"Kevie!" I called through our apartment, as our daughter started crying, "can you grab her?" I asked.
"I'm already on it, sweetheart." He said, and I peeked my head into the living room, where he stood in a black sweatshirt, bent over her crib. "Come here little one." I heard him say, lifting her into his arms, "Daddy's got you now." I smiled a bit, seeing him bounce her slightly, and seeing her reach up towards his face. "What's Mommy working on?" He asked Hunter, walking over to where I stood, standing on a chair, decorating for a baby shower.
"I'm hanging pink streamers." I announced, pinning a streamer up into the wall.
"Fun, fun, you said there'd be cake? Right?" He clarified, and I laughed.
"Mmhm, it's being delivered." I laughed. "Don't act like you wanted me making it."
"Darling, your cooking isn't that bad. Okay? Seriously, I'm sure you can pull off cake." He reassured me.
"Yeah, but I can't pull off frosting, so, I ordered the cake. Can you help me down?" I asked, standing still on one of our dining room table chairs, which wobbled a little bit.
"Mmhm." He took my hand in his right hand, shifting Hunter to his left arm. I stepped off of the chair carefully. "Atta girl." He smiled at me.
"Thanks." I smiled at him, "now why was my little girl crying?" I asked, switching to my baby voice, as I scooped my daughter up from Kevin's arms into mine.
"I don't know, she j-" my husband started, and I cut him off.
"I was not talking to you." I said, pressing my index finder to his lips, my gaze transfixed on Hunter, who was sucking on her blanket. A smile spread over my face, as Kevin lightly kissed my finger.
"As I was saying," he said, "I think she just needed her pacifier." He pointed out, reaching over and pulling the corner of the pink blanket she was wrapped in, out of her mouth, and replacing it with a white pacifier. His arm slipped around my waist, and stood next to me, watching our daughter happily.
"Oh! That must be the cake." I said, as I heard a knock on the door. I walked over to the door, and swung it open to see my parents, and younger brother standing there. "Mom? Dad?" I asked.
"Oh, are we early?" My dad asked, "Hunter!" He squealed, "my little granddaughter, oh aren't you just getting bigger every day." As he said that he had managed to scoop Hunter up from my arms, and walked her over to the couch, where he now sat, lightly tickling her stomach.
"We came to help a little." My mom shook her head, laughing at her husband, "how're you holding up?" She asked, giving me a hug.
"We're great, Mom." I said.
"Mmhm." Kevin smiled, coming up next to me. He lightly kissed my temple, "we're great." He sighed, rubbing my arm. "Hey little man! Sup?" I giggled a little, as my husband greeted my brother.
"Stop trying to be cool." Sebastian shook his head lightly, "my sister's way out of your league." He jokingly said, rolling his eyes, then smiled at me.
"Ditto that my brother." Kevin said, "well, in law."
"Seriously, Kevin," Sebastian started, "you need to stop." Seb lightly patted Kevin's arm, as he walked into my kitchen.
"Abigail. I'm gonna need you to fight him for me." Kevin said.
"I need to fight to defend your honor?" I asked.
"Mmhm."
"Darling, he's twelve, I think you need to let this one slide, be a big, strong man, and don't make your wife beat up kids." I gently rubbed his arm, "can you do that? Be a big, strong, man?" I asked, teasingly, then kissed his jaw.
"Are you saying I'm not strong?" He asked, a superior glint in his eye. Before I could answer, he bent down, and tossed me over his shoulder.
"Kev!" I squealed, lightly hitting his back. "Put me down!"
"Not until you concede!" He said, starting to spin a little. "Are you gonna admit you were wrong?" He asked.
"Okay okay! I give! I give!" I yelled, and my husband set me back down. "You are my big, strong husband." I reassured him, lightly kissing his lips. Just then I heard Hunter start crying. "Dad?" I pulled away from Kevin, and saw that Lin pulled her pacifier out. "Dad what are you doing?" I asked, going over to the couch.
"Nothing." He said, and I scooped my daughter into my arms. "No, give her back." He said.
"Pacifier" I requested, holding my hand out.
"Granddaughter." He requested.
"Sis, just give her to Dad, he managed to deal with me as a baby, it's not like he dropped me on my head." I looked over to see Sebastian walk out of the kitchen holding a bowl of cereal, covered in chocolate whipped cream.
"Oh dear lord." I groaned, hugging my child closer to me.
"Mija," I looked up to see my mom standing near me, "I haven't seen the nursery yet." She smiled.
"Oh! Oh! Come here," I took her hand and quickly walked down the hall to Hunters room. "Kev did the work while I was in the hospital."
"This is by far, the cutest thing I've seen in a long time. This teddy bear is bigger then I am." She said, pointing at a large, stuffed bear in the corner. I smiled a little, setting Hunter down in her crib. I handed her a stuffed piglet, and stood there smiling at her.
"Why hello there, Hunter." I said, gently shaking the stuffed pig near her face. She giggled a little, reaching out for the toy. "Do you want the piggy?" I asked her, then let it drop onto her chest. She squealed and hugged it.
