Little Moments

Destiny comes out to the living room from her brother's nursery, shaking her head as if she's an adult that is scolding her own child. She had been watching her brother lay in his crib and watch his mobile above him, but apparently he was tired of that now. "Daddy, Damon is crying again. Isn't there an off switch on his back somewhere?"

"No sweetie," Joe hears his wife chuckle as she walks into the nursery to retrieve their crying infant "He cries to let us know that he needs us." He sits down on the floor so he gets to his daughter's level. Destiny immediately gets onto his lap and sits down.

"But can't he just say what he needs, like I do?"

"He can't talk yet, just like you when you were as little as he is. He hasn't been home that long." When Sonny comes out with little Damon in her arms he smiles at just how small he is, it has only been about a month since they brought him home but he has grown some. A puff of black hair sitting atop his head is about the only thing that shows he is in fact his child. He has his mother's dark brown eyes and underneath his chubby cheeks and baby fat it's hard to tell whose features he has. Destiny looks up at her mother with her little brother.

"Why is he so small?"

"He'll grow princess." Joe smiles as his daughter gets up to walk over to his now sitting wife. Damon, now comfortable in her arms, opens his eyes to show his dark orbs and look around the room curiously. He's too small to walk or crawl, but their son is already showing that he will be a trouble maker someday. "You know, you were that small once too."

"Really?" she looks back at him again, once again holding her ever moving attention.

"Mhm." Joe hums "Every baby is that small when they come home." Her eyes widen in surprise that she wasn't always this size and then her face contorts into a look of curiosity.

"How do babies get to the hospital for mommies and daddies to bring them home?" Destiny, knowing that her own mom and dad had to go to the hospital and stay a few days before they brought her brother home, wasn't allowed to stay at the hospital with them. When she left Sonny still hadn't been in much pain so she thought that they were just waiting for their baby to be given to them. Then when her grandmother brought her back late in the next morning, her mom was in bed looking tired for some reason and holding her brother. Destiny had no clue why her mother was tired, maybe she hadn't slept well.

Joe looked at Sonny, pleading with her to not make him answer this. Sonny had other plans. "I believe that Desi asked you something dear." She giggles softly while she rocks their young son gently. "Are you going to answer her?" She raises her eyebrows a little and Joe's eyes are cursing at her, making her giggle again.

"Well, uh…" Joe stammers, having no clue how to explain to his three year old daughter where babies come from. "When a mommy and daddy love each other… Well they talk about it and sometimes they agree but then they still have to wait a while until they get a baby." Sonny tries to stop herself to keep from giggling anymore at how obviously uncomfortable her husband is, his words coming slowly as he thinks about each one before saying them.

"But how do they get the babies? Does the hospitals just give them away?" Destiny thinks about that. "Where do the hospitals get the babies from?"

Joe tries to keep up with all of the questions just shot at him and Sonny has to bite her lip before deciding to help out a bit, "The hospitals don't just give away babies Desi." Sonny pauses to think. "Remember how big my tummy was getting?" Destiny nods, her attention back on her mother while Joe breathes again, relieved of his answering duty. "Damon is what was making mommy's tummy get so big. He was growing in there." At that moment Damon decides to make his presence known and yawns, stretching his toothless mouth wide open. A small noise comes from him, much like a little squeak and his parents both smile.

"But why was he in there, didn't he want to meet everybody?" Destiny just didn't understand. It's so great out here, why would he want to be in there?

"He was growing, getting big enough to be safe out here." Sonny, thankful that these answers were coming to her from thin air, tickles her son's stomach and smiles at the look of enjoyment she receives. "He was much smaller and as my tummy grew, so did he."

Destiny still didn't understand, but it made sense to her that he was safer in there. She felt safer when her mother held her, so maybe it was safe inside of her. There was still one more question though. "How did he get …" Sonny and Joe locked eyes, hoping desperately that their daughter was not going to ask how her brother got into their mother's stomach. "out?" They breathed a still edgy breath when she finished her question. This one a bit better than what they were expecting.

"That's what the hospital helps with Desi." Joe answered while moving closer to his family so he is now sitting next to Sonny's chair. "Remember we had to go to the hospital?" Destiny nods her head, thinking back again. "They helped him come out."

Destiny desperately wanted to know how but she was stopped from asking the question when her brother began crying again. To the dismay of the family, his cry rang through the room. Joe stood up and took his son into his arms, trying to soothe him by singing softly while he rocked him. Damon kept on crying.

"He's probably hungry." Sonny stood up and took him back again, she whispers to Joe to keep Desi out here then walks into the nursery with the crying infant.

Destiny watches the door to the nursery close and climbs onto the chair where her mother was moments ago, the question that she had wanted to ask gone from her memory. She keeps starring at the door while her father turns on the television and tries to find a show that she can watch.

"Why does mom take him in there when he's hungry?" Joe stops the television on an old Barney re-run, that dinosaur will never leave, then sits on the couch and motions his daughter over. She gets off of the chair and comes over to him so he picks her up and puts her in his lap.

"They need their private bonding time, just like she had with you." Destiny nods a bit and goes on watching the lovable purple dinosaur do the thing that made him famous over the years.

After a while, Destiny falls asleep in Joe's arms. He doesn't have the heart to get up and put her into bed for a nap so he shifts her in his arms so that her head lies against his chest while she's sideways on his lap. Sonny smiles when she quietly comes out of the nursery then closes the door again after shutting the room's light off.

"I got him down for his nap." She whispers. "How'd you get her to sleep?"

"Barney." He chuckles softly. "It works every time." Sonny sits down close next to him, careful not to wake Desi up, and lays her head onto his shoulder.

"She's so adorable." She says as she watches her daughter's chest rise and fall steadily.

"She gets that from you." Joe smile and turns his head to kiss his wife's head.

After a comfortable silence settles over them Joe speaks up, his words soft so he doesn't startle or wake anyone. "You know, it's moments like this that I love."

Sonny smiles. "I do too. They're the ones that any families remember. These cute little moments."