A Heart's Desire

The day of silence

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"Seth! We're gonna be late!" Summer yelled as she sat on the living room sofa with a nineteen weeks old Leah in her lap. She tried not to yell too loud but since Seth had been in the bathroom for about ten minutes too long, who could blame her? "Do you want your daughter to miss her own party?!"

"Coming!" Seth appeared in the living room, looking very handsome. Not that Summer hadn't expected that since he'd been in that bathroom for a long time. He picked Leah up and immediately started to make those sounds she liked so much. Seth had discovered it one time when Leah would just scream and scream. He'd sighed and made some funny sound, which right away had stopped Leah's screams.

Summer rolled her eyes and stood up, taking her purse and Leah's bag with her. "Let's go. We have to hurry now since you have to be such a girl, Cohen."

Seth smiled and took the white hat Summer threw in his direction and placed it on his daughter's small head. "Mommy's just being mommy. She has this thing about being late," he explained to the Leah, who kept fumbling with his tie and probably making it loose to Summer's dislike. "But don't worry about that, little girl. Because I'm sure the party will still be there when we arrive."

"Cohen! With those long legs you might think you could walk faster."

"We're coming, my sweet little Summer." Seth said and walked himself and Leah out after the very irritated woman.

Summer locked the door as Seth went to place Leah into her chair in the car. He had now found the routine in doing it; the first week neither of them had any idea of how to have a child in a car.

Summer walked angrily down the steps and sat down in the passenger seat, letting Seth do the driving. Her arms were crossed over her chest and she stared out through the window stubbornly. As Seth didn't want to witness a rage blackout, again, he calmly sat down in the driver's seat and started the engine.

"Aren't you gonna say something?" Summer menacingly asked after a while of the two of them sitting in silence as their daughter was asleep in the backseat.

Seth locked at her, acting casual. "Like what?"

"Apologize maybe."

"Alright. Sorry,"

"You're unbelievable!"

Seth laughed, trying to be silent best he could though. "What now?"

Summer gave him a dangerous look and stared out the window for the remaining time.

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"I'll take her." Summer pushed Seth away from where he stood, taking Leah out of the car. She carefully pulled Leah into her arms and smoothed her soft baby skin. "Let's go, baby."

Seth sighed, locked the car and walked next to Summer up to the club where most people probably had already arrived. Just as they came closer Summer put on a big smile, obviously not wanting to show everyone what a bad mood she was in. Seth honestly didn't know what her deal was.

"Hey, guys!" she said and walked up to his parents and greeted then. She let them say hi to Leah who always was the centre of attention nowadays.

"Summer, there's something I need your help with. Could you come with?" Sandy asked as they'd all said hello.

Summer looked slightly confused but decided to come with. "Um, sure." She kissed Leah's cheek and then gave the baby to Kirsten, not to her husband who held out his arms. She walked away with Sandy, leaving a very upset Seth behind.

"God, what's wrong with her today?" Seth exclaimed and took Leah from his mother's arms. She wiggled some and started to whine. "Hey, little girl. Mommy's gonna be right back," he said and patterned Leah's back. She started to cry though so Seth began to rock her. "Daddy's here."

"Is she hungry?" Kirsten asked, trying to help her son who obviously wasn't in his best mood for a whiny baby.

"She ate just before we got here and we changed the diaper and she can't be tired because she slept in the car. Unless," he firmly said, "Summer might have woken her up before. I told her not to do that!"

Leah started to cry louder, causing some people to turn and look. "Hey, Seth. You want me to take her? You can go say hi to the guests?"

"I'd rather not,"

"Seth, let me take Leah. Maybe you should go talk to your wife?"

He reluctantly gave his mother the crying baby girl and kissed her head before walking over to where the bar was.

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"Sandy, this isn't very important. I mean, I don't think anyone would mind that the tablecloths are the wrong colour." He'd dragged her inside only to give her as many tablecloths she could carry in her arms.

"Please, Kirsten's gonna kill me for this."

"But, I don't care if they are yellow or cream,"

"I know you don't. And I doubt Seth or Leah will, either. But you see, Kirsten really wants this party to be great and this was one of those things she let me take care of. She wants them cream, Summer."

"Alright then."

"Thanks." Sandy smiled and began to clean off a table. "Hey, how's it going back home with Leah? You've gotten used to having her around?"

"I guess. But it's tougher than we'd imagined I think."

"Yeah. It's not easy. Let us know if you need anything though. Kirsten and I would love to have her over sometimes. And I'm sure you could use some rest, time together or whatever,"

"Thanks, Sandy."

"Hey, speaking of kids. Isn't that my son?" Seth walked into the room with a glass of juice in his hand. "Seth, come over here!"

"Sandy," Summer started but stopped as she didn't know how to continue. She sighed as Seth came closer and began to put the new tablecloth on.

"Son, could you give us a hand here?"

"What are you doing? Exactly."

His father shrugged. "Um, we're fixing a little detail. But we could use some help, seeing that there are dozens of tables left." Sandy finished sadly.

"Yeah, sure." He didn't even mind asking why they were doing this. He helped Summer set the table as Sandy started with another.

"Where's Leah?" she quietly asked as they were done with the second table.

"She's with mom, but you gave her to her so you should know."

