FICLET FRIDAY THE SIXTY-NINTH: STILLXMYXHEART
hey jude redux (Eli, Hannah, Nicholas [Eli/Hannah]), G
Eli's eyes flutter open when he hears Nicholas begin to cry, and the groan builds in his chest until he realizes Hannah's moving, tossing the covers aside and shuffling over to Nicholas's crib.
"Hey, buddy," she murmurs, bending to lift him into her arms. "Hey, shh, let's not wake Daddy."
Eli smiles a little, lying still as he watches Hannah with the baby.
"Is this a hungry cry, or a diaper cry?" she asks thoughtfully, bouncing Nicholas in her arms. "I'm still working on this, little man. Let's go see what's going on."
She leaves the room and Eli turns onto his back, feeling sleep beginning to pull him back into its blissful embrace.
After a while of dozing, he starts to wonder what's keeping Hannah, and if she needs help. With a quiet sigh, he slips out of bed and pads over to the door, carefully starting to pull it open.
Nicholas is still crying, though not quite as loudly as before, and then Eli hears Hannah's voice and pauses, still inside the bedroom as he listens.
"Fresh diaper, milk in your tummy, and you're still fussy, what's wrong, buddy, hmm?" She paces slowly between the couch and the coffee table, gently bouncing Nicholas in her arms. "What do you need, sweetheart? Maybe a song?"
Eli smiles; he loves it when Hannah sings, even though she doesn't do it very often beyond singing quietly while doing housework, or with the radio in the car.
"Okay, let's try this one."
She starts singing "Hey Jude", and Eli's smile widens as he leans his head against the door, closing his eyes as he listens to her sing.
Nicholas slowly stops crying and eventually the only sound is Hannah's voice, soft and clear as she continues to sing for a few more moments.
"So," she murmurs when she stops singing, "is that little whimpery cry a Mommy cry? Is that what you wanted, just some Mommy time? Even at two in the morning?"
Eli stifles a laugh, though apparently not quick enough, because Hannah turns at the sound and Eli opens the door all the way.
"Hey," she whispers, her hand rubbing over Nicholas's back. "I didn't want him to wake you; I know you're trying to get your sleep schedule back on track before you go back to work."
"It's okay," Eli murmurs. "It's pretty much impossible that my sleep schedule is going to be on track ever again."
He grins and Hannah laughs softly as she nods.
"Is he asleep?" Eli asks as she steps towards him.
"Yeah, I think so," she replies, shifting to look at Nicholas. "He's been fed, had a diaper change, and I sang to him, so he should be pretty happy now."
Eli smiles, resting his hand on Nicholas's back when Hannah stops in front of him, and presses a kiss to his son's head, and then Hannah's.
"Come back to bed."
She nods, and they move into the bedroom together, Eli climbing into bed as Hannah carries Nicholas over to his crib. Once he's settled, she slips into bed next to Eli, shifting close to him and resting her head on his chest as his arm circles her shoulders.
"You know," Eli says quietly, "it's still kind of surreal to think that we're actually parents now. That we have a son, and he's beautiful and healthy and perfect."
"Yeah," Hannah agrees. "Sometimes I think that we've been together almost five years, and it seems like hardly any time at all, especially when I think about everything we've been through, and where we are now, and it's almost unreal that all of that happened in just five years."
Eli nods, and then says, "Next week will be five years since the kidnapping."
Hannah is silent a moment, and then she makes a small noise. "You're right. I hadn't even thought about it."
"So it doesn't bother you at all anymore?"
"It's always gonna bother me, Eli, when I let myself think about it," she replies softly. "But I have so many better, more important things to concern myself with now. Why think about that when I can watch my son grow every single day, when I have you coming home to me every night, when I have so many amazing friends, this beautiful house, this incredible life? The kidnapping will always be there, but it's a dark spot in the past, it's a thing that happened, but it doesn't define me or my life. You and Nicky and everything else I have are what define me."
Eli's smiling when she finishes speaking, his mouth resting against her hair, and he touches a kiss to the top of her head.
"You define me too. You and Nicky are everything to me, and no matter how bad things might be otherwise, as long as I have you, that's all I need."
Hannah makes a contented noise as she shifts closer, nuzzling against Eli's neck before tipping her head up to look at him.
"I love you."
He smiles, lifting his hand to push a loose section of hair behind her ear, and dips his head for a kiss.
"I love you too."
baby's first halloween (Hannah, Eli, Chris, Kari, Nicholas [Hannah/Eli, Chris/Kari]), G
"Dude, did you seriously dress your kid up as Spider-Man?" Chris exclaims the minute he and Kari step into Hannah and Eli's house.
"And?" Eli replies defensively as Hannah laughs. "You won't find a cuter Spider-Man anywhere else."
"I suppose not," Chris replies, grinning as he takes Nicholas from Eli. Kari bites her lip as she watches Chris with the baby, and Hannah smiles, knowing that Kari is excited about starting a family with Chris, whenever that happens.
"So let me guess," Chris says, his gaze flicking between Hannah and Eli. "You two are..."
"Come on, dude," Eli says, lifting the camera around his neck. "Peter Parker and Gwen Stacy."
"You do know that Peter kills Gwen in the comics, right?"
"It's just a costume, you idiot."
"What are you guys dressed as?" Hannah asks, regarding the two of them curiously.
Chris shifts Nicholas to the side to open his jacket, and Eli suddenly bursts out laughing as he looks between Chris and Kari.
"Zoe and Wash!" he says, delighted. "Oh, you guys look awesome."
Hannah looks somewhat confused when Eli looks over at her, and he groans. "How have we been together this long and I haven't made you watch Firefly? We're having a marathon, starting tomorrow."
Hannah snorts and nods.
"I feel pretty badass with this holster," Kari says, her hand dropping to the obviously fake gun on her hip.
"You look pretty badass," Chris agrees, looking her up and down appreciably.
"This is the family you were born into, Nicky," Hannah says as she steps forward to take him from Chris. "You will be raised on science fiction and superheroes."
"Is there any other way?" Eli asks. "Our kids are gonna be awesome."
"There's no arguing that," Hannah says, smiling at Nicholas as she lowers him into his stroller and buckles him in. "Okay, Eli, grab the sodas, and Kari, if you could get the platter of cupcakes off the bar?"
They both nod as they move into the kitchen, and Chris hovers as Hannah gets things together for Nicholas, ready to help if she needs him.
A few minutes later, they're all outside and walking down the sidewalk towards the park in the center of the neighborhood, Hannah pushing Nicholas in his stroller with Eli next to her, and Chris and Kari trailing just behind, hands joined between them.
"Nicky's first Halloween," Hannah says, looking excited.
"Too bad he won't remember a second of it."
"Shut up, we'll remember. And we'll have tons of pictures, that camera's not there just to be part of your costume."
Eli grins and nods. "It's just too bad he can't enjoy the sugar rush."
"He's only 8 months old, Eli."
"I'm just saying."
Hannah smirks. "You'll just have to enjoy it on his behalf."
"Oh, you know I will."
"Just don't come crying to me when you get sick."
"Yeah, yeah," Eli says, nudging Hannah with his elbow and then leaning over to kiss her cheek as they continue down the sidewalk.