~In the Kitchen~

So far, Branch didn't like how his morning was going as his morning routine went completely off course and now he was sitting on a too-small booster seat and was now wearing a blue bib, which he had to wear in order to have breakfast.

Branch tried to take off the bib sneakily but John Dory grabbed his hand before he could have a chance to unbutton it.

"No, no, no. You need to wear it, Bitty B," John Dory said.

He scowled while all eyes were on him. 

Bruce was smiling, Clay was smiling, John Dory was amazed. 

Soon, the three of them were smiling, except for Floyd, who had a concerned look on his face while playing with his fork.

"Here's breakfast." Bruce brought out some pancakes with blueberries on top for John Dory, Clay, and Floyd.

"Is Bitty B ready to eat his yummy breakfast?" Bruce said in a babyish voice as he put Branch's breakfast onto the table. "Here you go."

Branch immediately frowned. Instead of pancakes, Branch got a bowl of what might've looked like oatmeal with some blueberries on top for breakfast. Hey, how come they get to eat pancakes, but not me. That's so not fair! I don't want this....this.....I don't know what it is? Oatmeal? It doesn't look like oatmeal. He took a whiff of his breakfast. Kind of smells like it though. Maybe it's grits? Or rice pudding? Or..........wait...........oh no! It can't be...is it...........baby food? 

Branch grimaced.

"Aww, what's wrong, Bitty B?" Bruce asked.

"I'm not eating whatever that is," Branch said.

"It's cream of wheat," Bruce said.

Branch cringed. Cream of wheat? Well, it's better than baby food though I'm so not a fan of it. The last time I had cream of wheat was six years ago and when I tried it, I spat it out. Ew.

"Yummy, yummy cream of wheat," Clay said.

"It's like oatmeal, except creamier like grits," Bruce explained as he grabbed a baby spoon, scooping Branch's breakfast onto the spoon. He smiled as he moved the spoon towards Branch. "Open wide. Aaaaaaaaaaa......"

With his arms crossed, Branch shook his head, turning his head away from Bruce.

"I knew that would happen," Floyd said.

"Aww, come on. Open your mouth," Bruce said.

"Nope, I'm not letting you feed me," Branch said.

"Come on. Here comes the airplane."

"Not gonna happen."

"Here comes the choo choo."

"Nope."

John Dory grabbed the spoon from Bruce, spooning a huge amount of cream of wheat on the spoon. Just the sight of it made Branch lose his appetite.

"Come on Bitty B. Here comes Rhonda, and she needs to go through the hustle dimension....vroom, vroom, vroom....." John Dory started to make humming noises and singing the "Hustle Dimension" song. "....eat it, come on. In your mouth...into the hustle dimension."

"That's weird," Branch said.

Clay groaned as John Dory passed the spoon to him. He tried to feed Branch but he kept turning his head, pressing his lips, making noises of refusal.

"Come on, just eat it," Clay said.

"Oh. No, thanks. I'm good."

"Here. All you have to do is open your mouth like this." Clay opened his mouth wide. "And you eat it."

"Thank you for that demonstration. Really cleared up exactly what I will not be doing," Branch said.

"Please, please, PLEEEEEAAAAAAASSSSSSEEEEEE........" Clay had a desperation look on his face.

Eating his pancakes, Floyd faced his brothers. "This is sooo déjà vu."

"You can say that again," Clay said, passing the spoon to Bruce.

"But really, can't you guys let Branch feed himself? Because you know...when he was a baby, he did want to do that," Floyd said. "Yes, we fed but eventually we let him try to feed himself."

"True, but not all the time," John Dory said.

"Oh, Baby Branch." Bruce got down to his level. "If you don't eat your breakfast, then I'm probably gonna have to put you in time out."

John Dory gasped, covering his mouth with one hand, looking from side to side. "Ooooooooooo......"

"Oh oh," Clay said.

Floyd, on the other hand, gave them the are-you-serious look. "Really? Time out? Is that really necessary?"

