Speed Dial

[Felix Nicholas]

Felix Nicholas was not often called by Ellen Banks. He did not even recall the time he had passed his contact details on to her... It had been such a long duration of time since. That, or she had taken his number from Erika's phone. Either way, since his arrival back home in Kalispell the newest addition to the Academy's staff team had been called increasingly frequently by the Banks... And solely it seemed, for one purpose.
It was not to attempt to get to know each other better, not for them to sit and discuss all that had occurred to either of them since Felix had last called the town home, or even recent world changing events... Ellen Banks had taken to using Felix as her baby sitting back up; Not that he minded. He adored his godson, and was frankly more then glad to be called upon as moral support. Ellen wasn't exactly... A natural Auntie. Felix was certain she had him on speed dial now, as soon as she discovered she was the selected baby sitter for the evening. 

Felix approached the large structure that was the Banks manor, his hands casually in the pockets of his trousers, a soft smile on his lips. He had driven there, but left his car back at the gate to the estate rather then risk disturbing the seemingly perfectly placed gravel of the driveway. The smile he held however soon fell as he looked up at the building, taking in the heavy sense of foreboding that seemed to ebb from it's very foundations. The house itself did not appear unusual, save from it's size, but more it's aura seemed distinctly cold... Unfeeling... Lacking warmth. One could almost call it the perfect place for Ellen Banks to call home. Felix's warm smile returned, and he bowed his head slightly, shaking his head before moving across the gravel of the driveway, taking care to walk gently, finally reaching the doorway. He could already hear him.
The teacher blinked in surprise at the shrill crying from beyond the door, the unmistakable cries of an upset Isaac. He quickly knocked on the door. "Ellen? Ellen, it's me!" He called out, before reaching over to the bell and pressing it, in case the fellow godparent couldn't catch his knocks over the poor thing's distress. "I came as quickly as I could!" A loud ring from the bell announced his arrival, loud enough to be heard; Felix folded his arms across his chest, his expression shifting to one of concern. He always found himself naturally worrying whenever Isaac was upset.

[Ellen Banks]

Dear God….

The crying, the never ending, the never yielding, skull shattering crying acting like a hammer and nail constantly bashing against her skull over and over and over again. Never stopping, You would think such a tiny baby wouldn’t have the lung capacity to hold a scream as long as this the new born Bellefonte did but clearly she was oh so wrong.

Was this Ellen’s punishment? Her punishment for all the awful things she’s done was taking care of this little gremlin and have him crush Ellen’s thoughts with his wailing? Was that it? Did they hate Ellen this much? To make Ellen God mother to endure this on a constant basis?

...and people wondered why Ellen hated children.

The child was forced on her to baby sit, Why was she picked Ellen had no earthly idea as she didn’t have the faintest interest in dealing with children nor any material instincts whatsoever but like a fool she did what she was told and despite how uncomfortable she is , the kid was asleep so Ellen thought she would have an easy time of it

Oh how wrong she was….

The VERY instant she stepped over the doorway to Banks Manor his eyes shot open and he started wailing and he hasn’t stopped since

“Yes, I get it. You’re sad. You’ve made that abundantly clear” Ellen snarled between clenched teeth trying to stop the baby squirming “In about fifteen years I’m going to make you regret this…” Ellen muttered mentally making a note to pay him back for this when he turned sixteen.

Relief washed over Ellen once she heard the door bell and she made a beeline for it, perfect. Now the brat can be someone else problem, someone who actually enjoyed doing this job, because Ellen certainly didn’t and Isaac didn’t seem to enjoy her company either

Ellen seemed to have that effect on people….

Ellen opened the door wide for her savoir, can’t quite believing she was going to Felix of all people that helped but the fellow god parents needed to stick together don’t they?

“Here” Ellen snapped practically attacking Felix the moment he stepped through the door carefully handing the baby off  “Feed it, change it. Sing to it, whatever you need to do just for god sake get it to stop crying and away from me. Far away!"

[Felix Nicholas]

Frankly, Ellen Banks seemed the last optional choice in Felix's view when it came to babysitting. She may be Isaac's godmother,
but the woman did not exactly come into a maternal instinct in his presence in any sense of the word. Perhaps Eri had partly done it out of some secret desire to see Ellen frazzled in a situation she would, with any choice, avoid like the plague? It was an amazing sight, actually, to see Ellen Banks attempting to soothe a child. Usually by begging it to be silent in an irritated voice, but it was a sight to behold none the less.

