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Riku, Roxas and Sora all but had their faces pressed against the front window, waiting for a familiar car to pull into the driveway. Any scraps of patience they usually had was destroyed with anticipation.
“They’ll be here soon,” Leon promised, but the three acted as if he hadn’t spoken at all.
At least Ventus and Vanitas weren’t the least bit concerned over the change the next forty eight hours would hold. Vanitas was leaning against Cloud, sweaty from hitting the punching bag in the garage while Ventus was curled up in the recliner with his headphones on, probably listening to remixes that involved classical instruments since that was his newest obsession.
The only two that didn’t seem as excited were Reiku and Xion and for vastly different reasons from what they could tell.
For the next two days Cloud and Leon would be babysitting Freya, Tifa and Rude’s two month old baby. They had a wedding to go to, and both were stressed out since they were in the wedding party and Cloud had offered to watch their daughter so they could take her out of the equation and plan accordingly. Plus, after two months of being parents, he rather thought they deserved something close to a date night.
Leon had backed Cloud up immediately, reminding Tifa of all the times she had babysat for them in the past. That along with the fact that they would have seven helpers meant things wouldn’t be so overwhelming for them.
Rude had agreed while Tifa seemed reluctant, but even she finally admitted that it was a good idea. The Strifehart children were ecstatic, most of them. They’d only met baby Freya once so far and it was safe to say all of the kids' opinions varied. Shockingly, it was Riku that adored her the most. Roxas and Sora weren’t far behind but Freya was their first opportunity to be around a baby.
Ellone had only recently given birth to her daughter Vinera and plans had been made to go visit but the kids had only seen pictures of her so far. Freya was still a big deal.
“What if she cries?” Xion asked nervously. She’d grown up with kids in her foster homes, some of them younger than her. She’d never spoken about babies specifically but she’d been fretting since the very moment they told the kids about their surprise visitor for the weekend.
“Then we comfort her,” Cloud said. “It can be a little tricky, but we’ll work out why she’s crying and make her feel better.”
“Sometimes babies just cry because it’s the only way they can communicate,” Leon continued, he was finishing up the last of his grading before Tifa arrived and he could give Freya the attention she deserved. “Every baby is different.”
Xion stayed close by, “What if she doesn’t stop crying.”
“She’ll stop eventually.” Vanitas offered, filling up his water bottle again.
“That’s true,” Leon said. “Sometimes babies cry themselves to sleep.”
It was Reiku’s turn to be concerned. As far as he was aware, babies were fragile and he didn’t understand how they were equipped to just watch one for the day. “What if something is wrong with her?”
“You can tell by the crying,” Cloud explained with a smile. “A ‘tired’ cry is different from a ‘hungry’ cry. Both are different from an ‘i don’t feel good’ cry.”
“But what if we don’t know which of her cries are which?” Rei asked, his own tension having his shoulders raised up towards his ears.
“We’ll learn,” Leon said simply. It had been something they’d just had to do. It had been scary when they’d first adopted Riku and they needed to learn his moods. It also hadn’t really helped that he’d been an oddly quiet baby. Sora and Roxas had been the ones to really shake things up with their crying. They had the experience now.
“What if we break her?” Xion asked.
Vanitas snorted. “She’s not a toy, she’s a baby. You’ll know to be super careful with her. No one is gonna break her.”
Cloud pointed at Vanitas. “See, he’s an experienced big brother. He gets it.”
Vanitas huffed out a laugh and looked back at his sister. “Babies don’t break easily. Ven and I never broke you and we carried you all over the place.”
Her brows drew together in confusion, “I don’t remember that.”
“Well duh, you were a baby.”
“What if she doesn’t like it here?” Reiku asked when there was a small pause of Xion not having a follow up comment.
Leon turned to give his son his full attention, the grading could wait. “She might be a little uncomfortable at first. All she really knows so far is her mommy and daddy. A new place, new smells, she might not understand but she’ll know we're not Tifa or Rude. She’ll get the hang of it soon enough. All babies do.”
“Our house has good vibes.” Vanitas commented, turning to walk out of the kitchen and head towards his twin. “She’ll sense that too. Babies are weird like that.”
“Vibes?” Rei repeated, looking less than convinced.
“Vani’s not wrong,” Cloud chuckled. “I know looking after a baby seems like a lot but daddy and I have it covered.”
“They never even dropped Riku!” Vanitas called from the other room.
“Vani…” Ventus just sighed, but they could hear the smile in his voice. “You don’t know that.”
Vanitas rolled into laughter that Rei and Xion weren’t sharing.
“They’re here!” Roxas called.
“Get the sloth plush,” Riku muttered.
“I’ll get the door!” Sora yelled.
Cloud sighed and pushed off the counter to follow after Sora who nearly slid in the front hallway on his socked feet. “Sora, baby. Relax.”
