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Brendon jolts awake as the obvious sound of scared crying fills his ears. He makes a quick glance over to his now slightly coherent husband before throwing off the duvet and hurrying down the hall. He rushes into the dimly lit nursery and over to the crib, the small 15 month old crying in the corner. He gently picks her up and hugs her to his chest, swaying softly as she continues to wail.
He makes gentle shushing noises as he slowly advances to the white changing table across the room. Brendon sets her down softly on the plush mat and unwraps her tiny fingers from his shirt, resulting in more tears running down her chubby cheeks.
He continues to make soft shushing noises as he unzips her purple footie pajamas, “I know, Lettie. Daddy just needs to check your diaper, then you’ll have all the cuddles you need and then some.”
Brendon wiggles her small, kicking legs out of pajamas finally and manages to investigate his suspicion, and is greeted with a wet diaper. He quickly handles the situation and zips Scarlett back up before scrubbing his hands with baby wipes and hand sanitizer. He scoops the toddler up, who makes tiny fists in his soft t-shirt and buries her face in his chest, a clean diaper making no difference.
Brendon resumes trying to calm her as Ryan wanders into the nursery, a sippy cup of warm milk in his possession. He steps up behind his husband, placing a hand on his waist. The shorter jumps slightly before leaning back into the embrace and looks up.
“You didn’t have to get up, I got her,” Brendon says softly.
“I did. Not fair to let you deal with whatever has her all worked up all by yourself. Either we all three get sleep, or none of us do. Plus, I brought warm milk,” Ryan explains.
“That’s one hell, I mean, heck of a speech there, but we should try the milk now while it’s still warm,” the shorter replies before taking a seat in the rocking chair beside the window.
Ryan follows and watches as Brendon tries to position the toddler on his lap.
“Scarlett, lookie! Papa made you some milk, okay? Gotta be a big girl and drink up,” he says as he manages to get her to detach once more.
Ryan kneels down and shakes the sippy cup in front of her face, “Lettie, milk?”
She stares at him blankly with wet eyes. Tears begin to flow once more as he tries to have her hold the sippy cup. Ryan takes the sippy cup back and sets it on the floor as Brendon cuddles the toddler to his chest.
Ryan walks over to the white and cream dresser and retrieves a spotted light blue and white pacifier from a small pacifier rack. He kneels back down in front of his husband and tries to coax their daughter to take the silicone. She simply continues to cry, pushing the pacifier away with a fist.
“Do you think maybe she’s getting a new tooth? Could just be painful for her,” Ryan questions.
“I mean, have a look. Your hands are cleaner than mine,” Brendon replies, positioning Scarlett to face her other father.
Ryan leans forward and tries to get her mouth open, but Scarlett continues to cry and squirm. He manages to slip his finger into her mouth as she yawns, all the crying obviously wearing the little one out. He softly rubs his index finger over her gums, finding no evidence of a new milk tooth emerging. He wipes his wet finger on his pajama pants then uses his other hand to pet his little girls short, dark curls.
“Nope, no tooth. Still just the five.”
“I don’t know, then,” Brendon sighs.
“Your guess is as good as mine. Maybe she’s had a bad dream or something?”
Brendon shrug, “Maybe. Or like, a night terror or something. Just wish we could get her to stop crying. I hate hearing her so upset.”
“I know, babe. If we can’t calm her down, she’ll probably tire herself out soon,” Ryan says, placing his other hand on Brendon’s knee. He continues to run a hand through Lettie’s hair as he begins to hum softly.
Brendon listens to the soft melody before joining in, singing “Here Comes the Sun” slightly above a whisper. Ryan joins in with the lyrics, maintaining the same volume and watches as Scarlett begin to sniffle, her weeping starting to subside. He smiles up at Brendon, letting him know it’s working.
They continue the gentle rendition of the song and end as Ryan wipes away the last few tears on Scarlett’s face.
“There,” Ryan says, the inflection he uses to talk to the toddler returning. “No more crying if you can help it. Makes Daddy and me so sad to see you sad. Yes it does.”
“Should probably try to get her back to bed, right?” Brendon says, smiling at Ryan.
“Probably for the best,” Ryan responds and stands.
Brendon stands and positions Scarlett on his hip. He walks over to the crib and lifts her over the railing. Almost instantly, screams erupt from the small toddler. Brendon quickly holds her close.
“Okay, okay, I’m sorry, baby. Daddy’s sorry,” he says, pressing soft kisses to the crown of her head.
Brendon looks up at his husband with pleading eyes, “Can she sleep in our room?”
“Bren,” Ryan sighs. “I don’t know if that’s the best idea. I mean her bassinet isn’t set up anymore, but I can go put her playpen in there, I guess.”
“I mean, you could. Kinda doubt she’ll let us put her down, though. Could we maybe just try putting her in between us? If that’s worrying, I’ll stay up and make sure nothing happens. You need to get back to sleep, you have that production meeting in the morning. Can’t have you sleeping on the mixing board.”
