Cutest Baby Contest

A/N: So, as some of you, if you're still reading, know, I've written a baby Niamh story. Well, I decided I wanted to do something different again, so here's a baby Martha story. It's just a cute, little interlude to fill a bit of space while I get caught up on my other things. This one also gives some insight to the background I created for Martha and how her family dynamic is. And, in case anyone (no one) is wondering, the reason her grandfather calls her "Little Lady" is because she was a pretyt small baby and her name means "lady." He said it once and it stuck. Also, I'd really LOVE to know where all my readers went…Because I know the story can't be getting any worse…can it? If it is, I'd kind of like to know so I can stop torturing you guys.

Timeline: Mid-to-late March 1975

"No, Little Lady. We don't need that," David Costello said as he pulled yet another can of vegetables out of his eight-month-old granddaughter's hands, sighing as he put it back on the shelf and then heard a loud noise behind him as another can hit the trolley basket. "Martha," He warned, getting a cheeky smile in response. He sighed again, picked out the items he didn't need and moved the trolley away from the shelf.

Martha frowned as she tried to reach to her left, and then her right, finding that she was too far away from either side of the aisle to continue her game. She then turned to her granddad to give him her usual, 'I hate you' stare.

"Don't look at me like that. This is what happens when you don't behave," David explained, as he did every time they went to the supermarket. He figured that she would eventually get the hint, but had had no luck so far, making him wonder if she was intentionally pushing his buttons or if she was simply too young to understand. He turned back to his list, grabbed what he could and moved on, soon giving Martha a box of baby rice to play with.

She smiled at the noise it made as she moved it around and was kept busy until the checkout lady took the box away from her to scan. Martha whined and glared at the lady, gaining the attention of the woman behind them in line.

"Your daughter is adorable," She said to David.

"Hm?" David looked up at her and then turned to Martha, who smiled at him as if to say 'I know I'm cute.' "Oh, no. She's my granddaughter."

"Oh, well…I…"

"It's fine. It's a common mistake."

"It's because she looks just like you. What's her name?"

"Martha."

"Hi, Martha. How are you today?" The woman said as she reached foreword to touch Martha, who recoiled and slapped at her hand.

"She doesn't like strangers touching her," David explained as he handed over the money after seeing the total. He then moved over to the side, stopping by the front windows to pull on his coat and get Martha ready to go outside. "Stay still," He said as he struggled to pull her jacket on.

"She really is cute. Maybe you should enter her in the contest," The woman continued as he pulled Martha out of the child seat and wrapped a blanket around her to keep her warm, as she refused to wear socks and shoes.

"Contest?"

"The cute baby contest. It's being held at a local theatre." She gestured to the flyers on the window directly behind them.

'This really isn't our kind of thing…' David thought as he picked up a flyer out of curiosity. 'But…You could win a pushchair…And Martha really needs one of those.' He glanced towards her, smiling as she looked up at him. "What do you think, Little Lady? Are you cute? Do you want to win a pushchair?"

She simply babbled at him and shifted to look around some more.

"We'll think about it," He said to no one in particular as he headed out.

Once they arrived back at the house, he handed off the groceries to Laura and headed off to change Martha, soon returning to the kitchen with the flyer.

"David, why do we have three more cans of corn?" Laura asked as she sieved through the canned vegetables.

"She did it," He said, pointing to Martha as he spoke.

Laura sighed. "You need to pay better attention…Martha, get out of there." She quickly pulled her out of an empty paper bag.

"I've told you before, it's hard when every time you pick up one can, she drops three more in the trolley."

Ignoring both of them, Martha went around her grandmother to the open pantry. After contemplating for a moment she pulled on a bag of open flour that was sitting on the bottom shelf and squealed as it collided with the floor.

"Martha!" Laura gasped, her voice a mixture of frustration and worry.

Martha simply coughed at the cloud of flour she had created. She then shook it off and crawled over the bag, making a bigger mess as it collapsed under her weight.

"Martha, stop," Laura ordered, sighing when she realized the order was useless.

"Now…What were saying about paying attention to her?" David said.

Laura narrowed her eyes. "Not funny. Give your granddaughter a bath."

David shook his head as he stood and then picked Martha up from the floor. "I just changed you and then you do this?"

She coughed again and then sneezed three times in a row.

