Vacation shopping

[queen_cordette]

Who: Lilah, Cordelia and Wesley (w. Max)
When: After Wes spontaneously booked a cruise
Where: First at Wes' home then the mall
What: Clothes and supply shopping for a vacation
Status: Incomplete

Comments

[queen_cordette]

"No, cause you're not funny," Cordelia mumbled as she rolled her eyes, "never were." Gah! What she wouldn't give to just smack that smug self-assured totally-no-place-to-be-there serene *smile* off Lilah's face. It really had no place to be there just like Lilah had no place to be knocking on their door, let alone soiling their drive! Who did this bitch think she was?

"Give you more credit? Why?" Cordelia snorted. "Sure it's easy for you, you do it every day. Lie-lah," the former cheerleader continued as Lilah blathered on. Seriously. The woman needed to just shut up and go away. Fast. What was she doing here anyway? Cause going shopping with Wesley was like the lamest excuse she'd ever heard. And not funny, did she mention the not funny part? Cause joking about shopping was never funny to Cordelia.

"Yeah, okay, blah blah blah, when you're done amusing your--" Which was when Lilah did the very unlady like thing of shouting through the house. "Don't you shout through my house!" Cordelia yelled back. Of course Lilah wasn't a lady in Cordy's eyes so the calling for Wes shouldn't come as such a surprise. "Man, you're desperate. It's sad you know..."

Hold it! Stop the presses! Hold all horses! Wait just one *friggen* moment! What did that liar just say? Swimming trunks? For Max? Why the fuck would the kid need swimming trunks in the winter? And if anything, *she*, Cordelia Chase, was gonna buy Max some new trunks in the spring! When the new spring collection was out. She'd be able to buy one that wouldn't have to fit diapers in it! She'd been looking forward to that! Okay, it was shopping, always something to look forward to.

"Why the fuck would you wanna buy Max swimming *anything* in the middle of winter. If you wanna buy Wes' whatever it is you want from him, you gotta come up with a better idea. Max doesn't need trunks. Now remove those fingers from *my* door before I do it for you."

Ohhh, Wesley had some explaining to do! Unless he didn't know anything about this. Shit, she'd been assuming again hadn't she? Shit, shit, that was exactly where it'd gone wrong the last time! But if Wes did know about this? He has some explaining to do! Never mind that it was his life and his son and that he was an adult. Those were ruled that didn't stick with Cordelia Chase in this case.

[vicious_bmantle]

"Actually, I don't lie very often," Lilah pointed out. Oh, she could see that she was getting under Cordelia's skin. This was too precious. Why did Cordelia feel the need to tear her down so quickly and angrily? There were such better ways to tear a person down. Like she was doing right now, for example. It infuriates people all the more when you stay calm, cool, and collected about things like this.

"I'm not the one coming off desperate right now," Lilah pointed out to Cordelia with one perfectly plucked eyebrow raised at her. "You are the one coming off as desperate with the swearing at me and such." She had thought that Cordelia was trained in proper manners. Then again, that's what you get for assuming anything about 'new money' like the Chases had been while they still had it. People who had money for generations knew how to do things like file taxes, after all.

"Oh, you didn't know?" Lilah looked very faux-surprised. "Wesley is going on a cruise with Max soon." The quote unquote 'shit eating' grin on her face basically showed that Lilah Morgan would also be accompanying him as well on this cruise. Well, she hoped that Cordelia would be smart enough to read between the lines. Then again, that once again might be giving her too much credit.

"Since he doesn't have any, and stores are already trying to do sales for spring, I wanted to take them out so that they can be properly attired for this vacation," Lilah explained as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. Really, did she not know about this? "Did Wes not tell you?"

[queen_cordette]

"You're a liar... sorry, lawyer, its your job," Cordelia snorted. Didn't lie very often. Uh huh. And pigs could fly. Not the sort Wes mentioned, those stupid little demons that did fly and looked like pigs. Didn't matter anyway! This was getting out of hand. Lilah should have been gone by now and yet, here she was, still here, pissing off the former May Queen.

