Chapter 10
Author's Note:Hi everyone! Remember me? Heh. Long time no see! As I mentioned on my profile page or whatever it's called, I've decided to finally finish the four fics I have up here that I never finished. Yes, I know, four years later. Better late than never though, right? Thankfully, I had some previously written and never posted chapters on an old CDRW, so that saves some time! My goal is to finish this fic, and the other three, soon. I'm going to try very hard to do this while not making the fics seemed rushed and poorly thrown together at the end. Anyways, biggest apologies. I'm working on it. Here's the long awaited next chapter!
"So what's he eat, anyways?" Ephram asked a few hours later, once lunch time arrived. It had been a while since Delia was that age, and even then, Ephram was too young to have actually fed her himself. The baby sat in the seat, which was now on the table top as Ephram prepared to whip up lunch for them all.
"I don't know. Dad gave him cereal this morning," Delia answered, in between playing peek-a-boo. "Ephram, can I take him out of his seat? He's been in it all morning."
"Not right now, he's getting ready to eat." Ephram looked in the cupboards above the counter. "So when you say cereal…I'm guessing you don't mean Cocoa Puffs, right?"
"Unless you want him to choke," Delia said, making Ephram feel even more clueless. Great, his little sister, who hardly had any experience with babies up until now, knew more about the present topic than he did. "There are little jars of food in the fridge that are his to eat."
"Okay, little jars…" He opened the fridge where sure enough, a few jars of assorted baby food sat in the door. "Okay, there's carrots, green beans and.. Meatloaf? Gross.." He pulled two jars out. "Guess this is going to be your lunch, little guy. Sorry." He cringed at the though of meatloaf in the texture of applesauce. He read the back of the jars, hoping to get a better idea of what to do.
A few minutes later, Ephram was sitting at the table, the baby in front of him, along with the jars of baby food and a towel on hand, just in case. Delia sat at the table as well, busy eating the macaroni and cheese Ephram had quickly whipped up for the two of them.
"You should feel very honored; your basically the first baby I've ever fed," Ephram said to the baby as he opened the jars of baby food. Ephram took the small spoon he was able to find, that was now filled with Gerber carrots. "Here goes," he said as he brought the spoon to the baby's mouth. The baby's mouth opened for Ephram and most of the spoon disappeared into his little mouth. Ephram smiled as the baby began getting excited, kicking his feet and flailing his arms.
"It's that good, huh?" He put the jar of carrots down and picked up the one that contained the mutilated looking meatloaf. "Try some of this and tell me what you think." Again, he dipped the spoon in the jar and brought it to the baby's lips. And again the baby happily ate it.
"Huh. Didn't think mashed up meatloaf out of a jar could taste that good." He fed the baby another bite of it. "Either it looks worse than it tastes or your one strange baby." Ephram continued to feed the baby, alternating between the three flavors of food. Before he knew it, the task of feeding the baby was finished.
"There. That wasn't so bad, was it?" He got up and tossed the spoon in the sink, then came back to the table and capped the baby food jars.
"And I think the both of us came out of this unharmed, so there's a plus." He scooped up the baby jars and put them back in the door of the fridge, then headed over to the sink to get a wash cloth so he could begin cleaning up.
"You know, I thought babies were supposed to be messy when they ate… but you, your not half bad." Ephram walked back over to the baby just as the phone rang.
"I got it!" Delia announced as she quickly got up and raced over to the phone before Ephram could say a word. "Hello?"
"Good; we just ate lunch."
"Who's that?" Ephram asked curiously, looking up from cleaning the baby's hands and face of the baby food he managed to get on himself.
"He's cleaning up the mess he and the baby made at lunch," she reported. Now Ephram was very curious as to who it was on the phone. Was it Bright? Amy? His dad? Oh no, what if it was Bright or Amy? He hadn't told either of them yet-
"Delia, who is it?" He threw the now dirty rag into the sink, before walking over to Delia.
She handed Ephram the phone. "Dad wants to talk to you." After handing him the phone, she skipped back over to the table.
He breathed a sigh of relief, thankful it hadn't been Bright or Amy. "Hello?"
"Ephram. Hey, how's it going?" His father's upbeat voice asked from the other end.
"So nice of you to check up on me. Especially after the vanishing trick you performed this morning."
"Sorry about that. Next time I'll give you a little more time," he said.
"How considerate of you," Ephram said.
"Well I told Delia I'd call around noon; see how everything was going," he explained, "And I knew around now, you guys would either be eating lunch or just finishing up, so I thought now would be a good time to call."
"Yeah, we uh, just finished lunch."
"So how's the baby been?" Andy asked. Ephram positioned the phone between his head and his shoulder, glancing over in the direction the baby sat, busy making noises.
"He's been fine," Ephram answered simply.
"And lunch? How was that? I know he ate a good amount when I fed him this morning before work."
"Yeah, he ate fine," Ephram said. "Delia's been playing with him most of the morning, so they've both sort of entertained one another."
"I'm surprised she isn't already at Nina's, playing with Sam," Andy said.
"I know, me too." There was a pause. "So... Have you heard back from the lab yet by any chance?" he asked, lowering his voice so Delia couldn't hear.
"Not yet. We probably wont hear anything from them-"
"-For another two weeks. I know."
"Hang in there," Andy said sincerely. "I'll be home in a bit." Ephram nodded and hung up the phone. Even though Andy had already hung up, Ephram stared down at the handset for a few moments.
"Ephram, can I play with the baby over at Nina's?"
"Huh?" Ephram looked up from his trace. He was so caught up in his thoughts that he hadn't even heard Delia at first. "Oh, um, that's probably not a good idea." Hanging up the phone, Ephram walked back over to the table.
"Well at least get him out of the seat; he's been in it all day!" It was true, Ephram hadn't dared to take the baby out of his seat, afraid that he'd drop him, or do something to make him start crying.
"We can put a blanket down in the living room. That way there he can crawl around for a while. Please Ephram!" Delia put her bottom lip out, faking a pout.
Ephram weighed his options. He couldn't very well keep the baby in that thing all day. "Yeah, I guess."
"Yay!" She exclaimed. "I'll go get a blanket from the closet!" She got up and ran out of the kitchen. Ephram shook his head and smiled at his sister's joy in something so simple. She was really enjoying the time she was spending with the baby.
"So I guess right now your going to go do some crawling around on the floor for a bit. How does that sound?" Ephram asked the baby, who as usual, didn't respond. "Okay then, let's get going." He unlocked the handle from the side of the carrier and headed into the living room.