Once Prompto managed to successfully clean Scarlet up and gave her a new fresh diaper, he brought her back to the kitchen. He looked over the papers that Ignis had left, giving him ideas of what he could start the day with for food.

"Okay until I get that milk thing set up, looks like some water would be a good place to start. Good think Ignis bought little sippy cups last night otherwise we'd probably have a problem on our hands, right?"

Scarlet, who was held in his right arm, stared at him. Her eyes wide and looking so adorably innocent. She opened her mouth and leaned forward, pressing her face against his chest.

Prompto laughed. "Hey, I'm not your… I'm not a mom. I can't get you milk that way. But don't worry, we will figure it out. But I gotta set you down first okay?"

Prompto bent over and set Scarlet on the ground. "You can hold yourself up, right?"

Slowly he let go of her and watched as he continued to sit upright. She watched him for a moment before letting out a few babbles. Prompto decided to take that as a yes from her and turned back to the countertop.

"So first thing, let's actually read what Ignis said about the milk thing."

Looking through the notes he found the spot that talked about the milk formula. It turned out he didn't actually have to prepare anything from the previous night. It would just take a bit of the formula and water, but even with the instructions he wasn't too confident in being able to do it properly.

So instead he opted for water, since that was okay for a baby to have. "Okay! We will fill up some nice water for you and then… looks like the quickest thing I can get you is some cottage cheese. Good thing I love to eat that too."

Quickly, Prompto opened up the sippy cup that Ignis had bought and filled it from the kitchen sink. He made sure not to make it too cold, not knowing how cold a baby could handle. Once he screwed the lip on, he bent over and handed her the bottle. Right away she grabbed onto it and started to drink from it.

"Aww," Prompto sighed, feeling like he was going to melt. "You are so cuuuute!"

Prompto snapped a few pictures before he went to the fridge to pull out the cottage cheese. He scooped some out and plopped it into a bowl, grabbed one of the rubber baby spoons from Ignis bag, and then sat down in front of Scarlet.

"Okay! Time to get you some yummy nom noms," Prompto said as he scooped a small spoonful and held it near Scarlet's mouth.

She put the bottle down and opened her mouth, leaning forward slightly so she could eat it. She pulled back, leaving the spoon clean and made a happy hum sound before she opened her mouth and started crawling closer to Prompto.

"Oh you must be so hungry! Okay here comes the next bite!" Prompto said as he made another spoonful.

He made sure to give her a few spoons of cottage cheese before grabbing the drinky cup and getting her to drink some more. He figured it was best to switch after all, so she could stay hydrated and still eat what was needed. Either way, Scarlet was bouncing and humming happily between each little thing, and it made Prompto grin so widely.

As he fed her, he started to think about how he was feeling. He couldn't even begin to describe the feeling he had within him, but it felt so wonderful. He was just so happy to watch as Scarlet ate, seeing how much she would smile after every bit.

"This must be what it feels like to be a parent," Prompto concluded. "So many warm fuzzy feelings."

As he finished the bowl, he saw how Scarlet was flailing her arms up and down while bouncing in place. It seemed she really enjoyed the meal and Prompto made sure to get a few more pictures and a short video of her doing her little bounce thing.

"Alrighty! Let's get your little face cleaned up okay? You got cottage cheese smush all over your face," Prompto said as he stood up to get a wet towel.

Sitting back down he pulled Scarlet into his lap and started to carefully wipe her face. She started making silly babbling sounds as he did so, causing him to laugh. "Oh em gee! Can you get any cuter! You may just end up killing me with cuteness!"

After she was cleaned up, he picked her up and walked into the family room. He sat down again, putting Scarlet just a few inches in front of me. "Okay we gotta figure out what we are going to do today. But first, more adorable pictures of your squish cute face!"

Prompto pulled out his phone, he was about to unlock the camera when he checked the time. "Wait a minute! How is it 8am! Seriously! I was so focused on you I didn't even realize how early it was. I should probably get something to eat for myself before I starve. Stay right there!"

Scarlet gave a wide mouth grin as she gave one of her happy little sounds again, causing Prompto's heart to soar.