"Oh shut up," Cordelia came back lamely. Man, that whole business with Wesley got her out of her game. She wanted things with Wesley to be okay again. She wanted her and Gunn and Angel and Wes be that one big family she though they were again. It was crumbling around her and Cordelia had no way of stopping it. Cause those friggen guys were to stubborn to say they were sorry and do the hugging making-up thing! Okay, maybe not the hugging but still...

So yeah, she was perhaps a little desperate. She also knew how to behave like a real Lady. Her parents had spend thousands of dollars to teach her etiquettes and all that shit. She'd been a débutante, she'd been to numerous fancy dinners, heck she had *hosted* fancy parties at an early age. Point was, Lilah didn't deserve that sort of treatment. And hang around those boys of hers long enough, especially Gunn, and you know that manners got you nowhere.

All thoughts of manners went out the window with the next bit of smug news the damn nuisance in the form of Lilah brought. Cordelia prided herself on the fact that her mouth didn't drop open and her face barely showed any signs of the hurt she felt. Cause no, Wesley hadn't told her anything. When did he think he was gonna tell her? As he rushed to the airport? And if she understood correctly, and that hurt even more, Lilah was going with him?

It wasn't that she begrudged her friend a vacation. Heck, he'd never gone on one as far as she knew so she was all for it. Good for Max too. But why did he have to be so sneaky about it? Not telling her? Had he told anyone else? And most of all, did he have to take *her*? It-- it just hurt. Which was probably karma if Cordelia believed in that stuff. Probably how Wes had felt when they'd came storming into his office all accusations and such.

"No, no he didn't," she said sweetly, prying Lilah's fingers from the door, "but he's a grown man, he can do what he wants right?" she smiled broadly and totally fake before trying to slam the door in Lilah's face - hard thing to do with that heavy oak and so not happening - while already turning around and bellowing up the stairs in a *very* unladylike way...

"*Wes-ley*! Get your ass down here right *now*, buster!"

[vicious_bmantle]

“Then obviously you know nothing about what it is to be a lawyer if you think that all we do is lie,” Lilah pointed out to her. She was just having way too much fun with this right now. Cordelia was getting mad in so many ways, and, well, to be blunt, the bitch deserved it. That’s what she got for forgetting her place in life now. While she once might have been something, little miss rich girl, now she was just another peon in life. Might as well adjust and get used to it.

While Cordelia had tried to hide the hurt, and she did a good job with most of it, Lilah was an expert at reading faces. It was a part of her job, after all, and she was damn good at her job. She could see that it hurt the girl to know that her ‘friend’ had made plans and, not only didn’t tell her, but didn’t include her in them, either. Apparently, she had been way out of the loop on this. Lilah absently wondered if Wes was going to tell her at all, or just leave a note the day him and Max left.

Well, he’d HAVE to tell her now. That hadn’t really been Lilah’s intent when she came over here, but, well, no use in keeping secrets now, was there?

Lilah let the girl pry her fingers off of the door, simply sitting back and waiting to watch the carnage that would go on in the form of Cordelia Chase.

“Yes, I see that you believe that whole heartedly,” Lilah said, wincing ever so slightly at the screech that bellowed from Cordelia’s mouth. Really, was THAT necessary?

[watcher_pryce]

By now, of course, Wesley had long since heard the commotion. In fact he had been cursing under his breath when he heard Lilah's car pull up. Typical! Women, they were always too late when getting ready. Doing their hair and their make-up and their clothes and-- But of course it *would* figure that just when he thought he had some time left, the woman would not only be on time, but slightly early.

So much for the plan to meet her down the drive way. Oh he was going to tell Cordelia and the others about the cruise he was going to take. And though it was none of their business whom he was going with, he wasn't going to volunteer nor lie about it. He'd been planning to tell them when Angel and Gunn came over, again, to sit around awkwardly, again, while everyone failed to apologize, again. Even Katie and Max had noticed something was terribly wrong between the friends.

