A New Beginning; Homemade
I made it to the editing phase of my ficathon fic - somebody congratulate me!
Title: A New Beginning
Theme: Senshi/Shitennou: Caress, Day 23, sm_monthly, January 2009
Genre: Angsty fluff
Rating: G
AN: Assisted by the gorgeous newborn photographs of Jen Mahoney. This is a ficathon throwaway fic - I was actually going to submit this as a 2nd offering, but it's so short & the one I am using is short too. I don't want people getting gypped during ficathon. Song relation is With Arms Wide Open by Creed - listen, lyrics
Kunzite powdered her small bottom and then lifted his newborn daughter out of the changing table. He cuddled her to his chest, feeling the softness of her head against the hardness of his body. He molded her to him, curving her small pliable body around his broad chest.
She curled into him, hunching her round shoulders towards him, lifting up chubby knees toward her chin. She balled up her tiny fingers into little fists and rested them against him.
She was nothing more than folds of skin upon folds of skin, but Kunzite could not ever recall loving anything so much.
She was a new beginning in so many ways. She was his to protect and to love. He would never let any harm come to her, never let anything bad happen. He would love her so much she would never know to accept anything else.
Kunzite shifted slightly, letting her rest upon his forearm and cupping her bald head in one hand. Her feet tucked into his elbow and her arms looked for purchase.
She opened her eyes, big and blue and wide in her little face.
Innocent and trusting and unknowing of what he could be.
Kunzite decided he would do everything possible to ensure she would look at him that way for the rest of her life.
He would never be anything else with her, but good and loving and worthy.
She would be his new beginning, because he could not stand to have two pairs of the exact same eyes, secretly eyeing him with paranoia and fear.
That, he would not survive.
Title: Homemade
Theme: Senshi/Shitennou: Father Figure, Day 26, sm_monthly, January 2009
Genre: Humor
Rating: PG
“Why would you let me do this?” Nolan exploded at Lita.
“I’m… sorry?” she replied, momentarily pausing in her conversation with Serena.
“This is ridiculous! And you!” he pointed at Serena. “You convinced me to do it! You let me!” he turned to Lita, “And you convinced me!” he turned back to Serena. “What is wrong with you? And what is wrong with me that I let you convince me to do it?” Frustrated, he threw his hands up in the air and stormed back into the extra bedroom.
Lita tried to say something, but Serena had already stood up. “Let me try,” she suggested, following Nolan.
“Nolan,” Serena said patiently. “What’s wrong?”
“Why, why, why did I think I could build a crib? For a baby? My baby? A living, breathing baby! I mean, I could probably build a crib for a cat - they always land on their feet. But a baby?” Nolan shook his head in disbelief.
“Nolan, it was a sweet idea. We all thought so-“
“Well, then all of you are idiots!” Nolan snapped. “Look at this! LOOK at this!” He shook some magazines in Serena’s face, who backed away to avoid being flapped at.
“This one has mesh instead of bars! Mesh! Mesh won’t kill my baby, but my bars might. And this one - this one has carvings. Mine has some dried glue on it somewhere, and I swear Zane used a piece of gum to stick something together. This one is like a four-poster crib! I didn’t know you could have a four-poster crib. With stars on top! And there are ruffles all over the place. Can you put ruffles on my crib? I don’t know. I don’t know what ruffles do, but I do know that I did not think of ruffles when I was making the crib and therefore, do not know if ruffles can be included.”
Serena laughed. “Nolan-“
“And walls! Why didn’t I make a crib with six walls? What if this kid is huge like me and has Sasquatch feet? Where is he going to put his baby Sasquatch feet when I only gave him four walls? He needs his room Serena!”
Serena backed away. “Ooo-kay. Let’s take a deep breath.”
“And if he’s big, what if he falls right through the crib? What if it’s not sturdy enough? And those thingys!”
“Thingys?” Serena questioned, deciding to let him rant to his heart’s content.
Nolan swirled a finger in the air as he paced. “Those things that play music and hang over a kid's head.” He stopped and looked at her, pointing at her emphatically. “Those things make kids smart. I’m going to make my kid stupid because I don’t know if I can hang one of those things on my crib. I built a stupid-crib.”
Nolan sat down dejectedly, next to the half-finished crib, ignoring the tools and dust as he did so.
He put his hands over his face, but Serena could still hear him continue. “And the standards! These things hold babies - of course there are standards. Safety standards! How am I ever going to get this thing up to code?”
Serena waited a moment. “All done?”
“Yes,” came the muffled reply.
“Okay.” Serena stood up and pulled him to his feet. Looking into his hanging face, she spoke with determination. “You will finish that crib. It will be up to code. It will have a spin-y music thing. It will not be a stupid-crib. It will be big enough, because although you do have freakishly large feet, anything Lita can carry in her stomach, can fit into that. Zane did not use any gum, and in case he did, he is officially in charge of making sure your crib is up to code. It does not need stars, or posts, or ruffles. It does not need carvings. It needs to be finished and it will house your child. Do you understand me?”
Nolan mumbled. “Yes.”
Serena inclined her head expectantly. “What?”
“Yes!” Nolan snapped, exasperated.
“Good.” Serena walked out, barely catching the “thanks” that followed.
~
After they took their baby home, Lita awoke in the middle of the first night to find herself still alone in bed. Turning, she first saw the beautifully simple cradle that Nolan had built by hand. Then, she saw the chair he was slumped in directly beside the crib. His hand dangled over the edge, hovering over the baby, who happened to be awake and who happened to be more entranced with the large overhanging fingers than the mobile of colorful animals. The baby seemed to almost reach for Nolan’s fingers.
Lita smiled, knowing that Nolan would sleep like that for at least two weeks.