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Aug. 3rd, 2010 12:03 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
why_me_why_notOkay, last post of the night and then I'll leave yall alone. (Unless you're part of the email chain, then I will probably be up bugging you for a little while. Or if you're ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
irisgirl12000, who is quite obviously a bad influence on me.)
Ohhh! Did yall see the Monday picspam thatpixel_0 posted over at ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
more_is_more? It's all colorful and awesome!
Anyway.irisgirl12000 has been quite good at encouraging my not!fic lately. Go figure. So how about a teaser of one of the things we've been talking about? (There is another one that we're working on that I'll post sometime this week on the tabby_and_iris lj, if we figure it out.)
Bravo's Baby Belle
Generation Kill || Gen fic (baby!fic) || Rated Teen for language || ~1450 words
Summary: Brad's not a baby person. He really has no idea what to do with a baby. Yet, here he is, left with a diaper bag, a list of instructions, and a baby with Ray’s eyes. He needs to call in reinforcements before this situation gets out of control.
Disclaimer: Based on fictionalized characters from the Generation Kill movie, no harm or disrespect intended to the real people who bear these names.
A/N: There is so much more of this, in my head and in my email and on my phone. It's pretty ridiculous. But it was just asking to be written!! Beta'd byirisgirl12000, as always.
Brad doesn’t know where Ray is, doesn’t know exactly what caused him to go to ground, hiding from everyone. He’s not worried about it, either. No, that’s not as bad as it sounds. He’s not worried because it’s Ray, and he is capable of taking care of himself, no matter what insults Brad had heaped upon his intelligence and competence in the past. Besides, Ray sends out an email every couple of months to Brad and a few other strategic people, letting them know he’s alive and that he’s not yet become some survivalist Unabomber and that he doesn’t miss any of them a bit.
Brad figures he’ll come back on his own eventually. Brad also figures the entire nonsense is over a woman, because Ray had drunk dialed him one night not long before he disappeared, just so Brad could say “I told you so.” Brad didn’t get any satisfaction from it because Ray sounded completely wrecked in a way that made Brad want to blow shit up on some girl’s front lawn.
Point is, the last thing Brad’s expecting on an innocent Tuesday evening is a phone call from Ray’s momma. He’s not surprised by the fact that she’s getting the same emails as the rest of them, but he does have to wonder why she thinks he has more of a connection to Ray than she does.
She sighs when he tells her that he doesn’t have any idea where Ray is, and he doesn’t hesitate before asking if there’s something he can do for her. Ray is going to owe him so big.
“Well, it’s Joelle – Ray’s ex-girlfriend.” The way Momma Person says the name, it’s obvious this is the girl who broke Ray’s heart. Brad thinks Momma Person would be more than happy to break more than the girl’s heart in return. She’s a tough cookie, and mothers are always scare protective when it comes to their young. Brad knows better than to mess with that.
“She called today, said she’s in California. She went by Ray’s apartment but he’s not there, which any damn fool would know. So she called me. Says she’s got something important that belongs to him and she wants to give it to him. I told her she could mail it here, but she says it’s fragile. She didn’t say exactly, but if I had to guess, it’s probably his guitar or something. Would you mind?”
Brad would never be done cleaning up behind his men, and he’d never admit that he liked feeling needed. He gets the number and promises he’ll safeguard whatever it is until Ray resurfaces.
When Brad calls Joelle, she sounds stressed, almost desperate. He wonders if she’s on drugs, something heavier than weed. Ray’s probably lucky she hasn’t just pawned his shit. Brad agrees to meet with her the next morning at a park. Brad’s early, and he makes several laps around the park before a woman steps in front of him.
“Brad Colbert?”
Brad stops. “Joelle?”
She nods and bites her lip, looking away from him like she doesn’t know what to say. Finally, she looks back at him. “I thought I could do this, but I can’t. There’s a letter for Ray in the bag, and all the paperwork. You’ll give her to him, right? And take care of her until then?”
Brad’s never seen someone get so emotional about an instrument before, but then again, he knows people aren’t the sanest of creatures. “I said I would. Where is it?”
