Future fluff. This genre is foreign to me, so be gentle. A huge thanks to all of my reviewers, you guys keep the updates flowing :)
Connect the A frame to legs D and F and secure. Dan squints at the piece in his hand that is definitely not the A frame, and makes a helpless sound as he drops it into the pile of varnished wood. He looks at the semi-finished product in front of him, critically examining the corner that meets at an awkward angle.
"Hey, I didn't realise we were building him a tepee." Serena's amused voice floats over to him as she wanders into the room, a litre tub of yoghurt in one hand and a spoon in the other. She slides into the armchair in the corner, folding one leg under herself and smiling with mirth at her husband's irate form. Frowning at his work so far, he turns to look at Serena. She's got the glow about her, and her sunny curls cascade freely around her shoulders while her navy eyes sparkle with mischief.
"How does it look like a tepee?"
She tilts her head, "From this angle it does…not a stable one though." She says with a giggle, tearing open a packet of pistachios and dumping the whole lot into her yoghurt. Dan watches her mix them in and glances at his work, realising with despair that it does looks more like a tepee than a cot. A frustrated sound escapes him and he flings the instructions away,
"It would help if this wasn't written in gibberish."
Slowly getting up Serena meanders over to him, and he grabs her arm as she drops gainfully to the floor. She waves him away, "I'm not infirm, Dan." The swell of her belly is obvious under the shirt of his she's wearing, and he lays a hand on it affectionately,
"I'm just trying to take care of my girls." Swallowing a mouthful of nuts and yoghurt, Serena shakes her head, "He and I can take care of ourselves." She's very adamant they're having a boy, while Dan firmly believes their first born will be a girl. It runs in your family, he told her when they had their first ultrasound and saw the baby for the first time.
"You know it's not too late to buy one." She suggests, leaning on him. The last three weeks had seen her tire more and more easily, and Dan was so busy flitting between publicity events for his newest book they've barely see eachother since she entered her third trimester. One day last week he came home to find her sprawled on the floor and freaked out until she roused and drowsily told him she'd fallen asleep after finishing her Pilates exercises. Though it was a false alarm, Dan had decided she wouldn't spend her final weeks pregnant alone in their apartment, and postponed all appearances and book signings.
He wraps an arm around her shoulders, "No, I can do this. My Dad put my crib together; I can put our daughter's together." Serena giggles quietly,
"Yeah, and at this rate it might be ready by our son's first birthday."
He reaches out to grab the instruction manual, "Hey, you try building something following these. An architect couldn't put this cot together." Serena looks over them, popping a spoonful of yoghurt into her mouth. As she licks it clean, Dan stares at her slip her lips around the spoon.
Serena notices his stare, "You want?" She asks, holding out the tub. He snaps out of his trance, wrinkling his nose and leaning back,
"Mmm, no thankyou. You know how I feel about your pregnancy cravings."
She shrugs, "It's better than that thing I had for peanut butter and corn chips."
Dan shudders, and moves from her side to pull a leg out from the pile of pieces, "See, how do I know if this leg is D or F? And what the hell is an A frame?"
"Hmm.. well, if I had to guess, I'd say it's those there. The ones shaped like an 'A'."
Dan picks it up incredulously, snatching the instructions away as Serena laughs girlishly. She's right, and when he drops both items to narrow his eyes at her she breaks into a bout of giggles,
"Maybe we should ask Nate to come over and help."
"How is he going to help?"
She scrapes the last yoghurt from the bottom of the tub, "He used to build boats with his Dad every summer."
"Oh yeah, that would be very helpful if we wanted to raise the baby at sea."
Serena blows a raspberry at him, but she can see he's getting irritable with himself. She crawls over to wrap her arms around his middle from behind as best she can, her belly making it awkward, "What's wrong?" She asks as she nuzzles his neck.
Dan sighs, pressing a kiss to the side of her head, "I just…I'm getting really nervous about this, Serena." He looks into her eyes, full of empathy and concern. "I mean, we've got maybe a month until you're not pregnant anymore and we actually have to be parents. I don't know how to do that"
She rubs his shoulder, "You raised Milo for four months Dan, I saw you. You were great," She kisses his cheek, then his temple; "You'll be great."
"Yeah but that….that's not the same. It's you, and it's our baby and I can't even put together the cot, how am I supposed to be a Dad? I'm already failing the baby and she isn't even born yet."
A slap catches him on the chin, and he winces, "Oww…"
"Daniel Humphrey, stop being ridiculous." There's an adorable frown on her face, and he can tell she's trying to seem forceful. "You are kind, and smart and funny, you're warm and sweet, and our son is lucky to have you as his father." He grins crookedly at her, and she smiles with a self-deprecating light in her eyes, "And if anyone gets to have a hang-up over being a bad parent it's me."
Dan grasps her chin softly, pulling her towards him, "Never." He kisses her softly, encouraging her to open her mouth gently. One hand rests on her belly, the other buried in her tangle of golden locks, and he pulls back to rest his forehead against hers, "There's no-one else I would choose to have my baby, no-one else in the entire world."
"Good, cause it's too late to change your mind now."
He chuckles at his wife, kissing her lightly again before helping her to her feet. They stand together over the mess that is supposed to be the cot, and Serena squeezes his hand in her own,
"Would you like to wrestle with this again tomorrow, or should I text Nate?"
Dan relents, "Yeah, call Nate. The change table is still in its box, and she's going to need somewhere to sleep sooner than her first birthday."
Serena winds her arms about his neck, one hand stroking his hair, "Oh Dan," she smiles at his loving brown eyes, eyes she hopes their baby has, "I'm telling you, it's a boy."