Title: #50. Willingly exhibit unto them due honour

Pairing/Character/s: Yuki/Machi, their daughter

Word Count: 605 words

Summary: Yuki tells Machi that she is beautiful, and she finally believes him.

A/N: It isn't reccomended for parents and infants to sleep in the same bed because the child can be squished if the parent rolls over, or could fall out of the bed.

"You look beautiful."

He tells her that sometimes.

She tells him he acts too much like a prince for his own good.

It's not unnecessary flattery. Her beauty is something she can't see for herself.

So he tells her. He thinks of it almost like a hobby.

Even when her face lights up with a mother's glow, she doesn't believe him. "It's sweat," she muttered, turning away with a blush. Her arms rock her baby faster, as she hums the Mogeta theme song.

"You look even more beautiful," he chuckles, joining in with a faltering hum.

And they are a family.

Times passes, the subject is dropped. Now it's just before noon as Yuki waves good-bye to his baby daughter, who giggles like an adoring fangirl. Even his daughter is not immune to Yuki's princely charm. Machi makes a sound of recognition, too preoccupied with cleaning spilled milk on the hallway floor.

"Alright," Machi grunts, rising from her kneeling position. The milk is all cleaned up and she suddenly realizes she forgot to tell Yuki to buy more paper towels.

She is distracted by a babble of delight; her daughter. The mother in her focuses on the six month old baby, cooing at the other end of the hallway. Tiny fingers are busy playing with a rubber ball colored in splotches of rainbow. Suddenly the ball is dropped and huge gray eyes are closed in a yawn.

Machi smiles, picking up her child with practiced ease. The baby yawns again, clinging to the familiar shoulder of her mother. To their right are stairs leading up to bedrooms. The pair go into the nursery, painted a warm yellow.

Machi lays her baby down on a spare mattress without a bed stand and curls up next to the tired infant. "Once you fall asleep, you're going in the crib like the doctor says," she says firmly, handing her daughter a life size girl Mogeta with red ribbons on its ears.

The baby smiles, burying her face in girl Mogeta's soft white chest. Machi pretends to sleep, closing her eyes half-way and not moving. After some fussing, Machi sees that her daughter has really fallen asleep. Then she succumbs to the tempting drowsiness, sinking into darkness.

The last thing she remembers is dismay that the crib wasn't used yet again.

Yuki returns home from the supermarket laden with groceries. The house is strangely silent. He calls out uncertainly, but no one answers. He searches every room, finally arriving at the nursery.

What he sees on the spare mattress is so heartwarming that he runs through the house (Silently, of course.) looking for the camera. Yuki only finds an old digital camera but it's enough for him.

The picture is fuzzy, taken by the timer because he wanted to lie down next to his new family and sleep. In the picture, Machi is asleep on her side, one hand cradling a pillow around her head and the other outstretched in tentative warmth. Her baby is asleep in the same way, without a pillow and a tiny, chubby hand on top of her mother's hand. Girl Mogeta is tossed to the bottom of the picture face down in the crumpled white bed sheets. Yuki takes up the precious tiny space left on the mattress. He sleeps on his back, his left arm reaching towards the two girls. The rest of his body can't fit on the mattress, and lies on the floor.

This picture is the one in his wallet, the one he shows when he brags that his wife and daughter are beautiful.

And for once, Machi doesn't argue.

A/N: Sorry for the long wait. I'm finally back with a drabble a day to make up for it! How many weeks did I go missing, anyway? Yikes, this sounds hard...