Spirit of Christmas Finale: Drummer Baby

Chapter 1
Finale: Drummer Baby

Chapter Description: This will be picked up where the Epilogue: Visions of Sugarplums left off.

Rodney went for the nearest box to him and sat it down in front of him. All boxes were wrapped up in the decorative candy cane wrapping paper, even the bags matched the same. Lori seemed to love this type of them.

Tearing through the big box he had picked out, Rodney was excited to see what Lori gotten him. He felt the rush and adrenaline of Christmas all over gain come back to him. Then once he finally revealed the full package, Rodney was in shock.

The front of the box showed a picture of young mother and her infant. The mother was smiling at the young babe, who was playing them with his toys. The elephant, monkey, zebra, and giraffe toys were hanging along the edge of a hood, attached to the bottom of his carriage. Rodney recognized it immediately as infants pram.

”Ummm Lori, I think I opened up Lari’s gift by mistake.” He lightly chuckled and looked back to see Lori placing the sleeping infant Lari in a playpen next to the couch. Lori made a shushing sound to Rodney to keep his voice down as to not wake the slumbering babe.

”Oh my mistake Roddy. Why not try another one and I’ll open one too.” Lori gave him a soft smile and took a small package for herself. Rodney decided to go for the smaller bag underneath the tree.

Going through the tissue paper, Rodney had hoped that it would have been a great toy that he could ride or even play pretend with a toy car.

It was indeed a toy car. However, it was red plushie fire truck, with huge eyes on its front mirror and an even bigger smile below that. Rodney was a little disappointed, but at least it was better than a pram. 

“Thanks Lori, I really like it—ummm what are those?” 

Lori went through her present quickly and was already folding it up. She held four small onesies in her lap. A blue one with stripes and a teddy bear on the front. A red one with polka dots and a lion on it. A yellow and plaid onesie with a bunny eating a carrot. She held up the last onesie, green with a smiling baby on the front, to show Rodney.

“Aren’t these just the cutest Roddy? I can’t wait to see how cute these look on the baby.” Lori beamed with excitement as Rodney have a smirk. 

He wanted to get to the real toys now, not all this baby stuff. In a quick flurry he pulled out a rectangular box and began ripping through it.

”Oh come on this is ridiculous!” Rodney shouted and threw the box to the side. A picture on the front revealed a play mat for infants. The baby displayed looked so content and happy. 

“What’s the matter Roddy?” Lori asked as she picked up the play mat box and set it to the side of the couch. She stood up and went to comfort Rodney, rubbing his back to calm him down. 

Rodney sat down in a huff and crossed his arms, not caring how immature it mad him look at the moment.  

“I feel like I keep getting all the baby stuff. Lori can you sort through it and get the baby stuff unwrapped please?”

”Awww but don’t you wanna see what else is there?” 

Rodney shook his head. He didn’t need to be disappointed again after all that. Lori would awe over anything, even if it wasn’t meant for her.

”Okay, just sit right here and watch the magic happen.” Rodney sat right beside Lori, enjoying the display before him. With few flicks of her wrists, white dusk appeared from her hands. The dusk was like pair of scissors cutting through all the wrapping paper. Gift after gift was unwrapped and stacked neatly to the side. All of them were baby toys and supplies.

A white changing table with blue shelves to stock up diapers, wipes, powder, lotion, and oil. Next was a crib with a soft baby blue design on its sheets, scattered with baby Looney Toons. A yellow diaper bag with a squishy duck on it. Matching the diaper bags design was a changing mat, a high chair, a baby bouncer, and a diaper genie. There was a small bag filled with pacifiers of almost every color. Boxes of baby lotion, oil, wipes, and powder were next. Finally, there were boxes of Luvs, Pampers, and Huggies diapers, all of them size 1 for infants in the six to eight month category.

Rodney was frustrated and upset to see there was only one gift left after the montage of baby items. Taking it from the tree, he rattled it around and it made a familiar noise. It reminded him of music when he heard bands play at concerts.

Ripping through the paper once more, Rodney a small drum set, however it seemed fit for babies as well with its cartoonish design of zoo animals on the side. Rodney pushed a red button on the side and began to  ‘Little Drummer Boy’ with glowing lights and playfully tunes. 

Despite it not being the toy he wanted, it brought a little smile to Rodneys face. It brought back memories of when his mother used to play the song on repeat. It was her favorite and naturally became his favorite as well. 

“Well how do you like it Roddy? Is it a good one?” Lori hugged him from behind. Rodney felt her towering over him. Her bosom on top of his head, warming him softly, making him blush with thoughts of wanting to be held again. Held by his mother just like when he was younger.

Lori could sense the trouble within Rodney. Maybe this would be her chance to act and give Rodney a better life. For him and herself.

”Rodney I have to be honest with you. I don’t plan on raising Lari, she’s still my sister after all. I’ll be sending to a close Oni family I know .” 

Rodney turned to Lori and looked confused at her statement. 

“Oh well maybe it’s for the best. So I guess they’ll be taking all this stuff with them then?”

Lori chuckled and laughed at Rodneys innocent and confused face. Then she grabbed his hand, grabbed the magic ring next to him, and slid it on its finger. It began glowing with a shining gold light.

“No Roddy, all of this stuff is for you!”

