Notes: Originally this was going to be for Flufftober, but I couldn't fit it to any of the remaining prompts. And also I wanted to just post it immediately after writing it, so... have some cuteness. ^_^
Follows up to the fic "One More Story"
Lies and Slander
Quietly, Eddie opened the garage door, letting the three of them into their house. They'd had a fun night out. Dinner and a movie that was definitely not Nora Westhallen age appropriate. Which was why they'd asked Cisco to babysit for them that evening while Ralph was on call as the 'designated hero' along with Frost for his backup.
It was a wonderful night, just Eddie and his adorable husband and gorgeous wife - they really needed to make time for date nights more often.
They threaded their way through the kitchen and out into the living room where Barry greeted Cisco and thanked him again for babysitting for them.
"It was no problem man. However. Your little girl is turning into a sass monster. I hope you three realize that. Did you know that she implied that I wasn't always one-hundred percent correct about everything tonight?" Cisco mock scowled at them from where he sat on the couch. No doubt if he were standing, he'd have his hands on his hips.
"Oh no, how terrible," Barry drawled, laughter in his voice. "Where ever would she ever get that idea?"
"I have no idea. She wanted to know if I still needed help getting police codes right." Cisco surveyed the three of them and crossed his arms over his chest. Clearly pouting. "Who," Cisco turned to look pointedly back at Barry, "would tell such awful slander to a child?"
To Eddie's amusement, it was Iris who, slowly, raised her hand. It took Cisco a moment to notice and his dramatic gasp of shock set off a round of giggles from someone who most certainly should have been in bed at this hour. Eddie pretended not to notice.
Arms uncrossed now, Cisco put a hand over his heart dramatically. "Iris. How could you betray me like this?"
"Isn't revenge supposed to be a dish best served cold?" she asked innocently.
Barry snickered.
"It isn't slander if it's true, Cisco," Eddie teased, glancing to get a look at the hallway from the corner of his eye. And, yup, there was a little Nora right where she shouldn't be this time of night.
"Et tu, Eddie?" Cisco exclaimed. "And Iris? What did I ever do to deserve such a thing?"
"How many dates with Barry did Eddie and I have where you'd be constantly texting Barry with random stuff for the Flash to do?" Iris gave him a pointed smirk when Cisco hemmed and hawwed and tried to avoid admitting that it was a lot.
"I'm going to check on Nora while the rest of you enjoy this little debate. But, Cisco... you're not gonna win this one. Not against Iris," Eddie teased. Politely ignoring the pitter patter of little feet running down carpet before he turned to head down the hallway where the bedrooms were.
There was a knowing look on Barry's face too as Eddie saw him glance back at the hall too. And Iris's mouth twitched a bit, like she'd also noticed their darling girl getting up to a bit of mischief.
Heading into the back of the house, Eddie slipped into Nora's room and sat down by her little toddler bed - which was the final evolution of the crib they'd bought when Iris got pregnant a few years ago. He pressed a kiss to his 'sleeping' daughter's forehead and murmured, "you can stop pretending now, sweetheart."
Nora giggled and opened her eyes. "Uncle Cisco is so silly," she informed Eddie with a grin.
"Yeah, he is," Eddie agreed with a chuckle. "Now, are you ready to go to sleep?"
"Uh-uh. Not tired. You should read a story." Nora pointed to the shelf. "Dracula."
They'd gotten her a little board book retelling of Dracula - very toned down from the original story, of course - and Nora had decided it was her new favorite. She loved Halloween - it was her favorite holiday right now, better than Christmas or Easter or even her own birthday - so her sudden obsession with the vampire story was quite understandable. And exactly why they'd bought her the book.
Eddie fetched it from the shelf and sat down next to her. "Just the one story, sweetheart. Then I'll turn on your turtle and you'll lay quietly until you sleep, okay?"
Nora nodded. She loved the turtle too, which had a little light projector on its back to create a star field on the ceiling. "Okay, daddy. Story?"
"Story," Eddie agreed and then opened the first page of the book.
"So, did Cisco concede defeat?" Eddie asked as he returned to the living room.
Barry nodded. "He has admitted that he is not practically perfect in every way. That's only Mary Poppins."
Eddie snorted in amusement.
"He's gone to the guest room to sleep, since Kamilla's out of town for that art expo," Iris added. "He get's lonely when she's away. So sweet."
"Well, maybe we can watch Mary Poppins in the morning. I bet Nora and Cisco would enjoy that," Eddie offered innocently.
Barry snickered and started humming A Spoonful of Sugar while Iris just cracked up.