Rusty meets Julia.
"Are you sure she isn't going to wake up?" Rusty asked, stepping into the house somewhat cautiously. He'd insisted on saving his visit for when Carly wasn't so preoccupied with Julia, and she'd suggested him stopping by around one in the afternoon. Originally, Rusty thought that meant that Julia would be with Sam, but it turned out that Carly had been referring to nap time.
"She's out, Rusty." Carly reassured him, giving him a hug and a kiss on the cheek. "And even if she wasn't, she would love you." They separated, and she took his coat, hanging it up before she joined Rusty over on the couch. His purple shirt made one thing too obvious to ignore. Rusty's style hadn't changed. Carly often wondered if Danny's interest in sleek designer suits would ever rub off on him, but sadly, she had to admit a defeat of hope on that one. There was too much enjoyment in dressing flamboyantly for Rusty, and sometimes she wondered if he got accused of being gay as often as Dan did. It seemed to her that it would take an unusual group of women not to be at least a little bit curious based on his choice of clothing.
"I don't want to take the chance. I have a record." Rusty sighed, easing back on the couch and making himself comfortable. He'd made it pretty clear to Carly over the phone that children didn't like him. Especially small ones. Worst of all, the babies. They had a tendency to scream at the top of their lungs from the mere sight of him. He never knew why, but he'd stopped being offended by it a long time ago. There was no way to force a kid to like you, so he gave up. And since he didn't want to upset Carly's daughter, he thought it was in both of their best interests for him to show up when Julia wasn't around.
"You also have a criminal record, you don't let that stop you from stealing things, now do you?" She reminded him, taking Julia's lamb off of the couch and throwing it into her playpen. Even with the place looking clean, Carly had to admit that Julia had no shortage of toys. She wasn't nearly as horribly spoiled as Carly herself had been at that age, but she was also not being slighted in any aspect of the word. It wasn't uncommon for someone to sit down and find a toy hidden by Julia under the couch cushions, with the intention of putting it there for safekeeping. Of course if Carly or Sam got to it first, it would be put back in her toybox, but then they had to face a very confused toddler later. As a result, Carly'd gotten into the habit of putting things she'd find on or in the furniture someplace where Julia would see it.
"What happened to me being the opportunity seeking freelance acquistion expert?" Rusty grinned. He figured that one had gone out the window around the same time her divorced was finalized, but he'd liked the title. It may not have been very fitting for him, but it was interesting to be called something that didn't have a negative connotation to it. That aside, there was a world of difference between stealing things and upsetting small children. The latter seemed more harmful to society. Insurance companies can pay you back when something is taken from you. If you scar a kid for life, thats pretty much that.
"He didn't visit." Carly smiled, not even pretending to be bitter about that. Her life had changed for the better during the few years they'd lost touch. It felt good to know that in spite of how insane she knew she was, a lot of things had gone right. And sure, several times they'd almost gotten messed up. And yeah, that was her fault. But it all worked out in the end. Instead of Rusty getting frisked upon arrival, he was hiding from her baby. She'd actually given birth to one of those. That was one thing she swore she would never do, even when Marcello's mother nagged her for grandchildren to the point of threatening. And somehow, Carly was happy with all of the things she'd tried to avoid, so that when Rusty finally did come crawling back, he wouldn't be able to complain about her not being over Sam.
Which meant that she could focus on him still not being over Isabella, and dating one too many Irenes.
"He feels bad about that." Rusty smiled back at her. "There were a few business opportunities that Danny wouldn't let me turn down. One that I couldn't refuse if I valued my life... You know how it is." He knew that she didn't, but assumed that being a vampire slayer involved similiar risks to thievery.
"You better tell me about tha--",she stopped, the sound of Julia crying over the monitor causing her to prematurely end her demand to Rusty and get up. It was always a little better if you could get to her quick. Julia seemed to hold less of a grudge if you rushed in to see her, and then she was less moody for the rest of the day.
"Look at the time." Rusty looked to his wrist for a watch, then realized he wasn't wearing one. "I should go." He offered, starting to get up too. The kid was making it a shorter visit than he'd planned to have, but leaving seemed like a good idea. There was no way of telling how the kid would react to him, and Rusty wanted to play it safe.
"You, sit." Carly shook her head, pushing him back down into his seat almost forcefully, and heading into Julia's room to take care of her. She wasn't about to let him off the hook that easily, and she really doubted Julia would hate him as much as he was expecting. Carly didn't consider Julia to be like other babies. Even if you discounted the pyrokenesis, she was just a little better than average. She was happy, and friendly, and not the type to cry at the sight of a good looking man.
