A Hidden Cradle
Trigger Warning List Pregnancy, Pregnancy Concealment, Yandere Behaviour, Childbirth (brief reference post birth), Infant Distress, Resemblance to Father, Emotional Manipulation, Maternal Exhaustion, Implied Future Pregnancies
You had fallen pregnant by your husband Maedhros and you have no idea how he will react. In all honesty, you’re terrified, you don’t want anything to happen to your baby. No. You won’t let anything happen to your baby, you’re determined to protect them, and you can only think of one way to do that……Keep quiet about everything.
And so you kept silent, not saying a word about the child growing inside you, not even when you could feel them move and kick. Not when your breasts filled with milk to nurture your expectant blessing. Not even when your stomach grew round and soft, instead choosing to wear large clothing to hide it. Silently praising the freezing winter weather that gave you an excuse to wear so many layers.
You didn’t even make a sound when you gave birth in a hidden room you had discovered 3 months into your pregnancy. The one you had decided to transform into a makeshift nursery without your husband noticing. To your relief, your birth wasn’t too difficult and only lasted about 45 minutes. Thank the stars for small mercies.
By some miracle of fate, you seemed to have given birth to the sweetest, most angelic little baby. They didn’t cry all that much, and when they did it was very quiet, only coming out as small whimpers and sniffles, they ate well and slept all through the night. Thankfully, Maedhros was being called out more and more to tend to duties, so that left you with plenty of time to cuddle and play with your little one.
In most aspects, your baby was the perfect angel! Except for their looks...You see, you hadn’t expected them to have such a striking resemblance to their father, having the exact same hair and eye colour as he did. Despite this making you slightly uncomfortable at first, you overlooked it. This was your baby and you loved them more than anything.
All in all, everything was going as well as it could in your special circumstances! …Until you accidentally left the nursery door open one night…
- - - - - - - -
Maedhros awoke to the sound of a small cry. A baby’s cry. His mind had reacted to the sound immediately, his eyes shooting open, thinking it was one of his baby brothers crying. Maybe his mother had forgotten to light a candle for little Celegorm again? Maedhros knew how much his little brother hated the dark…….
But Celegorm wasn’t so little anymore…..None of his brothers was. All his brothers were grown, no longer fearing silly things like the dark. So why was he still hearing a baby’s cry? He had to know.
Maedhros snuck out of bed, careful not to wake his sleeping darling- who had been ever so tied these past few weeks and wandered into the hallway, allowing his hearing to guide him to the source of the noise. As he continued to search, he began to become frustrated, he had checked each room and found there was nothing, yet the sound persisted. Maybe one of the twins playing a joke on him.
Just as he was about to give up on his search and curse the twins and their mischief, he noticed a small sliver of light peeking out from behind a bookshelf. What the….? Maedhros approached the glimmer of light slowly, feet treading lightly against the floorboards.
As he moved closer to the bookshelf, he could see a clear gap, small but significant. Steeling his nerves he pulled on the bookshelf firmly, causing it to swing open and reveal what appeared to be…a makeshift nursery?
Why was this here? How long had it been here? Who made it?
His racing thoughts were silenced by the soft cry’s of an infant, the very noises that drew him from his bed in the first place. Maedhros hesitantly approached the small imperfect cot on the far side of the room, and when his great form leaned over the edge to try and catch a glance at the baby without frightening it, he felt his body go weak at its appearance.
It felt like he was staring down at the infant version of himself. His own fiery red hair and grey eyes staring back up at him.
Except, the features on this child were more feminine, softer, and she had more chub clinging to her face and arms. She looked like the perfect mix of your features and Maedhros.
….No….Surely not…..You couldn’t have……You would’ve told him…..Right?
The child continued to weep in distress, bottom lip trembling and arms leaning up to grasp at air. He knew what had caused such distress immediately. She was hungry, desperate for her mother.
Even with Maedhros racing mind and conflicting emotions, he knew that the baby should come first, years of caring for his brothers had made him wiser than most when it came to children.
He picked the fragile little baby up carefully, gently cradling her and offering her his pinkie finger to suckle on to help sate her hunger. As quickly as he came, he wandered back to his room where you still lay deep in slumber, looking incredibly comfortable.
No wonder you had been so exhausted, taking care of your little one all on your own, and as much he hated the idea, Maedhros knew he would have to rouse you a little to try and get you to feed your little one.
He gently rubbed your back and eventually managed to get you to be somewhat aware as he helped properly position you to feed your darling baby. Your little one was soon happily fed and let out a little coo when they were finally full before their little eyes slid closed and Maedhros brought her close to him to burp her.
When he was finished, he cradled your baby in one arm while gently pulling you onto his chest him as he snuggled down to sleep.
He knew he should be fuming for what you had hidden from him, and although part of him was, he couldn't bring himself to truly summon his infamous temper where you were concerned...
The next morning, when you went to check on your beloved daughter, you found the cradle empty. It felt like your heart had been ripped from your chest and all your breath was stolen from you. "No, No, NO!"
Where was she?!
You sprinted down the stairs as quickly as your feet would take you before you felt a nauseating mixture of relief and terror take hold of you. There was Maedhros, sitting in the living room cradling your newborn with a relaxed posture and a doting expression only a loving father could have.
But when his gaze landed on you, there was something different in his eyes.
A warning.
You knew better than to test him when he had that look in his eye, so you lowered your gaze and tried to make yourself look as non-threatening as possible before you slowly made your way in front of him and cautiously took your baby from his arms and began cradling her as you sat down beside Maedhros.
There was an uncomfortable silence for a while, mostly caused by your refusal to speak and Maedhros burning gaze as he watched you hold your little one.
Maedhros finally broke the silence by saying, "I've made preparations for a new nursery, and a seamstress will be arriving to measure some new dresses for our baby." You could only nod in response, and your baby giggled happily, almost like she understood she was going to be getting some pretty new things, and her soft laughter managed to calm you, even if it was just for a moment.
"And of course, I can't leave my beloved out can I ? We'll be having some proper maternity dresses made up for you my darling, I want you to feel utterly beautiful as well."
You could only stare at Maedhros in confusion before you finally managed to find your voice. "What do you mean? Why would I need maternity dresses?"
Your husband kept his lingering gaze on you're for a moment before a soft but dangerous looking smile appeared on his face. "Well for when you're pregnant with our second baby my daring."
Your eyes widened and the reality of the situation set in. Maedhros came from a large family, and you'd often heard the family joke that Maedhros was determined to have more children than his father, but you'd always brushed it off as a simple joke among the family, but as you gazed at Maedhros lustful loving expression, it didn't seem like such a simple joke anymore.