"So adorable!" Prompto said as he jumped to his feet.

Quickly, he ran into the kitchen and pulled out a banana and filled himself a glass of water. He headed back to see that Scarlet already moved from her spot and was crawling towards the kitchen.

"Hey! What you doing there," Prompto said playfully. "You trying to find me?"

Scarlet lifted her head and smiled again as well as drooling a little.

"Aww you were! You want to spend all day with me! We'll I'm right here!"

Sitting back down, Prompto started to peel his banana, taking a few bites as he watched Scarlet crawl to him. He then got up and moved a few feet away from her. "Okay Scarlet! Crawl to me! Show me your baby leg crawling power!"

Making some baby babbles, Scarlet turned herself around and started to crawl towards Prompto again. He did this with her a few times until he finished his banana, then laid down on the floor, getting closer to her eye leveling. Scarlet seemed to find this even more fun as she let out more joyous sounds, crawling right up to Prompto's face.

She pushed herself up into a sitting position and reached out towards Prompto's face, placing her hands on his cheeks. She then leaned in and bumped her forward with his and let out a long babbling sound.

Prompto couldn't help but laugh. "Oh em gee. Just how cute can you get, Scarlet! I know all you can do right now is giggle, babble and make nonsense sounds, but it is just so adorable!"

A moment later Prompto heard a knock on his door. Curious, he scooped up Scarlet and headed over and opened the door. "Oh, Ignis? What are you doing here so early?"

"I came by to see how you were doing, I suspected that you may have already been awake. Children do tend to wake early."

"Oh yeah, she did wake me up. I changed her and everything and I gave her some cottage cheese for breakfast."

"Good, I am glad you were able to follow the list I gave you. Did you manage to give her any milk or did you resort to water?"

"Just water, I didn't trust myself to get that mixing stuff just right yet."

Ignis nodded. "Understandable. But now, I'll ask you to get her a car seat. I am taking the two of you to the store to buy the crib and other various items."

"Man I almost forgot! Thanks for coming by to help Iggy, I hope I'm not taking away from anything else you need to do today though," Prompto said as he headed to grab Scarlet's car seat.

"Alrighty! We're going to go buy you all sorts of fun things, Scarlet! You ready for a day of adventures and fun?"

Prompto hummed happily as he clicked everything into place and picked up the car seat by the handle. Before heading out of the house he made sure to refill Scarlet's drinky cup with fresh water, and then finally headed back towards the door. He grabbed the keys, locking the door before meeting Ignis at his car. He looked inside and saw that no one else was with Ignis, it was only him.

"Is Noct not coming with us?"

"It's not even 10 o'clock Prompto. You should know that Noctis would never be awake at this hour."

Laughing, Prompto nodded. "Oh yeah totally. So uh… how do I attach the car seat? Aren't they supposed to be like, hooked in or something?"

"Here, let me," Ignis said as he stepped up behind Prompto.

Prompto let Ignis lean into the car, setting up the buckle with the car seat. A moment later he stepped back and let Prompto slide into the seat next to Scarlet Once he was buckled in, Ignis got to the driver's seat and pulled into the street, driving down to the inner city.

As they drove, Prompto watched Scarlet who stared back at him with wide eyes. She started to reach out for him and he held out his hand. Her little fingers latched onto his, gripping them tightly.

"Aw you got such a tight grip," Prompto commented.

Scarlet pulled on Prompto's finger, bringing it closer to her mouth. She opened it up her mouth and tried to suck on his finger, but Prompto managed to pull it away in time. "Whoa heeeey. You can't eat my finger you silly. My finger isn't for eating."

"One of the items we should look for should be a teething ring," Ignis stated. "As well as a pacifier. This will prevent her from trying to use your finger as a substitute."

"That would probably be for the best," Prompto laughed as he patted Scarlet's head lighty. "How's that sound, Scarlet? You wanna get some nice teething toys? I bet we could find a chocobo one! Oh we are going to get you so much chocobo stuff!"

Ignis chuckled softly. "I see that you've already fallen into the role of a doting parent."

Prompto looked up from the baby. "Huh? What do you mean?"

