Chapter 36 - Brooklyn's Ultimate Birthday Present

After about 20 minutes, Brooklyn was knocked out. We knew it wouldn't take long. Most people had already left, but Regina and I were going to stay and help clean up. Regina had Brooklyn sleeping in her arms trying to pick up plates and cups.

"Babe, we got this. Go sit down." I say kissing her head.

"No, I'm fine. I wanna help." She says.

"Okay." I say clearing the table cloths from the tables. Emma and Killian were helping along with Ruby and Granny. We were just about finished and I see Regina walk to the back where Granny and Ruby were. I don't know what she was doing.

After about 10 minutes, we were finished in the front. Regina comes out from the kitchen and walks straight to me.

"Are we ready to go?" She asks.

"Yep." I say smiling.

"Mom can I stay with Emma tonight?" Henry asks.

"Yeah sure." She says happily. "Emma is coming to the house though so you can leave with her then."

"Okay cool." He says.

"Babe, Marian asked if Roland could stay with her for few days too. I told her that she could have him for the week, so we won't have him this week." I say.

"Okay. That's fine. Tell her to come get him from the house. I'm sure he will like the present in the backyard too." She says chuckling.

"Okay I'll call her now. Then we can head home." I say kissing her cheek. She smiles and I walk outside.

We finally arrived home and Emma, Killian, and David came with us. Brooklyn was still fast asleep. Regina went upstairs to change her diaper and put her in something more comfortable. We unloaded all of her presents and put them in the living room. We were all sitting in the living room when Regina came downstairs. She still had her dress on, but had on flip flops instead...red ones.

"She still asleep?" I ask.

"She is." She says smiling. She comes sits down next to me. I was sitting in the chair, so I scooted over as much as I could. "So, what were we talking about?" She asks.

"Nothing really." I say smiling. "Did you see her swing set?"

"No, I didn't. But I'll see it later. I'm so tired." She says leaning her head on my shoulder.

"It looks good. I hope she likes what we got her." Emma says.

"Well, what did you get her?" Regina asks.

"I ordered this toy car. She can sit in it and actually drive it. There are pedals and she can go forward and backwards and it has a radio." Emma says excitedly. "Plus it's hot pink."

"I'm sure she'll love it. Not that she will have any idea of how to work it." Regina says laughing.

"Probably not, but they don't go very fast so you can follow her in it." Emma says chuckling.

"Uh oh. Someone's waking up." Regina says smiling down at Brooklyn. Regina slowly starts rubbing her back. She lets out a giant yawn and then her eyes open.

"Hello." I say smiling. She smiles then buries her head in her mommy's chest. She lifts her head and looks at Regina.

"Good morning my sweetheart." She says smiling. Brooklyn smiles then wraps her arms around her mommy's neck putting her head down again. "I don't think so little missy. You slept too long. You won't sleep tonight." Regina says picking her up in the air. Brooklyn giggles and squeals. "Do you want to open your presents?"

Brooklyn's eyes light up.

"Here I'll get them." Emma says getting up. She starts putting them in front of Brooklyn. Regina stands her up on the ground in front of us.

"Alright open them baby girl." Regina says smiling.

She goes to a bag first and pulls out the paper. She starts to play with it. She is swinging it back and forth. She is giggling up a storm. Then I pull it from her and put it on her head. She laughs and pulls it off. She pulls out the rest of the paper and pulls out a dress then a card.

"Who is it from?" Regina asks smiling. Brooklyn hands her the card. "Thank you." She says chuckling. Regina opens it. "This is from Ruby." She says smiling. "Let me see." Regina says reaching for the dress. Brooklyn hands it to her and goes to the next bag. She pulls out the paper and she pulls out a giant stuffed animal. She immediately hugs it.

"What is that?" I ask curiously.

"That would be a Mickey Mouse." Emma says smiling. "Really popular with kids in this world."

"She is loving it and it's just as big as she is." I say chuckling. She starts walking around still hugging it. We all laughed at her little strut.

"I guess we will open the rest of her presents later." Regina says chuckling.

"I guess so." I say smiling. I wrap my arm around Regina and she leans her head on my shoulder.

Then David walks in from outside. "Alright it's ready." He says referring to the trampoline.

"Well, she is a little distracted right now." I say pointing to Brooklyn who is still hugging her Mickey Mouse.

"That's adorable." He says smiling. He sits on the sofa next to Emma.

It's about 5:30 and Regina is falling asleep.

"We should go. Regina is falling asleep." Emma says getting up.

"Wait. I'm up." Regina says sitting up. "Let's bring her outside to see her stuff."

"Brooklyn Hope. Come see." Regina says.

Brooklyn starts running to her mommy and trips on her giant Mickey Mouse. She hits the floor and immediately starts crying.

"You're okay." Regina says going to pick her up. She picks her up and she calms down but is still crying. Regina rocks her back and forth. "You're okay sweetheart." She says softly.

She was so good with Brooklyn. I loved watching her with our daughter. It was such a beautiful sight.

"Hey guys we are gonna get going. You both look so sleepy. You can tell us what she does later." Emma says.

"Are you sure? We don't mind if you guys stay." I say standing up.