Perhaps removing himself from the scene was something which would benefit them all. Yes, yes perfect, that's how he could bring it. First though, he should give getting out the door without bloodshed to go shopping a good old college try.

Picking up Max, dressed for the cold weather, Wesley slowly made his way down the stairs. The door still stood open, Cordelia failing to slam the heavy oak thing shut. Calmly he made his way over to his coat, putting Max down to hold onto his father's leg. "What is all screeching about, Cordelia," he sighed, raising a by now well familiar eyebrow at her.

Cordelia swallowed a growl and raised an eyebrow back. Angel and Wesley weren't the only ones who could hold entire conversations without words. Cordelia and Wesley could as well, though it mostly involved bickering in their case. "The bimbo there," she started, pointing at the door, "is here to take you shopping." Hands that were on her hips now moved to cross her arms. "For a cruise?"

Wesley winced at the accusation in the woman's voice. He zipped up his coat and reached down to pick up Max. "I'd appreciate it if you don't refer to her in such a way, Cordelia. And, not that it's any of your business, I am going on a cruise, well..." he cleared his throat, "we are."

The moment he looked over at his friend was the moment he regretted bringing the news that way. The hurt was clearly readable on her face. Dear lord, had he really sank so low that he'd try to get satisfaction in such petty ways? "I just-- thought that..."

He paused as Cordelia gave him 'the hand'. "Shut up," she said resolutely. The woman was obviously looking for words, but while she usually had no problem at all when it came to verbal sparring matches, words now failed. "Whatever!" she actually hissed, "you do whatever the hell you want, Wesley. It's not like *we* care is it?" By now the foot tapping had been added to the mix.

"Of course you do," Wesley sighed, pushing his glasses up to pinch the bridge of his nose. "Look," he started, moving toward the door and opening it wider. He gave Lilah a small smile before turning back to Cordelia. "Can we talk about this later? When you've cooled down." Oh and wasn't *that* the wrong thing to say? He really ought to know better by now.

[vicious_bmantle]

When Wes finally made it down the stairs, Lilah decided to keep quiet during the exchange. She had no real interest in making Wes angry at her (or possibly more angry, if she wanted to be honest), so she felt no need to interject, even when Cordelia called her a bimbo. She had been called much worse, after all, and Wes did defend her, so no real need to say anything.

She was slightly worried that he might be mad at her for causing a fuss, but, well, Cordelia had certainly started it by continuously accusing her of lying as to why she had been over here. She had half a mind to point out that, if she hadn’t of handed the prophecy over to Wes, they never would have known what had hit them when Max was taken away. She had only done it for Wes and Max’s sake, though. If it had been one of them being kidnapped (Angel, Cordelia, etc.), she wouldn’t have handed over a damn thing, more than likely.

Especially not with the lovely way Cordelia had treated her today. Frankly, Wes should be proud of how she handled herself. Other than shouting through the house (and that was done mostly to irritate Cordelia, not out of anger) for Wes, she had stayed calm the entire time. It had been Cordelia who had constantly lost her cool about, well, everything that she didn’t understand or know about, which was so much more than she would ever realize.

When Wes asked if he and Cordelia could talk about things when she cooled down, Lilah actually arched an eyebrow and took a step back. Oh, she knew when something was about to go flying at Wes’s head, and, well, she’d rather not be hit by a knock off Prada shoe. It might give her a rash.

[watcher_pryce]

"Cooled down?" Cordelia said in that overly calm but icy tone of voice. The one that made Gunn, Angel, Wesley and sometimes even Lorne scoot several feet away from the woman in question. Fast. In fact, they'd often find other things to do. Demon hunting, weapons cleaning, research and then ran away from the room fast. Once Cordelia Chase used *that* tone of voice? Head were going to roll and it was only a matter of time before that was literally.

Since he wasn't Lorne, Wesley thus automatically scooted toward the door. He felt both guilty and blessed at the same time that he had picked up Max. Not that he would *ever* use the boy as a shield, but now that he was holding his son in his arms... Cordelia wouldn't do anything, now would she? No, she would never hurt Max, but the seer was clever enough to work around that. After all, she'd been cunning in getting her revenge on the culprit of her wrath.

