Lee was sweet for playing along with the fact that there was still a chance. Realistically speaking so many teams would have to win so many games while so many other teams would have to lose so many games to very specific teams that the one percent chance might as well have been nothing.

It was okay though, Tarin had been a Mets fan long enough that he was used to the early end to the season.

Lee was smiling a lot tonight and that always made Tarin happy. She also seemed to remember the silly bet that the two of them had made regarding the winter and Lee’s ability to find Tarin clothing that would keep him warm and wouldn’t make him look like a Michelin man.

”I still think you’re underestimating how much I hate to be cold.” Tarin said, “Also, who is going to judge this contest anyway, if I remember correctly, I don’t have much incentive to let you win.”

Michael paused in his gnawing for a moment to bounce and wiggle a little in Lee’s lap. “Maybe Michael can judge. He seems like an expert in round and fluffy.”

Tarin thought that she was underestimating how much he hated to be cold? Lee supposed that was true. But she also thought that he was underestimating how much she had had to learn to stay warm. And how many years she had spent learning, because that had gone well past the few years she had been on the streets.

He did have a good point about figuring out how to decide who won the challenge.

Tarin's suggestion a moment later that Michael be the judge was entertaining, and Lee laughed as she looked down at Michael. "What do you say?" Lee asked the baby. "Will you be the judge of whether I can dress Tarin warm enough this winter?"

It almost seemed like Michael was considering what Lee said because he stopped his bouncing on her lap and looked up at her with wide, innocent eyes.

Only to let out a loud toot a moment later.

Lee let out something between a sigh and a laugh. "That's not a great answer, you know."

This whole winter wardrobe competition was going to be a thing Tarin could tell. Chances were also remarkably high that Tarin was probably going to lose. Obviously there were clothes out there that could keep people warm and allow movement. People worked in some of the coldest places in the world, after all.

Michael seemed like a likely judge though, Tarin figured he was going to have to find a way to bribe the kid though so he actually
stood a chance. When Lee spoke though, Michael actually looked like he was listening.

And then. The baby did what Tarin assumed all babies did eventually when they’d chugged a bottle like it was going to run away.

“And just like that babies are awful again…” he said, but was laughing a bit when he said it.

“Gonna leave all that to the baby expert in the room.”

Once again babies were awful? Lee shook her head as she looked at Michael. "Are you actually done, or should I wait a few minutes?" she asked the child, but only got gurgle as he continued to chew on his jellyfish.

And Tarin was going to leave it all to her? "What? You don't want to change your first diaper?" Lee jokingly asked. "It's quite an adventure."

Not that Lee actually expected Tarin to be eager to do that. Kevin had taken one look at Michael earlier that evening and flat out said he wasn't touching a diaper.

Other than happy gurgling, though, there were no other sounds coming from Michael.

"Alright Michael," Lee said, leaning forward to grab the diaper bag. "Time to clean you up."

Yeah. No.

Tarin shook his head, extracted his arm from Lee’s shoulders, and re-established the distance between himself and whatever was going on with Michael and his diaper.

Lee had the audacity to tease him and Tarin shook his head, “Not a chance in this universe or any other.” he said. The playing was one thing, Michael had been downright adorable for the last little while, the holding had even been alright for the brief amount of time Tarin had had to deal with it.

This? Nope. No. Not a chance.

Lee leaned forward for the bag and Tarin desperately hoped that she was planning to go somewhere else to change the diaper.

“Good luck.”

And it seemed that Tarin was very against the idea of changing Michael's diaper. He was even putting more space between them as he stated that he wasn't going to change a diaper in any universe.

He was even wishing her good luck. It hadn't even sounded that bad..

But he seemed far more uncomfortable with this than anything else to do with Michael, including holding the child while he was crying.

Slinging the diaper bag over her shoulder as she stood and made her way back to her bedroom to change the baby.

A few minutes later, after stopping to throw out the diaper, Lee returned and sat down on the couch once again. "Did I miss anything good?"

Tarin had a feeling that Lee thought he was overreacting. That was okay, Tarin could admit that he probably was overreacting. He still wasn’t getting anywhere near that diaper or the changing of it.

Lee put the bag on her shoulder and got up and Tarin let out a little sigh of relief.

The game was still going well. They were in the top of the fourth now and nobody else had scored, but thanks to the lead they’d already established the Mets were still up by two.

It didn’t take very long for Lee to take care of the diaper and when she sat back down with Michael, Tarin scooted closer again.

”Not a single thing.” Tarin said, “Still 2-0.”

Michael seemed happy enough now, thought in all honesty he hadn’t seemed all that upset before. Gross. Through it all, the Jellyfish had remained steadfast.

“Now that he’s not a biohazard anymore, he’s back to being cute.” it was wild how the baby could do that.

Not a single thing had changed in the game while she had been gone, she hadn't missed anything. That was good. Even if the Mets hadn't managed to get another run in, at least the other team hadn't scored either.

Michael was still busy chewing away on his jellyfish, so when Tarin scooted closer to her, Lee leaned her head against his shoulder once more.

"He was a biohazard?" Lee asked, turning a raised eyebrow to Tarin. "And sure, he got a little smelly, but he was still cute,"

Though, Lee had to wonder, would she have felt the same way before Kevin? She had never really been around babies before that. Other than randomly in a public washroom, she'd never been around a baby being changed before Kevin.

