"Well, it's like I always say: a grumpy Callum is a normal Callum."

I chuckled at my cousin's words.

When Kelly had first told me about Callum's toaster incident, I'd been worried, but now that I knew no one had gotten hurt and there wasn't much damage, I could laugh it off. Apparently Callum had been a little more snappy since that unfortunate event, but hey, I wasn't the one on the receiving end of his bad mood and Kelly seemed to take it in her stride.

"It's time to feed Ollie so I'll talk to you later, okay?" I asked into the phone and after she replied with "Yeah, sure. Have fun babysitting" I turned the device off and set off to prepare the little one's baby formula.

Through the baby phone, I could hear the rustling of his sheets as he moved in his crib, but the sound got lost as I turned on the warm water and thoroughly washed my hands with the liquid soap Everett and Lisa had bought. I'd been in their kitchen before so I wouldn't have had trouble finding what I needed even if Lisa hadn't given me another tour before she and Everett had left. I measured some water and poured it in Ollie's baby bottle, then added several scoops of the powder, put on the cap and shook the bottle. I was just about ready to head to Ollie's bedroom when a noise came from the baby phone; a noise that was actually a voice.

"I know I keep calling you a little beast, but I had no idea you'd still be this little."

Hearing Alec over the baby phone was the last thing I was expecting.

Why was he here?

Did he know Lisa and his father were out?

And then he surprised me even more:

"You haven't exactly grown since the hospital, have you?"

Alec had been at the hospital when Ollie was born?

But... How did he know to go there?

And how come no one saw him?

"So very little indeed, and - ugh! - you have his eyes, that ugly green-grey, even now. Shouldn't they change color as you grow?"

I made a move towards the kitchen door, but halted.

Alec didn't seem to know I could hear him; what better time to see him at his most honest?

I was sure he wouldn't hurt Ollie; insult yes, but the baby was too young to understand and I needed only a minute to get to them if Alec raised his voice and scared his half-brother. In the end, I took a step back and silently listened, waiting to discover once and for all the reason for Alec's sudden visit.

"For your sake, you better take after your mother; she is the prettier one in the family," the half-vampire's words were followed by silence and I wondered what he could be doing. Perhaps I should go to the nursery after all...

"You are way too young to talk, aren't you?" The boy went on. "Well, this would be a boring visit then. Perhaps I should come back in half a year or so... But even then you'd only be saying basic things like 'mama' and 'dada'."

I leaned on the counter behind me, my eyebrows furrowed. How did Alec know so much about babies?

"I'd skip the 'dada' though; he is not very good at being one."

The last remark was said almost matter-of-factly, with just a hint of something dark. Could Alec be hurting because Everett wasn't around much when Alec was growing up?

Surely Alec was smart enough to figure out it hadn't been his father's fault!

"But don't worry: I intend to spoil you even if it is for the sole purpose of pissing dear ol' daddy off." A very short pause and then: "And wouldn't that be fun?" Said in a cooing, baby voice that had my jaw drop; had that sound really come out of Alec?

I was almost sure I had imagined it, but then I heard more in the same tone:

"Yes, it will piss daddy off and it will be so much fun for us, wouldn't it, little beast? Except you don't look very beastly right now," the afterthought was added in Alec's usual inflection. "Alien-like, perhaps, what with that big head and those big eyes of yours. The drool seems out of place though."

I heard a brief sound I could not identify and then Alec spoke again:

"That's better. No sibling of mine, be them even half a sibling, should be drooling."

And that's when I realized that the sound must've been a tissue sliding out of the cardboard box that was situated next to Ollie's crib and that Alec must've wiped the spit from the baby's mouth. The thought had me shaking my head as I tried to picture the scene.

"What's with that face of yours anyway? Are you trying to smile, cry, scream? It's awfully confusing and... Hey! That's not a toy."

Wondering what Alec was referring to and startled that whatever it was, it could be a choking hazard, I dashed towards the nursery.

"Remove it," was demanded of me as soon as I took a step inside, my eyes darting towards the crib... Where little Ollie had a firm grip on one of Alec's long, elegant fingers.

"I said remove it," the older boy replied. "Get it off of my finger."

"Have you tried to pull away?" I asked, attempting to hide my smile at just how uncomfortable the usually cool half-breed seemed right now.

"Of course I tried it," he sounded angry, but he didn't raise his voice. Was he keeping it level as to not disturb the baby?

The youngster in question shook his arm and brought Alec's finger closer to his mouth.

"If you bite, so will I," the older sibling growled, but made no attempts to recover his digit.

"He is just a newborn. He doesn't even have teeth yet." I rolled my eyes, put the baby bottle on a small table and went to them. I gently grabbed Ollie's arm and not so gently Alec's wrist and attempted to extract the older boy's finger out of his baby brother's grip - something Ollie didn't seem to be on board with as he began to flail his arms and legs in protest.

"I'm surprised you don't know that," I added as I tried to separate the two of them again; Ollie still didn't wish to let go, "given your knowledge on when babies begin to talk."

Alec narrowed his eyes at me.

"You couldn't have heard that; I made sure you were too far away and I know exactly when you stomped towards this room."

