A/N- Aaaand here's number three. If you haven't read the last two chapters before this (IE you opened up the new one and jumped to the last chapter, assuming that's all that was updated), read them! I updated three chapters at once for this story. Sigh, back to work on Hello Sunshine.
Dedicated: Papa. You coulda seen that one coming.
Disclaimer: I own L.J., Erin, Ava, Ella, and Jack, all whose names I spent hours agonizing over. So if Amy takes them (which is fine, whatever), just gimme credit for the names.
Adventures in Babysitting
"Ella! Eeeeellllllaaaaa!" Wiping her hands off on her apron, she turned around to face the little boy at the counter.
"Lucas James, what did Papa and I say about yelling in the diner?"
"Don't do it?"
"That's right." She turned back around to pour orange juice for her little brother, but she missed the cup as the yell permeated the air again.
"L.J.! What are you doing?"
"Yelling."
"Why?" He shrugged,
"Grandma and Mommy do it." Ella sighed,
"L.J., you know Papa doesn't like you yelling in the diner."
"I know."
"So why do you keep doing it?" The little boy pointed at his plate,
"I'm done." Ella's eyes went wide,
"That's what you needed to tell me?"
"Yes."
"Geez, baby brother, you could've just told me. I can hear you fine."
"Sorry," he frowned. Ella smiled, leaned over, and kissed him on the forehead,
"It's ok, baby. Just no more, alright?" L.J. nodded,
"Ok." As Ella cleared his plate, the bell over the front door jingled.
"Luuuuuuucaaaaas!" Ella rolled her eyes as L.J. grinned back at his grandmother,
"Ella says no yelling, Grandma." Lorelai kissed his head through his hair,
"Does she? Well then, I guess someone should bring us pie and then we'll stop, right?" Ella rolled her eyes,
"Grandma, he's been yelling in the diner and it's your fault. Don't teach him that."
"What can I say? He's a smart kid. He picks up on how to get what he wants." Ella sighed,
"You're lucky Papa's at Doose's."
"Is he? Will you cook me my food then?"
"What? No, I'm just a waitress. I don't cook, you know that."
"No. I know you learned to cook from your Papa and when you cook with him at home, it comes out incredible. So if he's not here, the next best thing is you."
"I'm not supposed to cook here."
"I won't tell if you won't." Ella shook her head,
"Maybe next time you won't encourage your grandson to yell in the diner." Lorelai gasped,
"Mean."
"Yeah, yeah. Where's mom?"
"Trying to get your sister off of the swings."
"Again? Why does mom even bother to take her to the park anymore?"
"She loves it."
"Mom or Erin?" Lorelai shrugged and looked over at the picture L.J. was drawing.
The bells rang above the door and Luke walked in, carrying Erin, Rory trailing behind.
"Finally got her off the swings?" Lorelai asked, motioning at the eighteen-month-old.
"She saw dad and decided she wanted to go with him."
"She loves her papa. What can I say?" Luke grinned.
"It's a Mariano girl thing," Ella smiled, kissing her grandfather and then her sister on the cheek.
"It's also a Danes' girl thing," Lorelai said, kissing Luke sweetly on the lips.
"Eww!" L.J. groaned as Rory covered both his and Ella's eyes.
"Ew! Ew! Ew, Papa!" Erin giggled, clapping her tiny hands together.
"Gimme my kid," Rory sighed as she took Erin from Luke.
"Mommy, Ella said that she couldn't make Grandma pie cuz she teached me how to yell."
"Taught, baby."
"And she's right, Elj. No yelling in the diner."
"K, Papa." Erin began fidgeting and tried to slide off of her mother's lap, but Rory was quicker and grabbed the little girl, pulling her back up. Erin began to cry and L.J. leaned over to his older sister,
"Erin's crying."
"I see that. Can you make her feel better?" L.J. nodded, a serious look in his eye and leaned over to the baby,
"Erin, don't be sad. No crying, Erin." He kissed her on the temple and she watched him with interest, her crying subsiding a little. Lorelai smiled and took the baby from Rory, dancing with her for a moment.
"That was very nice, Elj," Rory told her son, pulling him onto her lap and kissing his forehead.
"Yes it was. See if you can get your papa to give us pie if you do that." L.J. smiled,
"That's silly, Grandma." Luke brought Lorelai a piece of pie, which she happily fed alternatingly to herself and Erin.
