Chapter Text
2:37 pm, and Anita had finally settled for her afternoon nap. She’d made it abundantly clear, with several warning grumbles of protest and one perfectly aimed knee to the stomach, that the only way this was happening was if Diego let her stay curled up on his chest rather than being moved to her bed, and, as with most things, it was Anita’s way or no way. She was a lot like her mom in that respect. So, without jostling her too much, he’d managed to wrestle a pillow behind his back, and resigned himself to being stuck on the couch for the next hour or so.
It was a pretty good problem to have, all things considered. The iron grip she’d had on his t-shirt had loosened a little now, and her erratic breathing had leveled out to a more normal rate. It was probably his fault for ignoring Lila’s disapproving stare and slipping her an extra wedge of birthday cake, but the ensuing sugar rush was worth it for the delighted look on her face. And hey, it’s not every day a kid turns two, right? Why shouldn’t she get to pig out on candy and turn the house upside down? It sure beat the thirty minutes of extra ‘free time’ and slither of cake his mom would slip him on his birthdays. Jesus , how the hell was his little girl two? She’d be asking for an allowance next.
Carefully, he worked her hair out of the messy ponytail he’d put it in that morning, and began working through the tangles with his fingers. It was down past her shoulders now, and the soft, dark waves were about the only part of her he could take some credit for. He was still holding out hope that maybe she’d inherited his brains and dazzling personality instead.
“Shh, baby girl,” He hushed, pausing on a particularly thick knot in her hair as she squirmed on top of him. “We gotta get these out. You know how ruthless your mom gets with the comb.”
Diego looked around at the mess of toys and party decorations that littered their small apartment, suddenly aware of Lila’s notable absence. He vaguely remembered her saying something about going to the bathroom while he was wrangling the TV remote out of his cranky and unfeasibly strong daughter’s hands, but everything beyond that was a blur of tears and stubborn protests before she got to sleep.
Craning his neck, he could see the door to the bathroom was ajar. More than likely Lila had seen the losing battle he’d been fighting with their toddler and taken that as her cue to slip into the bedroom for a nap. And he couldn’t really blame her. She’d been up most of the night blowing up balloons and carefully wrapping presents. Anita’s first birthday had been something of a non-event since she was too small to really know what was going on. It was more of an achievement for them than anyone else, having somehow managed to keep this tiny, terrifyingly fragile little thing alive for a full three hundred and sixty-five days. But now that she was old enough to appreciate it for herself, Lila had wanted everything to be perfect.
“Poor kid’s gonna end up with scoliosis.”
As if sensing him thinking about her, Lila appeared behind the couch, having managed to silently slink up behind him. She folded her arms on top of the cushions and let out a wistful sigh at the contorted position their daughter was curled up in.
Diego hummed and leaned his head towards her. Her face was painfully out of reach so he settled for kissing her elbow instead, enjoying the way the flat line of her mouth twitched into a small smile.
“Thought you were sleeping,” He said and she shook her head.
“No, uh…” She trailed off, her eyes flicking away from his for a moment. “I’m a couple of days late, so I thought maybe…”
Lila held up the pregnancy test, barely giving him enough time to register what he was looking at before she tossed it unceremoniously over her shoulder.
“False alarm. Again.”
“Oh.”
The twinge of disappointment was familiar to him now, though there was still a tiny voice in his head screaming that this was all backward. He’d spent so long convincing himself that a family wasn’t something he wanted, or needed, that even now, sitting in his home with his girlfriend and their perfect little girl, the idea of getting pregnant again on purpose seemed strange.
“Klaus said it can take longer the second time,” He said in an attempt to reassure her, and Lila pulled a face.
It was a fair response. He wasn’t entirely sure when his brother had become his go-to sexual health advisor, but, in his defense, he usually seemed to know what he was talking about.
“We can keep trying.”
“ Obviously we’ll keep trying, Diego. Unless you planned on getting a chastity belt.”
He pretended to consider the idea and Lila swatted his arm lightly before standing upright and circling the couch to sit beside him. It was a delicate operation, trying to get into a comfortable position together without rousing Anita, but besides a few quiet snorts, she didn’t stir.
Lila nestled her head against his shoulder, and for a few minutes, they sat silently, watching the slow rise and fall of Anita’s little chest as she slept on top of him. There had been lots of little moments like that, ever since she was born, where they both found themselves just staring at her.
