Tell me if I'm wrong
Tell me if I'm right
Tell me if you need a loving hand
To help you fall asleep tonight
~ Ed Sheeran "Cold Coffee"
"Please stop crying," Seth said to Ellie. He wasn't sure what else he could do— he had fed her, burped her, changed her diaper, given her toys, read her a story, drove her around the block, but she just wouldn't go to sleep and she wouldn't stop crying.
Brooklyn was at work, his mom was at work, and Leah was on patrol. This was the first time that Seth had been left completely alone with Ellie, and he felt like he was blowing it. Usually, if no one was home, he would take Ellie to Sam's house, and Emily would help out, but today, Ellie had been fussy since Brooklyn had dropped her off a few hours ago, and he hadn't wanted to inflict a screaming baby on a house full of super-hearing shape-shifters. His own ears were pleading for silence, and he felt like his sanity was barely in tact.
"I know you miss your mommy," Seth tried to reason with the infant. "I do too, but she's going to be back in like... an hour, and then we can see her again. So can you please just stop crying?"
He was rocking her gently as he spoke. Ellie was one of the best things to ever happen to him, but right now, he felt like he was doing everything wrong. He felt like he was failing at being a father.
Time seemed to drag on forever, until finally Brooklyn walked into the house.
"Are you guys alright?" Brooklyn asked. "I could hear her crying from the driveway."
"Thank god you're here," Seth exclaimed. "She won't stop crying. I don't know what's wrong or how to fix it."
"Yeah, she does that sometimes," Brooklyn said as she took the baby from his arms. "Take off your shirt."
"What?" Seth asked. "This doesn't really seem like the time for that."
"Shut up," Brooklyn laughed. "I'm trying to show you how to make her stop crying. Just do it."
"Uh, alright," Seth said skeptically, and then he removed his shirt. He watched as Brooklyn removed a wailing Ellie's onesie.
Brooklyn handed Ellie back to Seth. "Hold her against your chest— yeah just like that. Skin-to-skin contact always calms her down when she's fussy, I think she likes to listen to heartbeats or feel body heat or something."
Much to Seth's delight, it worked. Ellie had finally calmed down, and after a few minutes, she even seemed to be on the verge of falling asleep.
"Brooke, you are a genius and I am so fucking lucky to have you as my imprint and the mother of my baby," Seth said.
Brooklyn smiled at him. "I think I'm the lucky one. I don't think that I could have done any of this with anyone else— not that I've ever had eyes for anyone but you."
"Ew, we're so cheesy," Seth crinkled his nose.
"There are worse things we could be," Brooklyn replied. "I'll take cheesy over the bad stuff any day of the week."
"I'm gonna go put her in her crib," Seth said as he noticed that his daughter had finally fallen asleep. He returned with a baby monitor a few minutes after leaving— not that he really needed it, seeing as he had super hearing. It was mostly so that Brooklyn could hear their baby too.
Seth collapsed onto the couch. "I'm so tired. She spent all day crying."
"Well, she's asleep now," Brooklyn said. "So we should have a few hour of down time before she wakes up."
"Perfect," Seth said as he grabbed Brooklyn by the waist and pulled her down on the couch with him. "Take a nap with me."
Brooklyn kicked off her shoes and curled into Seth's chest. It had been a while since they had been alone together. Recently their lives had revolved around taking care of their daughter, and working. They no longer had the luxury of sneaking off to be alone, or leaving the house for hours at a time to partake in their usual teenage shenanigans. For the first time in months, they were able to just hold each other, and it reminded them how important it was for them to take care of each other while they took care of their daughter.
The pair slept until they were awoken by Leah coming home.
"Oh shit sorry," Leah said. "I didn't know you guys were asleep."
"It's alright," Brooklyn yawned.
"Ellie's still asleep though, so please be quiet when you're upstairs," Seth added groggily. "It took me forever to get her to sleep."
"Yeah, I'll try," Leah said.
"Leah, I'm serious," Seth said. "If you wake her up, I'll throw your mattress in the ocean so that you can't sleep either."
"If you do that, I'll tell Mom," Leah retorted. "And then, I'll beat you up."
"If you beat me up, I'll tell Mom," Seth replied.
"Why would she believe you? We heal so fast that there will be no proof," Leah told him.
Seth rolled his eyes. "Just don't wake up the baby."
"I wasn't gonna," Leah said.
"So don't," Seth replied.
"I wasn't going to," Leah exclaimed.
Brooklyn intervened before their arguing got any louder or out of control. "If you two don't stop, you're both gonna wake up the baby."
"Right, sorry," Seth said sheepishly. "Just don't wake her up."
"Seth, I swear to god," Leah said irritably. Instead of continuing their argument, she decided to go upstairs. She could hear Seth laugh as she walked up the stairs.
Brooklyn smacked Seth on the bicep. "Dude, be nice to your sister."
"I am nice to her," Seth replied. "But, as her brother, I reserve the right to annoy her sometimes."
"You're ridiculous," Brooklyn laughed.
"Don't act like you and Paul don't pick fights with each other," Seth said. "That's what siblings are for— they annoy each other, but they always have each other's backs."
"That's true," Brooklyn mused.
"I hope Ellie has that one day," Seth stated.
"Me too," Brooklyn agreed. "But not for like another four or five years... Maybe more. I want to be prepared for the next one. I love Ellie, but one surprise baby is enough for me."
"I want us to be married next time," Seth said. "But I don't want to wait too long. I want Ellie to be close with her siblings, and I feel like everyone I know who has a big age gap with their siblings aren't really close with them."
"We'll figure it out," Brooklyn said, then she placed a kiss on his lips. "I love you, and I know that whatever happens will be okay because you'll be there with me."
They had discussed their future a few times before, but they had never fully decided anything. They both knew that they were going to get married, get a place of their own, and eventually have more kids, but they didn't fully agree on the timing of everything. Brooklyn wanted to focus on getting a degree after high school so that she could get a better job than her current part-time job in retail. She wanted to have a career that would help her support her family, and she wanted to enjoy the work she would be doing. Seth on the other hand, wanted to focus on building their family while Ellie was still young.
Brooklyn loved that Seth was so family-oriented, and it's not that she wasn't family-oriented herself, it's just that she wanted to make sure that her family never needed anything that they couldn't afford to have. Brooklyn's mom had always had to worry about money, and how much they could afford to spend on what, but Seth's parents could always afford whatever they needed without putting too much thought into what they might be giving up by spending their money.
Something that they both agreed on, though, was the fact that plans changed, so they weren't really worth fighting over. They would never let their plans get between them because at the end of the day, they loved each other more than words could ever say, and all they wanted was to be together for as long as they lived.