Disclaimer: All stories are individuals of themselves and are unrelated to each other.
It's not too audible; the first word of their child, but it's clear in Madge's mind. "Dada," their daughter Pax coos as she reaches for Gale. "Dadadadada," she keeps going on.
Gale laughs, like all fathers would, and snuggles their brown-haired beauty in his arms.
She's precious, Pax. The most gorgeous head of hair, curly and tumbling down her shoulders already. Tiny. Just as pale as Madge. But Madge clearly isn't the favorite of the two parents.
After they ease their daughter into her crib Madge busies herself with cleaning the dishes. Why couldn't her first word have been Mama? All Madge has ever wanted was children that she could smother with love, children that would love her right back.
"Madge," Gale calls for her, a twinge of frustration to his voice. He knows she cleans when she's upset. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing," the blonde huffs, scraping away at a pan. "I just need to get this cleaned."
His hands slip around her waist and he rests his chin on her shoulder. "You're awful at lying to me, you know."
"I know," she grumbles. The pan slips into the sudsy water of the sink and she sighs. "What's wrong with me?" she asks him quietly. "I spend the whole day with her. Playing and changing her diapers and feeding her and…" Madge trails off, turning to face him instead of the sink.
"You're mad that…" Gale smirks, tightening his grip on her. "You're mad that Pax's first word was Dada?"
"I should've expected it," she mutters. "I mean I'm a terrible mother. I don't know how to be a parent! Mine were never around! You had to take care of your siblings you're such a natural and—"
Gale quiets her quickly, pressing his lips against hers in a gentle fashion. She eases backwards against the countertop as he leans over her. "I never knew you were the jealous type," he whispers against her. Madge makes some sort of noise of protest but Gale only snickers, pinning her further. "You're being insane."
"Am not," Madge frowns.
"You are. Pax absolutely adores you, Madge."
"But prefers you."
"Only because you're being jealous about it," he says back, teasing in his voice. She goes to be snippy at him but he slides his fingers around her wrists. "It's just a bunch of babble. There's absolutely no meaning to anything she says now. You know that."
Madge sighs. "Maybe." Gale bends down to kiss her again but is interrupted by a crying from the baby's room. They both turn, Madge instantly on her way to get Pax when she realizes she'll probably want Gale.
Her husband sighs, grabbing her waist and pulling her along with him. He releases his grip when they reach her door, Gale rushes in and lifts Pax from her crib, cradling her in his arms while Madge watches from the doorway.
Still, despite Gale's attempts to calm the infant, she fusses and tries shoving him away. He growls, clearly tired from the day. "Well then what do you want?" he asks his daughter, fully knowing she has no comprehension skills whatsoever.
But amazingly, she turns toward Madge and stretched out her arms. "Mama!" she cries. "Mamama!"
Madge blinks a few times, absorbing the image of her irritated yet still amused husband and her wiggling child. She rushes forward and pulls Pax into her arms. Her daughter instantly stops grumbling and rests her head on Madge's chest, quickly falling back into a peaceful sleep.
Gale laughs from where he stands and kisses Madge on the cheek as he passes her. "Just babble," he reminds her with a wink.