Rating: PG
Pairing: Sawyer/Ana-Lucia
Summary: It was at times like these that Sawyer regretted making the decision to be a stay-at-home dad.
Warnings: Nothing.Maybe it's a bit fluffy.
Status of fic: Completed!
Author's Note: Dedicated to Hoelli! This is my birthday gift to you, hope you like it and I'm sorry it is a little late!
Disclaimer: Me no owny! And the creation of Freckles the cat belongs entirely to Becky Thatcher! You little genius you! Hope you don't mind me borrowing her...
The Birthday Gift.
It was at times like these that Sawyer regretted making the decision to be a stay-at-home dad. Times when Luana refused to go to sleep for him until he had retold the stories from back in their "Mystery Island" days, or decided to make a cake by herself while he cleaned the bathroom and spilt flour and eggs across her Momma's brand new kitchen floor, or when she ran away from him, refusing to be bathed, for hours and hours on end until he was hot, exhausted and not in the best of moods.
Those moments paled in comparison, however, to that very instant.
Right then Luana was screaming. Hysterical. Tears streamed down her face, red and swollen from the amount of crying she was doing. Her eyes puffy and voice hoarse, no doubt meaning that she would have both a headache and a sore throat when it came to waking her the next morning for school.
"I want my Momma!" she screeched from where she sat on the sofa, pink paper party-hat askew. Hair mussed and sticking to her tear stained face in soggy, matted clumps. "I want my Momm-aaaaaah!"
Sawyer had been trying, in vain for the past hour and a half to calm her down. To soothe her and keep her tantrum under control. But she was as stubborn as both of her parents apparently and had taken little to no heed of him and all his warnings and placations.
He'd ended up having to send the rest of the kids from her 6th birthday party home, dubbing the party 'over and done' though it was more to do with his sheer embarrassment at being unable to control his raging child (who had, in her fury, already lobbed a pillow at his head, instead hitting and knocking Ana's favourite vase off the bookshelves, causing it to smash irreparably) and the disapproving looks being shot his way by a certain doctor, who obviously considered Luana's antics a bad influence upon his boys, Christian and Thomas.
Luana shrieked again, so loud that it made Sawyer's teeth ache and his ears ring with the noise long after she had stopped to draw breath, resorting back to her sobbing.
Even Freckles seemed to be in awe of the Birthday girl's rage, safely sat away from the fray upon the window sill. She turned large, lamp-like yellow-green eyes to meet Sawyer's of blue and for a whole split second he thought he saw sympathy flicker there…before she turned her head away and nonchalantly resumed sharpening her claws on Ana's new curtains.
"Thanks a bunch, Cat!" Sawyer snarled to the little tabby beneath his breath and she merely shrugged her shoulders at him. "Fine lotta help you are! No more milk an' pilchards for you!"
He didn't know if it was his threat or Luana's continued screaming that drove Freckles from the room with little more than a disdainful half glance back over her shoulders, leaving Sawyer to deal with 'Hurricane Lulu' alone.
"Mooooommmmmaaaaaaa! I want my Momma!" fists thumped into the sofa cushions that time, accompanying her wails and Sawyer felt himself slipping further and further away from being able to control the situation.
He raised his hands placatingly.
"Now, now, Princess. Momma's just runnin' late at work." He dared a glance at the clock on their mantelpiece to confirm exactly how late Ana-Lucia was running. "Two hours late…" he hissed bitterly to himself before hurrying on, having gained Luana's attention. "She'll be home any minute!"
Silence fell about them and they turned in tandem, red faced and frantic, to stare at the front door as if expecting it to open, willing it to on Sawyer's part, at that very second.
"Any minute now…"
One moment passed by. Then another and Sawyer heaved a sigh of relief at the returning peace. A third and forth minute passed and he sat down in the armchair opposite and Luana turned at dark-eyed glare upon him instantly, teeth clenching together behind her lips, turning them white from sheer force.
"Where is she?" she growled out slowly as if it was all his fault and Sawyer looked up from where he had been resting his thundering head back against the cushioned headrest behind him. "It's my birthday and she said she'd be home from work early!" her little nostrils flared, tears welled up in her eyes again.
