PHD #441: The Nanny Gauntlet
The Nanny Gauntlet
Summary: Sawyer interviews to be Kallistei's part-time sitter.
Date: 13 May 2042 AE
Related Logs: Au Pair, Where? (Kalli needs a sitter); Bedtime Stories (Sawyer offers to sit)
Players:
Evandreus Kallistei Quinn Sawyer Trask 
Guest Quarters - Deck 3 - Battlestar Cerberus
Post-Holocaust Day: #441
The area here has been spiffed up for the Delegates. Bunks are kept neat as a pin, the lockers are brand new and have a beautiful shine on the fake wood. A table sits in the center with a vase of fake flowers resting in the middle. The deck has been mostly covered with a round, braided rug of multiple colors. To the back of the area, there is a private shower area. This is just one of five separate areas along Deck 3.
Condition Level: 3 - All Clear

When Trask had volunteered to ask Sawyer about possible nanny candidates, the 411 he received was not what he was expecting. It probably wasn't what Quinn was anticipating either. All the same, he listed the reasons the journalist had given, asked if the redhead wanted to arrange for an interview-slash-playdate, and the rest is, as the saying goes, history.

Mamma and baby are both showered, cleaned and looking as spiffed up as they can get. Kalli is in one of the little pink jumpers she received as a gift from the boys, and Quinn is in her full uniform, actually buttoned (if rather strainingly tight) across her chest and still somewhat soft stomach. She's got her red hair carefully braided and restrained, and she's trying not to look nervous. Of course, that means Kalli is sensing her mother's nerves and, in turn, is somewhat fussy in Quinn's arms.

This is like any other assignment Sawyer's been on since becoming a full-fledged War Correspondent. First, there was research in the stacks of the library, then there was the careful selection of an utilitarian outfit (in this case, an overly larger purple t-shirt, gathered at the small of her back in a knot and her pair of marine-issued black cargo pants), and when preparation was exhausted there might have even been a floundering moment of 'Oh Gods, what the hell am I doing'? At least twice on the short walk from the News Room to the Guest Quarters, she's had to remind herself not to fidget. Finally, the blonde looks almost nonchalant as she enters to run the Nanny Gauntlet.

Evandreus plucks at the knot at the small of Sawyer's back, slipping on in behind her in off-duties, his bootlaces strung over crooked fingers on one hand while the other plays with the purple bob. "Why are you growing a tail, Soybean?" he asks of her, playful, going over to drop his boots by mom's bed and to give mom and sister each a smooch hello.

Quinn looks up as the hatch opens. She smiles a bit more towards them both, "Evening… Sorry if things are a -bit- messy." And they are. The makeshift baby carrier on the floor near the bed, a few blankets around, a few books, but that's all. She leans over to kiss Bunny's cheek. "Evan." And the baby's fingertips, at least, chubbily ready out in Bunny's direction, his voice a familiar, happy one. Quinn gives Sawyer a bit more of an almost shy smile. "Ma'am."

Once upon a time, Sawyer never used to be so jumpy. At least since her time as a 'guest' aboard the Areion, her nerves have quieted enough that she doesn't jump a foot when Evan tugs at the knot on her shirt. There is merely the sharp intake of breath, and then the sheepish smile that follows as he loops past her towards Quinn. "Just trying to take up some of the slack in the shirt, I felt like I was drowning in it." His presence, however, seems to bolster her for her self-appointed task. "No sense in calling me ma'am. I'd prefer Sawyer, if you don't mind me using Margaret."

Evandreus makes little nibble noises as he pulls his lips over his teeth and feigns at eating little baby fingers for Short Kal's delight. "You could have tied in on the side and just said you were pretending you were going to Corinth on vacation," he teases Soybean warmly and tries to wheedle his little sister into his arms, if mom will let him have her.

Quinn does indeed let Evan have her. Though it's supposedly Sawyer's interview, she knows Bunny would be throwing a bit of a fit if he didn't get to carry the little cubby one for at least a few minutes. Maggie also transfers the little spit up cloth from her shoulder to his. "She still might be a bit, uh… foamy." Is that a less frightening word than vomity, for the new possible babysitter? She then looks back to Sawyer and offers her hand, though her full name just makes her blink. "Uh… Sawyer is fine but… Maggie. Maggie, -please- Maggie… I dunno who Margaret is." She grins.

Sawyer leans in to slide her hand into Maggie's, clasping it briefly before straightening up. "Maggie it is. I never really know, as most people are still more comfortable using their rank or their last name. She's gotten big! I don't think I've seen her since the day Kal took his new tatau." She doesn't try to weasel in on Evan's time with Kalli. "So you'll forgive me if I seem a little awkward, I used to have a newspaper route as a child, not babysitting gigs. I'd like to do this for you, though… for Kal's family."