"Yes, we know you sneeze like Granddad," He teased as he headed upstairs to the bathroom. Getting her into the bath was the easy part. Once she was in the water, Martha settled down and played with her blue rubber duck while David quickly washed her up, being careful to keep the shampoo in her blonde curls and out of her bright, blue eyes. It was getting her out that was difficult. She loved taking baths and never liked when bath time was over. This time, she started crying once David pulled her out of the water and wrapped a towel around her.

"Oh, hush, Little Lady" He said. "You can't stay in the bath forever."

Martha ignored him and cried until she realized it wasn't going to help and finally settled down on Granddad's shoulder.

"Good girl," David said, patting her back as he took her into the nursery to dress her. "Why don't we appease Grandma, today?" He pulled something pink from a drawer on the wardrobe once he got her nappy straight and easily pulled on the short-sleeved smock dress, completing the outfit with a nappy cover and a white sunhat that Martha immediately threw off her head with a whine. "Come on, Little Lady. Can't you wear the hat just this once? It would make Grandma very happy." He tried putting it back on her head, only to have her throw it off again. "I guess I get the idea," He sighed as he picked her up and took her back downstairs.

"Look who's clean," David announced as he entered the kitchen, where Laura was just finishing with the last of the groceries, the flour gone from the tile floor.

"You're a bad girl," Laura said as she gently took Martha into her own arms. "What do you have to say for yourself for that mess?"

Martha babbled in response and reached for a piece of her grandmother's fringe.

"No, we're not playing with that." Laura quickly moved her hand.

Martha frowned.

"You look like you could use a snack. Do you want a snack?" Laura asked, receiving a look that said, 'stupid questions, Grandma,' in response. She laughed at her look and kissed her on the head. "You think you're cute, don't you?"

"She's not cute, she's cheeky," David said.

"No, she's both."

"Speaking of cute…" He said as Laura set Martha down in her wooden highchair. "I found this today." He set down the flyer while his wife dug through the pantry and poured a small bowl of Cheerios for Martha.

"Cutest Baby Contest?" She read after setting the bowl in front of a smiling Martha.

"There aren't a lot of rules. We just have to put her up on a stage and let people decide if she's cute or not."

"I'm really not fond of the idea, honestly. I don't like the thought of people judging my granddaughter on her looks."

"She's a baby, Laura. I don't think it's a big deal," He argued as he glanced at Martha, stood and headed for the fridge. "What really drew me was the idea that we could win a pushchair."

"Doesn't Katherine have a pushchair for her?" Laura asked, watching as he prepared a bottle of apple juice.

"She does, but it's secondhand and not in the best condition. It would be a safety issue to even think of putting Martha in it." He handed his granddaughter the bottle as he spoke, watching as she snatched it and looked up, her eyes saying 'thank you.'

"I still don't like the idea, but it's not my place to say. If you're really considering it, you need to talk to your daughter. This is her child we're talking about."

"Don't worry, I plan to." He thought to say something else, but was interrupted by the telephone, which he answered while Laura watched over and amused Martha.

"Do you want to play?" She asked once she had finished eating. "I'm sure Granddad can dig up a nice hatbox for you."

"Granddad is going to do what?" David asked as he stepped back into the room.

"Give your 'Little Lady' a box to play with so Grandma can look over her account books."

"Of course," He said, picking his granddaughter up and out of her highchair as he spoke. "That was Martin. He wanted to know if we could do supper on Saturday."

"I'm not sure. Katherine has that jewellery show going on for the shop and we're supposed to look after Martha."

"We could always ring Millie and see what she's up to. It's been awhile since she's seen her niece."

"She's been busy with so many things, but I'll give her a ring a bit later."

As soon as Laura finished speaking, Martha whined. She wanted to play, not sit and listen to grownups talk about her.

"Alright, alright." David carried her into the lounge and set her on the carpet. She crawled off towards the sofa while he retrieved her hatbox from the shoe cupboard. "Martha…" He called.

She turned to look at him, eyes widening when she caught site of the box. "Come here, Little Lady." He set the closed box on the floor and sat back as she quickly crawled over to it and squealed in delight.

Martha quickly pulled the top off of it and crawled in. She settled herself in the middle of the box and David picked up the top and gently tapped her on the head with her. She laughed and reached for it, holding it on her head when Granddad finally handed it over. After a few minutes she got bored with sitting, crawled out and waited while her grandfather put the box on its side and rolled it across the carpet. She squealed again and quickly chased after it, rolling it back to him when she caught up to it.

They played this game until Katy came to retrieve her daughter two and a half hours later.

