groupie // lrh

1.8

"seth do you want any dinner yet?"

victoria cradled her baby niece in her arms trying to rock her to sleep after feeding her a bottle of milk. her five year old nephew ran into the living room gripping a hairbrush in one hand and a captain america figure in the other.

she was babysitting for a week whilst her older brother went on a business trip (extended to a holiday) with his wife. seth and ella had only been at her apartment for four hours and she was already exhausted.

vic had spent the night at luke's where she had staying been for the past two weeks since he returned home. the late nights were taking their toll, she definitely hadn't been sleeping enough to have the energy required to keep a young boy entertained as well as a five month old baby.

her brother christopher had already facetimed twice from the airport. he was clearly anxious about his first time away from his kids for more than a day. his wife surprisingly seemed way more relaxed about the situation.

vic had left luke's house before he had woken up having agreed to the kids getting dropped off early morning. she had neglected to inform him of her current lodgers.

seth approached his aunt, peering at his baby sister before kissing her head and looking up at vic.

"fries?" seth asked batting his big brown eyes at his aunt.

"momma would tell me off if i only fed you fries for the week bud" vic laughed, "lets see what i've got in"

she stood up still holding a groggy ella who was chewing on her fist.

"how about chicken tenders, veggies and some mashed potato?"

seth didn't look too impressed with vics suggestion but gave in.

"ti, can i watch tv?"

victoria nodded and he hugged her legs before running off immediately to grab the remote. she loved that her nephew still called her 'ti' or 'ti-ti' from when he was younger and couldn't master 'auntie'.

she decided not to bother with the battle of trying to set ella down. the baby was clingy at the best of times. vic held her against her chest using one hand so she could fill a pan to boil some veggies and prepare the mashed potato.

once dinner was underway vic curled into her new armchair watching seth's excitement over the cartoon he was engrossed in. ella was peering around the room with curious eyes.

vic missed spending time with her family. she wasn't super close with her extended family, but she always made sure to contact her parents. she spoke with her brother on a weekly basis but it wasn't often they met up these days, a combination of her work and spending time with luke mixed with chris's commitments. she wished she could see them more often so it wasn't even a question when she volunteered to look after her niece and nephew for the week.

by half past seven seth was fed and bathed, tucked up in his bed in the spare room and sleeping soundly. ella had slept for half an hour whilst they ate before screaming the apartment down. vic had fed her again, changed her and was in the process of putting her to bed.

chris and his wife had warned her that ella was still too young to be sleeping through the night so her crib was set up on the far side of vic's bed.

"i can tell you're tired baby. you're really forcing those eyes to stay open" victoria cooed.

the ludic speech was foreign to her but it felt right and she was just copying how every other adult spoke to a baby.

she wanted to jump for joy when the tiny girls breathy snores filled the room.