Bruce nodded and faced Branch, talking in a babyish way. "And you don't want to go there do you?"

Me? In time out? I don't want to go to time out. But I also don't want one of my brothers to feed me that.... Branch swallowed, gagging a bit. Cream of wheat. I mean, what if I spit it out if I don't like it? John, Clay, and Bruce are going to embarrass me. But if I don't eat, then they're going to put me in time out. Can you imagine me as a grown up in time out? Not me.

"Well, what are you going to do?" Bruce asked.

Branch looked at each of his brothers, at the cream of wheat, and back at his brothers. He let out a long sigh, slowly opening his mouth. Bruce smiled as he took a spoonful of cream of wheat, moving the baby spoon towards Branch, who blinked multiple times, started to sweat a bit, closing his eyes. He eventually ate the spoonful of cream of wheat, though it was still in his mouth.

"Yaaaaaaaay!!!" Bruce, Clay, and John Dory said together, clapping.

Branch's cheek puffed out as he still had the cream of wheat in his mouth not being so sure if he want to swallow it or spit it out.

"Good job, Bitty B," Bruce said.

"Come on, swallow it," John Dory said.

"You can do it," Clay said.

He thought the cream of wheat would taste watery but instead it was grainy but smooth in texture and it was sweet too with a cinnamon taste to it at the backend. When he swallow it, he let out a small smile.

"Oh. Oh, that's good," Branch said.

"Here comes some more." Bruce scooped another spoonful of cream of wheat.

Branch hesitated at first but then opened his mouth as Bruce spooned some more cream of wheat into his mouth. After a few moments, John Dory and Clay had their turn of feeding Branch. When they asked Floyd if he would like to feed Branch the last scoop of cream of wheat, he hesitated, saying that they could go ahead and do it, feeling uncomfortable with the idea. But soon, John Dory grabbed Floyd, pleaded for him to try and gave him the spoon.

"Oh, man. This feels so wrong," Floyd said.

Branch blinked at Floyd, who let out a nervous smile back at him, scooping the last amount of cream of wheat. The two of them couldn't stop blinking at each other. Then out of the blue, a sudden memory came to Branch....

~Flashback (20 years ago)~

Branch, who was two years old at the time, sat in his high chair seat, looking forward for Floyd to feed him the last bits of his oatmeal. He clapped his hands and smiled at Floyd who smiled at him back.

"Here comes the last bits of oatmeal. Open wide....aaaaaaahh...." Floyd moved the spoon around towards Baby Branch. "Here comes the waterslide. Whoooossssh..."

Baby Branch opened his mouth and ate the last bit of his oatmeal, humming in satisfaction. Floyd cheered and clapped for him, putting the bowl and baby spoon into the sink.

"All gone," Baby Branch said, clapping his hands.

"Yes, all gone. Good job on eating your oatmeal. High five," Floyd and Baby Branch gave each other a high five. "Ready to go and play?"

Baby Branch nodded. "Yes, Floyd."

Floyd got him off the high chair and held him in his arms. Baby Branch put his head on his shoulder, hugging him, making a humming noise of comfort. Floyd kissed Baby Branch on the forehead, rubbing his hair.

"I love you, Floyd," Baby Branch said.

Floyd started to tear up, sniffling and wiping the tears. "I love you too, Baby Branch. Always."

The two of them hugged each other, knowing that they got not only the rest of their brothers, but also each other for comfort, security, and most of all love.

~End of Flashback~

"I'm so sorry," Floyd said. "This feels soo wrong."

Floyd was about to give Branch the spoon, but he stopped him. Floyd's eyes widened.

"It's okay," Branch said, giving his 4th oldest brother a small smile and slowly opened his mouth. 

Floyd let out a small gasp as he started to tear up a bit. He sniffled and wiped his tears but he continued to cry.

"AWWWWWWWWWW!!!" Bruce, Clay, and John Dory said together.

While still crying, Floyd smiled at Branch. "Here...here....here comes the...."

"The waterslide," Branch said.

