A/N: It's a little lame, but I got the idea from watching Nick contemplate the idea of a safe kit on the episode with the go-karts. Sorry for any errors!
Disclaimer: I own nothing
As Greg entered the house the first thing he heard was the laughter. He smiled inwardly; he always loved coming home to that sound. He deposited his bag on the washing machine and his shoes on the laundry room floor. He quickly removed his coat and hung it up on the designated hook. Greg made his way to through the house lit by only the sunlight gleaming through the blinds. He followed continuous laughter right into the living room where he found Nick holding the source of said laughter, their two, almost three year old daughter Sabrina. As the girl caught sight of her other father she climbed out of Nick's lap and excitedly stumbled over herself to get to Greg.
"Da!" She squealed excitedly. As of now she referred to Nick as Daddy and Greg as Da. As she got older they hoped it would develop into Dad instead of Da.
"What Brea, what?" Greg responded excitedly, using a nickname he coined early on in Sabrina's life, shortly after the adoption. The little girl extended her arms upward, clearly wanting to be picked up. Never wanting to disappoint, Greg scooped his daughter into his arms. Sabrina's curly pigtails bounced as she giggled and buried her head in Greg's shoulder. "Who did your hair, beautiful? Was it Daddy?" He whispered in her ear. Sabrina sat back in his arms and furiously shook her head no.
"Not Daddy, Abbi" She corrected him, naming her babysitter as the hairdresser.
"Yeah, I didn't think Daddy could do hair like that" Greg mentioned, winking at Nick. Nick half rolled his eyes and breathed a light laugh. Greg moved to sit on the couch next to his husband. He leaned over and kissed him softly.
"Tired, hon?" Nick asked.
"Yeah, long night, how about you?" Greg countered.
"No more than usual." Nick shrugged. Greg eyed him carefully, he sensed something was off. Nick felt his stare and quickly diverted attention. "What about you Brea, are you tired?" He smiled at the toddler.
"No Daddy, not tired!" Sabrina snapped.
"Oh, I'd disagree" Greg laughed.
"Yeah darling" Nick said softly, gently stroking Sabrina's cheek. She leaned into her father's touch and let her tiny eyes fall closed. Both fathers knew it was about her bedtime. Until Sabrina was old enough to start a daycare/preschool, they decided to keep her on their schedule. That way she would sleep when they did and they could spend their afternoons together as a family. "It's about bedtime, angel" he added.
"You and Da too?" She asked.
"Of course honey, Daddy and I have been at work all night, we're sleepy" Greg jumped in. Sabrina half whined, half grunted, and reached for Nick. Sabrina had her special moments with each of her fathers. She liked Nick when she went to bed and Greg when she woke up. It had been that way since she joined their family. Nick took his daughter from his husband. She snuggled into his arms and surrendered to her exhaustion. "Wow, she really must be tired" Greg whispered.
"Abbi said they played hard. It wasn't one of the nights where they just sat around and read books or watched movies." Nick informed him.
"I'm not complaining, I'm exhausted. However, I love coming home to her laughter and the first thing I see is the two of you together. It's not often you're home first" Greg acknowledged, resting his head on Nick's shoulder.
"I know" Nick exhaled.
"Are you alright?" Greg wondered.
"Yeah, just tired, I'm going to put her to bed, why don't you go warm up the sheets?" Nick replied, shooting him a charming smile. Greg knew there was still something bothering him, but he figured it could wait.
"I'm not sure I can do that without you" He responded with a cheeky grin as Nick walked off to Sabrina's room. Nick looked back over his shoulder and winked. Greg pulled himself up off the couch and stretched out his tired limbs and headed for the master bedroom. He readied himself for bed and climbed in. Ten minutes later, Nick joined him.
"She's out cold, didn't even wake up." Nick mentioned and he slid under the covers.
"Good, now are you going to tell me what's wrong, cowboy?" Greg tired again. Nick sighed and pulled Greg to him.
"I think I want put together some safe kits for Sabrina." He admitted.
"Like picture, fingerprints, and DNA?" Greg checked.
"Yeah, I've been thinking about it since that go cart case awhile back. I talked to Mandy about it. She said it's better safe than sorry. Sabrina will be going to daycare soon and I just think she should have one." Nick rambled.
"Nicky, I completely agree. I mean I was a DNA tech for years and I don't have any of my own daughter's DNA stored or on file. I'm surprised with the line of work we are in, this isn't done already." Greg stated, relaxing into Nick's chest.
"I think we should have three, one for us, for Abbi and just an extra" Nick added, his voice beginning to sound tired.
"Sounds good, we can do that after we get some sleep" Greg said, finally drifting off.
Hours later, Nick surfaced from the depths of sleep first. He dropped a kiss on Greg's shoulder.
"G, you awake?" He asked.
"Mm, yeah" Greg mumbled, rolling over to burry his face in Nick's chest.
"I guess we should go get the little one up "Nick added, wrapping his arms around his husband.
"You go, I'll be right there, I just need to pee first" Greg mentioned, breaking away and making his way to the bathroom.
"I don't think she'll like that" Nick called after him.
"She'll be fine, just tell her I'm on my way." Greg tossed back. Nick did as he was told and left for Sabrina's room.
"Hey sweetheart" He cooed, wrapping one of her curls around his finger. Sabrina's eyes fluttered open, she just stared at her father. She knotted her brow, wondering where Greg was. "Why don't we start breakfast" Nick suggested, pulling Sabrina from her bed. As soon as Nick settled her in his arms, she began to whimper.
"Da?" She asked.