Joelle steps toward a nearby picnic table, and Brad is distracted by a frisbee that lands at his feet. He picks it up and tosses it back to the kids playing nearby. When he turns around, Joelle pushes a bundle of pink into his arms, which… what the fuck?
Brad looks down and sees a tiny person staring back at him.
“Hey, wait,” he starts to say, looking up, but Joelle is gone. Fuck. She’s left him with a diaper bag, a list of instructions, and a baby with Ray’s eyes.
Brad’s pretty sure this isn't legal, but he can't exactly call CPS. They’ll take the baby away until they find Ray. He's better off finding Ray himself. Or, well, keeping the baby until he recruits some help to find Ray.
Brad really has no idea what to do with a baby, but he knows he can't stay here. His car isn't one that was designed with family in mind, and even after he masters the Chinese jigsaw puzzle of the five-point harness, the car seat is a bitch to get in the backseat. He manages, but once he's in the car he's at a loss again. He thinks about it on the way home, trying to decide if it's better to be a little extra cautious with his driving or to hurry up and get there because he can't see the baby in the backseat.
The baby starts making noise when he's still a couple miles from home. She's not really crying, just random sounds. "You a backseat driver like your daddy?" Brad asks, realizing he doesn't even know her name. She keeps babbling, sounding like she's answering Brad, and he smiles. Leave it to Ray to have a kid that likes to talk before she even knows words.
Getting the car seat out of his car isn't any easier than getting it in, but it's a safer bet than trying to take the baby out of the seat. Brad knows that eventually he's going to have to. She's going to need to be changed and fed and held. Brad's not a baby person. He's become an expert at finding something to do in another room or making sure his hands are otherwise occupied whenever one of his sisters tries to foist their offspring on him. He needs to call in reinforcements before this situation gets out of control.
He sets the car seat in the center of the living room floor and opens his laptop on the coffee table. The baby is watching him, tracking his movements with wide eyes, and she looks so trusting. As much as he thinks he should be concerned by how comfortable she is with a virtual stranger, he's more concerned with breaking that trust.
First things first. He pulls out the envelope of papers from the diaper bag. He's sure her name isn't "Baby" or "Ray Jr", and he needs to know what to call her. The name on her birth certificate says Marybelle Louise Clifton, and Brad feels a rush of anger when he sees that below Joelle's name reads "Father Unknown". Joelle sure as shit knows who the father is, even if said father doesn't even know he has a kid, and such a blatant lie on an official document is wrong on several levels.
"Well, Marybelle, let's see if we can find your daddy." Brad snaps a picture with his cell phone and sends it to himself, thinking he'd better include it or everyone is going to think he's fucking with them.
He shoots off a quick email to the men from Bravo Two. He'd trust them with his life, so who better to bring in to help protect Ray's baby girl. Besides, if a group of highly trained Recon Marines can't find one of their own, no one can. His email is short, promising more details later, and he hopes his men are still sharp when it comes to reading between the lines because even though he's giving them a mission to find Ray, the secondary, unverbalized mission is for them to help him the fuck out because he doesn't know what to do with a baby.
Next, he calls his mother. It's not like he could keep this a secret, and she would know better than anyone else in his life about the legalities of custody. She listens patiently as he explains the situation, then invites herself over.
That is definitely not what he was aiming for.
He especially doesn't want her going by his sister's house to pick up the crib that's in her attic. He's not keeping Marybelle.
"Do you know where Ray is? Right this minute?" From the tone of her voice, she isn't expecting him to answer. They both know what the answer would be anyway. "And if you did, do you think he has a crib all set up and waiting for a baby to drop into? What are you going to do, Brad, stick her in a dresser drawer?"
Brad sighs. She's got a point.
"I'll be over soon."
