A large cry was heard from Mission Control. Steve sharply turned to the door and slightly huffed, knowing that it was his son. As much as he loved Jake, his cries could distract him from his work
"Oi…Babies eh sir…" Peter nudged, just as irritated as his boss. Then Steve and the rest of the elves heard Judy's soft and beautiful voice and Jakob's cries stopped as she was singing to her son.
Steve felt the urge to check on the two of them and left the station briefly. When he arrived in his room, he saw an exhausted Judy rocking her sniffling son. When Jake saw his father, he reached for him, whimpering and Judy took notice
"You want your father…" Judy yawned. Steve's eyes widened, seeing his wife, nearly slipping her grip on the baby and quickly took his son in his arms
"There we are, Father's got you…" Steve bounced Jake in his arms. He felt the baby rubbing against his chest, starting to get comfortable. He turned back to his wife who was starting to fall asleep
"Honey…" Steve placed his large hand on Judy's cheek
"I'm fine Steven…" Judy yawned.
"You're exhausted…you should sleep and I'll take care of Jakob…"
"Are you sure… You can calm him but you haven't touched his diaper once…"
"You know what happened last time…"
"Be lucky he hit your chest and not your mouth…" Steve rolled his eyes, placing Jake on the floor as the baby crawled away from the couple
"I'm serious…He almost hit my mouth that time…"
"Messes come with babies, Steven…" Judy shook her head.
"Sure but…"
"Am I wrong…I mean he did vomit on me…took me a while to wash my dress but he is worth it…" then a coo came from their son. The two of them turned to see Jake, in his father's dresser, teething on one of his boxers
"No no no NO….Out of your mouth…" Steve yelled as he pulled the boxers from his son's mouth. Jake was very close to crying until his mother came over, picking him up
"Here we are, Jakob…Try this…" Judy gave him a light green teething ring which he contentedly took and chewed away.
"Oh great…" Steve rolled his eyes to see that his son teethed on the boxers Peter gave him.
"I don't remember giving you something like that…" Judy said. "Who gave you those…"
"Peter did…" then Judy started to laugh, looking at it.
"In Steve, I believe…That has to be the most hysterical thing I've ever seen…"
"You don't know the half of it…" then Judy looked at her son and tickled his belly.
"Aren't Daddy's underwear so funny…" Judy cooed. Steve smirked and shook his head. Then a knock on the door was heard.
"Come in…" Steve called. Then Peter came in with his Hoho present
"Everything is set and ready sir…" Peter told him
"Uh…Perfect…I think I'll take the day off tomorrow…To spend some time with my son…" Steve declared
"Spend time with Jakob…but you already have a wife to take care of that…"
"I hope you realize that I'm also Jakob's parent and I need to care for him…"
Then Jake's cries interrupted the argument and Steve rushed in to calm his son with the help of his wife.
"Giving up work for a baby…" Peter rolled his eyes. Then Judy stepped in
"Peter…People have to take care of their families, you know…" She protested
"Babies can take care of themselves…"
"What do you know about babies…you're practically the size of one…"
"I am not the size of a baby…" Peter gasped offendedly
Then Judy took Jakob from Steve's arms and lowered him to Peter's height. Jake was about to be as big as Peter. Then he started to squirm nervously and wailed.
"Judy…He hates being held like that…" Steve corrected her.
"Sorry…I just have to prove something to someone who is the size of a 14-month-old infant…" Judy took Jakob in her arms, calming him down
The next morning, Steve woke up to Judy nursing Jakob, making him shudder, giving his wife a disgusted look
"What…He was hungry…" Judy told him
"You don't have to do it in front of me…"
"Well, you don't have to look at me…" Steve rolled his eyes and went back to sleep, only to wake up to a foul smell
"I got it…" Judy took her son to the changing table nearby. "You're lucky I'm doing the first one for you…"
Judy decided to spend a bit of time with Margaret while Steve was left to care for Jake. Most of the day was easy because all Jakob did was sleep in his crib. Steve was busy reading one of his books as he periodically checked on his sleeping son.
"I hope you stay asleep for the rest of the day…make things easier on my end-" then Arthur burst in
"Steve…I-" then Jake started to wake up and whimper until Steve hushed him, calming him down.
"Great…You woke him up…" Steve picked up his child from his crib.
"The Green Ribbons need you in Mission Control…"
"Haven't you told them I had a day off…" Arthur gives him an unsure look, making the elder Claus facepalm. "Well, I can't leave Jakob by himself…Can you take care of him?" Steve shoved Jake in Arthur's arms and stormed off to Mission Control. Arthur then gently bounced the baby boy
"So…what do you want to do?" Arthur asked
"Baba…" Jake babbled
All of the elves were working in Mission Control, Steve had to double-check to see if everything was set in stone.
He still worried about his son being in Arthur's hands. He loved his brother but he somewhat didn't trust him in the care of Jakob. He turned to Peter who approached him with his usual espresso
"Peter, can you keep an eye on the elves while I check on Jakob"
Before Peter could say a word, Steve vanished.
"Judy should've watched him…" Peter whispered irritably.
Steve wandered the halls of the North Pole trying to find Arthur
"Where did that idiot put him…I never should've left him out of my sight…I should've never trusted Arthur-"
Steve's thoughts were put to a halt when he heard a baby's laughter and his father chuckling. He opened his grandfather's room to find Jakob rocking his grandfather in his rocking chair while his uncle and great grandfather were in shock at how strong he was.
"Goodness me…oh…" Malcolm went as Jakob laughed with utter glee, playfully rocking the old man back and forth.
All Steve could do was shake his head and chuckle at his son
"That's my boy…" Steve playfully chuckled.