Evandreus flips the rag onto his shoulder and begins his happy baby burpy dance, agitating her just slightly with a bounce of his knees while he sways to calm or perhaps just disorient the crying out of her. "She is getting big, mom," he chimes in, "Did I tell you I put in for a PT waiver last week? I jogged Miss Fussybottom to the obs deck and back no less than fifty times. She was like a medicine ball, except one who yells at you when you slow down," he chuckles.

Quinn smiles a bit more as they both compliment her on the baby getting big. "I know. It's… good. I was worried she wouldn't eat enough, or…" Maggie shrugs, not finishing the possibility of other things that could have gone wrong that she was -very- worried about. None of them exactly have the best, most enriching diet on this ship, but apparently it's working well enough for mama and baby. "And… it's fine, Sawyer. If you really think you -want- to do this… and are comfortable enough with her to try it, it should be fine. Evan, you wanna show her how to hold her?"

Sawyer looks around until she finds a chair from the days when she used to be housed in here as a member of QUODEL. It gets tugged over with one hand and she settles in front of Evan. "I make the most sense. She and I are the only two civilians given a pass to be on board the Cerberus, no matter the situation. It's about time we team up." Fingers curl in a gimme gimme motion at Evan for him to give her the low down on the baby bundle. And she even manages to not look completely terrified.

"Mm-mm," Evan shakes his head with a tightening of the lips around the negative answer. For a second, it hangs there, as if Evan is refusing to give over the girl. "Most of the time, babyholding is not a sit-down sport," he explains. "You have to get the motion of it down. You sit down with her, especially when she has a burpy belly, she's going to get fussy." All this while bouncing slightly on knees bending and unbending by soft degrees in swift succession, swaying to and fro as he does so. "This one's called the bob-and-sway," he tells her, "It never fails to make a happy Short Kal. Up, up," he tells her. Someone's been spending too much time with Paul, recently.

The first time Trask had to hold his little namesake, the look of abject terror was unmistakable and quite comedic. Truly, he would've been more confident and comfortable handling a highly sensitive nuclear warhead. After all these months, however, it ain't no thang, even if it was an awkward, disconcerting struggle for him to get to this point. So, even if Evan's not about to hand over the baby to the would-be babysitter, Bunny's monopoly is shortly to come to an end when Bootstrap waltzes in and inquires, "Where's my li'l apple dumplin' of discord?"

Quinn gives Sawyer a bit more of an amused smile as Kal now comes in and moves to sweep away the baby. "Or, the sport of baby holding, if the boys are near, is pretty much stretching out your arms and doing frak all…" She teases lightly, giving Kal a wide smile of greeting. "Evening, Kal. I was wondering if you were going to join us. Oh, and she's still a bit… burpy." Someone is going to get spit up on tonight. It may very well be poor Sawyer.

Sawyer tilts her head up to catch sight of Kal as he breezes in and lays his claim on holding Kalli next. "If you boys don't see to it to give me a chance, next time we hop to Condition One, I'm going to be doing this without a dry run first. And if you all keep talking like that, I'm going to go back to sickbay and borrow that HAZMAT suit again." Her attention goes back to Quinn. "Do you have formula for while you're on shift? Or do you pump?"

Evandreus fwips the barf rag off of his shoulder and swats it down onto Tall Kal's, handing off Short Kal to him with an easy shifting of arms, like clockwork. Team Jugglebunboots has got this shit down. "It's not bad, really, Soybean. It's not like grown-up barf. It's more like milky froth. It hardly even smells."

"You should be using weights, you lazy fraks," is the lightly bandied reply to Quinn's comment about arm stretching. Then, equally glib and also with an amused smile, he tells Sawyer, "Keep your peel on, Nanners." Yes, Nanners. "I get dibs. You'll get 'er in a moment." Fingers briefly run in a tickling motion across the wee one's belly, which sparks a small giggle from the girl, and then Trask resumes the whole gentle bouncing and weaving thing that the Bunny was doing. "On your feet, Averies," he needles, lightly tapping the blonde's boot with one of his own. "You learn this shit by doing, not keen observation."

Quinn smiles a bit wider towards Sawyer, letting her ask the questions needed, "No HAZMAT suit, it's not so bad… and I pump… for the moment, so, there should always be plenty food for you. I think we're going to be keeping her on milk for a good long while, considering the sort of rations that are available. It just seems… Safer. So I'll be sure to leave you with plenty every CAP." She reassures the woman with a wider smile, not even watching her baby, clearly trusting Trask with Kalli.

"Drill sergeants, the lot of you." Sawyer slips to her feet, smoothing out her cargo pants legs with her palms. "I'm only filling in when the boys can't, when their shift overlaps with yours or we're on Condition One. I'll still have a news room to run. I just want to help out when I can," she tells Quinn. Her fingers flex a few more times, as if gathering her courage as she stands in front of Kal who now seems like a natural in comparison to her. "They can smell fear, right? Okay, I'm ready. Just give me that cloth thing it seems you and Evan won't be caught dead without. Milky froth, my ass."

