I don't own The Americans and never will. No copyright infringement intended.
As much as she loved her youngest, Elizabeth missed the days when she only had to deal with two mostly independent children. Newborns were exhausting and trying to be a spy with a baby in the house wasn't exactly easy. Battling fatigue pretty much every day wasn't conducive to doing their jobs. She sighed when Bridget started wailing from the living room. "Paige, since you're in there, can you get your sister?" Elizabeth yelled.
Paige rolled her eyes, but agreed. "I got her, but if she has a diaper issue, I'm giving her to you."
Elizabeth stifled a laugh. "Duly noted." She and Philip should have been more careful after they reconciled, but they hadn't been careful at least once, leading to their third child's conception. Although shocked, both had been excited about the baby – Paige and Henry, not so much. It had taken them a while to adjust to Bridget, and Paige clearly still wasn't very happy about her little sister. Henry adored her, however, something that still surprised his parents.
"She just wanted attention!" Paige called back as the wails started dying down. The four month old gurgled and leaned her tiny head into her older sister's shoulder. And against her better judgment, the teenager melted. "You better not tell anyone," she whispered. Bridget just babbled and closed her eyes.
Elizabeth walked into the living room. "You got her or you want to give her up?"
Paige shrugged. "She's calm now and you know she'll start crying if she's moved. Go back to making dinner."
She grinned at the sight of both her daughters. "I will. Put her down if she starts getting to be too much." Elizabeth headed back to the kitchen and stirred the soup.
Philip opened the door and stepped into the house. He grinned at the sight of Paige and Bridget. "She cried until you picked her up?" he guessed.
Paige nodded. "This kid loves being held. Pretty sure she's just crying on purpose now to annoy us."
He laughed, kissed both their heads, and went to go check on his wife. Henry was probably in his room and they wouldn't see him until dinner was ready. "You look beautiful."
"I'm glad you think so. You weren't the one home with Bridget 'please hold me and love me every minute of the day' this entire time." Elizabeth didn't care that much, but she did need to go on a mission to decompress a little. Oddly enough, it would relax her. "We got anything?" she whispered.
Philip shook his head and wrapped his arms around his wife's waist. "Nope, sorry. Maybe tomorrow?"
"Hopefully." She set the spoon down and turned around to face him. They kissed just as Paige walked into the room.
She wrinkled her nose up. "This is what got you two in this position in the first place. And I'm not taking care of another baby if you knock her up again." Paige loved her sister (she grudgingly admitted to that only occasionally), but she hated baby-sitting Bridget when all she wanted to do was hang out with her friends.
"Paige!" Elizabeth glared at her until Paige shrugged with one shoulder. The baby was now asleep on the other one and was dead to the world. Philip and Elizabeth were definitely done having kids – one surprise was enough. Just a few weeks after learning of the pregnancy, he willingly got a vasectomy done so he wouldn't get her – or any of his marks (specifically, Martha) pregnant. They weren't willing to take that chance.
"Sorry. It's the truth, though." Paige's arms were starting to get tired and she handed the baby over to her father. Fortunately for them, Bridget didn't wake up. They all sighed in relief.
When dinner was ready, Philip placed the baby in her playpen and headed back to the kitchen. "Hopefully she won't wake us up during dinner," Henry commented.
"Don't jinx us," Paige hissed.
"We'll just hope that she sleeps through it again." Eating dinner in peace now was a very rare event, and Elizabeth desperately needed it to happen. She just wanted to eat without having to get up to take care of the baby at least once. It had happened yesterday, but that's because Philip had taken over after getting home from work.
"You need to sign a permission slip for me to go on a field trip," Henry informed his mom.
"Put it on the counter so I don't forget. And don't you forget either." That had happened a lot lately too. It was pretty frustrating.
"I won't." Henry would make sure of it – and so would Paige. She'd annoy her brother by repeatedly reminding him about the permission slip.
Bridget slept through the entire dinner, but Elizabeth woke her up afterwards so she wouldn't wake up in the middle of the night and cry her little head off. They didn't need to go through that again. The baby glared at her, and she snorted. "Don't you look at me like that. I'm not falling for it."
The family of five sat down to watch a movie on TV a little while later. Philip put his arm around his wife and she leaned into him. "We have a great family, don't we?"
"Yeah. They're pretty great when they're not being annoying." Elizabeth was not looking forward to Bridget's teenage years – they were going through hell with Paige and Henry at the moment. Nobody was that happy during their little acts of rebellion.
"They could be worse." Philip was terrified to imagine it, but that could be true. And no matter how much the sleepless nights drove him up the wall, he loved his three children with everything he had. Even on the nights he felt like giving up because everyone else was sick and he had to take care of them.
"God, don't even think like that." Elizabeth was happy their kids were semi-good, even when they had their moments. Other parents were having a lot more problems than them (although none of them were spy-related, but that was beside the point).
And when Bridget started crying again, they all groaned. "I'm out," Paige declared. She had been slept and drooled on enough today.
"I can't feed her!" Henry put his hands up in defeat. He didn't know why he knew her cry for food, but it was easy to tell apart from the others.
"Well, I'm the only one who can get her, so neither of you had to say anything." Elizabeth picked the baby up and headed upstairs to their bedroom.
When Philip came up to bed a little while later, he found Elizabeth sleeping on her side and Bridget staring up at the ceiling. He stared at them for a few seconds before gently scooping up the baby and depositing her in the crib. He slid into bed with his wife. "I got her for the rest of the night," he whispered.
"Okay," she mumbled.
Philip and Elizabeth had to go out on a mission the next night and although they had to kill someone, it was still a little bit easier than caring for a four month old. At least they weren't waking up every two hours. But that was okay – the feedings in the middle of the night would be over soon. And Bridget wouldn't be a baby forever, so they were determined to enjoy this time before she started screaming at them and slamming doors when she didn't get her way.