Experiment Bandicoot
Chapter 3:
Baby

Year 198X, Day 7
For about a week, Hiroki has generally been quiet, although as of right now, the little one keeps crying. It also didn't help that my cohorts were whining on their own, complaining on Hiroki's cries. Naturally, I seem to be the only one who could keep the child at bay. In fact, I was the only one doing the fatherly care while my colleagues made it their business to record everything the baby did. Thusly, the research mainly composes of them writing, "Hiroki is crying" or "Hiroki just pooped" or "Hiroki does more baby stuff". Those two need girlfriends.

I made it my business to teach Gin and Brio on the proper way to take care of a baby. They were reluctant, but I told them as long as they were living in my castle, they'd help me out. I may have the more experience, but taking care of a baby alone is an exceptionally hard task. Gin complains, Brio whimpers. Those two need girlfriends.

They also took to video taping various shots of Crash, although their commentaries I told them to do weren't very engaging. Gin's voice droned on and on, "Okay, now Hiroki is just sitting there…staring at me…and staring…and staring." Or "He's napping…doing nothing…nothing…nothing." Brio's was barely understandably, what with the stammering. Those two need girlfriends.

Year 198X, Day 15
N. Gin and Brio are getting used to the baby more, whining less. Brio at least managed to change the diapers while Gin is having some reluctance. I swear, this feels more like a research on those two then Hiroki. Speaking of Hiroki, the boy is getting more bouncier and healthier everyday. He drinks milk like any of his species does and from a bottle, too. He eats baby food, so we didn't have to worry about what special bandicoot food the child needed, although we still have to make sure of his eating habits as he got older, if he'd eat the foods we'd eat or the foods bandicoot normally eat.

Whenever the baby is sleeping, I usually took the time to nap myself. I needed to save as much as energy as I could possibly muster. I've lost a lot of sleep during the night trying to put Hiroki to sleep. I think I'm starting to loose hair. I believe Gin and Brio told me numerous times that they wanted to quit, but never actually left the house. I swear if I hadn't had a child a while back, the three of us would be sitting ducks.

Year 198X, Day 30
Success. Both Gin and Brio can now successfully diaper Hiroki with little to no problem. Such a progress in less than 2 months. We took turns watching over the child, but I was naturally given the most hours due to him being my son and that I wanted him to attach to me and be familiarized with me first. He can open his eyes fully by now, but it'll be another few months before he could walk and run, let along talk or even move around freely.

If there's one thing I feared the most is Sudden Infant Death Syndrome or SIDS. Babies falling asleep in their cribs only for the parents to find out that their dead for unexplainable reasons. Even I, a scientist, couldn't be able to figure it out, no matter how many autopsies I could do. It's a feeling that I felt since Akio and the same whenever I see Hiroki sleep in his crib. That was another reason for the countless amount of sleep. Perhaps I'm being paranoid, but when you're a father, whether you lost one child or not, these type of concern govern your head at all times. I ask myself often why I put myself through so much stress. I'm not even 30 yet, not even close to it.

Year 198X, Day 44
My colleagues thought I was spending too much time with the baby and not enough time for myself. Naturally, I thought those two were crazy to say that, but they manage to shove me out of the castle so I can have some fresh air and have some "me" time while the two tended to the baby (whom they were now used to). I was exceptionally worried. Leaving Gin and Brio with my son, what kind of crazy lunatic would do that? They both insisted and shoved me out the door and I mean that in the literal term.

Every step further from the castle, I had the temptation to run back and hold my precious being, but I knew even I needed a break. I barely could get any sleep and I seem to be loosing more of my hair. I tried to be less stressful because if there's ONE thing I never want to happen, I never want to loose my hair and become bald.

Upon seeing Citadel City while walking, I notice how content it is. Sure, as a city, its suppose to be loud and packed with people and anthros in this case, but I felt so peaceful. Perhaps because this was my city, the place I governed and rule (although I do have help, there's a mayor system in here). I felt like I was the world's greatest Emperor. Even people would come up to me and wave, "Hello" or "Hiya doing, Mr. Cortex" or "Hey, I heard you had another son. Good luck on that". I felt it as my duty right now to ensure that Citadel City live for as long as it can muster.

Year 198X, Day 75
It's almost Christmas. My child's very first Christmas. Christmas isn't so widely celebrated from my hometown of Japan as it is in America, so I didn't understand the customs so well. Naturally, Brio, who came from America told me the meaning of Christmas or as much as he can (I wasn't totally deprived of my lack of knowledge of Christmas). Giant Christmas trees, wreaths, and lights that seem to cover every single part of the castle, the entire castle was fit to win any Christmas decoration contest. I was kind of reluctant to let Gin place the robot Santa and his reindeers and elves up the many roofs of Castle Cortex (he seem to have this horrible obsession with electricity), but in the end, everything turned out beautifully.

