Author's Note: Don't own it. Just play with them sometimes.
Hush little baby, don't say a word. Mama's going to buy you a mockingbird
Jane sang gently to the newborn wrapped in her arms. She ran her fingers lightly over his cheek, his skin velvety soft. She still couldn't believe he was here. That somehow, after everything they had been through, their love still created this miraculous little boy.
"So, this is my little brother?" Avery spoke up from the doorway. She paused when she heard Jane's voice, afraid to interrupt the moment. Any hesitation she felt was erased when Jane's smile widened.
"Alexander Ian Weller, meet your big sister, Avery." Jane's eyes were alight as Avery walked closer. She carefully shifted the sleeping baby, moving the blanket so Avery could see his face.
"You wanna hold him?" Jane asked.
Avery looked at her in surprise, but nodded as she carefully scooped him into her arms.
Jane settled back into the hospital bed, watching as Avery carefully held her brother. "I used to sing that to you," she said. "It's one of the only things I remember."
Avery looked at Jane in silence. They never talked much about their past and what happened when she was born. Their relationship had been forged through fights and danger, and although they had made their peace with it, they never had truly talked about it. Avery sat down in the chair, carefully holding Alex so he wouldn't wake up. "Really?" she whispered. She wanted to know so much more, the same questions that always haunted her bubbling up inside her.
"I was holding you, just like you're holding him." Jane took a deep breath, feeling the tears at the corner of her eyes. "I remember thinking you were so beautiful." Jane's voice dropped. "And then I remember waking up, and you were gone."
Avery ducked her head, closing her eyes to fight back tears. Of course she knew that. She knew she was adopted, taken away soon after she was born and given to another family. They loved her, and she loved them. And it wasn't until it all went to hell that finding her birth parents even became an option. But she couldn't help but feel a twinge of jealously towards this little boy in her arms – that he would get to grow up, always feeling loved, always feeling like he belonged somewhere.
"Can you sing it again, for both of us?" Avery asked hopefully.
Jane looked up, her eyes wet with tears. "Always."
"Hush little baby, don't say a word. Mama's going to buy you a mockingbird…"
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