My Little Glowy

Chapter 2: Bonding and Learning

The next morning, Airy's eyes flickered a bit, before fully opening them. He looked down, and remembered that he now had a kid with him. The baby was still sleeping, so that was good. Carefully getting out of bed, Airy walked out of the cabin, then sitting down in the grass, near his little firepit. Suddenly it hit him, he hadn't even given her a name yet! "Hmmm...what should I call you...", Airy quietly said to himself. He wasn't really the best at coming up with names, but he took another look at the baby's bright blue hair. It seemed to glow a little bit in the sunlight, wait...glow...that's it!

'I'll call her Glowy!', Airy thought to himself proudly, smiling down at her.

"You're name is Glowy, don't worry, I'll do my best trying to take care of you..", he said, giving a little kiss on Glowy's forehead. A few minutes later, Airy was continuing to work on the computer, while Glowy was laying beside his desk. He had matted down some reeds on the cave's floor, so it'd be a little more comfortable for her. As he was typing away, he jumped when he suddenly heard Glowy cry out. He immediately turned his head around, looking at her with a worried look. He stood up,  walking over to the baby. Sitting down, he picked Glowy up, rubbing her back a little. "What's wrong, dear?", he asked, looking down at her.

Glowy was tugging on his coat, whimpering. Airy was confused, not knowing what this meant. "Shhhh...it's okay, honey. What's the matter?", he quietly asked, in another attempt to help her calm down. Suddenly, Airy then understood what was wrong, feeling Glowy's little tummy rumble against his hands. He then nodded a bit, now getting it. "Ah, you're hungry? Well, let's go get you something to eat...", he said, standing up. As he left the cave, he suddenly realized, she doesn't have any teeth! She can't eat berries, she might choke! He didn't have any formula, but he did have bottled milk, which he got from milking some cows a few feet away from the forest. (A/N: I know babies aren't supposed to drink cow's milk yet, but this is just a work of fiction, plus Airy doesn't really have many options either, you can't feed water to a baby either)

He walked into his little cabin, getting his bowl, and pouring some milk into it. Slowly bringing the milk over to Glowy's face, he carefully tilted the bowl, having the milk slip into her mouth. After downing the milk, Airy put the bowl back down to look at Glowy. "You feel better?", he asked, but then noticed her squirming around a little, scrunching up her little face and puffing her cheeks up a bit. Airy got a bit concerned seeing this, bringing her up to his face. "Glowy? Are you okay?", he asked worriedly.

Suddenly, he remembered back before he died and ended up here, he recalled seeing a mother patting her baby's back after feeding it once. He now realized what he needed to do, bringing her over to his shoulder. Airy started to gently pat her back, doing this for about a minute, before she let out a small burp. Airy smiled, bringing her back to his face. "There, all better?", he asked. Glowy seemed to smiled back at him. "Okay...I don't really know what we should do now..", he admitted, looking around. He decided to put off working on the computer, deciding to play with her instead. After all, he was now her father, they needed to bond, right? He got an idea, setting Glowy down onto his bed, kneeling down. Glowy looked up at him with a confused look. Airy smiled, remembering something his mother used to do with him.

He covered his face with his hands. "Glowy, where's papa?", he asked, he couldn't help but smile more. Glowy just looked even more confused, until Airy removed his hands from his face. "Here I am!", he exclaimed. Glowy looked up at him with a bit of surprise, but seemed to smile! He decided to do it again. "Where's papa, dear?", he asked again, covering his face. After a few seconds, he removed them from his face again. "Here I am, again!", he said. Glowy started to laugh. Airy did this a few more times, before picking up his daughter, tickling her a little. Glowy laughed some more, causing Airy to chuckle a bit. "Awww...", he muttered, seeing how happy she was.

Airy was actually really glad that he found this baby. It was pretty lonely with just him around, but now that he had a child to raise, he was feeling pretty happy.

