed her daughter. "Daddy will finish feeding you lunch and then it's nap time for you little miss." She smiled and petted the little one on her back, quieting the infant almost immediately.
"Mommy magic." Ratchet sighed and shook his head. "One day, Mommy will have to teach Daddy how to do that."
Kori kissed Ratchet's cheek. "Then it's not Mommy magic, it would be Daddy magic."
Ratchet was about to reply when the communicator went off. Ratchet gave the baby food to Kori before going to answer it. When Ratchet answered Sasha appeared on the screen, arms crossed and smiling. "Hello, Mr. Mom."
"Very funny." Ratchet smiled. "Did you call me for a reason or just to make fun of me?"
Sasha shrugged. "How are your wife and child?"
"Very well," Ratchet nodded, proud father of a little girl. "Claire is eating solids now, she's not an expert but she'll improve. And Kori is back to updating our communication lines, as you can tell you can now call me from Solana."
Sasha smiled and nodded. "Okay, calm down." She rubbed the back of her neck, her smile faded away. "There is another reason I called you."
"There it is." Ratchet clapped his hands together, his face turned serious. "What is it?"
Sasha turned serious herself. "We need you to come to Solana, there's been an invasion. There is no one else I trust to take care of it."
"Madam Mayor." Ratchet sighed. "I can't help you. I need to be here with my wife and daughter." He stopped Sasha, holding up his hand. "I'm a father and husband now, I can't run off to save some far away galaxy when I am needed here, in case something happens."
Sasha pressed the issue but Ratchet refused. She frowned at Ratchet. "Ratchet you grew up in Solana, imagine what the people here are suffering. Imagine families like yours suffering here because you aren't going to help." Sasha crossed her arms at him. "How many babies like your daughter have to be orphaned, Ratchet?"
"I don't want to be the hero of the universe anymore." Ratchet countered. "Find someone else, your father would understand because I'm sure he wants to protect you." Ratchet paced a little. "Claire isn't even 6 months old yet. What if something happens to me? What will become of her and her mother? I can't just leave them."
Kori came in carrying Claire, the little baby giving her father grabby hands. "Ratchet," Kori frowned. "Someone wants you."
"Hello, tiny." Ratchet smiled again, taking Claire from Kori. "You being trouble?"
Kori smiled sadly. "It's nap time and we want our favorite person to put us down."
"As long as we are a good girl." Ratchet cooed to Claire. He kissed Kori on the cheek, told Sasha the discussion wasn't over and left to put the baby to bed. "Here we go, fussy." Ratchet laid his daughter down to bed, gently rubbing her stomach to soothe her to sleep. When Claire's sea colored eyes closed and her breathing deepened Ratchet gently kissed her head before leaving the little baby to sleep.
When he came back Sasha was talking to Kori. Both the females looked up to him as he entered, conversation stopped. Ratchet looked between them, frowning.
"Ratchet," Kori reached out for him, sadness in her eyes. "We need to talk."
Ratchet crossed the room to take Kori's hand. "Okay." He sat next to Kori, looking up at Sasha on the screen in front of them. "What about?"
"Solana needs you." Kori rubbed Ratchet's hand with her thumb. "I know you don't want to go but….we'll be okay." She tried to smile. "Claire isn't that terrible of a baby for me to handle."
Ratchet shook his head. "It's not that, what if something happens? What if you're attacked by space pirates or mercenaries? Polaris is dangerous and Fastoon is hardly ready to fully support even only us living on it. You haven't left the planet for supplies since we found out you were pregnant."
"I can take care of it." Kori placed her free hand on Ratchet's cheek. "You're going to have to trust me."
Ratchet frowned sadly at Kori. "I don't want anything to happen to our family."
"Nothing will happen to us." Kori petted his cheek with her thumb. "I promise I'll take care of our little girl and our home. We will be waiting here for you, right here."
Ratchet sighed, moving closer to Kori. "But," he whispered, "what if something happens to me? I can't just leave you and our daughter."
"I know you'll come back to us." Kori nodded firmly. "You are the universe's best chance, and one of its strongest Lombaxes."
Ratchet smiled again finally. "There are only 5 of us." He lightly exhaled through his nose, worry on his face. "But I'd hate if that number dropped to 4."
"It won't." Kori moved to gently stroke Ratchet's cheek. "If anything you'll come back and maybe one day we'll make it 6, 7, 8, 9, and universe forbid 10." She laughed, making Ratchet smile.
Ratchet sighed, still smiling. He turned to Sasha. "Give me a couple of days, Clank and I'll be there as soon as we can."
"Thank you, see you soon." Sasha nodded and disappeared from the screen.
Sure enough by the next day, Ratchet and Clank were getting ready to go back to Solana, and when it finally came to saying goodbye Ratchet dreaded saying goodbye to little baby Claire. He had lost his parents when he was younger than her, and Ratchet deep down feared his daughter would lose him too.
Claire laughed and giggled in her father's arms, Ratchet holding his little girl as long as he possibly could before he had to leave. He fed her every meal and snack, actually letting her nap on him just so he didn't have to stop holding her.
"Ratchet," Clank said calmly. "It's time to go."
Ratchet sighed and looked at his little girl. "I'm coming, pal. Don't worry." He kissed Claire's forehead a few times, trying to put all the love he had for his daughter into them. Breathing in her sweet baby scent his heart broke having to leave her.
"Don't worry, Ratchet." Clank smiled. "We'll be back before she even notices you're gone."
Ratchet smiled weakly at Clank. "Alright." He rubbed Claire's back and kissed her forehead a few more times. "My little starlight, Daddy will come back to you and Mommy. I promise."
Moments before getting into the ship Ratchet had to hand over Claire to her mother. Kaden wished the boys luck. Kori hugged each of them goodbye, letting Ratchet kiss Claire's forehead at least one more time.
"Stay safe," Kori whispered to Ratchet, kissing him on the cheek. "Don't have too much fun and don't forget to come back."
Ratchet gently touched his forehead to Kori's. "Nothing could keep me away." Clank and Ratchet quickly climbed into the ship while Claire was still sleeping, waving goodbye to his family Ratchet and his best friend set off.
On the way home from their mission Ratchet and Clank got to talking. "What if she doesn't remember me?"
"I assume we're talking about Claire." Clank smiled. "I'm sure she will remember you."
Ratchet nodded. "She was really little." They touched down and snuck out of the ship, creeping up to the house to surprise the inhabitants. Ratchet slowly entered the house to find Kaden and Kori nowhere to be found. He looked around, moving around quietly until he heard a little squeak from behind him, turning around quickly he found an 8-month-old Claire crawling toward him. "Hey there!" Clank jumped off Ratchet's back while Ratchet was picking up the little one.
"Dada!" Claire exclaimed, throwing up her arms and smiling wide.
Kori and Kaden came rushing in to find their favorite heroes with the smallest pain they've had to deal with. "Ratchet! Clank!" Kori smiled and ran to hug each of them. "Welcome home!"
Kaden smiled. "I see you've found our little troublemaker." He laughed, "I'm surprised she didn't alert us right away when you got home."
"Dada." Claire cuddled up to Ratchet's chest.
Kori kissed Ratchet's cheek. "And that one hasn't said anything else since she learned that."
Thank you so much for reading, I hope you enjoyed it. See you next time!