WARNING: Emotional Content surrounding parenthood in both parts.

NOTE: This next part is quite long, but please do try to read all sections, because I don't want you to miss anything! I hope you enjoy it!

Two days later, Eloise organised a get-together at the park.
Eloise and Elliott had pushed two benches together, and the group crammed onto them.
Spencer was stood up though, and was rummaging through his backpack. 

"So, how's parenthood been for you guys?', asked Atlas. 

"Absolute hell", frowned Rowan. 

"What, really?", questioned Elliott.
"But you and Irene are two of the brainiest people I know."

"Yeah, well it turns out, babies don't care about intellect", said Irene.
"I don't know how, but I'm pretty sure the baby bruised me", she added, pointing to a small bruise on her right arm.

Eloise let out a loud snore.
It sounded like she was choking and snorting at the same time.
After a few more seconds, she let out an even louder one, which woke her up.
She lifted her head up, her eyes widening when she saw the others staring back at her. 

"Oh!
Sorry guys... haven't slept for the past few days", said Eloise.
"Little Ruti's not a good sleeper."

"Ruti?", questioned Elliott. 

Eloise nodded.
"Mum's name was Amruta.
Thought I'd name my baby after her."

Spencer smiled.
"That's a great idea, El", he said.
His facial expression changed when he looked at the baby.
"Uh, El...what's Ruti wearing?"

Ruti had one pink sock and one white sock on.
She was also wearing baby blue tights with a dark green wooly jumper.
She only had one shoe on, and it was on the wrong foot.
Eloise didn't look that well put-together either.
Half of her hair was out, with only a handful of it actually staying in the bun, which sat awkwardly on the side of her head.
Her top was on back to front—although it wasn't noticeable, and she had a soup stain on her jeans. 

"I put a red dress in with her socks, so they turned pink.
I was busy getting my brother Ivan ready for school and his after school clubs, then I had to rush to eat so I could go to the shops for Mrs Wilson, the old lady who lives across from me.
I feel like I've done nothing and everything all at once.
Oh, and I left Ruti at the market, on one of the empty stalls.
I even left her at Rowan's the other day!"

"Wow...", said Irene, before looking at Rowan.
"I feel bad about complaining so much."

Eloise exhaled sharply, before letting her face fall into her hands.
She groaned loudly, earning sympathetic smiles from the others.

"I'm going to be an awful mother."

 Atlas reached out and patted her arm.
"Hey, no you're not.
It's normal to get overwhelmed and forget things, especially when you look after so many other people too."

"Atlas is right", said Spencer.
"Shouldn't James be helping you?"

Eloise jumped up, before sitting up straight. Her fists were clenched, and she had a scowl on her face.
"That wasteman left me to do all the work!
I wasn't a fan of him before, but now I'm really starting to hate him."

"Drama follows him everywhere", said Irene.
"First that fight that Mr. Patel saw, and the fact that he's the whole reason we got into this blackmail mess in the first place—it's all down to him."

"Well he better start pulling his weight around or I'm fighting him again", said Eloise. 

Eloise looked at Zee and Elliott's baby, which was in Elliott's arms.
It had an odd mark on it, and its leg looked crooked.
She pointed at the baby, too perplexed to speak. 

"Yeah, I noticed that too", said Rowan, looking at the baby.
"What happened?"

"Yeah, uh, being parents... turns out it's not all that fun", said Elliott.

"Ok but it looks like your baby's ear is melting", said Eloise. 

"That was Elliott's fault", said Zee.
"He said getting coffee together would be a good way to bond with the baby.
He didn't just want to drink the coffee.
No.
He wanted to document every moment.
So I snatched my drink and accidentally knocked his coffee onto the robot."

"The bent leg happened when I dropped the baby.
Not on purpose!"

"So you dropped it, but you only broke one leg?", questioned Spencer.

Elliott shook his head.
"Yeah, well it was two at first, but Zee popped them both back into place.
She uh, she wacked me over the head with the baby, for dropping it in the first place. The leg went wonky again, and we can't fix it."

Elliott awkwardly half-smiled at the group, whilst Zee looked down and placed her hand over her mouth, to stifle her laugh. 

