A/N;
Sorry for the wait on this, fellas! After my exams I just totally collapsed haha.
Merry Christmas? Happy Boxing Day? I tried to get Je M'en finished for Christmas, but seeing no hope of doing so, I decided to finish this instead XD Unfortunately I wasn't able to finish it at a time I wanted to (3:22am on Boxing day for me instead of during Christmas D; ) but, hopefully enjoy.
Ditto9 – Hanging out with the lads is great 8D As long as they don't realised you're not one of the lads XD It's because Claire knows she's awesome X3
Ultimolu – Cheek pinching time, haha XD Let's not bruise him!
Multiverse Fan – I hope you didn't bruise yourself XD Haha, as long as Claire doesn't mind babysitting some more, her certainly might X3
KT324 – Thank you X3 I've always wondered what little kids think of those sorts of things. Here's hoping Evans' on the right track xD
Mquin – Ironically I think I used to like them. Now I'm just like 'NOAS WATER DX!'.
Namine Redfield – Very happy to hear so~ :)
Cloudtail4ever – Claire would make a GREAT babysitter, if she would just stop losing the kids XDDD Glad I'm not the only one who's thought about it!
"Evans, I know you're in here."
A couch cushion was thrown across the room, despite the action offering no help what-so-ever. No, he certainly wasn't under the pillow… Oh come on, how did she not know that? Claire hopped onto the uncovered couch structure, springs squeaking slightly under her weight. She looked over the back, spotted nothing.
She jumped over the back, dropping to the ground and looking under the couch. No, clear again. Nothing but a few dust bunnies, a few hair-clips and--- Hey, that's where her sock was. But if she grabbed it, she would have no excuse to keep wearing odd socks.
She mumbled before pushing herself up to sit on her knees, taking a quick glance around. Still no sight of him… "Don't think you can hide from me, Mister!"
She placed her palm on her face and shook her head. Oh lord, was this just going to keep happening? "Why, why do I always lose kids? I'm not a bad babysitter, I swear! They're like eels, so slippery!"
Okay, the lounge room was clear, time to stop moaning. But come to think of it, the last time she looked somewhere else, she heard him running for the place she had just looked. And by the time she had gotten back there, he'd run off somewhere else. He was a sneaky one, he was, but she was getting too tired for this little run around game.
She stood up and trudged over to the hall way, glancing to either end of it. Nothing, absolutely nothing. She couldn't hear a peep out of him, either.
"This is not a game of Gears of War, Evans!" She called, making mental notes to put lots of bubbles in the bath. Lots of them. She may as well find the whole thing entertaining if she had to put up with Evans' attempts of retaliation once she caught him.
"Gears of what?"
"Found you!" Claire practically leapt from where she was, just managing to grab Evans before he had a chance to run off from his little hiding spot behind the couch. Wait. "How did you even get back there?!"
The little boy gave no answer to the question, rather squirming and kicking, squealing unintelligent bouts of gibberish as he tried to wiggle out of Claire's grasp. But when being held above ground, with both of someone's arms wrapped around you in practically a death grip, there was no getting out of it.
"It's time to get soaked in water, Evans, and I'll damn well make sure you wash behind your ears!!"
"Nooooo~!"
"I hate baths, I hate baths…!"
"I know kid, I know. You screamed bloody murder enough for that to be clear." Claire sighed, dumping the towel over Evan's head, rubbing rather roughly to try and get his messy hair dry as much as possible. He put up no fights against that, but Claire was sure she could have easily lost an eye trying to get Evans into the tub. She'd been forced to practically barricade the door, hold the boy down with one arm, and scrub him clean with the other.
And she had to do that a number of times. Every couple of minutes there would be loud, rather urgent knocking at the door. The conversation was practically the same, despite it being the same neighbour each time.
'I'm sorry to bother you again Claire, but…'
'Yeah, the screaming, I know.'
"…"
'I keep telling you, it's my nephew. He's not content about being clean.'
'If you're sure.'
'If I wasn't, I'd be blood covered by now. And just as a note, if I was a murderer and was asked repeatedly by a neighbour, I wouldn't change my story.'
'…'
'But if I was a murderer, I wouldn't draw attention to that fact either. Now can I please try and get back to it before he clambers out the window again?'
'Yes, sorry dear.'
