Skyfall
Chapter Two
"Thank you so much!" Rachel gushed over her as Mike ushered her towards the door. "You have no idea how much I have been looking forward to this! I haven't gotten out of the house much lately and you're being a lifesaver…"
"It's really not a problem." Rebecca smiled. "Now get out of here and go have some fun. I've got this taken care of."
"C'mon Rachel or we will miss our reservation." Mike chuckled.
"We won't be out too late." She assured her.
"Take your time." Rebecca told them. "Enjoy each other's company."
Once Mike and Rachel were out of the house, she went back to the living room. Harvey was sitting on the couch with Laura, who was so entranced by an episode of Sesame Street that it seemed she didn't care her parents were gone. In his arms was James. Mike had basically shoved James into Harvey's arms after finally getting the child away from Rachel so they could leave.
She leaned up against the door frame, watching the scene in front of her. She had to admit that seeing Harvey holding a baby was always a surreal moment. It didn't happen often, but when it did she soaked up the image in her mind. It made her wonder if they would ever have a child together. She still wanted children.
Sometimes she dreamed about having kids with him. They would get a bigger place and stop living in the penthouse. Their weekends would be filled with plenty of family time and laughter. But as the time went by that dream started to fade.
They hadn't talked about kids in over a year, save for the random comment here and there. At that time, Harvey said he just wasn't ready to change the dynamic they had in their relationship. That was a year ago though. She had to wonder if his stance had changed.
He certainly looked sexy holding a baby. Of course she thought he looked sexy all the time.
She didn't want to say she was amazed their relationship had lasted this long. But after everything they endured together before getting engaged, she had lingering doubts at first that they would even get married. Harvey did freak out a few times during their engagement, which was why she made him agree to stay engaged for a year.
She wanted to make sure that he had plenty of time to freak out and change his mind if he needed to before they got married because as far as she was concerned there was no option available for them to divorce. They were going to be together no matter what now.
His freak outs thankfully didn't have anything to do with the love he had for her. It was mostly about the institution of marriage itself and the actual ceremony. So it was easier for them to work through it.
James started to cry and Harvey started to panic. He looked over at her, silently asking for help. She took pity on him and walked over, taking James in her arms and shushing him quietly.
"What's wrong with him?" Harvey asked.
"He does this a lot." Laura told him, not looking away from the television. "It's soooooooooo annoying."
"Hey, you did that when you were a baby too." Harvey pointed out.
"No I didn't." Laura shot back immediately.
"You did too." Harvey chuckled.
"Did not!" Laura challenged, turning to look at him.
"Did too."
"Did not!"
"You want to help me out here?" Harvey asked, turning to look at her.
"Not really." She laughed. "I'm staying out of this because I know better than to get into this kind of argument with a toddler. That's a rookie move right there."
"Thanks for the help." He grumbled with a grin on his face. Then he turned his attention back to Laura, who was staring him down with her arms crossed over her chest. "Ok. Maybe you didn't cry exactly like James."
"That's what I thought." She laughed, turning back to Sesame Street.
Harvey got up and whispered into her ear. "When did she get so incredibly sassy?"
"She's just going through a phase."
"I thought they weren't supposed to be that sassy until they were teenagers." He laughed.
"She's just advanced for her age." She laughed and kissed him on the cheek.
"So what is wrong with James?"
"He isn't wet or stinky so it isn't a diaper change. He is rooting around with his mouth though so I bet he is hungry." She focused on James. "You're hungry little man, aren't you? Yes, I bet you are. Let's get you something to eat."
She went into the kitchen and took one of bottles of breast milk out of the refrigerator. She put it in the bottle warmer. While it was warming up, she looked down at James, who had stopped crying. He was now just making noises and staring at her face.
"You're a cutie, you know that?" She told the baby. "You have the cutest little hands. I could just eat you up." She smiled at him and let him grab onto her finger. After a few moments, the bottle warmer beeped and she took the bottle out.
"Would you like some dinner?" She asked before offering the bottle to him. "There you go." Once he started drinking, she brought him back out to the living room. "We need to get Laura to bed now."
"No!" Laura screamed, crossing her arms over her chest. "I don't want to!"
"If Aunt Becca says it is time for bed, then it's time for bed." Harvey spoke up.
"No it isn't." Laura challenged.
"I'm not getting into it with you like that again." He chuckled. "I learned my lesson the first time."
"It is your bedtime and you need to get some sleep." She pointed out.
"I don't wanna." Laura pouted.
"C'mon sweetie." She said in a calm voice. "How about Uncle Harvey puts you to bed and reads you that princess book you love so much?"
"Ok!" Laura instantly smiled. "Will you Uncle Harvey? Please? Please? Please? Please? Please?"
She made eye contact with Harvey and winked. "Yeah. Will you Uncle Harvey? Please?"
"How can I say no to that?" Harvey chuckled.
"You can't!" Laura told him with a huge smile on her face.
"Ok." Harvey nodded. "Let's go upstairs and read the princess book."
"Yay!" Laura jumped up off the couch and did a little victory dance.
"Goodnight Laura." She called after them.
"Goodnight Aunt Becca." Laura called back as she disappeared up the stairs.
