A/N: Hey all, it's been a while. I was in the mood for some family Jibbs, so I took a break from other fandom projects yesterday and wrote this. Decided I may as well stick it in this series of unrelated one-shots to give it a dose of family happiness, especially after that last depressing chapter. Hope you are all doing well.
"Dadda."
He grumbled, his exhausted mind feeling dizzy in the midst of sleep.
"Daddy."
The little hand tapping his face made his eyebrows scrunch and twitch as he felt his sleep dissipate. He groaned, sighing deeply as he started to wake and registered that his child was intent on making him wake up.
"Dadda!"
He winced, the little voice that had been whispering seconds ago was now much more insistent and loud by his ear. He opened his eyes lazily, staring into a set of bright blue eyes that were looking at him expectantly.
"It's mowning. Wake up dadda. I wants bekfast."
He let out a breath, trying to wake up. He rolled to his back, reaching out only to find the space empty. He perked his head up and looked, confirming that the space was empty. The little bassinet by the bed was empty too. He stretched a little and groaned, finally turning his attention back to the little one who'd woken him up.
"Em, where's mom?" he asked the toddler, yawning.
"Momma feeding Nose."
He smiled sleepily, entertained by the way she kept pronouncing Noah. He wasn't sure why Noah would be any harder to say than 'momma' or 'dadda'. Perhaps it was just because they'd laughed the first time she'd done it. Or maybe it was because she wasn't always very fond of the new sibling. The adjustment to having a baby brother hadn't exactly been easy on Emma.
He picked the little girl up and she gave a giggle from the movement before he sat her in his lap and gave her a hug. "How'd you sleep, kiddo?"
"I sweep good but I wants food now."
"You sound like your mom."
"No I not. Momma gets mad."
He snorted. "Yeah, she does. Don't tell her I said that though." He placed a kiss to her dark auburn hair, yawning as he squeezed her again.
"Out bed, dadda. You needs feed me."
"Okay, okay. No need to be bossy." She really was her mother's child. He picked her up and put her back on the ground so he could get out of bed.
"Daddy, daddy, I want hose wide."
He groaned again as he stood up, stretching and trying to get some energy. He'd been at work late and then the baby had been fussy all night. "Daddy's tired. How 'bout I give you a horse ride later?"
"Otay," she said in a small voice.
He couldn't take the sad look on her innocent face. He picked her up and swept her back onto the bed. "Okay hun, I'll give you a ride downstairs. You gotta hold on though, okay?" Her face lit up and she nodded enthusiastically. He sat on the edge of the bed, feeling her little arms wrap around his neck while he grabbed her little legs behind him and wrapped them around his abdomen. She giggled as soon as he stood up, and he couldn't help but smile from the delighted little sound.
"Let's check on mommy first, okay?"
She sighed impatiently at his words and he rolled his eyes at her overdramatic reaction. He passed the stairs and walked to the nursery, peeking his head in to see Jenny feeding the baby. "Hey," he greeted, catching her attention. "How ya guys doin'?"
She looked beyond exhausted and gave a sigh. "Tired. Feels like it's the middle of the night." He gave her a sympathetic look. They'd both been woken up several times by the baby, and the last time she'd gotten up to tend to the baby he'd never heard her come back.
"I'm gonna get started on breakfast," he said. "You want anything?"
"A giant cup of coffee."
He smiled. "Sure thing."
"Food! Go!" Emma impatiently yelled behind him, making him wince from the shriek in his ear.
"Keep that up and I'm gonna put you back down on the ground," he growled at her.
"I hungyyy," she whined.
Jenny shook her head at the antics. "Good luck," she said to him.
"You too," he replied, nodding to the little baby who detached himself and started making fussy noises.
As he headed downstairs with his toddler babbling on his back, hearing Noah go into a full cry session upstairs, he tried to recall what the days before kids were like. When weekend mornings consisted of sleeping in, and maybe some fun release between the sheets. When they could lay there together lazily and relax for the rest of the day. Things certainly had changed since then.
He lowered the toddler down off his back and onto the floor when they made it to the kitchen.
"What do ya want for breakfast, Em?" he asked as he started the coffee.
