Silent Witness fic
Title: First word
Rating: T
Summary: Harry tries to get Henry to say his first word, Nikki and Nial go shopping, Nial watches Supernatural and Henry eventually says his first word, much to Nial's amusement.
Notes: Just a random little family orientated fic that refused to leave me alone.
Disclaimer: Don't own anything apart from little Henry :)
“Come on Henry, you’re going to say daddy aren’t you?” Harry coaxed his ten month old son happily as he sat in the kitchen with the baby on his lap facing him, Nikki sitting opposite them at the table and rolling her eyes as she read the paper.
“No, he’s going to say mummy” she replied with a grin on her face, closing the paper and then standing up to make her way around the table and seat herself next to her husband and son. “Aren’t you darling?”
Henry just babbled and laughed in baby speak, clapping his hands and grinning at his parents, showing off three small teeth, who chuckled and fell in love with him all over again. He then grabbed Harry’s tie and brought it to his mouth before his parents could stop him, chewing on it and making Harry groan quietly as his wife extracted it from Henry’s mouth and stood up.
“I’m going to have to change it now little man” Harry told him son whose eyes filled with tears, putting his fist in his mouth as he did so.
“He were go Henry” Nikki walked back over and handed the baby a teething ring that she had got from the fridge, Henry instantly taking it and waving it around for a bit before putting it in his mouth and chewing on it. “I know, teething isn’t nice is it?” she cooed to him, herself, Harry and Nial having been kept up many times during the past few months with Henry crying over the pain of teething.
“So are you going to say daddy?” Harry continued and Nikki rolled her eyes, glancing behind them at the door as Nial walked in and sat himself down on one of the kitchen chairs. “Nice to see you’ve crawled out of bed”
“Leave him alone” Nikki chuckled as she stood up, both herself and Nial knowing that Harry was only joking “Like you ever got out of bed before nine during school holidays”
“I did”
“Liar” Nikki grinned fondly, making her way over to the toaster as the toast popped up. “Toast Nial?”
“I can do it”
“I’m here now” Nikki replied and shook her head, placing the two pieces of toast on the plate and then handing it to Nial as she walked back over to the table. “Harry can make his own”
“That’s nice isn’t it” Harry pouted at Henry who continued to chew on the teething ring and grin at his father “Come on, say daddy. Daddy has to have something happy to get him through court today”
“Dad he’s ten months old”
“Ten and a half Nial” Harry tutted and Nial rolled his eyes as he smeared jam on the toast.
“Okay ten and a half, they don’t start talking yet”
“Some do” Nikki nodded as she took the butter out of the fridge and placed it on the table for her own toast that was now cooking. “All babies are different”
“I suppose so” Nial mused and then grinned “I think his first word should be Nial”
“Don’t be silly, it’s going to be daddy” Harry shot back and Nikki rolled her eyes at the two men, although that was debatable sometimes, as she turned back to the toaster and waited for it to finish.
“Harry stop pushing him” Nikki warned her husband, knowing that Henry would start to talk in his own time. “He’s got a lot of time to learn and I don’t want him getting grumpy”
“Like mummy at her time of the month” Harry whispered to Henry and Nial snorted into his mug of coffee that Nikki had give him, both looking up and seeing Nikki glaring at her husband before looking amused.
“You know maybe a stint on the sofa or no sex would be good for you” she stated and Harry looked horrified as she smirked and turned to put her toast on her plate.
“Busted” Nial sniggered and Harry glared at him, his adopted son only laughing louder.
“What are you actually doing today?” Harry then asked Nial who shrugged.
“Might go out, there’s a DVD out today that I want” Nial replied, nibbling on the edge of his toast as he thought about it, Nikki sitting herself down next to him with her toast.
“I’ll take you if you want; I need to go to town”
“Thanks mum” Nial nodded and smirked at Harry “We’ll think of you while you’re stuck in a stuffy courtroom”
“Your brother is horrible” Harry told Henry who just laughed and waved the teething ring around.
