Title: Nugget
Fandom: Battlestar Galactica
Pairing: Lee/Kara
Rating: PG
Spoilers: None
Summary: Kid's gotta eat. Parents gotta bicker.
Author's Note: Written for
rayruz for Joy Day (and cuz she's havin' a bad day). Prompt: babyfic.
If Lee hadn't already been awoken by the fussing coming from the crib a few feet away, the sharp elbow to the ribs from the woman next to him would certainly have done the trick. “Oof!”
“Baby's crying,” Kara muttered into her pillow. It was too dark in their couples' quarters for him to see her face, but he didn't need to see her to know her eyes were shut, her face smooshed into the pillow as always.
“Yeah, I hear him,” Lee whispered back, rubbing his soon-to-be-bruised side gingerly. “He's probably hungry.”
Kara groaned and flopped from her stomach to her back, sounding a little more awake when she sighed, “So go get him. If I have to be the food supply, the least you can do is bring the kid to the trough.”
Lee shook his head at her, but he couldn't help but laugh. From the way she talked about him, you'd think their son was more of a burden than a joy to Kara, but he knew better. There was nothing - not him, not a winning hand at Triad, not flying, not even the gods themselves - that made Kara happier than their kid. So Lee swung his legs over the side of the bed, stretched with a groan and stood, shuffling in the dark until he felt the edge of the crib against his hand.
The baby was still squawking and wiggling, but Lee scooped him up easily, shushing him gently and cradling his little body close. He'd grown a lot in the few weeks since he was born, but he still seemed impossibly small.
Knowing that he had someone's attention didn't seem to calm the baby at all - if anything, he was getting louder and more insistent. “Shh, Joey,” Lee tried to soothe, patting the baby gently as he made his way back to the bed. “Just give us a second, you'll get your supper in a minute.”
“This isn't supper,” Kara grumbled, and Lee heard the covers rustle again as she sat up. “Supper is something you eat at a reasonable hour, while people are awake and alert and--” She broke off into a yawn as Lee settled on the edge of the bed, and seemed to lose her train of thought, because when she finally let out a deep exhale, all she said to him was, “And his name is Joe. Not Joey.”
“Actually,” Lee began, as he passed the baby carefully to Kara, hands bumping and sliding as they made the trade. “You got him?”
“Yeah, I've got him.”
“Okay, then - actually,” he repeated. “His name Joseph. Joseph Leland Adama, if you recall. A good, strong name for a--”
“Yeah, yeah,” she muttered, clearly over it already. Her voice went softer, sweeter as she murmured, “Come here, Nugget. Let's get you situa-ah! Gods, this kid better never get teeth.”
Lee snorted a laugh and stretched out next to her, letting his head drop to his pillow - or intending to, anyway, but it fell flat to the mattress instead. “We really need to get you a nursing pillow,” he grumbled, rolling onto his back, and letting one hand find a tiny bare foot in the dark. It twisted and wiggled as he ran his finger over the so-soft skin.
“Good luck finding one of those in the fleet. Besides, your pillow works just fine,” Kara replied, and he could hear the self-satisfied smirk in her voice. “And whatever you're doing to the kid, stop it.”
Lee let his hand drop to Kara's thigh instead, the room going quiet and still. The only sounds were the occasional snuffling sigh from Joey, and Kara's even breathing, and Lee found his eyes dropping shut.
He was startled back to full consciousness by a knee to his thigh a moment later. “Don't you dare fall asleep on me, Adama. You know the rules. If I'm up, so are you.”
“I'm up,” Lee rasped, not-quite-convincingly. “I'm up.”
“Uh huh.” She didn't believe him for a second.
“I am.” The room fell silent again, and Lee fought his exhaustion to think of something -- anything - to keep himself awake. Finally, he settled on, “If Joey--”
“Joe.”
“--becomes a pilot--”
“He will.”
“What do you think his call sign will be?”
Kara didn't miss a beat before answering, “Accident.”
“Kara!” Lee scolded quietly.
“Just sayin'.”
“I'm serious.”
“No, you're not.”
“I am.”
“The kid's three weeks old, Lee.”
“I know that-”
“Airhorn.”
Lee snorted a laugh.
“Alarm clock. Puke Fountain. Crap Factory.”
“Kara!” He had turned onto his side now, chuckling into her hip and letting his arm stretch across her lap. “Alright, alright. Enough. I get it.”
She chuckled herself, warm and sleepy, and Lee was halfway to a doze when he heard her final suggestion: “Handsome.”
Lee smiled, and thought that one sounded just about right.