alwaysroomforhope | (no subject)

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The living room of 132 is empty, as are both bedrooms. The suite is painfully clean, apart from the dumbbells in the middle of the living room and the handful of sweaty workout clothes tossed on the floor.

The entire bathroom is filled with suds, white and opaque. From within the foam there is the occasional vague watery noise, as of someone fairly small lolling about in an oversized spa.

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"Quit it!" Goldy squawks.

"I mean it! If that thing touches me I'll rip its damned trunk off."

Though she's initially unfazed by Steph's attack, writing it off as silly adult stuff, Eleanor subsequently buys into the chaos. Steph's laughter is infectious, and it's soon joined by Eleanor's own giggles as she charges into the fray and starts laying seige to her mother's legs with the Squeakins. She also starts making "brrruuuh!" sounds, possibly in an attempt to imitate the trumpet of an elephant?

The unnecessary 'help' unsettles Goldy even more.

"Not you too!" she cries.

Batarang: successfully forgotten. Steph beams, subsiding onto the couch beside Goldy and setting the elephant carefully beside her.

"So," she says, over Eleanor's giggles and shrieks. "Do you want a glass of wine, or just the bottle?"

"Ow!"

Eleanor is still battering her mother's shins with the plastic duck, and her latest hit proves rather vicious. Goldy takes immediate action to stop the onslaught, bending down and grabbing her daughter mid-assault, then bringing her up and into her lap.

For her efforts she's rewarded with another "brrrruhhh!" and a particularly spittle-laced one at that. It's closer to a raspberry if truth be known.

"I love you too, Sunshine," Goldy says through the resulting grimace of disgust. She quickly hugs the child to her chest to protect herself from any further abuse. "That was some mighty fine bashing you did. Mommy's proud of you. And she's going to have the bruises to prove it tomorrow."

Eleanor sighs happily, and a bit tiredly, and throws her arms around her mommy's neck in order to return the loving embrace.

"Bottle," Goldy tells Steph over her daughter's shoulder.

Steph nods, already reaching for a corkscrew, and then rethinks.

"No way would you stop at one glass if I gave you the bottle," she points out. "How about a plastic mug?"

Safe from baby-battering!

Eleanor falls quiet for the first time since Steph met her, now just resting her head on Goldy's shoulder.

Without moving, Goldy shifts her eyes down.

And when they move back up to Steph, they're filled with incredible hope.

"Shhhh."

"She's fading! Whose bed can I use?"

"Mine," Steph whispers without hesitation, slightly wistful as she looks at the tiny girl in Goldy's arms. "Want me to make her a warm milk or something?"

Goldy doesn't reply with anything apart from a shake of her head and a hushing finger to her lips. She starts to rise, ever so carefully, with her daughter still clamped around her neck.

She's halfway up when Eleanor's eyes suddenly pop open again.

"Bear!" she yells, very urgently.

The Squeakins is discarded with all the care and respect one might afford a soiled tissue. And then, to make matters worse, she proceeds to wallop Goldy in the cheek with a flailing hand. Apparently the ~~devil~~ child is not out of energy quite yet.

"What did I tell you?" Goldy groans, flopping back down again. This is clearly all Steph's fault for not retrieving Bear when she was instructed to. And her punishment is to have Eleanor dumped on her in trade for the bottle of wine and the corkscrew.

"Gimme that. She's all yours!"

Steph tilts her head, confused (she was supposed to retrieve Bear?) and rather worried, but she takes the toddler with good enough grace.

"You," she informs the girl, "are definitely going to need some substitute mothering. C'mon, we'll find Bear, and then you can get tucked in..."

Tonight is going to be a long night.

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