Maybe she would have thought the same back then.

Lee leaned back against his shoulder and Tarin shrugged as Lee explained that Michael had remained cute in spite of the fact that he’d needed a diaper changed.

“Agree to disagree then.” he said simply. The more important thing was that Michael was back to being his cute little self now and looked completely relaxed and happy snuggled against Lee as they went back to the baseball game.

”Guess we’re going to have to find a different judge for this winter though.” he said, “If that’s how he reacts to just the job offer….”

The Marlins were at bat now and had managed to get a couple of folks on base and Tarin winced as the batter smacked a low fly just deep enough into center to avoid both the second baseman and the center-fielder.

”Maybe the baseball gods are mad we didn’t think of the hat beforehand Tarin said as the bases came up loaded with only a single out.

Realizing he’d held onto the lion toy this whole time, Tarin leaned forward and dropped it back into the diaper bag as the next batter came up.

They were going to need a new judge? Well, Lee supposed that was fair. If he reacted by filling his diaper at the mention of judging whether Tarin was warm enough…

But the game started not going so well as the other team just got a third player on base. "Wait, there's baseball gods now?" Lee asked a little incredulously as she looked over at Tarin. "And yes, maybe if we had actually thought ahead and got Michael a hat beforehand, your magic might be working better. But remember, Kevin doesn't have a hat, either, and that hasn't seemed to be a problem before."

Finished speaking, Lee glanced back at the tv just in time to see that the current batter had just struck out.

Tarin gave Lee a look that suggested that baseball Gods were the most obvious thing in the world, “Who did you think was responsible for the inter dimensional hat magic?” He teased.

Lee did have a point though, Kevin hadn’t ever had a hat…did Kevin wear hats? Tarin couldn’t remember if he’d ever seen the teen in one or not. Maybe he needed one. Would he even want one?

As those thoughts spun through Tarin’s head, the current batter struck out. That was one.

Rarely did a team manage to get out of an inning where bases were loaded with no outs without the other team scoring at least a single run…but stranger things had happened.

The next batter was up now and on the second pitch popped a foul up behind the plate. The Mets catcher was up in a flash chasing it back towards the fence and snagging it out of the air.

“That’s two…” Tarin said, reaching out to tug at the jellyfish again and maybe play a little bit more of the boop game.

Oooh, there were obviously baseball gods because of Tarin's interdimensional magic. Lee shook her head at Tarin's reasoning, though she had an amused smile on her face. It was a little ridiculous, but so was everything with this 'magic'.

Though, Lee thought as she watched the catcher get the next batter out when he popped it up behind the foul line, maybe there was something to this. She did not remember the Mets playing this well back in the spring.

That might have been because she didn't understand the game, she realized.

Still. Despite the fact that there were three players on base, the Mets were doing good keeping them there without scoring.

Tarin was grabbing the jellyfish again, Lee saw. Turning her eyes from the tv, she watched the slight tug of war over the toy, Michael's babbling and grunting almost making it sound like he was telling Tarin off.

“Out of everything that you know and everything that has happened, superstitious hat magic is that hard to believe?” Tarin said when Lee shook her head. Yes, knew the whole thing was a little ridiculous. In reality the whole thing had sprung from him being superstitious about wearing his hat during games and then, for some reason, really liking it when Lee wore it. It was fun though, and lord knew that the two of them were far too serious sometimes. A lot of the time.

Michael, it appeared, was only serious about one thing and that was his jellyfish. This time when Tarin tried to take it he could have sworn that Michael growled at him. That made Tarin laugh a little and stop tugging so hard in favor of just booping the baby's face again. That went over much better, and soon there were giggles once again.

Somehow, by some miracle, the next pitch was hit, but it was a grounder right to the first baseman. ”I cannot believe they got out of that inning without a single score.” Tarin said, reaching up and fiddling with his hat as the teams switched spots.

Tarin had seen her disbelieving shake of her head. And was questioning her not believing that after everything she had seen and done and heard about.

"I mean, gotta draw the line somewhere, right?" Lee said, though her tone was still light and playful.

Michael wasn't having any of the tug of war game with his jellyfish now, and though he wasn't crying, he was definitely voicing his opinion on Tarin trying to take it away from him.

Nose boops, however, still seemed to be a hit because that set Michael off giggling again.

Lee just stared at Tarin for a few moments in silence when he spoke again. Really? After what he had just said to her about not believing?

"What happened to your baseball gods and interdimensional hat magic?" she asked. "You're shocked when I don't believe, but then you can't believe when it might have done that?"

“And the line is baseball gods?” Tarin said. Interesting place to draw a line, but he supposed after everything that Lee had seen and done, where to draw that line was her prerogative.

He still believed though. At least kind of.

The inning ended, Tarin was relieved, and Lee looked surprised that he was relieved. At her look, Tarin stopped the boop game for a second, and looked back at her.

Lee spoke and Tarin laughed, booping the baby for another couple of seconds while he shook his head. After the last set of giggles Michael let out what could only be called a yawn and Tarin “Awww’d” appreciatively at how cute it was before he addressed Lee.

“They could have scored without pulling ahead.” Tarin said as a Mets batter stepped up to the plate. “Or they could have gone down by a run or two only to come back later.”

Tarin grinned a self-satisfied little grin, “You can’t question the ways of the gods…just have faith.”