“Love you,” Lila said softly, reaching over and brushing the hair away from Anita’s face.
He wasn’t sure who the statement was directed at, but he turned to kiss the side of her head regardless.
After a few more minutes of silence, he felt the tip of Lila’s nose against his neck as she tucked her face into the dip there.
“Diego?”
“Mm?”
“What if I can’t get pregnant again?”
He tried to turn and look at her, but she kept her face hidden against his shoulder.
“It’s only been a couple months, honey.”
“Five months,” She corrected. “Five bloody months, Diego. Last time I barely even had to look at you, and now…”
Trailing off, Lila looked up at him. There were fat tears in the corners of her eyes, and she quickly wiped them away with the heel of her hand before they could escape down her cheeks.
“I was thinking about it last night,” She said quietly. “About that day in the hotel, when your nutter of a dad had us stand on those tiles and all our powers got sucked into some big alien space hoover. You remember?”
Diego nodded, because that wasn’t the kind of thing he could just forget about, and Lila gnawed at the nail on her thumb anxiously.
“Well… What if it messed with more than just our powers? I mean, maybe we can’t…”
Her teeth sunk into her bottom lip in an attempt to silence the sob that bubbled out of her, and it took all his strength not to immediately throw his arms around her. Instead, he pushed himself upright, careful not to catapult his daughter across the couch in the process, and repositioned her so that her head rested against his shoulder, freeing up his left arm and giving Lila more space to cuddle up against his side.
Obviously, he hated seeing her upset, but he still found it oddly reassuring any time she let him see her like that. It was a marked improvement on the elaborate tests she used to construct, making him jump through impossible hoops just to figure out what the hell was going on in her head half the time. Now, when there was a problem, she would cry on his shoulder about it, sometimes vice versa, and they’d figure it out. It was a good system.
“There are other options,” He said once Lila’s sniffles had died down. “They’re growing babies in labs and shit now. I’m pretty sure I don’t even have to be involved anymore.”
Lila’s head snapped up to look at him.
“You don’t wanna be involved?”
“What? No! Of course I…” He paused, trying to get the words straight in his head before he fumbled over them. “I’m just saying if… you know, if I’m the problem, we’ve got options.”
Her expression softened at that and she leaned forward to kiss him, pressing their foreheads together and lingering there for a moment.
“‘Course there’s always plan C,” He said after pressing another kiss to her lips. “Where we just kidnap another preteen.”
A grin spread across Lila’s face and she let her head fall onto his shoulder as her whole body shook with laughter. For now, at least, everything felt okay again.
“Nng… daddy?”
Anita’s sleepy little voice pulled him out of the dazed, content space he’d drifted into, and he looked down at her as she rubbed her eye clumsily with a balled-up fist.
“Shit,” He grumbled, unwinding his arm from around Lila’s waist and holding her as she scooted into his lap. “Sorry, baby girl. We wake you up?”
Apparently, she didn’t deem the question worthy of a response, looking around the room for a moment and beaming when her eyes landed on Lila sitting next to them.
“Hi, mummy!”
“Hi, gorgeous girl!” Lila grinned, holding her arms out to help as Anita clambered across his legs towards her. “Did you like your party?”
“Yuh-huh.” She nodded her head enthusiastically. “And the sparkles.”
She pointed to the mess of star-shaped confetti on the floor, and Lila hummed amusedly.
“Mm, it was so clever of you to put those on the carpet. They look much better there than on the table.”
“Yes,” Anita agreed, with a slight London twang that made Diego chuckle.
“Daddy’s gonna have so much fun with the vacuum later,” Lila continued as she turned toward him. “Aren’t you, love?”
He narrowed his eyes at her and she sniggered, cuddling Anita against her chest for a moment and kissing the top of her head.
“Come lie down and get some proper sleep before tea. You want nuggets tonight?”
“The dinosaur ones,” She said decisively, turning and resting her hand on Diego’s cheek so she could relay her instructions to him properly. “Daddy, the dinosaur ones.”
“Whatever you want, princess.”
He kissed the palm of her tiny hand before letting Lila carry her off to her bedroom, closing his eyes and listening to Anita quietly mumbling whatever thoughts came into her head, and to Lila responding like they were the most serious things in the world.
Four weeks later, Lila handed him a positive pregnancy test.