*sighs* this chapter took me ages and it isn't even that long XD
…
As Perry made his way to reception, he stormed past his friends, Pinky and Natasha.
The Chihuahua tried to step in front of Perry but the platypus carried on walking. "Hey, are you okay?"
"Fine." Perry's snappy retort did nothing to reassure Pinky.
"Are you sure?" Pinky asked.
"I said I'm fine!" yelled Perry, turning to look Pinky angrily in the face.
The Chihuahua stood back in alarm. "I-I'm sorry…"
Perry turned back and stormed off down the corridor. Pinky and Natasha watched him turn a corner.
"Well, at least now he's acknowledging us," Natasha said optimistically. "Even if it's not in the way we wanted."
"This isn't better," Pinky said quietly.
Natasha went in front of her best friend, who was hanging his head, and craned her neck so that she could see his face. To her surprise, she saw tears dripping down Pinky's face.
"This isn't better," the Chihuahua repeated, shaking more than usual. "I preferred it when he just ignored us because at least there was a sliver of hope that he understood what we were doing and appreciated it. Now…now he's angry with us…" His voice trailed off into a whisper as he said, "Now it's like he doesn't want us around, after everything we're doing for him."
Natasha put her arms round Pinky and held the shaking Chihuahua tenderly. "It's okay. It's just a hard day for him. We can help him get over this. We can."
…
Sylvia was waiting in reception, just as Major Monogram told her to. She felt optimistic about her training, though she was nervous about being in a foreign country on her own. Usually her brothers came with her everywhere but today, only one of her brothers was in America with her, and he was-.
"Syl!"
Sylvia turned to see her oldest brother, Sampson, holding a familiar baby platypus.
"Nicky!"
Sylvia ran up to her brother and addressed the one-month-old platypus in his arms. "How's my little boy?"
"Moofie!" yelled Nicky, waving his arms around.
Sylvia gave Sampson an amused look. "Moofie?"
Her brother shrugged. "We passed some cows on the way here," he said. "He said the word "poofie" so I tried to say "poofie isn't really the right word to describe a cow", only I accidentally said "moofie" instead of "poofie", so I think he's picked that up."
"Better "moofie" than a rude word," Sylvia grinned.
"Moofie!" yelled Nicky again. "Mummy!"
Sampson gladly passed Nicky into his mother's arms. Sylvia held the baby under his arms and held him up to her face so that she could look into his eyes.
"Who wants to watch Mummy do some training?" she asked enthusiastically.
Nicky responded to this by planting both of his tiny paws on Sylvia's beak. She laughed, making Nicky giggle too.
"Mummy laugh!" he yelled. "Mummy happy!"
"Why is it that sometimes he can string two words together like this and other times he comes out with words like "moofie"?" asked Sylvia amusedly.
"He's your son," grinned Sampson.
Sylvia twisted her leg round to stand hard on her brother's foot. "Ow! What?" he laughed. Then his face grew serious. "Have you heard from Tony recently?"
Sylvia's smile also vanished and she sighed. "No."
Sampson looked angry so Sylvia quickly added, "But he's very busy with work and he doesn't have time to-."
"He's the father of your baby!" Sampson snapped. "And he earns enough to pay for a plane ticket from England to the States literally seven times over. He can spare the time to send you the money you need."
"Sam, it's okay," Sylvia appeased. "Really. He's not my mate so he doesn't have to support me."
"Again, he's the father of your baby! It's not like you earn a fortune in OWCA, and that's the only reason I'm reacting like this. If you earned enough to support yourself and Nicky, I wouldn't be saying anything. But you don't. And until you become a full agent of OWCA, you won't. That's why I'm pushing so hard."
"I know," sighed Sylvia. "But you don't need to worry about me so much."
At that moment, an angry-looking Perry came into reception. "Sylvia!"
Sylvia bit her lip and grimaced as Sampson snapped, "Why is that platypus yelling at you?"
"He's my trainer," Sylvia said. "He's a little temperamental."
Sampson narrowed his eyes at Perry, who was looking impatiently over at Sylvia.
"That seems obvious."
"I gotta go." Sylvia smiled. "Thanks for taking Nicky this morning. I'm sure I can find something to entertain him while I train."
Sampson nodded, still looking suspiciously at Perry. "Don't let him boss you around too much," he said. "If he abuses you or does something to upset you, come and tell me immediately."
"I will. Thanks."
Sampson gave Sylvia a hug and left OWCA through the main door. Still holding Nicky, Sylvia went over to Perry.
"Took a while, didn't you?" he snapped.
Sylvia hated people being angry or upset with her—especially if she had done nothing to them to deserve it—but she swallowed down a retort and said, "Sorry, that was my brother."
Perry's eyes flickered to the adorable baby platypus in Sylvia's arms. "And this is…?"
"Oh, this is my son, Nicky."
Sylvia shifted her arms, making Nicky start. He peered up at Perry. "Moofie!" he yelled.
Perry raised an eyebrow. "Indeed. Is anyone coming to take him?"
Sylvia shook her head. "My brother is busy and I don't know anyone else here."
"I can get someone for you."
"I…um…I'd rather have him either with someone I know or with me."
Perry sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose and said nothing, so Sylvia hesitantly asked, "Is-is that okay?"
"As long as he doesn't keep you from your training, I don't care where you put him."
Sylvia nodded hurriedly. "He won't keep me from anything, I promise."
"Don't promise anything as far as babies are concerned," Perry said sullenly. "They're too unpredictable."
Thinking that this was a bit odd, Sylvia said nothing. The awkward silence was broken by Nicky yelling, "Moofie!"
Perry scowled and began to walk away. Sylvia grimaced and followed.
She could tell it was going to be a long day.
…
Aww who loves baby Nicky? I love baby Nicky!