Aww, I love Aaron! Anyway, my next little piece of the smacked series I have going! I will catch up with the Flack/Angell piece too! Enjoy!
I own nothing! (except Aaron :P)
It had been a long day. Stella's case had taken her all over the city and pushed her into the next shift. By the time she finally got to home, she was exhausted and more than a little jealous. Mac made it home hours ago, allowing him to spend the evening with nine month old Aaron. She found both of them sitting in the living room. Aaron was babbling like he did quite often these days and Mac was pretending to share in his conversation.
Mac looked up when Stella appeared in the doorway connecting the living room and the kitchen. He could tell she was tired and not in the best of moods. He smiled to himself. He had something that would cheer her up.
"Aaron, look, Mommy's home!" Mac told their son. The little boy giggled and waved at his mom.
"Hi sweet boy," Stella smiled, waving back.
"Aaron, let's show Mommy what you learned today," Mac encouraged. Aaron looked up at Stella, stuck his fist in his mouth and started to drool.
"Oh wow, you can drool, good boy," Stella remarked, starting to walk towards the stairs. Mac helped Aaron to his feet.
"Go get Mommy," he whispered. "Stel," he called, prompting his wife to turn around. As she did, Aaron started talking steps in her direction. Stella gasped and reached out to catch her little boy as he stumbled after three or four shaky steps.
"Aaron! You're such a big boy," she praised, lifting him into her arms. Aaron smiled proudly and waved his arms wildly. "I can't believe you're walking!" Stella exclaimed, kissing his chubby cheeks. She turned her attention to her husband who was still sitting on the floor. The same prideful grin she saw on Aaron's face moments earlier was mirrored in Mac expression. "Mac, he's only nine months old, isn't it a little early for him to be walking?" she asked. Mac shrugged.
"I don't know, he's my first kid," he laughed. Stella rolled her eyes and set Aaron back down at her feet. Mac opened his arms to him. Stella pulled out her phone and videoed the few steps Aaron took to get to his dad.
"This is crazy," Stella stated, shaking her head.
"He's growing up," Mac added softly.
"Yeah, too soon for my liking," she huffed, sitting down next to her husband. Aaron crawled into her lap. "How did this start?" she wondered.
"Well, I was trying to finish up some paperwork and he was sitting on the floor babbling to himself. He crawled over to the coffee table and pulled himself up and started babbling at me, so I figured he wanted some company, so I moved to the floor. I called for him and instead of crawling over to me, he started walking," Mac explained, smiling at the memory. He noticed the slight drop in Stella's expression. "What's wrong?" he asked.
"I'm just a little sad I missed his first steps," she said nonchalantly with a shrug of one shoulder. Mac knew this was bothering her more than that.
"Stel, you only missed the first three," he assured her, gently running his hand over her back. "It wasn't like we had a choice in the matter; he just decided to do it. Plus he still has a lot of firsts ahead of him," he continued.
"Well, if I was a stay at home mom…" Stella began, only to be cut off. She was questioning her parenting, something she hadn't done since she went back to work months ago.
"Stella, don't do that to yourself, you love your job. You would go stir crazy sitting around this house all day and you know it. You are an excellent mother. You just drew the short straw this time. Maybe you'll get lucky and hear his first words," Mac ended in a joking manner. Stella couldn't help but laugh a little.
"Ok, ok, you're right, I'm sorry. It's just, he's my baby," Stella smiled.
"I know," Mac replied kissing her temple. Aaron looked up at both of his parents. He began to babble again. "Really Aaron? Is that what you think?" Mac laughed.
"Hmm, very interesting," Stella played along as Aaron continued to babble. "Well, while you and Daddy finish talking about that, I'm going to go change," she added as she lifted him out of her lap and covered his face with kisses, causing a fit of giggles.
The next day, Stella was at work replaying the video of Aaron walking over and over again on her computer. She was staring somewhat teary eyed at her little boy who had grown so much in his first nine months of life.
"What are you watching Stella?" Lindsey wondered, walking in with a somewhat slow Jess on her heels.
"Oh, Aaron started walking yesterday," she admitted.
"What?" Lindsey was surprised.
"Yeah, he's taken about eleven steps," Stella announced with a broad smile.
"Wow, he's ahead of schedule, he's only nine months old. Jake didn't walk until nearly fourteen months," Lindsey replied.
"Maeli was between ten and eleven months," Jess added.
"Don't remind me," Stella groaned.
"Aww, are you having a 'my baby is growing up too fast moment'?" Lindsey giggled.
"Yes," Stella admitted adamantly.
"Well, you can watch this one grow up, if you want," Jess offered setting a hand on her belly.
"Oh I'm sure I will, but Aaron is up and walking, it's crazy!" Stella mentioned.
"Can we see the video?" Lindsey questioned.
"Oh, yeah, sure," Stella allowed, moving out of the way so the other two could see the screen.
"Look at him," Lindsey gushed.
"He's walking just in time for his first Christmas," Jess noted. Stella smiled as she thought about the previous Christmas, telling Mac she couldn't wait for this Christmas and now she couldn't believe it was already here.
