Soft crying in the neighboring room woke Iris from a deep sleep. She sat up quietly, careful not to wake her husband, but her efforts were in vain. As she started to slip out of the bed, she felt a hand on her shoulder.
"Iris, you need some sleep. I'll take care of Amaryllis," Ignis said. He didn't mind caring for his six month old daughter. He discovered that managing an infant was far easier than managing Noctis ever was. He just also really enjoyed being a father.
"Iggy, she's probably hungry and I'm afraid that's my department," Iris replied with a smile.
"We have some bottles prepared," Ignis observed.
"But you have to work early tomorrow-I'm off," she countered. He leaned in close and kissed her.
"I don't mind," he responded before kissing her again. She smiled and leaned her forehead against his.
"You convinced me." She settled back against the pillows and pulled the covers over her. Ignis put on his robe and headed for the door.
"Remember you need to warm up the bottle," Iris said as she closed her eyes.
"Yes, dear," Ignis said, a little sarcastically.
Amaryllis, or "Maryll" as they often called her, had hair much like her father's, though it was lighter-almost blonde. Her eyes were blue-green like his, but she definitely had her mother's nose and sunny disposition (most of the time). She was a little small for her age which had initially concerned her parents, but the doctors explained it was perfectly normal. Gladio suggested that Iris' petite height was the cause. Naturally, that had triggered a sibling squabble.
Once he had prepared the bottle, Ignis scooped up his tiny daughter and headed for the comfortable rocker near the crib. He sat down and propped her up in the crook of his arm. She immediately started to drink the bottle and wasted no time draining it. He set the bottle aside and smiled at her. Even though he couldn't see it, he could feel her smiling back at him. It pained him that he'd never visually seen her face, but it did nothing to lessen his love for her nor her love for him.
He stood up and rested her head against his shoulder and paced the nursery a few times. When she still hadn't fallen asleep, he sang a Lucian nursery rhyme to her. Ignis had quite a nice singing voice but he would never sing in front of anyone but Maryll. Even Iris couldn't force him to do it. Confident she had finally fallen asleep; Ignis placed Amaryllis in her crib. He nearly cursed when he hit his head on the pink chocobo mobile hanging above her crib and hoped it wasn't enough to wake her up. After a minute of quiet, he started to head for the door. As soon as his foot touched the hardwood floor of the hall, the whining began. Ignis sighed and returned to the room. He reached into the toy bin near the entrance and found her favorite moogle rattle. He was able to soothe her with it for a few moments, but she started crying even more when he set it down. He gave up and lifted her out of the crib. He cradled her in his arms and paced up and down the nursery again. She was still whining, but not quite as loudly.
"Sweetheart, you have to be quiet," he said as he paced, "your mother needs some sleep."
"-and your daddy too," Iris said from the doorway.
"I'm sorry, I thought she'd gone back to sleep," Ignis said as he turned his head towards the sound of her voice.
"Don't worry about it. I couldn't get back to sleep and besides I like watching you two together-it's so adorable." Amaryllis recognized her mother's voice instantly and started to smile.
"She cries whenever I put her down," Ignis explained. Iris laughed a little.
"Of course she does-she wants to be held!" Iris was quite familiar with Maryll's tactics. She was less likely to give in than Ignis.
"Well, she is just a baby," Ignis answered.
"She's six months old," Iris countered lightly.
"Hardly a senior citizen," Ignis retorted with a smirk.
"Many six month olds can sleep through the night," she explained, "if we keep giving in to her demands, she'll never stay in her crib."
"I suppose you're right," Ignis admitted. Iris stepped closer and held out her arms to Maryll. Ignis surrendered the baby.
"Come here, sweetie," Iris said and kissed the baby's head. Maryll was happy to be in her mother's arms because she didn't know she was going straight back to crib-jail. After Iris carefully set her down on her back underneath the pink chocobo mobile, Maryl started to cry softly. Iris turned away from the pleas and took Ignis by his arm, leading him out of the room. Just outside the door, she explained her strategy.
"We'll let her cry for 5 minutes or so," Iris said, "she usually gives up by then." Ignis seemed unconvinced and was already beginning to cave. Iris held his arm. As the 5 minute mark approached, Maryll seemed to quiet down. Iris peered inside the room-the baby was falling asleep. She carefully closed the door and the two quietly went back to their bedroom.
After Maryll was silent for 15 minutes, Ignis had to admit defeat.
"I suppose you were right after all," Ignis said. He slipped off his robe and climbed back into bed.
"Sometimes, you have to let babies cry," she answered with a yawn and moved closer to Ignis.
"So it seems," he responded, "you are certainly knowledgeable about babies." Iris had to laugh-Ignis had amusing ways of saying things sometimes.
"It's just maternal instinct, I guess." She gently turned his face towards hers and kissed him.
"You're a wonderful father," she said, sensing he might be feeling a little disappointed in his own parenting skills.
"I do try," he said with a smile. Iris reached over to the lamp on her nightstand and switched it off. Ignis could sense the slight diminution of light. He'd almost forgotten how late it was.
"Do you think we need to turn the heat on? It's getting a little chilly," Iris said as she puffed her pillows and turned on her left side. Ignis moved next to her and gently draped his right arm over her stomach. She immediately felt warmer.
"Better?" he said as he rested his head near hers on the pillow.
"Much," she happily replied. She moved her right hand closer to his and he gently laced his fingers through hers.
"Sometimes this doesn't seem real," Iris said after a peaceful pause, "I never thought I could be this happy."
"I can hardly believe it myself," Ignis responded, "until Maryll starts screaming of course." Iris laughed a little and took mock offense at the comment.
"She's actually a very well behaved baby. We could have five if they were all like her," Iris replied. Ignis seemed a little surprised and propped himself up slightly.
"Five babies? I hope not all at once," he sounded a little concerned. Iris turned her head a little to face him.
"I didn't mean it literally," she replied with a laugh. Ignis relaxed and pulled her closer.
"But," she said as she rested her head back on the soft pillow, "I would love to have more." Ignis squeezed her hand gently.
"So would I." The two of them happily drifted off to sleep.
Author's note: I decided Ignis and Iris would most likely name their daughter after a flower in keeping with Amicitia tradition. Amaryllis is certainly an unusual name, but the flower is distantly related to lilies which are related to both iris and gladiolus so I thought it was appropriate. 'Amaryllis' also means 'to sparkle' in Greek. And it ends in an 'is' like Ignis and Iris (I thought about this too much!). I hope you enjoyed this fluff, as always thanks for reading and commenting!