"Chin nut-nu-nuckits," she struggled.
"How 'bout some cereal?" he tried. She'd just eaten chicken nuggets last night.
"No, chin nuts."
He did his best to not snort, trying to remain calm and reasonable with her. "How 'bout a waffle?"
"No. Chin nutits!"
He sighed. He honestly didn't have the energy to fight with her. He was far beyond the point of trying to reason with her over little things. "Okay," he relented, "hold on a sec." He finished messing with the coffee machine and then checked the fridge for the leftovers. Besides, nuggets certainly seemed healthier than sugar packed cereal or waffles with sugar poured on top. He saw the ziplock bag with the leftover nuggets they'd cooked last night in the side door and took them out. He placed a few on a plate and then popped it in the microwave.
Emma was holding onto his leg as they cooked, humming to herself and tugging randomly at his gray sweatpants. As soon as the microwave beeped he opened it up, pressing a finger to the nuggets. They were definitely too hot. He placed them down on the table and picked her up, putting her in her little kid seat secured on the chair.
"They're too hot, they'll hurt your mouth. You need to let them cool down, okay?"
"Otay."
"You want ketchup?"
"Yes!" she squealed happily. He watched her try to pick up a nugget and stopped her.
"Too hot, remember? You gotta blow on them first."
She started to blow on them hard, and he could see spit fly out of her mouth. He shook his head and turned to open the fridge, grabbing the ketchup and uncapping it and squirting a good amount on her plate. He knew she liked to cover the nugget in the red stuff. He watched as she dipped a nugget in the sauce and then just played around, using the nugget like a paintbrush and smearing the ketchup across her plate.
He decided she was pretty much safe where she was and sufficiently distracted, so he could probably use the bathroom and quickly grab the paper. "I'll be back okay? Be good." She ignored him and kept making sounds as she painted with her nugget, clearly living in her own imaginary world right now.
After he used the toilet and grabbed the paper he came back, seeing she'd eaten her previous paintbrush after managing to paint almost the entire plate. Her face and hands also had a good amount of ketchup smeared all over. Perhaps a morning bath would be in order after this. She was stacking her other nuggets on top of each other like a little tower, still making noises.
"Do you like the nuggets?" he asked, raising an eyebrow at the messy display. After all her whining, she didn't actually seem to be very hungry.
"Yum," she replied, grabbing the one at top and taking a bite. She then took the rest of it and started smearing it across the plate too. He found himself shaking his head again. It was something he'd started to do a lot since becoming a parent again.
The coffee machine beeped and he grabbed two mugs, filling Jenny's a little less than his so he still had room to add her gross additions. He poured in the appropriate amount of creamer and stirred in a spoonful of sugar like she'd taught him to do, still feeling almost personally offended by the sweet mixture.
He turned around to look at Emma, watching as she used her ketchup covered hand to get her hair out of her face, getting the red goop all in her hair. She'd also dripped it on her pajamas. Yup, it was definitely going to be a morning bath kind of day.
He placed his coffee on the table and sat down beside her, flipping open the paper to browse through while his coffee cooled down.
"Daddy's dwink?" she asked, pointing a red finger at his coffee, nearly touching it. He moved the mug farther away from the finger.
"Yeah honey. It's hot, don't touch it."
"Bow on it," she said, "it's hot."
"I'll blow on it, thanks sweetie."
She chewed on her nugget some more and he looked back at the paper, an article about a triple homicide catching his attention. He scanned the first few paragraphs until the blowing sounds his daughter was making caught his attention. He looked back to her, realizing she'd stood up in her chair and had decided to blow on his coffee for him—just in time to see her spit a chunk of nugget right into his cup, specks of coffee flying in the air as the plop sounded. All he could do was stare in horror as the chewed, ketchup covered chunk floated in the drink, right before it slowly started to sink. He grimaced, feeling slightly nauseous by the sight. He put the paper back down, sighing as he looked at her.
"Bow on it," she instructed.
"Kid, sit back down," he grumbled, reaching out and helping her back in her seat, buckling her in it for good measure this time despite her protests. "Eat the rest of your nuggets." He got up and emptied the cup and rinsed it out thoroughly before he poured himself a new one. This time he put it far away from her reach and picked up the paper again.
