Grace eyed the bathtub skeptically.

One the one hand, the bubbles seemed completely unnecessary. On the other, complaining about it would be petulant, even for her.

“Well, the water’s not getting any hotter,” Pearce said. “Are you getting in?”

There was no point in refusing. Dropping the towel from around her chest, she stepped into the tub and sank into the warm, bubbly water. The warm water saturated her body and she relaxed back into the tub, bubbles displaced around her body. The water temperature was just right–hot enough that she could feel it radiate into her body, not so hot that it hurt.

Pearce lathered up a washcloth with soap. “Arms up?”

“Just give me a minute to soak,” Grace complained. “Okay?”

“Fine,” Pearce said, setting the washcloth on the side of the tub and wiping his hands off on his jeans. He sat back, taking out his phone to kill time.

She sank a little further, so the water came just up to her face without submerging completely. “Damn,” she said.

“What?” Pearce asked.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve taken a bath,” she said. “I should do this more often.”

He chuckled, setting aside his phone and kneeling by the tub. “Alright, let’s get you clean.”

She lifted her arms, letting Pearce use the washcloth on her. This whole part of the bet felt a little unnecessary, but it created an extra chore for him that’d push his frustration and boredom more quickly, so she’d take it.

He ran the washcloth up her arms, across her back, down her sides. She was surprised by his thoroughness, having half expected him to just wipe her armpits and claim to be done, but he took his time and washed her properly.

“Lie back your head,” he said, reaching for the bottle of two-in-one kids shampoo on the counter.

Grace almost objected and asked for separate shampoo and conditioner, but decided not to argue. She leaned back and shut her eyes, the bath bubbles displacing around her body. Pearce squirted a dollop of the shampoo in his hand and began massaging it into her hair.

“You’ve got a lot of hair,” Pearce said.

“I tried volumizing conditioner once,” Grace replied, her eyes closed. “You could have curled up and taken a nap in it when I was done.”

Pearce laughed, cupping his hand to scoop water and pour it over her hair. “I think that’s called the ‘Anime Protagonist’ cut.”

She smirked, keeping her eyes shut as water ran down her face. A little ran over her mouth and she spluttered. “Watch it!”

“Sorry,” he said. “Don’t move so much.”

“I swear if you get shampoo in my eyes–”

“It’d be fine, this is ‘no more tears’,” he said, pronouncing it like ‘tiers’. “So it shouldn’t sting.”

“It’s no more tears,” Grace corrected. “Like, it won’t cause my hair to tangle or be torn.”

“I… think that’s wrong,” Pearce said. “Why wouldn’t it be ‘tangles’ then?”

She shook her head, sloshing her hair in the water. “Never mind, just don’t get it in my eyes.”

“You’re all clean, anyways,” he said. “Let me pull the plug and we’ll get you dressed.”

Grace got out of the tub, wrapping herself up in a fluffy towel while Pearce left to get her pajamas. He returned a moment later with a blue footed sleeper that zipped up in the back, as well as–of course–a fresh diaper for her.

Though she could have, Grace didn’t fuss with the dressing process, and Pearce didn’t give her a hard time about it. Wrapping her up in a fresh diaper, Pearce taped her in, helped guide her legs into the sleeper, and zipped her up.

“What time is it?” she asked.

“Like…” he checked his phone. “A little after nine. Almost bedtime for you.”

“Right.” That was going to be… annoying, though seeing Pearce’s face when he had to come ‘wake her up’ in the morning would be worth it.

“You can do whatever,” Pearce said, stepping back. “I’ve got one thing I need to do real quick to get your bed ready.”

Grace raised an eyebrow. “What?”

He just flashed a grin. “You’ll see.”

She planted her feet and tried to stare him down, though her hard expression was somewhat undercut by her cute PJs and puffy bottom. “Pearce, what are you going to do?”

He shrugged, casually admitting, “I maybe ordered some bed rails, so you’ll get the full ‘baby crib’ experience. They just clip onto the frame, it should only take a few minutes to set up.”

“Hold it,” Grace said. “That wasn’t in the bet.”

Pearce rolled his eyes. “I’m putting you to bed. Why does it matter?”

“Because it wasn’t in the bet,” Grace repeated. “No rails.”

“That’s not up to little babies,” Pearce used a teasing, sing-song tone, but he looked annoyed at the challenge. “I already bought them, anyways.”

“Well you’d better ship ‘em back!” Grace shot. “Ugh. Fine.”

“Fine,” Pearce said. “So you’ll–”

“No,” Grace said. “I’m not saying, ‘Fine, you can do the rails’. I’m saying, ‘Fine, we’re taking this to the house and they can decide.”