I think we had a wonderful Christmas celebration. My son certainly enjoyed the multiple lights that constantly blinked around the house and he absolutely marveled at the Christmas Tree and the star on top. Me? Well, the lights gave me a headache, so Gin promised to reduce the amount later in the future.

Year 198X, Day 107
"Neo! LOOK!"

I turned around and by my amazement; I saw something I never expected.

Hiroki was standing up. As if that wasn't a great accomplishment enough, the little boy started to walk. Small steps and clumsy, yes, but he was walking.

"Oh, my gosh!" I gasped, then I lowered down, "Come on, Hiroki! Come to daddy!" I thought he'd come to me, but he merely passed by me. His main reason for walking was the shiny red bouncing ball Akio once owned. Apparently, he threw it far, and then managed to walk up and get it back.

"He finally walked!" Brio gasped. Gin and Brio both took out their clipboards and scribbled it all down. I went over to Hiroki and gently picked him up. He merely cooed as he happily enjoyed my company.

"Oh, my son! You walked! You WALKED!" I raised him up and down, "I'm SO proud of you!" I almost forgot to actually update my research until a couple of hours ago. I was too self absorbed with Hiroki.

Year 198X, Day 245-250
Between Hiroki's first steps to now, the child has develop the curiosity to explore every single part of the castle. Because this was a big castle, we had to be extra careful. Little pieces could not be on the floor, and we had to make sure to keep an extra eye out for him. The castle was a huge place and unfortunately for us, Hiroki could climb stairs. He still had plenty of walking experience to do, but he was the master of crawling. He also seem to like to sleep on the soft things, mainly on top of towels just recently been dried from the laundry. You wouldn't believe how adorable that was; I just had to take a picture.

Despite more added stress with him now able to walk and crawl with ease (adding to the fact that his small built has earned him the title of best hider ever), everything felt all calm and less stressful when he started to mouth out words. Naturally, gibberish was the first things he said since he could speak, but sometime during this entry, I nearly dropped my bowl in which I was making pudding while my son was on his high chair banging on the table where he eats with a spoon, all because he said, "Daddy".

I turned around and eyed Hiroki who just smiled innocently, unaware of what he just said. I immediately grabbed him and asked, "What did you just say?"

"Daddy! Daddy! Daddy! DADDY!" He kept repeating that and I nearly dropped down in tears.

"GUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUYS!" Immediately, my two friends came running in.

"HE TALKED! HE TALKED!" Both of them calmly just said, "What?"

"HE...TALKED!" I cried excitably.

"HE DID?" The two cried, finally understanding what the excitable was, "WHAT DID HE SAY!"
"He said, "Daddy!" Of course!" I cried, "It's what babies say most of the time as their first word."

"I thought that was "mommy." Gin shrugged.

"...Shut up." I merely took Hiroki and cuddled him, "Can you say, "Daddy" again?"

"Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!"

"Oh, I could just cry in happiness!"

Further research shows that not only can he walk, but he can now talk…

Year 1, Day 1
One year has passed. My Hiroki was now fully one year old. We had a big birthday bash for him, even though it was only him and three short scientists who've spent nearly two years researching him. That left all traces out of my head. All I did for today was concentrate on Hiroki's first age. Stuffed dolls, baby video tapes (so many Sesame Streets), new cribs, etc, quite a handful of presents from just three men.

You know, it may just be me, but it seems at times that Hiroki seems to appreciate what we were doing for him. He was happy during present time, he actually clapped with us when we were singing "Happy Birthday", and it was as if he knew what we were doing for him. He couldn't talk, but I bet he'd have thanked us if he could. I'm not so sure why I feel this way, but I feel it with him. I'm not so sure if it's because he's the son of a scientist, but I could sense more then just baby intelligence in him.

"Geez, this is just like Akio's party." Gin sighed, "Should we add this to our research, I wonder?"

"Wonderful ind-d-d-eed!" Brio smiled.

As I held Hiroki, I suddenly had a realization. I completely forgot about. Am I being so attach to Hiroki to care about my other son? No, I tried to deny it all. But for that brief moment, I forgot about my first son and Gin and Brio forgot he was our experiment. Was that a good thing or a bad thing?…………………
To Be Continued…

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Changes:
-Some scenes in the beginning with Gin/Brio.
-More words switched so Cortex views him as a son, not a son and experiment.