"Well, you could have taken her somewhere else."

"I didn't."

"Good."

"Can you give me the last plate?"

"I'm gonna go help your father," Summer said and ignored his question. She quickly walked over to Sandy and helped him instead.

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Summer sat down in a chair with Leah sleeping in her lap, her tiny hands holding the little soft animal. It was a squirrel Seth had bought in the hospital and she always had it next to her when she slept; she couldn't sleep without it.

Summer bent down and placed a small kiss on her daughter's head where soft, brown curls had started to grow. She was happy that Leah looked so much like her father when it came to that hair.

"Hey," Seth sat down next to them and offered Summer a drink. She accepted it with a small smile. "I can't believe how we actually could change all these tablecloths." He said and fumbled with some of the cream-coloured cloth.

"I know. It was for your mom though, so."

"Yeah." Seth became silent and looked down at his daughter where she lay in Summer's arms, snuggling close to her squirrel. "She's really something." Summer didn't need to fallow his gaze because she knew what he meant, of course he meant Leah. "You know, sometimes when you leave the room or give her to me or someone else she starts to cry."

Summer lifted her head. "Yeah?"

He placed a hand on her arm, giving her the smallest of smiles. "She's so in love with you."

"And I'm so in love with her," Summer softly said causing Seth to smile wider.

Shifting closer to his wife and Leah, Seth spoke, "Me, too."

After a while of them sitting in complete silence, watching the other guests Sandy appeared, sitting down at their table. "Hey, guys!" He looked down at his granddaughter, smiling. "Kirsten wanted to speak to you, Summer. But I can go get her. Looks like you're stuck here."

"Right," Summer firmly said, fallowing his gaze. Leah was sleeping like a rock, her cheek pressed against Summer's arm and some drool hung out her mouth.

Seth sighed, "I can take her." Summer stared at her husband, quickly looked down at Leah again and eventually deciding to let him take the sleeping child.

Leah was placed in Seth's waiting arms and as Summer lay the squirrel down next to her daughter Seth carefully looked up at her, smiling as he saw how she was so into their girl. He could see how accurate she was to make sure that everything was good with Leah before she'd leave her in his care. Seth was so amazed by her that he didn't even care about the fact that she didn't show much faith in him and his ability to take care of their baby.

As she left Sandy gave his son a questioning look, lifting an eyebrow.

"She's just stressed and being Summer, dad. Nothing to worry about."

"If you say so."

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Later that night Summer walked out from the bathroom; tired, exhausted from the day and ready for bed. She took off her slippers and climbed into bed where Seth already was asleep, his body as straight as a stick.

Creeping under the covers Summer lay down on her side, her eyes focused on Seth, watching him as he lay there. She always thought that he looked the most adorable when he was sleeping, his eyes closed and his mouth shut. Moving a little closer to him and resting her head just next to his shoulder, she felt the warmth from him without even touching.

And without even realizing it she feel asleep and while sleeping her body seemed to move even closer to Seth, her limbs intertwining with Seth's.

Something woke her up just hours later though; the sounds of a baby's cry that like so many nights lately had forced her to get up in the middle of the night. Her first reaction was to climb out of the bed though a voice gently told her to lie back down.

"I'll take care of Leah," Seth whispered, tucking Summer back down and placing a light kiss on her temple before leaving the room.

Summer hugged the covers tightly, mumbling something about how tired she was and tried to get back to sleep.

Though she couldn't. The feeling of having to do something important was too strong, as if she'd forgotten something. She was sure that she wouldn't be able to sleep before she'd fixed it, whatever it was. Walking out of bed, carefully pulling her hair to the side, Summer made her way into the nursery.

Seth was sitting in the rocking chair, holding the small girl who was dressed in purple pyjamas. He always talked to her, or made some kind of sound, when he held her. And surprisingly that always seemed to work like magic on Leah; she always fell asleep faster when Seth had her.

Summer kneeled down next to them, causing Seth to notice her presence. "Hey, why are you up?"

Summer made a shrug. "I can't sleep."

"Oh,"

"Want me to take her?"

"No, she's almost asleep," Seth shortly said and stood up, about to lay Leah down in her bed. Summer quickly got up after him, seeing if he needed any help. As he placed Leah on the soft mattress Summer helped him put on the white blanket, slightly awkwardly as he didn't need any help for that. She shyly glanced up at him where he stood next to her. "I think she'll sleep now," he said as he placed her squirrel next to her.

"Yeah," Summer sighed and remained standing by the bed.

Seth, who had reached the door, turned around. "You coming?"

Making a small nod Summer walked over to him, her gaze falling on his face. "Cohen?" she said as they walked toward their bedroom. Seth made a 'hmm' sound and opened the door for her. "Never mind."

"Okay," Seth yawned as they crept under the covers.

Summer stared up at the ceiling and as Seth turned the light off and prepared himself for sleep she sighed, rolling onto her stomach, holding herself up with her arms. She looked straight at him and even through the dark she could see how he opened his eyes.

"You still can't sleep?" he asked, looking up at her. Summer hesitated but gently lay down half on top of him, her head just under his chin and her arms wrapping themselves around him. Seth smiled, kissed her hair, placed his arms around her petite body and fell asleep to her soft snoring.