The Green Tie

The first thing Rikki Bennett felt when she woke up was a sharp pain in her back. As she opened her eyes, she realized she fell asleep with her back slumped against her headboard, the position she rested in to feed her newborn son. It wasn't uncomfortable for a short period of time but she supposed it would make her back sore if she stayed there for a long while.

Rikki recounted to the most recent time she woke up. She remembered hearing the shower running in addition to her son's cries. Her husband, Zane Bennett, was returning to work today for the first time since their son was born. Rikki got up and found to no surprise her son was hungry. She brought him back to their bedroom and began to feed him just as the shower shut off.

"How can I be expected to go back to work when I'm missing this?" Zane had said when he exited the bathroom.

"I'll switch with you." Rikki volunteered. "I'm sure the office would be a much calmer space than this."

"True." Zane replied as he threw on his under shirt. "But you'd have to spend eight hours of your day away from Flint."

"I reckon that is a major downside." Rikki said as she looked down at her son. She lost count of the amount of times she stared at him with awe, hardly believing something so perfect was hers. She had also lost count of the amount of times he woke up in the middle of the night needing to be fed, changed or just needing his parents' comfort and attention. She guessed she got three hours of sleep this past night. To say she was exhausted was an understatement.

Rikki looked up at Zane as she heard him approaching to the mother-son pair. He was staring at Flint with the most love in his eyes. She supposed her husband wondered how he had lucked out with a boy as perfect as Flint as well.

"I'm going to make breakfast, love." He said. "Would you like anything?"

"No, I'm all right." Rikki replied. "Just come say goodbye to us before you leave."

"Of course." Zane said as he kissed her hairline and then their son's small head that was covered in dark, curly locks of hair. The boy giggled and clapped his hands together, managing to capture Zane's nose in the process. The father laughed at the boy and tickled his full belly before heading downstairs to make his breakfast.

Rikki couldn't remember a time in her life where she wanted to have kids. When she married Zane, she supposed she should throw any inkling of dreams she had of motherhood out the window. Neither had great parental role models and she worried they would screw up their kids like their parents had done to them. She was surprised to find out her husband did want to have kids and was even more surprised to find out she was pregnant less than a month after they had gotten married. She had been terrified when she made the discovery but Zane was able to talk her down.

Throughout her pregnancy, she worried about her own parental abilities but found she never worried about Zane's. He was incredibly attentive to her without being overbearing. She would always remember how unbelievably adorable he was when she first told him she felt the baby kicking and he had ran into the living room from the backyard to feel. She thought of his face when he first felt their child whenever she was sad. He was so supportive of her during her labour and took care of Flint during his fits as much as he could. The boy had been sick once so far and Rikki never remembered feeling so much dread or seeing Zane look so scared. They were both so lucky to have someone like him.

Zane had told Rikki she was a fantastic mother many, many times but she wasn't sure she believed him. She loved her son more than anything in the world and knew she would do anything for him without batting an eyelash. She'd rather die than leave him so she supposed that was at least a step up from her own mother.

The last thing Rikki remembered was thinking about how sweet and how amazing of a father Zane was. She thought she had just closed her eyes for a moment, but she guessed she fell asleep after Flint was done feeding. It was dark outside when she was last awake but now the sun was shining brightly through the blinds. She glanced at the clock and saw she had been asleep for nearly four hours. No wonder her back hurt. The baby was no longer in her arms and she guessed her husband was no longer in the house. She knew Flint's schedule like the back of her hand. If he woke up because he was hungry, he was going to need to be changed in an hour or so. Rikki guessed the boy had started crying because of a dirty nappy and Zane had taken care of him before he went in to work. Rikki really was so lucky.

She reckoned she should get out of bed and wake Flint up for the day. She didn't need to ruin his sleep schedule. She walked into his nursery and saw him sleeping soundly in his crib. She almost felt bad for waking him up but he wouldn't go down for his afternoon nap later if she didn't. He whined a little bit but was quiet once she rested him on her shoulder and carefully walked him downstairs. Rikki placed Flint in his high chair and started making some coffee for herself before she grabbed a jar of food and a bib out of the cupboard.

Rikki would be lying if she said she wasn't nervous for today. This would be the longest time she would be alone with her son. Her baby son. Her baby son that could do nothing for himself. She had been alone with him for short periods of time when Zane had gone to the store or to hang out with his mates but today it would just be the two of them all day long. If anything bad happened to him, she would have to help him on her own. If anything bad happened to him, it would be her fault.

Rikki shook any horrible thought she had of her son as she sat down to feed him his breakfast. She began to think about what they could do for the day. She supposed today shouldn't be any different than any other average day. He'd take a bath after his breakfast since he seemed to be good at getting his food anywhere but his mouth. Zane usually handled any bath duties as it was difficult for Rikki to do anything on land with a tail. She would find a way though.

After Flint's successful bath (thank God, Rikki had thought) and a bath of her own, Rikki set him down to play with his toys. He had so many from Cleo, Emma, Bella, Will and their significant others as well as Rikki and Zane's fathers, Rikki could hardly keep track of what was new and what wasn't. It seemed like he got a new toy every day. Their once clean and tidy living room was now covered in baby toys. She wondered if today would be a good day to go through the toys. There were some Flint wouldn't touch with a ten foot pole. They could afford to donate a handful to someone who might need them more than they did.

Rikki stuffed toys Flint never played with in a garbage bag while he made his way through his parade of favorite toys. Rikki smiled at him as he let out adorable squeals and shouts. She took breaks every so often to tickle him, blow raspberries on his belly and play with him in anyway she could. His smile always lit up the room. It might be to early to tell but she guessed he had the same crooked smile Zane had.

