Disclaimer: I don't own anyone, other than Lily and Madison.
Rated: M
Warning(s): Slash, Storyline Fanfic, Past Mpreg, etc.
Daniel looked around at the half-painted nursery, pleased by what he'd accomplished in a mere two hours. As promised, Phil was seated in the hallway, lazily thumbing through one of his comic books. Dinner - a fresh salad with tomatoes, cucumbers, and olives - had been prepared and awaited them downstairs. It was nice, not feeling any particular rush to do anything at all. They didn't have any commitments for the foreseeable future, and could just bask in the temporary togetherness that they had right now. In that moment, they were serene and happy.
Daniel exited the nursery and placed a kiss on Phil's head, careful not to touch him with his paint-covered hands. "I'm a mess. I'm gonna wash up before dinner, okay?" Phil looked him over with a small smile, not surprised to find that he hadn't lied.
"Go ahead. It's not like dinner is going anywhere." As if on cue, the telephone started to ring. Phil sighed, placing the comic book down. "I should really head down there and get that." He seemed adorably reluctant to get up off of the floor, however.
"Nah - let the machine get it." Daniel brushed it off. "If they're important, they'll call back."
"I still need to get up off of my fat ass, love." Phil reminded him. "How about a hand... er, maybe an arm?"
Daniel laughed, but extended his arm to Phil anyhow. Phil grabbed onto the one part of Daniel that seemed to not be soaked in blue paint, and managed to get his feet under him and stabilize himself. It seemed like the ground kept getting further and further away as his pregnancy progressed. Pretty soon, he'd be so far along, he wouldn't even be able to see his feet anymore without some careful contorting. As if Daniel could read his mind, he leaned down and pressed a kiss to Phil's swollen belly, and recieved a kick from their little man for his efforts.
"Your ass is not fat, Philly." Daniel chastised gently. "You're carrying our son. And that makes all of this," he motioned to Phil's heavily pregnant body, "absolutely fucking beautiful." Phil rolled his eyes at the compliment, but Daniel could tell that it had sunk in.
"Yeah, go wash up, and maybe there'll be a chance that there was some dinner left for you by the time you come downstairs." Phil smacked Daniel's ass, before heading downstairs.
"You're damn lucky that you're so cute." Daniel teased, no real malice in his tone.
Phil pretended to look affronted. "I'm not cute." He pressed a hand to his chest, rolling his eyes. "I'm fucking adorable."
"Whatever." But Daniel was grinning. He'd missed this playful banter with his lover, and hoped that this was a sign of better things to come. "And I've seen the size of the bowl you used to make dinner. There damn well better be some dinner left for me!"
"We'll see." Phil stuck his tongue out, and then vanished downstairs.
There was dinner left when he came downstairs - if he were to be totally honest, he'd never doubted that there would be. The fresh mixture of pitted cherries, sliced strawberries, blueberries, cantaloupe, bananas, and raspberries was a deliciously healthy alternative to the pizza that Phil had been craving for the better half of their return-trip home. It seemed like Daniel's eating habits were beginning to rub off on him, and he'd taken to the switch rather well. And of course, none of Daniel's lifestyle choices were forced on Phil - Phil simply enjoyed it because it brought them closer.
Dinner went over so well that, for the most part, the phone call from earlier was forgotten. Phil had two helpings, and then set about clearing the table and washing the dishes. After Daniel had his fill, the rest was put into a reusable container and slipped into the fridge for later. They spent the rest of the night in front of the television watching Batman: The Animated Series. Daniel, who was as inclined to comic books as Phil was, needed a refresher on the characters every so often. And Phil was more than happy to play the resident genius.
After four episodes, Phil was yawning and falling asleep on Daniel's shoulder. And while he didn't necessarily mind the Second City Saint falling asleep on top of him (it's not like it didn't happen every night in bed), he knew that both of their backs would be protesting from falling asleep upright on the couch. So he helped Phil up to the bedroom and got him settled down in bed, before suddenly remembering the phone call from earlier. When he'd passed the machine to get his dinner, he'd seen the red light flashing on the machine, meaning that whoever had called had left a message.
After making sure that Phil was comfortable, he went back downstairs and pressed the playback button on the machine. "You have one unheard message. First unheard message:'
"Hello, Mr. Bryan. This is Lena Kelly, Mr. Helmsley's personal secretary. I'm calling to inform you that your WrestleMania challenge has been accepted. To finalize all formalities, you've been formally requested to appear on this week's upcoming RAW. Thank you."
Pausing for a brief moment to let the reality of the words sink in, he didn't hesitate when it came to the final call. Slamming his finger down on the bright red button next to 'playback', he heard, with some degree of satisfaction, "Message deleted."
"Hey, Lily?" Randy asked, tilting his head back a little so that he could look at the little girl perched high upon his shoulders. "How come you've been so hard on your Mommy lately?" It was a difficult question, but he felt like he'd been making headway with the little girl - now was the time to find out the truth.
She shrugged, before taking a bite off of her king-sized green apple taffy. "Because Mommy doesn't love Daddy anymore."
At that, Randy paused. She had said it with such innocent conviction, as if she knew it to be the undisputed truth but didn't like admitting to it, that it almost broke his heart. He shifted Madison in her sling and then continued walking, trying to appear nonchalant. "What makes you think that, sweetie?"
