SUMMARY: Linnet is loud and shouts instead of crying a lot. Tina is simply exhausted. Newt is in love with his family.
I'd like to give a shout-out to baby Iris Mary Redmayne who Eddie is totally in love with and I can't deal with how in love he is with his family…also, Newt is of course in love with his family too, so this fic was going to be written anyway.
Fact: On 30 January 1933, Adolf Hitler was appointed chancellor of a coalition government of the NSDAP-DNVP Party.
(Linnet was born on 13th January 1933)
"Alright, Lin, alright…I'm coming…"
Struggling not to yawn (and failing miserably), Newt pushed open the door to his daughter's room and walked straight to the crib – it was a routine he was more than used to now.
"You, young lady," He muttered tiredly – but with obvious affection. "You're worse than a newly-hatched Occamy, you know that?"
Linnet looked up at him with wide eyes – at the sight of him her face lit up and she gave a large grin in greeting. Despite how tired he was he couldn't help but smile back at her; seeing his children so happy to see him always made being woken up seem worth all the trouble, as silly as it seemed. Linnet, especially, had a most wonderful way of grinning at him – it made his heart absolutely melt to look at her.
The nice moment didn't last long, of course: once she had realized that he wasn't moving to help her, she let out a loud shout in protest – she had skipped crying, he and Tina had found, instead shouting out random sounds when she wanted something.
"Yes, alright, hang on…" Newt gently lifted her out of the crib, careful not to hurt her, and settled her in the crook of his arm. "What's the matter, Lin? It's not another nappy change, is it?"
Linnet wriggled against him, burying her face into his chest and letting out another loud shout of displeasure.
"Well, Mummy fed you only a half an hour ago, so it can't be that… You just felt like waking me up, I suppose," He mused, moving to sit down on the chair by the window. "You probably wanted Mummy, didn't you? Yes, that's probably it…Mummy's very tired, I'm afraid, so we'll let her have a little rest."
His daughter squirmed again, making herself comfortable in this new position, before gripping at his nightshirt and staring up at him with wide eyes; he couldn't help but grin again to himself as he traced one finger over the thick tufts of hair on her head, allowing himself to become absolutely enamored by her again.
"I'm afraid you have my hair," Newt chuckled to himself. "Thankfully it's not too bright a red, but you're still going to be stuck with it… I think you'll look lovelier with it than I do somehow; you're already so wonderful that I doubt even my hair could ruin it. You've already got your mother's eyes though – such lovely eyes, a very beautiful brown…"
Linnet gave another small wriggle before settling down again, still watching him; in the small amount of moonlight filtering through the window he could only see the most prominent of her freckles standing out, could see her pink cherub cheeks were flushed. She looked so small and innocent, resting in the crook of his arms, that his heart gave a small leap.
"You are very wonderful," He whispered to himself, well-aware that he was probably only getting so sentimental due to a severe lack of sleep. "You and Phoenix both are, for that matter, even if you've been running us ragged over the last few months. Your Mummy and I wouldn't trade it for anything, though, as I'm sure she'll tell you."
It amazed him to think that he and Tina were parents of all things – it had been incredible enough when their son had been born, let alone with a daughter as well now. It always gave him a thrill when he saw Linnet smiling up at him or Phoenix toddling up to him happily; it made all of the less pleasant parts of parenthood seem quite small in comparison.
"You and your brother are going to be the death of your mother," He joked quietly. "Between you shouting and him walking around… I'm not quite sure how she's managing but she is. She's a fantastic mother, you know, and I'm sure that usually she's here cuddling you instead of me – but, as I said, she's very tired and she really needs the sleep. I'm sure you understand, don't you?"
She blinked up at him, quite unaware and innocent.
"Ah, well… It's all rather complicated at the moment, I'm afraid," He sighed, looking out of the window now; the countryside was open and vast, so peaceful – it was hard to imagine that a war was currently brewing. "Your Mummy has had to go back to work earlier than expected – it's for the greater good, I know, to protect us…but all the same…I do wish she'd been given more time to spend with us."
He would never have stood in the way of his wife returning to work, of course – but that didn't mean he necessarily agreed with it. Tina, herself, hadn't particularly wanted to return to work just yet – their daughter was only a few months old, after all – but she had agreed because it was her job to protect people, to help those who needed it.
What kind of Auror would I be if I didn't help to protect people? Besides, it's for the greater good.
