just_1_word | 25.9. Offer
25.9. Offer
Co-written with doctortara [Follows THIS and THIS]
Tara was softly rubbing her baby son’s diapered butt, watching contentedly as his little hand stayed curled around her finger and his blue eyes watched her face over the top of the pacifier. She smiled when he spat it out, not surprised by the action. He never had much interest in it for long and she made no attempt to try and get it back between the tiny lips. He wasn’t crying, in fact he made some of those adorable soft snuffly baby noises and smiled up at her, his feet kicking a little in the blue baby booties.
It was then that her extremely hung over husband started to stir on the bed beside her. “Daddy’s waking up, angel,” she said softly, leaning over to kiss her son’s forehead. “You’ve been waiting for him, haven’t you?” She swore some days the little boy just knew what she was saying. He was just over three months old, but even now he smiled again and drew his feet up happily in response.
Lachlan opened his eyes just a little but didn’t dare move anything else. He found his wife and son sitting cuddled up beside him and he tentatively moved a hand to rest it on Tara’s thigh. He tried to survey how he was feeling for the moment, very little of the last twenty hour hours actually in his recollection. His head was thumping and his stomach felt like it was sloshing around under his lungs, but he was pretty sure he could remember feeling a lot worse. He could smell the sweet scent of Riley’s baby powder mixed with the vanilla moisturiser Tara used when she massaged him. It was familiar and comforting and Lachlan let his eyes slip closed again and he sighed a little against the pillow. “Am I alive?” he mumbled.
“It was touch and go for awhile in the wee hours of this morning, but you pulled through, sweetness,” Tara teased him, keeping her voice hushed so it didn’t hurt his head more than it probably was. “Shh, just rest a bit longer. Take your time to wake up.”
Lachlan just slowly shifted a little closer to her so his head was resting against her leg. “Please tell me there’s nay video.”
Riley started to get fussy in Tara's arms and there was a small whimper of warning that he would start crying if she didn't figure out what he wanted. "He can hear your voice," she told Lachlan, brushing the pacifier against her son's lips to see if he would be satisfied to take that as substitute. No danger. He turned his face away with another whimper. "He's been waiting for cuddle from Daddy all day."
Lachlan opened his eyes again. He still felt like a piece of shit but it wasn't enough to keep him from his son. "I'll take him," he murmured and shifted back a little again, patting the bed beside him. “I dinnae think I can sit up just yet, but I'll hold him here."
Tara smiled and bundled Riley up to nestle him in the crook of Lachlan's arm on the bed. The whimpering stopped as the baby boy looked up and realised who had him now and smiled. Tara watched the scene fondly, brushing her fingers over the baby fine hair and then kissing Lachlan's head. "Crisis averted," she noted and tucked the pacifier in Lachlan's easy reach if he needed it. "Daddy's arms win over the binky any day."
Lachlan managed a small laugh and pressed his lips to the baby's forehead. "I'm sorry about last night, beautiful," he said, glancing drowsily up at Tara. "I had no plans to get drunk, I swear. Please tell me I didnae say anything I'll regret."
Tara pressed her lips together. "I don't think anything you said could trump my drunken err," she murmured. "But a good portion of your birthday hijinks got caught on film. You mostly spent a lot of it singing Queen and downing Scotch. At one point, you were trying to sing into the bottle and drink from the microphone. Then you had an epic spew and the show was over. But there are a couple of things I need to talk to you about, sweetheart. But it can wait until you're feeling better."
Lachlan groaned softly, pressing his face into the pillow. "I'll just hide out here for a week. They might forget by the time I show my face again. I'm okay now. Is everything okay?" he asked, frowning a little.
"First thing, just before you got sick, and were inevitably hogging the microphone, you declared to the whole party that this year you weren't going to get shot and die," Tara told him quietly and brushed her fingers through his hair. "I just wanted to check you were okay and not having some PTSD issues again. Which is okay if you are. We can deal with them together. But that's not why you got that drunk, is it, sweetie?"
Riley was dozing off, content and warm in his father's arms as he preferred to suck on his lower lip rather than the pacifier. Lachlan cupped his hand around the infant's feet as he absorbed Tara's words. His forehead creased as he looked up at her. "Well, shit..." he said uncertainly. "I dinnae think so. I mean... okay, maybe it's been a wee bit on my mind, but nay more than usual. Only when I was worried you wanted another bairn. Maybe it was just a freakish drunken optimism? My god, I have absolutely nay tact when I'm pissed," he realised.
