Chapter Text
Cinnamon sighed, typing away at her laptop in the sunroom, trying to get some work done in a quiet part of the house. However, a certain irritating song started to play just outside in the living room, the giggles of her little sisters following. “Lollipop Yum Yum Yum” had been the bane of the Koolie’s existence for the past couple of weeks.
And soon after she tried to drown the noise out with her headphones, her mum and dad were shouting across the house about finding something from what she happened to hear when trying to ignore it. Eventually the noise got to a boiling point, and she’d had enough. She set her laptop aside and stomped over to the open doors to the sunroom.
“Can EVERYONE PLEASE be quiet?!” she barked to the rest of the house, slamming the doors shut.
Startled by the shout from their big sister, Bluey and Bingo immediately stopped dancing, scrambling to pause the song on their tablet, and then rushed into the kitchen towards the safety of their mum.
“You alright, girls?” Chilli asked.
“Cinna shouted at us…” Bingo whimpered.
“Well why’d she do that?” Bandit inquired further, having just walked into the kitchen himself.
“We dunno! It’s like she just exploded!” Bluey spread her arms out to emphasize the word explode.
“I can try and figure out what's wrong. I’m sure she didn’t mean it,” Bandit reassured, patting the older of the two on the head as he passed by her to get back to the sunroom where Cinna still sat frustrated.
“Hey Cinna-roll, what’s got you all pent up?” he asked, sitting beside her.
“Nothing, I’m fine.” She barely looked at her father as she kept typing away.
“You sure? Feel like I’ve been noticing you staying up later. Are you getting enough sleep?” The slight bags under her eyes were an obvious tell as well.
“Yes, I’m sure!” she snipped back. “I’m not tired, just busy.”
“Well I'm just—”
“Dad, I’m fine, okay??” she insisted through gritted teeth.
Bandit's eyebrows raised in surprise. “...Yep. Alright.” Clearly she still needed to cool down for a bit, so without another word he left her alone, heading back to the kitchen.
“Is she still angry…?” Bingo asked gingerly.
“Uhm…” Unsure how to answer, Dad thought for a moment on what to do, quickly gaining an idea. “Well, I’ve got a game we can play with Cinna to help her feel better!”
“You do?” the little pups asked simultaneously.
He nodded, gesturing for them to follow him. “Yeah! It’s called Nannies! Now, pop quiz, what do nannies do with cranky babies?”
“Uhh… Oh oh!” Bluey excitedly raised her hand. “Put them down for naptime!”
This episode of Cinna is called: Naptime!
“That’s right! So we’ll all be nannies…” He then made his way into the sunroom, gesturing out towards his unsuspecting oldest. “And this is our cranky baby.”
Cinna looked up from her laptop, brows furrowed in confusion as her little sisters approached. “I’m what??”
“Ohh, poor baby,” Bingo playfully chided, patting her paw. “You look so tired!”
“Well this won’t do you any good, baby! Playtime over!” Bluey shut her laptop, nearly pinching Cinnamon’s paws in the process.
“Ah! Bluey!” Cinna scolded. “I wasn’t playing, I—!” Suddenly, Bandit took the laptop and set it aside, then snatched her up with a yelp from her, her glasses falling off in the process. “DAD!”
“You dropped these, baby!” Bluey helpfully picked up the red spectacles, putting them on to test them out despite them being much too big for her face. It proved to be unhelpful for her, only blurring everything in sight. “Woah, how do you see out of these??”
“Well I can’t see much of anything, now!” she retorted, then wriggled in her father’s arms. “Dad, put me down!”
“Nope…!” he strained, now making his way through the living room to head upstairs. “Gotta get you to bed! Gosh, when did you get so… heavy…!”
“When I became too big for this!” As she strained to break free from her father's hold, she called out to who seemed to be the more sensible parent at the moment. “Muuum! I’m being kidnapped!”
“Not kidnapping Chilli, just regular napping!” Dad corrected loudly, adjusting Cinna in his arms as he carefully made his way up the stairs.
“Right then, carry on!” she yelled back from the kitchen with a chuckle.
Cinna gave a frustrated sigh at that unhelpful reply.
