Rock a bye baby chapter 2
For disclaimer see chapter 1.
Ez/Vin slash ( v. mild )
The new daddies take delivery of their little bundles of joy!
Chris Larabee sat in his office as his men went about their business, clearing their workloads in preparation for the coming month long experiment. Chris had hated the idea when it was put to him and he still hated it now that it was about to become a reality. His team were there to protect the citizens of Denver and it's environs from gun runners and other high end criminals, not to take PR lessons from sociologists. And yet he had to admit that once the shock had worn off his men had seemed more relaxed than they had in a while. It had been a tough year which had nearly resulted in them losing Ezra and Vin to a mobster's bullets . Perhaps they all needed this respite from the tension. Then he remembered his own experience of trying to get Adam back to sleep at three in the morning and he smiled a wicked little smile. After a month of screaming infants arms dealers would be a breeze.
By the time five o'clock rolled round most of the other teams had stopped by to 'congratulate' the new parents. Their delight in the suffering of team 7 ended when they were informed that not only were they next on the planned schedule of guinea pigs but that Ezra's eidetic memory was being put to good use in remembering exactly who they would need to 'thank' for their comments when the whole thing was over. A quick look at Ezra's placid countenance and Chris's feral grin had most of them making hasty departures.
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Moira Carter's first stop next morning was to the residence of Josiah Sanchez. It seemed that his parenting partner had been as excited as the profiler since he had moved in straight away, the previous evening, and was waiting with Josiah for her arrival. On paper this pairing were predicted to do extremely well and their enthusiasm was a good start.
Nathan had slept surprisingly well in Josiah's spare room. A good nights sleep had gone some way to dispelling the memory of Rain's disbelief and, even more humiliatingly, her laughter, at the thought of him as a parent. Considering that they had recently been discussing whether to try for a baby immediately after their marriage in ten months time it didn't do much for his self esteem. Her apology and explanation that it was the combination of him and Josiah that she found funny had been slightly soothing but the frequent bursts of giggles and texting of friends had undermined the effect. Still he didn't see how hard it could be…what did she know anyway….just because she was a paediatric nurse.
Josiah was confident that they were going to win this competition hands down. He still wasn't quite sure how exactly it had become a competition, although he'd put his money on Ezra being somewhere at the heart of it…that and the building wide betting pool that had sprouted within hours. But he had the utmost confidence in his and Nathan's natural nurturing abilities… and the stack of baby books that they had purchased on the way home. From what he could gather these simulacrums were very much like real babies in their needs and responses. So what would work for flesh and blood should be adaptable for plastic and computer chip.
Both men stared down at the seemingly extremely small doll in it's carrier that Moira Carter set upon the dining room table.
"Shouldn't it move or something?" asked Nathan as he reached out a long finger to give it a poke.
Josiah batted his hand away but then couldn't resist giving the carrier a nudge.
No reaction.
Moira watched with amusement evident on her features. They nearly always reacted like this at first. She also loved the look of embarrassment that always followed her statement of
"It hasn't been activated yet gentlemen."
"Oh!" Came the joint reply and twin blushes.
Moira smiled and handed over a set of books.
"Gentlemen. These are your bibles for the next four weeks. The thickest one is the user manual for your baby….don't panic" she reassured them as they stared with horror at the tome. This includes the technical specs. This" she held up a thinner publication "contains the day to day instructions for use. The last three are your log book and private journals. So Josiah, Nathan, are you ready to meet your baby?"
Both men looked down at the very realistic infant, which seemed to be about ten or so weeks old. The baby had coffee coloured skin and a decent head of dark brown hair. They knew that the eyes, if they had been opened, would be chocolate brown just like Nathan's. They nodded at the sociologist.
"Congratulations gentlemen, it's a boy." Both men looked at Ms Carter in surprise. Somehow, for some reason, they had not expected the ersatz child to have a gender. Moira was used to that reaction too and didn't embarrass either agent by calling them on it. "So, can I put a name down on your records?"
She agreed to a nice cup of tea while a hasty discussion took place. The result was duly noted and with a touch of a key on her laptop baby Michael, Joseph, Sanchez - Jackson was activated.