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“Come on you” Nial smiled as he crouched down in front of Henry’s buggy and unclipped the baby from it, Henry instantly wrapping his arms around Nial’s neck for support. “Let’s go and look at the DVDs shall we?”
“Not any horrors please” Nikki rolled her eyes and Nial tutted.
“You think I’d let my little brother see those ones?”
“No, I just don’t want other people thinking that you do” Nikki replied and Nial nodded, knowing that she had a point.
“Let’s go and see what DVDs there are for you, eh?” Nial kissed Henry on the cheek and the baby giggled, resting his head on Nial’s shoulder. “I won’t be long, I know what I want”
“Okay” Nikki nodded, leaning on the buggy and smiling fondly as she watched Nial walk towards the other side of the store with Henry. She knew that none of his friends would agree willingly to go shopping with their mothers, let alone spend time with any younger siblings like Nial did.
“What do we have here then?” Nial asked Henry, reaching over and picking up the new box set that he had been waiting months for. “Supernatural. You’re too young to watch this but when you’re a bit older I will be telling you all about it”
Nial then heard someone tutting and glanced next to him to see a middle aged woman who looked to the teenager like she had something stuck someplace very uncomfortable.
“Can I help you?” he asked politely as Henry attempted to grab the thick DVD case from Nial, his tiny hand too small to do so.
“I find it hard to believe that with a son his age you’re out buying DVDs for yourself” the woman told Nial pointedly and Nial chuckled, turning to Henry who didn’t look anything like him and then back at the woman who was looking at him like he had crawled out of the sewer. “Especially at your age”
“Well first of all I don’t see a problem with my age” Nial shrugged, shifting Henry on his hip as the baby attempted to get the DVD case again “I’m quite old enough to make my own decisions about things thank you. And second, he’s not my son. He’s my brother so I think you should keep your opinions to yourself before you jump to conclusions which are quite obviously wrong”
Without waiting for an answer from the speechless woman he turned and walked towards the checkouts, hearing an elderly man he walked past mutter ‘Good on you lad’. Nial smiled and pressed a kiss to Henry’s cheek as he stood in the line.
“Some people need to learn to mind their own business” he murmured to his brother who just laid his head on Nial’s shoulder and sucked on his fist.
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“What are you doing for the rest of the day?” Nikki asked Nial as they sat in a cafe having lunch, Henry sitting in one of the highchairs munching on some banana and orange that he loved.
“Watching the DVD” Nial replied, glancing at Henry who was too busy eating to pay any attention to anything else “I might introduce Henry to it”
“I don’t think so” Nikki smirked and shook her head as Nial chuckled “You couldn’t look after him for a few hours could you? There’s a file that Leo needs for one of my cases that he took up and he wants me to go through everything with him”
“I’m sure I can wait a few more hours to watch my DVD” Nial sighed dramatically and Nikki smiled at her son “Of course I will”
“Thank you” Nikki sipped her coffee before frowning and putting the mug down again “What got you so annoyed in the shop?”
“Wha..oh some woman decided that she was going to stick her nose in and tell me that I shouldn’t be buying DVDs when I have a young son to take care of at my age”
“Your..oh” Nikki sighed and Nial rolled his eyes “What did you say?”
“I put her straight. Told her that I am extremely well off and that my son already has the best he can wish for and I wanted to get him started early on watching my favourite tv programs” Nial replied seriously and Nikki giggled loudly, Nial sniggering and shaking his head “No I told her that my age wasn’t a problem and that he was my brother, that shut the interfering bitch up”
“Nial” Nikki warned him for his language and Nial shrugged.
“What? I don’t understand what’s wrong with having a child at my age as long as you love the person you’re with and you’re quite willing to raise a child properly”
“Please tell me you’re not saying that because you’ve got some girl pregnant” Nikki told him, panicking slightly.
