” It’s just the truth.” Tarin said when Lee thanked him for calling Kevin great. Tarin had little more experience with teenagers than he did babies, but he actually had been around teenagers before and Kevin was a good one so far.

Lee pointed out that she had read a lot of books and Tarin wasn’t surprised at all. Lee didn’t do anything halfway and he could imagine that she’d wanted all of the information she could have so that she could plan for as many eventualities as possible with a baby, toddler, child, and beyond.

But Kevin had been the first baby she’d ever held? For some reason that was so surprising to Tarin. It also appeared that Lee liked Tarin’s idea about the hat. Depending on the next time that this happened, They’d have to see if they could have a hat ready. Surely Shin and Kealey wouldn’t mind.

Lee thought that maybe Michael was starting to teethe and the way that the baby was gnawing on the jellyfish, Tarin had to agree that maybe that was the case. It was super uncomfortable to think about, teeth growing in where there were no teeth.

Babies also apparently didn’t have much attention span…and as if on cue, Michael flailed again with the toy, stuck out his little lip and let out a wail.

”Oh god…” Tarin said, eyes a little wide, ”Did I just curse us?”

It may have been the truth, but it was still nice to have someone confirm to her that she had done a good job with Kevin.

But did Tarin look surprised when Lee said that Kevin had been the first baby she had held? Why would that be surprising? He knew her history, how her life had been. What would have given him the idea that she would have been around a lot of babies, never mind have held any?

Lee wasn't able to really think about anymore, or ask Tarin, as Michael apparently chose that moment to decide he was no longer happy about something.

Which immediately had Tarin thinking that he had cursed them somehow.

Another shake of her head as she shifted Michael on her lap. "I doubt it," Lee said as she tried to calm Michael. Which didn't seem to be as easy this time.

"He's probably just getting hungry," Lee continued after a minute when Michael hadn't stopped crying. Scooting forward on the couch, Lee held Michael in one arm and leaned over to look in the diaper bag.

Lee didn’t think that Tarin was responsible for Michaels current meltdown and he was willing to believe her for the moment. It wasn’t like Tarin had pinched the kid or anything. If nothing else, Michael had good lungs and seemed to be getting angrier by the moment despite Lee’s best efforts to get him happy.

Hungry? He was probably hungry. Tarin assumed that the list of things that a baby could actually want was pretty short and food would be close to the top.

Impressively, Lee shifted Michael to one arm and started digging through the bag, presumably looking for whatever it was babies this age ate. Did they only drink bottles still when they were this size? Was there baby food somewhere?

”What are you looking for, maybe I can help?” Tarin said, thinking it was probably pretty hard to juggle a baby and look for something one-handed. What if it had a lid? Or needed to be made?

Tarin was not particularly confident in his ability to actually do much to help, but he wasn’t just going to sit there like a lump while Lee did everything.

Apparently searching for something in a diaper bag while holding the baby was not nearly as easy as Lee remembered it being. Or maybe it was because she hadn't been the one who packed this bag, so things were not where she would have expected them to be.

Either way, she was still digging around in the bag when Tarin asked if she needed help finding something.

Lee sat back with a sigh. "A bottle and formula," Lee said. "They are definitely not where I would have put them in the bag."

Turning her attention back to Michael, Lee tried to distract him with the jellyfish toy while Tarin searched the bag. Then she glanced back over at him after a few moments. "Did you want to make the bottle, or hold Michael while I make it?"

Whatever Lee was looking for, she was not having an easy time finding it. Tarin watched as she dug around in the bag, then dug around some more, and held the baby in her other arm.

Eventually Lee asked him to see if he could find a bottle and formula and Tarin nodded his head but he had a million questions he didn’t want to ask. Was the formula in the bottle already? Was it liquid or was it powder? Lee sat back and sighed and Tarin dug around in the bag.

Eventually he found a bottle, but he still didn’t have any idea what the formula looked like or where it was.

Lee was still trying to calm the baby, the jellyfish just wasn’t cutting it anymore.

She spoke and Tarin sat up straight, a lion toy in one hand and the bottle in the other as his brain tried to reconcile what the hell was supposed to happen.

”No…..” he said, eyes wide for a moment before he shook himself a bit.

”I don’t know how to do the bottle.” he said, setting down the bottle. He didn’t know how to do the holding part either, but it wasn’t like Michael was a newborn.

”Give him here.” Tarin said, stomach in knots.

Lee continued trying to distract Michael with the jellyfish, bouncing him on her knee. Basically anything she could think of off the top of her head.

It didn't seem to be helping.

