Silent Witness fic
Title: Family times
Rating: T
Summary: Family times with the Cunninghams, cuddly microbes, cooking, painting and utter cheesy fluff :P
Disclaimer: Don't own anything apart from the kidlets and Melanie.
“Mama what we doing?”
“We’re making pancakes for daddy while he’s still sleeping” Nikki replied to Owen as she carried the almost two year old into the kitchen, almost four year old Henry trailing behind her. All three of them were still in their pyjamas and the boys were getting excited about being allowed to cook.
“And the baby?” Henry asked and patted Nikki’s five month pregnant stomach, his mother chuckling and nodded.
“And the baby” she replied, placing Owen on one of the kitchen chairs and her son standing up, wrapping his arms around her neck and kissing her on the lips.
“Love you lots mummy”
Nikki smiled; these were the moments that she loved. Before having children she never really understood anything that was said about motherhood, especially how any woman could love something so ugly and wrinkly when they were newborn or how they could love anything that had given them that much pain. But then she’s had her children and it was like something had been switched on in her brain.
“I love you baby”
“Owen not baby” Owen grinned and patted Nikki’s stomach “Baby in here”
“Yes but you will always be my baby as well” Nikki nodded; blowing a raspberry on his cheeks and making her son giggle and laugh loudly. “So will Henry”
“’kay” Owen nodded and kissed Nikki on the lips again before handing her the cuddly E.coli that Harry had for him when he had been born. Nikki rolled her eyes when she saw it and then nodded towards the living room.
“Go and put it in there so it doesn’t get messy” she told him and Owen nodded, jumping off the chair and running into the living room.
Harry had brought Henry a cuddly disease as well but the oldest had Anthrax. Not wanting Nial to be left out Harry had brought him the Gangrene cuddly toy for the second Christmas that Nial had spent with them and while he also had the usual games and books that he had asked for the way his eyes lit up when he had seen the cuddly black and green toy with eyes had made Nikki’s throat clench. The teenager had admitted to her later that day that it was like he was being accepted more into the family and had joked that everyone in the Cunningham clan would have to have one. Harry had taken this to heart and Nikki had received a Mad Cow Disease toy the next week, something that amused the two men greatly, especially her husband. Harry had already brought Samuel and Melanie a cuddly microbe for their next birthdays but refused to tell anyone apart from Nial what they were.
“Now you two wash your hands” she told her sons as Owen ran into the room and they quickly did as they were told, standing on the portable step that was in the kitchen to help them reach the sink easily without having to be held up. “With soap” she added, knowing what children were like. She reached over them and put some soap on her own hands, washing them and running her wet hands over her son’s faces, all three of them laughing loudly as the children protested.
“Mummy” Henry laughed as he moved away from her and pouted, he then placed his wet hands on her stomach over her light blue pyjama top and moved them away, a larger grin forming on his face when he saw the handprints.
“Me too”
Owen placed his wet hands on her stomach and Nikki giggled as he moved them away and saw the other two handprints next to his brother’s slightly bigger ones.
“Have you two finished decorating mummy’s tummy?” Nikki laughed lovingly at her sons and they nodded, running over to the towels and drying their hands. She then brought her hand to her stomach when the baby kicked out and her smile grew “Boys come here, the baby’s kicking”
Her sons were by her side in an instant and she put two of their hands on the same spot, stroking the underside of her bump to try and get the baby to move or kick. They were in luck and Nikki giggled when Owen jumped slightly as the baby kicked against his hand. She stroked his hair as they kept their hands on her bump and Henry put his ear to her stomach causing his mother to laugh kindly.
“How about we get the stethoscope out later and you can try and listen to the baby” she suggested and her sons nodded eagerly “Good, now we have to make breakfast for daddy”
“And Nial and Mel? Where’s Sammy?”
“They’re at a hotel at the moment” Nikki replied “They were looking at unis for them to go to and they took Sammy”
“Oh” Henry replied as Nikki opened the fridge door and pulled out the milk.
“What’s going on here then?”
Nikki, Henry and Owen all jumped when they heard Harry’s voice and turned to see him in the doorway of the kitchen still dressed in his baggy tracksuit bottoms, his torso bare and his hair still tousled from sleep.