”What?! What do you mean for me?! But I…I thought you..” Rodney jumped back in a panic. He thought he could trust Lori, but she was tricking him almost like Lari.

”Rodney it’s okay honey. I wanna give you a better life. That ring gives you more than just the ability to choose a younger age to be. It also lets you use real magic. But magic like that has a price.”

Rodney stopped in his tracks and looked at the shining ring. It made him feel strangely calm and somehow knew magic was flowing into him. A warmth filled his body and when he looked at Lori’s smiling face, he knew he could trust her, at least more than Lari.

”What do you mean by that?” Rodney sat down in front of Lori, legs crossed.

”You can learn actually magic like me. However, you’ll basically have to start over from the beginning almost. You’ll be that way for a while since you will be raised as an Oni, and we age a lot slower than humans. But just think of it, you’ll be able to learn all sorts of things.”

Rodney was concerned about all the things he would be losing. His adulthood that he finally achieved, his chances for a girlfriend, the possibilities of getting a well paid job, and even his family would all just disappear. However, as he stared into Lori’s smiling face, the ring somehow let him know that she meant him no real harm. That everything she was saying has merit and she could be trusted. He just had to be sure.

”So I’ll be safe with you and Lari won’t try to get me?”

”I will make sure of it. She will learn from scratch too and I’ll make sure the family she’s with is strict with her. So, Roddy what do you say?” 

Lori wanted to tell Rodney that saying no to her offer meant that this would be the last time he would see her or any of her kind. Oni had to remain secret at all cost. But she didn’t want to burden him with such a hard decision.

With a heavy heart and sigh, Rodney threw himself at Lori. At first she was surprised, but took this as a solid confirmation.

”Just relax now, Roddy. I’ll tell you what a day in your new life would be like.”

Almost immediately, the ring began to glow brighter and illuminated Rodney briefly. All the while, Lori held him close while his regression commenced.

”You will get used to sleeping in your cradle or your crib. You’ll be safe and protected from the big, scary world. I’ll wake you up with all the cuddles and kisses you could ask for. You will probably still be a little fussy when I have to change you in the morning. But you’ll love it when I get to make you all clean with a nice bath. You can probably even fit in the sink if I wanted to.”

Rodney could feel the calming magic wash over him as Lori spoke. He now sat at eight years old and continued to shrink out of his clothes.

”Your taste buds won’t be the same anymore as you’ll start to love practically everything I feed you. One thing you’ll never tire of is my breast milk. I’ll probably be feeding you at least three or four times a day. This way you’ll magic can start growing bit by bit over time. Also, I love the bond that it helps create between a baby and his Mommy.”

Rodneys memories were being replaced and emptied. Instead of panicking, he just relaxed further into Lori as he became four years old. His clothes now completely off of him.

”I would love to take you to the park and let you see how beautiful it is and look at all the pretty birds. You’ll probably be asleep did most of our walks. But when you’re awake, I’ll be teaching you everything and you’ll just soak it up like a sponge.”

Rodney was losing is understanding of what Lori was saying. His thoughts of her as friend became easily replaced as he shrunk to the age of two.

”Lor is Mommy? Mommy is Lori…Mommy take care of me….I am….Mommy’s baby.”

Lori cooed at the babe forming in her arms as he began to suck his thumb. She opens one of the many packages and pops a white pacifier for Rodney to suck on.

”I can’t wait to by you even more cute outfits for you to try. You’ll be the talk of the town, baby boy. Mommy’s cute little boy, my special little one.”

Flick her wrist a few times, Lori enchanted the room and began to swirl with gold shimmering lights. The gifts were now being accrued away on a current of magic and taken to the spare room and being turned into Rodneys very own nursery. 

After a few more minutes, Lori walks into the next nursery, impressed with her handiwork. Everything was neatly out together and in place for her new bundle of joy in her arms.

Rodney was now eight months old and babbles behind his pacifier as his Mommy lays him down on his new changing table. She hands him a yellow rattle and shakes it for him until he starts doing it own his own. 

As Lori begins wiping down and oiling her baby, she can steadily feel herself grow closer to him. He moves ever so slightly in response to her touch when she powders him. A nice dry diaper for Rodney makes him safe from accidents. Lori then brings a Huggies diaper from the tables many shelves, unfolds it, and slides it underneath the babies bottom. Gently tapped in, little Roddy kicks his little legs in excitement, not knowing why he feels the way he does, but he knows that his Mommy made him feel better. She was the only thing that mattered.

Lori then whisked over the yellow onesie with a smiling baby on its front and easily got Roddy in with little effort. He had become the center of all her attention and love just by being himself. Lori smiled taking Roddy in her arms again as she made her way over to rocking chair in the corner. She repositioned Roddy in her lap, unwrapped her breasts from her robe, and inched his head closer to his morning feed. 

“Okay honey, let’s get you a little bit of breakfast and then a little nap. There’s Mommy’s good baby, latch on just like that, little one. That’s a good baby, you fill your tummy with all that yummy milk.”

Roddy could feel himself getting sleepy with each gulp of milk. The last sights his little eyes could see was his Mommy’s smiling face. He closed his eyes to her singing a familiar tune he would never forget. Lori hummed her song, as her little drummer boy rest peacefully in her arms, for many Christmas’ to come.