"Oh, Ella," Rory started, "I have a question."
"Shoot."
"Would you be able to babysit Saturday night?" Ella nodded,
"Sure."
"Good. Daddy and I have that writer's convention to go to and Grandma can watch them during the day, but at night..."
"I have a reader's convention at the inn," Lorelai told her, swallowing a bite of her pie.
"Hilarious, Grandma. Why can't you babysit at night really?"
"I told you. There's a convention of readers coming to the Dragonfly."
"Seriously?" Rory and Lorelai both nodded and Erin, giggling to herself, followed suit, "So you're going to a writer's convention and you're hosting a reader's conventon?"
"Yup."
"Weird."
"You said it, Sam Winchester."
"What time is Ava coming over, Grandma?"
"Tonight?"
"No. Saturday."
"She's not." Ella narrowed her eyes at her grandmother,
"She's not?"
"Nope. She's got a date." Ella giggled nervously,
"Oh boy. Umm... then when's Jack coming over?" Lorelai shook her head,
"Study group at the Hartford Library."
"And where's Papa gonna be?"
"John and Mike can't come in, so your Papa has to work," Lorelai explained, fixing Erin's headband.
"So it's just gonna be me..."
"And Erin and L.J."
"Oh."
"Is that gonna be a problem?"
"Umm... no... I just... I don't usually babysit by myself at night..."
"I could get Miss Patty or Babette or Gypsy or..."
"No, no. I can do it."
"You sure?"
"Yeah." Lorelai laughed,
"No, really, are you? Cuz I think your mother was about to go to Kirk for babysitting." L.J. smiled and leaned up to whisper into his grandmother's ear. Lorelai grinned,
"Yeah, Elj. Your markers do fit nicely up his nose."
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"Ella? Ella, we're here!" Lorelai's voice. Ella ran down the stairs to find Lorelai, L.J., and Erin, each holding an ice cream cone, the younger two seemingly having bathed in it.
"Grandma, what did you do?"
"Grandma gave us ice cream," L.J. told her proudly, holding up his chocolate cone.
"Yeah, Grandma just gave them ice cream," Lorelai grinned guiltily. Ella sighed,
"I can see that. Did your chins and foreheads enjoy it?" L.J. looked confused, but ignored the comment,
"Where's Daddy?"
"Daddy's out for the night, Elj. You know that."
"No I don't."
"Yeah, baby, you do. Remember? Mommy and Daddy left this morning and told you that they were gonna be back after you went to sleep, so you were gonna spend the day with Grandma and then at night, Ella was gonna put you to sleep?"
"No! No sleep!" Ella shook her head,
"No, L.J. No sleep yet."
"Barney!" Erin screeched, dipping her finger into the ice cream. Ella sighed as Lorelai watched on,
"After we get you cleaned up." Lorelai grinned,
"Here, I'll help you." She grabbed L.J. and held him upside down, his blonde hair flopping underneath as he giggled uncontrollably.
After they got cleaned up, Lorelai and Ella set L.J. and Erin down in front of a Barney DVD.
"You'll be ok?"
"I'll be fine."
"I'm available if you absolutely need me."
"I know."
"I can put those readers down with War and Peace. It'll be like riding a rollercoaster for them."
"I'll be fine, Grandma."
"Seriously. Buzz me if you need me." Ella shook her head, knowing she'd never interrupt her grandmother at the convention.
"Ok, Grandma. I'll be fine. I'm fourteen now. I'm a big girl already. I can handle myself." Lorelai sighed,
"Alright, beautiful. I love you. Remember..."
"If I need anything, call you! I know!"
"Bye, El." She hugged her eldest granddaughter goodbye and then moved over to her two younger grandchildren.
"Hey Pebbles, Bam-Bam, look up," L.J. and Erin obediently looked away from the tv to their grandmother, "You two listen to your sister. No fights about bathtime, bedtime, or any other time she designates important. Got it?" They nodded and L.J. repeated,
"Got it."
"I love you two."
"Love you, grandma," L.J. echoed as he kissed her cheek and Erin sang,
"Love oo!"
After Lorelai left (slowly but surely, Ella got her out the door), Ella sat down and Erin climbed onto her lap.