"You're really mean, Aunty Claire!" Evans whimpered as soon as Claire had moved the towel, the statement only prompting her to move it back.
"Why's that little munchkin? Cause I wanted to make sure you didn't get sick or smell bad from the sun and milk?" She quizzed with a smile, removing the towel once more and ruffling his hair. "Would you prefer that I hosed you down with a super soaker?"
"Maybe!"
She laughed at this, shaking her head and muttering something quite cheery to herself. "Always good to see kids feel so passionately towards something, even if it's hatred for bath water!"
Evans crossed his arms and huffed, sticking his tongue out. Oh no, he certainly hadn't been happy about anything that had happened. And he couldn't dob her in – His dad usually had just as much of a fight on his hands when he tried to give the boy a bath, so he would probably congratulate Claire on a job well done.
"Do you still want to go out?"
His Aunt's question snapped Evans from his thoughts. He looked up and her, nodding quite enthusiastically with a smile. Yes, he appeared over the whole, traumatic bath incident.
"Well if that's so buddy boy, we're going to have to find you some clothes!" She chirped, and then paused. She'd just thrown Evan's shirt in the wash, and… Chris hadn't left anything for his son to wear. Nothing at all. Come to think of it he hadn't left anything. Way to go, Chris, way to go. Were you in that much of a rush today? She paused and shuddered. After that phone call, she could see the high possibilities that she was right.
As she had paused to think about this, however, Evans had taken then initiative to run off in hunt of some clothes himself. As soon as Claire realised this, she swore loudly and ran off to try and find him. Again.
"That's too big for you, honey."
"Don't care."
"And Stripes don't look too good on you.
"Don't care."
"You'll slip on the sleeves if you don't be careful."
"Don't care."
"You sure you don't just want to wait until your shirt's finished in the wash?"
"Don't want it!"
"Alright Mr. Fussy, but I don't think your dad's gonna let you go home in my jumper."
Evans seemed comfy enough, even if Claire's prediction did seem highly likely. Although he had gotten a stern talking to about why not to do so ever again, Evans had managed to find his way to Claire's closet and spent some time rummaging through it, definitely not wanting to wear that damn white shirt of his. He seemed quite more comfortable in a jumper of Claire's he had found. Striped, white and light purple, and certainly very fluffy and warm. Naturally, the sleeves were far too long, and the hood on it as well was big for him, covering his eyes if brought over.
Frankly, Claire was just happy that he had only searched the left side of the closet, not the right. Oh, she might have been in a bit of trouble if that had happened.
Claire grabbed hold of one of the sleeves before the boy could run off, certainly too tired to be chasing after the little guy again. He turned, and offered a pout, pointing to the house's front door. He seemed quite eager to actually get out of the house, which didn't surprise her. He had been cooped up for quite awhile now, and had just endured the dreaded bath. Reluctantly, she let going, knowing he wouldn't try anything. At least she hoped he wouldn't.
Evans made it to the door, that he did, but after standing for a few moments he simply leaned slightly, and sunk down to the ground. Claire had to blink a few times, a little confused by what had just happened, before dashing over to him, giving a quick shout of his name.
She knelt down beside her nephew, holding a hand just a few centimeters away from Evans face. Well he was still breathing. But he'd just dropped. She was just about ready to be kicked into a slight panic mode when the little tyke began to snore lightly. "Yoohoo, Mister?" She shook his shoulder lightly, the boy barely stirring, "You awake at all m'boy? Even in the slightest? … Sweetie? Oh, he's out cold!"
Claire bit her bottom lip, trying her best not to laugh. She remembered hearing stories about Chris doing the same thing when he was very young, or at least similar – Except, he was often found asleep at the fridge with a carton of milk in hand. She'd have to ask Jill if Evans did the same thing when she got to see her next.
"So it looks like we couldn't go to the park today. That's okay, maybe next time. The kids that are out today are usually little jerks anyway." Claire smiled, picking Evans up carefully, doing her best not to wake him up. He was out like a light, so no harm there. She hummed quietly, carrying the little fella off to her bed where he'd get better sleep than the floor or couch.
Claire sat on the couch, having practically reconstructed it, with her legs crossed and content with watching her soap operas. The Adolescent and the Tired. Oh, how she did love this series, even if she had missed the last few episodes. But Joey and Sammy were on a plane, off to get married in Hawaii. Deep down Claire was hoping there would be a plan crash, and Joey would survive. Yes, there was something about Sammy that just really made her annoyed.
