Sang paused in the hallway outside the baby's room. She'd come upstairs because she'd heard a muffled sniffle over the baby monitor down in the kitchen. That usually meant Sophia was about to wake up.
Sometimes, she praised North for figuring out that they needed multiple baby monitors across the house so that she didn't always have to cart a monitor from room to room or be glued to her phone to watch for the baby to wake up. But sometimes she cursed him because there was no way for them to tell each other that someone had gotten to her already once you left the room you'd been in with the volume up.
She smiled when she heard Owen talking to his baby girl. She knew she shouldn't listen but she loved listening and if she knew him the way she knew him, he'd turned off the volume so that no one could overhear him. Which meant she really shouldn't eavesdrop but... Sang took every advantage she could manage in this majorly male house she lived in.
"Ah, my darling baby." Owen spoke to her as he cuddled her close. "Did you have a good nap, sweet pea?" Sophia cooed at him. "Ah yes, diaper change for you." She heard him take her to the changing table.
You know, watching her guys handle every aspect of taking care of the baby was something valuable. She knew that most men didn't take part in everything. Feeding her a bottle, burping, changing diapers... every last one of them didn't hesitate to take her and care for her.
Okay, so there were sometimes it appeared someone lost a bet when it came to a really dirty diaper but Sang was pleased really with most of the time.
"Oh, good girl." Owen praised her. "Thank you for staying still while I changed you." Sophia babbled something at him. "Oh, what an excellent idea. I just happen to be free and would love to rock you for a while."
Sang smirked as she heard the rocking chair creak slightly when he sat in it. Sophia babbled again. "What? A song? Is there no end to your begging, little one?" Owen sighed softly. "Okay, but only for you. Shall we take creative liberties tonight?" he asked the baby. "You know, you're six months old. It's your half birthday." He murmured, still rocking gently. "Even better, you share your half birthday with Daddy." Sophia gurgled. "Oh, you knew that? Of course you did. You're an extremely bright child."
Sang's eyes widened in a panic. Shit! Owen's birthday was today and she'd forgotten all about it. Was it too far away from the birth of the baby to claim pregnancy brain? She pulled out her phone and texted Luke. ~Change of plans. Please bring fried chicken, potato salad and diced peaches for dinner. ~
"All right, lovely... your song." Owen hummed a few bars before deciding to take some creative liberties with one of his favorite Hamilton songs.
Dear Miss Sophia,
What to say to you?
You have my eyes, the name your mother gave,
When you came into the world, you cried, and it broke my heart.
I'm dedicating every day to you,
I never thought I'd get this far.
when you smile, You knock me out, I fall apart.
And I thought I was so smart.
Owen smiled at her, her tiny fist coming up to find a spot in her mouth. It was quite remarkable to look at your child that you never thought you'd have. She was the cutest baby he was sure he'd ever seen. Her eyes had been blue for a long time but in the past month or so, they'd turned into an exact match to the gray of his own eyes. He couldn't wait to see if her hair would stay blonde like Sang's or if it would also darken to match his own hair color.
He'd trailed off in his song, considering the baby in his arms. She reached up and patted him on the mouth. "Oh, right, where were we?" He smiled at her, humming a bit more before starting in with more words.
... we'll give the world to you and you'll blow us all away.
someday, someday. Yeah you'll blow us all away.
My father wasn't around... I swear that I'll be around for you
I'll do whatever it takes
I'll make a million mistakes
I'll make the world safe and sound for you
You'll come of age with our young family,
we'll bleed and fight for you, we'll make it right for you
He slowed his rocking as her eyes seemed to flutter, almost ready to fall asleep again. He wasn't so sure that would be what Sang wanted though. She'd already had a fairly long afternoon nap. He switched her in his arms, sitting her up on his lap so that they could see each other. She reached out towards his glasses and he smiled before distracting her with singing.
If we lay a strong enough foundation
We'll pass it all to you
We'll give the world to you and you'll blow us all away
Someday, someday
Yeah, you'll blow us all away.
Someday, someday....
He trailed off, hearing noise from the hallway and raised his eyes to see Sang walking into the nursery. "Why hello, darling." He smiled at her. "Look, Sophia, it's mama." He said, shifting her so that she could see.
