Reyna rolled over in bed that night, expecting to feel the warm frame of her husband. Instead she just felt cold sheets.
Reyna smiled and got up, knowing exactly where he was, the same place he had been the past week.
Reyna quietly walked into the nursery next to their bedroom and sure enough, she saw the frame of a man standing over her daughter's cradle.
She put an arm on his shoulder and giggled quietly when he jumped. "You know she's not going anywhere, right?" Reyna said to her husband.
Diaz chuckled at her and surprised his wife by pulling her in for a kiss. "Come back to bed Honey," Reyna said. "It's cold without you."
Diaz looked at Kait again and back to his smiling wife. "I know Reyna, but I can't help it," he said. "You two are draining my sanity."
Reyna kissed him on the cheek and he said, "But it's worth it."
About a month later, both of them jumped up in bed as a loud crying could be heard in the room next to them. "Your turn," Diaz said to her.
Reyna sighed as she rolled over and out of the bed and slowly made her way to the nursery. She picked up her daughter and shushed her until she realized her daughter was hungry.
Reyna lowered her night shirt and Kait immediately latched on. "That might be my favorite part about having a baby," Diaz said from the doorway, frightening Reyna.
He walked up to her and she jokingly punched him about his comment and he chuckled. "I'm kidding Reyna," he said as Kait finished her meal.
Reyna handed the baby to him and he patted her on the back until she gave a tiny burp, making the couple both chuckle.
Once they were all dressed, Reyna sat in the rocking chair, rocking her daughter slowly. As she did, however, there was a knock on the door. "Come in," Reyna said.
A man whose name Reyna couldn't remember, walked in and said, "Sorry for interrupting you. But we're having a problem with the South village."
About one month before Kait was born, Diaz and Reyna had decided their village should attempt to split into two, with one group heading to a town south of them. "What's the issue?" Diaz asked.
"That's the thing," the man said. "We're not sure. They said they'll only talk to you two. They refused to talk to anybody but the leaders."
"We'll need someone to watch Kait while we're gone," Reyna told her husband. "I don't think she should be going in the middle of a dispute between the villages."
They thought about it and Diaz asked, "What about Oscar?"
Reyna looked at her husband and asked, "What about Oscar?"
"What if he watched Kait while we're gone?"
Reyna tried to contain her laughter but couldn't manage as she shook with laughter. Diaz rolled his eyes at her as she continued laughing. "What's so bad about Oscar?" he asked.
Once Reyna was laughing lightly, she wiped the tears of laughter from her face and said, "Honey, I love Oscar, but do you seriously think he can handle a baby?"
"Come on. What could go wrong?"
"Let's see. He could bring her to a bar, leave her crying while he's drunk, or he could lose her."
"Come on Reyna, he's her uncle. He wouldn't let anything happen to her."
Kait gurgled in her father's arms and Diaz smiled. "See, Kait agrees too. And it'll hopefully just be for the afternoon."
Reyna sighed as she realized she wouldn't win this argument and said, "Alright, let's ask him."
Once they tracked down Oscar, unsurprisingly in the town bar, they asked him if he would watch Kait for the day. "Sure, I'll watch the kid," Oscar said, putting his beer on the bar.
"Thanks Oscar," Diaz said. "We just need to deal with this issue and should be back in a few hours."
Oscar then got up and walked with them to the nursery, where Reyna started to relay instructions to him. "That bag over there has all the supplies you should need. There are about ten diapers and bottles of breast milk, her rattle, her teddy bear, her pacifier and anything else she might need.
"Her nap time is at 14:00 and her bedtime is at 22:00. She needs her pacifier and to be rocked before she can sleep. She also has to sleep with her bear, otherwise she will cry for the rest of the night. She gets a bottle every two hours or so and there are also towels in the bag for when she needs to be burped. Do not leave her alone on the changing table. Are you even listening to me?!"
Oscar clearly was not as he was no longer looking at her and had a glazed look in his eyes. "Huh?" he asked. "Yeah, I was listening. Feed her, change her, put her to sleep."
Reyna glared at him and looked at her husband. "Honey, can you take Kait into the other room? There are a few more things I need to tell your brother."
