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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"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?"

She closed her eyes a moment and shivered, which resulted in having to sooth Irias again for a few minutes. "How do you not...blame me?" she asked at last. Just how? She could have fucked up their only chance because she needed to fight...

He blinked at her, his eyes almost impossible large. "Babe," he said softly. "There's no way we would have known. It wasn't something we thought was...something that could happen." He licked his lips nervously. "If anything, I'm more to blame than you could be: I should have been more careful. I...I wasn't careful when we were in Khem's world and didn't have protection."

"Hey, neither of us did that. I knew there was tea I could drink, I just..." never had before really? It didn't regulate periods enough to make her 'regular' so what would be the point?

"I just...should I stop? Fighting, I mean." She hated the idea but that was part of sacrifice right?

He frowned. "I hate for you to stop after you worked so hard, babe. Honestly, it's something that can wait if that's what you want." He nudged his knee soothingly against hers. "But I think, if you...do want to...try..." He shrugged helplessly. "You might still be able to fight until we...knew? If we're...trying, we'd know sooner...right?"

"I love fighting," she admitted thickly. It was part of her, and something her patron goddess apparently approved of, but said goddess wasn't one of hearth and home was she? "If....if we tried we could ask...Khem? Or you could ask Gunnora maybe? I won't be any good in...trying to figure that out."

"I know you do," he sighed. "I can see it when I watch you. Which is why I don't want you to stop unless..." he swallowed and pushed himself to say the words, "unless us having a baby is something you really want."

He gave a short laugh. "And we could ask Khem. Or Gunnora. Or we can go buy a bunch of tests from the store. I just don't want anything to make you feel awkward."

"I love you watching," she admitted with a smile. That was just true, and she tried harder when he was there honestly. "I don't know, Nat. I don't know at all, it's so alien to even think it's an option. But I want us to...think about it. Talk about it. I don't think we could have...many? And we should be sure we're ready if we do decide..." so once they had their place and such but.

But.

Irias had gotten two thirds a bottle down and just...stopped, not like she was bored, but like she was done so she carefully juggled the baby to her shoulder for thumping!

His smile was distant as he eased the bottle from Kirion's mouth: he'd fallen asleep but his little mouth was still working away at the bottle in his sleep. "It's not something we need to decide anytime soon, babe. I'd rather give up on the idea forever if I knew it would be something upsetting for you. It's just...something I hadn't realized until...all this."

He watched her handling Irias as he cradled Kirion. "I love you, Beryl," he breathed.

"I've been thinking about it since..." yeah. How not? She could have given Nat that additional proof that he was deserving of a family and...yeah. "It's going to be upsetting. And scary. And good. And teary, and a million other things I'm sure. I just need us to keep...talking about it. Thinking. If and when we decide it won't be in a void or without weighing things?" It distracted her from the hot, damp feel on her shoulder after a bit yes. Kinda nasty that, but...an expected nasty as she'd helped raise her siblings.

Very different point of view on it all now.

"I love you Nat, so much it hurts some days, but in a good way."

He let out a slow breath and nodded. "We can talk," he agreed. "And I'll always listen if you are worried about something." He gave a her a look that begged for a moment, then rose and walked over to set Kirion down into the little Pack'n'Play Jason had sent over. For all the noise that little baby made, he seemed to sleep hard. He looked back at Beryl and smiled. "You got throw up on you, too?"

"I know. You listen better than anyone else I've ever met," she admitted. Part of what really seduced her back when they were just Jason and Khem's friends! Hot was always a plus but he was so many other things besides! "Of course I did...it's what babies do," she laughed.

"I didn't drape the cloth far enough over my shoulder I think, take her?" Lay her down with her brother?

He was suddenly in front of her lifting the baby out of her arms. "I don't think any towel could have saved me from Kirion." He tucked the twins in close beside each other, then stood for a bit, checking and double checking that they were fine where he laid them.

Fast, sexy man yes he was. She wrinkled her nose in amusement, "no, probably not. I'll feed him next time. share the sliming properly." It was only fair?

Irias was yawning but still awake enough to swing her arms around, bopping her brother shamelessly but he was, indeed, a heavy sleeper.

He was probably used to it being crammed in such a small space with her for so long. "I don't get how they can already seem so much like their dad but so different all at the same time," Nathaniel mused.

"And don't worry about the slime, I don't mind so much: it's not nearly bad as some of the drunk bachelorettes we get at the club."

Probably, and she was absolutely leading the pack on learning all the things about motion! "Because he can come across as a toddler sometimes?" she teased, stripping her shirt off to toss in the laundry. "Shirt babe." It wasn't so bad they needed showers at least?

"Babies have fewer ingredients to toss up!"

He laughed. "Yeah, I'll give you that one. But he totally sleeps like that, too."

He turned and stripped off his shirt, using the underside to wipe at any residue. Then he paused before handing it off to her. "You sure there's no baby throw up on your bra strap?" he asked with a sly smile.

"I don't see him sleep that often," she pointed out in amusement. What? It was true!

"Hmmmm, is there?" she asked, turning around simply. His choice! "I was trying not to tempt the babies as it were..."

"Yeah, he didn't have the room to sprawl in the tent that he does in bed. But when he's comfortable, he's out cold."

He choked out a laugh at that. "Jason said they tried for him once when he was half asleep and changing them: made him jump a mile." His hand brushed down her back and deftly unhooked her bra on its way down. "Better put it in the wash, just in case."

"I have seen him stop chewing when he's distracted though," she admitted. "So I guess Irias takes after him too," she laughed, leaning back against his fingers a moment before she added her bra to the clothes to be washed.

"Turn about's fair babe, let me make sure your braid survived the deluge."

Nathaniel shook his head with amusement. "My hair is going to need washing after this babysitting no matter what." But he didn't move away from her: instead he waited for her to turn towards him and pressed his forehead against hers. "I wonder how long they sleep like that?"

"Of course, but we can absorb anything we can until then," she chuckled, then smiled, rubbing her nose against his, "not long enough probably. And I didn't get that food out. I'll start the wash if you handle that?" She'd stay topless until the kids woke!

He sighed happily, just basking for a moment in the comforting scent of her. "I'll take care of the food, thanks for taking the laundry. It should be ready by the time you get the machine started."

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