"Is it normal for a baby to be this strong…." Malcolm asked
"Dad…he's just trying to be as strong as Steve…" Arthur took his nephew away from his father as the baby crawled elsewhere.
"Techno Tommy, ha I should cocoa…" Grandsanta laughed until he was knocked over by Jakob.
"Uh oh," Arthur said as he quickly picked up his grandfather's chair, sitting him back up. Jake attempted to try again until Steve scooped him up
"No no no…No more for you…" Steve told his son as he gently bounced him. Then they all heard a rumbling sound and stared at Jake.
"Great…He's hungry" Steve tried to take him to get milk but Grandsanta took him from his father's hands
"Oi gimme your mince pie…" Grandsanta swiped Malcolm's mince pie and held Jakob in a feeding position.
"Um…" Arthur started, raising a finger
"You can't give a baby a mince pie…" Steve strictly tells him
"Ye baubles, if the boy is going to be Santa…He has to know his favorite snacks early on…" Grandsanta insisted
"Father, what if there's something in there he doesn't like…" Malcolm tried to protest too, but Jakob was halfway through eating the mince pie.
"You don't want him to be a picky eater do ya…" then Grandsanta tickled the baby boy's belly, making him giggle. "Don't let these boring baboons tell what you like and don't like you little-" then Jakob proceeded to let out a large burp, surprising the other 4 Claus men.
"Oi…now that's a burp…Ha ha…" then Steve rolled his eyes and approached the two
"Oh, this is ridiculous…" Steve impatiently scooped up his son and rushed out of the room.
By the time Steve got to his room, he placed his son back in his crib.
"That devious man…He shouldn't have given that mince pie to my-" then he took a deep breath, trying his best to calm himself. Then he heard a sad coo from his son who was standing and watching his dad get angry from what had happened earlier.
Steve sighed through his nose and gently approached his son.
"I'm not mad at you Jakob…Your Great-Grandsanta could be…out of his element sometimes…" Steve told him. Then he started to chuckle. "It was pretty funny when you rocked your grandfather back and forth…Trying to become strong like your father eh…" Then Jakob began to laugh. Then a smile grew on Steve's face as he gently picked up his son and gently took him to bed with him, rocking him slowly.
"I apologize for being distant from you…Your mother has nagged me about it for 2 weeks that I haven't spent as much time with you…But when I'm at work I do think of you and your mother…It's just really tough keeping two sides of yourself separate…"
All Jake could do was stare up at his father as he talked to him. He placed a tiny hand on his father's large shoulder and released a gentle coo, reassuring him that he understands. Steve grinned once more as he lifted his son to his shoulder and he felt his little boy giving him a hug, which he reciprocated.
"You know…your grandfather tends to push me aside for other children when I was younger…not ever giving me a pool table when I was eight…I swore to myself I would do things differently if I had my own child…and I think I have done a little better…I just have to work on it…" then Steve saw his son, peacefully sleeping in his arms.
After 30 minutes of reading, Steve smelled something foul, coming from his son. He irritably rolled his eyes.
"I told him not to feed him that stupid pie…" then Steve took his son to the changing table and lied him on his back
"This is a chore I'll have to get used to…Judy does it better…" then he started to gently get him out of the old diaper when peter came in
"Sir…everything is set and-" then Steve accidentally elbowed the poop-filled diaper onto Peter's head
"I'm sorry peter…" He tried to get it off of him and all peter could do was shiver a little
"Gross…poop…Poop…Augh…" Peter gagged.
"Oh..it couldn't get any worse…" Steve had to eat his words when his son started to urinate on peter's head to add insult to injury.
Then they heard giggles from 3 elves who saw most of the action, taking pictures with their HOHOs and they ran off as quickly as they could.
"They're going to tell everyone…I'll be the laughingstock of the North Pole…"
"Why don't you shower and I'll clean up the rest…" Steve said, rushing the elf out of his room and Judy entered in after.
"I'm guessing diaper change didn't go too well…" Judy asked
"Peter just came in at the wrong time…"
"Don't worry…I'll do the rest…I'm sure the two of you have done a lot today…" Judy said while cleaning up her son. When Jake woke up, he was more than happy to see his mum.
"You miss Mumma…" Judy cooed at her son. Then both parents sat in bed with their son. The red-haired woman turned to her husband and grabbed his hand
"Thank you for watching him today…I know it was hard for you…"
"Well you know I'm still working on being a good bad for him…Work just tends to be in the way…"
"I know it's hard but you luckily have a partner to balance it out…" then Steve smiled at her.
"The best partner I could ever ask for…" then the two share a quick kiss and Steve used his hoho to turn off the lights, unfortunately, the computer's voice scared Jakob and he started to cry. Steve took his son in his arms and gently hushed him
"Please don't cry…Shhh…Don't cry…Don't cry…" Steve bounced his whimpering son.
"Do you want me to sing to him…" Judy asked.
"No no…I can put him down…"
"No, you've done enough already…Why don't I do it…"
"You do it almost every night…Let me put him to sleep…" then Steve turned back on the lights, making the computer's voice scare his baby son even more
"Shh Shh…It's just a computors voice Jakob…Don't be afraid…" then He placed his son close to his chest and began to hum a lullaby for him. It was gentle and soothing despite his usual tough and business voice.
Jake stopped crying and listened to his father hum and leaned to his chest, listening to his heartbeat, which drowned out the gentle hum, slowly but surely putting him to sleep. Then Steve took the baby to his crib and tucked him in for his nap. Then he ventured back to his bed joining his wife, who began massaging his shoulders
"You're a wonderful father…" Judy whispered into his ear. Steve grinned proudly and kissed his wife
"I try my best to be…" Steve muttered, relaxed into his wife's touch as he and Judy spent their time together before they both napped after their child
