~In Branch's Bunker~

It was mid-morning in Pop Village, and in Branch's Bunker, Bruce was in his bedroom, getting ready for the day, putting his usual clothes on, feeling super excited.

"Today's the day, today's the day, today's the day! We are finally going to be babysitting our little niece Melody!!!"

He spun around and looked at himself in the mirror, brushing his silky, smooth hair with his hairbrush, doing a few poses, singing. 

🎶 Candy girl, you are my world 🎶

🎶 You're everything, everything, everything to me 🎶

🎶 Candy girl, all I want to say 🎶

🎶 I need your love, each and every day 🎶

While looking at the mirror, he saw his 2nd youngest brother Floyd, who shyly waved at him.

"Hey, Floyd!! You excited for today?" Bruce asked.

Floyd hugged him, squeezing him in a tight way. "Are you kidding me? I'm super excited!! I can't believe that Branch and Poppy finally said "yes" for us to babysit our little niece!"

Bruce gave his 2nd youngest brother a side hug while brushing his bangs. "I know right? I've been waiting all week for this day to come."

After brushing his hair, Bruce left his bedroom and walked through the hallways. Floyd followed beside him. Walking out of his bedroom, Clay walked towards them, writing in his notebook.

"Yo, Clay!" Bruce called out to his younger brother.

Clay looked up from his notebook. "Yooo!!"

The two of them did their usual handshake, ending it with a fist bump.

"Can you believe it? We will look after our baby niece on our own. I mean, it literally took them a year to give us the okay.👌" Clay said.

"Actually, Poppy was all on board with us babysitting little Melody when she was a newborn. It was Branch who hesitated about that idea for a long time," Bruce reminded them.

"But it was worth the wait, though," Floyd said.

"True, but I mean, we literally had to beg him last week," Bruce said.

~Flashback~

"PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE BRANCH!!!" Bruce said.

Branch hesitated. "I don't know...."

"It's just for one day!!" John Dory said.

"I know, but..."

"We'll take great care of her!" Clay said.

"But...but...."

"Please, Branch. If we can look after her when you guys are around, we can totally do it when you guys are not around," Floyd said.

"Aww, come on, Branch, you got to trust your brothers. They can do this, especially when we have an event to help host next weekend," Poppy said.

"Look, I'm a father of thirteen kids. And I used to have a babysitting job when I was a teenager? Pfft, I can do this! Also, who was the one who taught you guys these parenting skills in the first place? Me!!" Bruce said.

Branch hesitated. "That's true, but..."

"And this CPA took a CPR class recently and a babysitting course. Here's my proof." Clay pulled out two certificates out of his hair.

Branch got quiet.

"I bet if they can do this, you can rely on them to babysit this little one whenever you need them." Viva hugged Melody who giggled.

Branch faced Viva, Poppy and back at his brothers. He sighed. "Okay. You guys can babysit her."

Floyd, Bruce, John Dory, and Clay cheered, jumped for joy and got hyped-up.

~End of Flashback~

"But that was worth doing that too," Clay pointed out.

The three of them walked towards their eldest brother's bedroom.

Clay knocked on the door. "Yo, John, are you ready?"

John Dory opened the door with a huge smile on his face.

"You bet I am! Let's go!" John Dory closed his bedroom door.

The four brothers walked in unison through the hallways and walked down the stairs. 

"I bet that we'll be using the word 'aww' a lot today," Clay said.  

"I mean, who wouldn't? Melody is such the sweetest thing," Bruce said.

"She sure is. A beautiful angel she is," John Dory said.

"Mhm. I can't wait to babysit her," Floyd said.

"This is going to be fun," Bruce said.

Once downstairs, they walked through another hallway to get to the living room. When they got there, they found Branch and Poppy, the now married couple, with their one-year-old daughter Melody, a purple-skinned Troll with pink and blue gradient hair.

Bruce held his breath. "Oh my gosh."

Floyd covered his mouth and gasped. "She's standing on her own."

"Wow," Clay said.

"Come on, Melody. Come on," Poppy said.

Melody, who was still standing, reached her hands out towards Branch. "Dada!"

Branch smiled and let his arms out towards her. "Walk to Dada!"

Still standing, Melody smiled at her daddy, squealing and clapping.

"Come on, sweetie, you can do it!" Branch said.

Melody babbled and reached her hands out. She slowly lifted her right foot.

"This might be it." John Dory reached into his hair and pulled out the camera.

Sitting on the couch, Viva gasped. "Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, she's about to take her very first steps!!"

"I KNOOOOOOOOW!!! HOW EXCITING THIS IIIIISSS!?!?" Poppy squealed.

Melody lifted her foot off from the ground.

Everyone's eyes widened.

She leaned forward and fell before Branch immediately caught her using his hair.

"Uh oh," Melody said.

"Uh oh! You okay, sweetie?" Branch brushed Melody's hair.

"Dada," Melody hugged him.

"Awwwwwwww!!!" Everyone said.

Melody looked to the right and gasped. "Brucey!"

"Aww, my Melody! Come here and give your Uncle Bruce a hug!" 

Melody crawled as fast as she could towards him. "Brucey!"

