December 25, 1985
He's awake Steph." Lindsey comes up behind her and kisses her cheek. Eliza was doing her hair and makeup for the Christmas Parade.
"So, change his diaper, and feed him." Stevie replies.
"But what, what should I feed him?" He asks.
"Um...baby oatmeal and formula." Stevie explains as Eliza has her open her mouth for lipstick.
"Do you want me to pack anything for brunch at your mother's?"
"Ah-Als."
"What?" Lindsey asks.
"AH-ALLLS." She tries to annunciate as Eliza did her lipstick.
"Apples?" Lindsey tries to decipher.
Stevie gives a thumbs up and Lindsey snorts kissing the top of her head.
"Don't fuck that bun up." Eliza growls.
"Sorry, I'll leave you be." Lindsey holds his hands up and leaves the room to go attend to the baby.
He was already dressed and ready to go wearing his red button down and tight grey dress pants. He was slightly worried that William would get baby food all over it though because when Lindsey feeds him, it's messy and when he tries to clean him, he face plants on Lindsey's arm or hip, whatever is closest to him at the time.
At six months old, Dr. Waller okayed them to let him sleep in his own nursery which they were grateful for, but it was only the second night and people-Stevie-weren't adjusting well to it. She was up every hour on the hour the night before peeping in and checking on him to make Sure he was okay.
Stevie had decided that every year for Christmas, she'd get William a new pair of Christmas jammies. This year they were green footie pajamas with Christmas lights all over them. Lindsey picked him up and changed his diaper and then headed downstairs to work on feeding him the oatmeal and the formula that Stevie had requested.
When she appeared downstairs, she had a hold of a red and black plaid button down-esque onesie, a pair of black pants and a black bowtie. She was all dressed in ready in her queen outfit for the day. Her tiara was on her head and she had on a red mermaid a-line dress. It was very simple, very elegant. It showed off her assets the right way and over her shoulders she had a black shawl.
"How's my handsome man."
"I'm great, what about you?" Lindsey gives a cocky smily spooning some oatmeal into William's mouth.
"I wasn't talking about you." Stevie swoops down and kisses William's little cheek. He really did look exactly like Lindsey and it was so scary. Straight down to the brown little curls forming on his head.
"I'm hurt. Am I not handsome?" He asks.
"Mmm, no, you're sexy." She smirks combing through William's hair with her fingers. It was too fine for a brush, but it was too curly to not be brushed so she often found herself combing through his hair with her sharp red fingernails.
"Well I guess sexy is a step up from handsome." He smirks.
"Yes, yes it is. Is he finished?" Stevie asks.
"He hasn't had his formula yet but he's about done with the oatmeal yeah."
"Great. Let's go wash you little man." Stevie kisses his temple plucking him out of the high chair.
She sets him on the counter and expertly wipes his face and his hands and Lindsey gapes on. "What?" Stevie inquires.
"Every time I try to do that, he face plants on my chest, my arm, my hip whatever is closet to him." Lindsey pouts.
"It's simple really..." Stevie smirks.
"What?"
"I'm his mother and mother knows best." She smiles.
"You are something else." He laughs.
"Now, let's get you dressed and we can go, yes we can, yes we can." Stevie coos rubbing her nose with the baby's.
***
The parade was always the same. Slightly chilly, but it was something they had to get used to. At least Stevie's shawl gave her some warmth. They loaded up and Stevie always took up the helm except this time, she looked at it and looked at the people around her. She bit her lip and Barbara cocked an eyebrow.
"What's wrong?" Barbara asks.
"I want to hold him." She looks at the baby who had fallen asleep in Lindsey's arms.
"He's your baby." Barbara shrugs.
"Yeah, but I don't want him at the helm it's not that sturdy up there and..."
"Teedee, you don't have to be confined to that spot. You can move around. If you want to hold him, take him from Lindsey and hold him." Barbara states.
"Yeah?"
"Yeah."
"Okay." So she did, she walked up to Lindsey and she grabbed the sleeping baby and she situated him in her arms.
Lindsey smiled at her and fixed his blanket around him and then the float lurked and they were off marking the beginning of the parade. The royal march coming front the marching band in front of them. Stevie was worried about William's ears, but he didn't even flinch he just slept peacefully, his right hand up by his face.
Half way through the parade William woke up. He looked around and took everything in. All the sights and sounds exciting to him. He recognized who was holding him, because baby's have a great sense of smell and they can smell their mothers really well so that didn't stress him out. What did stress him out was the fact that she wasn't paying attention to him. He vocalized, not being able to talk, but Stevie didn't respond. That made him angry so he grunted and he was about to cry when something sparky caught his eye.
Stevie had a gold crescent moon around her neck. It was shiny and it was just in William's reach so he grabbed and gave it a hard tug causing Stevie to gasp and look down. She had been waving to the people and the tug on her neck startled her.
"So you're awake huh?" She asks moving his hand away from the necklace and flipping it around so it was dangling on her back.
He smiled up at his mom and reached his hand up. She grabbed it and gave it a kiss before she shifted him and turned him around so he could see all of the people. Everyone cooed and gasped at the royal baby and Stevie even helped him build up that appeal by waving his little hand. But the moment that would make the news that night, was when she handed him off to Lindsey and the two of them shared a long love filled kiss in-front of everyone.
