Perfection

John Stewart woke to the sound of crying, groggy and still half asleep he rolled over and saw Shayera lying asleep beside him. Another wail descended throughout the apartment and John was up heading towards the nursery. Arriving beside the crib, John reached down and carefully collected the tiny bundle up in his arms and gently shushed him.

"Shh now little guy" He said soothingly "You don't want to wake Mummy up" He smirked as he glanced over his shoulder, making his way to the kitchen "Trust me on this"

The tiny little boy became relatively still in his Father's strong arms, although he was still restless. The fridge door was opened and John retrieved a bottle of milk before moving to warm it up in order to feed his son. Usually Shayera would tend to the night shifts but she'd finally reached the stage where lack of sleep meant she had to accept John's insistence that he help her. Rex became silent as he took his feed and his Father rocked him gently while making his way back towards the bedroom, stopping in the doorway. For a moment he watched Shayera as she slept soundlessly, lying slightly on her stomach, curled up with one arm around the pillow and her wings folded close, she looked so peaceful.

Smiling John carefully slid into bed and leant his back against the headrest as Rex continued to feed, after some minutes the bottle was empty and John placed it on the bedside unit, easily achieving this despite the darkness of the room. Gently Rex was burped and John was thankful that it hadn't been substantial as he didn't want to wake Shayera from her rare peaceful slumber.

Slowly John lowered down until he was slightly lying down, Rex lying on his stomach huddled against his Father's chest, and John knew he wouldn't get back to sleep after his wake up call. In the darkness John gently rubbed Rex's back with one hand while his other brushed the red locks of hair away from Shayera's face, only a quiet mumble emanating from her in return.

Rex yawned laboriously as his Mother stirred, John's gentle stroking of her hair raising her from sleep. She sat up slightly and realised that Rex was lying with John, in that moment she was unable to look away from the both of them, there was just something about them that locked her gaze, filled her with something she couldn't explain.

"Are you okay, Shayera?" John asked softly brushing more hair out of her eyes.

She turned to John and fixated on his deep brown eyes, the ring removed as it always was when they were home together; she smiled softly and took them both in her sights again. Throughout her entire life there wasn't one thing she could say that she was proud of, or something that she could say was worthwhile, the majority of her existence had been filled with conflict, both physical and mental, until this moment. Right now in this moment she felt something...she felt happy, here in the home she shared with John, with the son they shared their lives with...it was perfect.

"Fine" She whispered leaning up and kissing John softly on his temple before stroking Rex's little arm with her fingers "Everything is perfect"

Quietly she rested her head on John's shoulder his arm wrapped around her as he held their son against his chest, who had of course fallen into comfortable sleep. Shayera unfolded her left wing and carefully draped it over the two most important people in her life.

John's hand rubbed Shayera's back gently to sooth her back to sleep, he smiled at her words...everything really was perfect...it had all been worth it, every second of it.