The next morning a cluster of baby carriages had formed next to the bike park. Apparently, everyone else had also realised that carrying the doll around would be annoying and difficult. Someone had brought a doll trolley instead of a baby carriage and Sarah was sure their back was killing them.

Mercedes announced to everyone within an earshot that her parents had bought a new carriage just for this project. It was bright pink and matched the coat she had on. Sarah rolled her eyes while pushing her own carriage next to the others. She picked up Tim and when she turned around, she noticed Castiel standing close to her.

“You brought a carriage too,” he said sounding amused.

“Yes, since it’s easier than carrying this doll around city,” she said. “I think you’ll appreciate it on your care shift today.”

“What? Really? I thought you were joking yesterday.”

“Well, I’ve been bonding with him enough already. And I think the definition of ‘pair work’ is that two people work together, so enjoy your father-son time.”

Castiel sighed. Out of all the stupid things the teachers could have come up with, this was without a doubt the worst. “Fine. When am I supposed to take it then?”

“After school. Unless you want to start already.”

“Sorry. Can’t do.”

“And why not?”

“I just can’t. I have to take Ares for a walk.”

“Ares?”

“My dog.”

“And how exactly is taking your dog for a walk a problem?”

“Well, you see, Ares is not a dog you suddenly pair up with a baby carriage and expect it to go without problems. And, I’m not going to walk around the city with that,” he said and nodded towards the carriage.

Sarah sighed. How childish could a person be if walking around with a doll was so difficult? Was his ego so frail that he worried of it breaking over some baby care? But if Castiel thought she’d take care of the doll more just because he was too embarrassed to do it, he was wrong. Surely, she had had that exact thought just the night before but now she was annoyed, and she’d make Castiel participate no matter what.

“How unfortunate. But I’m not going to let you wiggle your way out of this. You’re going to do your part whether you liked it or not. And I assuming you must walk Ares every day, so slipping away this time won’t solve the problem.”

“Can’t you just bring it an hour or two later?”

“No, unless you’re gonna bring him to my door which, I’d guess, you wouldn’t want to do.” Sarah had thought it’d be easiest if they switched the doll at school. She assumed Castiel wouldn’t want to deal with her outside of school. It’d be a smudge on his tough guy image he seemed to carefully protect. She also didn’t want mum to see Castiel because she’d surely make scene. And it would just be way more convenient this way but of course there had to be a problem with it.

“Tsch, I’ll think about it,” Castiel said and walked away. He joined Leon, who just arrived carrying a doll dressed in pink, and they went inside. Sarah sighed. Why couldn’t this be easy?

“Oh, how you think you’re so special,” said a sour voice next to her. Sarah turned her head and saw Mercedes with her friends. She hadn’t even noticed them coming.

“Excuse me?” What was Mercedes going on about this time?

“Don’t think too highly of yourself just because you happen to be paired with Castiel. He’s doing it because he has no other choice.”

“Yes, and?” She was aware of this and didn’t need anyone repeating it to her.

“Castiel would never be interested in a little mouse like you. So, don’t get your hopes up,” Mercedes smirked, and her friends nodded. Sarah resisted the urge to roll her eyes.

“You know, you sound like you’re trying to convince yourself more than me,” Sarah said. She wasn’t interested in listening to Mercedes run her mouth.

Mercedes gasped. “Watch it, little girl,” she hissed and marched off. Sarah heard the trio muttering and picked up words like “brat”, “ridiculous” and “ugly”. Why did she suddenly have to deal with all these difficult people? She didn’t have the energy to do it this early in the morning.

The hallway was bustling with students when Sarah finally came inside. Many students were holding their dolls, and when the school bell rang to announce the beginning of the school day, the whole hallway echoed with the sound of screaming babies. Everyone looked shocked and helpless with their baby dolls, trying their best to shut them up. Castiel watched Sarah, who carefully and calmly shushed their doll and whispered to him. Tim was the first to stop crying. Some dolls still cried when their teacher walked in and the students’ stress levels were close to max before school had even properly started.

“Silence, please,” Mrs Johnson said as she closed the door. It was easier said than done since Jamie’s doll kept crying despite him trying his best to calm it down. Finally, Amanda decided to help and together they managed to quiet it down. Jamie flashed a grateful smile to his friend.

“Thank you, Amanda,” Mrs Johnson said as well. “I’ve been informed about your project and while I’m not too thrilled of the idea of screaming dolls in my lectures, there’s not much I can do about it. But I do ask you to put your dolls in that corner for the duration of the lesson. If you need to do something to them during the class, please do it outside.”

After everyone had put their babies in the corner, Mrs Johnson started her lesson about Tolstoy’s War and Peace. To everyone’s joy they didn’t have to read the book, but it didn’t mean the lectures wouldn’t be boring. Sarah tried her best to focus and write down notes, but she wasn’t interested. She didn’t like books that could easily knock a person unconscious.

The day passed rather normally. Other lessons also had baby corners where they could leave their dolls. During the lunch break the principal announced that bells wouldn’t ring anymore to save everyone’s ears from crying baby dolls. It was a great relief for everyone.