Stella was home second again. She could hear her husband and her son in the living room. She found Mac sitting next to the Christmas tree and Aaron standing next to him. She bit back a laugh as she watch Mac lean over and blow raspberries on their son's cheek. Aaron giggled and took a few awkward steps away from Mac, trying to get away from the raspberries. Mac crawled around the child and caught him again, laying him down on the floor and attacking his little belly with tickles and raspberries. Aaron's laughter echoed through the room. Mac scooped Aaron into his arms and stood up. He held him above his head and spun in a slow circle. The laughter continued with a few added flailing limbs. Mac brought the child to his chest and finally noticed his wife standing in the doorway.
"Hey Stel," he smiled a slight blush coming into his cheeks.
"You were made to be a father," she replied, taking a long look at the men in her life. Mac shrugged. "Has he eaten?" Stella wondered, taking Aaron and kissing his cheek as she settled him in her arms.
"Yes, but more importantly, have you eaten?" Mac turned the question back on her.
"I sure did, Hawkes and I caught a bite on the way back from our last interview," Stella nodded. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed a large yawn escaping her young son. She felt his weight more heavily against her. "Are you ready for bed, kiddo?" she laughed. Aaron squirmed, indicating he no longer wanted to be held. She set Aaron on the ground and watched him walk over to the Christmas tree and pick up one of the smaller presents. He toddled back in their direction and held the package up.
"Not yet, buddy, Christmas is in a few days," Mac informed. Aaron wrinkled his brow in confusion, looking so much like his father. Mac gently took the present from his son and set it back under the tree. Stella turned Aaron towards the stairs.
"March, little man," she chuckled, watching him make measured steps in the direction he was sent in. When he reached the bottom stair, she grabbed him up and carried him to the nursery.
As she put the little boy in his PJs, she knew Mac was standing in the doorway, watching her.
"Did you need something?" Stella asked, her voice full of mirth.
"Well, can we take him back downstairs for a bedtime story?" Mac wondered. Stella smiled to herself, her back still turned to him.
"I like that idea, what do you think Aaron?" she finished at a coo. Aaron only giggled. She lifted him off the changing table and set him back on the ground, expecting him to walk to Mac. Instead, he sat down a looked up at her as if you say, 'what, you're not going to carry me?'. Stella put her hands on her hips. "You're done being super baby? You've just decided to be a normal nine month old again?" she laughed. Mac shook his head and moved past Stella to pick up his son.
"We're gonna be sitting here all night, if she leaves it up to you," he spoke to the child, kissing his cheek. "You ready for a story?" he smiled. Aaron just stared at him. They walked down the stairs and all three of them squeezed into an overstuffed arm chair. Stella was partially tucked into Mac's lap and Aaron was tucked into hers. Mac slowly began to read "How the Grinch Stole Christmas". It was only a few pages in that Aaron's blue eyes began to drop closed. Stella was enjoying listening to Mac's voice so she didn't stop him even after the baby was asleep. "I guess I didn't need to read to whole thing," he laughed lightly when he noticed Aaron nestled against Stella's chest, dead to the world. "Should we take him upstairs?" he suggested as he moved to get up. Stella stopped him.
"Can't we just sit here a while?" she asked. Mac smiled.
"Of course," he allowed. Her head dropped to his shoulder as she ran her hand up and down Aaron's back. She had a couple reasons for wanting to stay in that moment, the first being they never had time to just sit like that, the second being she was watching Aaron's infancy quickly vanish and his independence grow so she wasn't sure how much longer they would have to hold him that way.
"You know, I think this Christmas is the one I've been waiting for my entire life," she whispered. She moved so she could see Mac's face. She could see the slight question in his blue eyes. "It's not that the past few Christmases I've spent with you haven't been great, but this one, we are a family. It's our first Christmas as a family and we get to watch his excitement as he opens his presents. Yes, he's still a little young to understand it all, but…" he voice trailed off.
"Stel, trust me I understand. This will be the year we start traditions and we get to do all of the stuff we haven't done since we were kids, because it seemed silly to do as adult," he agreed.
"I never got to do all of the fun stuff, the only reason I ever had a socking was because you bought it for me. When I was little the gifts we got were what ever was donated to the orphanage or if one of the foster families decided we to buy us something. Even then it was usually a toothbrush or something of the like. When I finally grew out of all that, Elena and I would exchange small gifts, but that's about all the Christmas I had," she shrugged.
"Well, I hope I've helped some," Mac mentioned, feeling a little sad that Stella didn't get to enjoy Christmas as a child.
"You have, and I love you for that and when Aaron is old enough for you guys to start the neighborhood tree contest, I'm sure you'll make it even better," Stella laughed. A comfortable silence settled around them, the only sound was Aaron's heavy even breaths as he slept. "Last year when I told you we were having a boy, I never thought he'd be walking a year later," she mused.
"You're really impressed with that aren't you?" Mac smirked.
"Aren't you?" Stella retorted.
"Yes, he's nine months old, and I'm already chasing him around, it's bittersweet in a way. I mean I'm proud of him, but I don't know, I'm not sure if I'm ready for him to not be a baby anymore," Mac admitted. Stella sent him an endearing look. "What?" he asked, blushing under her gaze.
"Nothing, it's just good to know we're on the same page," she explained, shrugging a little.
"You ready to put him in bed?" he checked.
"Not really," Stella replied honestly.
"Well, then there's no hurry," Mac chuckled, gently pulling her further into his lap, careful not to wake their son. He had nowhere he needed to be and to be honest he couldn't think of a place he'd rather be than cuddled up with his wife a child, staring at the brightly decorated Christmas tree, thinking about the upcoming holidays.