Tara smirked a little. "No, you don't, gorgeous. But I wouldn't change it for the world. I just wanted to make sure you were okay because I know sometimes it creeps up on you without warning and the next thing we know you're making yourself sick from it. And I know if that happened, you'd get upset that your focus was drawn from Riley when you don't want to miss out on anything with him. Promise me you're happy, sweetheart?"
"Promise with all the world that I'm over the moon, beautiful," Lachlan assured her. "How could I nay be? Look at what I've got. A wife I love so much I cannae live without, a perfect wee boy that never ceases to make me smile. A trip home soon with my family and friends, too. Maybe I'm just still dealing with it subconsciously, but I promise I'm good right now. Things feel on the right track, even if it isnae easy. Let’s make a deal to never take anything either of us says drunk too seriously? I’m a wee bit worried what the other thing you wanted to talk to me about is, though."
Tara sighed and looked down at her lap with a shake of her head. "Not so much a thing as a who," she elaborated. "Pat. I broached the surrogacy thing with him. He didn't take it well. In fact, he took it terribly. Even so far as to tell me he didn't want kids and walked out of the party. I feel horrible. I thought he would be happy."
"What?" Lachlan said with a frown of confusion. "He does want kids. He's told me many times in the past he wanted them. He just never thought he would find someone to settle with to get to that point. You told him it would just be to carry the bairn, right? Donor egg and all? I know he would've had issues if it was any other way. I guess we all would."
Tara nodded. "Yeah, I explained it all to him. In fact, it was after that when he backed right off and told me he didn't want them. That's the thing... he has told me the same thing. Hell, we used to joke about who would have a kid first. But I really upset him, Lachie. I need to talk to him, but Aiden's sick today, see. I had to go around to check him over because Pat was worried. He was okay when I got there. Feeling much better, just a little tired and weak from throwing up all morning, but it wasn't the right time to broach the subject. I don't think Pat has even told Aiden what I said."
Lachlan looked up at her in concern. "Something's nay right. Pat does want kids. He's just saying he doesnae for a reason. It's the reason that's worrying me."
"The MS," Tara murmured sadly.
"Aye..." Lachlan agreed quietly. "I think you might be right."
All muses referenced with permission and are from the princeton2nyc universe
Word Count | 1,436
Co-written with doctortara [Follows THIS and THIS]
Tara was softly rubbing her baby son’s diapered butt, watching contentedly as his little hand stayed curled around her finger and his blue eyes watched her face over the top of the pacifier. She smiled when he spat it out, not surprised by the action. He never had much interest in it for long and she made no attempt to try and get it back between the tiny lips. He wasn’t crying, in fact he made some of those adorable soft snuffly baby noises and smiled up at her, his feet kicking a little in the blue baby booties.
It was then that her extremely hung over husband started to stir on the bed beside her. “Daddy’s waking up, angel,” she said softly, leaning over to kiss her son’s forehead. “You’ve been waiting for him, haven’t you?” She swore some days the little boy just knew what she was saying. He was just over three months old, but even now he smiled again and drew his feet up happily in response.
Lachlan opened his eyes just a little but didn’t dare move anything else. He found his wife and son sitting cuddled up beside him and he tentatively moved a hand to rest it on Tara’s thigh. He tried to survey how he was feeling for the moment, very little of the last twenty hour hours actually in his recollection. His head was thumping and his stomach felt like it was sloshing around under his lungs, but he was pretty sure he could remember feeling a lot worse. He could smell the sweet scent of Riley’s baby powder mixed with the vanilla moisturiser Tara used when she massaged him. It was familiar and comforting and Lachlan let his eyes slip closed again and he sighed a little against the pillow. “Am I alive?” he mumbled.
“It was touch and go for awhile in the wee hours of this morning, but you pulled through, sweetness,” Tara teased him, keeping her voice hushed so it didn’t hurt his head more than it probably was. “Shh, just rest a bit longer. Take your time to wake up.”
Lachlan just slowly shifted a little closer to her so his head was resting against her leg. “Please tell me there’s nay video.”
Riley started to get fussy in Tara's arms and there was a small whimper of warning that he would start crying if she didn't figure out what he wanted. "He can hear your voice," she told Lachlan, brushing the pacifier against her son's lips to see if he would be satisfied to take that as substitute. No danger. He turned his face away with another whimper. "He's been waiting for cuddle from Daddy all day."
