Author: Mickey9928
Title: Heir Chapter 15
Rating: G
Characters/Pairings: Luke/Reid, Sophie,
Warnings: A tiny bit of angst followed by some major fluff.
Summary: Jealousy followed by love and bare chests.
A/N- Anything medical related is completely made up. I have no medical knowledge. Also, as I write Sophie and the twins, if something I have them do doesn’t seem age appropriate, forgive me. I don’t have children and am not overly familiar with what children (especially babies/toddlers) are capable of doing at certain ages.
Walking into the living room, both Reid and Luke immediately looked around for their daughter. They wanted Sophie to be the first one to meet the twins.
“Where’s Sophie?” Luke asked when he didn’t see her.
“She’s probably in the den with the other kids watching a movie. Let me check.” Holden said as he got up and made his way out of the room.
He returned a few minutes later sans Sophie.
“She’s not in there and the other kids said they haven’t seen her since dessert.”
“So nobody knows where my 4-year-old daughter is? Luke and I have been busy delivering our sons and none of you idiots bothered to keep an eye on Sophie or notice that she wasn’t around? If anything has happened to our daughter I’m holding all of you responsible.”
Reid’s rant caused the son he was holding to start fussing which in turned caused his brother to start fussing. Both men immediately began bouncing the baby in their arms, trying to soothe them.
“Dad can you please check upstairs and see if maybe Sophie’s up there? Mom, could you look around down here while we try and calm the boys?”
Jack jumped up and volunteered to help Holden search the upstairs while Carly offered to help Lily search.
Luke and Reid took the boys into the kitchen to get them bottles, sure that they must be hungry. After watching his son suck hungrily on his bottle, Reid looked at his husband.
“Luke, I’m sorry I called your family idiots but seriously how did they not notice Sophie wasn’t there?”
“It’s okay Reid. This is one time I happen to agree with you. Sometimes I swear they don’t notice anything but themselves.”
Just then Holden and Jack came down the stairs and Lily and Carly came around the corner with no Sophie in sight.
“I’m sorry guys but Sophie doesn’t appear to be in the house. We’ve looked everywhere.”
Reid was about to lay into Luke’s family again when Luke spoke up.
“The barn! I bet she’s with the horses. When I was younger whenever I’d get upset or want to be alone I’d hide in the barn.”
Luke handed his son to Emma, the only adult besides Reid and himself that he trusted with his kids at the moment, and ran out the door towards the barn.
Entering the barn Luke called out, “Sophie? Sophia Grace? Baby, are you in here?”
Luke heard Petey neighing in his stall and immediately checked there first. As he approached the stall he could hear sniffling. Looking in he saw Sophie with her knees pulled up to her chin and her little arms wrapped around her legs. Luke went over and sat down next to Sophie who immediately crawled into his lap.
“Sophie? Baby what’s wrong? Why are you hiding out here?”
“I ..I..di..didn’t get to fi..fin..finish my po..poem. Why did the ba..babies have to come so soon?” Sophie managed to get out between sniffles and cries.
“Oh sweetie, they babies came because they couldn’t wait to meet you and hear your poem in person. Did you know you have two little brothers? Isn’t that cool? Now you’re a big sister and I’ll bet you’ll be the best big sister ever! Would you like to meet them?”
Sophie looked up at Luke with big wet chocolate brown eyes and nodded her head. Luke scooped her up in his arms, stood up and made his way back to the house. Entering the kitchen, Luke noticed the house seemed quite. With no sign of the boys, Reid or Emma in the kitchen, he headed for the living room. Walking in Luke found Reid rocking both boys in the rocking chair by the Christmas tree, softly signing Christmas carols to them. He couldn’t help the smile that crept onto this face or the single tear that ran down his cheek at the sight. He didn’t want to interrupt but need to let Reid know Sophie was safe.
“Hey you.”
Reid looked over to see Luke carrying a shy looking Sophie.
“Barn?” Reid mouthed, to which Luke nodded.
“She okay?” Reid mouthed again.
“She will be. Just a little jealous,” he mouthed back. “Where’s the family?” Luke asked quietly.
“They all left or went to bed. Decided it would be best to give us time and they’d meet the boys tomorrow. Emma showed me the baby supplies she always keeps on hand. She said we can use whatever we need tonight.”
“Baby, you want to meet your brothers?” Luke asked gently, to which Sophie nodded shyly. He walked over to the rocking chair and squatted down to bring Sophie closer to the level of the babies.
“This little guy here,” Reid indicated the baby he was holding in his right arm “is Eric and this little guy is Evan.
“They’re so wittle,” Sophie said quietly as she looked at her brothers in awe.
“You used to be that little too,” Reid told her.
“No!” Sophie said in surprise.
“Yep, you sure were,” Luke said as he tickled her causing her to laugh and squirm in his arms.
Once Sophie’s laughs died down Luke stood back up with her on his hip, her head resting on his shoulder and stood next to Reid as he rocked the twins. Luke watched his sons in Reid’s lap while swaying slightly with Sophie in his arms. After a few minutes he could hear soft snore’s coming from his daughter.
“What do you say we head to bed? We can all sleep together tonight,” Luke said as he shifted Sophie’s weight to the other side.
Reid managed to stand up without disturbing the boys and the tired family made their way upstairs. Luke gently changed Sophie into her new Christmas pajamas before laying her in the middle of the bed. He then quickly stripped down to his boxers and settled into bed and took the twins from Reid, nestling them both against his chest. Reid did the same and took one of the boys and settled him against his own chest. Reid had read up on how important skin-to-skin contact is for newborns. It helps them bond with their parents and has many health benefits. Both men lay back against the pillows, a sleeping son clothed in only a diaper snuggled to each of their bare chests and their daughter lay sleeping peacefully between them. They made the perfect little family. Reid reached over with his free hand and found Luke’s free hand and brought it to his lips, kissing it several times before interlocking their fingers.
“Thank you Luke. Thank you for giving me such a wonderful family. A family I didn’t even know I wanted or for that matter needed. I can’t imagine what I did to deserve all this but thank you.”
“Thank you Reid, for loving me. For loving me the way I deserve to be loved. For teaching me that love shouldn’t be conditional and for continuing to show me everyday how much you love me. Our family is a testament to that love. It may not have been created in the traditional sense but our love still created this family.”
Luke brought their intertwined hands to his lips and gave them several kisses before leaning down and kissing the head of a sleeping Eric Michael Snyder-Oliver while his husband stroked the back of Evan Matthew Snyder-Oliver. Just then they heard the grandfather clock on the mantle strike midnight. Reid looked at his family and whispered, “Merry Christmas.”