Mommy's little Business-Man

41; PJ's and Jimmy Fallon

Well, that was obviously more than a week. I moved countries again a while back, but that's not that much of an excuse, I know. I'm sorry, I've been dealing with some personal issues concerning my eating disorder, depression and personality disorder, and updating honestly wasn't the first thing on my mind, especially because this story is so upbeat. Had to get some serious psychological and psychiatric treatment. If you wanna know more, I put up a short story about it on my acc. Still got a long way to go, but I've been trying to climb back up, and with the help of some amazing people I've slowly but surely been getting a little better. Thank you all so, so much for your patience and understanding, sending you all my love. (At least it's 9500+ words...)

Lydia's POV:

I drove up to Jack's place, the pyjamas in a bag next to me. I still chuckled lightly when thinking about how Martha, Neill and Colton were pushing Jack and me together so openly.

Had we really been that obvious before we even got together?

I walked out and made my way inside through the back door, just in case Ruby was asleep.

That she was not became very obvious when a tired cry pierced my ears.

"Jack? Hey, I brought the pyjamas," I called, making my way through the hallway of the one-floor house to get to Ruby's room.

"Lydia, thank god. She's-"

Jack was interrupted by another cry and a small fist weakly batting at his chest.

"Upset. Yeah, I can tell," I said, making my way to them so I could put my hand on Ruby's shoulder. The little girl wasn't sick often, but when she was it tended to get pretty bad.

I reached forward to feel her forehead, noting that her fever was definitely higher than Colton's. "Hey Ruby! I know, you're feeling so yucky. But I brought your favorite pj's! -Jack, why are you shirtless?"

"She threw up on me. Haven't had time to clean up or do much else, because she tries to hide everytime I put her down. You know how she gets," he said, and I nodded understandingly. Ruby didn't like people seeing her when she wasn't feeling well, and when she was little that translated to a lot of crying and hiding away.

"Jack, why don't you go shower? I'll get her into her pyjamas. Has she kept anything down today?" I asked, and he sighed.

"She hasn't, and please do. I need to shower. There's some applesauce in the - well, you know where it is. Thank you," he said in relief, handing me the weakly thrashing girl before pressing a short kiss to my lips and her forehead.

"No, Lydia! Go!" The little girl whined, reaching for her daddy with one hand when the man walked out the door.

"I'm sorry kiddo, I know," I said with a small smile at her, trying to cheer the girl up a little before stroking a stray strand of hair out of her face. "Now why don't we get you all warm and comfy in your pj's, huh?"

"Y-yeah," she hiccupped, halting her struggle for a moment. "Mermaid."

"Definitely, gup. Come on, let's go," I smiled, subtly checking if the night-time diaper she was wearing was still dry. It was, thank god. That was a fight I'd happily save for Jack right now.

I got the little girl dressed before taking her to the kitchen on the other side of the house.

"How about some soup, huh? I know your daddy always keeps some veggie broth around somewhere," I mused, putting the girl down and safely buckling her into her booster seat - no way I was going to give her the chance to hide away. Rocket scientists were inventive when it came to hiding spots, even when sick and in a toddler mindset.