Evandreus boomerangs back to mom's side, his quota of cuddles evidently not having been yet filled up, as he takes Quinn into a warm snuggle and picks up where he left off with Short Kal, a giggle struggling against his attempts to keep it subdued in his chest at Sawyer's last exclamation. Yeah, his Leontinian-raised brainmeats went somewhere distinctly Leontinian with that one.

"You've got two hands," Trask sasses at Sawyer with a small smirk about the handing over of spitrag. "Mine are currently in use." Once the blonde is as good and ready as she's gonna be, only then is the redheaded bundle in pink carefully handed over. "So, yeah." Teaching someone how to handle a baby? Really not his thing. He does, however, have enough experience to offer some semblance of guidance. "The whole don't drop her thing is a given, so we'll start with positioning. You need to…" The girl starts getting squirmy. "Shift her kinda…" Kalli really is not being overly cooperative. "Like this…"

Quinn gives Bunny a slightly tighter hug now that both their arms are free, but her eyes are somewhat closer on her suddenly even more fussy, uncertain baby. Chances are, Sawyer is indeed very soon to be spit up on. Hopefully, it won't be projectile. "Just… get the base of her head, she still can't -quite- hold that up on her own… and support her bum, and you've got it, Sawyer…" Maggie coaches, hanging onto Evan, trying not to sound or look TOO overprotective.

"Oooooohkay." The blonde tries to follow everyone's directions the best she's able, "You know once, in school, we were given these chicken eggs that we had to keep safe for an entire week. It was supposed to simulate the responsibility of becoming a teenage mother. The tiniest little crack, and we were given failing grade for the class. Let me just tell you? Eggs don't wiggle." Sawyer seems to have it under control, or at least she's not completely paralyzed with fear. She's even got the knee bob thing going on. "Okay, okay! I think I've got it!" Cue cry of triumph from journalist, cue happy gurgled wet burp from the baby. Too bad Sawyer never got that spit-up rag. "Oh gods, oh gods, she's leaking. She's leaking!"

Evandreus gives Momma Maggie her rather taller child to cuddle and fuss over while the shorter and more vulnerable one is being juggled over yonder. Tempted, of course, to throw his own two cents into the mix, he refrains, figuring Sawyer has enough instructions coming at her at once already. He can't hold back his laughter, though, at their babysitter's panic. "She saved it just for you, Soybean. You have been anointed to the cult of Short Kal."

"For frak's sake, Sawyer," is jokingly admonished, "what's the point in taking the rag if you don't /use/ it?" Never mind that the rag had, very briefly, been on the blonde's shoulder… until the fussy one knocked it off with all her squirming. Little Kalli, it would seem, can be just as difficult as the man whose namesake she is. "Uh… here," he offers, retrieving the small swathe of cloth, the corners of his mouth twitching, lips puckering, and eyes shining in an impish manner. Yeah. No sympathy for the would-be sitter. "You just wait for when she starts leaking from elsewhere." That's right: diaper duty is part of this job interview.

Quinn laughs a bit deeper. "Uh… it's not really… Leaking. She just eats a bit more than she can stomach, sometime. It's not sooo bad," Maggie reassures, leaning warmly against Evan as she watches the squirming, too amusing mess that is Sawyer with her first few bits of baby duty. Is it wrong to take a deep amusement in this entire scene? "It's perfectly natural, really. Leaking implies something is wrong."

"That's not milky froth, that's spoiled milky froth." Sawyer doesn't know whether to laugh or cry or both, and the last time that happened, she kerlaughed herself right into hyperventilation. Ah, the many sides of Sawyer that Trask has been privy to. At least after a quick lip tremble, she shifts Kalli, snags the rag and meanders over to the corner to clean both she and the baby up without so much as asking for any further assistance. "Auntie Sawyer's lesson number one: you do stupid things for love." Like getting crash courses in baby tending to help the 'family' out.

Evandreus finally peels himself off of the mumsie one, giving her another kiss to the cheek and then heading to make himself a mug of tea while Maggie finishes up the babysitter evaluation.

If there is something else little Kalli may have picked up from her Uncle Kal, it's making others jump through hoops to prove their worth. While she, thankfully, never does cry, the girl is otherwise doing whatever else an infant can to test and try an adult. Why, it's even possible that there's more poop in her diaper than usual.

The evening is, never the less, an amusing one. The baby does seem to be testing Sawyer, but at the same moment, the journalist is a smart woman, and with Mama and uncles watching on, all the tests are passed. Mostly. She smiles wide. "Sawyer… I think you'll do just fine. Come and visit more often, yes? So you can get more comfortable with her before things do go poorly… but I think this should work out just fine…" Maggie murmurs, watching as Kalli is finally beginning to drop off to sleep in Sawyer's arms, the ultimate sign of approval. Yes, this crazy idea just might work.

Unless otherwise stated, the content of this page is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License