She took a glance away from the TV as an ad finally started up, giving her a small break. She stood up, and stretched, jolting as she heard the doorbell ring. She quickly looked to the hallway, before to the door, tiptoeing over. "Please don't have woken him up… Please don't have woken him up…"
She opened the door quickly and brought a finger to her lips, hissing a loud 'shhhh'. Chris stood on the doorstep with Jill, a brow of his risen. Claire looked at him sternly, repeating the loud shush. "He's asleep," She huffed, stepping away from the doorframe to let them in.
"What do you mean he's asleep?" Chris asked, walking in, only to receive another shush from his younger sister. Although this time it was meant in jest.
"I mean he's zonked it, out of energy, all curled up in blankets." She explained, pointing off down the hall to where her room happened to be. "I guess a bath and a full stomach managed to put him to sleep."
"A… Bath? You managed to give him a bath?" Chris asked while appearing quite shocked about the fact.
"Yeah, and I can tell you, it wasn't easy." Claire stated, leaning against the wall. She was still somewhat soaked from the whole ordeal, and would no doubt catch a cold later.
Jill was quietly admiring Claire's house as the discussion went on, or rather how well kept it was. Being unbelievably messy must have been kept to the male side of the Redfield family tree.
"I can't believe you managed to give him a bath…" Chris whispered, clearly very surprised. It was always a struggled for him, he never imagined his sister being capable of it.
"Should we come back later to get him?" Jill quizzed, snapping both Redfield siblings from their thoughts. Claire turned and thought it over for a moment, before shaking her head.
"You'd be able to carry him out without waking him up, right?" Claire asked, to which Jill nodded in reply. With that, Claire lead Jill off to the room, so she could pick up her son – Something which Chris might have been a bit too clumsy to do without waking the child up.
It hadn't taken them too long, less time than what Chris would have expected, so he was rather surprised when his son's white shirt was shoved into his hands.
"Here, don't worry about changing him. It'd just be cruel to wake him up for that, he seems too peaceful." Claire said, nodding towards the sleeping Evans, carried quite well by Jill, "Probably dreaming of dinosaurs with machine guns and lasers."
"Ah, Dinoriders, those were the days…" Chris smirked, remembering right back to things he watched when younger. Ah, but there would always be time to introduce his little boy to such things, even if they were made of such incredible amounts of win.
"I know what you mean. I remember sitting in our Pjs, even at three in the afternoon, eating toast and watching those episodes on TV." Claire shook her head, quite fond of it.
"Evans baby, go back to sleep, you'll be home soon."
"Alright mummy…"
Both Chris and Claire glanced over to Jill, who was trying to coax her son back to sleep. His hand had gripped his mother's shirt, though his hold was rather loose due to the long sleeves over his hands. Regardless, he drifted back to sleep without any hassle, seeming quite comfortable in his mother's arms.
"I'm sorry Claire, I don't mean to be rude but…" Jill began, but Claire shook her head, waving a hand in dismissal
"Don't worry, I don't mind at all." She assured her sister-in-law, before shoving Chris' shoulder. "Go on! If you don't get him home to bed, he'll just be Mr. Grumpy pants when he wakes up. If he's anything like his dad, at least."
"Hardy ha, Claire." Chris mocked, though chuckled soon after. "Thanks little sis, I owe you for today."
"Hardly, it was just nice to see my little nephew again!" She stated before pausing, "… Though I did tell him you two were trying to get him a little sister."
"No pressure there." Jill muttered, taking a glance at Chris, who seemed rather happy hearing this. She looked back to Claire, a slight smirk on her face, "I do hope you know you've just volunteered yourself into babysitting more often."
"Fine by me." Claire stated.
Goodbyes were had as the three left, Claire settling back down on her couch. She'd missed her show, but another soap was starting up. Leaning back against the couch, she grunted, mumbling something to herself quickly after.
"I know, I know. As much as I'd like to say 'I'd like my own', the good thing about baby sitting is the fact you can give them back at the end of the day." With that, she took one last glance towards the bathroom, and started making mental notes about how to make baths easier to go about.
The super soaker idea wasn't too bad.