Once Rikki was done going through his toys, she sat Flint down to feed him his lunch and then took him upstairs for a nap. Flint was hit or miss with naps. Sometimes he'd go to sleep with no problems and other times he would scream and cry so much Rikki and Zane debated if it would be better for everyone to just let him stay awake. Zane had teased her, saying the boy was just as stubborn as his mother. Thankfully, today seemed to be an easy day as Rikki barely had to rock him for Flint to go to sleep.

Rikki placed her son in his crib once she was certain he was asleep. She glanced over at his wardrobe that was bursting at the seams and his closet that looked like it might explode if they placed one more jumpsuit inside and decided she would go through his clothes too. They hadn't gone through them since he was born and she was certain there were clothes he not only didn't need but had outgrown by now.

She took a seat on the floor as she started going through everything in his dresser, finding plenty of items to discard. She then moved to his closet where they hung most of his one piece jumpsuits and similar items. As she was digging through the depths of the closet, she found what was likely the fanciest clothing Flint had. It was a three piece suit Harrison had gifted his grandson. Rikki remembered thinking the gift was silly when Harrison had given it to them after a lunch. Rikki was barely into her third trimester, they didn't even know if they were having a boy or a girl. Harrison had insisted Bennetts had boys and wanted to make sure he got started right. Rikki knew he meant to push him into a world of business, like Harrison had done with Zane. It had led to a serious conversation between the married couple that night where Zane had promised to never push their son or daughter into business and Rikki had stuck the suit in the back of the closet.

Rikki knew the suit had a certain meaning behind it and she knew she didn't want her son to be forced into any career path but as she glanced between the suit and the sleeping boy, she couldn't help but think how handsome he would look in it. It looked like it would fit him now and all the pieces were thankfully sewn together. She supposed it was so he couldn't rip them off but she was also happy she wouldn't have to worry about tying a tie, she'd only had experience taking one off of someone else.

Rikki set the suit aside on Flint's changing table and continued to go through his closet. A little while later, she heard him starting to fuss and walked over to his crib to pick him up. She reckoned nap time was over.

"Hey, what's the matter?" Rikki asked the baby as she gently bounced him in her arms. Luckily it didn't seem like he wanted to raise hell screaming his lungs out today.

"Mummy has a surprise for you, mate." Rikki said once he stopped fussing and she took him to the changing table. "Don't you think you'd look handsome in that suit? I do."

Rikki kissed her son's head as she laid him down on his changing table and started to undo the suit. It was a khaki suit with a baby blue shirt and striped green tie. Rikki thought Harrison couldn't pick a worse color combination when he had given them the suit but she found she didn't hate it now. Soon, Flint was dressed in the suit and Rikki was pleased to see he not only looked incredibly and adorably handsome but he looked happy and not like he was going to fuss and cry. He kicked his legs back and forth and started to giggle.

"Who's mummy's handsome boy?" Rikki said to him in her best baby voice, only earning more giggles from her son. "That's you!"

Rikki wondered every now and again if she still had wild hormones running through her body or if this was who she was now. If someone had gone back in time and told her fifteen year old self she'd be this enthralled with a baby, she'd think you were joking.

Flint's laughs seemed to just get louder and louder as Rikki egged him on. She eventually lifted him over her head, which only made him laugh louder. She pulled him into her and turned around to see her husband standing in the doorway.

"Don't let me interrupt." Zane said. "But I thought you hated that suit."

"I did." Rikki replied as she adjusted the baby in her arms. He had become quite squeamish since he realized his dad was in the room. "I was going through his clothes and I found it. I still hate what it means but come on, he looks adorable in it."

"Don't let her talk to you like that, mate." Zane said as he took the boy from Rikki. "Us Bennett men are handsome."

Flint laughed again and slapped his dad's cheek, earning a laugh from his parents. Zane kissed his wife and then volunteered to change Flint out of his suit into his normal clothes. They ate dinner and talked about Zane's boring day at the office and Rikki's exciting one, playing with the baby and going through his clothes and toys. Zane took the boy up for his bath and to put him down for the night, or at the least the next few hours.

"So are you getting rid of the suit too or keeping it?" Zane asked Rikki as he joined her in their living room. She had brought all three full garbage bags of toys and clothes downstairs.

"I'll keep it for now." Rikki said. "He'll outgrow it eventually."

Zane laughed at her. "You're ridiculous, you know that?"

"I'm aware." Rikki simply replied as she walked up to him and gave him a kiss before he enveloped her in a hug.

"It's too bad you have to go back to work." Rikki mused.

"I know." Zane replied. "Today was the worst, I'm quitting tomorrow."

Rikki gently slapped his arm, still not breaking their hug.

"I'm kidding." Zane laughed as Rikki removed her head from his chest. "We're lucky to have you, you know."

"We're lucky to have you." Rikki told him.

"I'm serious." Zane said. "You're the best mother."

"I don't know about that." Rikki mumbled just loud enough for him to hear as she laid her head back in his chest and felt him chuckle.

"All these years later and you still can't take a compliment." Zane said. "I'm serious, you are. I know you have your doubts but I wish you could have felt what I felt when I walked in on you two today. I feel like the luckiest man in the world."

"Thank you." Rikki replied as she looked up at him. "I'm pretty sure I know the feeling. I get it whenever I see the two of you together and I feel like the luckiest girl in the world."

"I love you." He told her after a moment.

"I love you, too." Rikki told him as she leaned up to kiss him.

Maybe she was the best mother after all.