"Sweetie, she's adorable." My mom said, putting her arm around my shoulders. "Are you bringing her up on any Spanish?" She asked.
"Sorta." I sighed, "I still suck, but, Kev's Puerto Rican. He talks to her in Spanish sometimes."
"Mmm." She nodded a little. "Does he talk to you in Spanish?"
"Yeah, I understand the language just fine, just, whenever I pause to think of the correct tenses, he laughs at me, then switches to English."
"Ah, I see." She laughed.
"V?" I looked up to see my dad standing in the doorway, "Kevin needs help with the burgers, the grill is on the roof."
"Okay." She smiled, kissed my head, and left the room.
"How's the infant?" Lin asked, coming over to the crib.
"The infant is doing well, she has her piggy, she doesn't know anything bad about the world yet, the only humans she has seen are Kev and I, you, Mom and Seb, Abuelo y Abuela, and a select few other humans I like." I smiled at the little pink bundle that was my child.
"That's the life." Lin laughed a little.
"Mmhm. She sleeps a lot too. Doesn't have a job, I feed her whenever she's hungry. She doesn't have to walk, I carry her everywhere." I sighed, then bent down and kissed her forehead, as I did she squealed a little, and grabbed onto my neck. I laughed lightly, then wrapped my arms around her, picking her up.
"Cutie." My dad sighed.
"I k-" I was cut off by someone knocking at the door. "That's the cake!" I smiled.
"The cake was delivered while you were in here with your Mom." He pointed out.
"Oh." I shrugged, "guess someone's here." I hurried out of Hunters room, and swung the front door open. "Chris!" I sighed, happily, and hugged my godfather.
"Hi Pumpkin." He smiled, gently rubbing my back. "Where's the little one? I have a gift." He held up a box wrapped in bright orange wrapping paper.
"In her room." I laughed, "but let's save this for later." I pointed to the box.
"Alright, alright." He sighed. "It's great to see you again, ever since you moved out I see you like, once every two months."
"I know, I'm sorry, we should get coffee more often."
"Yeah." He smiled at me, and ruffled my hair, "you've grown up so much. It's so weird to think you were the same teenage girl I met on the stage of the Richard Rodgers." He sighed, "you have your own apartment, and you graduated college, and you have a kid, and you're married!" He gushed, "speaking of, where's your husband?"
"Up on the roof." I smiled. We had a grill up there, and he was making burgers.
"Actually, he's behind you." Chris pointed behind me, and as I was turning around, Kevin grabbed my waist, and lifted me up. I squealed a little, giggling.
"Hi darling, I was trying to scare you." He kissed my cheek, setting me back down. "Hi Chris, it's nice to see you again." He flashed Chris a quick smile.
•••
After a little while, my living room was filled with 6-7 more people. A small group. Hunter wasn't supposed to have a ton of stimulation yet. We had a plate of burgers on the coffee table, along with sodas.
"Kid, she's adorable." Anthony said, sitting next to me on the couch, he was lightly tapping Hunters nose.
"I know." I whispered, sighing. Hunter reached up and grabbed Anthony's finger, then started giggling hysterically.
"She has such tiny little fingers, Abigail she's a tiny human."
"Mmhm. She is. Because, you know, she's human."
"Don't worry Babe," Jasmine sighed, "he was like this after we had our first kid."
"Does it wear off?" I asked.
"Nope. If he goes to her high school graduation he will still call her a tiny human." She patted my shoulder lightly. "C'mon Darling," she grabbed Anthony by the arm, "let's help Vanessa with the cake."
"Cake?" He asked, following his wife into the kitchen.
•••
After everyone had left, I was standing in the doorway to Hunters room, watching my husband sing her to sleep, quietly singing Dear Theodosia. I sighed a little, smiling. I closed my eyes, remembering when my mom used to sing this to Sebastian to get him to fall asleep.
"Okay Love," I opened my eyes, and my husband was closing Hunter door, carefully, as not to wake her. "Let's go night night." He said.
"Its 7:00." I laughed a little.
"I know." He smiled, and pulled me into our room.
We were watching Les Miserables in bed, I was sitting between Kevin's legs, and he had his arms around me.
"I'm done with the love story, let's just get to the revolution." I groaned, letting my head fall onto Kevin's chest.
"That was me during the Hunger Games." Kev added, rubbing my arms, fixated on the movie.
"C'mon, did you not like the cave scenes?" I asked.
"You mean when they like, made out, when someone could of snuck up and stabbed them? Yeah, super realistic." He laughed.
"So you don't want to make out? Cause that's what I'm hearing." I teased him.
"Are we fighting for our lives in a giant death arena?" He asked.
"Not exactly."
"Mmhm, come here, Bunny." He flipped me over so I was on top of him.
"I love you." I laughed, and kissed him, deeply.
"Mmhm. I love you too." He kissed my jaw, and I smiled, contently, grateful for him.
•••
Sorry.
This is just a cute, lighthearted chapter.
Comment one shot requests!
Also, I'm obsessed with Beautiful now, so if you wanna talk about Carole King, hit me up.
Thanks for reading!
- Abi