"No, it's fine. I'm actually a little tired too." Emma says. "You guys have a good night. Can nanny have a kiss?" Emma asks Brooklyn.

Brooklyn looks up with tear stained cheeks and puckers her lips. She kisses Emma's cheek and I walk them to the door. They leave and I walk back into the living room. Regina is sitting in the chair sideways with Brooklyn on her chest. Regina is fast asleep and so is my precious Princess. It was only 6:00 and they were both asleep. I wanted to put Brooklyn in pajamas and in her bed. I carefully picked her up and cradled her. She was still little, but she wasn't a baby. I missed holding her like this. I walked up the stairs and to her room. I grabbed her footy pajamas and laid her on her changing table. I changed her diaper and slipped her footy pajamas on. I picked her up again and went to lay her in her crib. She latched onto my shirt.

"Dada." She said softly.

"Shhh. It's okay. Go back to sleep." I say rocking her gently. She closes her eyes again. I go to lay her in her crib and latches onto my shirt again.

"Dada." She says sleepily.

"I'm right here Princess. You're okay." I say softly.

Something was wrong. She never used to latch onto me like this. I walked back down to Regina. "Babe." I say softly. "Regina."

Her eyes flutter open. "Hey, is everything okay?" She asks sitting up.

"I don't know. Watch." I say softly. I try and put her down. She latches onto my shirt again.

"No. Dada." She says softly.

"Looks like she is having separation issues." Regina says sighing. "She can sleep in between us tonight."

"Are you sure?" I ask.

"Yeah, but only for tonight. We can't let her get used to it." She says. "Come on. I'm so tired let's go to sleep."

"Alright, let's go." I say following her upstairs. Regina puts on shorts and a t-shirt and I took off the jeans I had on and somehow managed to take my shirt off. "I really wanted to take a shower." I say getting into bed.

"Me too, but we can just take turns in the morning." She says laying down. She leans up on her elbow. "See if she will lay flat."

I nodded and laid her on her back in between us. I laid down next to her, but it didn't last long.

"Dada. No." She says opening her eyes.

"I'm right here." I say rubbing her belly. She apparently didn't like that and started crying. I sit up and pick her up. "Shhh. You're okay. Don't cry. Daddy doesn't like when you cry." I place her on my chest and she grabs onto my shirt. I look at Regina and she looks completely worried.

"Brooklyn look at mommy." Regina says. She turns her head and looks at Regina. "Do you want Mickey Mouse?" She asks smiling.

"Yes." Brooklyn says in the saddest of voices.

"What about a present?" Regina asks. Brooklyn lifts her head. "You want a present? Do you want to see what mommy and daddy got you?" She asks.

"Yes." She says.

"Let's go." Regina says getting out of bed. I put on a pair of pants then followed Regina downstairs.

We walk to the back door and I put her on the ground. "Hold my hand." I say. She grabs it and walks out the back door. I follow her.

"Ehh!" Brooklyn screams pointing to the swing set.

"That's yours." Regina says smiling.

"Go play." I say smiling.

"Ah!" She screams running to the swing. Regina and I laugh and follow her. Regina put her in the toddler swing and strapped her in.

"Ready?" I ask.

"Yes." She says now with a huge smile on her face.

I start to push her and she is grinning from ear to ear.

"Momma." She calls point to the swing.

"You want me to swing too?" She asks. Brooklyn just smiles and Regina sits on the swing next to her. I start to push Regina and I have both of my girls grinning from ear to ear. She was having so much fun, but was now pointing to the slide. So, we took her out of the swing and carried her up to the slide. Regina stood at the bottom and I sat her on the slide. I gave her a push and she squealed with laughter. Her mommy picked her up and tossed her in the air.

"Wanna go again?" Regina asks,

"Yes." She smiling.

Regina walks around and hands her to me. She goes back to the bottom of the slide and I gave her a push and she laughed again. I guess she just wasn't tired. We played on the slide for about a half hour. Her swing set has 3 slides so she tested all of them out. At around 7, she noticed the trampoline. She strutted over to it and tried to get in, but couldn't figure it out. Regina walked over to her and unhooked the velcro. She climbed in and stood there.

"You gotta jump baby." Regina says chuckling.

"Watch." I say picking her up and bouncing her on it. She started laughing and finally understood how to do it. She started jumping up and down and laughing. She obviously enjoyed this present too.

"Maybe she will wear herself out and fall asleep." Regina says looking up at me.

"Ooooh and maybe we can have some fun." I say smiling.

"Mhmm if you're lucky." She says smirking.

"I hope I'm lucky. Cause I haven't been able to show you how much I love you in so long. I miss feeling you up." I whisper in her ear.

"Keep talking like that, you may get really lucky." She says.

"Hmmm and Brooklyn is no longer breastfeeding and mommy could probably use a full body massage mixed with a little pleasure." I say softly.

"Sold." She says smiling. "Someone's getting lucky tonight and it's not you." She says chuckling.

"So, full body massage it is. And if I get to touch you, I'm definitely the lucky one." I whisper.

"You're so bad." She says turning around in my arms. I hugged her tight and we watched our princess jump up and down on her trampoline with the biggest smile on her face.

All in all, Brooklyn's first birthday was a great success. Next special day, I get to marry the love of my life.