The Soulmate Initiative: Book 3: Next Generation

13. The baby competition

RHODES POV:

I'm gathered with my friends in the living room of the Avengers Mansion. We're going to have a competition, learning along with it, and of course, Ash has the camera up "We have three expecting mothers who are about to pop and Rhodey has just given me some incredible news." Everyone looks at me and I smile nervously "I don't know how, I mean really, I'm too old for this. But somehow Bruliel got me pregnant." Everyone congratulates Bruliel and I, and Tasia explains "Asgardians are very gifted when it comes to procreation." I laugh "Well, at least I'm retired now." Ash continues "So, we're going to have a competition to give our new parents, and second parents some necessary knowledge. Team 1 will have Rhodey, Bruliel, Suzie, Tasia, Ash, Stacey and Vina. Team 2 will have Hope, Scott, Candice, Prisha, Regina, Nian and Anna. Team 3 will have Strange, Christine, Nakia, T'Challa, Warren and Peter. And this competition is being hosted by Pep, so I'll pass the camera to you." Pepper smiles at us all "Okay, each team is going to have a baby. Team 1 will have Frigga-" Tasia holds Frigga up in the air by her waist "Team 2 will have... whichever twin you grab first." Prisha dives for her nearest daughter, Scarlet "Okay, that means team 3 has Lavina. Game 1, every team member must take off, then reapply your baby's diaper. First team to all have completed this task, wins." We all shift around where we're sitting, so the babies are laying on the floor in front of the seating, the first person from each team kneeling in front of them, everyone else seated whoever possible. We've all figured out the order we're going to go in. Pepper says "Everyone ready? Let's do this... go." Tasia, Prisha and Warren go first, of course, Prisha wins, though she doesn't rush too much. Those who haven't had a baby are the last ones to go. It's close between team 2 and 3, but Peter finishes a matter of seconds before Hope. Pepper speaks "And our winners are team 3! Now for game 2, one of your team members has to feed a jar of food to your baby first. Team 1, let's have Bruliel, team 2 will be Scott and team 3 will be Peter." The three team members start at the same time, trying to feed their baby first, the winner is team 3. We all laugh at the three of them, since Bruliel is covered in food, Scott is hiding, food dripping down his face, while Peter is pretty clean, having dodged most of the flying food "Good job, Pete."

"Last game is first baby to be put to sleep. Each team will be put into a different room and you get to choose one item to use to try and put the baby to sleep, but it's up to one team member to pick the item. It's up to Jess, Hope and Stephen. So, Jess, what do you want to use?"

Oh no, what can I use to put Frigga to sleep? Maybe some music? Maybe we can sing her to sleep?

"Music." "Alright, you can use your phone for music, but you have to be the one to choose the songs. Hope, what would you like?" "A warm bottle of milk." "And Stephen?" "I'll take... a fluffy blanket." "Okay, Hope, you've got to prepare the bottle and Stephen, you've got to find the blanket you want."

PEPPER POV:

"Now, we're not giving you easy places to do this, I have some different locations in a bowl here. Vina, come choose where your team will be situated." Vina pulls a piece of paper and reads it "In a bathroom." "Let's go with the bathroom on the boy's floor." "Anna, you're picking for team 2." She pulls a paper "Inside..." She chuckles "Strange's car." Most of team 2 immediately start protesting, but Regina and Candice are confused and Ash explains "His car is a 2 door, 4 seater. And all of you have to be in there." After much more protesting, we move on "Christine, come pick a location." She pulls out "The Asgardian tavern." There's lots of laughter. All the teams head off in different directions, Ash records her team on the floor in a bathroom, singing to gentle baby songs. Regina records her team, they eventually manage to cram into the tiny car, Scott in the driver's seat, Nian with Candice on his lap in the passenger seat. In the back are Hope with little Scarlet, Regina and Anna squashed in side by side with Prisha on their laps. And I go with team 3 to the tavern to record them, it's noisy as everyone's drinking and having fun, while we're all sitting at a table right in the middle. It takes a lot longer than it should for me to hear from either of the other teams, so I leave team 3 who are nowhere near succeeding, and go investigate. First I go to the bathroom to find team 1, where I find them all laying around on the floor, singing tiredly, while little Frigga is still wide awake. I then go to the car, as I approach, it looks so funny how they're all squeezed in, but then I notice something... The closer I get, I notice no one's moving. I lean up against the driver's window, to see the three in the front are asleep, Candice curled up in Nian's lap. I then move to the window behind and see Prisha cuddled up to two soulmates, all three asleep, beside them, Hope is asleep, and most importantly, so is little Lavina.

Looks like we have our winner.

I text Ash and Christine, to get them to bring their teams to the garage. I wait outside for them, once everyone has arrived, I say "Team 2 has won. Not only is Scarlet asleep, they're all asleep. Come look." We all sneak inside and peer into the car, many of them taking photographs for blackmail at a later date.