Author's note
Thank you so much to everyone who has read/followed/reviewed/favourited this collection so far! I always love to hear from you.
This S/T ficlet was written as a thank you for, and dedicated to, our whole lovely fandom, particularly everyone on Tumblr who recently shared with me such lovely wishes, images and stories a couple of weeks ago when I celebrated my birthday. It was inspired by this post from the Imagine your OTP blog on Tumblr:
"Imagine your OTP with a newborn baby. The baby wakes them up crying in the middle of the night. Person A says it's their turn to get up and for Person B to stay in bed. B can't fall back asleep and after a little while goes out to join A who is sitting on the couch giving the baby a bottle. A looks up, and they just smile at each other, because they're both exhausted but still so completely happy."
Close to my heart
"WAHHHHHH, WAHHHH, WAHHHHH!" - Aislín's cry was getting louder, and Sybil and Tom could hear she was working herself up into a frenzy this time. She'd already been screaming for what felt like forever but was probably about five minutes - little hiccups kept interrupting her cry, but she wouldn't stop.
Sybil stuck her fists into her eyes and rubbed - this was the third time the baby had woken them that night and she almost wanted to burst into tears herself, she was so exhausted.
Tom looked at his wife - "Hey, lie back down love, I will go to her this time."
"But Tom, you've got work tomorrow - it's all right, I'll go… God I'm so tired, I can't think straight."
He could see that her lovely face was drawn with exhaustion, and put his arm around her shoulders to pull her in close, kissing the top of her head -
"Darling - let me go. I'll see if I can settle her - maybe she's hungry again."
She was too tired to argue and lay down on the bed to attempt to go back to sleep. Tom went over to Aislín's crib, under the window of their little bedroom, and picked her up, wrapping her in a blanket against the cool night air -
"Ah, now, a stóirín - what's got you all hot and bothered? Come here to Dadda …"
He rubbed his daughter's back gently to soothe her cries, carrying her out to the biggest room of their flat which served as kitchen, living and dining room and closing the bedroom door behind him to let Sybil rest. He knew there was a bottle ready on the windowsill so, holding the baby in one arm, he set a saucepan of water on the stove to boil, so he could heat it up for her.
"In Dublin's fair city, Where the girls are so pretty, I first set my eyes on sweet Molly Malone…" He quietly crooned to his daughter as he warmed her milk, and she gradually started to calm down, letting out a few more little hiccups and gasps. She opened her big blue eyes, still swimming with tears, and looked up at her father with that unfocused gaze of a newborn that tore at his heartstrings every time he saw it. He still couldn't believe that he was a father, and seeing his little girl in his arms, so tiny, so helpless, so totally dependent on him for everything, made his heart almost explode with love.
Tom finished heating up his daughter's milk and took her over to the couch, settling her in his arms as she started to feed. She started suckling eagerly - "Oh so that's it - you were just hungry? There now, there now…." He stroked her head, already showing signs of Sybil's dark curls, and rocked her gently as she fed…."Crying 'Cockles and mussels, alive, alive, oh'."
Sybil couldn't go back to sleep, although she knew she needed to, as she had still not fully recovered from the trauma of her daughter's birth. Her baby's cry had awoken her maternal instinct and she knew she wouldn't rest until she had checked to be sure her daughter was well and happy. She got out of bed, put on her robe and quietly opened the door.
She saw Tom on the couch, totally absorbed as he finished feeding their little baby, who was quiet and happy now in her father's arms. Sybil was immediately swamped with love for the players in the scene before her - for Aislín, so precious that she would do anything in her power to keep her safe, and for Tom, already proving to be such a wonderful father to their child, as well as a more perfect husband than she could ever have dreamed. She felt tears forming in her eyes as she looked at them…
He looked up - "Sybil, look - she's calming down now. I think she was just hungry." He gestured, waving her over to them. She sat down next to him on the couch, snuggling under his other arm and taking the same comfort their daughter did from being in his embrace. Putting her hand on his as he cuddled their baby close, she laced their fingers together, so she couldn't easily tell whose were whose.
Tom looked at Sybil over their daughter's head, and leaned in for a kiss -
"What did we do, my darling, to be so lucky? I do love you both, so very much."
"a stóirín" = my little darling in Irish Gaelic, per Google translate.