Diaz nodded, slightly afraid both of his wife and for his brother. He picked Kait up from her cradle and walked into their bedroom. Once the door closed, Reyna grabbed one of the two knives she had on her belt and put it to Oscar's neck.
He flinched back and looked at his sister in law, whose eyes narrowed. "Listen to me very closely Oscar," she said, not attempting to hide the venom in her words. "If even a single hair is out of place on my baby's head, I will kill you. Do you understand?"
Oscar gulped and nodded and Reyna said, "I will repeat again. Do you understand me?!"
"Yes I do," Oscar said, scared of the woman who held a knife at his throat.
"Good. Now wait here."
She then put her knife back in its protector and left the room. She came back about a minute later with her husband and daughter.
Diaz handed Kait over to Oscar, who hesitantly held his niece similar to how Diaz had held her. Diaz grabbed his brother's arm to show him how to support Kait's head. The infant was so small in his massive arms, and Oscar was honestly afraid he would drop her.
"We should be back hopefully by tonight," Diaz said. "Bye my little Kitty Kat."
He then kissed Kait on the forehead, making the infant giggle. She always giggled at her father's nickname for her, and this time was no exception.
"Goodbye Kaitie," Reyna said, also kissing Kait on the forehead.
Kait fussed in Oscar's arms, reaching out towards her parents, wanting to be held by them.
They then walked out of the room and closed the door. Kait looked up at Oscar with wide eyes and Oscar smiled at her. "Looks like it's just gonna be me and you kid, huh?"
Almost as if on cue, Kait burst into tears, making Oscar jump. He bounced his arms lightly to make the baby to stop crying, but to no avail.
Kait increased her volume to make sure he was paying attention to her and Oscar thought about what she could have wanted. "Are you hungry kid?" Oscar asked.
Kait stopped wailing and instead whimpered, so Oscar grabbed a bottle out of the bag. He gently placed the end of the bottle in her mouth and Kait immediately started to drink.
Oscar sighed as Kait finally settled down and sat in the rocking chair with Kait still in his arm.
He closed his eyes for a minute, already ready to go to sleep when Kait started to cry again. Oscar bounced his arms more before remembering what Reyna said about burping.
He held her so that her head was just above his shoulder and patted her on the back. He continued doing this for a minute until Kait finally burped. Along with burping, however, the infant also spit up a bit of the milk onto Oscar's back.
"Ulgh!" Oscar said, holding the infant away from his back. Kait giggled a bit in Oscar's arms, clapping her hands as well.
Oscar sighed as he removed his sleeveless leather jacket and placed it near the dirty laundry basket. He picked up Kait again, now wearing nothing but a black sleeveless shirt.
Kait giggled in her uncle's arms and Oscar looked at her. "You're kind of cute, you know that kid?" Oscar asked his niece, who was still giggling.
A powerful odor then hit his nose and he quickly used his free hand to cover it. He looked down at Kait, who was still giggling and groaned. "I stand corrected," he said to her.
Kait started to fuss a bit in his arms so Oscar knew he had to do something. He didn't want to ask one of the women in the village, because he knew they would never stop making fun of him for it. So he would have to do this by himself.
He carried Kait to the wooden table in the nursery that functioned as a changing table and grabbed a diaper and other supplies out of the bag. Once he heard crying, however, he immediately ran back to the table. Oscar instantly panicked when he saw Kait was no longer on the table, but rather on the ground, wailing at the top of her lungs.
Oscar picked her up and started to shush her yet again. He realized what a bad idea or was for him to leave her alone on the table, but right now he just wanted her to stop crying. One thing he was grateful for was that the table was relatively low to the ground.
Once Kait was finally calmed down, he proceeded to the task at hand. He removed Kait's clothing and pulled back the straps on the diaper. The second he did, he gagged at the smell and said, "Holy crap!"
Kait giggled at her uncle as he continued to change her. Once he successfully got her old diaper off and got her into a new diaper, he commented, "Man you smell kid. Let's get you a bath."