Hours passed, Airy had done other things, collecting more reeds, chopping some wood, and of course, feeding Glowy. It was eventually now in the evening. Airy listened to the crickets chirping, plus the frogs croaking. He lit a fire at the firepit, holding Glowy close to him while sitting near it. Glowy was still awake, looking up at the sky, seeing all the pretty stars up there. She then got bored, turning her gaze over to Airy's long hair.

Since Airy couldn't really use anything to cut his hair, he just let it outgrow him. Needless to say, his hair was much longer now than it had been when he first got here. Glowy reached out a bit, and grabbed a bit of his hair. She smiled, gently tugging it, before pulling on it a bit.

Airy winched a little, bringing Glowy away from his hair. "No honey, don't do that..Don't pull my hair, okay?", he said, then seeing the little pout on Glowy's face. He chuckled a bit, stroking her hair with his finger. "I know, it's long and a bit bouncy, but it's not a toy, alright?", he tried to explain. He looked back over to the cabin, then to Glowy. 'I think we should both get some sleep..', he thought, standing up. Glowy was looking around, a bit confused. Airy looked down at her, holding her close to his chest. "Bedtime..", he simply said, walking into the entrance of his cabin. Glowy frowned a bit, she didn't want to go to sleep just yet. Airy set her down on a bunch of reeds he placed on the ground, before quickly leaving to put out the fire outside. Coming back in, he sat down next to Glowy, gently stroking her head.

"Come on honey, it's time for us to go to sleep...", he whispered. Glowy whined in response, looking upset. "Honey...you're going to be grumpy tomorrow if you don't get any sleep..", Airy tried to reason, but Glowy just continued to pout. Airy sighed, wondering what he should do. He looked over at his table, seeing his cassette player. He wondered if maybe some music would help her fall asleep.

He got up, pressing the play button on the cassette. It started to play a soft little tune. Glowy heard the music, and relaxed a little. She was starting to close her eyes. Airy smiled, setting the cassette down, before kneeling down to giver her a goodnight kiss. "Goodnight Glowy..", he said before getting into his bed.

A few hours later, at about 2 in the morning, Glowy woke up, looking around. It was practically pitch black, and she couldn't see her dad. Glowy got really scared, whimpering quietly. She then cried out, wanting her dad. Airy soon woke up, then realizing that his daughter was crying. He sat up, getting out of bed, walking over to the table, to pick up his little trawler lantern.

Turning the knob, a little fire lit inside the glass. Airy then brought the lantern over to Glowy, setting it down onto the ground. He gently picked up Glowy, cradling her in his arms. "Shhhh, it's okay Glowy, I'm here...Don't cry...shhh..", he shushed, bouncing her up and down a bit. Glowy continued to cry, gripping her little hands onto his old coat. Airy rocked his body a little, gently stroking her back, and shushing her a bit more. Glowy looked over at the lantern, and seemed to stop crying a bit. Since it was the only light source, and the little flame was fascinating to her, she started to calm down.

Airy noticed this, and smiled a bit. "You like it? My father gave that to me when I was about...eight?", he said, trying to remember. 

Glowy hiccupped a little, before looking at her father's face. "You're okay honey....You're safe with me, don't worry...", he said, stroking her hair once more. "Do you want to sleep with me? Would that make you feel a bit safer, hmmm?", he asked. Glowy hugged the fabric of his shirt in response, causing Airy to smile. "I'll take that as a yes..", he said, getting up.

He picked up the lantern, placing it back on the table. He then laid down, rocking his body some more, in an attempt to get Glowy to fall asleep. He decided to sing to her a bit, since it was something his mother used to do when he was younger.

He started humming a bit, it then starting to sound like the song, "Around the Bend". He couldn't really help it, it was one of his favorite songs. He continued humming the song, in which Glowy let out a little yawn, before snuggling into her dad's arms. Soon enough, she fell asleep again. Airy smiled, and stopped humming.

"Sweet dreams, my little pumpkin patch..."

And that's the end of here. This one was pretty long, so I'm going to stop here for now, but don't you worry, I'll continue this story. In the meantime, have a good one :D