Brad hopes his mother's idea of "soon" is actually that, because he's barely off the phone with her when Marybelle starts wailing.
irisgirl12000, who is quite obviously a bad influence on me.)Ohhh! Did yall see the Monday picspam that
pixel_0 posted over at more_is_more? It's all colorful and awesome!Anyway.
irisgirl12000 has been quite good at encouraging my not!fic lately. Go figure. So how about a teaser of one of the things we've been talking about? (There is another one that we're working on that I'll post sometime this week on the tabby_and_iris lj, if we figure it out.)Bravo's Baby Belle
Generation Kill || Gen fic (baby!fic) || Rated Teen for language || ~1450 words
Summary: Brad's not a baby person. He really has no idea what to do with a baby. Yet, here he is, left with a diaper bag, a list of instructions, and a baby with Ray’s eyes. He needs to call in reinforcements before this situation gets out of control.
Disclaimer: Based on fictionalized characters from the Generation Kill movie, no harm or disrespect intended to the real people who bear these names.
A/N: There is so much more of this, in my head and in my email and on my phone. It's pretty ridiculous. But it was just asking to be written!! Beta'd by
irisgirl12000, as always.Brad doesn’t know where Ray is, doesn’t know exactly what caused him to go to ground, hiding from everyone. He’s not worried about it, either. No, that’s not as bad as it sounds. He’s not worried because it’s Ray, and he is capable of taking care of himself, no matter what insults Brad had heaped upon his intelligence and competence in the past. Besides, Ray sends out an email every couple of months to Brad and a few other strategic people, letting them know he’s alive and that he’s not yet become some survivalist Unabomber and that he doesn’t miss any of them a bit.
Brad figures he’ll come back on his own eventually. Brad also figures the entire nonsense is over a woman, because Ray had drunk dialed him one night not long before he disappeared, just so Brad could say “I told you so.” Brad didn’t get any satisfaction from it because Ray sounded completely wrecked in a way that made Brad want to blow shit up on some girl’s front lawn.
Point is, the last thing Brad’s expecting on an innocent Tuesday evening is a phone call from Ray’s momma. He’s not surprised by the fact that she’s getting the same emails as the rest of them, but he does have to wonder why she thinks he has more of a connection to Ray than she does.
She sighs when he tells her that he doesn’t have any idea where Ray is, and he doesn’t hesitate before asking if there’s something he can do for her. Ray is going to owe him so big.
“Well, it’s Joelle – Ray’s ex-girlfriend.” The way Momma Person says the name, it’s obvious this is the girl who broke Ray’s heart. Brad thinks Momma Person would be more than happy to break more than the girl’s heart in return. She’s a tough cookie, and mothers are always scare protective when it comes to their young. Brad knows better than to mess with that.
“She called today, said she’s in California. She went by Ray’s apartment but he’s not there, which any damn fool would know. So she called me. Says she’s got something important that belongs to him and she wants to give it to him. I told her she could mail it here, but she says it’s fragile. She didn’t say exactly, but if I had to guess, it’s probably his guitar or something. Would you mind?”
Brad would never be done cleaning up behind his men, and he’d never admit that he liked feeling needed. He gets the number and promises he’ll safeguard whatever it is until Ray resurfaces.
When Brad calls Joelle, she sounds stressed, almost desperate. He wonders if she’s on drugs, something heavier than weed. Ray’s probably lucky she hasn’t just pawned his shit. Brad agrees to meet with her the next morning at a park. Brad’s early, and he makes several laps around the park before a woman steps in front of him.
“Brad Colbert?”
Brad stops. “Joelle?”
She nods and bites her lip, looking away from him like she doesn’t know what to say. Finally, she looks back at him. “I thought I could do this, but I can’t. There’s a letter for Ray in the bag, and all the paperwork. You’ll give her to him, right? And take care of her until then?”
Brad’s never seen someone get so emotional about an instrument before, but then again, he knows people aren’t the sanest of creatures. “I said I would. Where is it?”
Joelle steps toward a nearby picnic table, and Brad is distracted by a frisbee that lands at his feet. He picks it up and tosses it back to the kids playing nearby. When he turns around, Joelle pushes a bundle of pink into his arms, which… what the fuck?
Brad looks down and sees a tiny person staring back at him.
“Hey, wait,” he starts to say, looking up, but Joelle is gone. Fuck. She’s left him with a diaper bag, a list of instructions, and a baby with Ray’s eyes.