"I'm sorry I'm late," She said as she let herself in. "I had a last minute order to take care of."

"It's fine," David said with a wave of his hand as Martha crawled over and settled herself on top of her mother's foot.

"How's my Little Miss Martha?" Katy cooed as she gently picked her up, smiling when her daughter wrapped her arms around her neck. "Aw, did you miss me?" She asked. "Because I missed you. But, I'm sure you had fun with Granddad, right?"

"We went to the supermarket after her nap," He said.

"How exciting," Katy said to Martha as she babbled away. "Were you a good girl? Hm? Yes. Uh, huh. Interesting," She continued, playing along with her daughter. "She says she was a good girl, is this true?"

"For the most part. I just wish I could get her to stop putting things in the trolley when I turn around."

"Bad girl, Martha! You know better."

"And then there was the flour…"

"What?"

"While your mother was putting the food away Martha got into the pantry and pulled out an open bag of flour. It made a nice mess."

"Martha," Katy groaned. "You've been getting into all sorts of trouble today, haven't you?"

Martha responded with a cheeky smile.

"On the upside, she did get a nice bath because of that."

"I'm sure she loved that."

"She did, and then she got a snack."

"My God, you have it made," Katy said to Martha. "Would you like to switch places? Can I stay with Granddad while you go to work?"

"You can't stay forever, but I'm sure you could spare a few minutes."

"Why? What did you do?"

"Nothing…yet. There's something I want to run by you. It involves Martha."

"Is everything alright?"

"Of course," David said as he headed off into the kitchen, soon coming back with the flyer.

"Cutest Baby Contest?" Katy read aloud. "I don't like the idea of putting my daughter on stage in front of a room full of strangers who are judging her based on looks."

"Your mother said something similar, which I get. But, I also think it doesn't really matter too much because she's a baby."

"I don't know, Dad. I really don't need a panel of judges to tell me my Little Miss Martha is the cutest baby in Bolton."

Martha looked up at the mention of her name and her mum kissed her head.

"Neither do I, but I was drawn to the idea of winning a pushchair."

"She has a pushchair."

"It's not safe, Katy and you know that. There's a reason we haven't used it."

"We could just buy her one."

"You know we can't afford that. I simply figured that it wouldn't hurt to try and win one."

Katy thought for a moment, turning his words over in her head. 'I still don't know if I want him to put my daughter on display…But she needs a pushchair. I've wanted to take her on walks for forever, but we've never been able to afford something safe…' She sighed. "I need some time to think about it."

"That's fine. You can give me your answer tomorrow morning when you drop her off again."

"Time to go home, Martha," Katy said as she gently set her down. "Where's her jacket?"

"On the sofa with her travel blanket."

Katy nodded, and after a fifteen-minute chase, put Martha's jacket on and wrapped her in the blue, monogrammed blanket they always used when taking her out. "Say 'bye-bye' to Granddad."

Martha whined.

"Don't be like that Little Lady. You'll see me tomorrow," David said. "Kenneth is coming over so we can start a project. You can have fun with him and his nephews. They don't have school tomorrow, so they're coming too."

Martha frowned.

"Yes, I know. They took your hatbox last time."

"They took your box? How dare they?" Katy asked, receiving some babble in response. "Yes, I know. Thank you again for looking after her."

"You know it's not a problem. Your mother and I love having her."

Katy smiled as she left and headed for the bus, as she couldn't afford a car. The driver tried to give her some grief about Martha being a baby and a distraction, but she managed to convince him otherwise and sat with Martha in her lap. Luckily, Martha behaved and spent her time looking around at the people and the sites out the window until the bus stopped in front of Katy's block of flats.

When she opened the door, she wasn't surprised to find the flat empty and dirty, as usual. Though she lived with him, Martha's father, David Cutler, was almost a ghost. She never saw him, and when she did he was either drinking, sleeping or screaming at her and wanted absolutely nothing to do with his daughter simply because she existed.

"Well, I guess it's just us again," Katy sighed and Martha looked up at her with an annoyed expression and whined. "What's the matter?" She tried bouncing her, but Martha didn't laugh like she normally did, so her mother stood confused for a moment until she shifted her again. "Oh, I get it. You're aggravated because you had to wait to be changed. Well, Mummy can fix that right now." At that, Katy dropped her belongings and took Martha to her nursery, which was set up almost like the one at her parents' house. The main difference being that their set up was simplistic and only covered the basics, while this room had more to it.