The woman in question had dangerously narrowed her eyes, hands had landed on her hips again as she took on a stance that could only be described as threatening. Wesley swallowed, but stood his ground. This, this he could handle. The hurt he'd seen briefly flash in his friends eyes moments before was a whole other thing. Oh yes, this his could handle.

"I don't know when if we'll be back before dinner, we might grab something to eat in town. I've my phone with me in case of a death emergency, bye!" And out the door he all but ran. Just because he was able to handle it didn't mean he wanted to! Cordelia was frightening when she got like that! Even Gunn and Angel made themselves scares very quickly then.

Closing the door behind him, the tirade Cordelia was spluttering out bouncing off it, he sighed as he walked down the drive way. "You enjoyed that didn't you," he said, not a question but an observation. He knew Lilah as well as he knew Cordelia. She had to have been enjoying that, specifically being the one to tell the seer that he was going on vacation and hint that *she* was coming along.

"Right well, I suggest we take my car. It has a seat for Max," Wesley suggested, hoisting the fussing boy on his hip. "And the buggy is in the back. Max," he continued in the same breath, giving the boy a stern look. "What are you fussing about?"

Large blue eyes looked at Wesley as Max pointed down. "Walkies!" The boy sulked. Oh. Right. Now that Max was learning to walk, he couldn't seem to stop trying. Well, it was going to be a long, long, *long* afternoon.

[vicious_bmantle]

The tone of voice that Cordelia took would be scary, if it wasn't one that Lilah had perfected in a way that Cordelia couldn't imagine, at least in Lilah's own mind. She wasn't sure why they were all so afraid of Cordelia when she looked ready to blow (and quite literally ready, she looked a little bloated today). Really, she sort of just winded herself out if you ignored her. The only reason Lilah stepped back was to avoid a possible shoe flinging incident.

Luckily, that was not the case. Wes came out and all but slammed the door in Cordelia's face, causing Lilah to smirk slightly as he came out and to his car. "Cordelia won't key my car while we're gone, will she?" Lilah asked him. While he may have faith that Cordelia has grown up from her vindictive teenage years, Lilah had no such illusions. She still basically saw Cordelia as a petulant teenager and probably always will. So, she treated her as such.

"I might have enjoyed that a little," Lilah admitted. "I do like to get in one good sparring match a day." Once again, Lilah rarely saw the need to lie. Everyone expected her to lie. However, when the truth is used correctly, it can do far more damage than any lie can dream of, or get far more accomplished. Any good lawyer knew that. Hell, even Lindsey McDonald knew that.

"Come on, Wes," Lilah said, smiling at Max. "Let the boy walk a little bit. He looks like he's dying to do so." Even if he was the spawn of Fred, Max was also the child of Wes, and, to her, he looked far more like Wes than Fred. Maybe that was why she had a soft spot for Max. He reminded her of a far more innocent Wes. Although, Wes was the really one soft spot she had. She was just expanding it to include Max as well.

[watcher_pryce]

Pausing at that question, Wesley stopped and looked at Lilah. He didn't like the look on her face at all, but it wasn't unexpected. Added the fact that Lilah had enjoyed that and not just a little Wesley suspected, he gave her an automatic disproving frown. By now Wesley was one of the few who could read Lilah somewhat. He himself, not just from being British but as a need of surviving his childhood, had learned to hide his emotions *very* well. He did, however, see that slight flicker of smugness on the lawyers face.

"I did not enjoy that, Lilah, not one bit. And I would urge you to refrain from sparring matches with my friends," former or not, "while I am within hearing range." Asking her to never do it again would be as impossible as asking Cordelia to do the same. "I know you seem to think very little of Cordelia but she is still my friend, despite everything. She was the *only* one who gave me the light day and treated me like a human being when I was nothing but mere dirt under the others shoes. She and I have gone through a *lot* together, so I'd urge you to keep that in mind next time."

