Propose
"I have a proposal for you," Danny says, interrupting their much earned silence. It's six o' clock in the morning and they're both exhausted, baby Ella having kept them up the entire night. She was colicky, wailing for hours on end while her parents did everything they could to soothe her, getting no more than a few minutes reprieve. Now as the sun is rising, Ella chooses to fall into a deep, though fitful, sleep cradled in her mother's arms.
Lacey turns to her husband, eye hooded with sleep and face unamused as she waits for him to continue. She has a hunch she isn't going to like what she hears.
"If you walk Sadie, I'll change all of Ella's diapers for the next week." There's pleading in his voice as he widens his eyes, pouting his lips slightly. It's nearing that time of daybreak when Sadie, their dog, wakes to scratch at the door, begging to be let out for her bi-daily walk. Danny, limbs sagging heavily into the mattress and brain clouded with drowsiness, knows he won't make it through the walk, most likely collapsing on their front yard with Sadie padding around him.
Lacey doesn't bother giving her husband a verbal response, the glare on her face reminding him of the deal they made when he first brought the dog home. Holding her daughter more firmly, she scoots off the bed, being careful not to rouse the sleeping baby. Sending another glare his way she leaves the room, walking to the nursery to lay Ella down in her crib.
Groaning, Danny closes his eyes, not at all surprised by his wife's reaction. In the moments his eyelids shut, sleep takes over his body, pulling him into a sound slumber as images from his subconscious flash across his mind. He dreams of crying babies, barking dogs and Lacey's dull eyes. The sounds become louder until Danny is startled from his sleep, realizing that they're real.
Fighting his way from the bed, Danny stands to find his wife in the doorway of their bedroom; Ella's balled fists waving underneath her chin. Stepping closer, she hands to screaming baby to him, sighing deeply. "I'll walk Sadie this morning, but you have to do it this evening."
Scoffing lightly, Danny sits at the edge of the bed, rocking Ella as he watches Lacey exchange her nightgown for a hooded sweater and sweatpants. "You only want to do it now because Ella is awake and crying."
Laughing, Lacey glances at him over her shoulder. "And you only wanted me to do it because she was asleep." Danny chuckles back, shrugging his shoulders, unable to deny the partial truth of her words.
Moving to kiss him on the lips before readying herself to leave the house, Lacey says, "You still have to change all of Ella's diapers for the next seven days." She strokes the small baby's cheek, smirking at his shocked expression. "Well, it was your proposal."