"There, are you happy, now?" She asked her smiling daughter once she finished with her. "Come on. I'll find you something to play with while I clean up a bit and start supper." After some quick thinking, she ended up setting Martha up with a pot and spoon so she could keep an eye on her while she tidied up the kitchen.

'Not much to choose from here…' She thought as she scanned the pantry. 'But that's my fault for getting behind on the shopping. I'll have to scrape something together and head out tomorrow after work.' Katy sighed and finally decided to throw together a simple rice and vegetable dish. As the pots boiled, she contemplated Martha's supper and soon figured she could just eat the same thing she was.

'I hope she eats this…She's been getting a bit more selective lately…' Katy thought as she stirred the vegetables again, sighing as the door opened and closed. 'Here we go…'

"What is that racket?" Cutler snapped.

"Your daughter," Katy replied. "Don't step on Martha," She ordered as she heard footsteps.

Martha looked up when her father stepped into the kitchen, immediately dropped the spoon and crawled off. He scared her, always had. Unlike the other grownups she encountered, he was mean and always yelling and never wanted to play. He acted like she didn't exist most of the time, and when he did notice her, it was usually to yell at her for some simple, baby thing.

"You better run…Bloody fucking nipper…" He scowled at her and kicked her abandoned pot over.

"Don't you dare talk about her like that!" Katy snapped. "That's your daughter!"

"No, she's your mistake."

"For your information it takes two people to make one baby!" Katy growled as she turned off the cooker so the rice wouldn't boil over and moved to drain it. "Or did you forget that too?!"

"Look, I didn't ask for her!"

"But you did nothing to prevent her birth either! The least you could do is try a little bit!" She scowled. They had been having this argument for forever, but it never got them anywhere. "And Martha is not a mistake! You just don't want to take care of someone that's not you!"

"That's your job. You're the woman, aren't you?" Cutler asked with a superior cockiness in his voice that irritated Katherine.

Martha watched them from her spot under the table and whined. She hated it when this happened. It was loud and stressful and Mummy was mad and it was his fault. They continued on until she finally started to cry as her father banged dishes around.

"Oh, shut the fuck up!" Cutler snapped at her.

"Leave her alone!" Katy snapped as she gently coaxed her daughter out from under the table. "This is your fault!"

Martha gripped her mother's blouse and wailed louder, hoping she'd stop yelling.

"Oh, hush, Martha. It's alright. You're okay, shush…" She soothed, gently rubbing her daughter's back as she did so.

"That's it, I'm out of here. I come home expecting a nice dinner and all I get is this."

"Don't you dare pin this on me!" Katy said, knowing exactly what he was doing.

"And why shouldn't I? It's your fault I'm in this fucking mess. You and her. Things were just fine until you came along," Cutler snapped the last bit at Martha, who only cried louder as she buried her head into her mother's shoulder. At that, he simply left, slamming the door behind him.

As soon as it quieted down, Martha did too. Her mum soothed her until her cries turned into whimpers and then disappeared. "I'm so sorry, Martha." She said, truly meaning it. 'I never wanted this to happen…And, I keep thinking that maybe, one day a light will come on and he'll realise that he has a responsibility to her…Maybe I should just give up. All we ever do is argue, and when we're not screaming at each other we live in silence…But, I want my daughter to have a father…At least, I think I do…' She sighed as she set a now-calmed Martha in her highchair. After putting a bib on her, she went back to the counter she had been working at, having had to master screaming and cooking at the same time, mashed the vegetables she planned to give Martha and portioned out the plates of food.

"Here you are," Katy said as she set down Martha's bowl and spoon.

Martha glanced at the food and studied it while her mother sat down next to her. Then, finally finding it suitable, she looked at her mum and repeated her movements with the spoon. She ended up making a decent mess before giving up and whining at her mother, who laughed.

"Oh, Martha," She said as she moved her chair and took the spoon her daughter had set down. "Come on, open up."

Martha did as she was told and let her mother feed her for a bit before taking the spoon back. She tried until deciding she was done with the spoon and food and simply put her hands in the bowl.

"Don't do that," Katy said as she took the bowl away and went about cleaning up her daughter and the floor around her highchair. Sometimes she got frustrated with the messes she made, but knew it was simply part of being a mum.