By the time she asked what Tarin was going to do, make the bottle or hold Michael, he had an empty bottle and another toy in his hands.

And he simply said no.

Lee just blinked, but by the time she had, Tarin had at least somewhat recovered himself, and was telling her that he had no idea how to make the bottle. That was very fair.

But at that exact moment, it also looked like he wasn't going to hold Michael. It wasn't like Lee was asking him to change a diaper or anything.

Tarin did say to give him Michael after what felt like a much longer pause than necessary. And he definitely did not look overly thrilled about the idea, but he took Michael from her when she handed the child over.

Now with both hands free, Lee dug around in the bag, only taking a few seconds longer than she felt it should have taken, and pulled out the container of formula. "I'll be quick," she promised Tarin as she grabbed the bottle he'd set down. "You two will be fine."

Standing up, Lee made her way to the kitchen to make the bottle. Though it had been a long time since she had done this, it wasn't as though it was something she had forgotten, especially not when there were instructions on the can, and before long Lee was making her way back out to the living room.

And she couldn't help but smile as she saw Tarin with Michael. Despite how unhappy both of them were with the situation, or maybe because of how almost awkward Tarin looked sitting there, they looked cute sitting there on the couch.

Lee handed over the baby and Tarin took him under the arms and just kind of held him there for a minute. Michael took massive exception to this development and wailed even louder and Tarin just blinked at the little guy for a moment before awkwardly sitting the baby on his lap kind of like Lee had held him earlier.

That wasn’t quite as offensive to Michael and he went from nuclear level screams to someone a bit more tempered but still clearly upset as Tarin grabbed the little lion toy that he’d come up with when he’d taken a dive into the diaper bag.

Michael looked at the lion as Tarin kind of shook it in the little guy’s face and reached for it. Tarin handed the toy over and while Michael was definitely still crying, he was also waving the toy around and a bit more calm.

That was a win right?

Looking down at the sad little baby, Tarin tried to gently bounce him just a little bit. That didn’t help so he just kind of looked at Michael until Michael looked back, ”Lee’s getting your bottle right now, you don’t need to fuss so much…” he said, and Michael actually looked at Tarin for a moment before letting out a fresh new wail and flailing his arms.

Tarin turned to look for Lee right as she was making her way back to the couch with a bottle in hand, ”I did my best…” he said as she sat, holding out Michael towards her the best he could.

Lee's smile widened as she sat down on the couch, dropping the container of formula back into the bag as she heard Tarin speak. "You did good," Lee said as sat the bottle against her leg on the couch for a moment while Tarin handed the baby back to her.

"It is really hard to sooth without food," Lee continued, though her eyes had dropped to Michael at this point as she grabbed the bottle and tried to lay the boy down in her arm slightly as he reached for the bottle.

Once she had gotten him settled and he was happily drinking the bottle, Lee looked up at Tarin. "Was it as horrible and scary as you thought it would be?" she asked, gently teasing him.

He’d done well? Tarin gave Lee a skeptical look at the praise as she took the baby back and managed to juggle the bottle.

For his part, Michael continued to wail for a few moments, at least until he realized that Lee had a bottle. From there, the little tank rolled back complaicantly and relative silence descended on the living room once more.

Michael, however, was not a quiet eater and Tarin tilted his head as he watched and listened to the little guy grunting like a baby pig while he went to town on the bottle. ”Guess he was hungry.” Tarin commented, ”Starving apparently and only realized it in that exact moment.”

Was it as horrible and scary as he thought it would be? Holding the baby?

”It’s not scary” Tarin said, smiling slightly and shaking his head, ”It’s uncomfortable and I don’t have any idea what I’m doing.” he said, still holding the little lion toy he’d been trying to use to calm Michael down a few moments before.

”That’s a whole little person there. I’m the last person who needs to be entirely responsible for the well being of something so small and helpless.” and important.

Once Lee got him eating, Michael was content to recline back in her arms and was quickly and noisily drinking the bottle. "Hey, some adults only suddenly realize that and then get hangry," Lee pointed out. "And this jellyfish is rather distracting and colourful."

So being around and holding the baby hadn't been scary, but it was uncomfortable because he had had no idea what he was doing. At least he was smiling.

Lee smiled back as she realized that Tarin was still holding the lion stuffie that he had been trying to distract Michael with. And as Tarin spoke again, she nodded.

"It is a whole little person," Lee agreed as she smiled down at Michael, who was still happily drinking away. "And he's probably starting to show his parents, and himself, the beginnings of his actual personality when he's not completely distracted by a jellyfish or food."

"I doubt you'd be as bad at it as you think if you were responsible," Lee said, looking back up at Tarin.

