Later that night.
Chris came over to Karen's as soon as he'd locked up. "Did someone order a babysitter?" He teased as she opened the door to him.
"A sexy one at that." She winked, taking him straight through to the baby's makeshift room, which hadn't even been decorated.
"Wow," he noted the lifeless walls, "don't tell me you're planning on leaving it like this."
She shrugged. "Jess says that she'll do it."
"…And she said this how many days ago?" He smirked knowingly. "It isn't something I can envisage her taking on – and anyway, it's better to do it when the baby's on the way. I can imagine her getting high on paint fumes, and you don't want a baby high on paint fumes."
"Then what do you suggest?"
He tilted his head to one side pensively. "Well…"
His train of thought was disrupted when the baby cried herself awake in her cot.
Karen laughed a little. "At least you didn't have to wait long to do anything." She watched him scoop her up into his arms and cradle her.
She was blown away by how proficient he seemed to be – how to hold her and how to react to her squirms and cries.
Chris remained still and quiet with her, simply holding her till she quietened herself back down again. "Does she not have a normal babysitter?"
Karen shook her head. "The running costs of having another mouth to feed hasn't left us with enough money to afford one."
"That's not good, is it?" He still heard a bit of noise coming from the little one, and he decided to hold off putting her back to bed. "You can't just leave her here on her own during the day."
"That's where Jess comes in," she noted indignantly, "or should I say, is meant to."
He gave her a knowing look. "So it's fair to say she's not really doing a good job." He was surprised at how light she was, and a terrible thought crossed his mind. "I don't wanna come across as some sort of doctor, but when was the last time she'd eaten anything?"
She had to think for a few minutes. "Jess usually feeds her around half-past twelve and then gives her another lot at four. Why?"
"'Cause she feels awfully light for a baby at her age."
She shrugged. "She is still a newborn though."
"But take in her general size." He pointed out. "She's not exactly tiny, and they do tend to fill out more as they get older."
She knew he was right – and he wasn't even a professional! "You're suggesting she's starving?"
"Well, close to that, anyway." Chris seemed more worried that even Karen didn't notice – and she'd had three of them. "Either she's not being fed at the appropriate times or she's not being fed enough. That could be why she's a little on the sulky side and won't settle."
A few minutes later, Karen managed to excavate a small bowl and spoon, and then eventually find a small jar of food amongst the larger ones.
"Give it here." He offered. "I'll try at getting her to take it – that's if she's been very fussy around mealtimes."
"I haven't really noticed." She admitted. "Jess usually feeds her when I'm in another room."
"Oh, good," he unscrewed the small jar, "so now you can see for yourself." He tipped the jar's not very appetising contents (which didn't seem a lot to most adults) into the small bowl and used the spoon to mash it up.
She went to get her and lifted her out of the cot, squirming and screaming till she would proverbially turn blue in the face. "Maybe I woke her."
"No," he stayed where he was, "she's doing it to make a point."
She set her down in her chair, tying one of her bibs around her neck and making a single bow at the back. "Make sure you be good to Chris." She told her quietly.
"She will," he finished reducing the jar's contents to a mushy pulp, "won't you, sweetie?"
He spooned the first lot and made to move it into her mouth. He wasn't going to try the overworked 'here comes the airplane' trick. She only turned away. "Don't you want this?"
Karen almost felt a little ill when she watched him take it instead. If that was his way of getting her to eat it, well…that was up to him.
"It's not as bad as you might think." He laughed. "They should do bigger sized jars for adults."
"Enough messing about," she felt her stomach settle down again, "can you get her to take it now?"
"Let's play again." Chris had another go with her, realising that she cocked her head in mild interest. Maybe what he did had worked. "This'll make you big and strong." He stated persuasively, his eyes sparkling in the low-setting sunlight.
She allowed him to slide the once-again filled spoon into her mouth that time, and no protest came from her as she ate it.
"See?" He looked to Karen positively. "No problems."
She breathed in mild shock.
"You're a good little girl," he wiped her mouth that was smeared with sauce after she'd eaten it all, "aren't you?"
