summary: in which zoe is born, and connor learns some lessons from her

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Connor was nearly eight months old when Cynthia became pregnant with Zoe.

"You're going to be a big brother!" exclaimed Cynthia joyfully after she and Larry returned from their visit to the gynecologist. Connor grinned, an endearing smile that revealed two little teeth peeking out from his gums. "Are you excited?" he just clapped his hands and turned his attention back to his toy cars.

Over the weeks, as her belly grew larger, Connor would often place his hands on it and sign 'baby'—Cynthia had taught him baby sign language from a book a few months before.

"Yes! You're going to have a sister!" Cynthia nodded, delighted at the prospect of having both a son and a daughter. It wasn't too long before she'd gone shopping and bought a half dozen baby dresses, along with hats, shoes, and skirts.

Connor was sixteen months old when Zoe was born, and Larry brought him to the hospital the next day to let him visit.

"Look! It's Zoe!" cooed Cynthia as Larry let Connor examine his baby sister. Connor gurgled appreciatively and leaned towards her slightly cautiously. But when Zoe turned to look at him, he immediately reached out a hand to touch her chubby cheek. She reached back out with her own tiny hand from underneath the blanket, trying to swat back at him.

"Fun!" Connor giggled, clapping his hands together.

Larry and Cynthia laughed. "I remember when my baby brother was born, I was four, and I cried in the hospital because I was jealous that I wasn't the center of attention anymore." Cynthia recalled, she and Larry dissolving into another fit of laughter. Connor didn't know what was going on, but seeing his parents so happy made him join in as well.

There in the hospital, with Connor in Larry's arms and Zoe in Cynthia's, the Murphys knew at that moment that they had all they could wish for. They were the happiest family, with two beautiful, healthy kids, a grand house, and a steady income.

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But the difference between the two kids soon could not be more apparent, especially when it came to sleeping. When naptime or bedtime rolled around, Cynthia only needed to sing two lullabies before Zoe drifted off to slumber land. After all their struggles with Connor, this seemed almost uncanny to them, and Cynthia found herself checking on Zoe multiple times during the night, almost afraid that her lack of crying might indicate something to be wrong.

Cynthia and Zoe came home after spending three nights in the hospital, and there had been some discussion over where to place Zoe's crib. While Larry wished for her to sleep in the nursery, Cynthia was concerned that Connor would prevent her from sleeping well, since he still put up a fight every time he had to go to bed. And so, Zoe's crib was tentatively placed in the master bedroom next to their king-sized bed.

Unlike her brother, Zoe took to sleeping extremely well. This, of course, piqued Connor's interest, for he seemed to wonder how his baby sister could fall asleep with minimal fuss and crying. He kept pointing and crawling towards the bedroom when he knew it was her naptime.

One day, Cynthia had him playing next to her while she read on the bed. After putting Zoe into her crib, she lay down to catch a few winks, while Connor chewed on his teddy bear's paw.

Every now and then, he toddled over to peer at his sister through the sides of the crib. Then he crawled back up the bed.

"Zo-zo sleep?" He asked Cynthia.

"Yes, Zo-zo is sleeping quietly, not like you," she joked. But instead of grinning back at her like he usually did, he went back and sat in front of the cot. After only ten minutes, Zoe was already sound asleep. Rather impressed, Connor cocked his head and leaned closer as if to double-check she was really asleep. Then he returned to lying on the floor and babbling to his stuffed animals.

That night, Cynthia zipped him up in his light blue onesie, gave him one last drink of water and mentally steeled herself for the next hour of screaming and crying. To her surprise, as she put Connor into his cot, he looked up at her and asked, "I go sleep fast? Like Zo-zo?"

"Yes," she said, kissing him on his tummy and making him giggle. "If you go to sleep quickly like Zo-zo, we will be very happy."

"Zo-zo happy too?" He sounded surprised.

"Yes, I'm sure she will be very happy," she assured him.

"Okay." He said, turning onto his side and screwing his eyes shut. In just several minutes, Cynthia could tell from his breathing that he was asleep, and had to resist the urge to pinch herself. She tiptoed out of the nursery and gingerly closed the door, half-expecting him to wake up and cry again.

After listening outside for a minute or two, she was finally assured that he was truly asleep, and hurried downstairs to the kitchen where Larry was putting away the dinner dishes. Before he could ask anything, she spoke first, unable to wipe the grin off her face.

"He's asleep!"

"What? Connor?" The shock was evident.

"Yes! He said he wanted to-" but Larry had eagerly pushed past her and taken the stairs two at a time up to the nursery.

Quietly opening the door, he stared for a while at Connor, hugging his favorite bear to his chest and fast asleep. "Good grief." He muttered under his breath.

Cynthia appeared at the top of the stairs. "He said he wanted to sleep quickly like Zoe," she explained. "He was in the room with me during her naptime."

Ever since then, Connor went to bed with little fuss and tears, having realized that it was actually easier for himself instead of howling and crying. Obviously, Cynthia and Larry were ecstatic. One night, after the children had gone to bed and they themselves were turning in for the night, Cynthia joked, "If I'd known this was how he'd fall asleep, I'd have had Zoe earlier!"

please leave a review or feel free to drop me a message on tumblr, i'm thewickedverkaiking... constructive criticism/tips to improve are always appreciated (i need validation whoo)

also, feel free to leave prompts, i'll try to incorporate them into future chapters :))