“Are you taking pictures again?”
Billy didn’t have to open his eyes to know that Steve was above him, snapping pictures of him with their daughter. It was like a seventh sense that he had now, a sense for Steve and his camera. The sixth was dad sense, obviously. Those just came with the title, right?
“Let me have this, okay? She’s only gonna be this little for so long.” Steve insisted, taking another picture of Billy and their little baby girl, the click of the camera causing her to stir under his hoodie. Billy was quick to put a hand on her back, softly rubbing until she settled back into his chest.
“Stevie,” he grit out as a warning, but there was no bite behind his bark. Maybe there would have been before, but becoming a dad had really made him soft. Not that he would ever admit it.
“Bill,” Steve answered in the same tone, snapping another picture for good measure before finally setting his camera down on the coffee table. He took a seat on the floor right in front of where the baby was lying on Billy’s chest.
Billy finally opened his eyes when Steve sat down on the floor beside him.
“Y’know, you didn’t have to ruin our nap,” he commented, soft smile tugging at his lips, breaking through his annoyed facade.
“Well, you didn’t have to stay up with Rosie all night,” Steve tested, reaching forward to slide a hand under Billy’s hoodie, resting half on top of Rosie’s hand and half on top of Billy’s chest.
“Someone had to,” Billy shot back.
“I could have done it, I tried,” Steve pointed out, trying to win the not-really argument. He wasn’t lying he had offered, every single time Rosie cried or made an odd noise he offered to get up and get her but he was always denied, told to go back to sleep.
“Cause you deserve the sleep, baby.”
Steve swore he could feel his heart melting at the comment Billy made. And he did have a point he had been feeling a lot more tired these days. With Billy working his normal shift at the auto repair shop plus over time, and having to watch Rosie full time it was pretty tiring. But he was sure that Billy was tired too and he deserved some sleep.
“Well, thanks,” Steve said simply, resting his chin on Billy’s shoulder, now admiring Rosie again. She truly was the most beautiful baby he had every seen. Okay, maybe he was a little biased because it was his daughter after all. And maybe he hadn’t seen that many babies in his life time. But Rosie was still the cutest nonetheless.
He loved every part of her, from her dirty blonde hair and rich brown eyes that lit up when she gurgled out a laugh. The soft wrinkle of her nose when when she smiled her smile that was all gums. Everything from her head down to her little toes were just amazing to Steve, perfect.
“She has your nose,” Steve commented, trying to move his finger to lightly touch the tip of her nose only to be stopped by her small fingers wrapping around his index finger. He let out an audible soft gasp before practically melting into a puddle. He had always been a bit of a softie, but now it was on a totally different level.
“Yeah, well, I sure as hell didn’t pay all that money and jizz into a cup for her not to have my nose,” Billy said with a grin, trying his best to look down at Rosie as he pet her head, brushing over her marvelous head of hair. Honestly it was no surprise where she got that gene from.
“All that jizz and money paid off though, huh?” Steve asked like he didn’t already know the answer. After so long, after years of saving up money, after years of living off practically nothing. After months of picking out the right surrogate, after months of trying to get pregnant, it was all worth it to have their baby girl in the world, in their arms.
“Sure did.” And Steve swore it was the fondest he had ever heard Billy speak, speak of their child. It still didn’t feel real to say, but here she was, the tiniest, most gorgeous baby on the face of the planet.
Steve was about to speak again before Rosie stirred again, round after round of soft hums and cries spilling out of her mouth as she woke up. Her short limbs stretched out as her honey brown eyes fluttered open.
“Looks like nap times over,” Steve announced, regular voice switching into his signature ‘baby voice’ as the sentence went on.
“Mhm, hiya pumpkin,” Billy whispered, unzipping his hoodie the rest of the way to set her free. He slid his hands under her armpits and shifted her to sit up on his stomach. He kept his hands in place to make sure that she didn’t fall over.
“How’d ya sleep Rosie-Posy?” Steve asked, going in to tickle her stomach, wanting to see her signature toothy smile.
As soon as Steve’s fingertips made contact with her clothed stomach and wiggled in a tickling movement she started giggling. A string of loud gurgles and throat noises that both boys loved so much.
“God, you’re precious,” Billy mumbled to himself, watching Rosie giggle as Steve worked at tickling her stomach.
Suddenly her smile quickly faded into a small frown, lips pouted out with big sad eyes.
“Oh no, what’s wrong, honey?” Steve asked, frowning himself now, hand pulled back towards himself.
Her lough gurgly laugh turned into soft whimpers as she slowly began to cry. Then it hit him.
“When’s the last time she ate?” Steve questioned, now looking over towards Billy. He could remember making her a bottle earlier in the morning, but surly she had been fed since then, right? Today was Saturday, Billy’s day off so he had been home all day. Surely he fed Rosie.
“Uh, maybe five hours ago,” Billy said, looking back at Steve, Rosie still in his hands.
“Five hours ago?” Steve furrowed his eyebrows and quickly moved to get up, “No wonder she must be starving.” He quickly got up and made his way to the kitchen.
“We really need to keep track of that. Jesus, being a parent is so hard,” Billy groaned, not sounding annoyed just tired. He sat up and brought Rosie to sit on his knee, bouncing her up and down in an attempt to calm her down at least a little bit.
“Just think of when we have two,” Steve replied before walking into the kitchen.
Two? Oh brother, was he in for it.
@kingsandsaints so…. I did it….