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"Goodness, this is quite a…er…unique apartment" Moira exclaimed as she was admitted to Casa Wilmington - Dunne. The previous evening had seen a tidying campaign of epic proportions but somehow the atmosphere of 'bachelor pad' was still strong. JD figured that the large posters of semi-naked women and motorbikes…and semi-naked women ON motorbikes didn't help much….but at least you could now see the carpet and the throw pillows were fluffed. He nudged the empty…well probably empty…pizza box under the sofa with his foot as Buck worked his charm on the attractive bringer of their bundle of joy.
Unlike Josiah and Nathan JD snapped up the technical manual while Buck took custody of the simplified 'Babies for Dummies' version. Also unlike their two colleagues the less organized agents had name selections ready and the choice of Bucklin John Junior was bestowed on the black haired blue eyed infant. Their confidence rapidly died, however, the moment Moira activated the child and it began to cry. Moira left to the sight of JD frantically consulting the index of the manual while Buck held two sets of earplugs aloft triumphantly.
Moira reflected that she wouldn't want to be the person who had backed that duo in the betting pool…there was always a betting pool!
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"I…um…I'm sorry Ms Carter. Chris had a previous engagement he couldn't cancel. He sends his apologies." Vin thought that sounded a lot better than the actual words his leader and best friend had spoken which had gone something like … 'Tell the damn woman that I'll be out with the horses doing something useful with my time rather than play house with my Barbie dolls.' From Moira's sympathetic smile he didn't think she was fooled but she obviously took pity on him, for which he was grateful.
Moira sighed quietly. She had been unsure of the widower's ability to deal with this kind of situation and it looked like she was right. It wouldn't reflect negatively on Mr Tanner's final assessment but she felt sorry for the soft spoken Texan. She handed him the requisite paperwork and was quite touched as the supposedly hardened agent gently caressed the small fingers of his infant. He had been the only one so far to touch his simulacrum…it was always a good sign. She introduced the blue eyed man to his blue eyed, blond haired 'daughter' who he immediately named Alice May Tanner - Larabee, explaining that the names were those of his mother and grandmother. Part of her noted that their leader seemed to have played no part in the naming. She understood completely since choosing a name for his lost son would have been a special memory; she was pleased to note, however, that Vin had personalized his choice. Messers Buck and JD had just chosen their own first names, explaining that neither would inflict such names on any future real offspring and , of course, the first two agents visited had done the verbal equivalent of sticking a pin at random into a book. She had good feelings about Vin Tanner but feared he was going to be almost as much a single parent as his colleague Mr Standish. And that was her final stop…she was not looking forward to explaining to the agent that the computer generated these things totally at random. The poor man!
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Ezra P. Standish was one of the best undercover agents in the business, possibly THE best.
He was unflappable, unshakeable, and prepared to overcome any possible situation no matter how dangerous or difficult.
He had been trained by, and survived, the FBI.
He had been raised by, and survived, Maude Standish.
He had the sudden urge to sit down, and possibly faint.
He, of course, did neither. Instead he accepted Ms Carter's apologies and explanations with his normal grace and good manners. He listened to the instructions and accepted the books and other paraphernalia he was offered.
He then looked down and watched as Moira introduced him to his brown haired 'son' who he named Ethan Patrick Standish, after his grandfather and his father.
And his blond haired 'daughter' who was given the names Victoria Rose after a favourite Aunt and his paternal grandmother.
Moira had only ever had to 'deliver' twins twice before and neither had been a pleasant occasion. It was the first time a single parent had been so allocated and she wouldn't have blamed agent Standish if he had attempted to turn one away…not that he could technically but an exception might have been argued. However the look of pain on his face as he refused to abandon either child as unwanted, despite their unreal status, sent a shiver down her spine; those treated the least well in their own childhoods were often the ones who became most involved in the program. As the southerner stroked the hair of the little girl she saw a kindred spirit with the team's sharpshooter. She hoped that they would help each other out since they seemed to have been given the greatest burdens.