They watched the rest of the DVD and by the time it was over, it was 5:30 and time for the youngest members of the Mariano clan to have dinner. Ella made Macaroni and Cheese for her brother and sister, which L.J. poked at and Erin pushed onto the floor.
After twenty minutes and finally succeeding in feeding both children some dinner, she lifted the messy Erin on her hip and took L.J.'s hand, leading them both to the upstairs bathroom. She gave them a bubble bath and quickly got them out of the tub, changing them into pajamas.
They played downstairs for a while, had a snack, and were led upstairs by Ella to brush teeth, read a story, and go to bed.
L.J. went to bed fairly easily, allowed to look at a book as he fell asleep. However, when she put Erin into her crib, Erin looked up at her with sad eyes,
"Daddy?"
"Daddy's coming home later, baby."
"Mommy?"
"Mommy's gonna be home later, too." Erin burst into tears and began to throw a tantrum,
"MOMMY! DADDY! NO SLEEP! MOMMY! DADDY!"
"Erin Lital, cut that out."
"NO!" she swatted at Ella's hand and Ella recoiled,
"Erin! No hitting!"
"NO!" She threw herself onto the mattress and Ella sighed, making sure the padding on the side of the crib was adjusted, so Erin couldn't hurt herself.
After Ella fetched her a bottle, Erin calmed down and soothed herself to sleep, and Ella was able to go into her room and do her homework. She clicked on the tv, but turned the volume to low.
At around nine o'clock, she heard a noise.
Click.
Ella looked up, but found nothing. She shrugged it off.
A few minutes later-
Squeeeeak.
She looked out the door. Nothing.
Ten minutes later-
Creeeak.
She turned up the sound on her tv, glancing out her bedroom door.
My imagination. It's just my... is that a shadow? Is someone here?... No. My imagination. That's all it is.
She got up and ran to the door and proceeded to turn on all the lights in the house, save for her siblings' rooms. She hurried back to her room and turned the sound on theTV up louder.
She was fine for a half hour or so, but around a quarter to ten, she could've sworn she heard a car pull up front. She closed her eyes and pretended she didn't hear it.
She pretended she imagined the footsteps crunching on the gravel outside.
She hoped she hadn't really heard the front door open.
"Mom?" she called out weakly, "Daddy?"
If it really was them (which it shouldn't have been; they weren't expected home until midnight), they wouldn't have been able to hear her anyway.
She shut her eyes closed at the sound of footsteps through the house.
"L.J.?" she whispered, "Is that you?"
She held her breath as the footsteps approached; there was no way it could've been L.J. The footsteps were much too heavy.
She closed her eyes and thought about darting to her siblings' rooms, but the footsteps weren't nearing there. They were nearing her room. She'd just plead to take any money or anything of value they had in the house and leave her and the babies alone. That should work, right?
She held her breath and felt salty tears roll down her cheek as the footsteps stopped outside of her bedroom door and the doorknob turned.
She forced bravery and stared at the door as it opened slowly to reveal a large man, roughly the size of...
"PAPA!" She ran and threw her arms around her grandfather and collapsed, sobbing, into his arms.
"Ella! What's the matter? What happened?"
"I don't know, Papa. I just... I put L.J. and Erin to bed and then I heard noises and I turned on all the lights and I thought someone was breaking into the house or that I forgot to move the spare key or something. I just... I got really scared, Papa."
"Oh, bella, it's ok. I'm here. You're fine. L.J.'s fine. Erin's fine. Shh." He led her to her bed and sat down next to her, allowing her to collapse into his chest as he hugged her.
"What happened? You stay home alone all the time and you're always fine."
"I think it was cuz I knew no one was around. You were working and Grandma was working and Mom and Daddy were in the city and Ava and Jack were both in Hartford and I knew if something happened I didn't have anyone to go to." Luke squeezed her tightly,
"Ella, if you're ever in trouble, you can call me or Grandma even if we're at work. You know that."
"I didn't want to bother you."
"Ella..." She let out a sob,
"I'm sorry."
"Don't be sorry. I guess it's a good thing I decided to come check on you on my way home from work. You want me to stay here with you til your parents come home?"
"Could you?"
"Sure. Let's go hang out in the den. I saw a few of Erin's toys that were left out." Ella grinned,
"You'd forget about Po and Lala too if your little sister fingerpainted with Mac n' cheese." Luke smiled down at his granddaughter, dropping a kiss on her head,
"I did last week."