Temporary Nanny

Chapter 5

"See what I don't get is..Goofy's a dog and Pluto's a dog... so why can Goofy speak an-" I stop mid-sentence, eyes bulging out of their sockets at the little girl on the floor. "Michael!" I shout from the living room.

"Don't move Stel." I stand calmly on my feet. "Michael quick!!" I shout louder, eyeing Stella carefully. "Mikey!" I shout urgently with a sigh. "Stay here. Please don't move." I plea exasperatedly with the clueless baby and dart up the stairs.

"Michael come quick where are you?!" I shout breathlessly.

A wet, frantic-looking Michael appears in the doorway of his bedroom. His now black hair is flat against his head with a towel wrapped around his waist.

"Hurry!" I don't bother explaining, just pulling him down the stairs. "Charlie will you tell me what's going on? Is it Stella? Is she alright?" Michael trails behind letting me pull him by the arm, his other hand clenched tight on his black towel.

"Watch." I breathe finally, dropping his hand as we both stare at Stella. "What am I watching?" He cocks a brow.

Stella's sat on her butt, big gray eyes looking up at us. "Go on Stel, I know you want to." I coo. "Charlie, will you just tell me why-" I place my palm against his cold wet cheek and turn his head back to Stella.

She promptly sets her little hands on the floor and looks up at us one more time.

"Yeah that's it, come on Stel." I encourage gently. She wiggles her little butt a bit, pushing forward but not going anywhere.

"Holy shit." Michael grins excitedly. I hit his arm lightly at the swear. "Sorry, holy poop." He corrects himself, eyes glued on the struggling baby. "Come on baby, come to daddy." Michael coos, leaning down a bit.

It's not that he isn't affectionate with her, because he is. All the time. It's just that it never fails to tug at my heart strings when he is.

Stella grunts and grumbles, setting one hand forward and with one last push she's moving toward me and Michael. It seems to hit us around the same time. Both of us erupting in cheers and gleeful smiles.

As a reflex more than anything we grab ahold of each other in a tight embrace.

It's weird with Michael being bare chested and damp from the shower I had all but pulled him from. But it's also nice and warm and lasts a little more longer than it probably should have.

I pull away and meet his eyes just for a second. They've been looking more on the gray side since he dyed his hair dark and I think I preferred them this way. A pretty light gray to compliment the dark new color.

Just as fast as I catch his gaze, it's gone. However, the tension that somehow built in the matter of seconds was still very much there.

"Good job Stel!" Michael beams, picking the pudgy little baby up and giving her a tickle. She of course goes nuts for it - the attention and tickles, giggles enough to fill 10 Monster Inc energy batteries.

I'm still a little foggy with the hug but quickly snap out of it when Stella notices I haven't joined in. Her giggles come to a slow halt but she's still smiling, reaching out for me to grab her.

"Yay! Good job Stel. You did so good!" I clap my hands and take her into my arms, propping her firm on my hip. She claps her little hands together twice mimicking my own claps.

"I can't believe she just crawled." Michael gives a lopsided smile, eyes twinkling at the baby in my arms. "Oh my god, she's going to be talking soon and then walking and before I know it I'm going to be scaring off love interests and she's going to be hating me."