This was just NOT fair. Every cell of manliness within Roy Harper's body screamed out against the very idea of baby proofing HIS house.

"Jade... don't ask me to baby proof my house..." he almost pleaded.

"Your house?" Jade questioned, cocking a challenging brow as she placed her hands on her hips. Lord save him from her wrath if he ever made another comment like that again. Nothing was just HIS anymore, Jade had made that very clear since she stepped foot back into this house, and though Roy was glad to share with his wife and newly beloved baby, it would be hard adjusting. Especially when he felt all these new adjustments were only making him feel more like a fool.

"I didn't mean that," he amended quickly. But he was the husband, and the father, he had a rite to make some decisions in how they raised Lian!

"Look, all I want to know is why you're so paranoid about baby proofing everything. She's only what? 3 months old? She can barely crawl right now! What kind of trouble can she possibly get into?" he argued. As if on cue, they both jumped after hearing a crash from the living room. Lian began wailing and Jade rolled her eyes at her husband before moving out of the kitchen to come to her baby's rescue. Okay... apparently babies were more trouble than Roy gave them credit... He grimaced and followed Jade to provide extra comfort for their daughter. Gosh how those tears made Roy's heart shiver. Just the sight of his daughter in distress made his whole heart ache. Jade scooped Lian up from where she'd pulled a few magazines from off the coffee table right onto herself and began cooing to the child gently. Roy watched as Lian began to quiet, her cries eventually dying down into light whimpers. How did Jade do that? It made that warm fuzzy feeling from earlier in the store come right back to him. He'd never heard Jade sound so gentle or so caring ever before.

"Okay," he conceded, "I'll baby proof the house..." he sighed.

It wasn't an easy task either. Those wall socket protectors and cabinet locks were harder to set up than they looked. More than once Jade had to correct Roy on his assembly abilities, pushing his patience to the limit. It was bad enough he couldn't figure it out on his own, he didn't need his wife chiding him along the way, irking him each time. When he finally thought he was finished covering every wall plug and every cabinet in the house Jade said,

"Oh, we should probably put some bubble wrap around the table corners too..."

Roy was so fed up all he could do was laugh.

"No, no, I have an even better idea!" he said, chuckling out pent up irritation, "How about we just bubble wrap the whole friggin house?! Wouldn't that be perfect?" he questioned, arms flailing, letting his anger get a hold of him again. He'd tolerated the death jog, and the two hour long shopping spree, and having to put up all this baby proofing nonsense, but enough was definitely enough. Lian, who had been giggling while nibbling on a toy in her hand, had stopped to stare at her daddy as soon as he raised his voice. Jade was staring at Roy too, both eye brows escalated in amusement of this entertaining spectacle.

"Hilarious," she said eventually, totally strait faced as she continued rocking Lian around on her knee. Roy let out a nice long sigh through his nose, trying to keep himself composed. Luckily Jade saved him from having to dwell on his frustration any longer.

"Here, come hold Lian. She wants her daddy," Jade offered, scooting the baby girl further up on her knee. Lian was smiling, reaching out for him with tiny little hands. Roy couldn't really say no to that, no matter how angry he'd felt a moment ago. He meandered over to the couch and plopped down beside his wife before she moved Lian onto his lap. She was still smiling, bright eyed and perfectly happy, putting one fist in her mouth to slobber on while Roy held her by her sides to settle her down comfortably in his lap. As Roy fixed his gaze on his baby girl, Jade stood up and offered to make some lunch.

By mid afternoon,

the floor was positively covered with baby toys, and to Jade's surprise, Roy wasn't helping matters. She'd thought that he of all people would be strict about wanting to keep the house clean, but as it turned out, he was the inspiration for the clutter it was now in. He'd pulled literally every toy from the baby bag out, enjoying watching Lian's expressions to each of them and then becoming increasingly encouraged when she found it absolutely spell binding how he made them walk around and talk. Jade pretended not to notice most of the time as she cleaned the kitchen and set to work organizing the fridge so she could actually find things, but several times she had to keep herself from laughing. She'd never seen or heard Roy interact with kids in her life and it was surprisingly charming. Amidst the light giggles and funny noises Roy suddenly yelped with a loud,

"Whoa! Daddy doesn't think you should have that!"

Jade peeked around in curiosity and beheld Roy lunging forward to remove a sheathed knife from the baby's hands.

"Roy!" she scolded, "Where did she get that!?" she demanded.

"It must have been hidden under the couch," Roy replied, "She went in looking for a toy and pulled it out instead," he said with an incredibly guilty expression on his face as he hastily stored it high away on a shelf.

"Don't tell me you have those things hidden all over the house," she reprimanded.

"What hero in his right mind wouldn't?" Roy responded quickly in defense.

"Baby proofing the house isn't going to mean much if one of those are available under every couch cushion," she warned.

"Yes, yes I know. I just forgot they were there is all," Roy responded quickly, clearly offended that she thought him so insensitive as to purposefully leave weapons in reach of their child.

Not long after that, Lian was completely tired out and in need of another nap. Roy was sad to see Lian being taken away into the back room by her mother, and away from his reach. But she needed her sleep, and Roy had spent the last couple hours with her. He settled down on the couch, turning on the tv to the news station. While he watched, he slipped his hand between a few of the couch cushions to search around just in case he'd missed another hidden weapon somewhere. Jade came out a bit afterwards.

"She's pretty fun isn't she?" she remarked, coming to sit down beside him on the couch and folding her legs attractively. The sudden awareness that they were now alone suddenly dawned on Roy and he realized now might not be a bad time to turn on the charm.

"Uh... yeah, yeah. I think we'll keep her," Roy replied, shooting her a playful grin. Jade smiled, but it was faint. Still, it counted and Roy became as giddy as a teenage boy all over again. Was progress being made?

lol, fluff alert! Prepare yourselves! Next chapter will be up tomorrow morning! Leave a comment and tell me if following this story is still worth it! ;)