Were someone to ask him, at this point in time, to choose between his friends and Lilah... Lilah wouldn't like the outcome. Though she would not be surprised. The problem was, however, knowing that Lilah would sell him out if that were for the benefit of number one, she herself. Right now, the trust between him and his friends was severely shaken, making it much harder to know where he stood. At least with Lilah he knew what he was getting himself into.

"If I let him walk now, we'll never get to the mall," Wesley spoke with the voice of experience. "He can walk at the mall, behind his buggy." Hopefully though, Wesley thought as he put the boy in the seat in the back of his car, Max would have forgotten about his wanting to walk. Considering the boy's obsession with it? Doubtful though. To keep Max from sinking into a sulk, Wesley quickly handed him Feigenbaum, making certain to clip the toy to the seat so he wouldn't loose it again.

The task was taking less and less time, and soon the boy wouldn't even need a car seat. Time most certainly did fly very fast when you didn't want it to. When you did, it of course crawled by. Wesley kissed Max' forehead before closing the door and jogging to the drivers side of the car to get in. Lilah had already taken place in the passenger seat, not waiting for Wesley to open the door for her. That might have taken some time at any rate and it was bloody cold out.

"Right then, you're in charge of this trip, seeing as you felt it necessary to equip both myself and Max with vacation wear and things... So where to, My Lady?" Wesley asked as he started the car.

[vicious_bmantle]

She wasn't surprised when, once again, he defended his friend. Did he ever learn that maybe, just maybe, they werent' worth half of what he did and went through for them? He probably didn't trust her, but she was a lawyer who technically still worked for the other side. She didn't expect a whole lot of trust. But, when your friends show you again and again that they don't seem to trust your ability to take care of yourself? Maybe you need to reevaluate your friendships. Just her opinion on that.

Did Wesley really expect her to *not* enjoy sparring with Cordelia, especially when the woman had come to the door oh so hostile? Then he obviously didn’t know her about as half as he thought he did. Maybe, if Cordelia had been half way civil, things might have went a little bit better. Lilah can actually fake being civil pretty damn well. She was a lawyer, after all. She could work with any client, if necessary.

“Then I suggest you start teaching Cordelia how to answer a door without pissing off the visitor if you would like me to not fight as much with her.” Let’s face facts: her and Cordelia were never going to get along very well. They both felt very strongly about their opinions, and those opinions, especially when they concerned a particular man that she was about to go shopping with right now, were very different. Of course, they were two people whom would never back down from said opinions. “She was ready to slam the door in my face as soon as she opened it, yelled at me, and seemed ready to kill me. I may not have been as nice as I could have been, but she certainly wasn’t, either.”

On to more pleasant topics, like shopping, and Max in general. “If you insist,” she said about not letting Max walk for now. Max was his child, after all. He certainly knew how quickly the boy could walk, which, by the size of his legs, probably wasn’t that fast at all.

She smiled at him when he called her ‘his lady.’ She described the children’s store to him that they could get some things for Max. Some swimming trunks, some warm weather clothing, and such. Hopefully, she would be able to talk Wes into going to get some clothing for him as well. Sweaters wouldn’t work on a cruise at all.

[watcher_pryce]

Women. They *always* needed to get the last word in. Wesley let out a long suffering sigh and decided not to get involved anymore. He'd made his opinion loud and clear to Lilah and he would do the same to Cordelia once he got home. Really, the whole 'but she started it' and god only knew what Cordelia would come up with... To Wesley they were both behaving childish. Max had better manners and that was saying something, considering his age.

Lilah and Cordelia would never, ever get along. Lilah had, after all, tried to gauge Cordelia's eyes out and attempted to kill her several times. In retaliation, Cordelia had killed Lilah, never mind that she wasn't in possession of her body then. These two were obviously deadly when together and for one another. Wesley was going to make more of an effort to ensure no bloodshed, or heaven forbid, death was going to exist in the near future.