"He's coming sweetie" Nick tired to assure her. Her whimpers soon became and all out cry. Nick sighed heavily. "Brea, he's just down the hall" He said, kissing her forehead. He was desperately trying to remember how they got through the days Greg wasn't home when he was either at a conference or forced into extra shifts. Greg heard his daughter's cries and slid into the bedroom.
"Baby, what's wrong?" He wondered. The child continued to scream and reached for her other father. Greg didn't hesitate to take her. She quickly buried her head in his shoulder and continued to sob. "I'm sorry, I was just going potty" He calmed the little girl. As he gently rubbed Sabrina's back he glanced at Nick. The almost guilty look on his face pained him. Greg knew it was hard on Nick when Sabrina was upset. "Love you" He mouthed. Nick sent him a watery smile.
"Love you too" Nick mouthed in return.
As they entered the kitchen, per usual, Greg headed straight for the coffee machine. He found it quite difficult to try and put together the ingredients for a pot coffee with one hand while cradling a toddler with the other. He fumbled with the bag of grounds, trying to get it open. Nick immediately noticed his predicament.
"I can do that" he readily offered. Greg smiled and handed over the offending object.
"Brea, what do you want for breakfast?" Greg asked. Sabrina sat back in his arms and wiped her nose with her fist. "Oh honey" he stifled a laugh at the image of her snot covered tear stained face. "Daddy, could you get us a wet washcloth?" Greg asked his husband.
"Of course" Nick obliged as he wet the cloth and tossed it in Greg's direction. Greg went to work cleaning their daughter's face. Once finished he set the child in her highchair and went to work finding her something for breakfast. He poured some milk into a sippy cup, sliced up a banana and dumped a few cheerios on the tray. As Sabrina took to her meal, Greg stepped across the kitchen to tend to his husband. As he approached Nick, a warm cup of coffee was placed in his hands.
"Thanks" Greg grinned. Nick sent him half a smile in return. Greg could still see guilt hanging in his eyes. "Nicky, I know it's hard to see her upset and I know how helpless you feel. It's the same way when I try to put her to bed. She has her rituals with each of us and I'm sorry I messed that up today. You know you would have gotten her calmed down. She does adjust eventually, but like I said, it's never easy to see her cry." Greg paused briefly, letting Nick take in what he was saying. Nick nodded in understanding. "Don't kid yourself, you're the best daddy a girl could ask for, and we both love you very much, you know that" He finished, pulling Nick into a hug. He felt all of the tension melt out of his husband's body. Nick usually wasn't the insecure parent; he had nieces and nephews so he had some idea how to care for children, more experience than Greg anyway. However, the second Sabrina started to cry, Nick was lost.
Nick pulled out a few things from the fridge and started throwing something together for the adults for breakfast.
"G, breakfast is ready" Nick called to Greg in the living room where he was turning to the TV for Sabrina.
"What a wonderful husband, making me breakfast" Greg said with a wink as he slid into his chair at the table. Nick laughed and set a plate in front of him. "Oh fried potatoes, bacon and egg, yum!" Greg added excitedly. Nick took his seat and the two enjoyed their breakfast, talking over cases from the night before and what they would be working on later. Their conversation was interrupted by Sabrina bouncing into the room. She collided with Nick's chair.
"Well hey, darling" Nick laughed, setting down his fork and scooping her into his lap.
"Play?" Sabrina asked, all signs of her earlier bad mood gone.
"Sure sweetheart, but we all need to get dressed first" Nick answered. Sabrina seemed satisfied with his response and made herself comfortable. As he finished his meal he offered Sabrina bites and continued his conversation with Greg.
An hour later, Greg, Nick, and Sabrina were having a tickle war in the living room. The war settled in a truce as the doorbell rang. Nick sent Greg a questioning look, as far as he knew they weren't expecting guests. Nick got up and went to answer the door.
"Sara?" Nick was confused.
"I heard someone wanted to do some fingerprinting" Sara stated, holding up the bag she had with her.
"G?" Nick turned over her shoulder.
"I called her while you were in the shower" Greg answered quickly. Nick nodded and moved to let Sara in. At the sight of Sara, Sabrina took of running in her direction. She stopped and hugged the woman's legs.
"Hey Sabrina" Sara giggled. "Isn't it about naptime for this child?" Sara directed her question towards Sabrina's fathers.
"She hasn't been awake that long, remember she's on our schedule." Greg mentioned.
"You boys are going to have her so messed up when she has to start school" Sara laughed and shook her head.
"We'll get her sleep schedule corrected before then, thank you very much" Greg continued to playfully defend their parenting.
"Oh whatever" Sara gave in, picking up Sabrina and carrying her into the kitchen. The boys were only a step behind her.
"Brea, baby, we're going to do a little project" Nick announced to his child. Her brown eyes lit up.
"fun?" Sabrina wondered.
"Well I guess this is a little bit fun, it has to do with mine and Da's work" Nick tired to explain.
"First! You can't ruin your clothes, sweetie" Greg pointed out, knowing the combination of ink and a two year old would lead to trouble. He undressed his child and slipped one of his old t-shirts over his head then tied it back so it wouldn't get in her way too much.
Sara pulled out all the items needed to create Sabrina's safe kits. At first the toddler looked intimidated by the materials, but after a quick demonstration from Greg she was ready to try it all for herself. By the end of it all, Sara left her two best friends and one little girl covered in fingerprint ink.
"Do you feel better now?" Greg asked as he slid up next to Nick, wrapping an arm around him.
"Yes, thanks hon" Nick smiled and kissed his husband. They both turned to see the fifthly Sabrina dancing in front of the TV in Greg's old shirt with ink smudged on her little face.
"Anything to keep her safe" Greg whispered. Nick relaxed into his husband's arms.