February 20, 2023 (Monday)

It was the second night the new Evans family had been home. The previous night, Sam and Mercedes learned how much easier it would be to have their babies sleeping in the same room as them. So that afternoon, Sam brought their cherry wood cribs into their bedroom, pushed one up to each side of their bed and removed one of the sides from each one, converting them into co-sleepers. That night, Dante slept beside him while Ariesa rested near Mercedes. Already, both babies had begun to take on a light, caramel-colored complexion and despite being fraternal, they shared a lot of similar features. Both had a silky, straight crop of honey-brown hair and chubby cheeks with Mercedes' button nose and Sam's noticeably larger upper lip. Neither babe had kept their eyes open for very long yet, but the glimpses that Sam and Mercedes got indicated that they had inherited a blend of their Momma's dark eyes and their Daddy's bright green hues.

In the middle of the night, Ariesa woke up, garbling coos that soon escalated to whines. Already, Mercedes' motherly instincts were starting to outdo her heavy sleeping habits, and she cracked her eyes open and began to slowly sit up—the soreness in her stomach causing her to softly wince—to tend to her daughter.

"I got her, baby," she heard Sam hoarsely say, and before she could protest, the shift in weight on the mattress told her he was already up. He soon appeared at her side of the bed, slid his hands underneath the backside of Ariesa's lime, cotton onesie and lifted her out of the crib to cradle her close to his warm chest. "Hey pretty girl," Sam whispered as he started to walk around the bedroom. His eyes stared down at Ariesa, who was still fussing, and he asked her, "Are you hungry, Princess A?"

She continued to coo in his arms, even after he'd bent to kiss her tiny button nose.

"Don't forget her blanket, Sam," Mercedes reminded him, mumbling sleepily into her pillow.

He made his way back over to Ariesa's crib and plucked a purple fleece blanket out to wrap her body in. Already, she'd begun to calm on her crying but soon, Dante had begun to stir from his sleep. Sam hadn't been the only one to hear it though; Mercedes let out a sleepy groan but kindly said, "Okaaay you two—you win. Momma and Daddy are up."

She sat up and made long scoots to Sam's side of the bed to get Dante. His tiny newborn hands tried pushing his white blanket from restricting his movements, but it hardly worked. Mercedes loosened the swaddle for him however, once she'd lifted him out of the crib. "Shhhh," Mercedes softly said. "Momma's got you, Dante."

"I'll go get the pillow from the nursery," Sam told her as he wandered towards the door with Ariesa. He crossed the hall to their former guest room—now converted into the twins' nursery. Sam had painted the walls a dark purple that gradually faded into a soft lavender. Stars and a few constellations were littered across all four walls with a few planets to join. He'd painted a rocket ship on one of the planets, with two astronauts floating nearby—one for Dante and one for Ariesa. After crossing the room to the far corner where the glider stood, he grabbed the nursing pillow and carried it and his daughter back to the bedroom.

By the time he had come back to the room, he'd seen that Mercedes had already begin nursing Dante; Sam helped adjust the pillow around her with one hand and then carefully lay Ariesa beside her so she could feed them both at once. It was moments like these where he felt really useless. He knew there wasn't really a way for him to help feed their kids unless they were being bottle-fed, but Mercedes had been more insistent on breastfeeding than bottle feeding. He was too awake now to simply go back to sleep, so he sat on the edge of the bed and watched his two kids.

At one point, his eye caught Mercedes staring oddly at him. "Do you have to stare?"

He grimaced, "It's not like I've never seen your boobs before, Benz."

"I know that," she replied flatly. "It's just weird, I guess. Like you're studying them as if you're gonna be next."

Sam tried not to laugh at that but he did it anyway. She shook her head at him.

"Why don't you play them a song, Honey?" she suggested. "You haven't done that for them since they've been born."

Sam perked up, wondering why he hadn't thought of that himself. "Alright, I'll be right back."

She smirked and shook her head slowly at him, but soon returned her attention back to her nursing children. Ariesa suckled with her eyes closed while Dante stared up at her with drooping lids. Her lips grew to a smile, "Tryin' to be just like your daddy huh? Don't wanna miss a thing."

As Sam returned with his Starcaster, Mercedes quietly asked, "What are you gonna play?"

He opened his mouth to answer, while slipped the strap over his bare shoulder, but he closed it with a smile. "You'll know it when you hear it."

She cocked a curious but amused brow but waited and listened as he began plucking a few repetitive notes. When the melody changed slightly, Mercedes' smile softened with her recognition and she soon found herself softly singing along.

"Whenever I'm alone with you, you make me feel like I am home again. Whenever I'm alone with you, you make me feel like I am whole again…"

Sam strummed on and watched Mercedes' lips form a grin. It was her favorite of the many songs Adele had covered. In fact most of the British singer's early covers were favorite songs of Mercedes'. His gaze would shift on occasion from what his fingers were doing, to what Mercedes' facial expressions read, to how receptive the twins were to it.

"Whenever I'm alone with you, you make me feel like I am young again. Whenever I'm alone with you, you make me feel like I am fun again…However far awayyy, I will always love you. However long I stayyy, I will always love you. Whatever words I say, I will always love you. I will always love you…"

During the lyrical break, as both babes had stopped eating, Mercedes carefully picked up Dante to burp him first. Her hand rubbed light circles along his back as she softly sang on.

"Whenever I'm alone with you…you make me feel like I am free again. Whenever I'm alone with you…you make me feel like I am clean again. However far away, I will always love you. However long I stay, I will always love you. Whatever words I say, I will always love you. I will always love you…"

She got one audible burp from him which made her smile while she sang.

"However far away, I will always love you. However long I stayyy, I will always love you. Whatever words I say, I will always love you…I'll always love you. I'll always love you, 'cause I love, yes I do—I'll always love…"

Sam played his guitar a bit longer—repeating some of the acoustic melody to "Lovesong" as Mercedes carefully pried Dante from her chest. She held him out in front of her, just in time to watch his eyes flutter shut. His plump, dark lips puckered and twitched as though he were still eating; Mercedes tucked her own lips in to keep from laughing too loudly at the sight. After lifting him close enough for her to press the lightest of kisses to his cheek, she placed him in the crib where Ariesa had previously been and then picked up the little girl to burp her as well.

"I can burp her if you want," offered Sam, who had brought his guitar-playing to a conclusion or the time being.

"If you want o," replied Mercedes.

"I do."

She smiled at him and let him come take Ariesa from her. After moving the pillow from her lap, she slipped back under the covers and watched Sam hold Ariesa gently yet securely to his chest. She had never seen him hold anything as carefully as he held their children; it was both comforting and endearing for Mercedes to witness. She lay back down, finding herself falling back asleep faster than expected, but her eyes stayed on Sam and Ariesa for as long as possible. It had become one of her favorite things to do—watch him hold their kids and be affectionate to them. His love for their kids was so overwhelming that she could almost touch it sometimes. And in the short number of days that they had been parents, she could already tell that he was the best father.

"I love you, Evans" Mercedes said in a sleepy and decided tone.

Sam's lips had just finished kissing the top of their daughter's head when he looked to her. The corners of his mouth quirked up into a smile. He didn't know what provoked her to tell him that right then and there but there wouldn't be a time in their lives where he wouldn't want to hear it—that much was very clear to him. As her eyes shut, he murmured back, "I love you too, Benz."

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*Song lyrics are from The Cure's "Lovesong", which was covered by Adele on her album, 21.