Now that I have given Crais a family, we can have some more fun.
How about budding Fatherhood? I am sure Crais will “appreciate” that. Set in
the time before they meet up with the people from Moya in To The Rescue.Crais
learns that fatherhood is not so easy
First
Steps In Fatherhood
By
GitonCrais
Crais was on the Command Bridge when Lyane’s cry of pain shot
through the link.
He blinked his eyes and shook his head. It was obvious that it
hadn’t been life threatening or too painful when he could hear her curse but
still…
He quickly left Command in search of his mate. Through Talyn’s
link it was not difficult to find her and he entered the Galley.
She was sitting on the floor near the table, nursing her arm. A
scowl of annoyance was on her face. He helped her up.
“What happened,” he asked.
“Something quite stupid,” she muttered, “When I was cutting the
Fanoosian leaves earlier for the evening repast, a small piece had dropped on
the floor and I hadn’t noticed it. I slipped on it and bumped my arm on the
table. I’m sure it was nothing.”
“Let me be the judge of that,” replied Crais. He examined her
arm and when she let out a yelp when he moved it, he sighed, “Hopefully it is
just a sprain.”
He took her to Medical and treated her arm. Luckily it was no
more than a sprain and although it could be fixed easily, she might be in
discomfort for some days.
She kissed him gently on the mouth, “Healer Crais to the
rescue.”
He smiled, “I believe that you can be quite accident-prone at
times, my Sh’lee.”
She kissed him lightly on the cheek when he used the endearment.
“You keep that arm comfortable for a little while,” said Crais,
“you should be all right in a couple of days.”
Lyane smiled gently, “And who’s going to look after the boys?”
Crais looked a little nonplussed, “What about the boys?”
Lyane laughed, “They still need to be changed and fed.”
Crais looked a bit sheepishly, “I can do that, it can’t be that
difficult.”
“I will guide you through the process.”
“With your guidance it should be easy,” said Crais.
It was indeed easier said than done. Halfway into the process
Crais was wondering if trying to work out the speed one had to travel through
StarBurst without the help of the databanks would be easier than changing a
diaper.
Lyane sat in the chair near the dresser and instructed Crais how
to proceed.
Tauvo was first.
Crais took Tauvo out of the cradle, holding him gently. The baby
almost disappeared in the crook of his arm. For a brief spell Crais’ stern
features softened when he looked down at his son.
The boy smiled happily at his father, reached up his tiny arms
and tugged at the goatee that presented such an inviting target. The bristling
touch was a source of glee for the happy baby and it gurgled merrily at the
prickly sensation, his little feet were kicking in the air but Crais had a firm
grip on him. As per Lyane’s instruction, Crais placed Tauvo carefully on the
dresser, making sure he couldn’t roll off it, so far so good.
Tauvo lay quietly, somehow aware that he was going to be made
comfortable. His big dark eyes stared up into his father’s dark eyes. His
little face changed rapidly from seriousness, to curiosity and then to complete
innocence.
Crais smiled with love at his son.
This changed when Crais undid the diaper. His nose wrinkled at
the smell. It was one thing he hadn’t been able to get used to after the twins
were born. Even for a Sebacean his senses had been more developed and he always
had a keen sense of smell. To him, the smells of his sons were strong at times
but it had been contained in their diapers when Lyane normally passed them to
him to hold. Now it wasn’t. He swallowed deeply and felt slightly nauseous.
“Lyane, can you…” he turned to face her and saw how she cradled
her arm with a painful expression on her face. He turned back to Tauvo, “No, I
didn’t think you could.”
Had Crais known that the pained expression had nothing to do
with her arm and all with trying to keep the mirth from showing on her face, he
might have wondered. Talyn helped Lyane to keep her laughter from Crais’ mind.
Crais’ nose twitched in a reflective reaction. He started to
feel sick but persevered.
Somehow he managed to take the diaper away without spilling the
contents.
Lyane’s thoughts came through the link to instruct him on wiping
the baby’s bottom and how to clean it. He wondered briefly why she used the
link rather than speech.