Once she was clean, Katy pulled Martha out of her chair and set her up by the sink with a few blocks while she did the dishes. After they were all put away she took her time in getting Martha ready for bed by changing both her nappy and clothes, playing for a bit, and finally sitting down to nurse her. Katy noted that she had been nursing less often recently and was starting to prefer solids, but when she did want to, Martha made her opinion very clear.

After Martha was done and put down for the night, Katy sat down to design and put together some jewellery, as she was expected to have two new necklaces done by the following morning. As she worked, she glanced at the still-untouched pushchair lying against a wall in the kitchen, taking note of its condition and immediately going back to the idea her father had presented. She got up and headed over to the counter to look over the flyer he had given her.

'Perhaps it wouldn't be so bad…He is right that she's just a baby. Besides, I'm sure if she gets frustrated he'll be smart enough to pull her off the stage. And if we manage to win it would take care of this pushchair issue…' She thought as she read over the flyer again and sighed. 'Why not? It could actually be fun…' Her decision made, she sat back down and focused on her jewellery until she was ready to go to bed, waking up at her usual time of seven o'clock, unsurprised at the sight of her boyfriend passed out on the sofa.

'Whatever…' She thought as she stepped into the nursery and found a half-awake Martha sitting up in her cot. "Good morning," She said.

Martha looked up at her with a blank expression and then turned her head to the side.

Katy picked her up with a small laugh and went about getting both her daughter and herself ready for the day. Being careful to be quiet, not wanting to start the morning off with an argument by waking David up. She was out of the flat on time at eight and had Martha in her grandfather's arms by eight thirty.

"I thought about the contest," She said after giving him the usual rundown of Martha's morning. "And, if you want to sign her up, I'd be alright with it. Just promise me that you'll pull her out if she seems miserable that day."

"You know I will."

"Thanks."

"You better head out before you're late."

"Right. I'll see you later. Bye, Martha." Katy kissed her head, waved and then headed out, leaving Martha alone with Granddad.

"Guess what, Little Lady? You're going to win a pushchair. How does that sound?" David asked, receiving babble in response as she started to wiggle around. "Alright, alright…" He said as she gently set her down and took off her jacket. "Come on Martha, I have a call to make."

Martha followed as he walked away and spent some time crawling under the dining table while David dialed the number on the paper and completed the registration over the phone.

"Baby's name?" The lady on the other end asked.

"Martha Costello," David replied.

"Martha?" The lady asked as if she had heard wrong.

"Yes," He said, wondering why people often had to do a double-take upon hearing her name.

The lady raised an eyebrow that David couldn't see, but wrote it down anyway. "Age?"

"She's eight months."

"And who will be bringing her that afternoon?"

"I will."

"Relation?"

"I'm her grandfather."

"Alright. You're just about set. You're going to have to arrive early to fill out a quick questionnaire about your granddaughter for contest purposes."

"What time would you recommend?"

"Nine at the latest. The contestants are expected to be ready for lineup at ten."

"Yes ma'am. Thank you."

At that, they both hung up and Martha appeared next to David's foot. He looked down at her and picked her up. "Guess what? You're going to be in a contest. And the best part is that you don't have to do anything but be cute. And you're great at that." He kissed her head and she laughed. "Are you laughing at me?" He asked as a knock came at the door.

Upon answering it, he found Kenneth and his two nephews, whom Martha glared at.

"Nice to see you again, Ken. Boys," David nodded to the boys. "You remember Martha."

"She's dopey," The younger of the two, Christopher, said.

"No, she's a baby," David said back as he stepped aside to let them in.

"And you will be nice to her," Kenneth reminded them with a knowing look.

"Yes, Uncle," They replied as David set Martha on the floor and let her crawl off for a moment while he set out a hatbox for her. "She'll find it," He shrugged as he and his friend headed into the kitchen and left the kids alone, sitting at places where they could hover over their model and look after the kids at the same time. The children spent a few hours playing together, or rather, Martha spent a few hours making the boys play by her rules until Granddad came to get her for snack time. Awhile later, they had lunch, with the guests leaving them alone afterwards. The moment they were gone, David put Martha down for a nap and then left her with Laura after she came home from a meeting with a client.

The next few days went very much in the same pattern, except for the two when Millie offered to take Martha for the day to give her parents and sister a break. David thought about the contest, which was to be held the following Saturday, on and off, but never made a big deal of it. He heard people talk about it when he went out and thought the lengths they were going to were ridiculous.

"One woman mentioned teaching her two-year-old son how to tap dance," He said to Laura the night beforehand, having taken Martha for the evening to make it easier on him.