'Oh Lord, have mercy…' Sawyer pleaded silently.
"I bet she just got caught up with your Abuela," he replied hastily, sitting forwards on the edge of his seat. His stressed and aching body protesting at being moved away from the comfort. "You know what you're Abuela's like when she gets talkin'." He moved his hand to imitate a talking mouth. "Blah, blah, blah!"
She usually laughed at his jokes about Abuela Teresa and how she liked to talk for hours to Momma. She usually clamped the tip of her tongue between her baby teeth (two of which were currently wobbly and due to fall out) and giggled, showing off those dimples that matched his own.
Neither of their dimples had been seen in the past two hours at least, however, and neither of them looked likely to be smiling anytime soon.
Surely it couldn't take two extra hours for Ana-Lucia to pick up Luana's final birthday gift? What the hell was she doing? Walking home with it? Crawling maybe!
As if in response to his irate thoughts and Luana's continued crying, the sound of a key slotting into their door latch resounded about them, sending them both springing to their feet.
The hinges squealed as the door was pushed in on itself, revealing a similarly red-faced Ana-Lucia, struggling through into their home, muttering about needing to oil the doors hinges.
"Hey, you guys! Sorry I'm late. You know what Abuela's like when she-" she carefully placed the two bags full of presents (both almost the same height as Luana was herself!) down with relief, rubbing at her hands, before glancing up at their faces and halting mid-sentence. "Okay…What's been going on?"
Father and daughter shared panicked glances, suddenly ashamed of their actions. They knew that if Ana found out about what had gone on that afternoon, they'd both be in for a good talking to. That meant sleeping on the couch for a night or three for Sawyer, and a long week of grounding and being forbidden from seeing Dae Kwon for Luana.
Freckles, as if appearing from thin air suddenly, sauntered out of the living room door and into the hall, passing between the pair of them stuttering for answers, and she sat smugly at Ana's feet, cleaning a paw.
"You look stressed, Cowboy. Did the party go okay?" Ana queried suddenly over Sawyer's and their daughter's bumbling. She stripped off her leather jacket, hanging it up on one of the coat-pegs behind her, before stooping to stroke Freckle's head tentatively, wary that at any moment the small cat's good mood might disappear and earn her another scarred knuckle. She grabbed up the bags of presents again as she straightened finally, awaiting a response. "I'm sorry I didn't make it back in time to help you out." She stepped towards him, pausing to lean up and kiss him 'hello' briefly but quite firmly. "You know when my Mother gets talking – Oh, Abuela says 'Hi' and 'Happy Birthday', M'hija. She's coming over tomorrow to see you after school." She smiled to her daughter before turning back to finished her story for Sawyer. "She made me late out of work and the traffic was like hell trying to get down to Michael's to pick up the last present."
Sawyer found the present bags thrust into his hands as Ana finished speaking and he shook himself from his daze, finally able to reply to her after the shock of almost being found out.
"Party went fine, Baby." He reassured her, flashing his most charming and disarming smile and returning her welcome kiss with one of his own. And though Ana's eyes gained a suspicious light, she let the subject drop…for the moment.
"Good." She responded, shooting a final, wary look down at Luana's face which mimicked her father's smile, before turning back to Sawyer again. "You want to take the birthday girl in the living room and let her open some presents while I get the last one from the car?"
He caught the meaningful glare being aimed at him and nodded his head in accordance.
"Sure, Momma." He beamed. "You go do that. Lulu an' me'll get settled."
Ana-Lucia blinked slowly giving him another suspicious stare before also nodding and heading back out of the door and down to the car. No sooner though, had she disappeared than Sawyer and Luana spun to face each other, fingers raised to point at each other accusingly.
"Not a word about me callin' off the party early!" Sawyer hissed in a whisper.
"Not a word about me breakin' Momma's vase!" Luana countered with a devious smirk and they both clasped and shook hands, muttering the word 'deal' and scuttling into the living room when they heard Ana slam the car door outside and mount the steps to the house once more.
