[ hi bailey with kids makes me wish i never quit the daycare professional career track uwu

warnings: same as last time

stay safe,
lew. ]

———————

Rosaline sat on the counter and mixed food coloring into the frosting. Bailey was keeping a close eye on her while he checked on the cinnamon rolls in the oven.

They'd been silent for a long while, when Rosaline asked, "Do you think my dad and will like this?"

"I'm sure your dad will like anything you make, Rosie," he assured her, closing the oven. He tossed the dish towel on the counter, then asked, "Is there anything you wanna talk about, sweet pea? It's awfully quiet in here."

She thought about it. Then she softly said, "Is Auntie Chase your only friend?"

He let out a startled sort of laugh at that. "No, honey, I have more friends. She's just my best friend in the whole wide world, and I love her a lot."

"Then... why don't you date her instead of your mean boyfriend?"

"Because she doesn't like boys too much. And I love her like you love your family."

"Oh. Okay."

Before either of them could say anything else, there was a knock on the door. "Wait right here, I gotta see who that is. It might be the lady who owns the building," Bailey told her.

——

At the grocery store, Chase and Ronnie weren't having the best time. Things were still tense from their talk earlier, and Chase kept on saying dumb shit to try and diffuse the tension.

"I don't know what the fuck Bailey's on, but apparently he plans to make shit for the whole fuckin' apartment building," she groaned, showing Ronnie the list. Things like 'six bags of sugar' and 'lots and lots of sprinkles' filled the paper.

"Maybe he's trying to apologize to your neighbors for yours and Ezra's screaming match in the hallway last week," he suggested, pulling his phone from his pocket. "Call him and ask."

She took his phone and dialed her roommate's number. It only rang for a few seconds before Rosaline answered it with a cheerful 'hello!'.

"Hi, Rosie, where's Bailey? He didn't leave you alone, did he?"

"He's here. He says he doesn't want to talk right now, because someone came to talk to him and made him sad."

"It was probably his dickhead boyfriend," Chase muttered to Ronnie before telling the child, "Give him a big hug for me. We'll be back soon."

——

As soon as Chase unlocked the apartment door, a loud sigh fell from her lips. "B, you'd be a lot better off if you'd just break up with the bastard."

"Chase, I don't wanna hear this right now," he sighed, setting down the bag of frosting he'd been using on what looked like... cupcakes?

Meanwhile, Ronnie had immediately went over to where Rosaline was still sitting on the counter, carefully dropping sprinkles on to the iced cinnamon rolls.

Bailey's stress-baking was starting to stress Chase out.

"Are you having fun?" Ronnie asked, kissing his daughter's forehead.

She grinned at him and nodded. "It's lots of fun! We get to take stuff home with us and everything."

"Did you thank Bailey for letting you do all this?"

Again, she nodded, going back to carefully decorating. "He said that I'm a better helper than Auntie Chase."

Ronnie had to laugh at that, as well as the agitated look on Chase's face when she overheard. "Hey, I can be a good helper too, Bailey just doesn't like it when I tell him to stop baking shit. I told him we should make pot brownies to sell to the stoners at the bar, but no-"

Rosaline reached out to tug on Ronnie's sleeve, whispering, "Dad, what's a pot brownie?"

"I'm not telling you that because you don't need to know."