Oscar picked her up and carried her into the bathroom. There was no water taps, but there was a tub. He realized he would need water and went outside to the nearest water pump with Kait in his arms. He filled a bucket full of water and carried it back to the kitchen. He heated the water a bit over the stove before going back to the bathroom. He dumped the water into the tub and put his hand in to test the heat.
Once he deemed the water good enough, he removed Kait's clothes and diaper once again and put her in the tub. Kait squealed once she felt the water on her and started to kick and scream, clearly uncomfortable.
Oscar panicked and grabbed some toys that were next to the tub, such as a duck, some plastic rings and a plastic pail.
Oscar smiled as Kait became fascinated with the pail and began to lather her hair with soap. As he did, however, Kait found a use for the pail and proceeded to soak her uncle with water.
Oscar sputtered before grabbing the pail from his niece. "Alright, you're done with this," he said, trying to tug the pail away.
Kait, however, had other ideas and held onto the pail, squealing with protest at her uncle trying to take her pail away. Oscar conceded and gave Kait back the pail before she could start crying again.
Kait gurgled in triumph at having kept her pail as Oscar tried to wash the soap out of her hair. Kait looked at her uncle and, seeing he was distracted, dumped yet another pail of water on him.
Oscar sputtered again and glared at the infant. "You really are a little troublemaker, you know that?" he asked her as he lifted her out of the water, finished bathing her.
Kait squealed once again when she was removed from the water and started crying again. Oscar groaned as he dried her off and placed her into a third diaper.
As the infant continued to wail, Oscar had an idea and grabbed the teddy bear Reyna had spoken of. It had an almost instant effect and Kait immediately settled down, hugging the stuffed animal.
Oscar shivered and looked down at his current clothes. Seeing how they were soaking wet, he knew that he would need to change.
Oscar sighed as he carried Kait towards the main living quarters where he currently lived. When he was about halfway, a young woman with long blonde hair and blue eyes said, "Oh how sweet! Are you watching her for your family? That is so nice!"
A light bulb practically appeared over Oscar's head as he got an idea. "Yep," he said. "Reyna and my little brother went to the Southern village to deal with some things, and I, being a responsible uncle, decided to watch this little girl here." He gestured to Kait, who was playing with parts of his beard.
He flinched as she decided to pull on part of his longer graying mustache and the woman chuckled at him. "Babies can be a handful, huh?" she asked. "My sister had me babysit a few times and they can be difficult, huh?"
"Yeah," Oscar said as he got Kait to let go of his mustache. "But it's worth it, isn't it?"
"It really is. If you want, I could help you."
"Sounds great!" Oscar exclaimed. "I'll be back in a minute. I gave her a bath and she decided to soak me in water."
The woman chuckled as Oscar walked off with Kait.
Once Oscar was in a fresh set of clothes, he saw the woman was waiting outside the living quarters for him. "Hope you don't mind, but I also invited my friend," she said, gesturing to the woman next to her. She had silky black hair and very tight clothes on, making Oscar smile.
"No problem," Oscar said. "The more the merrier."
They all walked back towards Kait's nursery, with the two women fawning over the infant. "Look at her little hands!" the blonde exclaimed.
"She's so cute I just want to eat her up!" the raven haired woman said. She started to tickle Kait and the infant laughed and squirmed in her uncle's arms, making it more difficult for Oscar to hold her.
Once they got to the nursery, Oscar set Kait down in a small crate that functioned as a playpen but the blonde immediately picked her up. "Look at the little cutie!" she exclaimed, playing with Kait's toes, causing the infant to laugh.
"She's so precious!" the raven haired woman said, blowing butterfly kisses onto Kait's belly.
The infant yawned and the blonde said, "I think someone is getting tired. Are you getting tired Sweetie Pie?"
Kait giggled but yawned again. The blonde handed Kait to Oscar and asked, "You know how to get her to sleep, right?"
"Uh...of course I do!" Oscar exclaimed taking Kait from her.
He sat in the rocking chair and stared at the infant, hoping it would do something. When nothing happened, Oscar put Kait in her cradle and turned to the women. "She should be able to put herself to sleep," he said to them, hoping it was true. "But we should go somewhere else. Don't want to wake her up."
