Sorry guys, this is a short one. Been a bit busy irl.
Abby awoke tangled up in limbs, as usual, the early morning light shining through the branches of the trees outside their bedroom window, casting dappling patterns on the ceiling as she blinked the cobwebs out of her eyes. For a moment, everything that happened the day before felt like a dream as raised her head from Connor's chest to survey the precious sight before her. Despite the pain and turmoil they had endured over the seven years since they'd met, when he slept he looked as young and innocent as he had been when she first saw him, though perhaps a little better groomed and bearing a few scars from their adventures. He was clearly wiped out by the previous day's activities, she noted, he didn't even stir as she extracted herself from his one armed embrace enough to prop herself up on her elbow. That was probably for the best as his waking would undoubtedly wake their other bedmate who lay sprawled across his chest with her face pressed into the crook of his neck. She smiled, brushing her fingers gently over her daughter's wild blonde curls while she slept. It was hard for Abby to believe that Nicola "Nikki" Temple was two and a half already, it felt like just yesterday that she'd locked herself in the bathroom at the ARC with her super secret drug store purchase and had a melt down about that little pink plus sign, worrying about how she was going to do her job with a baby. About being as bad a mother as hers was. About the very real possibility that Connor's work with Philip was going to kill them all or worse, kill him and leave her a single mother. They had overcome so much to make their little family work, neither of them really having anyone else in the world, which made it hard to not feel a little threatened by their doppelgangers in light of her conversation with Connor on the car ride home the previous evening. As much as she sympathized with their plight, understanding how it felt to be lost in a strange time, and tried to focus on that, she couldn't ignore that they could change everything. Maybe they already had. After all, if they were living the timeline that had brought her to this moment, she should remember it.
"I can feel you worrying." Connor's eyes were still closed, his voice was barely a whisper, still heavy with sleep as he wrinkled his nose at the morning light dancing across his eyelids.
"Aren't you?" She whispered back, comforted only a little as he gave her a slight squeeze with the arm around her waist.
"Abby, when I wake up, I'm going to be terrified." He admitted, gently tightening his hold on the sleeping toddler a little, like he thought she might vanish at any moment, "Can we please, just… just for another ten minutes… can we still be sleeping?"
She thought about it for a second, then leaned down and pressed a slow kiss to his lips before snuggling back into his side. Letting her hand rest on her baby's shoulder, thumb rubbing lazy circles there, she closed her eyes and willed herself to not think about who was waiting for them at work, "Maybe just fifteen more minutes..."
Once they finally dragged themselves out of bed, the morning proceeded in an oddly normal fashion with coffee and eggs and trying to find a coherent outfit for a boundlessly energetic toddler who was far more interested in making sure that both her parents had an adequate number of plastic dinosaurs to take to work with them. As always, Abby was sure they were going to be late, but somehow, as always, they managed to get Nikki to daycare in a timely manner and were back on the road with just enough time to get to work on time.
"I told you we'd make it." Connor boasted, kickstarting their usual idle car conversation with a cheeky grin.
"Yes, because you drive too fast." She reminded him sternly, turning the little plastic t-rex her daughter had insisted she take with her over in her hand fondly, "You're going to make a bad impression on Nikki."
He feigned an offended look, "She's two. I think I have plenty of time before she starts thinking about picking up my driving habits."
"Mhm, just you wait, she'll be sixteen an asking to borrow the car before you know it." She joked, though it wasn't a fact that she was particularly fond of.
Clearly he agreed because he shot her a mildly horrified look, "No! She can't. I want her to stay small forever."
"Well so do I, but she won't." She pointed out. He seemed to think about that for a second, then eased off the gas a little. She let the feeling of the slowing car settle over them for a few moments before shooting him a look, "Connor, she's not in the car now and I don't want to see Lester's grumpy face first thing in the morning."
"That's his normal face." Connor joked, but he returned to their previous speed.