"They're just doing what they think they need to do to win," She replied as she watched Martha fiddle with the pasta they had made for supper. She ate it with her fingers and made a mess, but her grandparents shrugged it off, knowing that messes were simply a part of independent eating.

"I have what I need to win," David said. "My Little Lady."

Martha looked up at the mention of her and then laughed as she picked up a piece of her pasta and threw it at him.

"Martha, no," Laura scolded, gently swatting her hand.

Martha frowned, but got the hint and kept the food on her tray for the rest of the meal.

"You need a bath," David decided once they had finished.

"I'll do it this time," Laura offered. "It's your turn to clean the kitchen."

"Yes ma'am," He said, knowing she had seen through his plan to use his granddaughter to get out of dish duty.

"Come on, Martha," Laura said as she picked her up. "It's bath time." As always, the bath went smoothly until she had to get Martha out, but she ended up settling down as she was put into her pyjamas. That night, Laura ended up choosing a pair of blue footie pyjamas printed with polar bears on it. Technically, they were boy's pyjamas, but Katy had bought them because of the bears and Martha loved them, even if they did cover her feet.

"Is Katherine coming tomorrow?" Laura asked as she stepped into the kitchen.

"To the contest? No. She has a few special orders to work on for a birthday party. She said she could put them off, but I told her not to," David said.

"She feels guilty working so much."

"I know she does, but we all know that it's not for nothing. She has to for Martha's sake." He set a gentle hand on his granddaughter's head.

Martha looked up at him and smiled contently. She liked it here. She was warm and safe, and Mummy and Daddy weren't screaming at each other. Though, she liked it better when Mummy was with them, because she was happy when she was with Grandma and Granddad, and that made Martha happy.

David smiled back and carefully took her from Laura, wanting to spend some time with her before bed.

Both her grandparents led her through quiet games with her stacking rings and shapes box before putting her to bed for the night.

The following morning, David came to get her up at seven, and, after changing her, took a half-asleep, barely responsive Martha downstairs for breakfast. "You could at least be excited," He said as he set a bowl of Cheerios in front of her."It's contest day."

Martha gave a half-hearted whine and pawed at her cereal, running her hand through it a couple of times before slowly and sleepily eating.

"You are just not a morning person…" David laughed, getting a Cheerio in the face as a response.

"You deserved that one," Laura said as she presented him with a teacup. "Give her some time to wake up, will you?"

"Fine, fine…" He sighed and watched was Martha continued to slowly eat. Once she decided she was finished with the cereal, Laura gave her a bottle of baby milk and let her finish it off before handing her off to her grandfather.

"She's all yours now," She said.

"Good, because I have to get her dressed and I picked out the perfect outfit," David said as he carried Martha upstairs. He set her on the floor of the nursery while he searched for and found the outfit he had chosen, a short-sleeved, light-blue smock dress with a ruffled, double-layer skirt, and matching nappy cover. He also took a chance and set out ruffled socks to go along with it.

"Come here, Little Lady," He said, grabbing her before she could crawl out the door. He set her on the changing table to dress her, and had no problem until it came to the socks, which he spent ten minutes on. "There," He said once they were on her feet. "Now, let me just get your shoes…" He turned toward the wardrobe and took a minute to dig through it for the white mary-janes that matched the dress. When he finally found them, he turned back around to find Martha exactly as he left her minus the socks. "Where are your socks, Little Lady?"

She simply smiled in response.

David looked down at the floor, sighed and set the shoes down as he picked up the socks. He quickly put them back on her, not giving her a chance to fight and then leaned down for the shoes again, soon feeling something small fall onto his head. He looked up, the sock fell down and Martha tilted her head, her eyes saying, "You are not going to win."

"Alright, fine. You win. No socks."

Martha gave him a cheeky smile and pulled the other sock off.

David sighed and moved onto her jacket, which he got on with some struggle. "Now, let's go find your blanket and get out of here."

She responded with baby gibberish as her grandfather took her back downstairs and wrapped her in her blanket.

"Say bye-bye to Grandma for now. She'll come later," David said as he grabbed the changing bag Laura had prepared, along with a hatbox.

Martha simply watched her grandmother from over his shoulder, both confused and excited. Exited to be going out, but utterly confused as to where she was going all dressed up. And the confusion only increased as time passed and they found themselves in a rather large queue outside the theatre.

