Glee fic: "It takes a village (and an excellent vocal coach)"
Title: It takes a village (and an excellent vocal coach)
Pairing: Jesse/Rachel
Rating: PG
Word count: 722
Summary: Rachel and Jesse, and their gift to the world: a combination of their incredible genetics.
Written for saya_asakura 's request of a baby fic, over at rachelandjesse .
“Jesse!” Rachel bursts into the nursery, drawing a fresh round of wailing from the little bundle in his arms. Jesse sighs, and Rachel’s face falls. “She’s still crying?”
Jesse offers up a weary smile. “She’s ours, if there was ever any doubt. She’s a drama queen already, and very determined to be the centre of attention.”
Rachel beams. “I know! That’s why I’ve just been researching all the best vocal coaches in our area, you see, because even if she won’t be able to begin acting or dancing for a couple of years at least, I myself was singing before I was even talking, and I feel confident that-”
“Rachel.” Jesse isn’t sure if she's kidding or not. He rubs his daughter’s back, bouncing her very gently in his arms like he’d been taught. “You know I fully appreciate the importance of shaping talent. And I’m sure any child of ours has plenty of that. But she’s two months old.”
“Perhaps you were a late bloomer,” Rachel says, as if soothing him. “But the other day I was bathing her and singing Rubber Ducky, and she was humming along, I swear! A little pitchy, but she’s so young still of course, she’ll have perfect pitch in no time-”
“Rachel-” At long last he hears the telltale little cough and the damp warmth that means there is spit-up down the back of his shirt. He pats his little girl’s back and kisses her soft downy hair as she begins to quiet down. Rachel hasn’t even noticed any of it: she's flipping frantically through pages and pages of information printed off the Internet.
“And I really think that since we did set aside all that money for her lessons that we might as well get an early start, because you know that some studios will give you discount rates if your child has been with them long enough-”
Jesse gently sets their baby - it still feels so strange to think the phrase ‘their baby’ - down in her crib. He kisses his fingertip and presses it to her lips, and then turns back to Rachel.
“You’re not listening,” Rachel accuses him. “I know you think I’m being crazy, but I can never thank my dads enough for giving me such an advantage in starting my training early, and I know you feel the same way-”
“I promise,” Jesse cuts in, “our daughter will have lessons in anything she has any interest in. And we’ll go to every concert and recital and play and game she’s ever in. And she will be just as talented as you or me, probably moreso because she’s us combined. Science couldn’t make a better baby than this.”
Rachel beams at him, her face glowing in the sun streaming in through the soft yellow curtains. Her hair is as shiny and silky as always, but there is a pea lodged in it from the afternoon’s feeding, and her eyes (like his) are shadowed by bags - the toll of having a newborn. He pulls the pea out of her hair under the pretence of stroking it (she would be disgusted to find it had been there so long).
Jesse takes her hand and pulls her over to the crib, where their daughter is starting to drift asleep. They stand there, leaning into each other a little - partly affection, but a little bit because they are both too exhausted to stand up straight for long - and watching her.
“You know, I still like Elphaba,” Rachel says, and Jesse laughs instead of rolling his eyes. He wraps an arm around her waist, kissing her hair.
“We’ve been over this. It would be beyond cruel to name her Elphaba, however wonderful a namesake she is. We’d be like those parents who name their kids Starchild and Apple, and besides which, it’s a celebrity cliché. The Internet would explode.”
Rachel sighs. “Yes, I know. You’re right. Natalie is a lovely name, and I think it suits her.”
“Maria, Maria,” Jesse sings softly into Rachel’s ear. She laughs.
“She’s beautiful,” Rachel says, still smiling, though she’s looking at Jesse.
“Of course she is,” Jesse answers, and together they look down into the crib. He touches his index finger to Natalie’s soft cheek. “She has our genes.”
* * *
I’ve always thought Rachel should name her daughter Elphaba, but it would be an awful thing to do to your kid. Natalie refers to Natalie Wood, who was the original Maria in West Side Story, and a Jew, and to whom Rachel says she’s had “a deep personal connection … since the age of one” in Preggers. Plus, I like the name.
