#deletedscenes

Baby Red

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“Red Sweetheart, it’s time to get up. No more napping, we gotta wake up!” Red whined softly as she blinked her tired eyes open to look sleepily at her caregiver who was speaking in a soft tone while rubbing her back under her blanket.

Chloe had managed to put her down for a quick nap with her new Blankie in the time they had left before dinner would be served in the hopes that it would help her stay up enough to see the Christmas Lights after dinner.

“Hi pretty girl!” Chloe greeted the girl perkily once their gazes met and Red groggily rubbed at her eyes before raising her arms.

Chloe smiled warmly at her girl before lifting her into her lap and rubbing soothing circles into her back.

“Aww, my baby tiger is so sleepy! What a precious, sleepy Little cub.” She cooed at the girl gently, straightening her hood a little and a sleepy smile formed on Red’s lips for just a moment before it was wiped away when she realized her gums still hurt.

She fussed and whimpered softly, not feeling big enough for words, but luckily, Chloe seemed to understand pretty quickly what the problem was.

“Did you need bites, <i>mon petit</i>? Is your mouth still all achey?” She lifted the girl up into her arms as she got up and strode over to their bags where she opened a pocket in her big blue duffle bag and pulled out a red dinosaur shaped teether.

“Here we go, this should help make it better.” Red readily accepted the toy with both hands and started gnawing on it while watching her Bluey innocently.

Chloe pressed a quick kiss to the bridge of her nose as she began swaying with the girl back and forth.

“Are you feeling a bit too small to talk, baby girl?” Red didn’t offer any kind of response and just kept biting on her toy.

“I see. Well that’s okay. I guess you’ll just have to be my Little snugglebug tonight huh?” She nuzzled the girl’s cheek affectionately earning a small giggle that brought a smile to her lips.

“I love you, <i>mon petit</i>.” Chloe told her softly before planting another kiss to her forehead and heading towards the door. Only, as soon as she was crossing the doorway, the Little in her arms started frantically whining and fussing.

“What is it Sweetheart? What’s with all the fuss?” Red used one arm to reach over the bluenette’s shoulder toward the bed as she whimpered, and Chloe turned back around. She pondered the bed for half a moment before she realized what it was that her Little was reaching for.

“Oh! Did you want your blankie?” She asked the girl and the Little nodded her head prompting Chloe to go back and collect the soft fabric from the bed.

As soon as she handed it to her, the Little instantly started rubbing her cheek against it as she settled down. She kept a firm grip on it with one hand while she used the other to hold her teether back up to her mouth to continue her biting feeling rather content.

Chloe just patted her back softly, dropping one more kiss onto the crown of her head before taking them back down to where the rest of the family was lounging before dinner.

“I don’t know son, running away from a nice lady that was just trying to help you sounds an awful lot like something a Little would do.” Chloe rounded the corner just in time to hear her father teasing her brother who had only woken up a few minutes before Chloe had gone to rouse her Little.

“Uugh, Can we let it go? Why are we even still talking about this!? Everything worked out for the better in the end!” He exclaimed and Chloe raised her brow.

“For the better? Do you have any idea how difficult it is to wash chocolate sauce out of a squirming toddlers hair when you don’t even have any bath toys to distract her with? Plus she told me you didn’t follow through on any promises that you made her today!” Chad sputtered as he tried to deny his sister's claims but then realized she was right.

Red didn't get to ride any horses; real or fake.

She didn’t get to make Chloe a present.

They might have gotten coated in chocolate sauce, but at no point did Red actually get any ice cream…

“Oh crap! She’s right!” The blond ran a hand through his frazzled hair and Chloe shook her head at him, clicking her tongue teasingly.

“Looks like you’re gonna have to find a way to make it up to her. She was <i>devastated</i> Chad! Completely inconsolable, all the way up until her nap.” Chad’s eyes grew wide and he floundered as the guilt washed over him.

“Oh no! I'm so sorry! I didn’t mean to- I’ll definitely have to- I mean, what if I…” Chloe smirked in amusement as she watched the boy basically fall to pieces until their mother interjected.

“Chloe, stop torturing your brother, I believe he’s had enough excitement for today.” Ella reprimanded her but Chloe didn’t miss the same amusement dancing in her eyes as well.

