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A difficult decision

By all rights he should have left him there with those crazy little kids. If he'd been sane he'd have told them to keep the Bony little infant and pawn him off on someone else. As it was he had Morgan and then Skylar by proxy; the two young Nu mou boys were by no means anywhere near being independent yet. To bring another child into the home meant dividing his attention even further and that of course would make it a juggling act especially with an infant needing far more care than a regular baby.

He could only hope the twins would forgive him, for the moment they seemed intrigued by the reaper child but if that was last was something only time would reveal. It didn't help at all that his younger brother Caleb was being pissy about it, okay so he hadn't warned him ahead of time and okay he did plan on also using the kid in his work but still.. It wasn't like this was the worst thing he'd ever done.

It also wasn't as though he was just going to use the boy.. Nate as a tool. yes he would be raised in a certain way and yes he could be exposed to things many children were not but Phillip would still be careful with him. The boy was still like Morgan, his son; that would always comes first, the family aspect. He would take care of Nate, teach him more than just about ghosts and he would make sure the child never lacked for anything he could give him. It was the best any parent could really offer in his opinion. Anything beyond that was just hopes and dreams that would lead to stress if they couldn't be fulfilled.

Of course justifying the thing wasn't the issue, what Phillip was struggling with was why he'd chosen to bring Nate home. From the sounds of things those weird kids knew how to get guardians for them , it didn't need to be him right? The medium hadn't felt any weird magic going on around him either so that wasn't it. Couldn't have been looks becuase well.. Nate was never going to charm the ladies and even as baby he lacked the cute most had. In the end Phillip supposed it was fate that had made him accept the offer of guardianship. Fate that landed him with an unexpected child who now lay mere feet away from his bed in Morgan's old crib.

Fate had a lot of explaining to do eventually.

“I have no idea how you managed to get that messy with apple sauce when it looked like you ate all of it.” Phillip shook her head as he stripped Nate so he could begin bathing the infant for her bath. Not only were there grass and dirt strains on the boy's normally stark white body but Nate had, in a feat that amazed his father, also managed to get apple sauce underneath his clothes and yet very little on them. Normally a simple light rub down with a damp soft cloth on the sticky or dirty areas of the boy's bones would be all that was needed to get him clean from his usual messes. Phillip was hesitant to clean him too often or harshly given he had no real idea how sensitive Nate's form was to things like tap water and even baby safe chemical cleaners. Today however going to require a full bath treatment, the only upside to this was that Nate was infinitely easier to bath than his brother's had been. The small boy had no fear of water at all and seemed to delight in splashing around when given the chance.

In relatively a short amount of time the medium had broken out the baby safe body wash as well as the teal coloured baby bath thing he’d bought not long after Nate had come into his life. It allowed the man to sit on the floor and bath his son instead of kneeling uncomfortably by a tub or trying to manage in kitchen sink. There was the always present small risk of water on the floor from splashing but it wasn’t too bad and Phillip had towels on hand to sop out an spilled water so it didn't cause mold to grow in the carpet. Once Nate got bigger though and outgrew the little plastic tub they'd have to use the real one in the bathroom, Phillip hoped that by that time Nate was actually big and independent enough to bath himself. it would be less awkward and more comfortable for everyone involved.

“That’s a triceratops.” The dark eyed brunet explained a minute later as he drew a soft beige coloured cloth over his son's back. Nate was playing with a purple sponge bath-toy shaped like a dinosaur. It was something soft and simple to keep him amused while Phillip got her clean, it was new to the infrequent bath routine and Phillip hoped it would be something Nate played with in a simply manner. A manner which did not result in water everywhere if possible.

“Yea.” The infant's voice was filled with delight as he dunked the toy into the shallow bath water. The sponge went from a light kool-aid kind of purple to a dark sort of eggplant shade, then it changed back again as the boy lifted it up by the middle and squished the water out creating a small waterfall. “Squishy!” The skeleton like child was clearly pleased with this new discovery. Nate soaked and drained the sponge toy repeatedly over the course of the bath while Phillip laughed softly glad he'd picked out a toy that was so well received.

Soon enough Nate was clean enough for his bony body to gleam and Phillip wrapped him in a fluffy blanket to pat the boy dry. "Try to stay clean for at least the rest of the night hmm," he teased. As the boy giggled Phillip smiled down at him and redressed the tot in a specially made pajama like outfit, now that he was clean it was time for a nap, perhaps for both of them.