II: Baby Steps

"C'mon, love. Come to daddy..." Deroh said as he kneeled on the floor. A holo cam was strapped to his arm as he recorded Rebecca. Pausing the recording, he put his arm down and looked over to Cesera, who was sitting on the floor behind Rebecca. "Hon? A little help?"

Cesera rubbed Rebecca's back gently. "Go on, sweetheart. It's only a few steps... you can do it," she smiled, " I'll be right here."

Rebecca simply sat on the floor with no motivation to even attempt to move.

"My, she's stubborn today," Cesera said.

Deroh sighed. "She's almost a year old... she's got to learn how to walk."

Cesera shook her head. "I don't want to pressure her... maybe she just isn't ready..."

"Well she can't crawl around the floor for the rest of her life."

Cesera sighed, "I know..."

"Maybe we could persuade her with something."

Cesera looked at him. "With what?"

Deroh quickly glanced around the child's room. He spotted a brown bear laying on a nearby chair. Picking it up, he dangled it in front of him. "C'mon, Rebecca....come get..uh...," he turned to Cesera, "what's this thing's name?"

Cesera shrugged in response. "make something up, I guess. I don't think it has one."

Deroh sighed and continued to dangle the doll. "Rebecca..." Rebecca looked at the doll, then at her father, then back at the doll again. Mumbling baby babble quietly, she starts getting on her hands and knees and crawls her way over to her father. Once she made it over, she slowly got on her knees and tried snatching her doll. "...well, it's a start."

Cesera stood and walked over to Deroh and Rebecca. "You stand over there and I'll try again," she said, kneeling on the floor behind their daughter. Once Deroh made it to the other side of the room, she gently took Rebecca and got her to her feet. "C'mon, babes..." She carefully gets Rebecca to move one foot, then the other, "Just...like...that.... Deroh, you recording this?"

"Mmhm. Come on Becks, you're doing great!"

Rebecca wobbly 'walked' across the carpet while being held up by her mother. About half way across, she felt her mother let go of her arms. Taking an extra few steps, she started to trip and then fell onto the floor. Rubbing her eyes, she began to cry.

Cesera embraced her daughter gently. "Shh... it's alright. Don't cry, my love." She scooped up Rebecca and patted her back gently.

Deroh put away the holo camera and walked over, handing Rebecca her bear. "You'll get better, Becks. It'll be alright."

Cesera looked at him, " It's this hard getting her to take a few steps...imagine what we'll go through just to her to start talking..."

"Oh dear maker..."