chapter twenty-one ━ daycare & babysitters
( season two, episode nine )

❝ they were perfect angels for me. ❞

𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐎𝐍𝐈𝐂𝐀 𝐋𝐎𝐎𝐊𝐄𝐃 𝐀𝐑𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐃 𝐀𝐓 𝐓𝐇𝐄 usually clean dojo and frowned. I can't believe Jerry did this... she thought to herself before falling over the ball pit. "Really?"

"Jerry, this is my dojo!" Rudy exclaimed in frustration. "It's a place of honor, respect, and integrity!" He banged his hand on the small table and the kid's machine moo'd back at him. Jack helped Veronica up off the floor and she sighed, seeing the playhouse, cribs, and highchairs filling the room.

"Come on, Rudy," Jerry pleaded with him desperately. "If we don't do this, I'll get expelled."

The brown-haired girl shrugged while Jack rested his arm on her shoulder. "I think that means you need to stop getting into so much trouble."

"This is not a daycare center and it never will be!" Rudy told him.

"Dojo Day Care Center..." Veronica and Jack looked over when they saw Principal Buckett, and the person responsible for Jerry's potential suspension, walk in with his baby son. "What a concept. You're really gonna like it here, Byron."

Rudy stood up. "I am nipping this in the bud right now," he said to Jerry before turning to the man. "Principal Buckett—"

"Who do I make out the $100 check to?" he interrupted Rudy and Veronica shared an amused chuckle with Jack.

"I think we're gonna be a daycare for a few hours," she whispered and he nodded.

"That would be Rudy Gillespie." She gestured in front of her with a knowing smile. "Uh—Milton, Eddie, take Byron, put him in the ball pit, and give him a graham cracker."

Milton frowned. "I'm not touching this little snotbag," he said and Veronica raised her eyebrows, glancing between him and the baby. "That thing is wearing a toilet!"

Eddie shrugged. "I'll take him. Hey, Baby Byron," he cooed as he took the child into his arms.

"There you go. There you go. Later, Byron."

Veronica smiled and tickled the little boy in the stomach. "He's so cute," she said quietly, letting him play with her bracelet on her wrist. "I love babies."

"You don't have to worry about a thing, Principal Buckett," Jerry promised, smiling nervously at the man.

"I'm holding you responsible for my son, Jerry," he replied. "I'll be back at seven, and my legs will be smoldering. Olé!"

Veronica quirked an eyebrow upward. "And he's in charge of our school..."

"This really stinks, Jerry," Milton said, crossing his arms.

"Oh, relax," he countered with a frown. "It's just a couple hours with one little baby."

Principal Buckett walked back into the dojo. "By the way, I, uh—I put up a notice on the faculty bulletin board about this place."

"He did what now?" Veronica asked out loud. Her question was soon answered when several of their teachers came in with their children and placed them in Jerry's arms. "They can stop coming now," she said after the tenth child. "You can stop!"

Jerry yelped while holding all of the children. "I think I just got babied."

Not that much longer, the dojo was in complete chaos. All of the teenagers plus Rudy were running after the little kids who were leaving messes in every corner of the room. Veronica was unwrapping a snack for a little girl when she heard her uncle's voice.

"Hey, that kid's got my trophy again!" She watched him chase after the six-year-old boy around the room. "Get back here, you!" He hit the trophy against the table and Veronica could hear a snap. "No! He snapped my little man's head off. You better sleep with one eye open during nap time!"

She sighed and stood up, looking down when she felt the little girl tug on her hand. With a small smile, she picked her up and walked over to her uncle. "Just give me the trophy. I'll fix it. And Lily will help, too, won't you, Lily?"

"Who's Lily?" Jerry asked.

The little girl raised her hand and Veronica laughed lightly. "She's Lily."

"Rudy." The uncle and niece looked over and the girl furrowed her brows at the obnoxiously large sandwich that Jack was holding while the little girl he was carrying laughed making him mock her. "Rudy, where's Milton?"

"He's changing some baby's diaper."

Veronica and Jack looked at each other. "But what about his deathly fear of germs?" she asked him before seeing the redheaded boy walk out of the locker room in a hazmat suit. "Never mind... Does anybody else want to know where he got that?" Lily nodded and she smiled. "I like her."

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𝐑𝐔𝐃𝐘 𝐇𝐀𝐃 𝐆𝐎𝐍𝐄 𝐎𝐅𝐅 𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐇 Officer Joan and her niece who was entered into the "Little Miss Seaford Pageant" which left the five teenagers in charge of the dojo filled with a bunch of little kids.

A recipe for disaster, if you asked Veronica.

She was currently sitting on the floor with Lily on her lap while a few other kids were snuggled next to her. She held out a book in front of her and the little boy next to her sounded out some words making her smile lightly.

She was learning that she liked kids.

She looked over when she heard Milton and Eddie's yelps and saw two six-year-old boys hitting them on the heads like whack-a-mole. "Boys..." They turned to her. "Give me the sticks."