As Bluey and Bingo followed behind Dad taking his time up the steps, Bingo spoke up. “Bluey, with Cinna’s glasses, you look like a smart, serious nanny!”
Bluey’s tail wagged in realization, pushing the glasses up. “Oh yeah, I can do that! And then you can be the fun nanny!”
Bingo nodded. “Okay!”
Once at the top of the steps, Bandit put Cinna down for a brief moment, exhausted. “Hoo boy…” he wheezed.
When she was placed down, she tried to make a run for it, but her two little sisters had other plans, immediately wrapping themselves around her legs.
“You naughty baby!” Bluey tutted, putting on a more posh accent. “You’re not supposed to run away!”
“If you do what we say, you can have a treat when you wake up!” Bingo begged.
“Hey!! I don’t want a—WAH!”As she attempted to move, the weight of her sisters only tripped her. Though if they weren’t hanging on, she’d have likely tumbled down the steps. This was getting ridiculous. Bandit then reached for her ankles, the girls letting go as he dragged his eldest down the hall.
“Nice one!” he praised. “Now, c’mon, nannies, let’s put Ms. Crankypants down for a nap!”
“Dad! I’m a grown woman! Put me down!” Cinna protested, trying in vain to grasp at the rug to slow him down. Bluey and Bingo followed close behind, giggling all the while.
“Well we are putting you down—for a nap!” Bluey countered, adjusting the red spectacles again.
“You know what I mean!” Even though she tried to sound serious, it just made them giggle more.
Finally they made it to her room, and Dad deposited her into her comfortable bed with an unceremonious drop. “Alright nannies, you go and find some stuff to make this the best nap ever!”
The little ones raced off to do just that.
“I’m being treated like a child…” the Koolie grumbled, gripping the covers and turning over.
Bandit considered this for a moment, then once he gathered his words, he replied. “Well… You are my child. Look, even though this is all fun and games, I really do wanna make sure you’re okay, Cinnamon. Snapping at me or the girls isn’t what I’d consider very ‘okay’ behavior out of you, so I know something’s up. You know you can tell me anything.”
His gentle understanding got to her, scowl softening as she turned back over to face him. “...I’m sorry, Dad… I guess I really haven’t been getting enough sleep. Just, my new job takes up most of the day now, and then when I try to make time for you guys and have free time to myself, the time gets away from me…”
He smiled, just glad that she was finally comfortable enough to admit that. He leaned over the bed to gently pet the top of her head. “That’s okay, just get some rest, alright? It’ll do ya some good.”
“I got some cozy pillows and blankets!” Bluey declared as she raced into the room again.
“And I got you the Mr. Bone Dog that you like,” Bingo added as she presented the smiley white plushie wearing a blue jacket and pink slippers.
Cinna took the items with a smile. “Aw, thanks, girls… Sorry for yelling earlier.”
“That’s okay.” Bluey reassured her. “Muffin gets cranky when she’s tired too!”
“She gets cranky about everything,” She pointed out with a chuckle, building up her bundle of blankets and pillows, then getting more comfortable under the covers.
“Alright, now go ahead and tuck her in,” Dad instructed further.
The two girls climbed up and pushed some of the blanket underneath Cinna, singsonging “tuck tuck tuck” as she giggled a little.
“Ooh! Can I turn on your moon lamp?” Bingo pointed to the novelty object shaped like the Earth’s moon on her bedside table, a small remote beside it.
Cinna nodded. “Yeah, go ahead! Red button at the top there.”
The youngest picked up the remote and pressed the button with glee, a mesmerized “oooh” sounding from everyone once the lamp turned on, slowly fading through a rainbow of colors.
“Well, have a good nap, Cinna. We’ll wake you up by dinner.” With that, Bandit led the girls out of her room and turned off the lights, but not before Bluey returned her glasses to her bedside.
Being this comfy, Cinnamon surprised herself with how tired she realized she was, falling asleep soon after they left. By the time she awoke, the sun was setting, and she could smell her mum’s cooking wafting through the rest of the house.
“Evening, sunshine,” Bandit greeted, walking in just as she was waking up. “How ya feeling, Cinna-roll?”
Cinna sat up with a yawn, smiling at her dad. “You were right—I needed that.”