Felix leaned slightly towards one of the large windows which arched up and around the front door, trying to peer through the frosted glass in an attempt to see the status of the situation; although judging by the loud cries, it wasn't going in Ellen's favour. Felix raised a hand above his eyes, narrowing them just as he saw a shape moving hurriedly towards the front door. He blinked a moment before stepping back, just in time for the door to be flung open and a screeching child to be shoved into his arms. Felix flinched, being sensitive to shrill sound pitches, quickly adjusting his arms to better hold the young Bellefonte. "Hey, hey... There now, there's no need for all of this screaming," He spoke calmly, lightly jogging the boy up and down in his arms in an effort to stem his cries. He gave him a warm smile. He glanced over to Ellen, before leaning in closer to Isaac. "Between you and me, she is pretty scary... But she has a warm heart beating somewhere under all of those layers of ice, I promise you." Felix then gave a wide grin as the young boy's sobs began to slow to small sniffles mixed with the occasional hiccup, before the child leaned forward and clutched Felix's jacket.
"There now..." Felix spoke softly and with great warmth, before snapping his gaze to the CEO. "Hey, wait, this is your night, Miss.Banks! You can't just hand him over when he gets too much, you agreed to be his godmother-" Felix had taken a step closer to the inside of the main hall, over the threshold, and as if on cue Isaac once again burst into tears. The teacher blinked at the child in confusion, before taking a step back out again, resuming his gentle jogging in his arms; The young Bellefonte fell back into a state of semi calm, moving his hand to his mouth in order to chew on his finger.
Felix raised an eyebrow at Ellen. "... I don't think he likes your house," He glanced upwards at the almost over baring manor. "... Perhaps we should take this babysitting somewhere else?"

[Ellen Banks]

Felix wasn’t the only one confused by Erika’s choice of baby sitter, Ellen had made it perfectly clear that Ellen utterly despised children, hated them, like she instinctively disliked most people, All they did was scream, cry feed, vomit and smell. Honestly Ellen couldn’t see the appeal of them, they craved attention And constant love and affection

….None of those things were exactly Ellen’s specialty personally Ellen had no clue how to deal with a crying child nor how to deal with one in general yet here she was put in charge of their pride and joy. What on earth did they expect from Ellen of all people to be able to give him? What the hell did they see in Ellen that made them think it was a good idea for Ellen to be alone with any child.

...If there was a logical reason behind her baby sitting besides torment Ellen would love to hear it…

Ellen sighed to herself feeling the weight lift off other arms and the pressure relieving in her head her eyes closed momentarily and with her hands now free she messaged her temples trying for some relief from the migraine that was steadily growing in his head. “Oh thank goddess” she exhaled her body languages softening just a little as she started to relax, the silence of a baby might as well be the sounds of a heavenly choir. Ellen didn’t know what kind of sway or magical power Felix had over the baby but she didn’t care what he did to him as long as it shut the baby up it was fine by me. Ellen was about half way through shutting the door when Felix injected causing Ellen to raise her eyebrow in derision “Don’t assume you can tell me what I can or can not do because more often than not you’ll find that I can. Besides you seem to have things all under control. He likes you , just keep doing that an-”

Ellen winched a little once he started crying again, Ellen thanked the heavens above that her dad was away on business because he would not be as accommodating as Ellen was being. She bilked in surprised once she noticed how quickly the baby seemed to change mood.Ellen walked forward and leaned against the threshold “...And pray tell; What exactly wrong with my family home?”

….Ellen already kind of knew the answer.

[Felix Nicholas]

Ellen certainly had not changed one fraction over the years Felix had been away. She was still the same cynical, sharp tongued woman he'd always known. She did not exactly scream babysitter material, and Felix did wonder if perhaps the reason for Erika granting her the privilege was less to do with torture, although granted that was likely a part of it, and was instead some futile effort to try and get the hard edged Ellen Banks to express an emotional connection to something beyond an animal. Well, Eri couldn't say she hadn't tried.
As soon as the baby was out of her arms Ellen seemed intent on passing over the responsibility, already closing the door, before making it very obvious to the teacher that she was quite finished with her "duty" for today. Felix, however, had no intention of letting her get away with it that easily.
Felix adjusted the baby in his arms so that he could support Isaac with one arm, bringing his other to the baby's back and gently rubbing it in an effort to soothe him. He then glanced to the CEO, before slowly lifting his head to once again take in the cold, impressive house, before bringing his gaze back to Ellen. Did he... Really have to explain that? "... It just doesn't say... Warm and fun loving family home," He commented with a sheepish smile. "But every family is different! Isaac just isn't used to your... Style."
He looked back to the boy in his arms, whose adorable hiccups were muffled by the fact he was burying his face into Felix's jacket. The teacher smiled warmly, before quirking a brow at the young woman.
"You know, Eri's going to keep asking you to babysit, the more you act like you don't want to," He commented. "So here's my proposal... You come with me, we take Isaac out or make you home more... Kid friendly, and I'll show you the failsafes of babysitting. Perhaps Eri will then give you a break if she knows you're actually finding it easy." He gave her a smile followed by a playful wink. "Come on, what have you got to lose?"

