Reaquaintance
Mal: "Doctor. I'm taking your sister under my protection here. If anything happens to her, anything at all, I swear to you - I will get very choked up. Honestly. There could be tears."
-- Serenity
Ashwin picks up Riann from the nursery and takes her to Jensen's quarters for him. That's all.
It wasn’t his habit to offer to do this, but today he had. With one of those quirks of his brows that conveyed an unvoiced question he expected to go unanswered, his Captain had accepted the offer.
The nanny had a lecture ready on how he was supposed to hold Riann, but to her credit she must have been watching, for she swallowed the rest of it once he had hold of the baby, and it became obvious he knew how to hold her. He didn’t know if a child her age was able to remember something that happened so early in her life, but he thought perhaps she did recall him, for she stopped her fussing as he gathered her in against his chest, and wrapped one of her tiny hands around his shirt, tugging on the button as she had when he’d held her on the island. She was much more of a handful now, bracing her little legs against him and driving one into his stomach until he scooped her into a more comfortable hold.
“You grew,” he murmured to her, saving his words for when they were out in the hallway. She ignored him, tugging away insistently on the button as he watched. “Have you back with him in a minute,” he continued, falling into the habit of murmuring to her as though he had not ceased it, all these months. “Appreciate it if you’d let him sleep tonight. Growled a bit this morning.” She tried to get her mouth around the button in response to that, and he eased his little finger in to make sure she couldn’t suck it off, noting that the threads were loose. “Choke on that, what are we going to tell them? You going to do the talking?” She knew the word ‘talk’, apparently, and responded with a delighted, inarticulate squeal that drew a smile from him.
He lifted his head to nod to a group of the laundry girls as they passed, pale eyes neutral, expression blank. One seemed inclined to stop and coo at the baby, but her friends hauled her along with them, and the Lieutenant turned his face down to her to lift one brow, once they were gone. “I know,” he agreed, in response perhaps to some imagined, unspoken comment he imputed to his tiny charge. Then: “Looking more like your father these days.” She lifted her hood, and looked him straight in the eye, studying him as gravely as he studied her. “Daddy,” she commented cheerfully, then. “Not the one you mean,” Ashwin replied softly. “See if you can inherit something from your other Da, too, the one you’re talking about.” She turned her head away from his finger, and leaned forward again, eyes on his face, to try and get her mouth around his button. “Something other than persistency,” he corrected himself, easing her away again. “Though that’s good too.”
They reached the door, and he lifted one hand to knock a warning before he eased it open, stepping inside.
-- Serenity
Ashwin picks up Riann from the nursery and takes her to Jensen's quarters for him. That's all.
It wasn’t his habit to offer to do this, but today he had. With one of those quirks of his brows that conveyed an unvoiced question he expected to go unanswered, his Captain had accepted the offer.
The nanny had a lecture ready on how he was supposed to hold Riann, but to her credit she must have been watching, for she swallowed the rest of it once he had hold of the baby, and it became obvious he knew how to hold her. He didn’t know if a child her age was able to remember something that happened so early in her life, but he thought perhaps she did recall him, for she stopped her fussing as he gathered her in against his chest, and wrapped one of her tiny hands around his shirt, tugging on the button as she had when he’d held her on the island. She was much more of a handful now, bracing her little legs against him and driving one into his stomach until he scooped her into a more comfortable hold.
“You grew,” he murmured to her, saving his words for when they were out in the hallway. She ignored him, tugging away insistently on the button as he watched. “Have you back with him in a minute,” he continued, falling into the habit of murmuring to her as though he had not ceased it, all these months. “Appreciate it if you’d let him sleep tonight. Growled a bit this morning.” She tried to get her mouth around the button in response to that, and he eased his little finger in to make sure she couldn’t suck it off, noting that the threads were loose. “Choke on that, what are we going to tell them? You going to do the talking?” She knew the word ‘talk’, apparently, and responded with a delighted, inarticulate squeal that drew a smile from him.
He lifted his head to nod to a group of the laundry girls as they passed, pale eyes neutral, expression blank. One seemed inclined to stop and coo at the baby, but her friends hauled her along with them, and the Lieutenant turned his face down to her to lift one brow, once they were gone. “I know,” he agreed, in response perhaps to some imagined, unspoken comment he imputed to his tiny charge. Then: “Looking more like your father these days.” She lifted her hood, and looked him straight in the eye, studying him as gravely as he studied her. “Daddy,” she commented cheerfully, then. “Not the one you mean,” Ashwin replied softly. “See if you can inherit something from your other Da, too, the one you’re talking about.” She turned her head away from his finger, and leaned forward again, eyes on his face, to try and get her mouth around his button. “Something other than persistency,” he corrected himself, easing her away again. “Though that’s good too.”
They reached the door, and he lifted one hand to knock a warning before he eased it open, stepping inside.