"Oh god I'm exhausted." Linda yelled as she unlocked the door to the apartment, letting Gene and Tina walk in ahead of her. "Running around in this burger suit all day is a real work out."
"But your buns have never looked better!"
"Thank you Gene."
"Ugh I'm beat too" Tina was the first to trudge up the stairs. Linda closely trailed behind her after she adjusted the crotch on the burger suit.
"Me three." Gene yawned, closed his eyes then leaned on his mom for support while she tried to climb the stairs, causing her to lose her balance.
Linda caught herself before falling on her face. She tried to pry herself out of Gene's grasp but he latched on tight. "Geenie baby don't go falling asleep on me! I can't lift you and you're dad is already carrying Louise."
Just then Bob walked in cradling a sleeping Louise in his arms. Louise had one arm draped over Bob's shoulder and had his shirt balled up in her fist.
"No fair." Gene mumbled.
"Aww It's kinda cute that she fell asleep while we were getting questioned by the police." Tina chuckled.
After Grover Fishoeder was arrested for attempted murder, Bob and his family were brought to the police station for questioning. Louise started to dose off while Bob and Linda were recounting their version of the events to Sargent Basco. When it was her turn to speak she was completely knocked out.
Basco finally had the chance to show the homicide team what he was made of, and now one of his witnesses was fast asleep. He reluctantly agreed to let the Belchers return the next day to finish giving their statement, but not before trying to wake up the sleeping child.
"Well she hasn't slept much in the past few days." Bob pointed out. "She didn't sleep Tuesday after going into the sink hole, and when I checked in on her last night she was tossing and turning a lot."
"Aw my poor baby has had a long week of getting bullied, finding dead bodies, and solving an old murder case."
"And she saved the restaurant." Tina reminded her mother.
"For now." Gene pointed out. "I can't believe Mr. Fishoeder only gave you guys one month of free rent. Clearing his name and saving his life should be worth at least 3 months free rent."
After what felt like ages, Bob finally reached the top of the stairs. He struggled to catch his breath. Carrying Louise wasn't a difficult task as she was small for her age, it was the stairs that tired him out. Plus he's exhausted and old. "I think we all need to get some rest tonight. Goodnight kids. I love you."
"Goodnight."
"Goodnight father, mother."
"Go brush your teeth, I'll be there to tuck you kids in after I peel this burger suit off. Oh god it stinks. Or I stink. Pew!"
Bob's older kids went to their rooms while he carried his youngest to her tiny bedroom that had once been the hall closet before she got a hold of it. He changed her into her pajamas then carried her up the stairs of her loft bed. The duvet cover was pulled back and tucked under her chin and Kuchi Kopi kept watch at the head of her bed. He made a mental note to buy new batteries for the nightlight.
Bob surveyed the scene and smiled. He was getting quite good at tucking her in the loft bed without waking her up. The first few times he did it was rather difficult and he hit his head on the ceiling when he got to the top. The second time he almost dropped her. After a few tries he finally got used to it and she remained asleep each time.
"Dad?"
Well except for this time.
"Oops sorry I didn't mean to wake you. You've had a long day, go back to sleep."
"Wait dad, what did you mean earlier?" Louise's voice was raspy due to just have been woken up.
"Earlier when? What are you talking about?
"You said that I remind you of your mom, what do you mean? How do I remind you of her?"
"There's tons of similarities between you and my mom." Bob stroked her cheek. "And I'd love to list them all for you, after a goodnights sleep." Bob kissed Louise's forehead and turned toward the loft stairs.
"Daddy!" She whined and tugged at his arm. She mostly outgrew calling Bob "daddy", but occasionally she'd slip up and call him that if she was tired, or purposefully if she was trying to get something out of him. This time it was a mix of both.
Bob sighed. She has always had him wrapped around her little finger. "Ok push over." He demanded. She obeyed cuddled up to him.
"Well the first similarity I noticed was right after you were born."