Following the directions Lilah had given him, Wesley drove to the shopping center where they had this childrens store. To be honest, Cordelia did most of the clothes shopping since Wesley always came home with the wrong thing. Or with more clothes then Max had time to grow out off, since he couldn't seem to say no to 'but he looks so cute/handsome/adorable' in these!' Angel was right, the watcher had no sales resistance at all.

Luckily the drive over wasn't that long, Max attempting to sing as they drove made him smile. He hadn't taught the boy that and Wesley had yet to ask his friends who had. Once they were talking again he was going to. Indeed. The car was parked close by, apparently it wasn't a busy day for shopping today. Though, to Wesley it was always to crowded.

"Can you get Max out of his seat?" he asked Lilah as he got out of the car, "I'll get the buggy. Make sure his shoes are on and on tightly. He'll probably want to walk again." And with that he jogged to the back of the car to get the buggy out.

[vicious_bmantle]

Lilah heard the sigh, but said no more about it. Really, she was tired of talking about the subject as well. It felt pointless by this time. He was always going to defend Cordelia, no matter how many times the woman stomped all over him. She knew that there was nothing that she could do to change that, unfortunately. Might as well forget her and try to enjoy the trip.

Lilah didn't shop for children, but she loved to shop for herself. Sadly, it was kind of something to fill the void left open by most people who would surround themselves by friends and family, but she had really nice stuff. It didn't quite fill the void, but it was a start. Besides, it wasn't like there was anyone around that was volunteering to help her out with that.

And shopping for a child couldn't be that hard, could it? You find something that fit and looked good on them and purchased it. She had the distinct feeling that Wes hardly ever did the shopping for Max normally. Cordelia probably jumped at the chance to do any sort of shopping, even if it wasn't for herself. Hardly surprising.

"Sure," she said to Wes as she got out of the car. While he got the stroller, she walked to the door that Max was behind, opened it up, and started to unsnap the wiggling toddler, who seemed intent upon getting out before she had the chance to unsnap all of the seat belts. Really, did they need that many to keep him in?

Apparently so, because, as soon as she released him from the last one, he all but flew into her arms, ready to be out of the evil thing.

[watcher_pryce]

By now Wesley was a pro when it came to all things 'small children'. And there was something he had *never* considered. Being born into a Watcher family he'd been expected to become the 'worlds greatest watcher'. Obviously he had failed that goal and his father never let him forget it. But having grown up that way meant that Wesley had expected to die young and possibly painful though hopefully heroic. God, how naive he'd been back then.

At any rate... Getting married and having a wife never fitted into the plan. And children weren't even part of the equitation. Having children had never even entered his mind. Not even when he'd been with Fred for a while before she fell into a coma. It wasn't until she was in her coma that they found out she was pregnant. She had never been able to enjoy her pregnancy the way women did. But Wesley hadn't been either. And suddenly he found himself with a son and a girlfriend whom he never got to ask to marry because she died shortly after awaking from her coma.

Things were never normal in Wesley Wyndam-Pryce's life, but hopefully a simple trip to the shopping centre would. What could go wrong with buying-- and he had better not finish that thought.

At any rate, he'd become a professional. Changing a diaper, getting his son dressed, bathed, fed, and unfolding a stroller were all par for the course the last few years now. Wesley had the buggy set up in no time at all, but one look at his son's eager face and trampling feet told him that the boy wasn't going to sit in it right away. Oh well, they did have plenty of time, Wesley was in *no* hurry to return home.

"Alright little one," Wesley smiled at his son and took him from Lilah's arms. "How about we spare Lady Lilah's arms and you practise your walking."

"Walkies!" Max chirped enthusiastically as Wesley set him down behind the buggy. Two small hands wrapped around the lower handle-bars and before either Wesley or Lilah knew it the small boy set off on his journey with unpractised and wobbly steps but a lot of loud shrieks of joy.

"Ready?" Wesley asked, locking the car as he took place behind his son and then held out his arm automatically for Lilah. With his long legs (or hers for that matter) he had problem at all to keep up and steer the boy. "Just tell us where to go and we'll see if we can steer him that way." And Wesley had to smile - something only his son was capable of making him do the past few years it seemed - at the boy's obvious fun.

