starlightcafe | You can count on me for a helping hand.

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You can count on me for a helping hand.

From the moment the baby had born, Frizzle had become Gobo's pride and joy, and it really seemed that the feeling spread through all of the others, not just Mokey. And while Gobo appreciated everyone's love for their son, and all the help they offered, he couldn't help notice there was a bit less help when Frizzle woke up before dawn, screaming and crying.

He didn't blame them, honestly, but it would have been nice... Ah, well.

He and Mokey were quite tired after a particularly bad string of nights, and Gobo had insisted Mokey get some sleep now that the day had really begun. He'd take care of Frizzle, while the others were still catching up on their own sleep at the Manor. It wasn't even leadership duties... It was what a father did.

He was rocking Frizzle in his arms, hoping he could catch up on sleep as well, when he heard a knock on the door. Were the others back already- Maybe just Boober? Boober might knock, Wembley and Red never did.

"Come in!"

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"Oh, uh," he seemed a bit sheepish, smiling like he got caught taking the last radish. "When she first met me, I was speaking Fragglish. We all do, down at the Rock. Lexi couldn't understand me at all 'til we had a little heart-to-heart kinda moment, then even though I was still speaking Fragglish, she knew what I was saying. From there, she's been teaching me English, and sometimes Gobo would help me practice."

Mokey was beaming, now, and she nodded eagerly when Gobo finished speaking. "Oh, how exciting it must be to get to learn a new language! And that you and Lexi could touch on another's hearts, just like my Gobo did with Doc!"

He chuckled a bit and nodded. "Yeah, it was certainly somethin' else. And that's pretty much what happened! I had a moment like that with Doc too, and that's pretty much how that felt with Lexi."

"Oh, good, you know Doc, too!" Mokey chirped, and Frizzle seemed to pick up on her good mood, giggling a bit. "Well, I'm glad you found Lexi, and that she's helping you adjust. If you ever need anything else, you can always come to us, hmm?"

"I know, and I really appreciate it. I've been by a few times-" And only THEN does he realize he shouldn't have been so specific. "-uh, once or twice. It's been good, coming here, seeing different things that I haven't been used to."

Mokey giggled along with Frizzle as Gobo got flustered. "Oh, it's alright, Gobo! I'm sure it's been very good for you... And for my Gobo, too. You must remind him of a time when things were- simpler."

He watched her a moment, then smiled some.

"I think he does, yeah. He asks me a lot about the adventures I got up to when I stayed at the Rock, while he didn't. And we talk about the 'old times' pretty frequently too. I think..." He paused, unsure how to put it. "...I think he likes having someone who really knows. Not that- you and the others don't, a'course. But me and him- our thoughts aren't the same but, they kinda are. Does that make sense...?"

When Frizzle shifted a little with a yawn he glanced down at the baby, then held his arms out. Can... can he hold him?

Mokey smiled sweetly as she listened, not at all offended, though there was a twinge of some negative feeling. A sort of aching for the past, for those simpler times. She wouldn't trade her life now for the world, and yet... It was hard to really think that that earlier part of their lives was past and over.

But she kept smiling, even as she carefully shifted Frizzle into Gobo's arms, then adjusted his hold so it was just right.

"It does make sense. I'm so glad he has you, Gobo."

He took the baby carefully, adjusting his hold with Mokey's instructions. Wow. No just... Wow. This was incredible. He was so warm, and there was a scent about him that was so like other Fraggles but so new, too. Sweet and sentimental, in ways he couldn't quite describe. Hold on Mokey, he's going to need a moment before he can reply.

Mokey kept smiling. She understood the awe... In fact, he looked so much like her Gobo had when he'd first held Frizzle after the delivery. She wanted him to treasure this moment, and she was treasuring the memory it brought back, so Mokey was more than happy to sit back quietly and watch.

He gently brushed his fingers through Frizzle's hair, watching as the baby settled into his arms. Oh, that felt nice, in its own way...

Then a tear splashed down, running off the end of his snout. Sucking in a breath, he carefully shifted Frizzle to cradle in one arm so he could pick up the other, using his sleeve to wipe at his eyes and stop any others going down.

"I'm- I'm alright- I just didn't expect- everything when I held him for the first time." He was trying to smile, but the rest of his expression looked so... troubled. There had to be more to it than that.

...Oh, dear. Mokey watched him with careful concern as he excused his tears, then got up and stood at his side. One hand helped to support Frizzle, while the other rested on top of Gobo's head.

"I know we've just met, really, but... I still know you, Gobo. What's wrong?"

There was a small whine in his throat, the closed gates around crying that wanted to be louder than that. Sniffling, he wiped his eyes again down the length of his sleeve, then put both arms around Frizzle again, who he noted was watching him curiously now. Why was Dad-But-Not crying?