“No” Nial scoffed and shook his head, seeing his mother visibly relax “But you know what I mean right?”
“I do”
“If you love the child and can raise it properly then...you know. I don’t understand why some people insist on making everyone else live up to their standards and how they think their life should be run”
“That’s very sensible” Nikki smiled, proud of her son for thinking like that. He’d come on a lot since she first met him over a year and a half ago and he’d started to think for himself and what he wanted out of life. “I wish I thought that when I was your age. Then again society was different anyway” she shrugged and Nial nodded, sitting back and smiling as one of the workers brought their toasties over to the table and placed them down in front of them.
“You know I wish I actually told her that Henry was my son, just to see the look on her face”
Nikki giggled and shook her head in amusement.
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“Now little brother, what’s wrong?” Nial cooed as he picked his sobbing brother off the play mat and held him to his body “Is it your teeth?” he asked, seeing the baby sucking on his fist as he sobbed. “Come on you”
He walked through to the kitchen and opened the fridge, pulling out a cool teething ring and handing it to Henry who instantly began to chew on it, his sobs dying down after a few seconds as the cool ring soothed his gums.
“I think you need a nap, you’re getting grumpy” Nial then told Henry as he made his way through to the living room, picking up Henry’s toy elephant that seemed to go everywhere with the baby. Henry grabbed it with his spare hand and smiled at his older brother around the teething ring, hugging Ellie to his chest with his other small arm. “Then I can watch some of my new DVD” he chuckled.
Fifteen minutes later however and Nial was sitting on the sofa with Henry who was dozing in his arms, the baby having screamed and cried when Nial had attempted to leave him in the nursery for a nap. Normally Harry and Nikki would leave Henry in there to tire himself out for a nap when that happened but Nial couldn’t bear to hear Henry’s heart wrenching sobs and had taken him downstairs to sleep in his arms. He knew how much Harry and Nikki hated to leave Henry when he was crying and he didn’t know how they had the willpower to leave him.
Nial’s eyes were trained on the television as he watched the first episode of the new box set that he had brought, knowing that as long as Henry didn’t see any gory bits it was fine, it wasn’t like the baby would remember them anyway if he did.
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“Good day today daddy?” Harry laughed as Nial walked into the kitchen where his parents were, his father just having come home from court and Nikki cooking dinner for them.
“Mum told you then” Nial stated and Nikki giggled while Harry laughed loudly “It wasn’t funny” the teenager whined “Honestly, stupid woman should have kept her nose out”
“That’s life Nial” Harry shrugged and turned to Henry who was sitting in his highchair “Did you enjoy shopping with mummy and Nial?” he asked and Henry giggled, patting Harry’s face with a banana covered hand and making Harry pout. “Are you going to say daddy?”
Nikki rolled her eyes at her husband and then turned back to them quickly when she heard Henry.
“Cas” he giggled and clapped his hands “Cas”
“Cas?” Harry asked as Nikki grinned, her eyes filling with tears as she wiped her hands and made her way over to her son who had just said his first proper word. Nial winced and rubbed the back of his neck, checking the distance from himself to the door that was his only means on exit.
“Castal” Henry giggled as Nikki hugged and kissed him, praising him for being such a clever boy, Harry joining in as he kissed Henry’s cheek and stroked his hair.
“What..” Nikki asked and then frowned, turning to her husband as it clicked in their minds, having seen a few episodes of Nial’s programs when they had been in the same room as him. “Castiel?” she murmured, recalling the name of one of the characters.
“Nial” Harry growled and turned to the sixteen year old who looked back innocently as Henry continued to repeat ‘Cas’ and ‘Castal’ after getting attention from both of his parents.
“Sorry?”
Nikki just giggled, happy and proud that her son had said his first word already. She pressed a kiss to Henry’s cheek and nuzzled his nose with her own and made them both giggle.
“Clever boy” she murmured as Henry grinned and patted her cheeks gently.