“I’m in no rush back to bed until we get her settled. But,I mean, yeah the whole co-sleep thing freaks me out still. Like, what if one of us roll on her or something?” Ryan explains.
“Good thing neither of us are sleep rollers,” Brendon tries to reassure him. “Remember how the only real way we could get her to nap a few months back was to hold her or have her on one of our chests? She survived that. Just for tonight, plus I’m so confident nothing will happen. Worse case scenario, she wakes up before either of us and falls off the bed. No squishing.”
“Fine, fine, we can try it,” Ryan decides. He walks over to the crib and grabs the thin receiving blanket and a soft, purple bunny rabbit. He turns around and is met with a peck on the lips and Brendon smiling softly as Scarlett sits up a little in his arms.
Brendon leads the way down the hall and back to the master bedroom. He sits on his side of the bed, legs crossed with Scarlett situated on top. Ryan puts the blanket and stuffed toy down before taking off the duvet and placing it on the chair across the room then adjusts the flat sheet and climbs in bed.
Brendon lays Scarlett between them, who begins fussing almost immediately. He quickly lays down and cuddles her to his chest.
“We’re here, Sweetie. Daddy and Papa are right here,” he says in a soothing tone.
Ryan moves closer and drapes the flat sheet over them before carefully joining the cuddle session, “Go night night, Scarlett.”
The toddler yawns and closes her dark blue eyes, cuddling closer into her father’s chest. Brendon makes sure his shirt isn’t covering her nose or mouth, then looks over at Ryan.
“Finally,” he says in relief.
“I know,” Ryan responds. “Major crisis evaded this time.”
“If we’re like this when she cries a bit longer than normal, I can only imagine what will happen if she gets sick,” Brendon jokes.
“We’ll just do the best we can,” Ryan replies seriously. “Pamper to her every need and lots of cuddles, even if she is contagious.”
“You’re a sap,” the younger smiles.
“You love it,” Ryan says, pecking Brendon’s cheek, then the top of Scarlett’s head.
“I do, but I’d love some sleep even more, so goodnight, Ry,” he counters. He looks down and mumbles a soft goodnight to their daughter as well. “ I love you both.”
“Goodnight, Brendon, goodnight Lettie, I love you both, too,” Ryan replies and closes his eyes.
Brendon is woken by a smack to the face and babbling, He opens his eyes and is face to face with Scarlett, the room still dark and Ryan still asleep.
He sits up and rubs his eyes, Scarlett sat beside him, continuing to babble nonsense, a few da and pa sounds mixed in. Brendon looks over at her, then turns on the bedside lamp.
“Scarlett, it’s still night night. Lay down, please,” he says in a semi stern voice, which for him, really isn’t stern at all.
She simply blinks up at him before standing on wobbly legs and bouncing. He grabs her under the arms and sits her back down.
“We don’t bounce on the bed. Lay down, please,” he says and gently pushes her back.
Scarlett looks up at her father with a blank stare before trying to regain a standing position. Brendon picks her up and lays her on his chest, arms wrapped loosely around her tiny torso.
"Scarlett Grace, Daddy said it's time to go night night. Please go to sleep," Brendon says to the toddler.
Scarlett wiggles her small body, trying to escape the cuddling, exclaims of "Da" in protest making it very clear. Brendon lets his arms go limp so his little girl can free herself. She rolls off of him and back between both of her dads before crawling the short distance to Ryan. She makes her way onto his chest and splays herself out in a starfish like way and tries to get his attention with repeated smacks to the face.
Brendon considers letting his husband sleep knowing full well the importance of the meeting he is to attend in the morning, but before he can stop Scarlett, Ryan is once again awake.
Ryan wraps gentle arms around Scarlett and gives a sleepy smile, "Why are you awake, baby girl, huh?"
Scarlett kicks her legs in excitement as she realizes her Papa is now awake. Ryan chuckles softly and looks over to his husband, "She wake you up, too?"
Brendon nods with a smile, "Yup, same way, too. We really need to work on teaching no hitting, I guess."
"Yeah, probably," the older replies, voice groggy. He shifts his attention back to their daughter.
"Let's go back to sleep, Lettie," Ryan says firmly. He searches the bed for the light blanket from earlier, his free hand grasping it and laying over Scarlett. Ryan moves closer to the middle of the bed as Brendon turns the lamp off and lays beside him.
"Ep," Scarlett says as she attempts to sit up.
"Yes, baby," Brendon says, snuggling next to his husband, a hand on Scarlett's back. "Time to sleep."
Lettie blinks at Brendon before lowering her head back to Ryan's chest and letting out a soft yawn.
Ryan carefully leans down and pecks Brendon's forehead, then receives a peck on the chin in return. They lay together quietly, forcing drooling eyelids to stay open, until soft, even breaths of sleep can be heard from their daughter.