Chloe shifted Red in her arms and gave a mockingly drawn out sigh as if it pained her to have to end his suffering.

“Okay fine. Chad, Red’s fine. She never cried over your broken promises, in fact, her Little self had already forgotten about them all entirely by the time I had her cleaned up at the mall.” Chad’s jaw dropped as he gaped at his sister.

“You’re <i>evil</i>!” His voice pitched up as he pointed his finger at her with a glare, but faltered when the Little in his sister's arms started giggling at him from behind her teether. “Hey!” He cried out indignantly and Chloe laughed.

“Your uncle Dino is just <i>so</i> silly, isn't he?” She cooed at the girl and bounced her lightly as everyone in the room aside from Chad laughed.

The elder Charming sibling grumbled a bit, but even he couldn’t fully suppress his smile at the Little’s bubbly giggles.

Audrey shook her head in amusement as she pulled her sub into her and rubbed his back in a semi empathetic manner.

“There, there. I know honey, everyone just wants to pick on Chad huh?” Chad gave a mock pout and nodded his head as he let his Dom jokingly console him.

Red watched this with a frown from her spot in Chloe’s arms and started squirming and whining until Chloe set her down.

The girl was more unsteady on her feet than usual as she toddled over to the pair so Chloe stayed close behind her so she could catch her if she started to fall.

“Gah!” She grunted once she’d made it to Chad and started trying to climb into his lap much to the prince’s surprise.

“Hey, Little Dragon! What’s up?” He adjusted her so she was sitting securely enough to not fall and she held up her blankie to him as she babbled nonsense in his face.

Chad scrunched his eyebrows in confusion before glancing up at his sister with a questioning look.

Chloe had been studying her Little’s mannerisms and did her best to decipher them.

“She woke up from her nap in a smaller headspace. She’s too Little for words right now, but I think she thinks you were actually sad just now and is trying to cheer you up by showing you her new blankie.”

Chad looked back at the Little who was now watching him almost expectantly as she continued to hold out her blankie.

“Aww that’s so sweet!” Audrey gushed as Chad reached out to touch the fabric gently.

“Oh wow, it’s so soft! That’s a really neat blanket Squirt! Thank you! I’m all cheered up now!” He told her enthusiastically and the Little smiled brightly before pulling her blankie back into her and babbling some more.

Chloe stepped forward and lifted the girl back into her arms kissing her cheek lovingly.

“My sweet Little baby.” She cooed to her and Red beamed up at her.

“Mama!” The little exclaimed happily and everyone else’s eyes widened while Chloe let out a small squeal of excitement and smothered the girl in kisses.

“You really <i>are</i> so little right now aren’t you? Yeah, mama could tell right away, huh?”

“Wait, I thought you said she doesn’t call you that?” Chad asked, a bit confused. There had been a point when he’d instinctively referred to her as Red’s mommy in front of the toddler and he’d been immediately corrected.

Chloe settled her baby onto her hip and turned to address her brother.

“Well, She’s only been this Little once before, but it’s the only time she does. I had a talk with her about it afterward, and the most sense we could make of it is that when she’s so deep in headspace, her usual hesitations with the name are too big for her to comprehend.”

“Hesitations? I thought her calling you Bluey was a casual preference, are you saying she has an aversion to calling you mama?” Ella asked with curiosity, her tone void of judgement. Chloe nodded.

“Her trauma with her mom runs deeper than her normal littlespace. She has such a negative association with it that there are times the word alone can occasionally throw her out of headspace entirely, but when she’s this little, it’s like she doesn’t have access to <i>all</i> her memories and she just knows that I’m the one who takes care of her, so instinctively, I’m Mama.”

As if to prove her point the Little brought a hand up to pat the bluenette’s cheek clumsily.

“Mama, mama, mama” She babbled, making Chloe laugh lightly. She gently grabbed the girl's hand and brought it to her mouth to kiss it, making the baby giggle before pulling her caregiver’s hand back to her own mouth.

Chloe was expecting the girl to try and sloppily kiss her hand as a way of mimicking her, so she was honestly surprised when the girl took the opportunity to chomp down on it instead.