day one: goose!

ninjago oc's next gen

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"Spring will come, so will happiness. Hold on. Life will get warmer"

- Anita Krizzan

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"Quack! Quack!"

Cole bit back a curse as a little pink-covered figure went running down the small hill on the paved path. Quickly he rushed forward and grabbed her by the shoulders, forcing her to slow down.

"No running remember? When you run you fall down." Cole reminded the two-year-old. His eyes trailed over the scabs on palms from their last incident. Lilly didn't appear to be listening, her eyes were on the swimming birds.

Cole sighed and picked her up before moving down the road. He couldn't help but smile as Lilly's little face broke into a huge grin when someone strolled by. It was hard to believe this excitable child had been the tiny baby he bottle-fed every night, every day, and all the times in between. Now she was running everywhere and getting into things.

A lot of her physical traits came from Cole. Her big brown eyes, dark locks, and bigger bone structure were all inherited from her dad. Her skin tone wasn't as dark as Cole's since her mother was white but it was this beautiful caramel-like tone. She had characteristics of her mother as well. Cole could see Siena's button nose and the shyness Lilly was displaying now by burying her face into his shoulder.

"Come on," Cole set her back on the ground on the bank near the river. "Let's go see the ducks!"

"Goose!" Lilly cheered and tugged excitedly at his hand.

Cole shook his head quickly when he saw her trying to run up to the large birds perched on the riverbank. "We're going to stay here, okay sweet pea?"

"Pet!" She insisted. Lilly wrenched her wrist from his grasp and began speeding towards the geese.

"Oh come on!" Cole groaned to himself. He easily caught up to her and swooped her away. The geese had been preening their feathers and had paused to fix their beady eyes on the two. He set her down and kept an arm around her waist so she couldn't go running off again.

"We can't pet the geese, remember?" Cole tried to say as slowly but sternly as he could. He repeated the mantra he had been relaying to her since they first encountered the angry bird. "Geese are...?" He waited for her response.

"Mean!" Lilly finished.

"And they will bite our...?"

"Bums!"

A young woman walking her dog gave them a funny look as she passed. Hey, that was parenthood! Judgemental looks from other adults was all part of it.

"Why don't we look at the ducks instead? Ducks are much nicer." Cole led her slowly to wear the group of ducks were pecking at some dried corn someone tossed on the ground.

Lilly shrieked with laughter and pulled away so she could stampede towards the unsuspecting animals. The ducks let out honks of surprise and scattered away from the pink terror. The elderly couple that had been feeding them gave Cole a peeved expression as they began to move down the river.

"Sorry!" Cole called after guiltily. She was a toddler! There was no controlling her.

Lilly skidded to a stop when she discovered a tiny little stream coming from a drain pipe. Her eyes widened in fascination as she watched the water trickle out.

Cole felt his knees crack as he squared beside her. "What are you looking at?" He asked her.

"Wassat?" Lilly curiously pointed at the stream.

"It's water," Cole explained even though he knew she only understood ten percent of what he said. "The rain comes down and all the water comes through the pipe."

Lilly hummed to herself and stood up again to go toddle towards the road. Cole followed dutifully but Lilly almost gave him a heart attack when she suddenly sat down in the middle of the path. 

"What are you doing?" Cole couldn't help but chuckle as she grinned up at him. Some students walking home from school smiled at her.

"Hi!" Lilly turned and waved at them.

"Hi!" The girls laughed.

"Hi!"

"Hi!"

"Hi!"

"We could be doing this all day." The dark-haired one snickered to her friend. They nodded to Cole and Lilly. "Bye!"

"Hi!" Lilly yelled after.

"Okay, Lils, time to go home to see Mommy," Cole told her. She obediently let him lead her back home.

Until they made it to the hill.

Lilly decided she wasn't having it and laid down on the concrete. Cole rolled his eyes with a small smile and picked her up. Lilly yawned and tugged at his hair as they made their way to the car.

"Did you have fun?" Cole asked Lilly as he placed her in her car seat and slipped her arms through the straps.

"Goose..." she murmured sleepily in response.

authors note*****

Day one finished! I babysit the most adorable little girl and was quoting a lot of the things she says and does! Thankfully we didn't get attacked by the geese!

Hope you enjoyed!

LuckyBugBooks 🐞