FRACTIONS

Snippets of the life they should have had.

Family oneshots of varying lengths in the canon of 'A half of the whole' (but no need to have read that - Nikki and Harry were in a relationship when Harry left for New York, Leo dying brought him back, he proposed to Nikki and they got married the following summer. Their son, Joshua, was both a little over a year later).

Lots of happiness, cute children, and all the H/N.

Disclaimer: Actually, more of this belongs to me than usual, being straight out of 'A half of the whole'. So while the BBC's characters don't belong to me, the situations they're in now do, and Joshua is entirely mine.

Spoilers: What happened in A Greater Love might get mentioned, because it played a big part in what happened in 'A half of the whole', but that's old news now.

Only One Minute

October 2015

Fatigue reading in the new creases around her eyes, Nikki sets the little boy down in his crib ever so gently. It's a moment of absolute uncertainty, the fear that he might wake again when she's just spent the last forty minutes feeding him, burping him, and pacing up and down the nursery with him, not running on very much sleep herself. Joshua doesn't like sleeping for long, as a rule, the last six days have taught her, since they've been home. So every last second counts right now – she never could have imagined how much she'd value silence.

She practically tiptoes into her bedroom, in utter terror of making the slightest sound. As she slips under the covers next to her husband he slides an arm loosely around her in his coveted half-asleep state. She smiles slightly as he buries his face into the crook of her neck.

"He… 'sleep?" he whispers, words not quite reaching sense, eyes not opening.

"Finally." She breathes, pulling his arm around her shoulders. "He doesn't like normal sleeping hours, your son…"
She feels the slight rumble of his laugh behind her. "He's my son when he's screaming, is he?"

She raises an eyebrow, rolling over to face him, pressing her lips to his almost half-heartedly, in her already semi-unconscious state. "He's your son when he's screaming." She agrees, smiling slightly as her eyes drift closed. "And now he's asleep…. So he's my son… probably for no more than half an hour…"

His lips pressing against her scalp, his face in her hair.

"Go to sleep." He whispers, "I'll take the next shift."

She shakes her head slightly. "There's none of my milk left in the fridge… You can have tomorrow night…"

She thinks she feels a smile against her skin. "Tomorrow night…" he whispers, "I'll do all night tomorrow night…"

Despite everything, despite feeling like she's about to slip into unconsciousness any moment, despite how tired and teary and overwhelmed she's feeling at the moment, she tilts her face up to his.

"I love you. Don't you ever forget that."

Her eyes drift close and sleep sucks her in before she sees his smile, hears his reciprocation.

Screaming wakes her next, and this time, there's no sign of life from Harry's side. He must be sleeping deeply, because Joshua's got a set of lungs on him. She staggers out of bed and into the nursery, noticing the clock as she passes, horror washing through her as she realises she's only been asleep for forty minutes. She lifts the still tiny little boy out of his crib, letting his mouth find her breast easily; the immediate quiet washing over her like a wave of something wonderful. He only has a short drink, and then he pulls away gently, his tiny little mouth opening in a yawn.

"I'm tired too, sweetheart…" she presses her lips to his forehead as his dark blue eyes are slowly closing – they look heavy. "I love you more than you'll ever know." she whispers, daring to set him gently against the sheets in his crib again. "My beautiful boy."

She skulks back to her bed, a slight defeatist slump to her shoulders. She has a funny feeling she's not going to be getting much sleep at all for the foreseeable future.

Harry's still sound asleep. Jealously, she slides carefully between the sheets, careful not to wake him.

Her eyes are closed almost before she hits the pillow, and she's dreaming.

Her dreams are of a fair haired little boy running around in the garden with his father, words gabbling out of his mouth and slightly more normal sleep patterns followed. It's strange, even in her dreaming state she realises that not that long ago, that was just a dream, just a wish.

Now it's a future.

Joshua sleeps for an hour and a half, this time.

Hope you enjoyed. Would love to hear what you think, give me two minutes for a review if you've got two minutes! More will be posted, intermittently!