"Because the mean, shrill-voiced lady kissed Mommy and she said that she loved him. And Mommy said that he doesn't trust Daddy." Lily sniffled, the tears from before rolling down her cheeks. "And that means that Mommy doesn't love Daddy anymore, and that they're gonna get a 'divorce', and I want my Daddy!"
"Shh, shh, shh..." Randy sat down this time, pulling Lily onto his lap. He moved the sling aside slightly so that he could pull her into his chest. "Everything's gonna be alright, sweetie. I'm sure that all of this is just one big misunderstanding, hmm? Your Mommy and Daddy love each other very much."
"T-Then why can't I see D-Daddy?" Lily sounded close to hyperventilating, she was getting so upset.
Randy gently stroked her hair, before saying, "I'll take you to him, okay? I'll take you to where you can see your Daddy."
She pulled back a little, staring at him with awe-struck, tear-blurred eyes. "R-Really?"
"Yep." But then, leaning down, "But it has to be our little secret, okay? Can you keep a secret?" She nodded excitedly, too overjoyed by the prospect of seeing Mark to really comprehend what it was that she was agreeing too. "Alright, let's go."
It wasn't hard to track down Mark. They were filming Main Event tonight, and this was to be the Undertaker's first (and only) ever appearance on the show. Randy could practically feel the excitement come rolling off of the little girl in waves as she skipped merrily beside him, the tears practically forgotten in her anticipation. It felt like an eternity since she'd last seen her Daddy. Did he miss her? Did he remember her? Did he still love her? These worrisome questions fluttered in and out of her at unimaginable speeds, never staying put long enough to actually take shape and prosper.
Once he was able to track down the locker room that had been assigned to the Undertaker for that night, Randy knocked on the door. There was some grumbling on the other side, and Lily rocked back and forth on her heels impatiently, twisting her hands over and over in anxious anticipation. They could hear someone on the other side of the door messing with the lock for a few frustrating seconds, and then the door swung open. Lily let out a choked breath as a creepy man with a dark, scary hat loomed over her. The hat was quickly removed, however, and the ominous feeling dissipated as she realized it was only her Daddy.
"Daddy!" The excited exclamation was like music to Mark's ears, and he was ready to catch her when she leaped into his arms.
"Hey, Lils." He scooped the little girl up into the air and brought her to rest comfortably in one arm. "What're you doing here, sweetie?"
"I missed Daddy, so Randy said we could come see you!" She was squeezing him for dear life and Mark counted himself lucky that he could still breathe. "Did Daddy miss Lilly, too?" She asked, pulling on the leather collar of his trench coat.
"Of course I did. I always miss my little Lily-bear when she's not around." Lily practically squealed at the nickname - Mark didn't use it often, only when she was really upset or they hadn't seen each other in awhile. He didn't know that he'd just killed two birds with one stone.
"I hope we're not bothering you." Randy put in gently. "She was just really upset and was asking for you."
Mark shook his head. "No, it's fine. Don't worry about it. How about you all come inside and get comfortable? And Lils," the little girl looked up at her Daddy expectantly, "I have a surprise for you - I just saw it this morning and it screamed 'Lily'."
"Surprise?" She practically jumped out of his arms and made a beeline for the locker room.
The 'surprise' turned out to be a beautifully ornate porcelain doll. Mark handed her over very carefully and told Lily that she had to be careful with her face so that it didn't break. She had long, brown ringlet curls and pretty blue eyes which opened and closed, like many of the baby dolls that Lily already had. She currently wore a frilly green and white lace dress and little gold flats coated with glistening glitter, and she had a spare outfit which was glaringly pink, with little white buttons down the back. Lily was absolutely taken with the doll, and Mark was glad to see a smile back on the little girl's face.
When she was sufficiently distracted, he made his way over to Randy. "I've noticed that you've been watching the kids while Hunter works. I just," he seemed to be searching for the right words, and it was incredibly unusual to see Mark so out of sorts, "How is she doing?"
"Honestly? Not great." Mark nodded, as if this was the answer that he'd been expecting from the start. "She's really turned on Hunter. She's made it very clear that she blames him for whatever is going on between the two of you. And while it know it's really not my place... being treated like that... it's eating away at him."
"I'll talk to her." Mark said. "See if I can get her to lighten up on Hunter a bit. I can't make any guarantees, though. She's always been a stubborn kid."
"Gee, wonder where she got that from." At that, Mark cracked a sort of half-smile, but didn't laugh.
Randy took the unexpected reprieve to go and change the baby, who was wet. Upon returning, he found both Mark and Lily on the floor, with Lily in Mark's lap. The little girl was grinning broadly at the older man, and making her dolly dance on Mark's leg. She seemed to be in much better spirits and Mark seemed to be in a better mood now that he was able to hold her once again. Randy knew that it probably wouldn't go over well with Hunter, but he'd already decided that he wasn't going to tell the COO about what had transpired tonight. He could speculate all he wanted - he'd never know for certain.
"Is it time to go already, Randy?" Lily looked at him sadly. Randy nodded. "Will I get to see you again, Daddy?"
"Yeah, Lily-bear. We'll see each other again real soon. Until then, take care of your dolly for me, okay?" Mark asked.
"Okay! Love you!" She kissed his cheek, before taking Randy's hand and heading out the door.
"Love you too, Lils." And then she was gone.