the greatest gift | dain aetos x sloane mairi
Fandom: The Empyrean
Rating: Teen
Word Count: 1.8k
Tags & Warnings: Infertility mentioned, breastfeeding, baby falls and gets a boo boo, crying, hurt/comfort, background bodoc, background riorgail
Summary: On a visit to Riorson House, Dain and Sloane’s baby Liam has his first injury, bringing Dain’s complicated emotions about fatherhood to the surface.
Full fic on AO3!
The Empyrean Masterlist | fictionalrelapse
Sloane is on one of the many balconies of Riorson House, looking over the budding field below that had once served as the training field when the revolution’s riot made base at the looming fortress. But instead of cadets training signets and mounting dragons, there is only her husband and child playing in the lush grass. Liam has begun taking his first steps since the last time they visited from Basgiath, and Dain is showing him off for Bodhi and Ridoc, ever the doting uncles.
Violet is beside her, sipping a cup of tea. It’s strange how some things had changed so much, and others hadn’t changed a bit. Case in point, Violet still insists on donning black whether she is wearing her flight leathers or the garb of Tyrrish nobility.
“I always knew Dain would make a great father,” she says to Sloane softly. Her eyes glint mischievously as she makes contact with Sloane’s blues. “Something about how uptight he is — it’s perfect for chasing around toddlers.” Violet looks pointedly at Sloane’s stomach, which had barely begun showing. She wouldn’t be able to hide it for much longer anyway, but Violet was the first person she and Dain had told, just as when they had found out they were pregnant with Liam.
But Sloane notes the tinge of sadness behind Violet’s eyes, the way her smile doesn’t quite open up all the way. She and Xaden had been trying as long as she and Dain had, and guilt runs through Sloane that they had not only had one in that time, but that they were now expecting another so soon after.
She makes a note to leave Violet with more fertility runes before she and Dain make leave for Basgiath.
“He’s amazing with Liam. Most times I think Daddy is his favorite until he gets hungry,” she jokes, but turns from the balcony and quickly changes the subject to the latest gossip around Riorson House. They settle in two chairs with their tea cupped in hand, long forgotten by the time the stories are spinning.
As absorbed in conversation as the two women are, Sloane is torn from it by Liam’s piercing cry.
She’s up in a flash, Violet hot on her heels. She knows Dain is with him, as are Bodhi and Ridoc, but it still tears at her heart to hear her baby cry, and she rushes down the side stairs to the green grass. Dain is sweeping their baby up in his arms, face stricken with panic but cooing as gently as he can to their babe.
“He’s okay,” Bodhi says firmly to Sloane. She doesn’t clock why he would be telling her that with that tone until Dain spins to face her, revealing Liam’s face, twisted in a cry and chin dripping with blood.
“There was a rock in the grass and I didn’t see it and he fell and gods Sloane I should have been more careful…” The words are tumbling out of Dain before she can react, but he’s already taking a cloth from Ridoc and pressing it to Liam’s split chin while his tiny arms flail.
“It’s okay, it’s okay,” Sloane whispers, pressing a hand to Dain’s bicep and running her other through Liam’s white-blond tufts. She doesn’t know who she’s trying to calm down more — their wailing baby or her husband, whose eyes are beginning to well with tears.
Violet is calling from the balcony above. “A healer is on their way if you’ll bring him up!”
“I’m so sorry,” Dain apologizes again, and a tear splashes on his forearm. He passes Liam to her, and she continues the pressure of the cloth as they move toward the stairs, Dain’s hand on the small of her back as Liam’s pained cries tear through them both.
CONTINUED ON AO3
A/N: I actually sobbed writing this but I’m ovulating <3
@empyreanevents
Dividers by valyrianvibranium
Art by illustratedbymorgan