Lachlan opened his eyes again. He still felt like a piece of shit but it wasn't enough to keep him from his son. "I'll take him," he murmured and shifted back a little again, patting the bed beside him. “I dinnae think I can sit up just yet, but I'll hold him here."
Tara smiled and bundled Riley up to nestle him in the crook of Lachlan's arm on the bed. The whimpering stopped as the baby boy looked up and realised who had him now and smiled. Tara watched the scene fondly, brushing her fingers over the baby fine hair and then kissing Lachlan's head. "Crisis averted," she noted and tucked the pacifier in Lachlan's easy reach if he needed it. "Daddy's arms win over the binky any day."
Lachlan managed a small laugh and pressed his lips to the baby's forehead. "I'm sorry about last night, beautiful," he said, glancing drowsily up at Tara. "I had no plans to get drunk, I swear. Please tell me I didnae say anything I'll regret."
Tara pressed her lips together. "I don't think anything you said could trump my drunken err," she murmured. "But a good portion of your birthday hijinks got caught on film. You mostly spent a lot of it singing Queen and downing Scotch. At one point, you were trying to sing into the bottle and drink from the microphone. Then you had an epic spew and the show was over. But there are a couple of things I need to talk to you about, sweetheart. But it can wait until you're feeling better."
Lachlan groaned softly, pressing his face into the pillow. "I'll just hide out here for a week. They might forget by the time I show my face again. I'm okay now. Is everything okay?" he asked, frowning a little.
"First thing, just before you got sick, and were inevitably hogging the microphone, you declared to the whole party that this year you weren't going to get shot and die," Tara told him quietly and brushed her fingers through his hair. "I just wanted to check you were okay and not having some PTSD issues again. Which is okay if you are. We can deal with them together. But that's not why you got that drunk, is it, sweetie?"
Riley was dozing off, content and warm in his father's arms as he preferred to suck on his lower lip rather than the pacifier. Lachlan cupped his hand around the infant's feet as he absorbed Tara's words. His forehead creased as he looked up at her. "Well, shit..." he said uncertainly. "I dinnae think so. I mean... okay, maybe it's been a wee bit on my mind, but nay more than usual. Only when I was worried you wanted another bairn. Maybe it was just a freakish drunken optimism? My god, I have absolutely nay tact when I'm pissed," he realised.
Tara smirked a little. "No, you don't, gorgeous. But I wouldn't change it for the world. I just wanted to make sure you were okay because I know sometimes it creeps up on you without warning and the next thing we know you're making yourself sick from it. And I know if that happened, you'd get upset that your focus was drawn from Riley when you don't want to miss out on anything with him. Promise me you're happy, sweetheart?"
"Promise with all the world that I'm over the moon, beautiful," Lachlan assured her. "How could I nay be? Look at what I've got. A wife I love so much I cannae live without, a perfect wee boy that never ceases to make me smile. A trip home soon with my family and friends, too. Maybe I'm just still dealing with it subconsciously, but I promise I'm good right now. Things feel on the right track, even if it isnae easy. Let’s make a deal to never take anything either of us says drunk too seriously? I’m a wee bit worried what the other thing you wanted to talk to me about is, though."
Tara sighed and looked down at her lap with a shake of her head. "Not so much a thing as a who," she elaborated. "Pat. I broached the surrogacy thing with him. He didn't take it well. In fact, he took it terribly. Even so far as to tell me he didn't want kids and walked out of the party. I feel horrible. I thought he would be happy."
"What?" Lachlan said with a frown of confusion. "He does want kids. He's told me many times in the past he wanted them. He just never thought he would find someone to settle with to get to that point. You told him it would just be to carry the bairn, right? Donor egg and all? I know he would've had issues if it was any other way. I guess we all would."
Tara nodded. "Yeah, I explained it all to him. In fact, it was after that when he backed right off and told me he didn't want them. That's the thing... he has told me the same thing. Hell, we used to joke about who would have a kid first. But I really upset him, Lachie. I need to talk to him, but Aiden's sick today, see. I had to go around to check him over because Pat was worried. He was okay when I got there. Feeling much better, just a little tired and weak from throwing up all morning, but it wasn't the right time to broach the subject. I don't think Pat has even told Aiden what I said."
Lachlan looked up at her in concern. "Something's nay right. Pat does want kids. He's just saying he doesnae for a reason. It's the reason that's worrying me."
"The MS," Tara murmured sadly.
"Aye..." Lachlan agreed quietly. "I think you might be right."
All muses referenced with permission and are from the princeton2nyc universe
Word Count | 1,436