Soda's POV
Brianna got over her cold after a week or so. And I was glad when she was better. It hadn't been an easy week. She was miserable the first few days. That was when her nose was stuffed up. Fortunately, Darry got out the humidifier and that seemed to help some. Now, she was no longer sick with a cold and was back to normal.
"I see she's better now." Steve was commenting. He had come over after school with Ponyboy and Two-Bit.
"Yeah, she is." I replied as I sat her down on the floor. She immediately started examining her toys. Then she looked up at me and smiled. "Hi, sweetie."
"She's a cutie." Two-Bit said. Then he looked at me. "Where did you learn how to do her hair like that?"
Brianna's short hair was in pig tails. It was probably the only thing I could do with it. "I remembered watching mom do her own hair. Besides, it's not that hard."
"Well, she's a little doll." Steve told me. "But I suppose you already knew that."
I nodded and grinned. I looked down to where Brianna sat with her toys. But Brianna wasn't sitting with her toys. Instead, she was clear across the room playing with the laces in my shoes. "How did you get way over there?"
I walked over to her and picked her up with one arm and myshoes with my free hand. I placed my shoes in the hall closet before I went back to join my friends. "I don't think my shoes are a good toy."
Brianna just gave me a look and laughed. I sat her down with her toys again and turned to my friends. They both looked really amused.
"Soda, I'm going to the lot." Ponyboy said from behind me. "And you might want to turn around."
"Be back by the time Darry gets home." I said as I turned around. Ponyboy was standing by the front door with the same amused look on his face that Steve and Two-Bit had. And when I looked down at the floor where Brianna had been, I realized why. She was crawling towards Ponyboy.
"Well, look at that." Two-Bit said slowly.
"Looks like the easy days are over Soda." Steve said. "She's going to be getting into things now."
I just walked over to where Ponyboy stood and picked up Brianna. Ponyboy then left saying he'd be home when Darry got there. Once he was outside and the door was closed, I put Brianna down facing her towards Steve and Two-Bit. At first she just sat there and looked up at me. Then, she got on her hands and knees and crawled to where Steve knelt on the floor. When she reached him, he turned her around and sent her crawling back to me.
"Good job, Brianna!" I told her as I hugged her once she reached me. "You can crawl now!"
"I bet you're glad she wasn't crawling when she was sick." Steve commented.
He had a point. It had been hard enough trying to wipe her nose with her just sitting there. Now, she could actually move away from me. But she wasn't moving away from me now. Instead, she was sitting by me looking at me with a big grin on her face.
Darry's POV
As soon as I got home from work, Soda pratically pounced on me. "We need to get the baby gates up."
"Now?" I asked as Ponyboy walked in behind me. I had seen him coming home from the lot when I parked on the street in front of the house.
"Well, at least after dinner." Soda said.
"He's right, Darry." Pony spoke up.
"Okay," I sighed. "Speaking of dinner, is it ready?"
"Almost." Soda replied. "It'll be ready in probably five minutes."
He went to the kitchen and I turned towards Ponyboy. "What's the sudden fuss with the baby gates?"
Pony grinned. "Brianna is crawling now."
I couldn't help but grin myself. I wasn't surprised that she was crawling. I knew it would happen soon anyway. "Well, that explains it. We'll put them up right after dinner."
Ponyboy nodded as he headed for the kitchen. I followed and saw that Soda had Brianna in the high chair with a few toys.
"Hey you," I greeted Brianna. "I hear you've found a new way to keep your dad busy."
She just played with her toys. But Soda looked at me as he set dinner on the table. "So are you going to put the gates up?"
"As soon as we're done with dinner." I promised as I helped myself to some fried chicken. Things at the house were going to be interesting now that Brianna could move around on her own.