Fic: "Paternity Test" (Brothers and Sisters)
I wrote babyfic. Schmoopy babyfic. OMG, I blame it all on hormones. Sigh.
There is no way this *won't* be jossed by the actual show. But anyway. Won't make any sense if you haven't seen "Northern Exposure" (can't remember the episode number).
Julia's pregnancy was completely and entirely uneventful, which is kind of ironic after all the hysteria involved in getting it started in the first place. Tommy took it a little bit personally, the way his wife's body was so very eager to get on with things the minute someone else's sperm was involved. Julia shook her head and kissed him and called him an idiot. Julia does that a lot. She's the only person who can get away with calling Tommy an idiot; Kevin thinks it has something to do with the way she says "Baby" right before she delivers the insult. Kind of a bait and switch and Tommy, never the brightest of the Walkers if possibly the least prone to self-destruction, has never caught on.
Anyway, nine months after the fact there's another branch on the family tree, a tiny creature with huge eyes and more curly dark hair than the delivery nurse had ever seen on a newborn. There's the usual whirl of the hospital and the first few weeks and intensely overprotective new parents, but finally, about eight weeks after the birth Kevin is sitting in the nursery next to the crib and watching Natalie Grace Walker sleep.
He rests his chin on the edge of the crib and looks down at her, all wrapped up in her soft yellow blanket and tucked in her basinette, which sits inside the crib. Kevin suspects that this is to keep him from accidentally touching her in any way. Nobody is allowed to touch the baby without Tommy and Julia present and a set of protocols that would make a bomb-squad negotiator jealous.
She squirms in her sleep and makes a low keening sound. He croons nonsense in response, and she settles again. In one of the great unexplained mysteries of our time, babies love Kevin. He could always get Paige and Cooper to sleep when Sarah and Joe couldn't, and while Natalie so far has been a relatively happy baby with a minimum of fuss, she seems to like having him around too.
He's been very industriously not thinking about the conception, the donation, the anonymity that means he'll never know if the DNA that helped give this gift to Julia and Tommy was his. That's how he wanted it, and how he still wants it; it's better not to know. But she grumbles again and this time opens her eyes, looking at him with that huge clear impossibly blue newborn gaze, and he shakes his head at her.
"Don't look at me like that." Spit collects on her lower lip and she blows bubbles through it. "I'm your Uncle Kevin and that's it, kid." She keeps staring at him, so very solemn and while he knows that's because she has the higher cognitive abilities of an eggplant at this point, he still has to laugh softly. "Okay. No way any kid of Justin's could look that deep in thought even for a minute. You're trying to tell me something, Natalie?" She squeaks at him. "Your mom will be back in ten minutes to feed you. She went to the store." He reaches down and tucks the edge of her blanket in more securely. "I'm not allowed to leave this chair till she comes back or she will hurt me very badly. Your mom's a scary lady."
They spend another minute staring blankly at each other, and she makes another unhappy sound and squirms more. "You need to be changed, don't you. I think I'm allowed to do that. And if not, they'll bury me next to Dad. Everybody will be happy." He picks her up out of her basinette and carries her over to the changing table, ignoring her fussing. "You're a Walker, kid. You have to learn to deal with the occasional humiliating and overpersonal experience with family members. At least I'm not going to broadcast this to everyone you know. That's Aunt Kitty's job. Well. I guess you don't actually *know* anyone yet. Figurative language. Remember that, it'll help you out in high school English."
He's rambling like an idiot, but fortunately his audience is essentially a root vegetable and so not going to rat him out. He unwraps the blanket, gets her out of her jumper, starts in on the dirty diaper.
"Your mom and dad love you very much, Natalie." That goes without saying, but Kevin's a lawyer and *nothing* goes without saying. Everyone knows Tommy wanted a boy, but everyone also saw the look on his face when he held his daughter for the first time. "I hope you know you're not going to be allowed to date until you're thirty-seven. If you ever want to get married, elope. Walker family weddings are grounds for checking yourself into an asylum." He tosses the dirty diaper in the bin and takes a clean one from the drawer. "And if you don't ever want to get married, that's cool too. I have to say that, I'm the gay uncle, it's in my contract." He deals with the powder and clean diaper and starts working to tuck her kicking thrashing limbs back into the jumper.
