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The strangest things always seem to happen when I'm around, or in the general vicinity, this day seemed to be no different to any other day here in Section 8 until it was thrown upside down and I was left holding the bag.
In this case I was left holding the baby.
I was on my scheduled exercise hour I was allowed when I heard what could only be described as the sad wails of a young boy, I turned to my 3 armed guards “Is that a baby crying?” I asked getting no response from any of them and I sighed dramatically at the 3 men's silence. It was at this stage a woman wandered out from behind one of the buildings, a baby boy in her arms, screaming his head off and it sounded like he had been crying for a while. All of a sudden she looks in my direction, eyes wide, sweat running down her forehead, she rushes over to me and hands me the crying boy. Now in my arms the child screams even louder causing everyone but me to cover their ears, the woman threw her hands up in the air in exasperation “I can't deal with this!” she declared and took off, the child still crying and me still baffled.
My first duty was to attempt to settle this baby, I set him over my shoulder carefully, gently rocking us both from side to side as I rubbed his back and whispered sweet words to him. “Your hour is almost up Storm” one of my guards said as I turned to him with a glare. The baby had started to calm down, letting out a large burp as we continued to take a leisurely stroll around the grounds of Requiem's Headquarters. Didn't take long for the boy to fall asleep on my shoulder, his crying having ceased completely after we started walking and I smiled to myself, clearly the stupid woman hadn't know a thing about how to burp a baby after feeding him.
Meanwhile, unbeknownst to me, the Director of Requiem had just finished up an important meeting with senior staff concerning the status of Sam's powers and my own ones. He had expected to see his little boy a afterwards, yet, after about half an hour she still had not shown and his boy was clearly missing. As any father would, he panicked a little, grabbing his coat, he set off in search of his son, charging down the halls of the main building he went outside, walking around the grounds he saw our group walking towards him, the sounds of voices arguing reached his ears and he walked over. I caught sight of him as I was about to answer the guard back who said we were 20 mins over time and we had no time for this child. “Vhat did you say soldier?” The Director asked with an annoyed tone turning to look at me, I figured I was in deep shit for being over time. “Nothing sir, she's over time sir” he stated standing up straight, The Director then turned to look at the sleeping baby in my arms and smiled warmly at him.
I realized in that moment whose child I was holding
“Zhis one comes vith me” he said referring to me, I nodded, following behind him, still holding his sleeping boy, “Clearly I hired Zhe wrong baby sitter” I hummed in agreement, the three of us reaching his office where a crib was set up in the corner of the large room, the baby took this moment to wake up, putting his head up and rubbing his little blue eyes. His father noticed this, taking the moment to lift him into his arms gently, holding him close and kissing his forehead lovingly. I stood there waiting to be dismissed as the little boy turned to look at me, he then started crying again, surprising his father, he looked at me with a frown as the boy then stuck out his arms and started to reach for me.
Well shit, my heart just melted into a puddle
“It vould seem zhat he vants to cuddle vith you” the Director said holding the boy out for me to take, which I gladly did with a smile, the little one stopped sobbing instantly and cuddled into my neck. I blushed slightly as the Director smiled at me, gesturing for me to take a seat in his office chair as his son fell asleep on me again, feeling comfortable enough to do so and I whispered a thanks to him.
“Edward”
“Huh?”
“Call me Edward, Angel its quite alright” he told me with a friendly smile and I returned the gesture. I was subconsciously rubbing the little boys back for comfort as Edward and I talked for a little while before he had to go back to his work schedule. Leaving me and his son to have well deserved nap, the little one holding onto my clothing and not letting me go anytime soon. It seemed from that moment on Edward's son would be left with me whenever his father couldn't watch him or if he was working and that was fine with me, we developed a little bond, that baby boy had me wrapped around his little finger.
Little did I know that I had captured the affections of his father
Edward had allowed me complete freedom, I no longer was confined to Section 8, I no longer needed guards to keep me in line, they were now there to protect me and his son when we would take walks among nature. It was these little moments where both of us could relax, I didn’t have to worry about anything to do the Dark Aether, my main focus was the little boy relaxing in my arms and watching the little birds jump around on the grass. We sat in peaceful silence, little Hans started to doze off, resting his little head on my shoulder and I took that as a good queue to wander back to Edward's office to put Hans down for a nap. Edward himself was stuck in a meeting, a meeting about the aftermath of Operation First Domino, I had a sinking feeling that I would not be seeing Samantha Maxis again and it pained me to think that she gave the ultimate sacrifice. She would always be a dear friend to me, I will never forget her, she is a hero and her loss will be felt for a long while, she helped and befriended allot of us.
Edward dismissed the senior staff, letting them get some rest and he remained behind to do some well needed decision making. Considering how everything had come into place, Edward believed that he had to take a shot, he was going to express how he felt and he had to say something before it was too late. I must've zoned out in my internalized thinking, Hans was sound asleep in his crib as I sat next to him in a semi comfortable chair and my eyes didn't wish to stay open. Edward returned about an hour later to find us both fast asleep side by side, the man carefully placed his coat on his desk, moving over to me with a smile, he picked me up out of the chair and placed me into the bed he had set up not far from his son's crib. Taking off his tie, Edward took another glance at the two sleeping human's and decided that a nap would do him some good too, he was exhausted. Edward laid down beside me in the small bed, timidly wrapping his arm around my waist as I subconsciously snuggled into his warm embrace causing the man to blush slightly, he relaxed a little, getting comfortable in the bed and allowing sleep to take him.
I woke the next morning, quite aware of the presence in the bed next to me, I rolled over to see his handsome sleeping face and smiled tiredly. He must have been awake or even a little bit aware because he laughed softly, pulling me closer to him and I instinctively placed my hand on his chest and cuddled into his neck. “Guten Morgen mein Engel” he whispered, kissing my forehead. “Guten Morgen mein Edward, sleep well?” I asked him as he hummed in response. “I zhink, now, is a gut time to admit some zhings” he said suddenly, I pulled back a little to look at him as he smiled, “Ich liebe dich” my eyes widened at this admission from him, I smiled at him and kissed him on the nose.
“Ich liebe dich mein Edward”
We cuddled for a while, that was until I heard movement from the crib, rolling over towards the sounds of moving blankets I sighted a little boy holding onto the side of his cot, black hair sticking up in all directions and a tired yet happy smile on his face the moment he knew we were awake. Edward rose from the bed, moving over to his son, he picked the boy up, bringing him back to the warm bed and placing him between us both. The boy's first destination upon reaching the bed was to crawl towards me, I positioned myself so that little Hans could cuddle up into me and his father without being swallowed by the bed covers. Edward glanced at me with a tired loving smile, I grinned back at him as he leaned in for a quick kiss, he then kissed little Hans on his forehead and settled into the snuggle pile with a contented sigh, holding my hand.
Mornings like these are the best.