American Girls, Taylor Family, FNL, FLUFF
Title: All-American Girls
Author: k4writer02, Kate
Fandom: Friday Night Lights
Characters: Tami Taylor, Eric Taylor, Julie Taylor, Gracie Bell Taylor
Disclaimer: Not mine!
Summary: A slice of life with the Taylor family. It's shmoopy not-quite-song fic, with a baby. Warning--gooey and mushy. There is no real purpose-it’s leobrat’s birthday and this is a tiny little fic present for her. There's a better one coming that I'm still working on, I swear.
“Hon?” Tami whispered across the bedroom, trying to pull Eric out of bed with the sheer strength of her voice. “Hon, you have to come see this!”
Eric grumbled in a way that meant he wasn’t really awake, but he knew enough to answer his wife when she said something like that.
She came back to the bed, knelt on her side, and shook his shoulder “Come on, babe.” She urged. “Get up.”
Bleary eyed, he yielded and sat up. He turned and put his feet on the floor. He stood, headed for the bathroom, but Tami beckoned urgently, so he ambled to the bedroom door. He bumped into her and stumbled as she motioned urgently for him to stop. “What is so-“ He started to ask.
She glared and hushed him.
“Don’t shush me.” He protested, louder.
“Just look,” She hissed, and pointed down the hallway.
And he saw what had excited her so much. And admitted, mentally, that yes, this was worth getting out of bed to see.
Eric smiled and wrapped his arms around Tami. He rested his biceps on her shoulders, and crossed his forearms across her chest. Her back pressed back against his front and he never got tired of the way that felt. He smiled, and didn’t need to see Tami’s face to know she was doing the same thing.
Julie was cuddling Gracie Belle, dancing around with her little sister, looking as comfortable with her as she had at the christening, as she did when she thought no one was looking or judging and she just had fun playing with the baby. If he concentrated, he could sort of hear a song on TV or the radio, which was what Julie was singing along with. “he's wrapped around her finger. She's the center of his whole world
And his heart belongs to that sweet, little, beautiful, wonderful, perfect All American girl.”
His brain was too sleep fogged to place the song at first, but he almost laughed when he recognized it. Didn’t it just figure Julie would be singing that song about football and a daughter? She claimed to hate it-she got teased about it a lot, especially the verse about the boy cutting practice and the coach accusing the player of losing his mind. But here she was, singing to her sister, calling her beautiful, perfect, and wonderful.
Gracie was making happy little noises, burbles and coos, like she wanted to sing with her sister and Carrie. Gracie was definitely a vocal baby-she had proved herself very capable of crying, and she was rapidly expanding her repertoire of sounds. But this kind of interaction seemed new-she didn’t seem to be crying because she wanted attention or milk or a new diaper. She was really just joining the conversation, telling her sister what she thought of the world.
Eric nuzzled Tami’s hair. She sighed contentedly, then started to wiggle away. “Where’s the camera?” She asked him in a low tone.
“No-“ He protested, but she broke away. “Aw, now, don’t do that.” He said, but she was rummaging by the bassinet. “No, she’ll stop if you get the camera. Honey? Are you listenin’…?”
Tami reappeared, waving the camera.
Eric rolled his eyes, but he kept watching his girls. There was a bottle of formula on the floor, half gone. Since Shelley had moved out, they’d turned the back bedroom into Gracie Belle’s nursery. They kept the baby monitor by her crib, and Tami seemed to have developed ESP or something-she did the wake ups almost automatically by now. She was probably still tired (okay, not just probably), but she’d adapted. She claimed the schedule helped.
But now that he thought about it, Eric hadn’t felt Tami get out of bed that many times last night. Even if he didn’t always wake up completely, he was usually aware when she left the bed.
Was it possible Julie had woken up with the baby to give her mama a break? Why would she do that? What did she want?
Eric wished he hadn’t woken up enough to ask the question. It made it harder to just plain appreciate the sight of his happy baby girls. His beautiful, wonderful, perfect, All-American girls.
The song ended, and Tami popped out of their room with the camera. “Smile” She drawled out the “I” in her best “happy to see you” voice.
“Mom.” Julie whined a little. “Mom, I’m gross. I’m still in my pajamas.” But she obediently shifted Gracie Belle so Tami and the camera had a better view of the baby’s big eyes and teeny hands.
Eric joined the girls in that hall. “Be nice to your mother. And don’t pester them with the camera.” He fully expected to be ignored by both parties, but it made him feel better not to take sides.
“I am not pestering” Tami said, as Julie protested “I’m smiling! I am being nice.”
Eric retreated to the kitchen and his coffee maker. It didn’t yell at him while he was still half asleep, before he’d even peed.
Tami caressed the side of Gracie’s face. “Were you singing, little girl?” She cooed. “Were you singing to your sister?”
“You saw?” From the radio, Kenny Chesney wondered who you’d be today. Julie was blushing, and Eric thought he knew why.
“We heard.” He answered. “Sounded good.” It wasn’t a lie, exactly, though he meant it sounded good for her to be happy. Even with a father’s blind love, Eric realized Julie probably wasn’t going to be winning American Idol herself anytime soon.
Julie handed off the baby to Tami. “Happy anniversary.” She told her mom, then looked across the kitchen to him, smiling tentatively.
“Oh, Julie.” Tami was melting. She hugged their pride and joy, and Eric worried she’d smush the baby in doing it, but that was a nice sight too, the blonde heads tilted together, bodies a little distant. Except…anniversary? Their anniversary wasn’t for another three days, was it? He could not possibly have lost that much time. He didn’t have a card; the present wasn’t really wrapped, and he would definitely hear about that if he were wrong.
“That’s very thoughtful, darlin’.” Eric complimented Julie. He went around the breakfast bar and kissed his daughter’s forehead. “I’m going back to bed now.” He kissed Tami, and briefly touched Gracie’s forehead. “It’s very early.”
“Well, honey?” Tami called after him. “Honey, why did you start the coffee if you’re going back to bed?”
“It’s for you.” He answered, before he crawled back into bed. It was only 4:45. He had all day to get a card and pretend this was the day Julie thought it was.
And it was bound to be a good day, if his girls were happy.