Character: Jazz
Age: 24

Jazz awoke to the crying of a baby instead of his usual alarm clock beeping loudly to pull his body back into consciousness. Glancing at the time, Jazz was surprised to discover that the obnoxious wake-up call does not even begin for at least another half an hour; his usual wake up is 6 AM... courtesy of being in the military, although that was actually considered sleeping in and usually was around the time reveille was played on a Sunday. Sitting up, the golden Alaskan malamute lay his face in his paws as he groaned a bit; a child waking up this early was extremely rare, and the last occurrence was well over five months ago. Stretching a bit, Jazz pulled the blankets off himself as he slung his flannel pant-covered legs over the side of the bed, allowing his footpaws to come in contact with the soft carpet underneath. The soft sensation under his paws was enough persuasion to get him to stand up.

All the while, the baby's cries intensified, and Jazz whimpered, hoping his other babies would not be awakened from it. Although being the father of six children, he knew them like the back of his palm and knew the difference of each of their cries. This time, it was Maxie who was wide-awake and miserable; it was obvious to recognize by the pitch of the crying and the length each cry carried on for. From the sounds of the wailing, it was a three-shot causation: a nightmare, a soiled diaper, and a hungry tummy.

Shuffling his paws across the floor, the malamute grabbed his purple houserobe and tied it around his shirtless chest. Opening his bedroom door, he made his way into the nursery where the baby corgi slept in. Sure enough, there was a whiny Maxie standing up in his crib, holding his arms out, tears spilling down his face onto the floor and his nose covered in running mucus.

"Daddy...!" the baby cries out, reaching out to his father.

At once, Jazz moves over to the crib, lowers the railing, and lifts out his sobbing baby, trying to soothe him, "Shhh... it's alright, Maxie. I'm here... I'm here, son."

Just the warmth of his embrace was enough to calm his baby down, as the golden malamute continued to rub his back, using his own robe to wipe the tears and snot from the corgi's little face. A quick diaper change later, and a few kisses of loving affection, Maxie was finally quiet and calm.

"Feeling better, Maxie?" Jazz asks, kissing the child's tiny forehead.

Maxie giggles, amid blushing, and kisses his daddy on the lips affectionately, "Yuh!"

Sighing with relief, the malamute goes to put the corgi back down to sleep in order to allow him an hour of quiet time.

"Daddy..." the baby whined as his small tummy growled.

"Oh, Baby's hungry." Jazz nods, carrying his son downstairs to the kitchen. Upon arriving, he exchanges his two arms for holding the baby to his hip and one arm while he preps a bottle of warm formula and adds a hint of honey to it. Heading into the living room, Jazz sits down on a sofa and puts the nipple piece in the baby's mouth. Immediately, Maxie begins to suckle on it, murring happily.

"I wuv yoo, Daddy!" Maxie says, pulling the bottle away from his mouth.

"I love you too, baby boy," Jazz replies, smiling down at him and kissing his head.

*****

Ohmaistars... I love that story so much, I did not want to change it at all. I couldn't even bring myself to edit it, expand it, or even put it into accurate terms. Nope. Not at all.

Eventually, I'm going to get an updated picture of this in which Jazz is in his accurate fur colours. Nonetheless, I absolutely adore this picture. It's definitely one of my personal faves out of all the commissions I have received. And I sincerely hope that this is one of Maxie's fave gifts I got for him too. n.n

*****

© Jazz
© Maxie
© Art

You do NOT have the permission to use this image in any way shape or form unless you are the owners, or the artist. Copyright 2014 _RainyDays_ & YourRisingStorm. Art copyright 2014 Kalida. All rights reserved.