Closer 2

200.

Elise watched as uncle Ray very carefully lifted a bundle of blankies out of what looked like a plastic tub in the corner of the room. She hadn't noticed the tub before now, but she knew she had seen one of them before.

It was the kind of bed that her brothers slept in while at the hospital.

She watched as uncle very carefully handed auntie the bundle of blankets, and auntie very carefully shifted the blankets slightly. Elise couldn't help but stare as she discovered what was in the bundle of blankets.

A tiny face peeked out. The tiny face seemed to be sleeping.
"Is a bo?" Elise asked softly, shifting to sit on her knees on the bed. She turned to look at baba as he chuckled.

"No, sweetie, it's not another brother. No worries, she's not coming home with us," he explained with a small smile.

"It's a baby girl, Li-Li," Auntie May said softly, grabbing Elise's attention again.

"Baby?"

"Yeah, a little girl. Like you used to be a long long time ago," May smiled, reaching out to brush Elise's bangs out of her face.

"Oh," Elise said softly. She didn't really understand, but so far it didn't seem like a bad thing. Auntie didn't seem to care more about the baby than about her.

"You know how baba and dada are your baba and daddy, yeah?" May asked her, and she nodded, looking to auntie as she tried to help her understand. "Well, kinda like they are your baba and dada, me and uncle are this baby's mommy and daddy."

Elise tilted her head, a bit confused. She had heard the word 'mommy' before, but she didn't really know what it meant.
"Dada?" she asked, turning to her dada and pointing. This time it was dada's turn to chuckle gently. He came over and squatted down next to auntie's bed and stroke her back a bit.

"Yeah, I am your dada, but uncle Ray is the little baby's dada," he said softly. "So when the baby is as old as you are, she can say 'dada' and uncle Ray will come."

She turned her gaze up to uncle Ray, only to discover he was crying. His cheeks were all wet, and it worried her. Did he not wanna be dada for the baby?

"It's true. I am her dada," uncle said. He smiled, but he was still crying. Baba walked over to him and patted his shoulder.

"Li-Li?"

Elise turned again to look at auntie, who was still holding the baby.
"Ya?"

"Just because we have a baby now doesn't mean we love you any less, okay? Auntie and uncle love you all the same as we did before."

Elise furrowed her brows. She hadn't really thought about the potential for that at all, but now that it was mentioned... This was kind of like when her brothers were all small, just like the baby is, wasn’t it? When suddenly baba and dada didn't have time to play with her anymore.

She didn't have time to process that big thought before uncle came over and put his arm around auntie before very carefully reaching down to stroke the baby's cheek.
"Do you want to stroke her cheek, Li-Li?" uncle asked her, but he wasn't looking at her. He was looking at the baby.

"No thank you," Elise said softly and politely, glancing over at the plastic bed where Sharkie laid on the corner. On the mattress, a dark grey curled up and closed its eyes. "Sharkie, please?"

"Of course, maybe baba can grab it for you?" Ray asked, smiling over at baba. Elise nodded a bit, trying to scoot herself off auntie's bed. Dada helped her once he realized what she was trying to do, and she dragged her hand along the mattress as she walked around to get Sharkie from baba.

Baba squatted down to her height as she came over. Elise carefully took Sharkie as he was offered to her and pressed him to his chest. A moment later, baba pulled her into a tight hug.

"I'm so proud of you today, Li-Li," he said, pressing a kiss to her hair. "You behaved so well with the baby."

She didn't have time to think about her answer before he let her go, ruffled her hair a bit, and turned to be a part of the little scene with uncle, auntie, dada and the new baby.

"Thank you, baba," she said quietly, but baba didn't hear. He was busy with the baby. Uncle and auntie's baby.

The cat jumped out of the crib, catching her attention again. She couldn't keep her eyes off it as it came closer until it finally brushed against her leg and sat down next to her.

"Kitty," she whispered, leaning down slightly and stroking her hand over its head.

// Hey guys, thanks for sticking around and reading this! It's been fun!

Sorry about all the loose ends I'm not doing anything about, but honestly I've squeezed out all the juice I had for this story, at least for now! I may make a short spinoff or something at some point, but for now this is it!

Love y'all, and don't forget to GO PRACTICE