Chapter Text
Paulie wakes up the next morning to the sound of Beau crying. Immediately he sits up, pulling Beau into his lap.
"What's wrong buddy?" Beau just whines in response, pressing his head into Paulie's shoulder. Okay so asking him won't work he thinks, as he pulls out his phone and calls Kuni. Because hey, Kuni has kids, he should know what to do .
Kuni picks up on the second ring "Paulie? What's up?"
"He woke up crying this morning, I tried to ask him what's wrong but he just whined and laid his head on my shoulder. I think he has a fever but I don't know why ."
"Is there anything else you notice?"
"He keeps pulling on his ear and sticking his hand in his mouth."
"Sounds like he's teething, probably due for 2nd molars. If you have a teething ring, use it. You can give him some Tylenol too. That's what we had to do."
"Alright, Thanks Kuni."
"No problem Paulie, I think you should call coach and let him know what's going on. You'll probably need to stay home with him today, he's not going to want to be away from you." Kuni says before he hangs up.
Paulie sighs, carrying Beau to the kitchen and putting him in his booster seat before giving him some Tylenol and a teething ring that he had, luckily, bought when he got everything else. He pulls out his phone and calls Mike, letting him know he needs to skip practice. Mike, of course, asks why and Paulie simply tells him he has a teething toddler on his hands. Mike understands immediately and hangs up.
The rest of the day is spent cuddling and napping for the most part, and so is the following day. Paulie isn't exactly happy about missing practice two days in a row but what's he supposed to do?
-
He's thrilled when Beau wakes up and is all smiles, happily babbling away. Paulie's glad Beau's in a better mood, they have a game tonight and Paulie needs to play. He takes Beau downstairs and, after a quick breakfast, carries him out to the car to go to morning skate.
When they get there and down to the locker room, realizing they're the first ones there , Paulie sets Beau on the ground so he can get dressed. He looks up from tying his skates to find that Beau,….. isn't where he left him. He gets up and starts searching the room frantically with no luck, he turns around to go back to his locker . When he does , he sees Sid standing there holding Beau, which, Paulie finds odd considering Beau has practically been attached to Paulie's hip. He doesn't question it though, as long as Beau isn't screaming and crying everything's fine.
Paulie watches them for a few minutes, Sid lifting up Beau's shirt and blowing raspberries on his tummy, Beau giggling away. It's almost too cute for words and it's a moment he wants to save forever. He walks over and grabs his phone, snapping a few pictures before placing it back in his locker.
It's at that moment Sid seems to notice Paulie. He pulls Beau's shirt down again and smiles. Beau decides he's had enough of Sid promptly thrusting his arms out and screeching "PAWIE!" in Sid's ear. Paulie gets up and takes Beau out of Sid's arms, taking him over to his locker and sitting back down. Beau takes it upon himself to get a snack from the diaper bag, dumping the contents on the floor and searching until he finds what he wants. Paulie just sighs, bending down to pick up the mess, shoving everything back into the diaper bag and opening the bag of dried fruit, handing it to Beau along with a sippy cup.
The rest of the guys start to file in, smiling when they see Beau and Paulie. Beau behaves pretty well, sitting there munching on his snack.
Until Downs decides to steal a piece of fruit.
Turns out, Beau doesn't like to share.
It starts off as a small whimper, but quickly turns into a full-blown tantrum. He balls up his little fists and starts kicking his feet, screaming bloody murder until Paulie finally shoves his pacifier in his mouth and pulls him into his lap. Downs apologizes to Beau and promises he won't take his snacks ever again.
Beau seems to forgive Downs, reaching his arms out and squealing with glee when Downs holds him.
He reaches for
a piece of dried fruit, which Paulie hands him,
and puts it in his mouth.
He pulls a face that shows he doesn't like it,
before spitting it out - right in Downs face.
Downs, to his credit, doesn't seem disgusted or upset by this. Instead he just reaches for a towel, wiping off his face and giving Beau a little kiss on the forehead.
It's a sweet sight really, and Paulie once again pulls out his phone for a picture.
Oh god he's turning into one of
those
people
, he thinks. (You know the ones that take like
5 million pictures of their kids a day? Yeah that’s him right now.)
He shakes his head and sets the phone down.
Whatever
he thinks,
he won't be little forever.
........ At least, Paulie hopes so.