"You also get a free lifetime membership to the family, which sometimes you will want to exchange for a gift certificate or store credit, but sorry, no substitutions or refunds." He scoops her up and holds her in front of him, matching her solemn look with one of his own. "And sometimes you'll be more thankful for that than you can possibly say."
Her face crumples and she cries, so he pulls her close and rubs her back. "Sorry. Hard to believe, I know. But trust me, it's true. Oh, stop. I've got you."
"Honey?"
Kevin looks over his shoulder and shrugs apologetically at Tommy. "Nope, just me."
"Where's Julia?"
"Went to the store."
Tommy's eyes are fixed on Natalie. "Why's she crying?"
"Because she's a baby and that's what babies do?" He shakes his head and walks over to the doorway. "Here, Natalie. Go to your dad. He'll make it better."
"Babies always like you better," Tommy mutters, but he takes Natalie from Kevin's hands and cradles her carefully in his arms.
"She knows who her dad is." Kevin runs his hand through his hair and steps back again.
Tommy glances at him and for a second his eyes are dark and unreadable, but then he smiles and looks down at his daughter. "Hi, sweetheart. How's my girl?"
"Use full sentences. No baby talk. You want her brain to learn how words work, so she doesn't grow up an inarticulate blob who gets featured in a Dateline special on the intellectual poverty of America's youth."
"As long as she doesn't grow up to be a lawyer." Tommy grins and Kevin rolls his eyes.
"I can't hit you because you're holding the baby."
"No, you can't hit me because you're Kevin." He settles the baby carefully against his shoulder and glances out the window as Julia's car pulls in. "You want to stay for a few minutes? Grab a beer after we get her back to sleep?"
He has a million things to do and some of the early, shirtless work of James Marsden on his TiVo. And it's not like opportunities for family time don't come around every single day, in his life. On the other hand, no substitutions, exchanges, or refunds. No second chances to spend some time. "Sure. I'll stick around."
There is no way this *won't* be jossed by the actual show. But anyway. Won't make any sense if you haven't seen "Northern Exposure" (can't remember the episode number).
Julia's pregnancy was completely and entirely uneventful, which is kind of ironic after all the hysteria involved in getting it started in the first place. Tommy took it a little bit personally, the way his wife's body was so very eager to get on with things the minute someone else's sperm was involved. Julia shook her head and kissed him and called him an idiot. Julia does that a lot. She's the only person who can get away with calling Tommy an idiot; Kevin thinks it has something to do with the way she says "Baby" right before she delivers the insult. Kind of a bait and switch and Tommy, never the brightest of the Walkers if possibly the least prone to self-destruction, has never caught on.
Anyway, nine months after the fact there's another branch on the family tree, a tiny creature with huge eyes and more curly dark hair than the delivery nurse had ever seen on a newborn. There's the usual whirl of the hospital and the first few weeks and intensely overprotective new parents, but finally, about eight weeks after the birth Kevin is sitting in the nursery next to the crib and watching Natalie Grace Walker sleep.
He rests his chin on the edge of the crib and looks down at her, all wrapped up in her soft yellow blanket and tucked in her basinette, which sits inside the crib. Kevin suspects that this is to keep him from accidentally touching her in any way. Nobody is allowed to touch the baby without Tommy and Julia present and a set of protocols that would make a bomb-squad negotiator jealous.
She squirms in her sleep and makes a low keening sound. He croons nonsense in response, and she settles again. In one of the great unexplained mysteries of our time, babies love Kevin. He could always get Paige and Cooper to sleep when Sarah and Joe couldn't, and while Natalie so far has been a relatively happy baby with a minimum of fuss, she seems to like having him around too.
He's been very industriously not thinking about the conception, the donation, the anonymity that means he'll never know if the DNA that helped give this gift to Julia and Tommy was his. That's how he wanted it, and how he still wants it; it's better not to know. But she grumbles again and this time opens her eyes, looking at him with that huge clear impossibly blue newborn gaze, and he shakes his head at her.
