Questionable Parenting Methodology

A Wild Jamie Has Entered The Chat

"BROOK DAD SAYS ITS TIME TO COME IN," I heard Eli screaming from the door. I had no clue why he always had to scream, maybe because he was 8 at the time or maybe just because he was the most annoying child you would ever meet. "DADDY SAYS THERES A SUPRISE FOR US!"

That took my attention away from the stars. A surprise? What could that possibly mean? I gave Eli a questioning look that he quickly shrugged at, obviously as oblivious as me.

"daddy's back from his mission already?" I asked, confused. Dad said that he wouldn't be back until the 15th, its only the 10th. What could possibly have brought him and Clint back so early? Did Clint get hurt? No, he couldn't have because daddy wouldn't let that happen. I was very, very confused.

I got up and headed towards the door and the first thing I hear is Clint in the front room. I rolled my eyes, why was he here? Was the suprise that he was visiting us? Didn't he have his own kid? But that didn't matter when I bumped into Eli, he was just standing there looking at something. And then I saw it. A baby.

"Hey kids," Daddy said when he noticed we were in the room, he looked worried and maybe even a little apprehensive. He was holding a baby. Why was he holding a baby? And why did the baby have Clints hair? I was so majorly confused at this point that I felt a headache coming on. "Guys this is Jamie, your new sibling."

I blinked. A sibling and Clint in the same day. I was obviously very overwhelmed and very stressed. I turned to Eli who had a stupid dopey look on his face, as if he didn't know what a baby was. He must of felt me staring because he looked at me too, he looked worried. Maybe I was also a little worried as well, I mean up until that point the only sibling I ever had my brother, what could a new sibling mean? I grabbed Elis hand and gave him a reassuring nod, a silent gesture that everything would be okay.

"What do you mean? How is the baby our sibling? Where did you get it? Are we keeping it?"  I asked, not very sure I wanted the answers. I mean it was a baby, a baby that looked like my daddy and Clint. Wait. The baby looked like both of them. How could a random baby look like both of them? "Why does it look like you and Clint?"

And then Clint started talking and all of a sudden I was really annoyed. I went to the kitchen to get a juice box, I was gonna need it for this conversation. When I returned the baby was crying. Crying, people! It was loud and annoying, but then Clint took the baby and it stopped crying. Oh. Finally someone who isn't stressed out by Clint.

"Okay, Brook, Eli," Clint started, looking entirely unsure of where he was going with this conversation but looked determined all the same. I then started to actually pay attention to him. "We found Jamie while on our mission, they were the unknown object we were sent to locate. According to the files we found the baby has me and Bucks DNA, so they're OUR baby and your sibling. Do you understand?"

I looked at Eli and he looked back at me, a strange look in his eyes. We had a sibling. Eli was a big brother now. I was an older sister again. The baby was biologically my daddys baby, but we weren't. I started to worry that daddy wouldn't want us anymore because he had Jamie, it seemed Eli worried the same as he stepped closer to me, seemingly ready to hear disappointing news.

I felt a large hand on my shoulder, and when I looked up it was dad. He gave me and Eli a reassuring look, silently telling us it was okay. He pushed us forward slightly, towards the baby in Clints arms. With a closer look at the baby, I saw it was sleeping, it was adorable. The most precious thing I had ever seen. I felt a sense of protectiveness wash over me, it was the way I felt about Eli. And I knew in that moment I would do anything to keep this baby safe.

"All in?" I heard Elis whisper in my ear, asking me the same question I asked him after every fight, no matter how small. I looked at him and could tell he felt the same protectiveness over this baby, our sibling, our Jamie.

"All In." I replied, confirming that we would protect this precious thing in Clint arms. That we would tear a tree apart if they so much as got a splinter. Or rip paper to tiny little pieces if it ever gave them a papercut. At the time we didn't know just how far we could go with protecting Jamie, but we knew we would go as far as we had to.

"Can the baby sleep in my room tonight?" Eli asked, eager to get to know his new sibling. The three men chuckled at my brothers question, probably thinking it was endearing. I thought it was stupid. Obviously the baby couldn't sleep in his room, because the baby was gonna sleep in mine.

"nuh uh, Jamie is gonna sleep in my room tonight." I said, clear annoyance in my voice at my brothers question. I was older so obviously I got the first turn with the baby, not Eli. But dad quickly shut us down.

"The baby will have their own room in our house and Clints, but we've all decided it would be best if the baby stayed with Clint for the first few days," He informed us, I felt a wave of disappointment at this news. That meant we wouldn't get to spend time with Jamie in their first few days with us. Dad must have known this as he quickly put my worries to rest. "But you two can always go spend a few nights at Clints so you can be with the baby."

So I would have to be with Clint for longer than a few hours just to spend time with Jamie? I got another juice box. After sipping on my drink, I decided that it would be totally worth it if it meant I was able to spend time with the small baby that was currently drooling. Gross. But the baby was still cute. 

And then I saw it. The onesie Jamie was wearing had a star with an arrow through it. A star! Just like daddy and dad had, and just like me and Eli would get. A baby barnes, with a star on their shirt, two dads who would care for them, two older siblings who would go to the ends of the earth for them, and a family who would protect them.

         
It was soon after that, that Jamie left for Clints house to be introduced to their other sibling, Lila, and to their step-mother Laura. Me and Eli packed our bags that night to get ready to leave the next day to go spend time with the baby. We spent nearly two weeks there until it was time for Jamie to come back with us, Lila following closely behind.

That was the day the most important person in our family was found. And though Jamie did gross baby things like throw up and poop a lot, they were still the most precious thing in the world to all of us, And we would always care for and love them.