Meet Jesse Vanglorious.
A little tyke in their growing family. He had Ashton's sun kiss skin and Connor's nose. Most of all, Vanglorious family finally has a son! And guess who's so happy to have this little boy?
The father, of course.
Connor spent a lot of time with Jesse since he was born. The waking up at night, the dirty diapers, the cries to calm; Connor eagerly did everything, sans breast feeding, obviously.
And with the time Ashton had in hand while Connor helped her with Jesse, she took the chance to learn cooking some basic home meals, and did the house chores.
Connor is basically a stay home dad since he became a pro writer in the industry. Ashton always made sure she bottled some milk before she leaves for work. Lately the facility needed her constantly to monitor some experiments. Something regarding rocks.
Although she's away, she wouldn't worry about Jesse cause he's in good (sort of over protective) hands. What mother would not feel grateful to have a capable stay home husband?
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Classes had been fun for Hayden until...
Her home room teacher created the Buddy System for their class. Well, it wouldn't sound so bad if you were to have a lovely playmate assigned to you. It seemed to apply wonderfully to every of her classmates except her... and of course her assigned buddy.
Today was her turn to have her assigned buddy visit her house. She knew she should have told her parents about this but then again it was already too late.
The bus driver already turned into the curb leading to her house.
As Hayden and the assigned buddy got off the bus, she was reluctant to invite him in.
"Go ahead and run to your parents, Heidi!" the boy roared at her. "I don't need your escort."
And Hayden burst into her house, not because she follows his instructions, but because she couldn't stand his awful treatment.
But she did run into her parents room, screaming.
Ashton had to ask what was wrong with her.
"I don't like Helmut," she whispered. "He's evil!"
Ashton had to laugh at her daughter's actions. She find it quite cute to see Hayden worrying-slash-terrified of another kid.
But she laughed even more when Hayden finally explained to her about the Buddy System.
"Don't worry, darling," Ashton assured her. "I'll keep an eye on him. I won't fall for his sweet words."
While Hayden had got to her mom, Helmut already got her dad to side him. She was already too late to tell her dad who Helmut Morris really is behind that innocent mask he's wearing.
She wished her dad wouldn't fall so easily with boy talks. She knew her dad loved having a son ever since Jesse came, but admiring every other boys, especially boys like Helmut, is way too much.
She hated that look on Helmut's face. An evil triumphant look.
"I know what you're up to, Helmut," she stood up to him. And the only place she can do that is at the safety of her home. "You can't fool me."
"Oh, yeah?" he snorted. "What you gonna do about it, huh? Like I'm scared of you, Heidi."
She hated it when he calls her that name. And sometimes she wonders how come Helmut has no weakness.
Why are evil people so confident of themselves?
And to get her dad to see her side of the perspective, she told him Helmut always took her homework and copied her answers. All. The. Time.
But her dad answered, "Isn't that what the Buddy System supposed to be? Helping out one another? Well, I think it's a good thing you can help special needs kid like him to get their grades up."
Hayden just rolled her eyes. Looks like Helmut had pulled the special needs trick on her dad. How is she gonna convince him that Helmut is just a normal naughty boy now?
Having been away for work makes Ashton missed mothering Jesse so much. She made it a point to spend time with him before she goes to bed. She wanted to see him grow up well with lots of love and care.
It was pure bliss to hear baby murmurs soft on her ears. She really liked it.
The experience on parenting Hayden when she was just a baby had helped them fulfill Jesse's needs without fuss. Connor and Ashton get enough shut eye at nights now, and the waking up at irregular hours was not a big deal as it used to be.
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Martha was very happy for the Vanglorious on their new baby too.
But it was pretty clear that Martha is getting very old now.
She kept forgetting Jesse's name and sometimes asked Ashton when did she got pregnant, and kept congratulating her on the new born; even though it had been over four months since.
Also, for a number of times, Martha had called Jesse, Hayden. So she was also an unofficial godmother to baby Hayden who is actually Jesse.
At times when Martha remembers thing well, she would come to Hayden and share her secret recipes in fear that it will all be lost and forgotten in her mind one day.
Hayden on the other hand, had find it very exciting to keep Martha's recipes in her diary, promising she will one day make a cookbook out of it.
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It's mother and daughter bonding time.
Ashton knew how Hayden liked to explore new places, especially outdoors. So one dawn, they both woke up early to hunt some space rocks.
Even though it was just the field not far from their home, Hayden was already pretty excited to be going out at an odd hour and collecting rocks that sparkles brilliantly with the morning dews.
Hayden always looked forward to dawns from then on. Ashton promised that when Hayden is old enough, she will give Hayden her space rock radar gadget.
Excited, Hayden made her mom do the pinky promise.
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When Martha came for visits in the weekends, she would have Hayden join her watch some of her old DVDs when she had her own cooking shows back in the days.
From here, Hayden understood all the cooking jargons, procedures and what not.
Even though the DVDs were hers to keep and she can watch them over and over again, Hayden documented what she had learned.
At the same time, Helmut came around to visit.
The undisguised smirk on this fellow's face tells how he's already planned on tormenting Hayden like he used to.
But there was a change in his expression... and he even checked if his hair was not messy.
When Ashton had let him in, Hayden just mustered a brief hello, not acknowledging his presence as she was still immersed in writing her cookbook.
"Hey, uhm... Hayden," Helmut hesitantly blurted. "You know, my parents had been really proud with my grades... but they didn't know I was... copying you, though."
"Hmm, yeah, okay," she wasn't paying any attention to him.
"I think..." Helmut had trouble continuing his first most honest conversation. "That maybe... we can study together sometime? You know, like scoring real grades for myself, make my parents proud of what I can do... stuffs like that. What do you say?"
"Not now, Helmut," she sort of dismissed him nonchalantly. "I'm kind of busy right now."
"Oh, okay," he replied, feeling a little left out. "I'll see you at school then?"
"Sure," she said as she scribbled on her cookbook.
And sure enough, with Helmut really studying during their house visits, his grades were coming along with his own hard work. He finally could look up to his parents proud eyes and know that it was all his own effort that he excels.
No more copying for Helmut Morris anymore.
And yay for the Buddy System success!