XXX Flashback to 9 years ago XXX
Linda sat in a hospital bed with Bob by her side holding a tiny pink bundle in his arms. It had been a long night and they were exhausted. Linda's water broke at 2:30 am, an entire month before the baby's due date. Then Gayle took her sweet time getting to the apartment to watch Tina and Gene. When Gayle finally did arrive she accidently woke Gene up. The toddler clung to his mother's leg when he realized that she was trying to leave, it took the adults several minutes to separate them. Their luck only got worse when they got to the car and Bob realized that they had a flat. Linda thought for sure that she'd end up giving birth in the car, but they made it to the hospital with 5 minutes to spare. The baby was born at 3:35 am weighing just 5 pounds and 7 ounces. She was the smallest of their three children and a sharp contrast from her older brother who clocked in at a whopping 9 pounds 3 ounces.
It was now 3:45 am, the baby was just handed back to them after having been cleaned and measured. Linda was now barely hanging on to consciousness. "Bobby we still have to come up with a name." The Belchers plans for naming their third child quickly fell through when they realized that the ultrasound tech was wrong about having another boy.
"I mean we have some... time... right?" Bob honestly had no idea.
"The nurse said that if we wait any longer her birth certificate will say Baby Girl Belcher."
"Ugh I just don't want to rush it. I don't want her name to be meaningless like Tina's."
"Hey mister! Tina's name wasn't meaningless, I named her after Tina Fey." Linda retorted. "If anything Gene's name is meaningless."
"Eugene was the name of the courthouse judge that married us and let you off for those parking tickets that you just had to fight on our wedding day of all days. Also you agreed that it was a great idea."
"Eh I think it was the drugs talking, I had my heart set on naming him Tom."
"As in Selleck?" Bob laughed.
"Mayyyybeee. Anyway... would any of the boys names we chose work for a girl? I hear that's trendy."
Bob made a face suggesting that he disagreed with his wife's idea.
"Ok never mind, bad idea."
Just then the bundle in Bob's arm began to stir. He was surprised to see the infant's eyes open, so far he had only seen her crying or sleeping. "Oh...oh my god."
"What is it Bob?" Linda looked at the baby worried that there was something wrong. Everything appeared to be ok, but Bob's facial expressions were confusing her and she was getting nervous that he wasn't answering. "Bob? Bob!? What's wrong? Nurse! Oh god where's the friggin' call button? Nurse! There's something wrong with our baby!"
"She has my mom's eyes. She looks just like her." Bob was completely oblivious to his wife's outburst, he just continued to look into his newborn daughter's eyes.
"Oh Bobby." Linda rubbed his back and kissed his cheek. It was hard for him to talk about his mother so on the rare occasion that he did open up, she made sure to listen and be as supportive as she could be. "She'd be so proud of you, you know that."
"Thanks Lin. Hey I think I actually might have a name picked out. What about Louise?"
Linda started to tear up. "Your mothers name? It's perfect."
"She's perfect." The baby started to fuss. "Shhh It's okay Louise." Bob cooed and stroked her cheek.
XXX End of Flashback XXX
Bob stroked Louise's cheek in the present day as he remembered her birth. She started to dose off again towards the end of his story. He stayed until she fell asleep then kissed her on the forehead. He quietly closed the door behind him. Finally time for some sleep.
"Ahh!" Bob yelped when he turned away from Louise's door and found the rest of his family standing behind him. Hopefully the outburst didn't wake her up. "What are you guys doing? Why aren't you in bed?"
"The kids and I wanted to hear the story you were telling Louise. It was very sweet Bobby."
"Yeah you never talk about grandma, I didn't even know we had one."
"Heh you have two grandmothers Gene. You met one of them... like several times." Bob nervously chuckled. He couldn't tell if his son was serious or not.
"Mom, did you really name me after Tina Fey?"
"I did. Oh I loved her on Saturday Night Live."
"Oh my god." Bob pinched the bridge of his nose. He had to cut his wife off before she can go on a long dragged out tangent about Tina Fey's amazing career. "Guys it's a school night. I think. It's a school night right?"
"I mean it doesn't have to be."
"Gene." Linda reprimanded. "Yes Bob, it's a school night. Come on let's get to bed."
"But wait, dad didn't finish listing the similarities between Louise and grandma"
"It's going to have to wait until morning. Preferably when Louise is awake since it's about her."
"Aww" Linda and Tina disappointingly said in unison.
"Boo." Gene added.
Bob wrapped an arm around his wife and led her to their bedroom. "Lin please don't take offense to this but you... stink... like bad."
"So do you Bob, so do you."