“We’re making pancakes daddy” Henry grinned, jumping down from the kitchen table where he had been stirring something in a large bowl and threw himself at his father who chuckled and scooped him up, placing him on his hip and kissing him on cheek.
“For you daddy” Owen added as Harry walked over and pressed a kiss to the younger child as well, ruffling his hair.
“For me?” he asked, his eyes trained on Nikki as she walked away from the cooker and nodded, looping her arms around his neck and leaning up to kiss him, both of them tasting the mint on the other’s breath and chuckling as they drew away.
“Hmm” she nodded again and then moved away “Because you’ve been working hard lately and we wanted to surprise you in bed”
“Well” Harry smirked, placing Henry on the floor and then wrapping his arms around his wife from behind, placing his hands on her bump and pushing her top up so there was skin on skin. He pressed his lips to her neck and Nikki giggled loudly. “What shall I do for you and all your hard work my darling?”
“Keep getting me pregnant” Nikki whispered as she turned and pecked him on the lips before removing his arms from her and walking over to their boys “Is it ready?”
“Uh hu”
Harry smiled and took the time to observe his family. All three of them were covered in flour and Harry had to wonder if a flour fight had happened, Owen’s light brown hair was lighter still with the flour and when Harry looked closely he could see that Henry’s blonde hair was also full of it, their pyjamas had splashing of flour and Nikki had four hand shaped patches of what looked like wet flour on her pyjama top over her bump.
“When you’ve all eaten daddy can give you both a bath”
Harry chuckled and shook his head, sitting himself down on the chair next to Owen and receiving another kiss on the lips from his son.
“So you get them messy and hyped up on pancakes and sugar and I have to deal with the aftermath?”
“Hmm” Nikki nodded, turning to look at her husband, smile on her face and one hand on her stomach. The sight made Harry’s breath catch in his throat like it always did and he smiled lovingly at his wife who he saw blush and look away from him. It amused him greatly that he could still get her to blush like he had been able to when they first started seeing each other.
“We’re going to face paint mummy’s tummy later daddy” Henry told him and Harry turned to the oldest who was nodding at him.
“Are you? Can daddy join in?”
“Of course” Henry nodded, his tone the same matter-of-fact tone that Harry regularly heard from Nikki when she was right about something and knew that she was right even when other people doubted her.
“Only if daddy gives you both a bath first” Nikki added and Harry pouted at her.
-------------------------------------------------------
“These are safe for the baby right?” Harry enquired as he looked at the face painting pencils in his hand, Henry and Owen already eagerly drawing on Nikki’s bump as she lay on the sofa with her t-shirt pulled up above her stomach.
“Yes Harry” she sighed and rolled her eyes “Do you honestly think I wouldn’t check?”
“No but..”
“Come and claim some skin before your sons steal it all” Nikki interrupted with a giggle, trying not to shift too much as the feeling of the pencils on her skin tickled her. Harry crouched down next to the sofa and pressed a kiss to her cheek.
“All of your skin is mine” he murmured and Nikki chuckled, turning her head and pressing a feather light kiss to his lips before her husband moved down her body slightly and began to draw on her stomach as well.
Nikki sighed in contentment as she rested her head back on the cushion behind her, biting her lip slightly to stop herself giggling at the tickling sensation as her boys drew on her. She loved days like this when neither of them had to work or go to school and nursery and could just spend time as a family. The baby moved in her and she couldn’t stop the giggle this time, knowing that the other three had felt it as well.
“You’re getting him excited” she chuckled, reaching down and placing her hand on the top of her bump where they hadn’t claimed with pictures yet.
“Can he feel mama?” Owen asked and Nikki nodded.
“Yes, he can feel you drawing on me and he can also hear when you talk to him”
“Really”
“Hmm” Nikki nodded and smiled when Harry pressed a kiss to her stomach and then went back to drawing.
“Hello little brover” Owen spoke to her bump and Nikki reached down to stroke his hair gently.
“Or sister” Harry told his youngest son and Owen nodded “It’s a girl isn’t it Nikki?”
“No don’t listen to daddy” Nikki shook her head, poking Harry on the shoulder with her other hand “He doesn’t know what he’s on about”
Harry pouted at her before finishing his drawing and chuckling. Nikki glanced down and giggled loudly when she saw the red heart that was drawn on her bump.