"The way you interact with her. You already show so much love and compassion towards her and we haven't even finalized any paperwork yet."

"Oh yeah, about that… have you gotten any further with it?"

"I am working towards gathering all that we need. It shouldn't take more than a few days at this rate. In the meantime we shall do what we can to help you look after her. Ah, that reminds me… after we buy some items today, we will stop by the Citadel to see His Majesty."

Prompto had to blink a few times to process what he had just heard. "H-His Majesty? You mean Noct's dad? W-Why do I have to go see him? Does it have to do with the legal things?"

"I don't think you actually need to see him for the legal procedures, but it is something I had to make sure he was aware of. When I told him you were intending to raise little Scarlet, he insisted that you come to see him as soon as possible today."

"Okay… I guess we will go see His Majesty later today," Prompto said as he looked back at Scarlet. "Looks like it's going to be 'baby's first visit to the King'! I better get the camera ready for that! Though you won't even know who the king is, that's okay."


When they arrived at the store, Prompto took Scarlet out of her car seat, since Ignis said a baby could sit up in a shopping cart perfectly fine by her age. He stared over at the building, still in a little disbelief he was actually about to go inside a store that was full of nothing but baby products. He had passed by it before on some of his runs, but never in a million years had he thought he would ever venture in there.

Yet here he was now, with a baby in hand.

"Right so uh… do you have a list? Cause I totally didn't make a list."

"Don't worry Prompto, I have a list," Ignis said as he held up a notepad. "You should know I always come prepared."

"That you do! And I couldn't thank you enough!"

"Of course, I am happy to help."

As they walked into the store, Promtpo went over to the shopping carts and pulled one out, putting Scarlet in the little seat area. Prompto made sure to snap a few pictures of her sitting so well in the seat before he took hold of the cart and entered fully into the store.

"Whoa," he said as he looked around.

He knew that it would be filled with baby stuff of all kinds, but it still amazed him. In the front section there were aisles filled with books and other small toys, and to his right instead of another aisle, there was a more open floor area filled with displays of different crib types. This was only the front section of the store, but Prompto could already feel a mix of overwhelming anxiety, but also a little curiosity as well.

"So uh, where should we start? Cribs?"

"I suppose it would be a good place to start," Ignis said as he started to walk over to that area.

Prompto followed behind him, keeping his focus on Scarlet who was curiously looking around at everything close by. When they stopped to look at the first few display cribs, Prompto patted her head lightly, and it actually managed to melt away some of that anxiety. Knowing he was doing this for her made every second of it worth it.

But then Prompto had to glance at the prices displayed on the cribs. He felt a little sick as he stared at the number. He had always heard taking care of a baby was a bit expensive, but this was far more than he expected.

"O-Over $400!?" Prompto exclaimed. "That… that's way out of my budget."

Ignis looked at him calmly, reaching out a hand to place on his shoulder. "Relax Prompto, these are the more high end models. We can look at some cheaper ones if you prefer. Like this one over here."

Prompto looked to where Ignis was moving too, but seeing the price didn't make him feel any better. "Even if that one is only $130… it's still $130! How much is the rest of the stuff going to cost at this rate?"

Ignis faced Prompto, giving her a calming but friendly gaze. "I understand that you have a tight budget Prompto. I wouldn't ask for you to pay for what you couldn't. I'll be handling the expenses here today."

"What? No… you don't have to do that. I uh, it's okay."

"I also know how you feel about others buying things for you. Noct has told me as much. But Prompto please understand, I don't mind it. You are my friend and I wish to help you in your endeavor. A little bit of spending for me won't be a bother if it means you can have what you need to be a successful father."

Prompto felt the words resonating within his chest. Even with the conflicting feelings where he didn't like it when he felt like he was taking advantage of anyone if they paid for him, deep down he knew it wasn't the case. Right now, with Ignis's words, he could believe him in that moment, knowing it was okay. Ignis wasn't going to be mad spending money on him, and it was true what the end goals were. This wasn't just a thing for him because he wanted it. This was for his little baby girl. It was for the both of them to have a successful future together.


Chapter 5 is done! Let me know what you guys thought! Hearing your thoughts always brings a smile to my face :)