The nanny

Chapter 1

It was the last day of Kara Danvers Maternity leave. And she still hadn't found a nanny for her 3 week old baby girl Kelsey. It's not like she hadn't been looking either. On the contrary, she'd actually been interviewing potential candidates for weeks now... they were all qualified, but none of them had connected with the baby and so they just didn't quite fit. The same was true of woman who was sitting in the chair in front of Kara now finishing up her interview. Kara stood, thanked the woman for coming, and led her to the door. Closing the door behind the woman, Kara let out a sigh as she turned around and walked to the the pink bassinet that was sitting in the middle of the living room. She leaned over and smiled at her little daughter. "We're never gonna find the right nanny huh? I don't know what I'm gonna do! I start work again tomorrow and we've only got one interview left... I just want... I mean it's my responsibility to make sure you're well taken care of and..." Before she could continue, she was interrupted by a knock on the door. "Well that must be our last interview." She stood as walked to the door. *Here goes nothing.* she thought as she turned the handle opening the door revealing a tall fit guy around her age. He was dressed nice yet casual in his dark blue jeans and black and blue plaid shirt. His face was clean shaven, his hair dark brown, and he had glasses that were very similar to her own. He smiled at her. "Hi." "Hi.." She smiled in return. "You must be Mike Matthews?" He nodded. "I am. And you must be Kara Danvers right?" She nodded as she stepped aside and motioned for him to come in. "Yep. That's me alright. Please come on in and make yourself comfortable." "Thank you." He replied as he made his way over to the couch to sit. "Can I get you anything to drink? Water? Tea? Lemonade? Coffee?" "Oh that's very kind of you to ask, but I'm fine." She nodded as she sat down on the other side of the couch. "Okay then let's get started."

"Well... your resume is definitely impressive. You've got a degree in early childhood care and development, you've never been fired from a job you've only left once you were no longer needed, and I talked to the three families that you've worked for and they have nothing but great things to say about you." Mike just nodded along as Kara looked over his resume. "I'm curious though... what made you want to be a nanny?" "Well..." he sighed. "There are lost of parents out there who like you are a single parent, or they both work a lot but their kids still need someone to love them and take care of them when they're younger ya know when their parents can't be there all the time to do those things themselves. And growing with my parents owning their own business I was basically raised by my nanny. I wouldn't be who I am without her. Plus I love kids so I don't know this just seemed like the perfect job for me." Kara smiled as she sat his resume down on the couch beside her. "Well then I guess the only thing left is to see how you are with her." She stood and picked up the baby. "Just let me go change her first cause it smells like she has a poopy diaper on." She grimaced. "I could change her if you want?" She stopped quickly and turned to him. "Really?" "Yeah." He nodded as he stood up. "I've changed tons of diapers. Plus you wanted to see how I am with her right?" "Yeah... okay follow me." Mike smiled as he followed Kara to Kelsey's nursery. The walls were painted lite pink, and there was a white crib with pink bedding on the left side of the room. Next to it by the window was a pink and white rocking chair and on the other side of the room was the pink and white changing table, complete with the diapers, wipes, and diaper rash cream all in a cute pink and white basket beside it as well as a trash can for the dirty diapers. "May I?" Mike asked as he reached for the baby in Kara's arms. "Of course." She handed the baby to him carefully. "Just to warn you... she hates getting her diaper changed. She cries every time." He smiled as he laid Kelsey down gently on the changing table. "Hey there pretty girl." He talked to Kelsey in a cute baby voice as he unsnapped the pink sleeper she was wearing. "We are gonna change your diaper okay?" He then opened up her diaper and started whipping her clean, and she just laid there quietly while looking up at him. Kara stood right behind him watching in amazement. Her eyes wide and her mouth hung open slightly. "How are you doing that? She's not crying!" Mike chuckled as he glanced over his shoulder at Kara. "I told you I've done this tons of times." He replied as he applied Kelsey's diaper rash cream, put on a clean diaper, put her sleeper back on, and picked her up cradling her against his chest. "There. Now that's gotta feel better huh little one?" "That was amazing! I can never change her diaper without her crying." Kara said as they walked out of the nursery and sat back down on the couch. Mike just shrugged his shoulders. "Well if it makes you feel any better... the first baby that I nannied did the same thing when I changed his diaper for a long time." "Really?" "Yeah. See babies can sense people's emotions, so if you're nervous or scared even just a little bit they sense it and then they start to feel the same way. So the more times you change her, the more confident you'll get in doing it. And then she won't cry every time because you won't be nervous about doing it and then she won't feel nervous either." "Wow. And how'd you know that changing her diapers makes me a little nervous?" He smiled at her. "Well when you said you needed to change her you just seemed nervous. Plus she's your first baby and when I kept a baby for the first time I was very nervous about changing diapers." He chuckled and smiled at her as Kara sat there staring at her baby girl who had fallen asleep  in Mike's arms. "I can't believe she's sleeping on your chest like that." He smiled as he looked down at Kelsey. "Newborn babies love to sleep on people's chests, because they can hear the persons heartbeat, which is soothing to them because they heard their mom's heartbeat for months while they were in the womb." "Well, she just cried when all the other people I interviewed tried to hold her. Also I've read so many baby books and articles, yet none of them said anything about the stuff that you've just told me." He just laughed. "Well you can't learn everything from books and articles, some things you learn through experience. And even if I don't get the job, at least I helped you learn a few things today." She smiled. "Oh I wouldn't worry much about that. The jobs yours." His eyes widened along with his smile. "Wait... really?" "Really. Well that is if you can start tomorrow morning at 7:30? Because I have to be at work by 8:00" She smiled. "Absolutely I'll be here at 7:30" "Then you're hired." "Thank you so much!" He replied with a smile still plastered on his face. "No thank you! Anyway I don't want to keep you any longer." She reached over and gently took her sleeping daughter from him and laid the baby on her chest. "Like this?" She asked and He nodded in response. "That's perfect. So I'll see you both in the morning then?" She nodded. "Yep we'll see you in the morning. 7:30 to be exact." She replied quietly trying not to wake up Kelsey. "7:30 got it." Mike replied as he walked out the door.