"I want dwink too."
He hung his head in defeat, sighing and giving up, putting his paper back down before he got up again. He grabbed her sippy cup and filled it with juice, placing it down in front of her and watching her ketchup smeared hands grab the cup so she could chug her juice down. He sat back down and then heard Jenny make her way downstairs.
He gave her a smile as she walked in and nodded to her cup of coffee by the machine. "That's yours, has your poison in it."
"Thank you." She held out the baby to him and he took the little guy gladly as she draped the burp rag across his shoulder.
"Hey you," he cooed, grinning at Noah and giving him a kiss. The baby wriggled his feet and made a face, making those quiet baby breath sounds as he tried to communicate. He smiled at his son, totally captivated by the expressions, cooing back at the little noises. Noah was only five weeks old and he'd already grown so much, yet he was still so incredibly small in his hands. He moved the little guy against his shoulder, gently rocking him and patting his back to burp him.
"Nose want chin nut-its?" Emma asked.
"Noah already ate. Mommy fed him," Jenny replied.
The toddler made a skeptical "hm" sound, clearly not impressed.
Jenny sat down beside him, taking a sip of coffee and moaning in content.
"You want anything else?" he asked. "I can whip somethin' up."
"This is perfect for now."
She took another sip and closed her eyes, breathing happily. He watched the way her chest moved and then eyed her up and down, admiring her figure.
"What?" she finally said, opening her eyes and raising an eyebrow at him.
"You look sexy," he mumbled quietly.
"Ha, as if. I haven't showered in two days and I smell like spit-up and urine."
He shrugged. "Still sexy to me."
"Mm, you flatter me with your lies." She kissed his shoulder and he he kissed her head in return, enjoying the moment of closeness. It had been pretty rare lately.
"Momma, I done."
They both looked over to the toddler, covered in smeared ketchup with breading crumbs stuck on her face. The little girl then grabbed her sippy cup with one hand and shook it above her other hand, attempting to wash her hands off with the dribbles of sticky juice. She then wiped her hands over her dirty clothes. Jenny groaned and shoved her face into his shoulder, hugging his arm as she hid from the sight.
"I'm gonna give her a bath," he muttered, turning to her and handing the baby over.
"Good idea," she sighed, taking the baby back. "I love them, but I also really miss the days of not having them yet."
"I hear ya."
Jenny took another sip of her coffee and the toddler piped up again. "Momma, bow on your dwink, it hot."
"It's fine, baby. Don't worry, it's not too hot," she responded, taking another sip.
"She blew on my coffee before you came down," he mused. "Spit a chewed piece of nugget into it."
Jenny nearly choked on her coffee from laughter.
"I done, I go out!" Emma whined, pulling at the little straps on her seat.
He sighed, getting up as Jenny laughed. He very carefully removed the toddler from her seat, picking her up under her arms from behind and holding her away from him like a bomb as he made his way to the bathroom. The minute he put her down so he could turn on the water she ended up hugging his leg, smearing her hands and face across his gray sweats as if her were her personal towel.
Perhaps having kids hadn't been the brightest idea they'd ever had.
He stroked his finger across the soft hair on his son's head. It had started out so dark when he was born, but it was starting to go blond. The little guy was asleep against his chest on the armchair, his little lips puckered out and his tiny fist gripping tight on his finger it had trapped. He looked up when he heard Emma giggling, seeing Jenny hug the little girl close against her on the couch as they watched the family movie they'd picked. Jenny kissed Emma's head.
The little girl yawned. "Momma, I wuv you."
"I love you too, sweetie."
He smiled at the interaction and then looked back down to the little baby snuggled on his chest.
Maybe some days were hard. Maybe sometimes you questioned why you ever thought having kids was a good idea. Maybe sometimes you wondered if you'd ever be rested or sane again. Maybe sometimes you ended up with ruined nugget coffee and ketchup soaked pants.
It was all worth it.
Disclaimer- This is 100% based off of that tweet from papaneedscoffee, where he talks about his kid blowing on his coffee and spitting half a nugget into it. I take no credit for that hilarious life incident. Bless children for their ability to amuse and inspire.
