serenitysmalfoy

Pogue stared at the crying baby in the crib. Shit. Shit. He didn’t know what to do. What the hell did the kid want? He loved kids, much as the next person but damn it, he didn’t know what the hell he was doing. The damn kid was still crying. What did it want?

            “Hey, hey. Can you shut up now, or something? Please?” Pogue begged as he walked over to the crib. Stupid older sisters. Stupid babies who don’t know how to talk. Stupid him for taking the stupid job in the first place. Oh yeah, he was great with kids, fuckin’ awesome with them. Ha, who was he kidding? He’d just wanted to impress Kate, who was, as it turned out, not worth the impressing. Damn it. The kid just cried louder. Sighing, Pogue tried rocking the kid. No use. Time for plan B.

              Pogue climbed down the stairs after putting the kid back in her yellow and gold crib laying her gently, the way his control-freak of a sister had showed him. Like he didn’t know how to hold a baby. Well okay, so he’d nearly dropped Hailey but that wasn’t the point. The point was he could do fine with taking care of a kid with out his sister hovering around him while he did so. At first it had been about impressing Kate, but then it’d been about proving his sister wrong and evidently he’d proved to himself that his sister was right. Sighing, Pogue grabbed the phone in the kitchen, also filled with yellow, bright annoying colors. He really should have thought before taking the job, damn it. He dialed a number, one he’d memorized since he was fourteen years old.

“Caleb? Yeah, its Pogue. I um…need help.”

An hour later, Caleb was there laughing at him. “Dude, you don’t even like kids.”

 “Yeah and?” Caleb shook his head, going over to the cradle looking into bright blue eyes and gently picking up the crying kid (did the thing not need to breathe?).

“Hey, shhh baby girl it’s alright. Uncle Cabe’s got you. Yeah.” Caleb cooed at the little girl and Pogue couldn’t help but watch slightly awed at how easily the kid stopped crying. Ten minutes and the kid was sleeping like…well a baby.

“Dude, how’d you do that?” Pogue wanted to know.

“I’m just good with kids.” Caleb smiled at his brother, patting the younger boy on the back. “She should be fine now. How long was she crying, anyway?”

                Pogue just shook his head, “ugh, too long man.

               Caleb laughed. “Hey, we all have our things.”

               “Man, I would’ve been so dead with out you. Or deaf.” Pogue complained.

“Yeah well, it’s what older brothers are here for, right?” Caleb returned with a smile, one that Pogue knew was only slight. Brothers, he secretly wanted to know, or more. 

The sun shining down on Caleb through the window, allowing for a glow made Pogue shift so he wasn’t quite so…uncomfortable.

“Yeah,” Pogue admitted with a smile, “I guess.

“So, why’d you take the job anyway?” Caleb wanted to know.

“Um,” To impress Kate, but now it’s to impress you, only that didn’t work, did it? Pogue thought to himself with a frown

“For Kate.”

Was it just him, or did Caleb seemed slightly disappointed?

“Oh.” Was all he said.

Pogue averted his eyes. “Yeah.” He answered. Then Hailey started screaming again and Pogue hit his head on the near by wall while Caleb rushed up stairs, happy for the excuse to leave the awkward air.