Improving Perfection - Epilogue
Title: Improving Perfection (Bittersweet 3)
Author: moffel83
Pairing: Domlijah of course
Rating: NC 17 (for the complete series)
Summary: Dom, Elijah and Luke are a happy family. Can they improve that perfection? And will trying to improve it maybe put what they have in danger?
Disclaimer: As far as I know this is not true! It's all just in my head;) This story is an Mpreg and Mpreg doesn't exist in real life.
Author's Note:Thanks to my lovely beta spikessweetgirl
Chapter: Epilogue
Word count: 2030
Previous chapters
“Hey honey, what are you doing up?” Elijah asked as he saw Luke standing in the doorway, holding his teddy bear as he slowly made his way over, looking totally adorable in his pyjamas, as he sucked on the thumb of his free hand.
“I heard Ben cry. Is he okay?” He asked quietly, seeing the baby in Elijah’s arms suck on its bottle, and not wanting to disturb him by talking too loudly.
“Yeah, he’s fine. He was just hungry,” Elijah told Luke, motioning for him to come over to the couch Elijah was sitting on and holding Benjamin who was lazily sucking on his bottle, apparently close to falling asleep again.
As Luke stood next to the couch, Elijah patted the empty space next to him and Luke climbed up on it and sat down next to Elijah, looking at the baby in his arms, carefully reaching out for it and caressing his cheek tenderly.
Elijah smiled to himself as he saw that gesture, marvelling once again at how Luke had taken to his younger brother. Already when they had still been at the hospital, Luke had been utterly fascinated by the baby and that had only increased when Elijah and Ben had been released after four days and had gone back home.
Luke had watched on in fascination whenever Ben was fed or got his diapers changed and just loved to hold him and stroke his head or his cheeks. Forgotten were the times when he had wanted to sell the baby. Luke loved his little brother so dearly, it had been a huge fight to get him to go back to nursery school, him insisting that he wanted to stay home and spend time with Ben. In the end Luke had had to go back, but every morning he tried again, putting up a fight and asking to be allowed to stay home with the baby.
After putting the bottle on the small table next to the couch he was sitting on, Elijah pulled Luke close and felt him rest his head against his side as they both watched Benjamin who had fallen asleep again and was obviously sleeping peacefully now. “Aren’t you tired?” Elijah asked, looking at the clock on the table next to the couch and seeing that it was just after 2 am in the morning.
Luke nodded, nuzzling even more into Elijah’s side and Elijah knew that now he had made sure that Ben was okay, it would only be a few minutes before Luke would be asleep as well.
“Why don’t you go back to your bed? It’s a lot more comfortable than this couch, honey,” Elijah pointed out, but he immediately heard Luke’s ‘no’.
“I want to stay with you and Ben,” he said, sleep already creeping up in his voice.
Elijah knew that he would only get Luke to go back to bed with a fight and he didn’t really feel like it at this time of the night, so he just decided to let Luke fall asleep there, knowing he could carry him back to bed once he was asleep without the boy noticing.
“Okay,” Elijah only said, weaving through his older son’s hair with his free hand as he looked from Luke to Ben.
“What are you all doing here?” A voice came from the doorway a few minutes later and Elijah was surprised to see Dom’s sleepy head looking in.
“Hey,” he smiled up at the man he loved so much as he saw him walk over in his pyjama pants and shirt and saw him settle down on the couch as well, carefully disentangling Luke, who had by now already fallen asleep again, from Elijah’s side and settling the boy in his own lap, looking at Elijah and Ben, the same question still in his eyes.
“Ben needed to be fed and Luke heard him cry and woke up. He didn’t want to go back to bed and wanted to stay here with me and Luke,” Elijah told him and he saw Dom smile down at the boy in his arms, probably thinking the same thing that Elijah had thought about just a few minutes ago.
”Why didn’t you wake me? I could have given him the bottle,” Dom said quietly, brushing a strand of hair out of Elijah’s face.
“You were sleeping and I had just been to the bathroom and was still awake anyway. No need for us both to be up,” Elijah explained, leaning into the touch before he rested his head on Dom’s shoulder and sighed happily.
“Why are you up?” Elijah asked then, raising his eyes to Dom’s.
“The bed felt so empty and I realised you weren’t there when I woke up, so I went to look for you, thinking I might find you here.”
“Well, there are only so many places I go at 2 in the morning,” Elijah chuckled.
”Exactly,” Dom agreed. “How about we get these two sleeping beauties back to bed and try to catch a few more hours of sleep?” He suggested next and felt Elijah nod against his shoulder.
“Sounds great.”