[vicious_bmantle]

Max seemed more than happy to be allowed to walk around, practically leaping out of her arms so that he could be set down to walk on his still wobbly legs. It was really quite cute to watch, and the smile on her face showed how much she thought of it. She didn’t even realize that she was smiling at him. Besides, like Wes, she had thought that she would never have children. Still didn’t, to be honest. Besides, she’d have to be dating someone for that to happen, and, well, that wasn’t going to be happening any time soon, now was it?

“He really is adorable, Wes,” Lilah said before she really even realized it. Really, in the back of her brain, the bitter part of her thought that she shouldn’t like the kid. He was the child of Fred, after all, whom had annoyed Lilah to no end when she was alive. When she died, Lilah simply felt ‘good riddance’ to her, even though it destroyed Wes inside once again. The woman had been in a coma for a while. You would have thought that he would have gotten used to not having her around.

Of course, the more rational parts of her brain (most of her brain, for your information), knew that she mostly saw Wes in the boy, and he really was just too cute to dislike. Were all children actually cute? Had she just not given them a chance because she felt that she could never have any? Maybe, or maybe it was just max. She wasn’t sure on that one yet. She’d have to see more kids to really know, and she had no clue when that was going to happen.

“Yes, I’m ready,” she said to him, starting to lead him out of the parking lot and into the stores. She knew which store she wanted to hit for Max. It was a fairly upscale clothing store for children, and, if Wes protested that he couldn’t afford it, well, she’d pay for it. It wasn’t like she didn’t have far too much money for one person, anyway. She also had a store in mind for Wes if he’d allow her to drag him there.

[watcher_pryce]

"Yes, he is isn't he?" Wesley agreed, very much the proud father. Of course he thought the adorableness was inherited from Fred since the Wyndam-Pryce family hadn't a cute or adorable bone in their body. Wesley least of all. Max, however, seemed to have inherited double the cuteness his gene were able to find.

Wesley brushed his hand affectionately over the boys head and once again marvelled at how *small* everything Max still was. At least it wasn't as small anymore as it was when the boy was born. Wesley had been afraid he'd break the infant just by holding him he seemed so fragile. Of course Wesley himself had been very small and thin as a child. He hadn't reached his grow spurt until he was about 16. Before then people often though he was far younger then his actual age, which had been quite the nuisance at times.

Automatically patting Lilah's hand as soon as she linked arms with him the pair followed Max toward the shops. Luckily the little one was marching toward the centre or Wesley was certain some gentle steering was required already. At least his son seemed in a good mood. It had been a clever idea indeed of him to put the boy to bed right after breakfast until it was time to leave. This way he'd grow tired a little less sooner and thus not so whiny so soon either.

The closer they got to the store, the more Wesley had to steer his son into the right direction. "Left, Max," Wesley said, as if a boy h is age actually knew what left was. But one couldn't start learning young enough, Wesley thought as he tapped the boy's left shoulder. The moment he thrust his young son some ancient tomb into his chubby hands and demanded he read it, now, this instance? That would be the time he'd ask anyone to shoot him dead.

He would do *anything* to prevent becoming his father when it came to raising his son.

A giggling Max followed Lilah's leads with a little steering from his father and soon they found themselves in front of the shop Lilah wanted to enter. A frown creased Wesley's brow. "You have to pay a hundred dollars just to pas the threshold," he grumbled, wondering if he should pick up Max. Children's clothes store or not, it looked like the expensive place where small hands could easily break things.

Instead of doing that he decided to walk directly behind his son as he grabbed hold of the handles of the stroller. This way he effectively boxed the boy in between himself and the buggy without preventing Max from walking. "This looks very... haute couture," Wesley mumbled.

"Lelo!" Max shrieked enthusiastically, pointing with Feigenbaum.

"Yellow, sweetheart," Wesley corrected him gently. "Very bright yellow even. Good lord."

"Lellow!" Max insisted.