"Looks like it's just you and me now." Rebecca said, looking back down at James as he ate.
It took Harvey way too long to get Laura to go to bed. He had to read the entire princess book twice before she finally closed her eyes and succumbed to sleep. The first time he read the book she interrupted him every five to ten seconds with questions about the princess and the story. He didn't know how to answer so he just started making stuff up. It seemed to make her happy.
He quietly snuck out of Laura's room and went to go find Rebecca. He heard some quiet singing and realized she was in James' nursery. He stood in the doorway, watching as she sang to him while he was in his crib. It took him a while to realize she was singing a very quiet version of Guns N' Roses' Welcome to the Jungle. He thought that was an odd choice, but it seemed to be working.
She was amazing with kids. It wasn't just Mike and Rachel's kids that she was good with either. She was wonderful with Marcus and Katie's children too. They loved their Aunt Becca probably more than they loved their Uncle Harvey.
She had the ability to talk to kids on their level without sounding condescending. He struggled with that sometimes and he was utterly helpless with babies. He tried, but there was no way for him to understand what a baby wanted. The different cries that corresponded with different needs was too much for him.
As he watched her put James to bed, he wondered about if they would ever have kids. He knew that she wanted to have kids. The last thing he ever wanted to do was prevent her from getting anything she wanted…but he wasn't sure he was ready for kids. He had to give her credit though. She had been patient with him, not hounding him about it. The last time they seriously talked about it was almost a year ago when Rachel got pregnant with James.
Her singing stopped and he saw her stand up. She turned around and smiled at him, motioning for him to leave so she could get out of the room too. They were quiet as they walked back downstairs.
"What's with the lullaby you chose?" He chuckled, watching as she blushed slightly.
"I panicked trying to think of a lullaby. I didn't want to do the same old boring ones everyone sings and it was the first song that came into my mind. I blame the jungle theme Rachel had painted on the walls." She chuckled.
"Well that definitely isn't a boring lullaby." He pointed out.
"How did it go with Laura?" She asked as they sat on the couch together.
"It took forever, but she finally went to sleep." He chuckled.
"Did you like the princess book?" She laughed.
"No." He shook his head. "But she did. I guess that's what matters. You're so good with them."
"Thanks." She smiled. "You're not so bad yourself."
"I'm not nearly as good at it as you are."
"Well you don't have as much practice as I do." She pointed out. "I'm over here a lot more than you are."
"That's true." He agreed.
"Maybe if you spent more time with them, you might feel more comfortable." She suggested.
"Maybe." He nodded before he leaned in and started to kiss her. As soon as he tried to move her so that he could lay on top of her on the couch, she pushed at his chest.
"We can't do that right now."
"Why not?" He asked. "They are asleep."
"But Laura could wake up and come down here. If that were to happen, I don't want to have to explain what she would see. And I definitely don't want to have to explain it to Rachel and Mike." She pointed out. "Sorry."
"It's ok." He nodded. "I guess you have a point."
"Are you happy?" She asked.
He looked at her strangely. It was a weird thing for her to ask out of the blue. "Why would you ask that?"
"I'm just curious." She shrugged. "Let's face it. We haven't exactly had a lot of quality time together lately to just sit and enjoy each other's company."
"Well we would if someone would stop courting new clients every week." He joked.
"Can I help it if I want to have the most clients out of everyone in the firm?" She laughed.
"You're turning into a workaholic." He warned.
"You're one to talk." She gently poked him in the stomach.
"I haven't been nearly as much of a workaholic lately as you." He pointed out. It was true. She was working a lot harder than he was, and if he wanted to be honest it had been that way for a while now. It wasn't uncommon for him to come home and leave her at the office, or for him to waste time in his office while she worked late so they could go home together.
"Ok." She playfully rolled her eyes at him. "You still didn't answer my question. Are you happy?'
"Of course I am." He told her. "Are you happy?"
She smiled and touched his cheek. "I am extremely happy. Marrying you was the best decision I've ever made."
"Asking you a second time was the best decision I've ever made."
"I would agree with that." She nodded, a smirk on her face. "Some of your decisions haven't been that good."
"Maybe in the past." He conceded. "But now I make great decisions."
"Except trying that new Thai place around the corner from home." She shivered and pretended to gag. "It was terrible."
"That wasn't entirely my fault though." He laughed. "It came highly recommended."
"No I guess it's not entirely your fault." She giggled. A moment later she snuggled up next to him, laying her head on his shoulder.
He tightened his grip around her body. Since they couldn't make out or have sex, he would settle for having her pressed up against him. Any kind of closeness to her was good enough at this point.
"So…do you want to take a look at their Netflix account and see what they have watched so you can make fun of Mike about it later on?"
He laughed. She knew him too well because he had wanted to do that ever since Mike and Rachel left. "Yeah. Then can we…"
"Find random and disturbing shows to watch so that it skews their recommendations to weird things?" She finished his question for him. "Absolutely! I already have a few ideas jotted down in my phone."
"Goddammit, I love you." He whispered, kissing the top of her head.
"I know." She chuckled.
A/N: Just a disclaimer...yes this story will be filled with drama and angst. There will be happy moments too though. I look forward to taking this journey into Harvey and Rebecca's lives with you!