Pairing: Jesse/Rachel
Rating: PG
Word count: 722
Summary: Rachel and Jesse, and their gift to the world: a combination of their incredible genetics.
Written for saya_asakura 's request of a baby fic, over at rachelandjesse .
“Jesse!” Rachel bursts into the nursery, drawing a fresh round of wailing from the little bundle in his arms. Jesse sighs, and Rachel’s face falls. “She’s still crying?”
Jesse offers up a weary smile. “She’s ours, if there was ever any doubt. She’s a drama queen already, and very determined to be the centre of attention.”
Rachel beams. “I know! That’s why I’ve just been researching all the best vocal coaches in our area, you see, because even if she won’t be able to begin acting or dancing for a couple of years at least, I myself was singing before I was even talking, and I feel confident that-”
“Rachel.” Jesse isn’t sure if she's kidding or not. He rubs his daughter’s back, bouncing her very gently in his arms like he’d been taught. “You know I fully appreciate the importance of shaping talent. And I’m sure any child of ours has plenty of that. But she’s two months old.”
“Perhaps you were a late bloomer,” Rachel says, as if soothing him. “But the other day I was bathing her and singing Rubber Ducky, and she was humming along, I swear! A little pitchy, but she’s so young still of course, she’ll have perfect pitch in no time-”
“Rachel-” At long last he hears the telltale little cough and the damp warmth that means there is spit-up down the back of his shirt. He pats his little girl’s back and kisses her soft downy hair as she begins to quiet down. Rachel hasn’t even noticed any of it: she's flipping frantically through pages and pages of information printed off the Internet.
“And I really think that since we did set aside all that money for her lessons that we might as well get an early start, because you know that some studios will give you discount rates if your child has been with them long enough-”
Jesse gently sets their baby - it still feels so strange to think the phrase ‘their baby’ - down in her crib. He kisses his fingertip and presses it to her lips, and then turns back to Rachel.
“You’re not listening,” Rachel accuses him. “I know you think I’m being crazy, but I can never thank my dads enough for giving me such an advantage in starting my training early, and I know you feel the same way-”
“I promise,” Jesse cuts in, “our daughter will have lessons in anything she has any interest in. And we’ll go to every concert and recital and play and game she’s ever in. And she will be just as talented as you or me, probably moreso because she’s us combined. Science couldn’t make a better baby than this.”
Rachel beams at him, her face glowing in the sun streaming in through the soft yellow curtains. Her hair is as shiny and silky as always, but there is a pea lodged in it from the afternoon’s feeding, and her eyes (like his) are shadowed by bags - the toll of having a newborn. He pulls the pea out of her hair under the pretence of stroking it (she would be disgusted to find it had been there so long).
Jesse takes her hand and pulls her over to the crib, where their daughter is starting to drift asleep. They stand there, leaning into each other a little - partly affection, but a little bit because they are both too exhausted to stand up straight for long - and watching her.
“You know, I still like Elphaba,” Rachel says, and Jesse laughs instead of rolling his eyes. He wraps an arm around her waist, kissing her hair.
“We’ve been over this. It would be beyond cruel to name her Elphaba, however wonderful a namesake she is. We’d be like those parents who name their kids Starchild and Apple, and besides which, it’s a celebrity cliché. The Internet would explode.”
Rachel sighs. “Yes, I know. You’re right. Natalie is a lovely name, and I think it suits her.”
“Maria, Maria,” Jesse sings softly into Rachel’s ear. She laughs.
“She’s beautiful,” Rachel says, still smiling, though she’s looking at Jesse.
“Of course she is,” Jesse answers, and together they look down into the crib. He touches his index finger to Natalie’s soft cheek. “She has our genes.”
* * *
I’ve always thought Rachel should name her daughter Elphaba, but it would be an awful thing to do to your kid. Natalie refers to Natalie Wood, who was the original Maria in West Side Story, and a Jew, and to whom Rachel says she’s had “a deep personal connection … since the age of one” in Preggers. Plus, I like the name.