Jakob was uncertain just what he'd gotten himself into.

Walking down the corridor winding toward Amelie's flat, he was visited by the notion of what his eldest brother would think if he were to see him then. Philip, the footballer in the family, had twin boys with his wife of five years, a girl that had grown up beside them in Surrey. Although they had offered to let him take his nephews out whenever he liked, he had taken them, oh what, twice? It wasn't that he didn't get along with his brother, which he did, or adore Maggie for being a dream of a sister-in-law, children simply.. confused him.

He did like kids, that wasn't the case he would be quick to argue, of course, from a distance more than up-close. It was just that their inability to censor any thought unnerved him. And how was one to possibly amuse them when what he found entertaining quite obviously bored them? He had tried taking his nephews to a West Ham match, but that had quickly turned into a debacle when they showed how much more interested they were in flinging food at each other. When he had asked them with puzzlement how they could not enjoy the game their father played and that they always insisted on attending, they solemnly informed him (in much less intelligible terms, of course) that their father wasn't out there, was he?

Needless to say, children made him feel incomptetent, and worse, dull. He expected them to be no different than mini-sized adults (a mistake of a grand nature) and thus, had trouble relating to them when they behaved more like chimpanzees.

But lo and behold, there he was, walking to a colleague of his's flat to look after her two-year-old. He wasn't even certain anymore what had taken over him to offer to give Amelie a break, or whether he had been manipulated into this, but that ceased to matter when the door opened and he was faced with the little tyke hanging on Amelie's hip.

"Come on in. This is Renee-"

"Hello," he said quickly to Amelie, suddenly wondering whether he should try and shake her hand when she was busy carrying a toddler or attempt to brush a kiss to her cheek in greeting. Deciding against both for obvious reasons, he offered the young girl what he hoped was a believable smile, "It's a pleasure to meet you, Renee."

" -and Renee, this is the man you're going to harrass for the next hour or so... did you find the house alright?"

Dismissing what he hoped was a humorless joke on Amelie's part, he turned his attention back to her as he entered the flat, "Oh it wasn't a problem at all."

Standing there then a touch awkwardly as he glanced at Renee with a curious expression on his face, for he was trying to think of something to remark upon that would neither be offensive not intrusive, he finally managed, "She seems quite well-behaved."

He knew nothing at all about children.