The 'greater good' was, of course, their children's futures; Phoenix and Linnet both deserved to grow up in a world free of hatred and war, a world without Grindelwald and his followers creating terror or anxiety. It didn't help at all that things had heated up in Germany for the muggles as well – Adolf Hitler had been appointed as chancellor of a coalition government just two and a half weeks after Linnet had been born, and it looked as if he would only continue to rise in power if the news reports were anything to go by.
It looked as if the National-Socialist party – 'Nazis', as many people referred to them – were only just getting started…and it terrified both himself and Tina to the bone.
"Mummy just wants the best for you and your brother," Newt murmured, turning his attention back to his daughter. "We both do, and we're going to fight as much as we can so that you can have that. It's not all so bad, you know; we have our creatures in our case, and I'm sure that you'll love every single one of them, once we introduce you properly."
Linnet seemed to be dozing off, he noticed; her eyelids were starting to droop, though she was struggling hard to stay awake – of course she was, he thought to himself fondly. She was such a stubborn little thing, almost like Tina in that sense.
"I know you like being awake, young lady," He chuckled softly, careful not to disturb her too much. "But you do need to sleep – and we need to sleep too, your mother and I. Come on, Lin, just drift off for a few hours…"
But it seemed that his voice had just woken her up more; Linnet scrunched up her face and let out a noise that sounded rather like a "BAH!" in protest.
"Now, none of that please…" Newt muttered, patting the baby on the back gently. "I've sat for a cuddle, haven't I? You don't want to wake up your brother or mother now, do you?"
When he tried to lift her away from him, she gave a cry – an actual cry this time – and kicked her legs fruitlessly; terrified of upsetting her further, he quickly cradled her again in both arms and hummed quietly, hoping it would stop her from crying.
"Fine, I'll stay until you fall asleep," He gave in tiredly. "But only until you fall asleep – then I'll be going back to my own bed, I can assure you of that now."
He shifted in the seat, hoping to get somewhat comfortable for the time being; Linnet looked up at him for a moment, as if examining him – and then she grinned so widely that he couldn't help but grin too.
"You-" He found himself yawning once more. "-are most certainly worse than a new Occamy hatchling, Lin… But you are more than worth it."
It was slightly strange to wake up and see that her husband wasn't in bed beside her – he usually woke later than her, after all, only rising earlier if something was amiss, and it was just a bit odd that he wasn't there.
Tina gave an exhausted yawn as she clambered out from underneath the bedsheets, reaching for her robe on the back of the door and tying it as she struggled to fully wake up; the thought of another day of training made any energy she did have drain rather quickly, and she made a note that she definitely needed to make some coffee to have with breakfast. With that in mind, she took her wand from the bedside table, slipped it into the pocket of her robe (just in case, the Auror-trained part of her mind reminded her) and decided to check on the children.
Phoenix was, as expected, still fast asleep; his dark hair was falling across his forehead messily, sticking up in places much like she suspected her own was. She smiled fondly to herself as she picked up the fallen teddy bear from the floor, tucking it next to her son before adjusting the duvet so that it was over his shoulders – it was only mid-April, and he was bound to be cold otherwise. She pressed a small kiss to his chubby cheek before leaving the room; he wriggled a tiny bit at the contact but stayed asleep, settling down rather quickly once more.
He's getting so big, she found herself thinking somewhat sadly; it felt like she had hardly seen the children since going back to work a few weeks ago – and while she enjoyed work, the fact that she was barely seeing her children made her feel absolutely awful.
She sighed, shaking her head to herself: there was no point in getting upset this early in the morning, especially not when she had a full day of work ahead of her.
Right…now Linnet.
The first thing she saw when she entered her daughter's room, however, was that Linnet was not in the cot at all – for a moment Tina found herself panicking just a tad, mind suddenly whirling at all of the possibilities. Perhaps someone had snuck in during the night…? She doubted a baby as young as three months old would be able to crawl out of her cot yet-
There was a loud snore, prompting her to turn her attention to the window: to her relief and amusement, she saw her husband in the chair with their daughter in his arms, the two of them sleeping quite peacefully.
"Typical," She muttered to herself under her breath, but she was grinning all the same; the sight of the two of them curled up together in the chair, fast asleep, was rather heart-warming. It was easy to see the resemblance between the two in the early morning sunlight, from their identical reddish-brown hair to the smattering of freckles they both had.
Tina smiled fondly to herself, leaning with her back against the cot as she continued to look at Newt and Linnet – somehow, having seen this, her morning didn't seem so bad after all.
Once again, I suck at endings. :/ BUT BABY LINNET OH MY GOD
I hope you all enjoyed! :D