6156. Anyone wanting to volunteer for babysitting must go through mental screening. Not because we question your sanity, but because we question whether or not you'll still be sane afterwards.
Yokosuka.
"Are you sure you can handle this alone Maya? I can ask Tenryu if Hibiki or Inazuma could come over, just until Chokai and Haguro come back."
"Onee-chan, don't worry. Chokai and Haguro will be back in a little while, and the kids just fell asleep, right?" At Takao's nod, she continued. "Then I'll be fine. Now, you and Myoko go with Atago and Ashigara and relax."
"Alright, then" said Takao. "We should be back in a few hours."
Atago poked her head through the door. "Everybody ready?"
"Yes, Atago. I'll be right out."
"Now, sis, you go and have fun. I'm serious. Everything will be fine."
Ten minutes later...
Maya sat in the chair next to her nieces, reading. She looked up as a quiet noise came from the cradle. Ami was stirring, and Maya gently picked her up without disturbing her sisters. She rocked her gently for a few minutes, until she was firmly asleep again. Assuring herself that neither Makoto or Hotaru was about to follow their middle sibling's example, she ducked into the kitchen to grab some water. She had just gotten back when she stepped on a rattle that had been siting on the floor.
"Damn. What's that doing the.." Maya stopped when she heard another noise from the cradle. She looked down to see all three of her nieces wide awake, and staring at her.
"Hey kids, you didn't hear that, alright?" Maya said nervously. "And I'm guessing all three of you want to go back to sleep, right?"
Three sets of lavender eyes began blinking rapidly, and their mouths started to twitch.
Crap
"WAAAH!"
Meanwhile, at the mall...
"How do you think Maya's doing?" asked Myoko.
"Oh fine. Haguro and Chokai should be there by now." said Ashigara.
"Besides, what's the worst that could happen?" asked Atago.
The house
If it wasn't for the fact that her ears were on the verge of shattering, Maya would have been impressed by how well harmonized her nieces were. She also was coming to the conclusion that Takao and Myoko had a decided advantage when it came to calming their daughters. Since there were two of them, they actually had enough arms to hold them when all three were going ballistic. Speaking of hands, thought Maya. Where the heck are Chokai and Haguro?
"So, when did the driver say that the replacement bus should get here?" asked Haguro.
"About an hour or so. Any luck calling Maya?"
"No service, on either your phone or mine."
"I hope she's managing well on her own."
Maya was fighting a losing battle. She'd barely be able to quiet two of them in her arms before the third would set them off again. Holding a wailing Makoto in one hand, she flipped through the set of instructions Takao had left her in case of an emergency. "Okay, okay. Let's see: In case all three start crying and don't stop, play music from CD player and rock cradle to the rhythm. Maybe that'll work."
She laid Makoto next to Ami and Hotaru, and started the player. The sounds of a soft lullaby filled the nursery, and Maya gently rocked the cradle along with it. Her nieces started to quiet down, and their eyelids fluttered as the music played on. As their eyes firmly closed, Maya dared to hope. And that was the exact moment that the old CD player let loose a blast of static, tuning out the lullaby and setting all three off again.
"Oh, come on!"
Meanwhile...
"What do you mean, another hour!?" asked Chokai.
"Yeah, what gives?" grumbled another passenger.
The beleaguered bus driver gripped his hat nervously. "Well, the bus coming to pick us up had a flat, and they don't have a spare, so the mechanic has to come from the depot to bring it."
Haguro rolled her eyes. "How many busses does your company have?"
"Uh, about a dozen or so, why?"
"Do any of them happen to work?"
The young driver shook his head. "Honestly, this bus is usually the reliable one."
Back at the house, Maya was at her wit's end. Nothing she had tried was working. She flipped to the last page of the instructions, hoping for a miracle. At the bottom of the page, there was a little note: If you're reading this, than I'm not sure what's wrong. Hopefully by this time you've called us and we're on our way back, but if for some reason we can't be there, I only have one more idea on how to handle this. Go to the closet in the bedroom, and get my beret. It's fallen into the cradle a couple times, and each time it's managed to quiet them. How or why I don't know, and honestly, I have no clue if those other times were simply flukes, but if you're here, well, desperate times call for desperate measures.
-Takao
"What do I got to lose?" asked Maya, as she rushed into the closet and grabbed her sister's blue beret, and gently put it in the cradle. It was like a switch had been pulled. Makoto, Ami, and Hotaru stopped crying and wiggled over to the beret, rested their heads against it, and fell asleep. Maya's bloodshot eye's twitched, and a mad laugh escaped her lips. "A hat? All I had to do was get a bloody hat?"
Shaking, she sat back down on the chair, and stared at the cradle.
An hour later, Chokai and Haguro finally made it back to the house and found a slightly disturbing sight. Makoto, Ami, and Hotaru were sleeping peacefully, clutching Takao's beret, but Maya was staring off into space. When they walked into the room, she stood up, walked out, and passed out, face down, on the couch.
When Takao, Myoko, and company came back, they found that Maya hadn't moved from the couch, where Chokai was watching her.
"What happened!?" asked Takao.
"Well, we got delayed on the bus, and if this baby monitor is accurate, then Mako, Ami, and Hotaru gave her a private concert." said Haguro as she walked out of the nursery.
"A hat. All it took was a bloody hat" said Maya from the couch.
Everyone in the room just stared at her, wondering what the heck she was talking about.
"What hat?" asked Ashigara.
"Haguro-chan, was my beret in the cradle?"
"Yes, how did you know?"
"That is the last resort when it comes to calming them..." before she could finish, the sounds of stirring could be heard over the baby monitor. Maya abruptly sat straight up, stared at the monitor, and after a few seconds, the stirring stopped, and she promptly collapsed back on to the couch.
Chokai was the first to speak afterwards. "Nee-san, why don't you and Myoko watch the kids while the four of us get Maya to the psychologist."