Carly emerged from the bedroom a few minutes later with the sleepy toddler comfortably curled up in her arms. She sat back down on the couch, giving Julia a quick kiss on the forehead before the little one noticed the visitor, and started examining him.
"Julia, this is Rusty." She grinned, looking over to her nervous friend and resisting the urge to whack him. He wasn't supposed to be so nervous around little people. As far as she knew, he liked them. He just assumed that they didn't like him, and Julia wasn't that kind of girl. "Rusty, Julia."
"Hey Julia." Rusty replied, daring to smile at the little girl. He couldn't help from laughing when she yawned, still trying not to take her eyes off of him while she seemed to be making her judgement. It reminded him of the day they'd sentenced Danny. Being in court, waiting for someone of a higher authority to render a verdict, it was all ingrained in his memory, and the one year old was strangely serving as a good reminder of that day.
"Russee?" The child looked from her mother to the stranger whose name she'd just been given, and back again. She seemed to be confused as to whether or not she liked him.
"Rusty." Carly confirmed, nodding and then pointing to Rusty. She was surprised that Julia hadn't made a move for him yet, and was starting to get nervous herself. Her kid was supposed to be better than the others, crying at Rusty Ryan just wasn't allowed. "He's nice." She tried, then realized the blank look wasn't exactly going away. "We like him."
"Oh." Julia responded, blinking a few times at Rusty before she loosened her hold on Carly and pushed off of her, sitting between the two of them.
"Did you train her?" He laughed, surprised that Julia appeared to be the exception to the rule. Maybe the kids he'd met in the past were too tempermental. He couldn't figure it. Nieces and nephews were supposed to like you. And yet, they loved to cry around him, but Carly's daughter could be quiet and not run in the opposite direction.
"I told you, my daughter isn't mean." Carly insisted.
"Then she takes after her father. Do you think she'd mind if I picked her up?" He asked, smiling down at the little girl. There was something about kids that he always enjoyed. They seemed to know more than people who were forty times their own age without having a care in the world. They took things in, and laughed at the little things. If they took the time, he figured the adults in the world could learn a few things from their children.
"Go for it." Carly laughed.
Rusty carefully reached over and picked up Julia, holding her in his arms with a gentleness Carly wasn't used to seeing in him. She didn't even know he had it in him, but she had to admit Rusty was doing pretty good. And the 'no crying' aspect of it was probably a bonus for him too.
"Good little girl." He said softly, watching Julia very closely as her eyes widened at the detail on his collar. He let her touch at the fabric, ignoring the brief sense of tightness it created around his neck. Finally she let go with a good whack on his shoulder, prompting Rusty and Carly to laugh.
Right before she burst into tears.
"Oh hell. Carly, I think you'd better take her." Rusty sighed. Another toddler hated him. And liked to cry about it. It was especially unsettling because up until the screaming, he thought he'd been doing pretty well with her. She hadn't cried immediately like all the others. Maybe he was supposed to give her that.
"I think she hates your shirt." She told him, wanting to take Julia and shut her up, but instead becoming determinded to try. As far as she knew, there wasn't anything really wrong with Rusty for so many kids to hate him. Maybe they just hated him for the same reason most adults did; his fashion sense. "Borrow one of Sam's, and come back out and try it again." She thought that was safe, Sam was into casual wear, and the familiarity might calm her down.
"Its highly unlikely that one of his shirts would fit me." Even more unlikely that he'd have something Rusty was willing to be seen in. He started rubbing Julia's back, calming whispering to her that she was okay.
"Then bribe her. I'll go get a cookie." Carly suggested, getting up to head into the kitchen. She wasn't surprised when she found the cookie jar nearly empty. Sam's addiction, heaven forbid anyone else wanted one. Taking two just in case, she was about to go back into the living room when she noticed something.
It was quiet.
Carly rushed back in, fearful that she'd find her friend's ashes on the couch next to her daughter, and stopped in her tracks when she saw them. Julia was giggling, Rusty smiling. They were getting along.
"What did you..." She questioned, staring at the two of them.
"We negotiated." Rusty grinned, pointing to the twenty dollar bill in Julia's hand. "I had to talk her down from fifty."
So much for not being horribly spoiled.
Carly sighed, taking a bite out of one of the cookies. Comfort food.
"She's easy like you." He laughed.
"Shut up."