Work Text:
“Here’s our phone numbers in case you need to reach us while we’re out for the night,” Moxxie told Octavia as he handed her a piece of paper. “Call us if you need anything.”
“I’m glad your daddy still has your old crib available,” Millie smiled, plopping the last of Ruby May’s things into the main hall of the palace.
The young couple were glad they had the chance to go out for Valentine’s Day since, while they loved spending time with Ruby May, they needed more chances to go out and be adults. They only had a small pool of babysitters they could call on if they were both needed on a mission. Loona was a good choice since she was surprisingly sweet with Ruby…but diapers were an issue since she’d literally have to plug her nose to even try to change her. Stolas had raised a child before so he was good at babycare…but he had his royal duties so he wasn’t always available. Blitz and Barbie adored Ruby May but Blitz needed to be on call for missions and rest afterwards and Barbie had her job at the pharmacy so that would limit the times they could act as babysitters for nights out. Sallie May could come up in a pinch but she had her responsibilities at the farm so Millie couldn’t ask her to come up every time they needed a break.
They were about to settle just for eating at home and watching a concert on TV when Octavia offered to watch Ruby for the evening. She didn’t really get all the fuss about Valentine’s Day and wasn’t going to be busy anyway so, after getting her dad’s okay, Moxxie and Millie decided to let the teen princess watch their girl for the night.
“Dad’s pretty sentimental so that’s pretty lucky,” Octavia chuckled, taking the baby imp from Moxxie. “So bed time by 9PM?”
“Yep. We figured she could have some playtime and Bluey-time,” Moxxie nodded, running a hand through his daughter’s scruffy hair. “We also brought some extra bottles of milk in case Ruby gets hungry.”
“There’s plenty of diapers, wipes, and extra clothes just in case,” Millie added. “You’re okay with changin’ her, right?”
“Pringles doesn’t have a date tonight so if I need help, he’ll be here,” the princess reassured them. “Where are you going tonight anyway?”
“I’m pickin’ the place and it’s gonna be a hoot!” Millie winked, making Moxxie blush. “Thanks so much again for lookin’ after Ruby-Boopy.”
Octavia laughed a bit from the silly nickname they gave their kid. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll make sure she has fun,” the teen promised.
Moxxie took his daughter’s little hands as he looked at her big eyes. “We’re gonna be gone for a couple of hours but we’ll be back,” he promised.
“Have fun with big sis Octavia, okay?” Millie smiled, giving her girl a smooch on the head, giggling when Octavia blushed from the title the imp woman gave her.
She knew that Millie held her in high regard after the younger girl helped her when she was about to give birth. Octavia didn’t really have that many thoughts about the married imp couple aside from the fact they were working for the guy that seduced her dad. Moxxie was the overly worried one and Millie seemed to be the flighty one. But really thinking back, they were a married couple that actually enjoyed being around each other and supporting each other when times were tough.
Sure they were really different but that made them click in a way that brought the best out of the both of them. Millie could bring out Moxxie’s bravery and confidence while Moxxie could bring Millie down to earth from her battle-frenzies. That was what a good marriage could be..and the princess felt silly for not realizing that this is what a healthy relationship was meant to have.
“You guys go have fun,” Octaviia replied, holding up Ruby’s little wrist. “You wanna say bye-bye?”
“Bah…” Ruby cooed.
“Aww~!” They gushed, giving her one more kiss before leaving the two of them alone.
Octavia looked down at Ruby, still surprised at her large eyes. “So…what do you wanna do?”
“Ahh bah bah blah…” Ruby babbled.
(...)
Figuring the TV sitting room would be a good place for them to relax together, Octavia and Pringles set up the playpen and put her toys inside it so she wouldn’t be bored. The small butler went to put her milk and snacks in the fridge, leaving the teen to watch over her. It was funny seeing her looking around and crawling in a circle, almost acting like a little train as she buzzed her lips.
“You’re really adorable,” Octavia chuckled, snapping a pic to send to Loona later.
“Buu buu?” Ruby blinked, looking over at the TV.
“You wanna watch some Bluey?” she guessed, clicking on the TV. “Okay but just for an hour, alright?”
“Ahh~!” Ruby clapped, bopping her head along to the theme song.
“Well this looks better than that Cocomelon crap I see on my Sinstagram timeline…” Octavia joked to herself, settling to watch with Ruby.
At first the teen thought she would just watch without really paying attention to it, letting the baby enjoy it. But as the episodes went on, she found herself not only invested in the Australian dogs’ family antics but unironically laughing out loud and being moved by some of the sweeter moments. It really goes to show if you have good talent and actually care about what you’re putting out there for kids, anyone of any age could enjoy it.
It was certainly several steps above Cocomelon or Peppa Pig or…guh…Caillou.
An hour flew by and Ruby May was getting a bit restless, rolling around on the mat of her playpen. “I know. But the doggies need rest,” Octavia told her, turning the TV off and scooping Ruby up. “Come on. I wanna show you something pretty cool.”