When Tauvo was cleaned he looked quite happy and before Crais
could smile back, a straight stream of golden liquid hit him in the face. Crais
spluttered and his eyes blinked rapidly, then he took a deep breath. His free
hand reached for the towel and dried his face. He kept his annoyance in check.
Tauvo gurgled happily and trampled wildly with his feet. Crais cleaned Tauvo’s
skin where, remarkably, little had fallen.
Crais took hold of the wildly moving feet and tried to hold them
as gently as possible. The tiny feet disappeared easily in his hand and he had
to find a balance of not crushing them in his big hand and still keep a firm
grip on them. It only made Tauvo renew his efforts to escape his father’s hand.
Finally he managed to trap both feet, which encouraged Tauvo to
squirm even more.
He reached over for the powder Lyane had told him to use on
Tauvo’s bottom. At the same time as he picked it up, one of Tauvo’s feet
dislodged from his hand.
In his haste to get hold of Tauvo’s foot, he set down the powder
container too quickly, grasped for Tauvo’s foot and saw powder settling on his
tunic. He frowned.
Crais grew weary with the game. For a moment Tauvo lay still.
His big round eyes looked at Crais, an innocent pout on his mouth produced
happy sounds.
Crais lifted the feet and brought the container to Tauvo’s bottom.
One sharp kick and Tauvo’s foot was loose again. The resulting
kick hit the container of powder in Crais’ hand. The powdery cloud settled on
his face and produced a sneezing fit. The powder made his black hair and beard
resemble grey now and Crais blinked rapidly in an attempt to clear most of it
from his eyes. Tauvo laughed merrily and moved his little fists wildly.
Crais was more determined than ever and at the third try he
managed to accomplish the task.
Lyane did her best not to laugh out loud at the spectacle played
out in front of her. Talyn had changed the angle to give her a full frontal
view of Crais. The stern features of her mate were flecked and covered with
powder, some of it had settled on his tunic, while his hair curled wildly
around his face. When the powder had exploded in Crais’ face, she had to stifle
a bout of laughter in the pillow.
Talyn went to full privacy mode to stop Crais from hearing their
mirth.
Fortunately, Crais was so focused on Tauvo that he hadn’t
noticed he was on his own in his mind.
Next came the placement of the diaper and he wondered who had
thought up this way of covering a child. The shape didn’t make any sense. How
would a triangle cover it?
Too high and there was hardly any diaper left to cover the
baby’s bottom. Too low and it would come off again. Plotting StarBurst to an
unknown destination was easy compared to the placement of the diaper. The
baby’s happy bouncing and kicking of the feet didn’t help to keep it in place.
A determined scowl appeared on Crais’ face. He would not give in!
He had managed to keep everything in place and to fold it around
Tauvo’s middle. Lyane had not given him any instructions on how to keep it
together. He looked over at his mate for advice and now realised why she had
been unable to give him any further instructions.
What he saw struck him with annoyance and horror that he might
have to work this out for himself. Silent mirth was wracking her shoulders. Her
face was well buried in the pillow but there was no mistake in her laughter.
She could still see very well through Talyn’s sensors.
Crais looked back at Tauvo. He took a deep breath and tried to
remember what the placement of the diaper had looked like before he took it
off. He could normally remember the strangest equations, names of people long
forgotten, planets which no longer existed but try as he might, he couldn’t
remember the way the diaper had been held together! Panic set in.
He tried tying the three corners together. That didn’t seem to
be the practical solution. Tauvo wriggled free almost as soon as he tied the
first two corners together.
He put the diaper to closer inspections, working it out
logically and noticed a pattern of fasteners. Ah! That would be easier, just
position the fasteners!
It was an exercise of trial and error. Two together, one left
out. He tried all the sequences. After a long struggle the pieces finally
rested together; without any bits missing, no bumpy spots and Tauvo’s body
safely covered. A satisfied smile settled on Crais’ mouth when he had accomplished
that.
The last hurdle presented itself when he had to put the small
trousers over Tauvo and the diaper. Crais growled in utter frustration when
Tauvo had different ideas of getting dressed.
