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Despite some lingering nerves, Angela's excited.
Damien had learned about her quest to have a playdate with everyone in the cast and had jokingly asked if that included him.
And while at the time she had just laughed, she realized later that he was the only caregiver in the cast she hadn't been little around.
Her playdate with Spencer hasn't included Damien, so Angela went to Amanda with her thoughts before moving on to Damien.
The man happily offered to hangout with her at their apartment as soon as she explained what she wanted.
Like when Angela's brother was here, Amanda was going to leave them in the living room while she worked in the kitchen.
There's a knock at the door and Angela’s nerves overtake her, the little quickly scrambling up into Amanda's lap from where she was building on the floor.
“You're going to have fun,” Amanda assures her as she stands with the little on her hip as she checks who's at the door, “You love Damien.”
She rests her head on Amanda's shoulder as she opens the door, smiling nervously at Damien as he's let inside.
“Hi Angie, it's nice to meet you,” he says kindly as the two adults sit on opposite sides of the couch, “I brought you something.” he adds, pulling a small stuffed garlic out of his bag.
He holds it out to her and she holds out her hands, the small toy fitting easily in her palm.
“From one Italian to another,” he jokes as he hands it to her, smiling proudly at the awed expression on her face.
“Hug?” she asks him hesitantly with her arms towards him, the gift breaking the ice between them almost immediately.
Damien opens his arms, wrapping them around her as she carefully hugs him, trying to be mindful of his space.
“Thank you for being so careful Aungela, but I signed up for little chaos today, so expect it to be delivered to me,” he explains jokingly.
Angela looks over to Amanda for clarification, the woman watching the duo with a smile, “He's saying it's ok to just be you and not worry too much about him,” she clarifies, “Just like how you can say you don't like something and it stops, so can he.”
She nods in understanding, turning back around to see him nodding with her. Reassured, Angela crawls into his lap, smiling when Damien starts tapping patterns on her shoulder.
“I've really only ever held Court,” he admits after the duo say goodbye to Amanda as she leaves to work in the kitchen, “And Ian a couple times.”
“Spence too big,” she says through giggles before her attention is pulled to her shoulder, “What tapping for?”
Damien stops, moving a hand to her leg so she can see his hand as he taps another pattern, “The tapping is just a fidget, but the patterns are Morse code.” he explains, continuing when she looks at him confused.
“You know sign language,” he starts, moving on when she signs ‘yes’, “Morse code is a language based on rhythms. It's mainly spoken with beeps, like from a computer, but you can tap it if you want.”
“Like this,” he says before tapping her leg quickly, followed by a longer one, “Is an ‘A’.”
Angela clumsily copies him on his leg, “A for Angie.” she chirps, smiling proudly at Damien’s praise.
“I just tap random words and phrases when I fidget,” he admits, “The one I was doing when you sat down was this one.”
Tap hold tap tap wait, hold hold hold wait, tap tap tap hold wait, tap
“That's the first word, then the second one is,”
Hold tap hold hold wait, hold hold hold wait, tap tap hold
“What you say?” Angela asks curiously and Damien repeats the pattern again, this time saying the letters as he goes.
.-.. “L” --- “O” …- “V” .”E”
-.-- “Y” --- “O” ..- “U”
It takes a minute for Angela to put the letters together, her head tilted in thought as a smile grows on her face.
“Love you!” she says excitedly, leaning into him for another hug, giggling when he taps it on her shoulder, this time at the quick pace he was at before.
He goes to ask her what she wants to play, but she speaks before him, “More words?” she asks hopefully and he obliges her, slowly tapping words on her leg, starting with her name.
They continue on for a while, Angela being old enough to have this hold her attention for a surprisingly long time. Eventually she begins to grow bored and Damien catches it fairly quickly.
“I brought my Switch because your mama said you like games, but we can play with whatever you want,” he tells her, gesturing to his bag.
“A together game?” she asks, “Wanna be team like Spence Mario game.”
“Funny you mention that, I found a game on sale a few days ago and I think you're the perfect person to try it with.” he tells her playfully as he pulls out his Switch.
Angela nods quickly, bouncing excitedly in her seat and petting Spork while she waits for him to connect the Switch to the TV.
Damien pulls up the game and she gasps, happily taking her remote from him, “Bluey!”