"But—"

"Give me the sticks," she said again and they reluctantly did. "Thank you. They almost get concussions enough on their own, you don't need to help them. Here." She handed them a ball. "Play catch instead. And no hitting them on the heads, okay?"

"Fine..."

She nodded to herself. "V, have you seen Baby Byron?" Jerry asked in a panic, running over to her and looking behind her. "Is he between you and the wall? Answer me, V!"

"Oh, my gosh... No, he's not between me and the wall," she replied with a frown. "Get a grip, would you?"

"I can't!" he exclaimed. "I'm gonna be expelled. Oh, forget expelled, I'm going to prison." Veronica and Jack glanced at each other. "Oh, forget prison, I'm going to summer school! Do you know what they do to guys like me in summer school?"

"Jerry, calm down!" Jack said.

"No, I can't calm down!" he retorted, shaking his head while Veronica stood up and walked over to them, Lily trailing behind her. "I just lost the principal's baby."

She sighed. "Well, the important thing is you're not freaking out..." she muttered sarcastically. Lily tugged on her arm and she looked down at her. "What is it?" The little blonde girl pointed outside and Veronica followed her finger. "Guys. Guys, he's outside!"

"Oh—come on!" Jack said, pulling her toward the door and she frowned. "Eddie, Milton, you guys hold down the fort."

"How exactly do you expect me to help you when I have a two-year-old following me everywhere I go?" Veronica asked him, gesturing to the blonde who was dutifully trailing behind them. "I'm staying here. Good luck!"

"I'm about to drop some Eddie knowledge on these fools!" She furrowed her brows and turned around to her friends. "Ow!" he exclaimed when a kid threw a ball at him and laughed. "This is our house!"

"No, it's not."

"Yes, it is."

"Wait, who do you think you are?"

Veronica sighed as the two boys started getting hit with pupil sticks and more kids threw balls at their heads. "Word of advice for you, Lily..." she said, picking up the little girl. "Get some girl friends. That way you don't have to do this alone."

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𝐈𝐓 𝐒𝐄𝐄𝐌𝐄𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐎𝐍𝐈𝐂𝐀, 𝐄𝐃𝐃𝐈𝐄, and Milton were having very different experiences of watching the kids. She was sitting in the corner of the dojo with a group of little kids and reading to them to tire them out.

The boys, on the other hand, were locked in Rudy's office convinced that the kids were trying to kill them.

"How did you even manage to tie him up?" she asked with a frown, seeing Milton tied to a chair with karate belts. "Milton, you're twice their size."

"But there are so many of them!"

She hung her head just as Eddie came out of Rudy's office with a belt tied around his head. "That's it, babies!" She raised her eyebrows. "I've had enough. I may go down, but I'm going down fighting." Lily looked over when he began doing karate moves and clapped with the other kids.

Veronica shrugged. "Keep going," she told Eddie. "They like it."

"O—Okay," he replied with a shrug and repeated the same moves before kicking Milton in the chest and knocking him over. "Oh..."

The brunette shook her head. "How is this my life?"

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𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐎𝐍𝐈𝐂𝐀 𝐏𝐀𝐒𝐒𝐄𝐃 𝐋𝐈𝐋𝐘 𝐎𝐅𝐅 𝐓𝐎 her mother and waved goodbye. "I'm gonna miss her..." she muttered, puckering out her lip. "She was my little buddy."

"Lily asked if you could babysit her next week," her mother said, walking back into the dojo and Veronica looked at her. "Are you available next week? We could make it a regular thing. She's such a shy kid and she seems to really like you."

She nodded. "Yeah. I'm available."

"Great! I'll stop by later so we can talk more."

Veronica smiled happily to herself and looked up at Jack. "I get to see my little buddy again," she said and he chuckled at how cute her little smile was.

"That's it," Jerry announced to his friends. "We're done. All the kids have been picked up."

Eddie shook his head, looking at the clipboard in his hand. "Not quite. There's still one kid left. Little Maddie Edsall."

"Maddie?"

"Maddie?"

"Where is she?"

Veronica let out a breath. "She's outside," she said, pointing out the doors. "I'm getting a sense of deja vu..."

Jack turned to his friends. "Milton, Eddie, this one's all yours."

"Well, what about Ronnie?"

She shrugged. "I was raised that girls clean the room while the boys climb construction machines to rescue little kids."

They both sighed and ran out the door. "That was exhausting," Jerry said once they were gone. "Kids today are hard to control."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Veronica said, shaking her head. "They were perfect angels for me."

"And you made a friend," Jack reminded her.

She nodded with a smile. "And I made a friend!"

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━ author's note:

I apologize for this being so short. this episode always makes me laugh, but once I started writing it, there wasn't much for ronnie to do.

but I had already committed lol

next is the indiana eddie episode and I'm excited for it. it's one of my favorites.