The teen princess carried Ruby towards her dad’s office, giggling a bit to herself. She would sometimes sneak into her dad’s office when she was little to come see him and he would always spend time with her even when he had boring paperwork to do. The glass dome and all the various trinkets that would be spinning around up high fascinated her. But that’s not what she wanted to show Ruby. As she climbed up the stairs with Ruby in her arms, she looked down at the young imp with a fond smile.
“You know, my dad would bring me in here all the time to teach me about the stars and planets and everything about our world,” Octavia began. “At first it was scary but…it’s not so bad when you really look around.”
Ruby clung to Octavia when they went past the curtain into the dark room but her fear turned to wonder seeing all the colors and lights from being in space among the stars. Her eyes practically sparkled from the sights in front of her as Octavia began to point things out to her. Constellations, space clouds, galaxies, different planets–even though the little imp couldn’t understand it at all, it was really pretty to look at.
“Ahh…ahh…” Ruby cooed, pointing to a little green and blue planet.
“That’s Earth,” Octavia told her, propping her up to get a better look. “That’s where my dad and your uncle Blitz are right now on their date. I’ve been once and it’s weird…but nice.”
Ruby tried to eat the little moon spinning around the Earth, making the teen laugh, almost like she was acting like Pac-Man. Octavia then began to show her the galaxy that made up their world, making the young imp’s eyes widen in pure awe. She remembered her dad would show her the stars and planets when she was young, helping her feel better when she was scared. It was some of the best times they had together when she was little.
Now she could share it with someone else.
“You know, if you ever feel scared, just think of this place,” Octavia told her, running a hand through her hair. “It’s calm…quiet…and know you’re not alone.”
Ruby hugged onto Octavia, warming the teen’s heart as she felt her protectiveness for the little one grow. They might not’ve been related by blood but they were a family…it was a weird family but she would protect it no matter what.
Once they had their fill of looking at the stars and planets in Stolas’s private room, Octavia took Ruby May out to get her something to eat. She was feeling hungry and a little squirmy so the younger demon was trying to hold her when her phone rang.
“Hello?” she answered.
‘Hey Via, what’s up?’ Loona asked over the phone.
“Oh hi!” Via smiled, putting her friend on speaker as she propped Ruby in her one arm. “Just hanging out with Ruby May. What’re you up to tonight?”
‘Just hanging out at a karaoke bar with my friends,’ Loona told her before her voice became distant. ‘Yo! Say hi!’
‘HI~!’ Gigi, Russ, and Vortex greeted through the phone, making the teen laugh.
“H-Hello!” she giggled as Loona got back on the phone. “I was just about to feed Ruby something before getting her ready for–”
*sploosh*
“Oh shit!” the princess cursed, seeing a potion had tipped over on Ruby, covering her in a blue liquid.
‘Everything okay over there?’ Loona asked.
“Yeah…she just got a potion all over her…” Octavia frowned, trying to wipe her off before picking up the bottle. “Thank Lucifer it wasn’t one of the more dangerous ones.”
‘What is it?’ the hellhound wondered.
Before Octavia could answer, she could feel Ruby May beginning to float out of her arms as the baby started to giggle. “N-No! Down! Come down!” Octavia begged, placing her phone on the shelf as she tried to hold Ruby.
Unfortunately, the baby was stronger than she looked and she soon started to zoom out of Stolas’s office with Octavia screaming in horror as Loona was left on the line.
'Octavia?! OCTAVIA!'
(...)
“Everything okay, Loons?” Vortex asked, seeing the worried look on his friend’s face.
“I think some weird magic shit is going on at the palace,” Loona frowned, looking up at her friend. “Ya mind if I dip for a bit to make sure they’re okay?”
“Don’t worry, girl,” the bigger hound reassured her. “Ya want me to come along to help?”
Loona let out a sigh of relief, giving him a grateful smile. “That’d…really be a big hand,” she told him, recalling the portal spell from memory as she opened one up.
The duo stepped into Octavia’s room, surprising the bigger hound that they didn’t go outside the palace first. “Ya sure this ain’t…sketchy?” Vortex tried, looking around like he could be booted out on his tail for being somewhere they weren’t supposed to be.
“I do this all the time when we hang out,” the younger woman reassured him. “Besides, this is an emergency.”
As the two went into the hall of the palace, they heard Ruby’s giggling and Octavia’s yelling, prompting them to follow the chaos. They reached the main hall of the palace where Ruby was flying around in circles while Octavia was holding on for dear life. She couldn’t let go of the baby in case the magic ran out. If they both fell, she could at least use a spell to cushion the fall.
“HEEELP MEEE!!!!” Octavia screamed.
“Via!” Loona called up, waving to get her attention.
“Loona?!” Octavia gasped, seeing her friend and her companion looking up at her in pure horror. “W-W-Whaaat a-a-are yoooou dooooiiiing heeeere?!”
