WARNINGS: mentions of pregnancy, sibling loss, angst if you squint, otherwise fluff!
A/N: this is like a combo of modern!stack and he’s still a vampire but it’s not mentioned? @hatethysinner recently posted a papa!remmick fic that put me in my feels and sorta inspired this, go check it out!!
masterlist
You wake to a gentle humming.
It’s still pitch-black. So late that not even the crickets chirp in the bushes outside your window. The night sky will fade into a pleasant mirage of orange and pink in a few hours, but for now, the world sleeps.
Except for you. And the sound coming from the corner of your room. Your eyes tiredly blink open, but your body doesn’t stir underneath the sheets. Even in the dark, you can see the outline of Elias swaying in the rocking chair. And in his big arms lies the most precious thing in your life.
He doesn’t notice that he’d woken you up; you make no attempt to reveal yourself. Instead, a warm smile appears on your face at the sight of him holding your sweet girl.
You liked to think she had your eyes, maybe even your nose or hair, but the truth was that she was her daddy’s spitting image.
“She’s gon’ be beautiful, just like her mama,” Elias had told you almost every day of your pregnancy. It’d only been two days since he took you home from the hospital and insisted that you stay in bed.
It was almost unreal to have her bundled in your arms. He’d kiss her nose, then yours, and say how he loved both his girls more than anything in the world.
He wears the sweater you got him for Christmas years ago; you remember it like it was yesterday. You’d dreamed of having this life with him, but never had you though it’d come true.
And now, it was right in front of you.
“Mornin’, babygirl,” he pauses his singing once she stirs and her eyes peek open. Elias rubs the soft curve of her head with his thumb.
“Gave your mama some trouble, didn’t you?” He gently bounces her and continues rocking almost rhythmically. A small chuckle comes deep from his chest. “Seeing her cry when she had you—God, I don’t think there’s anything worse. But we waited a long time for you, sweetpea. You remember when I would sing to you?”
The memory of him with his palms placed softly on your bump, caressing the skin and singing every tune he knew with the smallest bit of hope that your baby would hear it, was enough to relieve you of the pain that very much continued to rock through your lower body.
“I’ll sing for you always.”
The deepest corners of your heart lightened at the sight of Elias—your husband, your man, your dream—cradling the joy you’d made together.
You remain still in bed, worried that even the slightest move could disturb the moment. For now, you watched.
“My daddy,” Elias thickly gulped before steadying his voice. “He, uh…Well, he was a bad man. And I lost my mama before I could even hear her voice.” You’d heard the story only twice and never asked to again. Every time Elias mentioned it, a distant, heavy weight returned itself upon his shoulders. But now, as he whispered to your baby girl, he seemed eased. “But I was lucky. I had-”
He chokes on his words, and even from the bed, you can see the gleam of tears in his eyes against the moonlight.
“I had a brother. And he protected me from our daddy. Looked just like me too. In a way, I s’pose he looked like you.” A pit grows in his stomach, but Elias continues. “He woulda loved you, sweetheart, and your mama, too.
“And I know he’s somewhere better now. With his baby and his woman. I think he’d happy,” he leans in so his nose nuzzles against hers. “That I got my own.”
On Elias’ bedside table sits a framed photograph, faded from the sun and time. Two of the same face look back at you as you glance at it, and you can only imagine what the SmokeStack Twins were like in their glory days. You look back in the corner when the sound of Elias’ voice cuts through the silence again.
“And it’s important you should know the woman you’re named after. She, uh…” he chuckles. “Well, she and I didn’t get along much, at first, but there’s a reason why Elijah loved her.” You wonder if he’s still speaking to your daughter or to himself now.
He closes his eyes contently, lips curved into a soft smile as if lost in a memory. “She was one of the strongest women I know—apart from your mama, of course.
“See, babygirl, my brother protected me. And she protected him.” Unaware that you’re awake, Elias up at you, but he isn’t surprised to see your eyes open. “And I’m gon’ protect you.”
The eyes he fell head over heels with so many years ago. The ones that grounded him when the memory of his brother infested his dreams. The ones that he swore he couldn’t live without.
