Marie arrived at her early morning class, only to get a glare from her lecturer, she ignored it.
"Where were you yesterday Marie," Mandy, one of her classmates whispered.
"Lucy's first day of kindy," Marie replied softly with a smile. "You wouldn't have class notes you'd be willing to share by any chance?" she asked hopefully.
"Aww, that's so sweet! Of course, I'll make you a copy after class," Mandy replied, grinning stupidly. She'd only met Lucy the once but like almost everyone, she fell in love with the sweet little girl at first sight.
Later that evening when Marie got home, she could hear an array of clattering sounds and a lot of giggling coming from the kitchen. As she walked past, she noticed a soft glow from the dining room, ducking back she was just in time to see Logan lighting the last candle on the table, as Lucy, as gently as she could, set out plates and cutlery.
Smiling softly at the scene, she saw Logan wave her away out of sight mouthing at her to 'hide until Lucy's ready'. Stepping back into the foyer silently, Marie listened as food was moved from the kitchen to the dining room before she heard Lucy declare delightedly, "Now we need mommy!"
Silently opening the front door, Marie banged it closed loudly, before she slipped down the hall. The dining room had gone silent as soon as the door closed so Marie called out, "Lucy, where are you," as she made her way down the hallway.
"Here mommy," Lucy called back. There she stood at the dining room door, grabbing for Marie's hand and tugging her into the room. "Mommy sits here," she said, pushing Marie to her chair, "Daddy, you sit there, and Lucy sit here." Once everyone was where she wanted them, Lucy started the meal. It was a fine feast, every dish chosen by Lucy, so it was lacking in vegetables, though Lucy had her favourite sweet potato fries, along with macaroni cheese, roast lamb, and she also asked for a salad, "For mommy, only for mommy, none for Lucy."
"How was your day at kindy?" Marie asked, as the little girl methodically shovelled food into her mouth - she ate like Logan, starting at one spot and working her way around the plate until she got back to the beginning, never mixing two flavours.
"Hm, it was okay," Lucy said half-heartedly, "I wish we could go on the playground more, and my hand doesn't like the writing lots, and the teacher won't let me count more than twenty because the other kids are dummies," she added glumly.
"Lucy! That's not a nice thing to say," Marie admonished, as Logan tried to hide his grin by taking a swig of his beer.
"I know mommy but it's true, I wouldn't say it to them though, some of them are my friends and I don't want to hurt their feelings," Lucy replied, no hint of malice in her tone, she was just stating a fact.
"Well so long as you keep it to yourself in class," Marie replied agreeably. It shouldn't surprise her Lucy was ahead of her peers, the girl clearly got her brains from her father, along with his dislike of 'book learning', an odd combination of factors that… but that was why she was the one at college not Logan.
As Lucy continued to chatter about her day, Marie smiled across the table at Logan, who winked cheekily back at her. Lucy was a little angel, their own living breathing little angel. Though Victor teased them that she was the decoy - the easy child meant to lull them into a false sense of security, so the next one could blow them out of the water! And speaking of the 'next one', as Marie's college career was drawing to a close - she was due to graduate in about eight months - a sibling for Lucy had started to sound rather appealing, even Logan had mentioned it a couple of times. Lucy wasn't their ‘baby’ baby anymore, she was an all grown up almost five-year-old, and twenty-two was a lot more respectable age to be having a baby than sixteen. And wouldn't her parents be thrilled... like they had been when her and Logan finally got married, when she turned twenty-one...
--
A piercing digital chirp began to sound from Logan's pocket all of a sudden, the sound startling him enough to loosen his grip on the part he was guiding into place. "Fuck!" he muttered, yanking his hand out from between a figurative rock and hard place.
"You okay?" Marty chuckled, from across the shop.
"I'll live," Logan replied, shaking the sting out of his hand, as the other hand dug around in his pocket for the phone.
"Hello?!" he answered quickly, when the caller ID alerted him it was Lucy's kindergarten calling.
"Hi Logan, it's Kate, Lucy's kindergarten teacher, Lucy needs a pick up, it looks like she might be coming down with that bug that's been going around, she was complaining about a sore stomach earlier, she skipped her morning snack, and she's just starting to get a temperature. Are you able to come get her or should I call Marie?" a perky female voice relayed.