Sarah had tried her best to talk with Castiel all day to ask him about the care shifts, but he managed to avoid her every time. Every time she had approached, Castiel had slipped away somewhere. After the first few attempts of trying to catch him, she gave up. She was sure that Castiel wanted her to chase him and she wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of doing it. So, she waited and tried again. Finally, after the last class Sarah caught him. Castiel was talking with Leon and he didn’t have time to run away. Leon smiled to Sarah when she walked up to them and then joined Amanda and Lucy’s company as they came down the stairs. Castiel turned to look at Sarah.

“So little puppy finally caught up,” he said. “I was thinking that you gave up and went home. Apparently not.”

“Excuse me? A little puppy?” Sarah was shocked.

“You were running around like a lost puppy today,” Castiel smirked and tussled Sarah’s hair. She slapped his hand away.

“I am not a puppy,” she grumbled and moved strands hair from her face. “And any running around is thanks to you.” Castiel had no rights to give him any nicknames. “Have you decided to take responsibility as Tim’s second parent already?” she asked. “I’m gonna help you a bit. The answer is yes.”

“I already told you I have to take Ares for a walk,” Castiel said.

Sarah opened her mouth to protest but Castiel waved his hand to silence her.

“Listen before you complain. Since I must deal with you and that…baby for long enough I thought we might as well try to get Ares used to the carriage first. So, if you want this project to go smoothly, join me and Ares for the walk.”

“I…Okay.” Sarah was stunned. She hadn’t expected that Castiel would suggest taking a walk together. And for some reason the way Castiel had said his words, trying to sound serious but then asking her for a walk, was funny; asking something so casual with a perfect poker face. She didn’t want to laugh because she was sure Castiel would think she made fun of him so she was trying to hold back a smile. It was amusing but Sarah also appreciated Castiel slightly more. He had suggested a way to handle the project on his own and that made Sarah happy. At least he was ready to work with her and wasn’t just going to leave it all for Sarah to take care of.

“When are we going?”

“Now,” Castiel replied and put on his leather jacket.

Sarah followed Castiel outside and went to get her carriage. It was nice to finally be able to put Tim down. Carrying him around was tiring. They walked past Mercedes and her pink carriage, and she shot an icy look towards Sarah before turning towards her friends again.

“….she thinks she’s special because she’s paired with Castiel.”

“Unbelievable. She doesn’t even have friends.”

“Who’d even want to be her friend? She never talks and when she does you can’t trust what she says. Remember when she told her mum was an artist when she actually worked a janitor.”

“And his dad left them. He was probably so embarrassed that he couldn’t deal with them anymore.”

A mocking laugh followed the words and the group looked again at Sarah who had frozen on the spot. She bit the inside of her lip and squeezing the handle of the carriage so hard her knuckles were white.

“Are you coming or not?” Castiel’s voice woke Sarah. He had stopped a few metres away and looked at her with a raised eyebrow. Sarah forced her feet to move and quickly caught up.

As they walked, Sarah glanced at Castiel. He didn’t say anything but surely, he had heard. Mercedes hadn’t been subtle or quiet about her mockery. Sarah stayed quiet too. The more she thought about Mercedes’s words, the closer she was to crying. She knew she shouldn’t care but those words had hit hard even though they weren’t quite true. Her mum was an artist. She drew comics but also used to work as a cleaner to earn some extra money. She didn’t even do it anymore, hadn’t done it in years. And to Sarah she had always been an artist, but other people had been eager to get caught on the cleaner part. Mercedes had been correct about not having friends. It was hard to talk to people. She didn’t want to bother people by going to talk with them, so she usually minded her own business and hoped someone would come to talk with her instead. But it never happened. Everyone thought she didn’t want their company and stayed away.

“Don’t care about what those Barbies say,” Castiel said suddenly after almost fifteen minutes of silence.

“I won’t,” Sarah replied and fell back to silence.

The silence lasted until they arrived at Castiel’s house.

“You wait here while I go get Ares. I won’t be long,” Castiel said. He opened the door and immediately a big dog started barking, and Sarah became uneasy.

Soon a muscular, black and brown dog came outside with Castiel. Sarah tensed when Ares came closer. She raised her hands when the dog tried to sniff them. Her heart beat faster when Ares’s snout touched her legs and she backed off a few steps.

“Are you scared of dogs?” Castiel asked and pulled Ares away and shortened the leash.

“N-no,” Sarah lied. “I was just surprised at how big he is.”

“Normal size for a Rottweiler,” Castiel said and headed to the street. Sarah followed behind, trying to stay a safe distance away from Ares.

The walk went similarly to the walk to Castiel’s house, quietly. Tim also stayed quiet which Sarah was happy about. He hadn’t complained about hunger yet, which meant he’d most likely do it soon. From time to time Ares tried to sniff the carriage but Castiel made sure he’d stay a distance away from the carriage and Sarah. Sarah thought to herself that Ares walked nicely next to the carriage. Why did Castiel need her?