“I’m totally relaxed!” Sora said, bouncing up and down but he waited for Cloud to get closer before he opened the door.
Tifa was pulling the carseat out of the car with baby Freya still strapped in but Rude was wandering up to the front door with three different baby bags.
Cloud just whistled, “Tifa over pack?”
“She…” Rude glanced back at her and nodded. It was hilarious that he wasn’t going to voice that particular comment but Cloud remembered all too clearly how they used to over pack for outings with their babies. The extra bags just usually stayed unseen in the car, there for emergencies.
“Hi Rude!” Sora greeted. “We’re gonna have lotsa fun with Freya.”
“Hello Sora,” Rude greeted with a softer look than he usually had. Cloud took one of the bags he was bringing in to set into the living room and wait for Tifa. “I know you will. Thank you for helping your daddies look after her.”
“You’re welcome,” Sora said smoothly as if he were a seasoned babysitter.
It was only a moment later that Tifa was coming through the door with the carseat in hand. Freya seemed like she could drop off to sleep any second and Cloud would have been content to let her snooze there for a while but he doubted that would be an option with his kids sticking their faces next to hers.
“Damn Tifa, did you bring the whole nursery with you?” Leon asked.
She rolled her eyes but didn’t deny it. “Hey, I was just making sure you had the essentials. It’s not like you guys have baby stuff anymore.”
That was true enough. When they’d moved to this house, most of their old baby things didn’t travel with them. Things had been donated or passed along to a friend with a baby but at the time, Sora and Roxas had been starting kindergarten and they had thought they were finished with their baby needs.
“Fair,” Cloud smirked, crouching down next to Riku and Sora to look in on Freya. She was still yawning from the car ride. It was then that Roxas returned with the sloth plushie they’d gifted the baby. She had one for at home and one for their house.
“What do you have?” Leon asked.
“Right, okay.” Tifa turned to the bags Rude has set down and he was happy to let her do the talking. “This one is bottles, formula, pacifiers, diapers, things like that. The second one has her blankets, her stuffed bear, towels, clothes, washcloths.” The lists only got longer as she went on.
“The third one opens up into the portable bassinet. You guys don’t have a crib anymore and i figured you’d need to put her somewhere.”
“We’ll just get one of our own to keep here if babysitting becomes a regular thing,” Leon mused. “But she won’t even be here the whole weekend so i think this is more than enough.”
Tifa ran a hand through her hair looking anxious. “If I forgot anything, just call. We’ll make it work.”
“Sure,” Cloud said, catching Rude’s eye to convey that they would not be calling them for such a stupid reason, but arguing with Tifa right now was counterproductive. Being a new parent was hard, and leaving your child somewhere for the first time made you feel like a horrible parent. Cloud and Leon both remembered the feeling well.
It didn’t matter that Tifa knew them and that this was a safe place for their baby girl.
“Call if you need anything,” Tifa stressed. “The wedding isn’t that far away.”
It absolutely was, which was why they were leaving so early.
“We promise,” Leon said with an amused twist of his lips. “Now say goodbye and get out.”
Tifa stuck her tongue out at him childishly before doing just that, the boys shifted out of the way and she leaned down to kiss Freya’s forehead once. She scooted out of the way herself only to let Rude do the same, but he caught her hand and pulled her up to stand before she could linger any longer.
“We need to head out, Tifa.” He said softly.
“Yeah, i know,” Tifa said, giving Freya one last look. “Okay. We’ll be back in two days.”
“We’ll be here,” Cloud said, swallowing the urge to tease her about this. He still remembered the great horror of Riku’s first day of school and how he had to have a vice grip on Leon to keep him from tagging along to Riku’s class.
“Have fun,” Sora offered, clinging to Riku’s side still. They were all itching to play and there was going to have to be another conversation about Freya being too little for that just yet.
Tifa laughed and ruffled his hair. “Thanks, kid. You look after your little cousin, alright?”
“We got it!” Roxas promised and once all seven Strifehart children offered a wave and a goodbye, there was nothing to keep Tifa stalling anymore. Tifa stole one more kiss and Rude got her back out towards the car before she talked herself into taking their baby with them anyway.
Cloud and Leon exchanged amused glances but neither were sure she wouldn’t cave until their car was pulling out of the driveway.
“Well that went well,” Cloud offered, arms crossed as he watched Riku, Sora, and Roxas crawling back to kneel in front of the carseat again. They were all making sounds and silly faces to get her attention and it was a sweet interaction more than anything. Rei and Xion were watching like something in the living room would suddenly explode.
“Better than I expected,” Leon said. He’d gone to the hall closet to pull out a clean blanket they could spread on the floor. It would make it easier for the kids to be around her at once and short bursts of tummy time needed to be on something cleaner than their carpet.
