Bert paced back and forth as he waited for Ralph and Melissa to return with the baby. He had made sure to put away any of his stuff that a baby could choke on, such as his racecar and airplane. Bert figured it was better to do it now, before Kit learned to crawl and started trying to put inedible things in her mouth.
The door opened, and in came the complete Raccoon family, with Ralph pushing Kit in a frilly baby carriage (this wasn't really to his taste, but it was another gift from Lady Baden-Baden, and Ralph appreciated that it was more practical than the rattle).
"Hi, guys!" Bert said, coming over to get his first good look at Kit. "I left Broo with Schaeffer. I don't know how he'd react around the baby."
"I think it would have been okay," Ralph said, "though I guess you can't be too careful."
Melissa lifted Kit out of the baby carriage, and Bert noticed what Kit was wrapped in.
"She's wearin' the sweater I made!"
"Yeah," Melissa said. "She seems to really like it, too. Want to hold her?"
"Oh, sure!" Bert said happily. He'd been looking forward to being able to hold Kit.
Melissa carefully placed Kit in Bert's arms, and gently made sure Bert's arm was in the right position to support Kit's head. The baby wriggled in Bert's arms, and he hoped he wouldn't drop her.
Bert smiled nervously.
"Hi, Kit!"
Kit stared at Bert for a moment, as if contemplating whether or not she liked him. Then, to Bert's dismay, she began to cry. He handed the baby back to Melissa, and Kit stopped crying right away.
"Did I do somethin' wrong?" Bert asked.
"No, Bert," Ralph said, "she just doesn't know you, yet. Give her some time and she'll get used to you."
George, Nicole, Lisa, and Bentley came by a little later, George having brought some lasagna for dinner.
Bert stepped back as the rest of the family sat by Melissa and took turns holding Kit.
"Lisa, I think she looks like you when you were a baby," George said fondly.
"Ah, Dad!" Lisa said with false modesty.
"No, she doesn't," Bentley said. "Kit's cute."
"Bentley!" Nicole said sternly, as Lisa glared at her brother.
Over in the corner, Bert noticed that Kit didn't cry when anyone else held her.
Kit's first night at home wasn't the easiest, to put it lightly. She cried and cried. Ralph and Melissa took turns trying to quiet Kit down. They fed her, burped her, and changed her, but nothing made the baby stop crying. Given that a premature baby had a weak immune system, Melissa thought Kit being sick was the most likely (and most concerning) possibility. However, when Ralph and Melissa checked Kit's temperature, they found she did not have a fever, and getting her temperature taken only made Kit cry more.
"What are we doing wrong?" Melissa was close to tears.
Ralph rubbed Melissa's back.
"I don't think we're doing anything wrong. It might be colic."
Kit quieted a little, and Melissa lowered her back into her crib.
But then, Kit made little sounds that sounded like "Naaa, Naaa, Naa," as if she were trying to say, " No, don't leave me!"
Bert had also been kept awake by Kit's crying, but at first, he didn't want to get involved. He didn't want to overstep his bounds.
Since he was awake, Bert figured he could get himself a midnight snack. Of course, his midnight snack was a peanut butter sandwich.
When Bert was a kid, he often made peanut butter sandwiches for himself. His mom had to work a lot, which meant Bert had to make his own food a lot of the time. Peanut butter sandwiches were the easiest thing for a kid to make.
After finishing his sandwich, Bert went into the living room and tried to read some Luke Warm books, but the baby's crying distracted him, and he gave up.
Melissa and Ralph came into the living room, with Ralph holding the still wailing Kit.
"Maybe she needs to be fed again," Ralph said in a slightly dazed voice. "I'll make her another bottle, and some tea for us."
Melissa took Kit and sat on the couch next to Bert.
"I'm not sure what to do, Bert," Melissa said, and Bert noticed that she sounded as though she was crying, too. "I think Ralph and I have tried everything."
Bert wasn't sure, either. He liked kids, but never considered himself the fatherly type, and he had never been around many babies.
"Uh...have ya tried singin' her a lullaby?"
Melissa's tired eyes brightened.
"Oh, Bert, you're brilliant! When Ralph and I left her those recordings in the hospital, she must have gotten used to hearing us sing, but we haven't done that since she got home!"
Melissa slowly rocked Kit and began to sing "Run With Us."
Bert also sung to Kit, though not the same song. He sang, "Hang On, Hold On," because it was in his (admittedly limited) vocal range.
To Bert's surprise, Kit did stop crying as Melissa and Bert sang. She yawned softly and looked over at her mother and Bert as though she were really and intently listening to the songs.
"Wow," Bert said, "I wasn't sure if that would work."
"She knows the sound of your voice, Bert," Melissa said. "When Ralph and I left the tape for her in the hospital, it had a recording of your voice, too, singing that song."
Kit's tiny paws clung to Bert's soft sweater, and she stared up at him in a way that might have been trust.
Bert beamed.
"Hey, she likes me! Or at least my singing and my sweater, anyway."
Ralph was tempted to make some barb about Bert's singing, but decided this wasn't a good time. Part of it was gratitude towards Bert, and part of it was because Ralph had realized, in his sleep-deprived state, he had somehow put baby formula in the teakettle and tea in the baby bottle. He had to go back to the kitchen and fix his mix-up.
Ralph and Melissa didn't have many visitors for the first week after bringing Kit home, at least not outside of family. Melissa was still anxious about Kit getting sick.
Cedric was fine with that, as he was still trying to catch up with Sophia. She was spending a week in the forest for Spring Break. One night, Sophia waited patiently in Sneer Mansion for Cedric to come downstairs for their date.
Cyril passed Sophia, almost in a trance like the time the Pigs hypnotized him. In this case, he wasn't hypnotized, just continuing to deal with anxieties he wasn't used to. Helping Melissa had made him feel better, but not fully.
"Hello, Mr Sneer," Sophia said sweetly.
Cyril made a strange half-jump and looked at Sophia.
"Oh, it's you. Cedric should be down in a minute; he was going over some books. Ever since we've become partners, he's had a lot more responsibilities."
He said this as though he expected Sophia to be completely unfamiliar with the idea of having responsibilities, but Sophia ignored that.
"Is something bothering you, Mr Sneer?" Sophia asked with genuine concern. "You looked sad."
"Why should I tell you, Sofa Girl?" Cyril snapped. "You can't keep secrets. I bet you couldn't keep a secret even if someone bribed you."
"Well, Mr Sneer, if I'm bad at keeping secrets, it's only because my parents taught me to be honest," Sophia said calmly. "My mother likes to say that a secret is no better than a lie."
For once, Cyril was unable to come up with a rebuttal. Cyril went, "Hmph," and walked to his office without answering Sophia. She thought this was rude, but didn't let it bother her, having come to expect rudeness from Cyril.
The other reason why Cyril didn't answer Sophia was because he didn't want to admit she had a point. He knew he shouldn't keep secrets from Cedric, especially about his mother.
Cedric passed Cyril on his way downstairs.
"Bye, Pop!"
Cyril wanted to tell Cedric when he should come home, but decided not to. Since Cedric was now Cyril's partner, Cyril was trying not to treat Cedric like a child. Not all the time, anyway. Even after all these years, even though Cedric was no longer a small, sick baby, Cyril still worried about him.
Cyril would tell Cedric the full story of what had happened to his mother, but not quite yet. Cyril still needed to find something important, something Sarah had meant to give Cedric. It might have been too late for Sarah to give Cedric her gift, but one of her favourite sayings had been, "Better late than never. Except with mortgage payments; those should always be made on time."