Lovers

Lullaby Of The City

I haven't written for a few days now, but I figured I'd publish this chap for you all, since it's been a while since I've updated, and I've had genuinely zero good reasons to not write since it's not like I'm busy or anything lol.
Here's some sweet fluff after that last chapter... things are getting exciting, hm? Enjoy/comment/vote and stay safe and healthy everyone! Xxx
-ab

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May 23, 2028

Patrick

I hold my wife in my arms as we snuggle together. Our little girl is sleeping soundly in the room beside us. We just put her to bed, and we are excited to get some alone time so that we can finally rationally talk about the events of last night.

"Patrick..." she says after the two of us share a moment of silence. Her tone of voice is one that she only uses when she has to tell me something that she doesn't want to tell me.

"Honey, what is it?" I ask, concerned.

"You're gonna kill me."

"I'm not going to kill you," I assure the beautiful girl sitting next to me, lightly rubbing her back.

"So..." she begins, "the resident director at Les Mis, Sam... I sent him a quick text offering my condolences, and the next thing that I knew, he was inviting me to a meeting tomorrow with a handful of other old cast members, and I sort of said yes."

"Oh..." I reply. "Is that all?"

"Yeah. Just... what are we going to do will Millie? It's at 13:00."

"I don't care," I shrug. "You need to go to this meeting. Taylor would be more than thrilled to spend a few hours with her favourite niece. Either of our mums would do it as well. Even Brittney probably would."

"Brit would, for sure," she confirms. "Are we sure that we are ready to leave her, though?"

"She'll be fine," I promise my wife. "It'll be three hours, at the very most. I'll text Taylor right now. You trust her with Madeline, right?"

"Of course."

"Then it'll be fine."

I pull out my phone and begin to compose a text to my sister-in-law.

Patrick: Hey T! Harper and I have a bit of a scheduling conflict tomorrow, and we were wondering if you would be willing to watch Millie tomorrow at 12:30 or so?  I'm sorry that it's so last minute. She's never had a babysitter before, so hopefully all will be okay.

Taylor: Of course, absolutely. I'll come over, so long as I can bring Audrie, as well. I'm home with her tomorrow, so it'll be fun to get out of the flat for a bit. She will love that.

Patrick: You're the absolute best. Thank you so much.

I look at Harper. "Taylor's coming. That was easy, wasn't it?"

"I'd better get some extra milk prepared for tomorrow, then." I feel my wife wiggle out of my grasp and go off to find her breast pump so that she can prepare a few bottles for our daughter.

The two of us end up staying awake for a few more hours, just relishing in the quiet time that we have. Millie has been sleeping for quite some time, and I think that, by the time we go to bed, we both figure that as soon as we get all comfy, she'll start to cry.

Of course, that theory holds true, as we haven't even had our lights off for five minutes when we hear cries through the baby monitor.

"I'll take that," I tell Harper. "Get some rest, my love."

She smiles at me. "Thank you."

I kiss the top of her head, then crawl out from under our duvet. Padding down the corridor, I make my way to Millie's room, where it seems that she wants a bottle and some snuggles. I happily provide her with those things, and as I sit in her room, I relish in the silence around me.

Of course, it isn't really silent. Outside, I can hear the lullaby of the city, lulling Londoners to sleep all across town. It is a sound that has grown to be soothing to me. I can see a few people walking along the pavements below the window. I wouldn't really fancy being out at this hour, especially by myself, but to each their own, I suppose. Harper did it when she was in shows, and she was always alright. Our neighborhood is relatively safe.

I've grown to secretly adore snuggling with my baby girl at night, when everything is still. As much as I complain about being sleep deprived, because I certainly am, I wouldn't give up times like this one for absolutely anything.

In spite of that, I know that I need to let Madeline go back to sleep in her crib. That's the safest place for her to be sleeping, not in my arms.

After giving her one more massive cuddle and a few kisses, I place her down, flat on her back, just as we were told to do in our baby class. No blankets, pillows, or stuffies in her crib for the first year of her life. We have to reduce her chances of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome as much as possible.

I shudder at the thought that something like that is even possible.

"I love you, Millie," I whisper to the baby girl, who is oblivious to what I'm saying to her. After blowing one last kiss in her direction, I tip toe out of her room and head back to mine, where I see Harper sleeping peacefully, buried in a sea of blankets and pillows, just how she likes it.

The clock on my bedside table indicates that I may have spent a bit longer with Millie than I thought I had, and certainly longer than I should have, considering that I still have to work tomorrow.

Without disturbing my wife, I carefully pull back the duvet on our bed and join her.

It's all cozy under the blankets on our bed. She, without even knowing what she is doing, soon cuddles up into my body. We always sleep cuddled close together. That's just our natural state. Whenever one of us is trying to sleep without the other, it's always a bit harder, as we are so used to sleeping side by side.

"I love you, Harper Elise Alwyn," I whisper to my wife as she sleeps blissfully beside me. Then, I close my eyes, hoping to drift off into the same state that my wife and daughter are currently in. As much as I do enjoy the quiet in the dark of the night, I also know that I need some sleep so that I can be ready for work tomorrow.