G IV: Chapter 5

While Rachel went to work one morning, Brian thought it would be nice to take the day off and go for a stroll with his baby girl. He put Jennifer in their new stroller and rolled out of the house. He was planning to go to the park with her. On the way, he passed by Dylan's house ant thought about stopping but it appeared as though he wasn't home. When they did get to the park Brian looked at the playground and then looked at Jennifer.

"What was I thinking? You can't play on those things, your way to little Jenn." He said to her. He took her out anyway and played with her himself.

A couple people came up to him to admire the baby, then they went about their own business. Soon Brian put Jennifer back in the stroller and they walked home.

As soon as he walked in the door he was bombarded by Rachel wanting to hold Jennifer. He laughed and handed her over. Just then he got a call and he took it. It was someone wanting to hire him for a job. He accepted, and told them he would start the next morning. Brian and Rachel had dinner together while Jennifer took a nap.

Jennifer was growing bigger and bigger each day. It didn't seem like much time went by before she was sitting up on her own and playing by herself. Pretty soon Rachel was teaching her to walk and she picked up on that pretty quickly.

Brian went out to that job in the morning. He was to meet the guy next to the grocery store, which he was on his way to do, but he saw Dylan there so he stopped and talked to him.

The guy that Brian was meeting was around the corner of the building. He had an odd request.

"Okay here's the deal. I know this is going to seem odd and childish but I don't have the time to play any type of games. I'm too old for that. The only thing is - I'm afraid to ask outright." He said.

"What's the question and who are you asking?" Brian asked, and for some reason he was getting impatient with this guy. That was odd for him.

"Well there's this girl, Johanna Fuller." The guy paused, "Uh, same last name as you I guess. Are you related?"

"Yes, Johanna's my sister. What about her?"

"Well I heard a rumor that she was interested in me and I want to know if she is. Because I would really love to go out with her."

"I'll find out for you and get back to you in an hour or so okay?"

"Sure, sure."

Brian went to Johanna's favorite place to fish, to see if she was there. It was close by. He arrived and saw that she wasn't there, so he called her.

She answered and he said, "What do you think you are doing! That guy is WAY to old for you, no way would I allow that relationship. He could be your father!" Brian stopped and Johanna took that opportunity to speak.

"Okay look, I know who you're talking about and the answer is no. I may have said that I would 'date' him to a friend of mine, but that's only because he's rich. I was kidding really, she shouldn't have said anything. Why are you asking about this anyway?"

"He just hired me as his PI to find out if you were into him. I hope I just found out that you aren't!!"

Johanna laughed. "No, I'm not and you can pass that along."

Brian said goodbye and hung up. He went back to the gentleman that hired him and told him the truth about Johanna. The man was visibly disappointed, but Brian seemed triumphant.

At home Rachel was busy with Jennifer. Playing, potty training, feeding and cleaning up toys seemed to take most of her day, but she loved every minute of it. Daphne helped when she can, like watching Jennifer while Rachel took a shower or made dinner.

Jennifer learned most things quickly but for some reason refused to learn how to use a fork or spoon. She insisted on using her hands at every meal.

When Brian came home he did the 'manly' things in the house, such as fixing the broken dishwasher and plunging clogged toilets. He also volunteered to do the laundry, which Rachel hates. She gladly gave up that chore.

Rachel's favorite job to do was reading Jennifer to sleep. She would tuck her into her crib and pick a book. Jennifer's favorite seemed to be "Counting for Those Who Cannot" she requested it every night.

"Count, count!" Jennifer would say.

Rachel watched her baby fall asleep, then left to get her husband. She couldn't find him right off and figured he was in the basement working on his sculpture or something. She decided she was too tired to go down there and went to bed.

Brian came up only an hour later and checked Jennifer. She was actually stirring just a little bit - he figured she would be up soon, so he lay on the top of the covers to nap while he waited for her to wake.

Jennifer did wake in the middle of the night, and Brian was there. He took her to the kitchen and gave her some food, then took her to the potty for a little more training. That seemed to sink in quickly too, Brian was pretty sure she had gotten that down to a science. He then put her in her room, in a circle of toys.

Jennifer looked around at all her other playthings, then she cried. She cried hard. Brian came back to see what the problem was, he didn't see anything wrong but he gave her that toy she got in the mail and she stopped crying right away. Brian smiled at his little girl. She obviously liked that toy best and he would remember that from now on.