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It’s dark when Armitage jerks awake in the middle of the night with this overwhelming sense of dread. A quick glance at the clock told him that he’d been asleep for over six hours. Considering he has a colicky baby, six hours of peace and quiet doesn’t happen unless something is wrong. A tiny little dread of fear squeezed his heart as he touched the little pillow nest beside him. He’d been feeding the baby when he laid his head down for just a little moment of reprieve.
This whole ‘parenting thing’ had been Ben’s idea. Armitage knew his husband would be a great father, but he wasn’t so sure about himself. After all, it took him nearly two years to admit he and Ben were more than just ‘fuck buddies’. A baby required constant reassurance and love, things that didn’t always come easy to Armitage Hux.
Of course, Ben thought that was ridiculous and somehow managed to convince Armitage that it wouldn’t be that bad. If he were honest, it really wasn’t that bad. They found a surrogate and supplied the medical facility with two sperm donations and waited to see which genes would prevail. Apparently, the powers-that-be thought it would be hilarious for their baby to have /blond/ hair. Not that the biological father really mattered because they both adored the child. This was their baby.
For the last few weeks, it had been a little bit of a learning curve for them. They’d gone to parenting classes, but nothing could really prepare them for those first few weeks with their baby. Armitage wasn’t confident in his abilities, but he was fine as long as Ben was close to him.
Which was all fine and dandy until his husband was called away on a mandatory business trip and Armitage found himself alone with their two-month-old. It had been a disaster the entire time. No amount of coddling or singing or bouncing would settle the baby down. Though, he’d never admit it, Armitage was sure there was one point when he’d cried right along with his child.
Still, the panic seemed to intensify as he realized the baby wasn’t in the little pillow nest at all. For one moment, he was even afraid maybe the baby had rolled off the bed or even underneath him. Horror stories of parents squishing their child came to mind as he bolted backwards, only to reveal nothing. His baby was just gone.
Armitage grabbed his phone up, ready to call the police, when he stepped into the hallway and heard the talking and soft cooing downstairs. He walked down slowly, as if to not disturb the occupants in the living room.
“And this right here,” Ben explained with a serious tone, “is your great-grandmother’s menorah. She brought it all the way with her to America when she was just a little girl. Probably a little bit bigger than you since you’re still far too tiny.” He rubbed the baby’s back as those bright eyes watched the flickering flame. “You’re supposed to light it a little after sunset, but Daddy was late so this will just have to do. Your grandma would have a fit if she knew I wasn’t teaching you some family history. So, you better not tell on me when we go see her this weekend or no car when you turn sixteen.”
He stood at the foot of the stairs and watched Ben with their baby. It was a very sweet sight, especially as the lowlight of the menorah illuminated their little living room. Neither of them were religious, whether it was his own Catholicism or Ben’s Jewish roots, but they always tried to celebrate Chanukah in some way.
“It looks like your Papa tried to put the tree up,” Ben cooed as he carried the baby across the room to where their tree was half-up and half-strewn across the floor, “but I’m guessing he was too tired to finish. Have you been keeping him up at all hours of the night? He tries so hard for us.”
Armitage watched as Ben pressed a kiss to the side of their baby’s head, shushing the little one as they made a few little unhappy huffs and whines.
“I know. I get upset when he works hard, too. I do,” Ben soothed as he shifted the baby to cradle in his arms to rock them a little. It wasn’t really working, though. Armitage could hear a tantrum coming and headed to the kitchen to make a bottle. One perfectly warmed bottle later, he stepped back into the living room to find Ben looking far too comfortable in the gilder. He glanced over with a soft grin, “hey you. I was wondering when you were going to come out of the shadows.”
Armitage scoffed as he handed over the bottle and dropped a kiss to the top of Ben’s wild hair. “I nearly called the cops on you. I thought you weren’t going to be home for three more days?”
It took a little coaxing to get the baby to eat, but soon enough their little belly would be full. Hopefully, full enough that they would drop right back into sleep. Ben seemed far too ‘at-home’ with a baby in his arms and it just made Armitage’s heart swell with love once more.
“I sealed the deal ahead of schedule,” Ben explained as he rocked slowly, “it helped that the client had a newborn baby at home, too. I may have used ‘little bit’ here as a pawn in my journey for corporate domination.”
He rolled his eyes as his fingers soothed over an unruly cowlick that refused to stay down on their baby’s head. “You’re ridiculous, but I’m so glad you’re home. Everything fell to pieces.”
“Doesn’t look that way to me,” Ben pointed out before wrinkling his nose, “well, the tree needs a little help.” Armitage smacked him lightly on the shoulder and huffed as the man continued to chuckle despite the death glare he was receiving. “I’m teasing. No, you did good. Everyone is alive, healthy, and happy. You did a good job, baby, just like I told you.”
He would always deny the blush that popped up over his face whenever Ben said ridiculously sweet things, but there was no denying just how smitten he was with the man. Ben grabbed his wrist to gently press a kiss to his knuckles. “Go back to sleep, okay? I’ve got it down here.”
As much as he wanted to curl back in bed, Armitage wouldn’t trade this moment for all the sleep in the entire world, so he stayed there. Curled up in the glider with a soft little grin on his face and Ben’s arm around his waist.