"Don't look at me like that." Spit collects on her lower lip and she blows bubbles through it. "I'm your Uncle Kevin and that's it, kid." She keeps staring at him, so very solemn and while he knows that's because she has the higher cognitive abilities of an eggplant at this point, he still has to laugh softly. "Okay. No way any kid of Justin's could look that deep in thought even for a minute. You're trying to tell me something, Natalie?" She squeaks at him. "Your mom will be back in ten minutes to feed you. She went to the store." He reaches down and tucks the edge of her blanket in more securely. "I'm not allowed to leave this chair till she comes back or she will hurt me very badly. Your mom's a scary lady."
They spend another minute staring blankly at each other, and she makes another unhappy sound and squirms more. "You need to be changed, don't you. I think I'm allowed to do that. And if not, they'll bury me next to Dad. Everybody will be happy." He picks her up out of her basinette and carries her over to the changing table, ignoring her fussing. "You're a Walker, kid. You have to learn to deal with the occasional humiliating and overpersonal experience with family members. At least I'm not going to broadcast this to everyone you know. That's Aunt Kitty's job. Well. I guess you don't actually *know* anyone yet. Figurative language. Remember that, it'll help you out in high school English."
He's rambling like an idiot, but fortunately his audience is essentially a root vegetable and so not going to rat him out. He unwraps the blanket, gets her out of her jumper, starts in on the dirty diaper.
"Your mom and dad love you very much, Natalie." That goes without saying, but Kevin's a lawyer and *nothing* goes without saying. Everyone knows Tommy wanted a boy, but everyone also saw the look on his face when he held his daughter for the first time. "I hope you know you're not going to be allowed to date until you're thirty-seven. If you ever want to get married, elope. Walker family weddings are grounds for checking yourself into an asylum." He tosses the dirty diaper in the bin and takes a clean one from the drawer. "And if you don't ever want to get married, that's cool too. I have to say that, I'm the gay uncle, it's in my contract." He deals with the powder and clean diaper and starts working to tuck her kicking thrashing limbs back into the jumper.
"You also get a free lifetime membership to the family, which sometimes you will want to exchange for a gift certificate or store credit, but sorry, no substitutions or refunds." He scoops her up and holds her in front of him, matching her solemn look with one of his own. "And sometimes you'll be more thankful for that than you can possibly say."
Her face crumples and she cries, so he pulls her close and rubs her back. "Sorry. Hard to believe, I know. But trust me, it's true. Oh, stop. I've got you."
"Honey?"
Kevin looks over his shoulder and shrugs apologetically at Tommy. "Nope, just me."
"Where's Julia?"
"Went to the store."
Tommy's eyes are fixed on Natalie. "Why's she crying?"
"Because she's a baby and that's what babies do?" He shakes his head and walks over to the doorway. "Here, Natalie. Go to your dad. He'll make it better."
"Babies always like you better," Tommy mutters, but he takes Natalie from Kevin's hands and cradles her carefully in his arms.
"She knows who her dad is." Kevin runs his hand through his hair and steps back again.
Tommy glances at him and for a second his eyes are dark and unreadable, but then he smiles and looks down at his daughter. "Hi, sweetheart. How's my girl?"
"Use full sentences. No baby talk. You want her brain to learn how words work, so she doesn't grow up an inarticulate blob who gets featured in a Dateline special on the intellectual poverty of America's youth."
"As long as she doesn't grow up to be a lawyer." Tommy grins and Kevin rolls his eyes.
"I can't hit you because you're holding the baby."
"No, you can't hit me because you're Kevin." He settles the baby carefully against his shoulder and glances out the window as Julia's car pulls in. "You want to stay for a few minutes? Grab a beer after we get her back to sleep?"
He has a million things to do and some of the early, shirtless work of James Marsden on his TiVo. And it's not like opportunities for family time don't come around every single day, in his life. On the other hand, no substitutions, exchanges, or refunds. No second chances to spend some time. "Sure. I'll stick around."