Lee had a fair point, there were a non-zero number of adults who handled hunger every bit as poorly as Michael just had. She was also correct that the jelly fish thing was colorful, and distracting…and very wet at this point.

When Tarin said it was uncomfortable to be around the baby more than scary, Lee seemed to understand the distinction he was trying to make. Nothing about Michael was scary, but being the one responsible for making sure he stayed alive was intimidating to say the least.

And Michael was a whole little person, Lee confirmed. With a developing personality and everything. Obviously Tarin knew that babies grew into adults, but it was still hard to believe that everything that would grow into and become an entire adult was contained in that squishy little body.

There were so many things Tarin could have said, but Lee spoke again and the slight smile on Tarin’s face slipped into a deep frown.

”God no…” he said shaking his head, ”I’d be absolutely awful.” The idea was actually deeply unsettling to Tarin. “You know how hard it is for me to connect with people…the idea of being exhausted…trying to care for a tiny human that can’t really interact back…”

Nope. Tarin didn’t think it would be any better at all.

Tarin was quite adamant that he would be absolutely no good actually taking care of a baby. One of the main reasons being because it was hard for him to connect with people in general.

That was true, Tarin did have trouble opening up to, well, pretty much anyone other than her, meaning it was difficult for him to have any kind of connection with anyone where it was more than superficial.

If he even talked to them.

Lee really didn't believe that he would have such a problem; with a baby, you didn't have to connect with it the same way you would with an adult. That connection grew over time as the child grew. The important part when they were this young was being there and caring for them. Making sure they had what they needed to feel safe and secure. And thoughLee knew that Tarin would feel wildly uncomfortable and unprepared for that, she truly believed he was capable of doing it.

Now wasn't the time to push or argue about that. In fact, there really was no reason to push on that, ever.

Instead, Lee looked up at Tarin, her head tilted slightly. "Are we wearing hats tonight?" she asked, changing subjects. "Or do you think the Mets will be ok without the interdimensional magic?"

Lee did not push or argue when Tarin pointed out all the things that he’d pointed out. Maybe he’d actually managed to explain something in a sensible way for a change…

Either that, or Lee just didn’t see any point in arguing with him.

Regardless, Tarin was extremely happy when the conversation moved on to other things.

The game had definitely started by now and Tarin glanced over at the TV surprised that he’d missed a good chunk of the first inning while everything with Michael happened. Score was still tied up at nothing, so they’d so far avoided a disaster.

”Um…hats.” Tarin said, hopping up and running to grab them. They were barreling towards the end of the season now, and the Mets’ record was getting into ‘mathematically impossible to make the playoffs’ territory, but there was no reason to tempt fate if they could avoid doing so.

Lee’s hands were full, so when Tarin returned to the couch and sat down, significantly closer than he had earlier, he helped Lee put her hat on and then put his on.

Michael was still working on the bottle, but it was quickly dwindling in volume. ”What happens when he’s done?” Tarin asked.

Not only did Tarin seem relieved that the topic of conversation as no longer how well or not he would manage taking care of a child, but he seemed surprised to see that the game had already started.

Surprised and apparently anxious to get their hats because he practically ran from the living room. At least since he was moving so fast, it didn't take Tarin very long to return.

He sat back down on the couch, much closer to her this time, and put his old hat on her head before he put the newer hat on his own head.

Even though she seemed to be the only one who ever wore this hat, the one that Tarin had brought with him when he crossed rift, Lee still thought of it as Tarin's hat. It was his, he just seemed to prefer her wearing it rather than him.

Lee was just turning her attention to the game when Tarin spoke again. "Well, hopefully he'll play for a bit and be content. Now that he's eaten, he'll probably need a diaper change before too long, and I would imagine he'll get tired soon, so try to get him to sleep without too much fussing."

Play. Diaper, ew. Sleep. Life seemed pretty simple for Michael and Tarin desperately hoped that their time together would pass without further incident. Babies cried, it was pretty much what they were most famous for after being adorable, but that didn’t mean it was an easy thing to deal with. Tarin had never thought about how difficult it would be to figure out what a baby wanted considering the fact that they only way they had to say was through crying.

”What if he starts crying again and he’s already eaten?” Tarin asked, frowning slightly at the thought. The bottle had worked really quickly, but there was no way, even as chubby as he was, that Michael was bottomless.

”I can probably help with the playing some more.” he offered tentatively, and picked up the lion again (the jellyfish was still too…damp)

The game was on though and the fist inning had just finished scoreless. Hopefully now that they had their hats, that would get better too.