The group just stared at the baby, their expressions a mixture of horrified and concerned.
Eloise leaned over and placed her face near the baby's. 

"I'll save you."

"Moving on...", said Spencer. "...very quickly. I'm actually having loads of fun with Hawk."

"Hawk?", questioned Irene.
"Let me guess, after that superhero you like?"

"No, after Tony Hawk.
Total skateboarding legend.
I even made this for Hawk", he replied. 

Spencer reached into his bag, and pulled out the smallest skateboard.
It was essentially a discarded piece of wood he found in his garden.
He attached push chair wheels on to it, and painted it to loosely resemble his own skateboard.
He grabbed an even smaller helmet from his bag, and placed it on his baby's head.

Eloise grinned, before clapping in delight. "Aww, Spencer, that's awesome!"

"Yeah, it sounds like you're really getting on well with him", said Rowan.
"Is this getting you excited for your little brother or sister's birth?"

"It is actually, yeah.
There are so many cool tricks I want to show them."

"Well I think they're dámn lucky to have you as a big brother", said Eloise, making Spencer smile.

◆◆◆

As the week drew to a close, Rowan and Irene were trying to take it in their stride. Nothing seemed to be working, but they were determined not to get upset... or atleast not to let their sadness show.

Irene gently patted their baby's back as the pair walked into school.
The car park was adjacent to the reception, and Irene watched as a red Toyota Yaris pulled into the car park.
Rowan was quite pleased with himself, a smug expression appearing on his face.

"What are you smiling about?", asked Irene.

"Our baby isn't crying, the sun is actually out today—I feel good.
That doesn't happen often, believe me."

"Hm.
Good point."

Jax, one of the reception staff, hopped out of the Toyota Yaris, a pile of paper clutched close to his chest.
He had an unusually large brown satchel on, but the strap kept slipping off, making him even more flustered.

"Sir, are you ok?", asked Rowan.

Just as Jax was about to open his mouth, a loud cry rippled through the air.
A series of smaller gurgles and cries followed.
Irene and Rowan frowned, with a frustrated Rowan throwing his hands in the air.

"Not this early, surely!", he exclaimed.

"It's never cried this early in the morning. Have we gotten worse at parenting?", questioned Irene.

But when the pair looked at their baby, they realised that the noise was not coming from it.
Jax turned around and leaned into his car, fumbling around with something in the passenger's seat.
He pulled out a small off-white monitor.
He waved it in the air.

"Sorry, sorry!
That's mine."

"You bring a baby monitor with you to work?", asked Irene.

Jax nodded.
"Yeah.
I don't like being away from my baby, so I listen in on how she's doing on my way to work.
You know, to make sure everything's good with the babysitter."

"Wow... that's dedication", said Rowan.

"It must be hard leaving her for hours every day", said Irene, thinking back to her own situation.

"It really is.
But I don't really have a choice.
I'm essentially leaving her, but it's so that I can do work that will benefit her", he explained.
"Does that make sense?"

"Yeah", said Rowan.
"You've always been really nice to us, so if you're like that with your daughter, then she's pretty lucky."

Jax's eyes widened, and his nose twitched ever so slightly.
He smiled, letting out a small sigh of relief as he did so.

"Thank you", he said.
"That means... well it means a lot."

"I don't suppose you could give us any advice, could you?", asked Irene.
"We've read the manual about ten times, and checked out all the best websites, but we still can't get our baby to stop crying on our own.
It goes on for hours."

"Well, it's not crying now", said Jax.

"It will", said Rowan.

"Well uh, honestly?
I wish I had a manual for this.
I'm doing it on my own, and it's a real struggle.
Cheyenne, my baby, she cries through the night.
A lot."

"How do you get her to stop?", asked Rowan.

Jax shrugged, a small smile on his face.
"I just hold her.
I hold her as she cries.
To let her know that, even though I don't know what she needs from me, she can trust me to find out.
Sometimes, that's all you can do.
Just hold them as they cry."

◆◆◆

The students were well and truly exhausted. Eloise's mismatched outfit of blue joggers and a green jumper, paired with the messiest bun she'd ever worn, showed how the week went for her.
She was clutching Ruti close to her chest, almost suffocating her.

