Prompt: Sasha at about one or two months old
Sasha's crib was bolted to the floor, cushioned on all sides, and had specially made gravitational fields to ensure that no amount of force hitting the ship would bother her. She could still move freely as she pleased, able to reach up for the glittering starry mobile a few of the men had chipped in to buy her.
Marina had stationed the crib in the safest center point of the ship, even though they'd yet to run into an incident that caused more than a scratch to the Karyƫ's hull. Better safe than sorry, of course.
Every night when Zero put Sasha to bed, he would hang over the crib upwards of half an hour, letting her fall asleep with his finger clutched in her hand. It wasn't until he wasn't available that Marina learned how necessary the ritual was. Each time she tried to leave the room or even stepped foot away from the crib, Sasha would begin to scream in upset. It left Marina so irritable and exhausted that she grumbled quiet threats down at her daughter until she was absolutely positive that the girl was asleep.
As soon as the door to the nursery slid open, Sasha broke into another cry, and Marina just couldn't take it anymore. "Fine," she groaned. "But when Dr. Machine gets upset, I'm not taking the fall for it." Of course blaming a baby was stupid, but she went ahead and scooped Sasha up, immediately quelling the noise. Half crazed from exhaustion, she stalked down the hall to the infirmary.
The room was dimmed, but gentle yellow lights allowed enough visibility to see the half-dozen men resting inside. "Captain, wake up," she hissed as she neared his bed.
He had a bad habit of forgetting his role as a Captain, running into fights that were the responsibility of those under him. At least Marina thought so, and the stitches and bandages holding his shoulder together seemed proof enough of that. Despite how long he'd been asleep, he was still exhausted from the drugs keeping his pain away. His eyelids peeled up against a weight holding them down, but he smiled when he saw his girls.
"What's the matter?" His voice was soft and somewhat slurred like after a few too many good drinks.
"She won't let me go to sleep," Marina said as she held out Sasha for Zero to take. "You're going to have to do something, or I will lose it."
"Aw, I'm sure she didn't mean it." With his right shoulder wrecked, Zero shifted Sasha into the crook of his left arm, while she reached up to him and cooed softly. "Maybe she just missed me."
"Because you spoil her rotten," Marina said. "I should have just let her cry herself out. You're not going to be able to hold her like that all night."
"I'm not?" He leaned his face in closer to Sasha so she could clamp a hand down on his nose. "I wouldn't drop her. I can barely move as things are really."
"You can't say that for sure. What happens if we're suddenly attacked?" It was incredibly unlikely while they were in allied space, but Marina would take no chances.
"You don't have to worry. I've got her."
He sounded so sure of himself that Marina hesitated. She didn't have many options if she wanted to get to sleep, and it was clear enough from the look in Zero's eyes that he would never let harm come to his daughter. But Marina sighed, shaking her head. "No-no, this isn't going to work."
Zero's expression fell as Sasha was stolen from his grasp. "Ah, but I've got her, really," he pleaded.
"Hush, you'll wake the other men." And they were never going to let her live this down. Seating herself on the bed, she squirmed into the gap Sasha had been in until Zero finally understood what was going on and put his arm around her. "They're going to make fun of us so much for this," she hissed.
"Hm?" Zero frowned, resting his cheek comfortably against her hair.
"When the men see us like this, they'll think it's hilarious. This is why you're not supposed to get hurt." Content in her arms, Sasha began to fall asleep again, and Marina could only resign to her inevitable embarrassment.
"I kind of stopped caring about them making fun of me a while back," Zero said through a yawn. "They're probably just jealous, because most of them are single." He half-snorted at his own joke, starting to relax back into sleep.
Marina sighed again, not exactly consoled. "We really need to start working on letting Sasha fall asleep on her own, or I'm going to go crazy."
Zero was thankfully asleep enough not to say aloud that she was already crazy. Instead, he answered with a breathed "mm-hm."
Marina tried her best to stay angry with the little bundle in her arms, but her daughter's rosy cheeks framed by wisps of hair were unfairly cute. And Zero was so comfortable to lie against, especially considering how warm he was without a shirt. She would deal with whatever ramifications her actions created in the morning. At the very least, she could sleep until then, and whoever felt like making fun of her for that would be assigned to watch Sasha the next night.