"I'm alright. Really I am. It just... kinda hit me all at once that I couldn't..." He paused to try and get ahold of his tears, coughing gently in his throat. "Y-you wouldn't know, but I'm not- like the Gobo you know, I'm a Mariggle, and Lexi is like that too..."

The softest laugh, part genuine part stress, as he looked down at the baby in his arms, lightly touching his face. "It's silly. Having a baby isn't the end result of anything, 'specially not for Fraggles... But holdin' Frizzle, it kinda sunk in who he is, and..."

And despite trying to stop them, more tears made their way down his snout, silently plinking down on the back of his hand and his arm as he rested it on the infant's stomach.

"Oh, Gobo..." She slid her hand down from his head to rest between his shoulders, where she gave a little pat. While it was true that for Fraggles, that for anyone, having a child wasn't always the endgame. She knew that, but she also knew Gobo - her Gobo - had found such happiness and purpose in being a father.

She pressed a motherly kiss to the top of Gobo's head. "If it's sad for you, it's not silly at all. And I understand, I do." She kept her snout against his head for a long moment, just wanting to offer some comfort for a while.

When Mokey finally stood up straight, she looked at him with the tiniest hint of a smile. "You know, you and Lexi could still be parents," she pointed out.

He was quiet, hiccuping softly as he stared down at Frizzle. The contact from Mokey felt nice, it felt familiar, and he found comfort in it.

Then she said that, and he blinked and glanced up at her. "Really? How?"

"There are things I learned about when this little one was on his way," she said, and as she referenced Frizzle she reached down to stroke the tip of his snout, her smile warming. "It's... A little confusing to me, still, but a Frallion could donate what's needed to Lexi. Or to you, if you'd like. And you don't do anything with them, of course, you get a doctor to help." She paused a moment as a thought came to her. "I know doctors are a strange thing for us, but Lexi might not mind. I'm sure she had to visit one when she was a Silly Creature."

Because if the Lexi she knew was planning to use her Fraggle form to move to Fraggle Home, surely a Lexi who was romantically involved with a Fraggle had already made that transition.

He listened, a bit of wonder in his face, so often there when he was visiting the other Gobo. Seemed Mokey would cause that, too.

"I didn't know doctors could do stuff like that." He looked down at Frizzle, smiling as he cupped a finger up inside one of the baby's hands. When he grabbed on, Gobo's smile warmed.

"I'll be sure to give that idea to Lexi. Thanks, Mokey..."

"Oh, you're very welcome," Mokey assured him, watching that finger-grab and beaming. "And I hadn't known, either, but what I'm starting to find out is that- Well, it's all just magic, you know?"

"It is. I think everything that's happened to me up until this exact moment," he smiled at Frizzle, watching the little baby settle against him for more sleep, "has been magic..."

Mokey nodded, but watched him quietly, mostly so he could enjoy the moment - and the promise the knowledge she'd shared brought... But also because she was taking him in very carefully, without even realizing it. He didn't seem much, if it all, younger than her Gobo. And yet, he was so fresh-faced, and - aside from what had happened a moment ago - everything seemed lighter for him. Easier.

It was an interesting mix of feelings, to be so proud of how far Gobo - all of them, herself included - had come, while also feeling a strong pang of nostalgia for back then.

She might discuss it with Gobo, or Red, later. For now, she wanted this Gobo to keep enjoying the feeling of a hope so real one could almost reach out and grab it.

"I think you'd be a very loving, very good father. And I think you'd enjoy every moment of raising your child. Have you and Lexi ever discussed any of this?"

"Not really, no." Wow, he could stare at Frizzle all day, and he felt a swell of emotion in his chest at the thought of it, mixed with the thought of him as a parent. This wasn't his kid, and yet... And yet, he felt like he'd lay down his life if Frizzle needed it.

"She's mentioned a pet once or twice, and I know that's not nearly the same thing a'course, but that's about as much as we've talked about future stuff with us. We just take it as it comes."

Mokey nodded, in her sage sort of way, then leaned in to put her hands on Gobo's shoulders.

"I think you should talk to her. Not everyone... Looks at Frizzle the way you do, Gobo. Oh, the others here do, of course, and everyone else has been so loving. But you- You need to be a father."

He blinked, looking up at her.

"I do?"

She moved her hands from his shoulders, and looked at him solemnly. "You do. You love Frizzle. I can see that plainly. I don't know how often you've been with him-" a little twinkle of teasing mischief in her eyes, there "-but it doesn't matter. Gobo - my Gobo - he has so much love to give... But you might have even more. Perhaps just... In a different way."

He caught that look and laughed softly in a lightly sheepish way at it. But the rest... It made him glow, in a really nostalgic way. Mokey was Mokey, wasn't she? No matter what universe she was in or what sort of relationship she had with a Gobo, any Gobo.

Mokey was Mokey.

"Yeah... Yeah, I guess so." A lightly confused head tilt. "But what do you mean, 'more, in a different way'?"

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