homeless_pard | Well...babies

Entry tags:

jason au,
starter

Well...babies

Who: Nat, Beryl, tiny twins
When: A few months after the twins are born.
What: Oh gods the parents need SLEEP.

Khemrys sighed, looking exhausted and grateful all at the same time, "true thanks, Beryl, that you are willing to aid here..." She passed a bag full of many things from cloth diapers to plastic ones that Jason found easier, and bottles, though adjusting to the breast pump had been, hard, it had freed her up a great deal to do more work in the greenhouse and stillroom, and let Jason feed them at night without having to wake her...

...it was still strange to use. But convenience was a large word in this world!

"Even I can tell you're ready to drop, Khem," Beryl snorted, slinging the bag over a shoulder easily. "We can handle them for a day." Easy, right?

"They are good children, but..."

"But babies, and you're both tired. Especially since Jason had to attend that banquet with Jean-Claude last week," she nodded. "Your job now is to let your employees run the store, let your husband take you to dinner, then you both sleep yourselves out okay?" She figured they didn't need any innuendo there. If they HAD the energy to get up to anything more power to them!

"Nat is getting the car seats installed properly.." She expected him any second really, eager to take an armful of infant!

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"Might as well try to give her one; we can always reheat it, right?" He eyed the little girl quietly staring at him. "We won't let your brother eat all the food, will we?"

He lifted his head to watch Beryl in the kitchen and offered her an encouraging smile. "Thanks for bringing all the stuff up, babe."

Irias gave a slow blink? And a hiccup. Yup. This was NOT mom and NOT dad but she was reserving judgement for now!

Beryl chuckled, "hey, you had kids, we did equal amounts here babe." Just saying? "I'll poke at what Khem sent us once the kids are fed." So they didn't forget to do the eating thing themselves!

Nathaniel gave her a sly smile. "In my kitchen?" he asked, trying to sound offended and failing. Failing spectacularly as he couldn't help but giggle moments after he said it.

"Hey, I figured you'd have less issue with Khem food than me trying to cook in your kitchen!" she laughed, pouring carefully. "I know my place!" she teased.

"Well, I'll be watching you," he warned playfully once she approached with the bottles. "Which one? Kirion'll probably only be interested in draining the bottle if you to try with him. Or you can have The Watcher, here."

"I shiver in my boots," she chuckled, passing him a bottle. "I think Kirion staked a claim there and might object leaving you before eating." So she'd try with Irias and hope for the best!

"Oh wait burp cloths!" They were suggested! And she could grab them!

"Good thinking, I forgot about those," Nathaniel admitted. Once he handed Irias off, he tried his best to swap his braid with the bottle. "Kirion, I promise you'll like this better..."

There was a red-faced, angry wail as the braid was pulled free and Nathaniel's eyes widened in shock. "No no no no, here, take...Kirion, the bottle is right here!" He found himself chasing the screaming, thrashing mouth with the bottle. After what seemed like forever, Kirion's mouth closed over the bottle's nipple and the din immediately subsided into eager grunting sounds. Nathaniel gave a nervous giggle. "Jason wasn't kidding..."

"Ack..." she winced, cradling Irias and bracing for the sister to start squalling as well but she stayed quiet. Dark eyes STAAAAARING in Kirion's direction though, utterly uncaring of an offered bottle until her brother shut up. Then, well, she...poked at it, not so much drinking as just playing with it in her mouth.

"I'm not sure she understands the concept of food..."

Nathaniel laughed softly. "Maybe he took all the food motivation meant for the two of them."

He caught sight of Beryl cradling Irias and smiled wistfully to himself.

"Hey girl c'mon, you have to eat so you can get big and strong too to smash your brother when he's being an idiot," she cajoled, utterly distracted for a while. When in doubt appeal to sibling rivalry?

Maybe?

"Oh there we go, she just had to play a bit..." she sighed, glancing up to catch his gaze.

His expression shifted quickly, but not quickly enough. "See," he tried softly, "You're doing even better than me."

"Babe?" she asked softly at that look, worried. How not? "And your boy is guzzling, no way you think Ms. Two sips so far is 'better' here."