Pearce pursed his lips but nodded in assent, probably recognizing that he had no good argument against arbitration.

Grace stomped down the stairs to the living room. Brains and Melody were in the middle of a hatewatch, laughing at a terrible movie, but Melody glanced over when she saw her. “Whas’sup?”

“Need your opinion,” Grace fumed. “Or, decision. Pearce is being an ass.”

“Boom in the shot!” Brains called, pointing at the TV. “Drink!”

“Ayy,” Melody replied, leaning forward to snag a beer from the coffee table. “Okay, sure. Whas’the issue?”

Grace could tell her friend was on the precipice of drunk. “Pearce wants to turn my bed into a crib,” she said.

“Oookay, and?” Melody asked. “Goes with the whole baby thing.”

“It wasn’t on the rules list. Brains–Brains!” she snapped, getting his attention.

He paused the movie, glancing up at her. It wasn’t until he looked her way that she noticed he was dressed up nice, and remembered a detail. “Weren’t you supposed to be on a date right about now?”

“He– ‘e canceled,” Brains hic’ced. “Says it was work.”

“I saw the text, I think he got dumped,” Melody added. “And my last relationship’s over, so we’re commiserating.”

“Which last relation–it doesn’t matter,” Grace said. “Brains, Pearce wants to make me sleep in a crib. That wasn’t part of the rules we came up with. Tell him to piss off, okay?”

Pearce finally came down the stairs, smirking triumphantly. “Hold it there, crinkles. The rules say I get to put you to bed. That should include tucking you in, and making sure your bed is secure and safe, right?”

Melody snickered. “He’s got a point, Gracey.”

“Brains?” Grace asked, looking past Melody, hoping that their resident rules stickler would back her up.

He considered it for a moment. Finally, he said, “He’s got a point. Babies don’t pick how their bed’s set up, and all.”

“Ugh,” Grace groaned, wishing she’d brought up this issue while everyone was sober. As it stood, she didn’t stand a chance of persuading either of them. “Fine. Whatever. I’ll do the stupid crib rails.”

“Good girl,” Pearce said, leaning in to pat her on the butt. “Now, try to stay dry while I go get your crib ready, okay?”

“Asshole,” she muttered. Pearce just smiled and turned to leave.

“Still glad you did this?” Melody asked, while on the TV a dinosaur the size of a chicken dove at the camera.

“He’s going to crack first,” Grace replied.

Melody shrugged. “Not what I asked.”

Grace paused. “Pearce needed someone to–I’m sorry, what the heck are you watching?”

“It’s called ‘Posideon Rex’,” Brains said, swigging his beer. “It’s awful. Grab a beer, we’re drinking every time they reuse the one reggae song they bought the-hic-rights to.”

“Sure, but I’ve got to go to bed here pretty soon,” Grace said, waddling to the couch and sitting down next to Melody. “And I can’t drink.”

“‘Less we convince Pearce to put a beer in your bottle,” Melody suggested, half-jokingly.

Grace enjoyed disliking the film for about fifteen minutes, until Pearce called down for her. It was almost nine thirty, time for her bedtime, so she excused herself and walked upstairs.

Just as Pearce had promised, her bed was no longer just a bed. The wooden bars only raised about a foot and a half over the side of the bed, but it was enough to convincingly resemble a crib, especially with the teddy bear he’d set inside.

“Hop in,” he said, folding down one side so she could get in.

Grace eyed the bed, doubt taking her for just a moment. The fact that he’d ordered this… it showed that he was in it for the long haul.

She shook off the concern. Pearce had overcommitted and overestimated his dedication. She got into the bed and let Pearce raise the bars up. They closed with a click.

“Do you need anything? Water? The bathroom?” He smirked, and added, “Well, I guess you’ve got that taken care of.”

“I’m fine,” Grace said. Her phone was on the bedside table, within arm’s reach, so she’d have that until ‘light’s out’. “Water would be nice, I guess.”

“Cool, I’ll bring that back around when I come to turn off the lights,” Pearce said. He leaned over her, grabbing the blanket and pulling it over her. “If you’re all set, I guess this is goodnight.”

“Yup,” Grace said.

He turned to leave.

She hesitated. “Hey, Pearce.”

He looked back at her. “Yeah?”

“Don’t forget to set an alarm,” she said. “Otherwise you’ll oversleep.”

Grinning, Pearce said, “Aww, you’re worried about me?”

“I’m worried about me. I don’t want to be stuck in bed waiting for you to wake up,” Grace rolled her eyes. “Goodnight, Pearce.”

“Goodnight, Grace.”