'There's so many people here…' David thought, looking around at all the adults and children. 'I guess they were all brought here with the same idea…' He then glanced at Martha, who looked up at him and whined. "What's the matter with my Little Lady?" He asked as he gently bounced her.

Martha whined again and wrapped an arm around him to pull herself closer.

"Are you cold? Is that it? We'll be inside soon, I promise." He adjusted her blanket.

After a few more minutes in the cold, she started to whimper, and was soon wrapped in the extra blanket that had been put into the changing bag.

"Better?" He asked as he rubbed her back and they finally stepped inside.

"Name?" A woman asked once they reached the registration desk.

"Costello."

"David?"

"Yes."

The woman looked up and smiled as she met Martha's curious gaze. "If you're David, then you must be Martha."

Martha smiled at the mentioned of her name.

"You're very pretty, Miss Martha," The woman said as she handed over a paper and a number. "You're also number fourteen."

David looked over the paper, which was the mentioned questionnaire, thanked the woman and walked off to the side to fill it out. After handing it in, he made his way backstage and sat apart from everyone, observing them and their children while Martha sat in his lap playing with a stuffed animal he found in the changing bag. As she played, he noticed some parents fussing over hair, clothes, everything… One to his left was discussing routines and dancing, while another to his left talked about getting in a last-minute practice run while his young daughter screamed in his arms.

'It's a cuteness contest…not a talent show…' David thought as he looked down at Martha and was soon joined by a man holding the hand of his year-and-a-half old son. They made small talk while the boy studied Martha curiously.

"Baby?" He said.

"That's right, she's a baby," David replied while Martha babbled and chewed on her teddy's ear.

"Talk?"

"No, she doesn't really talk yet. She's too young."

"Then what's that?" The father asked of Martha's babbling.

"We call that 'speaking Martha.' No one's quite sure what she's saying, but she doesn't seem to mind at all," David explained, stopping when Martha screamed. He quickly looked down and found her fighting with the boy for her teddy bear.

"Joseph! No!" The father scolded, quickly slapping his hands. "We do not take things that don't belong to us. Can you apologize to Martha?"

Joseph tilted his head, just a tiny bit confused with his dad's words.

"Say you're sorry," He clarified.

"Sowwy," Joseph muttered.

Martha whined at him in response.

"Never mind her," David said. "Thank you for apologizing. That's very big of you," He praised.

Joseph smiled and then looked up as his mother approached.

"There you are! I feel like I've been looking forever!" She said as she picked her son up. "Auntie has your suit all ready now."

Joseph frowned as his mother carried him off and his father followed after proper departure words were exchanged.

As soon as they were gone, David stood, tired of sitting and took Martha for a brief walk around the theatre, stopping once to change her, and then several other times for conversation until the announcement was made for lineup. "You're number fourteen, so we have time," He said as he set Martha down and pinned her number to her dress.

Martha looked down at it and pulled at it a minute, trying to figure it out, but ultimately left it alone, as it didn't bother her. She would have only had an issue if he dared to put it on her head or feet.

"Good girl," He said when she put the number down. "Here." He handed back her teddy and they played until they called the contestant before her. "Come on, Little Lady." He quickly picked her up off the floor where she had settled and grabbed the box, silently shaking his head as he watched another mum's attempt at making a kid under two dance and perform tricks like a dog. She ended up carrying him off crying, but the emcee ignored it as he flipped pages.

"Thank you, Geoffrey," He said. "Next up is contestant number fourteen, Martha."

David took in a breath and carried her out on stage. He set her down in the middle of it and watched as she looked out at the audience.

Martha wasn't quite sure what to think of all the people watching her. She was a bit confused, but she wasn't bothered by it, as they weren't bothering her. She simply looked around and then crawled out towards the spotlight.

"As we admire Miss Martha, we notice her blonde hair and blue eyes," The emcee read off of his sheet.

As she moved, David picked up the box he had set down, held it up for the audience to see and then put it down in Martha's sights. "Martha…" He called.

Martha stopped, looked over at him and squealed in delight when she noticed the box. In an instant she was at his side and crawling into the box while the audience silently laughed and the Emcee continued reading off details from the questionnaire.

"Martha may be daughter of Katherine, but she is most definitely Granddad's girl. Three words that describe Martha are cute, cheeky and classy," He read with a smile as he watched Martha roll the hatbox across the stage, just happy to be playing, thinking this was a nice change from all the parents who had been trying to force their children to put on a show.