“Can we feed her?” Roxas asked.
“When she’s hungry,” Cloud said. “She’s not Shadow.” Rei’s dog was probably asleep at the foot of his bed.
“Can we take her out of her seat?” Sora asked.
“In a sec,” Leon said, going through one of the bags Tifa had brought to see what she had actually packed. He went right into pulling out the portable bassinet that they’d need sooner rather than later to make sure it was put together correctly. “She’s content right now.”
“How will we know when she isn’t?” Riku asked, and as if on cue, Freya’s face scrunched up. She wasn’t exactly crying, but her whimpers were pathetic in a clear tone that she was done with being strapped in. Her nap had been interrupted so now she needed attention instead. Cloud was just grateful it hadn’t happened while Tifa was still there.
Cloud bent down, a little out of practice but he unbuckled Freya swiftly enough and stood with her cradled in his arms. She was by far the youngest baby he’d ever held but it wasn’t all that different.
“Can we see?” Sora asked, yelling in a whisper.
“Yes, yes,” Cloud moved to sit on the edge of the sofa with her. “You can all see.”
Riku, Roxas, and Sora were a little in love with her already, and despite their nerves Rei and Xion came to look too. She’d settled against Cloud but was blinking up at his face, possibly more focused on his hair then the other children.
“At least she’s a chill baby,”Vanitas muttered from his spot next to Ven. “I’d like to pass on all future diaper duty.”
Leon snorted, “And here I thought we’d have a couple volunteers.”
“Nope,” Vanitas grinned.
“Papa, you’re swaying,” Roxas said, making Cloud realize that he was.
“Yep. Fell right back into it. Babies like to be rocked but just doing it with my arms shakes her too much. It’s more gentle when I sway with her.”
Sora and Riku both laughed and started swaying in tandem with Cloud.
It took a couple minutes of nothing serious happening for Reiku to start to relax. He sat next to Cloud to look at her, totally in awe over a person being so small.
“You were all this size once,” Cloud commented. “We grow fast, huh?”
“Can she sit up?” Xion asked slowly.
“Not yet. That’s something we can’t do for a while. She doesn’t have the strength yet.” It was true that milestones came a little at a time, but her lungs were fully intact when she breathed deep and started crying. Xion and Reiku both jumped back like they’d done something wrong but Cloud just continued to rock her.
“No big deal,” He promised, checking her diaper first and finding it dry. “I’ll make her a bottle. Does someone want to hold her?”
He was met with wide eyed stares, Leon chuckling from where he was finishing putting together the bassinet. Freya inhaled shakily to let out another cry.
Ventus pulled off his headphones and and nearly bounced from the recliner to the sofa, “I’ll do it.” He held his arms just right and Cloud carefully placed the baby in his arms. She was still crying, but Ventus didn’t seem to mind. He started swaying just like Cloud had been.
“It’s not scary?” Riku asked quietly.
“Nah,” Ventus smiled. “She can’t talk yet, this is all she can do.”
“You’re good at that, Ven.” Leon complimented, keeping an eye on them as Cloud got up to grab the formula and a bottle.
“Thanks. Vani and I practiced when Xion was little.”
The little girl's face went red and for the second time that day muttered, “I don’t remember that.”
“Yeah, Freya won’t remember this either.” Ventus shrugged. “But the more we hold her as she gets bigger, the more she’ll remember.”
“I wanna try,” Riku finally muttered.
You can try after she eats,” Leon said. “She’ll be here for a while so everyone will have a turn if they want one.”
“Babies are a lot,” Vanitas said, snagging Xion and drawing her closer to sit with him. “They get bigger though.”
She pouted at him, but leaned into his side. “She looks like she could break so easy.”
“Babies are like that.”
“Is she just gonna cry until she eats?” Sora asked.
Ventus shrugged. “Probably. It’s not like she knows a bottle is coming.”
Leon laughed and he knew he’d have to find some of the pictures they had stored somewhere. Riku likely didn’t remember either, but he’d sit on their lap and help them feed Sora and Roxas when they were babies. It would be less scary for him when he realized he’d done it before.
Cloud returned from the kitchen with a warm bottle and handed it over to Ventus who adjusted Freya in his arms and offered her the bottle. She started drinking immediately and all of the younger kids were amazed that she’d stopped crying so fast. All of her distress melted away after getting what she needed.
“Wow…” Reiku muttered, inching closer again.
“See, babies aren’t that much trouble,” Leon said, smiling at the look Cloud gave him. His husband mouthed the words ‘don’t even think about it’, which was probably fair. Seven kids was enough.
Pulling out his phone, Leon snapped a picture to send to Tifa. If this weekend went well, she’d have an awful lot of babysitters in the future.