I ignored the gibe about me having stomped from the kitchen to the nursery and just shrugged. He stared at me for a moment longer, then scanned the room, frowning when his eyes landed on the baby phone.

"Oh." Was all he initially said.

Ollie suddenly let go of his finger and I did the same with Alec's wrist.

"You know, Alec, I never thought you were capable of something like this," I said. "Looking up information about babies, wiping your brother's drool for him... The baby voice."

"If you tell anyone about this, Keri," the boy's voice was all silk and menace, "I'll tell everyone about Callum."

"I've already told a few people." I tried to suppress the shiver in my body and the shaking of my voice.

"But not Callum." It was a statement, not a question. He took one step into my personal space. "And I could tell him... How do you think that will make him feel?"

His voice was taunting, almost seductive, charging the air with danger. Ollie cried out and I had the pleasure of watching Alec jump away from the crib.

"What does it want?" He sounded almost scared.

"I think you frightened him." I leaned over the crib and took the baby in my arms, gently shushing him.

"But I wasn't threatening him; I was threatening you!" The boy protested.

"He doesn't know that," I did my best to keep my voice even so I didn't frighten the baby further. "He just sensed you being..." Even with Ollie too young to understand, I felt awkward calling someone an ass in front of him so I went with "belligerent".

"Well, how do you make him stop?"

"So it's 'him' now?" I couldn't help but comment on the way Alec kept switching between 'him' and 'it' when addressing his sibling.

"Maybe you are not rocking him right," the boy ignored my remark.

"Want to give it a try?" I joked and startled as he approached us. For a moment I thought Alec was indeed going to reach out to take the baby from my arms, but instead he just offered his index finger to the little one who immediately grasped the offered gift and quieted.

"A manipulative little beast, aren't you?" The older boy asked and I chuckled.

"Maybe you two have something in common, Alec."

Once again, he ignored my words and steered the conversation in another direction:

"What now? Will he start wailing again if I pulled my finger away?"

"I don't know."

"What if I offer him that in exchange?" He pointed to the baby bottle.

"Could work. Are you offering to feed him?"

"No, I'm offering to hand the bottle to you so you could feed him and I can take advantage of that and reclaim what is rightfully mine."

"You know, if I wasn't holding a baby, I would be rolling on the floor with laughter at how flustered you are right now." This time I didn't hide my grin.

"And I'd be calling Callum before you managed a single roll."

"No, you won't." I did my best to sound calm.

"And why not?" He challenged.

"Because I'm tired of your threats and the moment you reach for your phone, I'm going to punch you right in that pretty, dirty mouth of yours."

"My, my, Miss Greer... Threats of violence in front of the child?" He gasped dramatically and I could see in his eyes just how much my answer amused him.

"He is too young to understand," I replied.

"And what if I called when you were not around?"

"Not a good option for me, but I'm still going to find you and go wolf on you."

It was his turn to grin.

"You have no idea how much more tempting calling Callum just became."

"And will you?" I held his gaze.

He didn't answer right away, making sure I'd built a sweat before he finally shrugged.

"I don't know. I'm not really in a mood for drama right now." And then, so no one could accuse him of being nice-ish to me: "Not making any promises for the future though."

But his voice was posh and fake-bored, and somehow I just knew that he was putting on a show, that he had no intention of telling Callum anything. I did my best to hold in the sigh of relief and pretend I believed him. Just then, we heard the front door open and close, and I strained myself to hear approaching footsteps. Whoever it was, they moved quietly - not so much as Alec, but still stealthily. The boy in question moved away and Ollie extended his arms towards his brother's departing form.

"Hello, Uncle," Alec greeted the moment Kennedy stepped foot in the nursery. The newcomer took us in - a haughty Alec, a wriggling, but calm Ollie, and a collected me - and, deciding there was no immediate danger to his younger nephew, he turned to the older one:

"Nephew dearest, to what do we owe the pleasure?"

"I just wanted to see if everything I bought for the little beast fit into my poor father's house. Turns out it didn't. No surprise there."

"Everett and Lisa were doing just fine without your gifts," Kennedy started to defend his brother, but then went on the offensive with a sickeningly sweet voice: "But it was so nice of you to make sure your baby sibling had so many comforts."

Predictably, Alec frowned at being called nice, but he recovered pretty quickly:

"Well, someone had to do it and since daddy dearest obviously couldn't..."

"Okay, that's enough," I interrupted. "I have to feed Ollie. If you want to watch or help, stay; if not - out. The both of you."

Kennedy's expression changed from alert to enthusiastic, bright eyes shining.

"I'll help you feed him," he offered right away.

"And I have better things to do." Alec headed for the door. "Tell daddy I said hi, will you?"

"Sure." I said and only after a slight hesitation I shouted after him: "And thank you for buying that baby phone."

The front door slammed in reply, but not loudly enough to disturb Ollie's peace.

I thought that this would end up as a very short chapter, but hey, it's over 2K words so it's a normal one. Did you like it?

Please give it a VOTE if you did!

So: how many of you expected Alec to behave this way around Ollie?

Do you think the baby is going to soften him up?

Maybe even help him connect with Everett?

Also, do you think Keri was right that Alec wouldn't give away her secret to Callum?

Have a great time wattpadding! ❤