Floyd nodded as he moved the spoon towards Branch's mouth as he ate the last bits of the cream of wheat. It was finally all gone. Branch faced his 4th oldest brother, smiled at him, and put his arms out in front of him.

"I love you, Floyd," Branch said.

"I love you too, Branch," Floyd said, wiping his tears and hugging him.

"AWWWWWWWWWW!!!" Bruce, Clay, and John Dory said again as they all did a BroZone group hug.

"Alright, bros. We got a big day ahead of us," John Dory said.

"And it's going to be a lot of fun," Clay said.

"So, this means, it's time to get out of this booster chair," Bruce said, taking off Branch's bib.

Whoo! Finally! About time because my butt's getting a bit numb from sitting on that too-small booster seat for too long.

And for a moment, Branch had a feeling that maybe things would go back to normal. Just maybe Clay, Bruce, and John Dory would stop treating him like a baby. As Branch moved the chair, it made a loud "brrrr" noise, which caught his brothers' attention.

"Oop," Bruce said.

"Uh oh," Clay said, smirking.

"Oh! Baby Branch!" John Dory said.

"No. It's not me. That was the chair that made that noise," Branch said. Stupid, chair! Why did you make that noise?

"The chair? Ha, ha very funny," Clay said.

"I'm telling you it is. It's not me," Branch said.

"Did you do a poopie?" Bruce asked in a baby voice.

"Oh my...." Floyd hid his face in his hands, blushing.

"BRUCE!!!!!" Branch shouted. Oh my gosh, he has definitely been around his kids for TOO long! 

"Aw, Baby Branch had did poopies in his little diaper," Bruce spoke in a babyish voice.

"I DIDN'T DO A POO!" Branch shouted in an angry way, crossing his arms.

"Awww, it's okay if you did," John Dory said.

"I didn't. Honest. It's the chair!" Branch said.

Floyd stood and faced his brothers. "Aw, come on guys, really? You know good and well that it was the...."

"Dinner that he ate last night. It might've went right through him," Bruce said.

Floyd opened his mouth. "No, that's not what I—"

"Alright, let's go check your diaper," Bruce grabbed Branch, trying to check his diaper.

"NO, NO!!! IT WAS JUST THE CHAIR!! BRUCE, PUT ME DOWN NOW!!!" Branch wouldn't let him do this as he squirmed around, trying to get out of his brother's grip, but couldn't.

"You're such a squirmy one!" Bruce said.

Branch snarled. "DON'T YOU DARE!!!"

"Come on, I have to.....smell.....your diaper..."

"I SAID...NO!!!" Branch managed to get off Bruce's arms, falling to the ground. "Ow!"

"Uh oh, Bitty B fell down," John Dory said. "Waaaaa, waaaaaa—he's crying! Waaaaaaa!!"

"For real?" Branch said.

"Oh, John." Floyd faced John Dory. "Look, I love you John, but please don't do that out in public."

"Aww, come here, come here," Clay picked Branch up, rocking him. "Sshhhhh...it's okay, it's okay.................whoo, yeah, bro. He definitely needs changing."

"Are you freaking kidding me? I'm fine," Branch said. "I'M TELLING YOU GUYS IT'S THE CHAIR!!!!"

None of them listened as Clay passed Branch to Bruce, who held onto him, waving his left hand in the air, walking next to John Dory, who pretended to gag. The two of them snickered for a bit before they cleared their throats. Floyd gave Branch the "I'm sorry" look.

"I'm going to see what's on TV for Baby Branch to watch. Have fun changing him," John Dory said.

"Yeah. And me and Floyd are going to do the dishes. Come on, Floyd, let's do these dishes," Clay said in a singsong voice, pulling Floyd's arms.

"AAAHHH!!! Floyd said.

"Come on, let's go change you," Bruce said, carrying Branch to his Bunker Bedroom.

"NOoOoOoOoOo!!!!" Branch whined. "LET ME GO! LET ME GO!"

Bruce rocked him. "It's okay, it's okay, don't cry. Sprucey will change your poopie diaper."

Branch growled angrily.