The two women nodded and walked with him into the small living room. The blonde smiled wickedly at Oscar and pulled him in for a kiss. "You are great with kids, you know that?" she asked.
Oscar chuckled as she kissed him yet again. The raven haired one kissed his cheek and he said, "You know this couch functions as a bed."
Both of the women chuckled pervitishly as Oscar extended the couch into a mattress.
As the women and Oscar all lied down on the couch, all clothless. The women started kissing Oscar almost aggressively when an all too familiar crying rang through the room.
The raven haired woman asked, "Shouldn't you go calm her down?"
"She'll cry herself out eventually," Oscar said, leaning towards the blonde.
She pulled away from him and slapped his cheek. "How horrible!" she exclaimed. "Go calm your niece down!"
"That little pest can wait for a couple more minutes," Oscar said, leaning towards the raven haired woman.
She slapped him as well and gathered her clothes. "We're leaving!" she exclaimed, quickly putting on her clothes and moving towards the door.
"Wait a minute!" Oscar exclaimed as the door slammed shut, leaving him alone with Kait once again.
Oscar groaned as Kait increased her volume and he went into the nursery, quickly putting his clothes back on. He glared at the infant as he picked her up. "Thanks a lot kid," he said angrily. "You just cost me two good looking women. Are you proud of yourself?"
Kait continued crying loudly and Oscar shushed her. "I'm sorry kid," he said in a somewhat comforting voice. "I didn't mean to be mad. Please stop crying."
Kait continued crying and Oscar realized he would have to switch tactics. He then had an idea and asked, "You probably never got to sleep, huh kid?"
Oscar then carried Kait over to the rocking chair and started rocking. Kait continued to cry and Oscar figured out that she wanted something else. He had an idea and hoped he was wrong. "Do you want a song?" he asked her.
Kait stopped wailing and was now just whimpering and Oscar groaned. He didn't know many lullabies, and he would also have to think of one to match his voice, otherwise he would scare his niece even more.
Oscar then remembered a song that he had heard around, mainly in his childhood. He looked down at the crying Kait and sighed, hoping this would work.
"All around me are familiar faces
Worn out places, worn out faces
Hide my head, I want to drown my sorrow
No tomorrow, no tomorrow"
Kait had stopped crying completely and was now staring up at her uncle with wide eyes, eager to hear more.
Oscar smiled at his niece as he continued the song.
"And I find it kind of funny, I find it kind of sad.
The dreams in which I'm dying are the best I've ever had.
I find it hard to tell you, I find out hard to take.
When people run in circles it's a very very
Mad World
Mad World"
Kait yawned as she closed her eyes and drifted off into sleep and Oscar sighed in relief. He gently put her in the cradle and draped her blanket over her, careful not to wake the sleeping infant.
He then carefully closed the door to the nursery and folded the couch back info an actual couch and sat down. He heard the doorknob jiggling and watched as Reyna and his brother walked in.
"Not bad Oscar," Diaz said jokingly.
"Where's our daughter?" Reyna asked.
"Shh," Oscar shushed. "She's sleeping in the nursery. Kid took a lot out of me."
Reyna looked at him, surprised. "Nothing went wrong?" she asked.
"No," Oscar lied. "No trouble at all."
"Where's your vest?" Diaz asked. "And weren't you wearing a different shirt earlier?"
"Alright, there were a few issues," Oscar said, rubbing the back of his head. "But it was nothing I couldn't handle."
"Well thanks for doing it Oscar," Reyna said. "Can we count on you to do it again?"
"I'll have to think about that Reyna."
This chapter was so much fun to write! I knew getting into this story that I would get to write for Oscar, and I was excited. Oscar is one of my favorite characters from Gears of War 4, alongside Kait and Reyna (sensing a pattern here?) But anyways, I liked writing for Oscar simply because I get to make a lot more inappropriate jokes in order to fit his character, and this chapter was no exception.
As I started to write this, I wondered 'What is the most absurd thing Oscar could do while watching his niece?' Then I came up with it, he uses her to pick up some girls but it ultimately blows up on his face. I think it turned out pretty good.
And for the two or three of you that don't know, the song I used was Mad World by Gary Jules used in the Gears of War 1 trailer.