Bruce picked her up and lifted her in the air, hugging her. "RAAAAAAAAA-HAHAHAHA!!! That's such a big hug right there! Awwwwww!"

Melody hummed in an affectionate way while hugging Bruce. She then faced Floyd and waved. 

"Flo-Flo!" She reached out towards Floyd. 

"Heeey, Meliboo!! I'm back!" Floyd picked up Melody, giving her a hug and a kiss. 

Melody kissed Floyd on the cheek. "Mwah!"

"Awwwwwww!!!" Everyone said in unison.

"Awwwww, hehehehe! That's so sweet of you, Melody! You're going to make me cry," Floyd said already in tears.

"No. No cry," Melody said, wiping his face.

"Awwww, you're helping Uncle Floyd wipe his tears?" Poppy asked.

"Yeah," Melody said, wiping Floyd's cheeks.

"Awww, come here, come here, Mel Mel!" Clay held onto her cheeks and hugged her. Melody giggled and grabbed his left cheek, which made Clay smile. "You are sooo cute! So cute that I want to keep you in my hair."

Melody giggled. "Big hair!"

"Yeah, it is big. But not as big as Bruce's hair. I bet if you can hide in his hair during a game of hide-and-seek, you'll win," Clay said.

"And don't forget about your Uncle Jon-Jon, M'Lady!" John Dory lifted her up and hugged her.

"Up, up!" Melody put her hands in the air.

"Up again? Okay, up in the sky. Wheeeee!!!" Again, John Dory lifted his niece up in the sky.

Melody screamed in excitement. After John Dory did this a few times with her, Bruce held onto his little niece who tried to reach for one of his silky, purple bangs.

He talked to her in a babyish voice. "Have been trying to walk? All by yourself?"

"Yeah!" Melody replied.

Poppy smiled. "We've been trying all morning to encourage her to walk."

Branch hugged Poppy. "And so far, she knows how to stand on her own without holding anything, which is a good sign."

"Yeah, she is doing FANTASAMAZING!! I bet she'll be walking in no time. Maybe in a week!" Viva said.

"But I do wish we had more time to practice her walking, but we have a lot to do today," Branch said.

"La, la, la, la!" Melody sang. 

"Awww, you're growing up to be such a big princess," Bruce said to Melody who started to sing.

"Me!" Melody said.

"That's right. You are a princess! Princess Melody!!" Bruce said.

"So, where are you guys off to again?" John Dory asked.

"As King and Queen, we are off to the new botanical garden, Peony garden, to do the grand opening of this garden, and then we'll host a tea party there," Poppy explained.

"We also have many other tasks to do in Trollstopia, so we hope to be back before dinner time, like way before that," Branch said.

Bruce tried to hold onto Melody, but she kept squirming around, so he put her down so she could crawl around.

Poppy gasped. "Oh my gosh, I just got a text from Dante. He's wondering where we are at."

Viva gasped too. "Gosh, we don't want to be late for the grand opening. We better go."

Branch walked up to his brothers. "Are you guys sure that you got this?"

Poppy grabbed Branch's shoulders. "Sweetie, it's okay. They've got everything under control."

"We sure do," Bruce replied.

Clay nodded. "We can totally do this."

"Don't you trust us?" John Dory said.

"I do, it's just...I don't anything bad to happen to my daughter," Branch said.

"Don't worry. We got it, Branch. Melody's going to be okay. I promise," Floyd said.

"And we can help Melody with practicing her walking too," Bruce said.

Branch blinked at his brothers and sighed. "Alright. But if you need anything, call me."

"Got it," Bruce said.

Melody frowned. "Mommy? Dada? Go bye?"

Branch picked her up, hugging her. "Don't worry, Dada and Mommy will be back soon, okay?"

Melody nodded, holding onto Branch's left cheek.

"We love you so much, sweetie! Be good for your uncles," Poppy said, hugging her.

Melody hugged her back. "Love you!"

"We love you too!" Branch and Poppy each kissed their daughter on the cheek.

"See ya guys!" Viva gave Melody, Bruce, Floyd, and John Dory a hug. When she came towards Clay, she gave him a hug and a kiss on the cheek. He held onto his cheek where she kissed him at and giggled.

Bruce, Clay, Floyd, John Dory, and Melody waved goodbye to Branch, Poppy, and Viva who waved back at them. Before long, Branch, Poppy, and Viva left the bunker using the elevator shaft, which took them up.

"Bye-bye!" Melody said.

"Oh, we're going to get along just fine, isn't that right, my Melody?" Bruce asked Melody, who smiled at him and bounced in his arms. 

"Ba, ba, ba, la, la, la!" She sang.

Clay and John Dory chuckled.

"Awww!!" Floyd said.

"Energetic, huh?" Bruce asked her.

"En-En-En-Ener-weee!" Melody responded.

"So, what would you like to do now, Mel Mel?" Clay asked.

"Ay, ay!" Melody said.

"Play? Yeah, let's go have some fun!" Bruce said, putting her down.

"Yaaaaaay!! Om, om!" Melody crawled on the floor.

"Oh, we're coming," Bruce said as he, along with John Dory, Clay, and Floyd, followed their baby niece to her playroom.