Felix wasn't certain if his assumptions about Erika's reasons for giving Ellen the babysitting duty were accurate, but he was certain she had the full potential to become a decent babysitter... She just needed a good teacher.

[Ellen Banks]

Oh, Ellen had no doubt whatsoever in her mind that was some cruel and unusual punishment handed down by Erika and her darling husband. Some kind of cruel and terrible payback for the way Ellen acts. Urg. She didn’t know how….to treat children. Adults were easy. Adults she could handle and control several times over. But kids? They in lies a challenge. One that Ellen didn’t seem to be able to handle. Adults acted rationally, Ellen could predict their movements. Tie them up, do what she liked with them...but Children, since when did they do anything rationally? All they did was scream and yell and drool and just generally be annoying.

Ellen simply couldn’t abide that…

So, no Ellen wasn’t the mothering type….

Ellen seemed taken back for a moment by Felix’s Frank assessment of her family's home as if not quite believing she actually took the time to say that about her family home, The nerve! The gail! He dares step into the hallowed halls of Banks Manor and insult it? Well, it might not have been the slum that Felix no doubt grew up in, but it was still a damn shade better than any other apartment. Maybe only second to the Bellefonte manor itself. “I was raised here and I turned out perfectly fine I’ll have you know…” She said her eyes boring a hole through Felix’s head.

But then she began to consider Felix’s words, her eyes flickering for a moment in contemplative manner before moving aside “Take your shoes off. Don’t touch anything. If you break anything in my house, my father will break you”

That wasn’t an exaggeration...

[Felix Nicholas]

When Felix presented the two options, he was frankly expecting the CEO to take the first option. She however surprised him by stepping aside, and in her usual cold, almost emotionless manner, welcoming him into her home. Banks Manor... Felix had lived in Kalispell for years at a time, and had known Ellen Banks for the majority of that period... And yet this was the first, and most likely last he was certain if she had her way, that he would grace it's halls; He wasn't sure when Eri or Drew were coming to collect Isaac, but the teacher felt like he had a long few hours ahead of him.
"Oh don't get me wrong, you are a delight Miss.Banks," He replied quickly, his smile sheepish as he slowly pulled Isaac from where he'd attempted to hide his face in his jacket, meeting the young boy eye to eye. "Hey, Isaac. It's you and me in this together, buddy," He glanced towards Ellen, and the long, for boarding hallway beyond the front door's threshold; He didn't blame the kid for wanting to cry. "... It's not that scary. You're a big brave guy, right?" He cast the child a wide, goofy smile, which after a moment of chewing on the end of his thumb Isaac mimicked, drooling a little as he did so.
"That's my main man." Felix spoke in a commending manner. "You're a Bellefonte Conner through and through." He gave a nod of his head before taking the single footstep needed to enter the building Ellen Banks called home.
The teacher kicked off his shoes in the hallway before he suffered the CEO's wrath, giving her a smile before snapping his gaze to the young Bellefonte as he began to loudly hiccup, clutching Felix's jacket tightly as he threatened once again to burst into tears.
"No, no, no..." Felix mumbled, looking over to Ellen with a concerned expression. "Did Eri bring his things? Toys?"

It was going to take a lot to make Banks Manor child friendly, but Felix had enough practise making cooperate places welcoming... He'd had to babysit his younger siblings on a number of occasions while his parents were working on the family business, and while he was no expert, he was fairly confident that he was able to teach Ellen at least enough to fool Eri into thinking Ellen was enjoying the godmother duty... Well, for about five minutes.

[Ellen Banks]

Keeping things here in the Banks family manner, was more of a comfort thing more then anything else if she was lead out, she would be on the back foot, unsure, swimming in uncharted waters, but this? This was her house. This is where she lived and she was at her most comfortable. She could take on the world here, never to be taken off the backfoot in Banks Manor.

Why go somewhere else when you can get home field advantage?

Ellen ignored the cries of the child quite frankly she was used to it after an hour on it and Felix seemed to be handling it well so Ellen just marched ahead her shoes clattering against the cool pristine marble floor walking down those old familiar impossibly long hallways that makes the house seem like a maze more than anything else “Don’t stray behind, odds are you’ll get lost and you may have noticed the many ornaments and art pieces all along the walls. Do not touch anything, I assure you if you break anything in this house you’d be working it off for the rest of your natural born life” Ellen shot out in a tone of voice as if she was talking about the weather. Eventually Ellen managed to make her way to the lavish and impossible fancy living room

“Oh I think I do it’s in the corner over there….”