“Of course that is the correct anatomical drawing of a heart Dr Cunningham”
“Yes it is” Harry nodded, trying to be serious as he handed the red pencil to Henry who continued to draw on Nikki’s bump “I happen to have graduated university with a first in medicine and pathology” he told her in a mock posh voice.
“But definitely not in art I see” Nikki giggled and Harry pouted “Is that what the drawings on your work looked like?”
“No” Harry scoffed “I didn’t colour those in”
Nikki giggled louder this time and her husband chuckled, leaning down and blowing a raspberry on her stomach and making her squirm under him. The baby moved and kicked out at the same spot and Harry beamed as he placed his hand on the same placed and felt the unborn baby move and kick.
“See this is why I never get any sleep” Nikki told her husband, poking him in the shoulder again “When you come to bed you always talk to the baby and wake him up”
“I have to say goodnight to her” Harry replied and shook his head “I can’t sleep otherwise”
Nikki smiled lovingly at her husband as he moved closer to her and pressed a kiss to her lips, she buried one hand in his hair and he rested one hand on the top of her head, playing with a strand of her soft blonde hair.
“You are even more stunningly beautiful when you’re pregnant” he murmured and Nikki blushed slightly. “There’s something about it that makes me go all caveman about it all”
Nikki giggled quietly and nodded, she had noticed. During all three pregnancies Harry had had a thing about always going shopping with her but in between pregnancies he avoided it like the plague unless he was going alone. He had admitted to her that he loved to see the jealous looks that he got from the men as he was walking around with her and their sons and loved to be with her to show that he was the man lucky enough to have her carrying his baby. However this pregnancy Nikki had abused that power by dragging Harry shopping three times in four days and the male pathologist had put a foot down, vowing that he wouldn’t be venturing shopping with his wife for a long time.
------------------------------------------
“Did Harry get bored again and run out of paper?”
“Sorry?” Nikki asked as she turned to look at Melanie who was pouring out water from the kettle into the mugs on the side. She then realised what the younger woman was on about and glanced down at her bump, her t-shirt having ridden up slightly. “The boys wanted to decorate the bump and Harry joined in”
“You’re lucky Sammy and Nial weren’t here” Melanie giggled and Nikki laughed loudly, accepting the mug of strawberry tea from the younger woman “Especially Nial, the big kid that he is”
Nikki smirked and nodded, the sound of loud singing of ‘Living on a Prayer’ coming from the living room where Nial and the three children were playing on Guitar Hero. Well Nial was playing the guitar and the children were singing along. They’d just finished a rendition of a couple of Duran Duran songs and it sounded like Bon Jovi was the next on the list for a few songs.
“Knowing my luck it will stain and I’ll walk around looking like a piece of paper for days on end” Nikki rolled her eyes “By the way I need to go shopping and for once I don’t think Harry wants to come for some reason”
“Funny that”
“Hmm” Nikki nodded “You’ll come with me won’t you? I need some more clothes and I’m sure you’ll be more help than Harry is”
“I thought he enjoyed picking out maternity clothes for you” Melanie frowned as she leant against the counter behind her, her mug of coffee in her hand.
“Well his first choice is always ‘go naked’” Nikki rolled her eyes and Melanie giggled into her mug “But I doubt turning up to court naked will go down well”
“Harry wouldn’t let you out of the house” Melanie smirked and Nikki smirked right back at her.
“He wouldn’t let me out of the bedroom”
Both women laughed loudly and Nikki flicked her hair over her shoulder.
“Yeah I’ll come with you”
“Oh shit”
“Nial” Melanie and Nikki shouted at the same time when they heard his voice and they both imagined him flinching. They both made their way through to the living room and saw the eighteen year old glaring at the screen.
“Nial said a bad word” Henry stated and his older brother mock glared at him.
“Yes I know and I don’t want any of you repeating it” Nikki replied and Nial gave her a guilty look as he glanced at her “Yes you stand there and look guilty. For that you can babysit tomorrow while Mel and I go shopping”
“Where’s dad going to be?”
“Work”
“Looks like it’s just me and you lot tomorrow kidlets” Nial beamed as he turned to the three younger children who cheered and high-five him before going back to the game.
Nikki chuckled and rolled her eyes, her and Mel turning to go back into the kitchen for their daily woman’s talk that the men steered clear of at any cost.