Benjamin was three weeks old now and for most of these three weeks there hadn’t been a lot of sleep for both of them. Their nights were often interrupted by his crying and they tried to take turns getting up and taking care of him, so at least one of them would be able to catch a bit of sleep and would be awake enough the next day to also do Luke and his needs justice.
They had both been pretty worried about not finding the time for Luke that he deserved and was used to, but so far it had been surprisingly easy. Whenever Ben was awake and needed something, a bottle or a new diaper, Luke was eager to watch and help and whenever Ben was asleep, Dom and Elijah had time to take care of their older son, to play games with him and do something with him that he liked.
The first days after Ben had been born had been pretty weird for Luke, Elijah still being at the hospital and only Dom and Hannah being there to take care of him. For as long as he could remember it had always been Dom and Elijah who had taken him to bed, had gotten him ready for nursery school or had played with him and he had really missed his papa’s presence, always looking forward to the times he was allowed to visit him and Ben at the hospital again.
When Elijah had come home from the hospital with Ben, it had also been a slight change for Luke to see him resting so much and to not have him play as much with him as he was used to, but Dom had tried to explain to him that his Papa had had a big surgery to get the baby out and that he still needed to rest so he would get healthy again.
Elijah got stronger with each and every day and Luke was happy when after a few days Elijah played games with him again and also started to read stories to him once more, things slowly returning to what they had been like before Ben’s birth.
They had all settled into a new rhythm and so far it was going fine as far as Dom and Elijah were concerned. Of course it also helped that they had a lot of help from Hannah, Debbie and their friends, who often came over and helped with taking care of Luke, taking him to the park or to the zoo, giving them a bit of time to rest and catch up on some sleep, not having to worry about him for a few hours. Luke seemed to love the attention he was getting now that he was a big brother and hadn’t complained once so far.
Dom slowly pulled his arm back from Elijah and got up from the couch, holding Luke tightly in his arms, before he held out one hand to Elijah and helped him get up as well.
Dom watched as Elijah carefully placed Ben in his crib and they both left a tender kiss on the baby’s head before leaving the room and walking over to Luke’s bedroom, lying him down in his bed, pulling up the covers and putting his teddy bear into his small arms where they knew he always liked to have him, leaving tender kisses on his forehead as well, before they moved back to their own bedroom and got into their beds, settling under the covers. Elijah immediately moved close to Dom and cuddled into his body, feeling Dom’s arms go around him and pulling him close.
Elijah was just about to drift off to sleep, when he heard Dom whisper close to his ear. “Happy birthday, Baby! I love you and I hope you’re as happy as you make me each and every day.”
Elijah smiled slightly at the sentiment, only then realising that with it being past 2am already, it really was his birthday by now and he took Dom’s hand that was resting on his stomach and squeezed it in reply.
”I love you, too and you’ve got no idea about how happy I am,” he whispered, feeling Dom leave a tender kiss on his neck before he settled back on his own pillow.
And it was the truth, Elijah realised. He was happy. Happier than he had ever been. He had all that he could have ever wished for. He had Dom in his life who loved him more than anyone could ever love him and whom Elijah loved just like that in return, knowing that Dom was indeed the love of his life and that no one completed him like Dom did and not only did he have Dom but also the most perfect family anyone could wish for.
His two sons made him happier than even Dom could, bringing smiles and laughter to his life day in and out and the more Elijah thought about how happy his family made him, the less he could believe that only a few short years ago he had insisted on never wanting one to begin with and how close he had been to losing this family forever by behaving the way he had. It was unbelievable even to himself how he had been so against something that right now was completing him and making him happier than anything else ever could. He had truly been stupid at the time he had left Dom and Luke behind to wallow in his self-pity, thinking that he could live without them. Elijah wondered if he had been temporarily insane to even have considered for a single second to live without Dom and this family. He shook his head slowly, realising that none of it mattered now. They were a family now and a happy one at that and Elijah finally knew what he wanted in his life and knew that it was the right thing. He wanted to be with the man who was holding him right now and the two boys sleeping across the hallway for the rest of his life, knowing they would make him happy till the day he died.
”Thank you for never giving up on me,” Elijah whispered, thinking that Dom had already gone to sleep and Elijah was surprised when he felt Dom pull him closer, entangling their hands and squeezing Elijah’s hand in his gently.
Dom never said anything to Elijah’s statement and Elijah knew that he didn’t have to. This gesture said all there was to say. Dom loved him and it was a promise to never let him go.
A few minutes later both Dom and Elijah went back to sleep, falling asleep with gentle smiles on their faces, feeling happy with their lives and also feeling complete.
The End!
Please also go and read this announcement:
http://moffel83.livejournal.com/304491.html