He inched closer to her, letting the touch of her body ground him. "He's guzzling: Jason said he also spews it all back up and then screams for more, so..."

He paused and his violet eyes met hers with gentle concern. "You doing ok?" he asked softly.

She carefully leaned her head on his shoulder and sighed, "well, make him stop now for a few minutes so he has some bottle left after that?" she offered. Made sense to her!

Was she? "I...have no idea. You...look amazing with a baby in your arms..."

Nathaniel gave a nervous laugh. "I'm almost afraid to stop him..." He tried pulling the bottle away and that mouth searched frantically for it. "Just a minute, Kirion, you'll get more in a minute," he soothed, lifting the baby to his chest and gently rubbing and patting his back.

"So do you," he admitted. "I was...worried. When we said we'd do this. I didn't want you to..." Be sad. But of course they would be. Yes, they: he couldn't deny that.

"We outweigh him by a lot, don't be scared?" she suggested wryly. Wry because she totally understood that fear! She'd be scared too! "He acts up too much we can trade?" she smiled.

Ah, yeah..."I didn't want you to be hurt either." Be sad. Gods. "You'd be...an amazing dad Nat." He really would.

"I don't know, he's pretty strong. And loud," he mused as the infant was rooting almost violently at his shoulder, making him laugh softly. He let out a breath. "So would you," he breathed. "A mom, I mean..."

He was silent again; this was hard, talking about it. "I didn't think I'd be as...sad as I was," he confided. "But I...I didn't want you to feel bad and think it was your fault. Because it wasn't, at all, Beryl."

"Yeah, but I have less hair to get hands on," she chuckled softly as Irias gave up on drinking again and went back to patting and poking the bottle like a toy. Silly child. So this was why parents did airplane noises for food delivery apparently...

"I didn't...ever think I could be." A mom. "My insides never...well, you know." He'd nursed her through some bad periods, followed by months of nothing. "My...back then, I was told I was just broken and get over it."

There was a wet, gurgling sound and Nathaniel started upright, wiping frantically at Kirion's mouth. "Oh god, it keeps coming." Satisfied with that bit of relief, Kirion immediately started going red-faced and searching again. No point in cleaning up right now, so Nathaniel guided the bottle back into his mouth.

"Neither did I," he said after all of that. "I mean, not as much as what you went through, but..." He reached out a hand, barely touching her shoulder. "You're not broken, babe. You're not: you're the most amazing person I've ever met."

She winced on his behalf and reached out to dab a bit of smudge off his cheek? Just in time for Irias to give up on poking the bottle and start poking Beryl's nose. Ack. Trying not to sneeze on the infant...

...that took more self control than she thought as she lifted her head to let her play with a chin instead. Sheesh. "We're not broken," she sighed eventually. "We. Do you think we could...do anything like this?" she kind of lifted Irias a little.

He looked her over as she lifted Irias and sighed. "I...want to think we could?" He sounded uncertain, but it was an odd mix of emotions swirling around him. "I know I could if you were with me."

Beryl was really glad she hadn't worn earrings honestly, that would have been a nightmare given how firmly pinchy Irias was managing! Another several minutes of poking and playing and she wanted her bottle back. "ADHD baby," she grumbled softly.

Anyway. "...did...is it something you...?" want?

"Just be glad we're not in the Huntgrounds or she'd have your braids in her fists," he teased gently.

He opened his mouth to answer but nothing came out. What did he want? That was always a hard question for him, and this doubly so...
But at the same time, not hard at all because deep down he knew the answer. He swallowed and answered carefully. "I think...with you...I...would." His nervousness was palpable. "But not so much that I'd be upset if we didn't or...couldn't."

"That's be a nightmare," she chuckled, using the sound to bleed off some of her own nerves given she'd actually asked that question. "Then she would dangle like Tarzan." And be terrifying!

Ah. She swallowed, nodding once, carefully, "we might...never get that...lucky again?" She knew it was practically impossible the first time. She'd grown up knowing that!

He felt that. He didn't have a free hand while he fed Kirion, but he forced himself to find her eyes. "Beryl. If we never do again, I would be okay if I still had you. But," now his eyes dropped nervously. "If you...wanted to...try...I'd be ok with that?"

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