As soon as he had one leg in and proceeded to the next, Tauvo
would wriggle his leg out of the first trouser leg and was triumphantly kicking
the now bare leg in the air.
Having covered the one leg, the other would find itself
mysteriously in the same trouser leg.
This game continued for a few more microns and Crais’ growl was
audible. Had Tauvo been an inanimate object, he would have been thrown straight
across the room by now.
At last it was done and Crais carried Tauvo over to Lyane.
“You have to do this all the time,” Crais asked in exhaustion
and frustration.
“Yes,” Lyane replied in a tight voice, “and there is still
another to be done as well.”
Crais remembered Tyrek and his face fell.
Lyane couldn’t contain her mirth any longer as she looked up at
her mate.
The impeccable Captain Bialar Crais was far removed from
impeccable now. His hair flew wildly around his face. White powder clung to his
hair and beard and flecked his face and the front of his tunic. One of his eyes
had reddened where the powder had hit and his face looked like thunder.
She buried her face in Tauvo’s shoulder, while sobs of laughter
were shaking her body. Tauvo gurgled happily and Crais could now hear Talyn’s
laughter in his mind too.
“Talyn, I hope you made a vid recording of this,” Lyane nearly
rolled off the bed with uncontrollable laughter and Crais took Tauvo away from
her.
“No, Talyn you haven’t,” Crais gave the harsh command, his face
reddening in humiliation.
Talyn chuckled ~By the way, Crais, you have something on your
face~
Talyn and Lyane found the comment hilarious and both erupted
into another hysterical fit of laughter.
Crais found it in no way amusing. Then again, he hadn’t seen his
appearance, yet.
He looked down at the baby in his arm.
First Tauvo looked at him seriously. His big brown eyes looked
at his father’s flecked face. His mouth pouted as if he was about to ask a
question. His tiny hands fluttered about and came to rest in Crais’ goatee. For
a moment he touched it with a serious expression. Then his little face broke
into a happy smile and he gurgled with laughter.
A smile softened Crais’ stern face and when Tauvo grasped his
finger to play with, Crais asked softly, “So, even you found it amusing?”
Lyane finally stopped laughing and held out her arm, “Here let
me take Tauvo out of your hands. I can hold him.”
“I can…” Crais started.
”There is still Tyrek,” said Lyane with a covert smile.
Crais looked at her in horror. How could he have forgotten his
other son? Worse… he had to do it all over again!
Lyane bit her bottom lip to keep herself from laughing when she
saw the terror on Crais’ face. It was obvious from his expression that he would
rather face ten heavily armoured Peacekeepers with nothing more than a paring
knife than go through the whole experience of changing a diaper again.
Changing diapers on Tyrek was easy compared to the struggle he
had had with Tauvo, now that he knew what he could expect. And after a quick
trip to the refresher and having cleaned himself up too, he walked into the
room in his shirtsleeves and trousers and lay on the bed next to his mate. The
two children were lying happily between them.
“You weren’t serious about the vid chip, were you,” asked Crais
hesitantly.
Lyane smiled, “Later you will find it amusing too.”
“I doubt that,” replied Crais seriously, fearful that someone
else might see it.
Lyane touched the side of his face gently, “You will, my
beloved. You were wonderful. I know it is not easy but you came through
superbly.” She looked down at their sons, “See, they are both happy now.”
Crais looked down at Tauvo and Tyrek. Two happy smiling faces
were looking back at him.
He looked at his mate and a smile softened his features, “They
are beautiful, as their mother.”
She grinned and placed a gently kiss on his cheek, “Like their
father. They resemble you.”
Crais looked down. Both children had inherited the black hair of
their parents, the dark brown eyes. Tyrek had a smile on his face, he was
always happy, Tauvo, the firstborn, tended to look serious now and again.
Crais looked back at Lyane, “They resemble us, my Sh’lee.”
Talyn “smiled”. He was happy with his two new brothers, even if
they were only brothers in spirit. They would provide them all with laughter,
he was sure of that.
He moved gently to their new destination.
The End
Back to After
StarBurst Inside The Command Carrier and after 4.22