Sophia's face bloomed into a huge smile, seeing her mama. She held a hand out towards Sang, babbling the whole time as Sang came closer. "Why hello, my loves." Sang smiled. "it's almost dinner time." Her eyes met Owen's.
"Sounds like a great time for us to head downstairs." He said, getting out of the rocker. He paused, shifting Sophia comfortably in his arms before ducking his head to brush a soft kiss across his wife's lips. "I love you."
"I love you too." She smiled at him. "I couldn't help but overhear most of your song. I think most of Hamilton is a bit too advanced for our baby." She raised an eyebrow at him.
He chuckled. "But modifying Dear Theodosia is a love letter to my baby." He made his eyes open innocently. "Trust me, I'm not teaching her Guns and Ships."
"No My Shot until she's a bit older either." She retorted. "It may almost be humorous though to see how well she'd handle Lafayette's rapping." She mused before kissing the side of Sophia's head.
"I think you're on track with the older thing. We'll see how it goes." His lips tilted up at the corners.
She stretched up on tiptoe and kissed the corner of his mouth. "I also need to apologize."
"Oh?"
"I forgot it was your birthday." She wrinkled her nose at him. Sophia copied the facial expression. "I'm so unbelievably annoyed with myself. Eleven years we've been together. Eleven years of celebrating your birthday and I completely forgot!"
Owen chuckled. "Darling, it's okay. It's one birthday. I've had an excellent day."
She stared at him. "Are you sure? You usually dislike spending any time with anyone on your birthday but today you've had lunch with Sean and hung out with Silas and North at their shop..." She waved at the baby in his arms. "Had a singalong with the baby..."
"yes, Darling." He smiled at her. "I've had a great day. I need to start being more open on my birthday anyway."
Her eyebrows shot up into her hairline. "Are you feeling all right?" she reached up, checking him for fever. "I swear, I've never had you react this way on your birthday before."
"Sang... Darling, please. Yes. It's time for some changes. I'm not saying I need to have a party every year or some big overly done thing but every so often, just hanging out with the family and having a nice dinner would be perfectly fine. Maybe the occasional lunch with a baby or two once they're old enough and we're sure we're not going to make them sick by being outside in December, we can have those picnics on the dock again. But it's okay."
She sighed. "Okay, good. I just... wasn't sure if I could still blame pregnancy brain for forgetting."
He chuckled, wrapping his free arm around her as Sophia babbled contentedly at her mama. He pressed a kiss to Sang's temple. "Does it make you feel better to know that I completely forgot about it today as well?" He asked. "I didn't even realize until Sean wished me a happy birthday at lunch. Trust me when I say you do not want to consider what sushi cake actually means." He blinked at her before shuddering. "it was okay. Just not something I need in my life." He smiled.
"Oh good. I'm glad someone remembered." She murmured. "Sorry about the sushi cake...? I bet he was thrilled you were having lunch with him today. He's wanted to share lunch with you on your birthday for years." She wrapped her arm around his waist as they started to head downstairs to join the family.
"Again, all the more reason to start letting them in on my birthday." He said, softly. "Besides... things have taken a decided happy turn in life this year. Sophia and I share this day as her half birthday. I'm probably going to need to figure out how one celebrates a half birthday with a princess at some point."
Sang beamed up at him as they entered the kitchen. "I've never looked forward to anything more than I am now looking forward to your someday celebration with our princess." She winked at him. "I took the liberty of asking Luke to bring the foods from your typical birthday lunch on the dock home for dinner tonight. I hope that's okay."
"It's perfectly wonderful, Darling." He turned towards her, tilting her chin upward with gentle pressure under her chin with two of his fingers. "My life is infinitely better since the day you showed up in it. Thank you."
"Oh, no, thank you." She smiled before closing the distance between them and stealing another kiss from him. "Happy Birthday, my love."
~Fade~
a/n: Creative liberties taken with Dear Theodosia by the AMAZING Lin Manuel Miranda from Hamilton. I don't own the lyrics, only the parts I changed. I can almost hear Owen having a strong tenor voice like Leslie Odom Jr so in my head, it sounds wonderful and HEY... this is in Academy in MY head so let me have it... :)