Her footsteps moved through to the kitchen, where there came the sound of scuffling and mumbled curses, before she re-joined them, sitting beside Luana on the sofa.
"I'm sorry I was late, Mi Vida. I didn't want to miss your party. Are you mad at me?" she smoothed her daughter's strangely messy hair but Luana smiled up and snuggled back further into the embrace that her mother had wrapped her in.
"It's okay, Momma. I know what Abuela's like when she gets talking. Blah, blah, blah!" she mimicked Sawyer's earlier joke and hand gestures, earning her a bark of laughter from Ana and a scowl from a betrayed looking Sawyer.
"Easy, Funny-Girl!" Ana chuckled. "It's not hard to see where you get your sense of humour from, is it?" her dark eyes flashed up at Sawyer, unamused that he had obviously been talking about her mother in such a way. But she said nothing more…perhaps saving that argument for later, instead handing Luana her first birthday present. "Okay, this one is from…Auntie Claire and Aaron." Ana smiled. "Lets get started!"
-oOo-
An hour later and brightly coloured papers littered the floor like a broken rainbow. Luana sat like a queen upon a throne of presents.
She had already used the present from Ana's work colleagues from the police force to handcuff her parents together. They had sat side-by-side, perched awkwardly on the single person armchair, until Ana had decided to make herself more comfortable upon Sawyer's lap.
The plastic cuffs restricting their movement to no more than arms length from each other. The police badge, hat and whistle that came with the set, all worn by the 6 year old excitedly kicking her legs. The keys to the toy handcuffs safely in her pocket.
"Gotta heckuva stash there, huh, Pumpkin?" Sawyer noted from where he leaned back in the chair.
He'd long since given up complaining that his leg had gone dead beneath his wife's backside and was instead, despite the numbness, enjoying the feeling of having her pressed back against him, un-cuffed arm curled about his neck.
Luana blew hard on the police whistle, which hadn't left her mouth since she'd ripped open the package, in response and both her parents grit their teeth behind false smiles at the shrill noise. No doubt Ana's co-workers thought themselves highly amusing for pulling that little stunt or buying a 6 year old a whistle.
"Hey, Sweetheart, are you ready to un-cuff me and Papi yet?" Ana queried hopefully and the whistle screeched again as Luana shook her head. No.
"Not even so your Momma can go get your last, special present?" Sawyer added with a hint of pleading in his tone and the little girl considered for a long moment before blowing harder on the blasted thing and nodding her head as she moved to release them.
"Now," Ana began as both she and Sawyer rubbed at their released wrists. "Since it's your first birthday off the Island…and since Freckles ate poor little Pudding and Hugo…"
Luana's face fell into sadness for a moment as she recalled how she had woken one morning before school to find that the family cat had eaten both Pudding the canary and Hugo the Hamster, without remorse. She'd cried so hard that Freckles had quite literally been kicked out by Sawyer and she'd stayed off school for the day.
Swiftly, seeing her daughter's upset, Ana hurried on.
"Your Papi and I thought you might like to get another pet…and since you're such a big girl now…we thought we'd get you something a big bigger as a pet too. Something that Freckles can't eat!"
"A PONY!" Luana cried with glee, sending her whistle shooting through the air like a bullet to land on the floor, forgotten, amid the papers there…much to both her mother's and her father's relief.
"Naw, Sweet-Pea. Where we gonna keep a pony? In the basement?" the blonde southerner chuckled, receiving an elbow jabbed to his ribs from Ana as Luana threatened to spill tears at being told there was no pony. "But Momma's gonna go get her now and introduce you two."
The kitchen door had already swung closed in his wife's wake and Luana stood, moving through the knee high sea of discarded wrapping paper to lean against her father, waiting patiently.
More scuffling than before sounded from the kitchen and a muffled exclamation from Ana-Lucia that sounded depressingly like a 'No! Don't you dare pee on my kitchen floor!' to Sawyer.
What had they let themselves in for this time? As if Freckles wasn't bad enough to cope with…
The door creaked open suddenly, Ana holding it in place with one hand while she stooped and, with the other, ushered the final present forwards into view of those in the living room.