Brad’s pretty sure this isn't legal, but he can't exactly call CPS. They’ll take the baby away until they find Ray. He's better off finding Ray himself. Or, well, keeping the baby until he recruits some help to find Ray.
Brad really has no idea what to do with a baby, but he knows he can't stay here. His car isn't one that was designed with family in mind, and even after he masters the Chinese jigsaw puzzle of the five-point harness, the car seat is a bitch to get in the backseat. He manages, but once he's in the car he's at a loss again. He thinks about it on the way home, trying to decide if it's better to be a little extra cautious with his driving or to hurry up and get there because he can't see the baby in the backseat.
The baby starts making noise when he's still a couple miles from home. She's not really crying, just random sounds. "You a backseat driver like your daddy?" Brad asks, realizing he doesn't even know her name. She keeps babbling, sounding like she's answering Brad, and he smiles. Leave it to Ray to have a kid that likes to talk before she even knows words.
Getting the car seat out of his car isn't any easier than getting it in, but it's a safer bet than trying to take the baby out of the seat. Brad knows that eventually he's going to have to. She's going to need to be changed and fed and held. Brad's not a baby person. He's become an expert at finding something to do in another room or making sure his hands are otherwise occupied whenever one of his sisters tries to foist their offspring on him. He needs to call in reinforcements before this situation gets out of control.
He sets the car seat in the center of the living room floor and opens his laptop on the coffee table. The baby is watching him, tracking his movements with wide eyes, and she looks so trusting. As much as he thinks he should be concerned by how comfortable she is with a virtual stranger, he's more concerned with breaking that trust.
First things first. He pulls out the envelope of papers from the diaper bag. He's sure her name isn't "Baby" or "Ray Jr", and he needs to know what to call her. The name on her birth certificate says Marybelle Louise Clifton, and Brad feels a rush of anger when he sees that below Joelle's name reads "Father Unknown". Joelle sure as shit knows who the father is, even if said father doesn't even know he has a kid, and such a blatant lie on an official document is wrong on several levels.
"Well, Marybelle, let's see if we can find your daddy." Brad snaps a picture with his cell phone and sends it to himself, thinking he'd better include it or everyone is going to think he's fucking with them.
He shoots off a quick email to the men from Bravo Two. He'd trust them with his life, so who better to bring in to help protect Ray's baby girl. Besides, if a group of highly trained Recon Marines can't find one of their own, no one can. His email is short, promising more details later, and he hopes his men are still sharp when it comes to reading between the lines because even though he's giving them a mission to find Ray, the secondary, unverbalized mission is for them to help him the fuck out because he doesn't know what to do with a baby.
Next, he calls his mother. It's not like he could keep this a secret, and she would know better than anyone else in his life about the legalities of custody. She listens patiently as he explains the situation, then invites herself over.
That is definitely not what he was aiming for.
He especially doesn't want her going by his sister's house to pick up the crib that's in her attic. He's not keeping Marybelle.
"Do you know where Ray is? Right this minute?" From the tone of her voice, she isn't expecting him to answer. They both know what the answer would be anyway. "And if you did, do you think he has a crib all set up and waiting for a baby to drop into? What are you going to do, Brad, stick her in a dresser drawer?"
Brad sighs. She's got a point.
"I'll be over soon."
Brad hopes his mother's idea of "soon" is actually that, because he's barely off the phone with her when Marybelle starts wailing.
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no subject
Date: 2010-08-03 04:29 am (UTC)What? That is a perfectly valid response to Brad + babies. (In addition to the ovaries that exploded when we first started exchanging emails about Belle.)
no subject
Date: 2010-08-04 10:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-08-04 12:30 am (UTC)\o/
Oh, my weakness for baby!fic. I <3 you :)
no subject
Date: 2010-08-04 10:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-08-04 04:17 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-08-04 10:21 pm (UTC)You will love GK. :)
no subject
Date: 2011-01-30 12:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-01-30 01:25 pm (UTC)It doesn't take long for Belle to have Brad wrapped around her tiny little fingers, and even after Ray shows up, he and Brad end up co-parenting because Belle is more than a little attached to Brad. Or he's attached to her.