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"So did you find the perfect nanny this morning?" Alex asked as she placed a package of diapers into the shopping cart. "Actually..." Kara smiled as she looked at her daughter who was sitting in her car seat, perched on the front of the shopping cart. The baby tried sucking on her hands but somehow her tiny fist was too big to fit into her tiny mouth. So Kara pulled a pink pacifier out of the diaper bag and placed it into her baby girls mouth. "We did find the perfect nanny." "Wow." Alex smiled as she placed some baby wipes in the shopping cart too. "Talk about last minute... that didn't sound right. I mean I'm happy you found someone in time." Kara nodded. "Yeah me too. I was honestly starting to think I'd never find the right person to help me take care of Kelsey." "Yeah you weren't the only one thinking that. So what's she like?" "Actually... it's a he. His names Mike." Alex stopped immediately and turned around. Her eyes widened as she raised her eyebrows at her sister. "You hired a guy to be my nieces nanny?" Kara rolled her eyes at her older sister. "Yes Alex I hired a guy to be her nanny. And for your information he's got a degree in early childhood care and development, he's never been fired from a job and everyone he's worked for has great things to say about him. Not to mention he's amazing with Kelsey. I mean he changed her diaper without her crying at all. And she fell asleep while he was holding her and you know how picky she is with the people who hold her." Kara replied as she grabbed some bread and put it into the shopping cart. "Okay that's true she is picky, and he does sound good on paper but it's still weird." "Why Alex? Why is it weird?" Kara asked as she grabbed some juice and put it in the cart. "Because it just is. I mean he's probably some ugly 50 year old pervert." "Right because a guy being good with kids automatically makes him a pervert." "No of course not." Alex replied as she picked up a carton of eggs and placed it in the cart. "And he's not 50 he's actually the same age as me. Plus he's definitely not ugly." "Oh... so you like him huh? So that's really why you hired him..." Alex smirked at her little sister. "I do not like him! Not like that anyway. Besides you of all people know I'm nowhere near ready to be in a relationship right now not after how badly my last one ended. He's just really good with Kelsey and is the only person I've interviewed that I feel comfortable leaving her with." "Yeah well I'm not comfortable with it." "Oh come on Alex just because he is a guy?" "Yeah. A guy taking care of someone's baby is just weird." "But if a woman does it then it's not weird?" "No because women have been doing it for years." "Oh come on Alex... we're all equal right? I mean women can do anything men can do and men can do anything woman can do." "Absolutely." "Okay then so why can't men take care of babies and be just as good if not better at it than women?" "Well I..." "Do you know how many dads stay at home and take care of their kids nowadays?" "Yeah I know but that's different, this guy is not Kelsey's dad he's just some stranger." Kara sighed. "I know you mean well and you're just being protective... but you know I love Kelsey more than anything in this world. I would never leave her with someone that I didn't believe would take the best care of her." Alex sighed. "I know." Kara nodded. "So just trust me on this and give Mike a chance okay? I promise you'll see what I'm talking about when you meet him and see him with Kelsey." "Okay I'm sorry. I do trust you and I'll give him a chance. But if anything happens to Kelsey he might just go missing mysteriously one nite." "Alex!" Kara exclaimed as she playfully punched her sister on the arm. Alex just shrugged her shoulders. "What?" She replied as the baby started to cry. "I knew that pacifier wouldn't work for long. I know it's supper time huh?" Kara talked to her daughter as she picked up the car seat off of the shopping cart. "I'm gonna go to the car and feed her. Can you get the rest of the groceries for me?" "Yeah of course!" Alex replied and Kara turned around heading out to the car with her crying baby. "I know... I know shh we're almost to the car so you can eat." She told Kelsey as she walked out the door of the store and into the parking lot.