sequel
Title: Noisy Late Nights
Pairing: Frank/Gerard
Author: mcrnut
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: Do not own them.
Summary: Sequel to Gerardwantstohavebabies!ficlet
A/N: Huh. For picture challenge 5 over at picturethis_mcr. Again.
Gerard blinks awake at the sound of a weak, muffled cry.
"Your turn." Frank mumbles into his pillow from somewhere to his right.
Gerard waves an arm around, rolling out of bed. He hisses at the cold floor and steps into his worn slippers, shuffling into the nursery.
Leaning over the crib, he peers down at the bundle of angry baby. Her little face is scrunched up and red and she kicks her legs unhappily. "Hey Em." He murmurs and slides a hand carefully up behind her neck to support her soft head. He says, "hey, little Angel." and lifts her up to his chest.
She coughs into the thin material of his t-shirt and curls a tiny fist into a lock of his hair, pulling.
"Ouch." He says quietly and pushes her higher up on his shoulder. "Let's go find you something to eat."
He gets out a bottle from the fridge with one hand and clicks the microwave on. He has to take the bottle out and set it back in three times before it's the right temperature, and then closes the slightly greasy door with the back of his hand.
Em makes a gurgling sound when he sinks down on the couch and arranges her to lie in the bow of his arm. She feeds enthusiastically, breathing heavily though her nose and looking up at him with round, dark eyes. He awkwardly uses his chin to hold the bottle upright while he grabs the remote from the coffee table, turning on the tv.
Unsurprisingly, there's nothing interesting on and he mutes it, letting it light up the room at least. He leans back and sets his feet against the edge of the couch so his arm isn't taking all of Em's weight.
After a while she stops drinking, her eyes droopy, and she makes some unsatisfied noises, flailing uncoordinatedly with her chubby little arms.
"Shhh," Gerard soothes, rising from the couch and stroking her back carefully. "Shh, little Angel, calm."
He walks around their small living room and whispers against the side of her head.
It takes a while, but she calms down. Gerard keeps whispering to her, talking about how she's gonna be everything she wants to be, how she's going to be so beautiful and smart and if she wants to play with cars instead of barbies, that's just fine. He holds up the one-sided conversation until the birds are chirping cheerily outside, murmuring and sliding his palm in calm circles over her back.
She's been asleep for a while when he carefully lays her back down in her crib. He braces one hand on the wall and holds his breath when she huffs and wiggles, but she falls right back to sleep.
His heart grows several sizes when she makes a low noise in her sleep, gripping the blanket under her firmly. 'My daughter', he thinks for the hundredth time since they took her home, and he's not about to deny that his eyes are watering, just a little.
He probably looks like a zombie at this point, he thinks, rubbing a hand over his stiff face. He sighs and walks back in to their bedroom to find Frank sprawled out in the middle of the gigantic bed, mouth half open and hair sticking up everywhere.
He opens his eyes and looks at Gerard blearily for a second. "You feed her?" he croaks.
Gerard toes his slippers off and climbs back under the sheets. "Yeah."
"She still hot?" Frank asks, closing his eyes, and finds Gerard's hand under the covers lacing their fingers.
Gerard squeezes and shakes his head. "No, she's fine. Was just hungry."
Gerard is drifting in and out of sleep, half-heartedly listening for more cries. Several minutes later, Frank twitches and says, "good. I'll..I'll get up with her, you sleep in."
Squeezing Frank's hand again, Gerard breathes and lets himself fall.