The Hidden | Jake Peralta

Chapter 9

Baby Kelly's cries loudly as his parents – Nick and Adalind – rush around trying to stop him.

"I've fed you. I've changed you. I've burped you. Why are you doing this? What's wrong?" She asked her son, rocking him while Nick was trying to figure out dinner. "Is the water boiling?" She asked him (Nick). "If it's boiling, you've got to put the rice in and then turn it down."

"The rice is in." Nick said as he turned the heat down. "How do we turn the baby down?" He joked.

"You try. Let me deal with the rice." She handed Kelly to his father. "It's okay, Kelly. It's okay." She said as she made the exchanged.

"Shh." He said to the baby. "Nothing can be that bad." He rocked him, then he looked at Adalind. "Maybe he has colic. How do you know if he has colic?" Nick asked.

"I don't know. I'm still learning to boil rice." Adalind shrugged as she looked at the rice.

"Should we call Rosalee?" Nick suggested.

"Rosalee doesn't have children. But..." She paused as she turned the heat down, believing the rice was done. "I do know someone who has down this. She has twins so she done this twice."

"Perfect. Call her." Nick agreed. Adalind reached for her phone and searched for the person who she hasn't physically seen in years.

Celine Mikaelson-Diaz

"Hello?" Celine answered.

"Celine. Hi, it's aunt Adalind." Adalind said.

"I know. I have this thing on my phone called caller ID."

"Right." Adalind laughed, completely forgetting the entire reason she had called in the front place.

"Is everything okay?" She asked.

"Right. I have a baby question about crying."

"Ah. Yes a baby's favourite pastime." Celine chuckled, looking at her twins, both smiled innocently.

"We've tried everything. He's bathed, changed, burped, pooped, and he won't stop crying. How do we know if it's colic?"

"Pretty much if he won't stop crying." Celine laughed. "But before we jump to that conclusion, let me here the baby cry."

"You want to hear Kelly cry?" Adalind asked. Nick looked at Adalind in confusion.

"Yes."

"Okay." Adalind shrugged. She held the phone's mic next to Kelly so that Celine could hear the baby's cry, after a few seconds Adalind put the phone back next to her ear.

"It's not colic." Celine said before Adalind could say anything.

"Then what is it?"

"He's bored. He needs a distraction... a stimulus." Celine explained. "Hold the phone's screen in front of him, so he could see the lights." She instructed.

Adalind followed her instructions and held Nick's phone in front Kelly, who had stopped crying when his eyes saw the bright lights on the phone. "How did you know that?" Adalind gasped. "He's looking at the lights on the phone."

"Babies have different cries for certain things. When you've raised two babies at the same time who want different things, you learn how to differentiate between the cries."

"Oh, the rice is boiling over." Nick pointed to the stove.

"Oh, sorry, Celine. I've got to go. Thank you again for helping."

"No problem Aunt Adalind." She hung up the phone. Adalind out the phone down in the counter, turned the heat down to stop the rice from boiling over and looked at Nick and Kelly.