“Ya left your phone on! We’re here to help!” the older hellhound called. “Oh! This is my buddy Vortex!”
“Nice seein’ ya again, kid!” Vortex called, trying to lighten the mood. “What do ya need us to do?!”
“Get us down!” she begged, screaming when Ruby nosedived towards the hall, prompting the hellhounds to chase after them.
Loona was trying her best to catch up to the two kids but whatever was in that potion was making Ruby May a lot faster than usual. She was almost tempted to go full hound to chase after them but her eyes widened when she saw they were about to crash into the door that led to the pool area. She caught sight of Pringles and waved her arms to get his attention. “Open the door! Open the door!” she called.
“Miss Loona?” he blinked in surprise. “What are you–?”
“OPEN THE DOOR!” Loona and Vortex shouted.
Pringles, seeing the princess and little baby racing towards him, he immediately dropped his feather duster and opened both doors. The three let out a sigh of relief, glad they wouldn’t crash through glass and metal. But that relief turned to horror as the realization hit that Octavia could be dragged out into the city by Ruby if they didn’t stop them. Quickly thinking Loona jumped up onto the table and umbrella so she could grab Octavia’s waist. That brought them down a little bit but Ruby May was still going strong.
“The hell are they feeding this kid?!” Loona questioned.
Vortex was trying to figure out what to do when an idea struck him. He found a pool net and extended it as far as he could, hooking Loona’s feet to pull her down. “Don’t worry! I got you!” he called, carefully pulling them all down.
Octavia, even though she was feeling terrified, tried to keep her voice steady. “O-Okay Ruby. That was fun but we need to get you ready for bed, okay?” she told her, hoping she didn’t sound as scared as she felt.
The sparkles around Ruby began to fade as she felt the weight of the child start to sink in her arms; of course the potion wore off at the worst possible time. Seeing his friend and two kids about to fall in the pool, Vortex quickly jumped in the water to catch all three of them. Loona landed on his shoulders with Octavia landing in Loona’s arms and Octavia holding Ruby May close to her chest, her heart beating at a million miles a minute.
“Gracious princess Octavia!” Pringles gasped, running to the pool edge to assist them. “Are you alright?”
“I…I think so…” she nodded slowly, lowering the baby into the butler’s arms before looking at Loona and Vortex gratefully. “Thank you…”
“Don’t worry about it kiddo,” Loona reassured her.
“Ain’t the weirdest thing I’ve seen,” Vortex added, making the three of them laugh. But their laughter caused the larger hellhound to lose his balance, making them all fall down in the pool with a loud splash.
“I’ll…get some towels…” the butler decided.
(...)
“Ah…ahh…ACHOO!” Vortex sneezed, shivering while covered in a large towel.
“Curse you,” Loona and Octavia told him.
“Thanks…” he nodded, blowing his nose in a tissue.
The three were warming up by the fireplace, not wanting to get sick. Loona and Vortex were planning on heading home after this since their night of karaoke was winding down when Loona called Octavia. The hellhound woman was planning to check in on Octavia anyway but her big sister instincts kicked in the moment she heard her scream like a banshee. She was just grateful Vortex was a good enough friend to come help when things looked crazy. Though even with Octavia and Ruby May safe and sound…the princess still looked down.
Octavia let out a sigh as she was feeding Ruby a bottle, having finally gotten her ready for bed. “This was a mess…” she frowned.
“Hey that potion thing was an accident,” Loona tried to reason, putting a hand on her shoulder. “You couldn’t have known.”
“I just wanted this night to go well, y’know?” the teen began. “Everyone’s taken care of me most of my life so I wanted to help how I could. She could’ve been hurt or worse if I hadn’t been holding onto her. Or if the potion was something dangerous, that would’ve been really bad.”
“Hey don’t be so hard on yourself kiddo,” Vortex told her. “This was your first solo-babysitting gig, right?”
“Yeah?”
“It ain’t gonna be easy the first time. I’m a bodyguard and I had to learn this shit too,” he went on. “It’s basically the same thing as babysitting only without–” He stopped to correct himself thinking of his boss and her antics. “Actually it’s the exact same thing.”
“When I’ve been getting more involved with my dad’s business, I had to learn shit too,” Loona reasoned. “My first gig with dad…didn’t go as well as it could have but it’s baby steps."
“So…I could do this again?” Octavia asked, smiling when Loona patted her head.
“I don’t see why not. Ya got help when ya needed it and they’re pretty chill,” Loona reassured her. “We’ll stick around to let them know what happened and it wasn’t your fault.”
“Thank you,” she sighed in relief, looking down at the full baby before patting her back. “You know, for a little ball of chaos in diapers, she is pretty cute.”
Ruby May let out a loud belch, surprising the group before she nuzzled against Octavia’s shoulder.
“Damn! She could give Bee a run for her money,” Vortex joked, making everyone laugh.
[END]