He chuckles, glancing over at Amanda when he notices her peeking into the room, pulled over by the yell. She smiles at him and goes back to the kitchen, returning his focus to the little.
“Courtney told me you like the show,” he explains as he presses play, taking them to the character selection page, “You pick first, Aungela.”
She hums, looking between the four Heelers before selecting Bingo. “You Bandit?” she asks and Damien picks the one he assumes she's talking about.
“That one?” he clarifies, “I've never seen the show.” he admits.
Angela nods, “He the dad, very silly.” she explains sagely, “Like you!”
Damien chuckles, gently ruffling her hair before starting the game and loading them into the first cut scene.
They play through a large chunk of the game, Angela pulling her weight as the duo complete challenges and mini games.
Amanda peeks her head in a few times, taking a few candid photos of the two goofing off or intently focusing on their game.
Angela had decided while big that she wanted to have these memories captured and would review the photos when she ages up, trusting Amanda to not take anything she wouldn't be ok with.
Letting the two play as long as she can, Amanda finishes lunch and sets it down before calling them over.
“It's time for lunch,” she calls out, “Go wash your hands when you get to a save point.” she adds, copying a phrase she's heard lots of people at Smosh say to one another, particularly Tommy to Chanse.
“Ok mama,” Angela murmurs, too focused on the game to say much else.
“I've got it.” Damien assures her, and Amanda decides to stay and watch the two finish the level, smiling when Angela jumps up with excitement over completing a puzzle.
“We did it!” she says excitedly, happily fist bumping him.
Damien stands and carefully pulls her to her feet, “Lets go wash our hands,” he reminds her, winking at Amanda as the little drags him towards the bathroom.
It only takes a couple minutes for the trio to sit at the table to eat their lunch, Angela rambling about Morse code and Bluey to the two caregivers.
Angela only eats a few bites of her sandwich before pushing her plate away to focus on her cup of fruit.
“Don't want Dame go,” she says sadly, knowing that after lunch time is nap time.
“Now that you're so good at aging up, I bet we'll get to hang out at work now,” he reminds her, pushing his bowl of fruit to the little.
She grins at him, happily accepting the extra serving.
“Mama, Dame and mama story together?” she asks, hoping she'll agree despite not normally getting stories before her nap, “Pleeeeease.”
Amanda looks over at Damien and nods when she sees his slight nod, “One story for the polite little one.” she agrees, smiling at the joy on her face.
Angela reaches for Damien as he stands, giggling when he lifts her up and holds her like she's flying, gliding her into her room as he makes exaggerated woosh sounds.
“Do you want to fly into bed?” he asks, moving her as if he's going to throw her to demonstrate what he means.
“Woosh!” she yells in lieu of an answer, giggling even louder as he glides her down to the bed, only letting her drop a couple inches.
Amanda smiles from the doorway, ending her video as she comes into the room with a book under her arm.
The two caregivers settle Angela into bed, tucking her and Cannoli in.
“Does this story look good?” Amanda asks, holding it out so the little can see it.
She nods and the caregivers settle on the edge of the bed, trying their best to make the book visible to both each other and Angela.
“I'll be Bear and you be Duck.” she explains to Damien quietly as she opens the book, quickly explaining the characters vibe to him so he can pick a good voice.
The duo read through the book together, Damien as the excitable and energetic Duck and Amanda as the reserved and relaxed Bear.
“Damien Bear,” Angela mumbles sleepily as the two finish reading, “I Duck.”
“I guess we kind of are,” Damien agrees as he stands, freezing when Angela whines.
“Bye bye Dames, thanks play,” she mumbles, holding her arms out for a hug.
He crouches down and carefully hugs her, making sure to tap ‘love you' on her shoulder, “I had a great time,” he tells her honestly, “I can't wait to finish our game.”
She smiles at him, incorrectly tapping it back to him before he moves over for Amanda to say goodnight to her.
Amanda kisses her forehead as Angela finally lets her eyes flutter shut, sleep overtaking her almost immediately.
The caregivers quietly leave and Amanda walks Damien to the front door, “Thank you for coming over, she was so excited for you to come play.”
“She's a joy,” he tells her, “I can't wait to see her running around the office.”
“Me too.”