Nighttime Cuddles

One week had passed since Grace's birth, and Neil didn't know which was worse—being away from his daughter all day and part of the night because of his job, or having to work with some recently hired nobody while his wife was on maternity leave. When he wasn't mentally counting up all the reasons why his temporary partner paled in comparison to Eva (the kid wasn't as smart as Eva, as witty as Eva, as fun to banter with as Eva...), he was worrying about how Grace was doing. Did she look healthy? Was her temperature normal? Was she in any pain? So far, there was nothing out of the ordinary as far as Grace's health was concerned, but even so, Neil always felt better when he could see for himself that she was okay.

It was shortly after eleven P.M. when Neil made it home. He strode into the house without even bothering to take off his lab coat and found his family in his and Eva's room, Grace sleeping in her bassinet and Eva lying in bed, half-asleep herself. Neil took a moment to gaze down at his daughter and gently stroke her jet black hair before going to his side of the bed, taking off his shoes and lying down.

"Hey there," he whispered to Eva, pulling her close to him and giving her a quick kiss.

"Why're you still dressed?" she asked softly after they broke apart.

"Lovely to see you, too, dear." Neil let out a quiet snort. "I'll get into my PJs as soon as my limbs decide to work again."

Eva hummed. "Figured you'd say something like that."

"I could've said something else, but I've come to appreciate kid-friendliness these days. And speaking of kids, how was Grace?"

"Normal. She cried when she was hungry or needed changing, and slept every hour or so. How was work?"

"Brain-numbingly boring without you there."

It was Eva's turn to snort. "Aiden can't be that bad of a partner."

"Aiden isn't you, Eva," Neil said. "Of course he's that bad. He doesn't even look old enough to order beer."

"So you've said."

"All I'm saying is that the higher-ups ought to check if new recruits have real IDs."

Eva hummed again, then spoke after a moment of silence. "I miss you, too, you know. The house gets really quiet without you."

"Grace makes plenty of noise herself," Neil pointed out.

"Sure, when she's awake," Eva reminded him, "but even when—"

She never got to finish; from both the bassinet and the baby monitor on the night table (three months ago, Neil didn't understand why Eva would want a baby monitor if the baby was going to be sleeping in their room for a long while—now he did), Grace started wailing.

"I'll get her," Neil said quickly as Eva sat up. He got up from bed and hurried to the bassinet, gathering the baby in his arms.

"Is she wet?" Eva asked while Grace continued crying.

Neil checked. "No. You think she's hungry?"

"I breastfed her fifteen minutes before you came home, but..." Eva's voice trailed off as she watched Grace being rocked and patted by Neil; by now, the baby's wails were diminishing to whimpers. "No, she's not. She's not rooting or sucking her fingers."

"Maybe she just wants attention. That it, princess?" Neil lifted Grace to his shoulder and rubbed her back, his voice becoming soft. "You just want a cuddle? Don't worry, Daddy can do that. Daddy's got ya."

Soon enough, Grace stopped whimpering and relaxed in Neil's embrace. He held her for a little while longer before reluctantly returning the now sleeping baby to her bassinet.

When he returned his attention to Eva, he found that she was lying back down, her face in her pillow and her shoulders shaking. He went back to bed, calling her name, and she rolled around to face him, her cheeks wet with tears.

"I think I need a cuddle now," she choked out, pulling him into a hug and burying her face into his neck. Her breath came out in gasps. "Cucumbers, just seeing you with her, holding her..."

"Does something to your hormones, huh?" Neil said, wrapping his arms around her.

Eva sniffled. "Don't take it too personally. This afternoon, I cried over a flowers commercial."

"That must've been one heck of a commercial."

She sniffled again, and they stayed in each other's arms, the only sounds in the room being Eva's stifled, hormone-induced sobs and Grace's breathing. It was a few moments before Eva calmed down and the two could get ready to sneak in some sleep.