David quickly made his way to where the box was heading and rolled it back to her.

Martha laughed and let it settle in the middle of the stage so she could climb into it again.

"Martha's favourite food is strawberries, her favourite person is her Granddad and her ambition is to make lots of money to support Granddad's habits," The emcee continued.

Martha ignored everything going on around her, just happy to have a hatbox and a space. She smiled at her grandfather as he handed her the lid and let her hold it on her head. She then turned to the audience and judges, curious as to what they were all staring at. She turned the lid over in her hands a few times, set it down and tried to crawl out of the box again, slipping once her hand hit the stage. She let out a surprised squeal as she fell, but did nothing more afterwards. She simply looked around and then propped herself back up with a frustrated frown.

The judges smiled, the audience laughed and Martha was dismissed, her timeslot over.

"Good job, Little Lady," David praised as he picked her up.

Martha whined in response and wiggled around, wanting to keep playing.

"We can play backstage," He said as he put her over his shoulder and the carefully leaned down to retrieve part of the box, the lid being grabbed by a stagehand.

Backstage, he settled in another chair and set Martha in his lap to give her a snack, watching as she settled down when presented with pieces of berry flavoured cereal. Once she finished, he sought out Laura, who had been in the audience and they took Martha for another walk around the theatre.

"I saw you up there with your box," Laura said to her.

Martha laughed and earned a kiss on the head in response.

"No matter what they decide, you'll always be the cutest baby in Bolton."

"Cutest and cheekiest," David added.

Martha laughed again and wrapped an arm around her grandmother's neck as they made their way back to the backstage area, where both they and other children played with Martha until all the contestants were called out on stage for a last round of applause and small awards were given out with Martha receiving two: prettiest eyes and best personality, for which she was given two custom-made rattles.

"Even if we don't win, Grandma's right. You're the cutest," David said as they called the two runner-ups.

"Finally, the moment you've all been waiting for," The emcee said. "Our overall cutest baby and winner of a new pushchair…" There was a pause as he looked over the sheet. "Contestant number fourteen…Miss Martha Costello."

David stepped forward with her, noting how her grandmother cheered her on from the audience. Martha was then given a sash, trophy, and a little crown, which she promptly threw off her head.

"She doesn't do hats," David explained to the stagehand, who laughed it off.

After a quick photo, they were led off the stage and sent out into the hall where two other volunteers were fiddling with the pushchair.

"Blue ribbons or pink?" A lady asked.

"Both," David said.

Martha simply watched, eyes wide as she stared at the black canopy pushchair.

"That's yours," David said as he bounced her. "You won that all by yourself. Okay…Granddad helped a little bit, but it was mostly you, Little Lady."

Once they finished with the ribbons, the two women showed David and Laura how to fold and store it and helped put it in his car. "I think we're going to go see Katy," He said. "I want to show her."

"That's fine. I have a bit of shopping to do."

They exchanged a kiss before he headed off, taking Martha to the handmade jewellery shop where her mother worked. He set the chair up outside the shop and settled Martha in it before heading inside.

"Can I help you?" The girl behind the counter asked.

"Yes, I'm here to see Katy. I'm her father and this is her daughter," David replied politely.

"Who?"

"Katy. Katy Costello," He said, figuring she must be new, as he had never seen her before.

"Ooh…Hold on." The girl headed into the back and soon, Katy emerged.

"Dad? What are you doing here? Is something wrong?" She asked as she stepped out.

"Not at all, I just have a surprise for you. Come closer."

Katy did so and gasped. "My God, this looks expensive. Where did you…?"
"We won the contest."

"What?"

"Yup."

"Look at you," Katy said to Martha. "Did you win this? Did my Little Miss Martha win herself a pushchair?"

Martha babbled in response.

"You did? Good job!"

Martha laughed and reached a hand out.

Katy took it and smiled. "I guess I'm not the only one who thinks you're the cutest baby in Bolton."

Martha simply smiled and looked around the shop.

"I'm going to take her for her first walk, do you want to come?" David asked.

"Let me ask the manager if I can take a break and I'll let you know," She said as she headed off.

After explaining the situation, her manager allowed her a ten minute break, so she took advantage and quickly headed out, pleased to see how happy Martha was with her pushchair and how excited she got while looking at everything. There was a moment where Martha looked up at her and they locked eyes and smiled. They both seemed to know that they needed to take advantage of this peaceful moment, and they did. Just happy to be together and be, as small as it was, a family.