"Marie's in a lecture, I'll come down and get her, I'll be about twenty minutes if that's okay?" he replied.
"Sure thing, she'll be in the nurse’s office so go to reception in the main office when you get here," Kelly replied, before signing off.
"You okay to hold down the fort for the rest of the day Marty?" Logan called across the shop, as he hurriedly finished fitting the part he had been working on.
"Sure thing boss, is everything okay?" Marty asked, wandering over to get an update on the job Logan was finishing up before he left.
"Just kids being kids, looks like Lucy's joining the ranks of the germ reproduction collective. Mr Hobson's due to pick this one up before five, if you can double check that connection for me, there's only the oil left to top up after that, and it's done. I'll let you know what's going on tomorrow as soon as I've had a chance to check on Lucy," he instructed, before making his way to the washroom to scrub up.
He took his motorcycle home, then picked up the car to drive to the school. When he got to the reception, the old lady behind the desk glared at him, he wasn't sure what exactly he'd done to upset her but she always looked at him like that. She led him down the hall to the nurse’s office, leaving him in the hands of the nurse who ushered him in.
"Daddy," Lucy murmured, a happy smile on her face, even though she was unusually subdued.
"Hey cutie pie, you not feeling too good I hear?" he said, walking across the room to where she was lying down on the exam bed.
"My tummy hurts," Lucy replied, "And my eyes are sleepy."
"I can see that," Logan replied with a chuckle, leaning down to place a kiss on her forehead, he could feel she was extra warm despite to cool office. "Come on then, I'll take you home," he said, collecting her school bag before he lifted her into his arms.
At five years old she wasn't the easiest to carry any more but it helped when she didn't wriggle, this time she simply lay limply against his chest, her head resting on his shoulder, arms around his neck, and legs gripping his waist loosely so she didn't slip. The receptionist glared at him again as he left, though it wasn't as grumpy as the one she'd given him when he arrived, maybe her face was just made that way. Gently he settled Lucy into her car-seat and buckled her in for the short drive home; by the time they arrived at home she was asleep.
Easing the harness off her, Logan carried her straight inside to bed, laying her down and stripping her clothes off before tucking her in, he'd put her pyjamas on next time she woke. In the meantime, he got everything he would need to keep her hydrated and fed all ready at her bedside, before tacking a brief note to the front door, letting Marie know to be quiet when she came in.
He settled into the rocking chair, in the corner of Lucy's room, to watch over her as she slept. Every time she got sick he turned into a total worrier, the first time she got a sniffle, when she was only a few months old, he had totally freaked out. Both Marie and Victor had laughed at him - though the latter admitted he used to do the same thing when Logan got sick as a youngster. Marie had suggested maybe their, quote, 'blown out of all proportion reaction', end quote, was due to them being healers, who didn't get sick, if they didn't get sick, it would make sense that they worried more over those who did. Thankfully Lucy had never been too sick, even that first time her cold was limited mainly to mountains of green snot and a bad attitude.
He woke up a couple of hours later to the sound of the front door opening, Marie peeked into the room a moment later. "Is she okay?" she whispered softly.
"She's got a temperature, and her appetite's shot but I've been waking her to drink regularly, she just seems to want to sleep it off," Logan replied, as Marie gently rearranged the little girls covers and pressed a soft kiss to her clammy forehead. "What are you like for classes tomorrow? I don't think she's going to be ready to go back to school," Logan queried.
"I've got another lecture in the morning, but I can skip the afternoon session if you want to do a half day at the shop?" Marie suggested.
"Nah," Logan replied, "Cars can wait, you take your classes, I'll stay with Lucy tomorrow, Marty can cover," he assured her.
"Sounds like a plan mister, you stay with the munchkin, I'll go make her some soup, she should be able to eat that," Marie said, kissing him softly before she left the room.
They ate their own dinner in Lucy's room, rousing the little girl to drink some cool chicken soup, then Marie retired to bed. Logan always suggested he do most of the sick care, hopefully then whatever Lucy had wouldn't get passed on to Marie. He was always so thoughtful.
In the wee hours of the morning Logan crawled into bed, fresh from the shower.
"Everything okay?" Marie asked, sleepily.
"Fevers broken," Logan whispered, kissing her shoulder softly, "I'll still keep her home tomorrow just in case, you go back to sleep."
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