When she didn’t glance nervously at the dog, Sarah looked around and she noticed a lot of familiar places which surprised her. They crossed a street that went past her home street.

“Oh, you live pretty close to me,” she blurted out and blushed a bit. Why did she say that? Castiel didn’t need to know. He probably didn’t care.

“Where do you live then?” he asked.

“Well, maybe few hundred metres that way,” Sarah said and waved her hand to the left. “If you walk down that street, you get to my home street.”

“Ah.”

Then they were silent again. Castiel didn’t seem interested in having a conversation and Sarah didn’t mind the silence either but she couldn’t help but feel a bit awkward. She couldn’t forget Mercedes’s words. Castiel had said to ignore them but what did he think about them? Because words always had an effect. Did he ignore them as mockery, or did he believe them?

“Let’s go there,” Castiel said and Sarah flinched awake from her thoughts. She followed Castiel through park gates.

The park was small and quiet with large grassy areas, few trees, benches and sandy paths. They were only people there and Castiel let Ares off the leash. The dog ran happily to sniff trees and bushes. Sarah sat down on a bench.

Ares came back soon carrying a stick and showed it off proudly. For a moment him and Castiel fought for it but quickly the dog let go. Castiel threw the stick as far away as he could, and Ares chased after it. Sarah smiled and watched the dog run around. He enjoyed himself. And that seemed to apply to Castiel as well. He also had a smile on his face which was almost weird. Castiel rarely smiled at school; it only happened when he talked with Leon. But a smile suited him. It made him look more approachable and less angry. Sarah turned her eyes away so Castiel wouldn’t catch her staring.

While in her thoughts, Sarah kept rocking the carriage gently which would usually help a baby to fall asleep. Tim stared at her with half open eyes. The silence was getting heavy. Ares ran around the park and Sarah didn’t know what to say to start a conversation.

Luckily Tim started crying. Sarah almost jumped up from the bench thankful for the opportunity to do something. She picked the diaper bag from the bottom section of the carriage and took the feeding bottle out. It had been hours since Tim had drunk water, so the reason for his bawling was easy to guess.

“What are you doing?” Castiel asked.

“He’s ‘hungry’ so I’m giving him a drink.” Sarah put the bottle in the dolls mouth and crying stopped immediately.

“It gets hungry? And it cries because of it?”

“Yes. Did you not pay any attention to any of the dolls in class today? He’ll also cry because of wet diaper and sometimes just for fun.”

“Wet…diaper?” Castiel sounded like it was the grossest thing in the entire world.

“Yes. All this water has to come out somehow,” Sarah said. “But don’t worry. It’s just water.” She took the bottle from the doll and put it away. “You usually need to feed it every around four hours, but it varies a bit. It might also cry during the night. It didn’t last night but I think there’s a chance.”

“They’ve really put some effort in these toys,” Castiel said and reached to take the stick Ares had brought him again.

“I was pretty surprised myself,” Sarah admitted.

Ares dropped the stick and Castiel offered it to Sarah. “Do you want to throw?” Sarah shook her head. Castiel shrugged and threw the stick and Ares ran after it again.

Sarah put Tim back in the baby carriage and continued to rock it. It just came naturally without her having to think about it. Then two older ladies walked past them and stared at them openly the whole time. Sarah stopped the rocking.

“How irresponsible the kids are these days. Having a baby when still so young. Unbelievable. They’re still children themselves,” one lady said to the other without bothering to keep her voice down. Sarah lowered her eyes on the ground even though there was nothing to be ashamed off. Tim was a doll, not a real baby. She’d never think about having a child at this age. And possibly not in any other age either but she wasn’t sure about it yet.

“That’s what happens when they think they’re adults. Accidents happen when you don’t know how to be responsible,” the other lady sighed.

“Tsch, stupid old hags,” Castiel snorted and then whistled sharply. “Ares!” he called and soon the dog came, still carrying the stick. The old ladies took a few side steps when Ares ran past them but he didn’t pay any attention to the women.

“Let’s go home,” he said to the dog and put him back to the leash. Sarah stood up as well.

They didn’t utter a word on the way back to Castiel’s house. When Castiel went to open the door, Sarah parked the carriage next to the doorstep.

“Well, good luck with this. I’ll take him tomorrow. Everything you need is in that bag. He does cry but usually calms down quickly when you figure out what’s wrong. Usually it’s hunger or wet diaper. Remember to write down on the diary as well,” Sarah instructed and took a few steps to leave.

“Hey, wait,” Castiel said and Sarah stopped. What now? “Give me your number. Just in case.”

“Oh. S-sure.”

Sarah took Castiel’s phone and saved her number. Her fingers trembled and she had to focus so she wouldn’t type her number wrong. The suggestion had left her flustered and Sarah worried it’d show on her face. She quickly handed the phone back and muttered a “see you tomorrow” before hurrying off.

Castiel watched her go and then picked up the doll from the carriage. Feeding and changing diaper to a doll was stupid. Some people had too much time in their hands if they came up with this stuff.