Spencer was gently rocking Hawk side to side, making quiet cooing sounds at him. Irene and Rowan took turns holding their baby, with Rowan holding it as they walked into the history classroom.
Elliott and Zee worked out a different arrangement, where they looked after the baby separately.
It was Zee's turn today.

Zee hugged the baby close to her chest. When she sat down in her seat, she sat the baby on her leg, gently wiping at its mouth. Her tongue stuck out a little as she concentrated.

Atlas grinned as he watched Zee.
When she caught him staring, his smile only grew brighter.

"What?", she asked.

Atlas shook his head.
"Nothing.
Just surprised to see you acting all cute with your baby."

Zee screwed her face up, making Atlas laugh.

"I'm just trying not to fail the assignment, that's all", she said.

"Mmm I don't know about that.
I saw the way you were looking at your baby at the school gates.
You actually care.
And what's more, you're good at this."

Zee scoffed.
"Oh shut up."

"Seriously, Zee.
You're a natural."

Zee just rolled her eyes, but when Atlas turned back around, she found a smile creeping onto her face.
She gently caressed her baby's face before pulling its hat over its ears.

Aahan was sitting on his desk, facing the students.
He hated to admit it, but this week had actually been quite entertaining.
Two students actually screamed when they dropped their babies, and the pure look of joy on one of their faces when their baby managed to sleep through the night was actually rather sweet.

"So, what has this experiment taught you so far?", he asked.

"I don't think we're cut out for this", admitted Rowan.
"We followed the manual to a T, but our baby still cries all the time."

"Well, isn't that sort of the point of this?", questioned Aahan.
"You don't get manuals for the real thing. Sometimes there is nothing you can do."

"Yeah, we realised that", said Rowan.

"I just wish we could do more to help our baby", said Irene.

"I mean, the fact that you want to be their for your baby says a lot already", said Aahan.
"Parents mess up all the time.
The really important bit is what you do after."

"I never really thought about it like that", said Rowan.

"Elliott, Zee... what about you?", asked Aahan.

"Nothing", said Zee.

"We spent most of the week taking turns looking after the baby", said Elliott.
"We broke its legs like three times."

Aahan looked at their baby for a few seconds.
"Well, your baby looks fine now.
When did most of the damage happen?"

"At the start of the week", said Elliott.

"Well, it seems to me like you both did a great job, but that you work better separately", said Aahan.

"How is that possible?", asked Elliott.

"Well, we tend to demonise divorce, but sometimes a couple become better parents when they're apart.
You may not make a good couple, but you make good parents", explained Aahan.

Great.
So Elliott's hope of this experiment bringing him closer to Zee was a total fail.
Mr. Patel was effectively telling them to stay apart!

Aahan noticed Eloise's dejected expression. He lowered his voice to a more gentle tone.

"Eloise?
How's the experiment been for you?"

Eloise exhaled sharply, throwing her arms in the air.
"I'm going to be a terrible mum."

"What?", questioned Rowan.

"I lost my baby five times this week!
What kind of a mother does that?"

"The kind that takes on the world's problems", said Spencer.
"You've been running around trying to do everything for others."

"That's what a mother does, Spencer!
I should be able to juggle things."

"That's the thing, Eloise.
You're not a mother yet.
And even if you were, do you think most new parents know what they're doing?
No!
They're just trying to keep their head above the water, desperately hoping they don't sink.
Parenting isn't about having all the answers."

"Well what is it about then?", asked Eloise.

"It's about loving and protecting your kids. And Eloise?
In the short time I've known you, you've proven you're capable of doing those things.
Ok yeah, you'll mess up along the way, but you're going to love your baby and protect it with all your heart.
That shows me you'll be a great mother."

___________

A bonus scene will be published soon! I really wanted to include it, but the chapter was getting too long. I wanted to include the group talking about pregnancy research Irene and Rowan did, but felt like it would make the chapter too long and I wasn't sure where it would fit. Also, this chapter will be published as two parts due to the length but really it's one, if that makes sense?

I can't wait to hear all your thoughts on this chapter! I think this would be so fun as an episode. The group learned valuable lessons about parenting and relationships—which one was your favourite one?

What pairing or character would you be most like if you had to look after a robot baby?

What is your favourite part of this chapter and why?

What are your thoughts on this chapter?