Her little triangular shaped ears cocked forwards inquisitively as she padded towards the chaos. Her dark brown, wide, soulful eyes peered, a little nervously and yet at the same time curiously around the room from a soft, silken, chocolate brown furred face. Her pink nose twitched at the new smells suddenly wafting her way and she padded forwards further. All paws and wagging tail and little pink tongue.
Luana stood motionless, sporting the same open mouthed expression as her father until the puppy yapped and dived into the colourful, ripped up papers, inventing her own game as she explored her new home.
"So…" Ana hazarded to ask, taking a seat upon the arm of Sawyer's chair and feeling his arm automatically curl about her waist. "Do you like her? What do you think? Luana?"
The child turned, as if in a daze or a dream, to glance up at her parents before breaking into an ecstatic, face-wide grin and moving carefully to inspect the new arrival.
"You got me a puppy?" she breathed, crouching down beside the little Labrador and stroking her head and back gently.
In response the puppy paused in her adventure and stared up at the girl before her, sniffing the outstretched hand and yipping again happily.
Luana's returning giggle was euphoric.
"You got me a puppy!" she stated again, voice filled with excitement before she launched into a squeal and a million questions all at once. "What's her name? How old is she? Can she sleep on my bed? Can I get her a pink collar? Is she a doggy like Vincent? Is Vincent her Daddy? Can I take her for a walkie? Can Dae and Christian come over and-"
"Woah, woah! Hold your horses, Zippy!" Sawyer laughed from his seat. "One question at a time, Sugar, and quietly. You don't wanna scare her none, do ya?"
Luana pressed a finger to her lips and shook her head in earnest reply, sitting cross-legged on the floor and stroking the little chocolate lab again.
"What's her name?" she asked more calmly, in control of her exhilaration now.
"That's for you to decide, Munchkin."
Silence fell save for the rustle as the puppy leaped about amid the multi-coloured papers and Luana's brow creased into a frown of concentration. She was thinking hard.
"What about Fluffy?" Ana suggested helpfully.
"I had a fish called Fluffy…" Luana muttered in absentminded retort and Sawyer shared an amused glance with his wife.
"How 'bouts Cuddles?" he put forth but the little girl merely shook her head and waved a hand at him dismissively.
"Okay, how about-" Ana began again, pondering out loud.
"Muchacha!" Sawyer announced, cutting her off with a pleased grin and drawing stares from both her and Luana.
Ana was already shaking her head, frown darkening her brow thunderously.
"No!"
"Yes!" Luana countered, jubilant once more, clapping her hands together with delight. "Daddy that's the perfect name for her!"
Sawyer shot Ana-Lucia a sideways, smug, triumphant smirk, but she was still shaking her head furiously.
"No!" she repeated more firmly. "No way! We are NOT naming the dog after one of your stupid petnames for me!"
"Awww, Darlin', why not? I got plenty more nicknames for you in this brain o'mine." Sawyer responded, smoothing a hand up her back only to have it elbowed away viciously. "C'mon, Chica!"
"No! You two come on!" She snapped back. "We're not naming the dog after me and that's final!"
"Why not?" Sawyer repeated again, the light in his eyes suddenly teasing. "It's fittin' 'cause you're both bit-"
"You finish that word, Dear Husband…" Ana growled low and dangerously from the back of her throat at him. "You dare finish that word and you sleeping in the car will be too close for me!"
Sawyer simply smiled his most charming smile up to meet her scowl and tugged her from her perch back down to sit on his lap, despite her struggle and protests.
"Moooooommmmmmaaaaaaaaa!" Luana's whining voice cut through her parent's squabbling, drawing their glares apart and back to her. "I wanna call her Muchacha! It's a pretty name! She likes it too, don't you Muchacha?" she lowered her face to the chocolate Labrador puppy's level and spoke to her softly, and, much to Ana's disgruntlement, the little dog barked and planted a loving lick upon the little girl's nose. "See? See!" Luana demanded and Ana sighed, pinching the bridge of her own nose in defeat.
"Fine…Muchacha it is then…"
-oOo-