"I-I'm not sure what it is that you did," she started dimly, "but whatever it is, it worked."
"Well, she'll be happy now that she's been fed properly." He turned round in the chair he was sitting on to look at her. "I take it Jess didn't feed her the full amount?"
"Does it say to?"
"Well…" He picked up the small jar and read the back of it. "It does say in quite large writing to do so."
She fished out a small feeding bottle and filled that with warm milk. She gave it to him.
"Oh, I see." Chris smirked playfully. "I must be doing that good a job." He took it from her and carefully slipped it into her mouth, finding that she took that no problem.
"Either that, or she's being very well-behaved for you."
Once she'd been fed, he took the almost-drowsy baby back to her cot and set her back down in amongst the blankets.
Karen watched him from the makeshift room's doorway, marvelling at the sheer proficiency he clearly had. "That's…incredible."
He turned to look at her. "What is?"
"I've never seen her feed like that and fall asleep so quickly."
He shrugged. "Nothing to it." He stroked the little one down her front with an index finger in a paternal way. Her response was a contented squirm as if to request for more of the same. "I'm just happy to help."
She came closer to him, unable to get over what had happened. He didn't have any kids of his own, nor did he have any younger brothers or sisters, which would've brought on the proficiency he so clearly displayed. So what was it? "She obviously likes you." That was as clear as crystal, but that was the first time Jess's baby had ever seen him. "Maybe you could be her babysitter from now on."
He looked back over to the sleeping mass, drawing in a small sigh. Sure, he felt close to her, but that was only because he was there when her real mother wasn't. That didn't make his position any more exceptional. "I guess I could be, but…" And he wasn't expecting Karen to say anything else.
"…There's a problem?"
"Not so much a problem, but…" Chris came over to her and took her hands with his. "I do still have a daughter of my own, and if I spend too much time with this one – not that I don't want to – I might neglect Clara in the process." And that has happened on more than a few occasions. He didn't want to have to keep driving after her after she decided to go clubbing on her own or even have to pull her out of a swimming pool.
She nodded slowly.
"And that sort of thing's happened too much, to be fair." He went on. "I didn't wanna have to find myself raising or looking after one of my own, only to have to keep pulling her out of predicaments all the time. I just want a normal relationship with my own daughter."
"I'm sorry, Chris." She looked to him apologetically. "I didn't mean to force the issue about you being her babysitter, but you're just so good at it."
He smirked wryly. "All I did was feed her and put her to bed."
"But those are the sorts of things Jess would struggle with." She decided not to labour the point anymore. She knew that it wasn't because he didn't want to babysit her – it was because he had too much of a commitment with Clara.
"That aside, something really ought to be done about her room." He added on a more positive note.
Karen smiled a little to herself at envisaging the young male smearing paint over grey walls whilst perched on a foldout ladder. And it wasn't his brushwork she would've been interested in.
"We can always do it together." He suggested casually.
She raised an eyebrow in anticipation. Did she hear that right? Y-you're offering to help decorate her room?"
"I mean it's probably worth doing it when Jess isn't here. After all, she still knows nothing about us and it'd be nice for her to think that you did it for her and not both of us."
She had to control her excitement at the following thoughts entering her head. "But we don't have any paint."
"Oh, we can sort that out." Chris's eyes sparkled in the late-afternoon sunlight. "And to keep her from knowing anything about it, it'd be worth keeping the paint in the back of the car and to then maybe send her away somewhere…does she usually go anywhere during the weekend?"
Karen didn't have to wait long to fulfil those exciting fantasies that sprung to mind. "I know that she does go to a few mates' houses."
"Well, then," he perked up, "get her to spend the weekend around one of theirs while we both stay here and do this."
"She might turn round and say that she might feel young doing something like that."
He knew what she was getting at. Spending the weekend around a mate's house would be something schoolgirls did together. "Give her extra incentive for her to go then." He pointed out. "Say that it's to help her get away from looking after her little one for a bit…you could even go as far as to say that she can pretty much do whatever she wants as she won't have to look after her."
"Ok." She agreed. "I think that could work."