As with the other participants she handed over all that they would need to care for their infant along with clothing and a special diaper which connected to an access point so that computer information could be recorded. This, she explained, was how the babies worked. They cried and even moved about, their eyes and mouths opened and shut but they did not actually drink or perform other bodily functions. They did, however, send through body language and verbal communication, signs of these functions. The little bodies registered body temperature and water temperature when being bathed, yes they were waterproof. They also registered the temperature of the milk that was heated for them…that being one of the tasks whose competency was marked. And the amount of time left unattended, with an unchanged diaper or not cuddled were also recorded and submitted to the central computer. She made it clear to Ezra, as she had done to the others that all details would be collated and an overall assessment would be given. She then wished him, as she had the others, good luck…thinking that he would perhaps need more than most, before activating his twins and leaving him gazing down at two sets of intense green eyes.
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JD had quickly worked out how to unplug the diaper from the babies torso, plug it into the accompanying laptop to download the instruction which confirmed that said garment had been 'changed' and return the pin to it's connector which switched from red to green indicating that the body had accepted a successful diaper change.
Buck removed his earplugs with a sigh of relief and wondered where he'd put his half eaten pizza from the night before.
Nathan and Josiah were studiously ignoring the cries of their infant. They had checked that it's cry did not indicate hunger or diaper issues and had followed the instructions in the baby care book that they had purchased which recommended a structured approach to attention giving. It was by a renowned baby author and would obviously give the duo an edge over those following the guidelines on general baby care in the official manual. Nathan carefully entered their reasoning in both the log book and the journal and to their delight the sounds of distress cut off ten minutes later.
Unseen by the two men a red LED flashed for a few seconds before the infant settled into 'sleep mode'
Chris Larabee, upon finally meeting his and Vin's 'offspring' immediately laughed and accused Vin of having an affair with Mary Travis, the blond haired daughter in law of their boss and watched with a mixture of exasperation and bemusement as his friend, who seemed to be taking things a little too seriously, set up the sterilizer which would record the cleanliness of the baby bottles, another task to receive marks. As far as the leader of team 7 was concerned anything which might cast doubt on the tough image of said team could do nothing but harm. So they were occasionally a little sharp with members of the public and the media but they'd usually just saved their asses or averted a possible massacre or two so he figured that they deserved to be cut some slack. Of course it was a rock and a hard place situation. Get a too good assessment on this and lose your rep'. Get a bad one and endure months of mandatory psych appointments. He watched as Vin fussed, smirking at the sudden display of domesticity. He'd let Vin play house and keep his own reputation as a surly bastard intact. Best of both worlds…a favourable assessment and a still strong 'bad element' image.
Vin frowned in annoyance. He knew that Chris was finding this difficult but did he have to be so dismissive. Not to play down his grief, a grief which Vin wouldn't wish on anyone; but he had a sort of grief of his own…a secret one that nobody could understand. His friend could still have another family, which while never able to replace the one he had lost would at least help fill the empty space in the man's heart; Well, it would if he'd get off the fence with Mary. But how could he explain that this was as close as he would ever get. That for someone who was more likely to fall in love with a man than a woman babies were a pipe dream. Well unless you were rich and or famous and could afford a surrogate baby - and even then he was sure that would go down like a lead balloon with the Federal authorities. Don't ask don't tell only went so far. This was his pale reflection of a chance to find out what sort of father he would have been. He just couldn't tell Chris that…not when he hadn't even told the man that he swung both ways.
Ezra had successfully completed one double feeding and a single diaper change and was completely unaware that his thoughts of loneliness and the unlikelihood of ever being a parent were mirroring his sharpshooter colleague's. He was aware, looking down at the sleeping babies, that even though he could not remember her he would always feel the missing space in his heart left by the loss of his own twin who had not survived more than a few hours after birth.
He frowned suddenly, and pursed his lips. He was also aware that no child of his, be it real or simulated, was going to be seen around town in such repulsive garments. He just had time for a quick shopping trip before their rendezvous at the Travis's home for afternoon tea. He then took note of all the items he would need to take on his journey, including the babies, and decided that the days of doing anything quickly were gone for the next month.
TBC
Thanks so much for giving this a try. It may be a little odd but at least it's different! And no, our lonely boys are not aware of each other yet but I'm sure that the babies will bring them closer together soon. Also since I'm British I may get some terminology wrong baby-wise. I'm aware of diaper instead of nappy and pacifier instead of dummy but please don't hesitate to correct me…it's the only way I'll learn.