Author's Note: I dedicate this one to my libra squad 3 This idea came to my mind while we were group chatting about our periods and Alana said that one of her children (she is a teacher) asked her about it and Marta told one of her childhood stories. And that's the result of it!
This one contains something that I tried my best to put into words in a way a child could understand. If you somehow felt offended by the way I managed to write, please let me know and if you want to give a suggestion about a better way to put it and I'm open to changing it.
Again, thank you Alana for beta-reading it. Love u 3
"Just rest, Don," he kisses Donna's forehead. She murms something he doesn't get, but considering the fact that she is still half-asleep, it is probably something not really understandable.
Harvey leaves the room and turns off the lights, letting his wife rest in bed. She is in pain, probably because of her period. It's a Saturday morning and there's no reason for her to be up early and there's nothing in the house he can't handle.
Even though she is in pain and needs to rest, he plans to get some breakfast for his wife and his daughter that will wake up anytime soon.
He takes the way to the kitchen and starts to cook some pancakes, coffee and scrambled eggs. He is almost finished with the pancakes when Lily murms something while she is walking towards him.
"Morning, dad," she says, still sleepy and rubbing her eyes.
"Morning, sunshine," Harveys responds, lowering his face and placing a kiss on her forehead.
"Where is mummy?" She asks, searching for Donna.
"She's still in bed, sweetheart. She's in pain and I said she should stay in bed for a little longer," he explains to her.
"Can I go there?" Lily asks.
"How about you help dad with mama's breakfast and then we go there after we finish it, huh?" he suggests to her trying to let Donna enjoy her time in bed alone.
"Okay," the little redhead responds.
"Come here, let me put you in the highchair." Harvey opens his arms to Lily who enlace his neck with her little arms. He leads the child to the highchair and lets her stay there.
"Thank you, dad," she says, placing her hair behind her ears.
Harvey goes back to the pancakes and starts to talk with his daughter. At some point the girl starts to talk about her mother and how she wants to come to say 'good morning' and give her a kiss, but Harvey manages to change the subject to take some time to finish breakfast.
"Dad, is mom in pain? Is she sick?" She asks, a little worried.
"No, honey. It's probably cramps because of her period," Harvey says naturally.
"What's a period?"
Sometimes Harvey forgets how the little girl is too smart and curious and is a perfect mix of his and Donna's temper. Letting almost nothing pass unnoticed.
"It's something that your mom has every month because her uterus is bleeding. But it's normal. I swear ," he tries to calm the girl because she is making a scared face.
"She bleeds how?" She seems a little bit scared but is getting more and more interested in the subject.
Lily has been a curious child since she was very young and now that she's five years old she is even more curious and always likes when someone explains something to her. If Donna and Harvey would bet on some path to Lily, probably it would be something related to science. Not only because she is curious, what is kind of normal about a child, but because she is also interested in real things, logical things and always wants to know how things really work.
"Remember when me and your mom talked about your vagina?" Lily nods. "And remember when we said that there's two holes on it? One where you pee and another one that anyone would never touch without your full permission?" She, again, nods. "So, it's from this second hole that the blood comes out," he tries to explain to her the best he can.
"So that's why mom pees pink sometimes?" She asks and Harvey laughs.
"Yeah, little monkey, that's why!" He is almost finished preparing breakfast. He takes two mugs, one for him and one for Donna and a glass for Lily to take her morning juice.
"But why does her uterus bleed every month?" She is still interested in the subject.
"Because is supposed to have a baby in there and when there's no baby, the uterus bleed," he has no idea how much Lily is really getting from this whole conversation but he and Donna always talk about sex education and how they want to give Lily all the real information she needs in a way the she will understandd, considering that she's just a child.. And even though she may not be getting it at all, this is going to be something natural for her to talk about and when she is old enough she will fully understand it.
"So the babies come from the uterus? And only women get periods?"
"Yes and no," he breathes. He places two pancakes on a plate for Donna, fills the mug with coffee and a little bowl with maple syrup and a banana. He puts it on a tray to take it to Donna.
"How?" She asks again.
Harvey walks towards her, opening his arms and taking the little girl off of the highchair.
"Remember when we talked about trans people?" He places her on the floor and she nods. "So if you can remember, some people are born with a vagina, but they don't feel like they're women. And it also goes the other way around. They know it in their heart," he points to her chest, "and in their mind," he points to her head, "So transgender men can also bleed and even get pregnant. And sometimes transgender women doesn't bleed because they do not have a organ called uterus. But they're still women." He is staring at the child who seems to be still processing all the information she just received. "So, can we finish our science class this morning and give mommy some breakfast?"
"YEEEES!" Lily screams, excited.
Harvey takes the tray. "So, remember, be gentle and quiet to your mum, right? Com'on"
They start to walk. Lily opens the door and as if Harvey hasn't just told her to be quiet she is all screaming.
"Mommy, Mommy," the child jumps on the bed.
"Sweetheart, take care of your mom, she is still in pain," Harvey instructs the little one and puts the tray on the nightstand.
"Ops, sorry!" Lily says to Donna, crawling like a cat until she reaches her mom.
"That's okay, little monkey. I'm feeling better," Donna sits on the bed, asking for Lily to join her.
"You don't know what daddy just said to me."
"What daddy said to you, huh?" She looks at her husband who shrugs saying in silence "let her say" and Donna looks back at Lily.
"Daddy just told me where the babies came from," she explains to Donna.
"What an interesting subject," she looks again at Harvey, holding a laugh because they never talked about this kind of conversation and she can imagine how he dealt with it.
"From the ut.. uturu? Iterus?" She is a little confused. "Dad, what is the name of the organ?"
"Uterus." Harvey clarifies.
"Yeah, dad. It's from the Uterus, mommy," she says proud of herself.
That is an answer that Donna is not expecting and she wants to know more about it.
"Your dad taught you well," Donna points out. "What else did dad say?"
"How because of the Uterus people bleed once in a month. And it's not just women. There are men that bleed too," she says naturally.
"I see that your daddy taught you pretty well," she teases Harvey.
"What can I say? I'm a really good teacher," he responds, sending her a kiss.
"He is, mom! And I want to be a good teacher to Theodore too," Lily says.
"Who's Theodore?" Both Donna and Harvey are confused.
"The baby that's in your belly," she places a finger on Donna's belly.
"What?"
"Yeah, mommy. I want a baby in your belly. And we'll call it Theodore or Gordon, like grandpa."
"Two good names," Harvey says.
"I know, I'm awesome!"
They laugh. And days later, they find out that Donna was not feeling cramps because of her period. She was actually pregnant with a second baby.