Work Text:
“Ha-ba?”
Herbert looked up from the viscera-coated workbench, his current experiment twitching weakly beneath his hands, to see a small form silhouetted in the doorway at the top of the stairs. The young girl had one hand curled around the door frame, the other fisted tightly in her night-dress. She lingered at the doorway; despite her youth and impulsivity, she knew better than to enter the basement unaccompanied and uninvited.
“Yes, Evelyn? Why are you out of bed?” Herbert walked toward her, peeling the bloody latex gloves from his hands and depositing them with his dirtied apron into the waste bin they kept at the base of the stairs.
Dan was out and wouldn’t return home for hours yet, still driving back from a medical conference in New York. The responsibility of settling their daughter back to sleep rested firmly with Herbert for this evening.
“I hadda nightmare,” Evelyn said, eyes wide and brimming with unshed tears, “I dreamed you and daddy were gone forever.”
Herbert hypothesised that the nightmare was likely caused by Dan’s absence; this would be the first time that one of them had spent the night away from home since they had acquired their daughter.
“Well, as you can see, here I am. No cause for worry,” Herbert said as he climbed the steps. “As for daddy, well-”
The moment he reached the top step, Evelyn lunged forward and wrapped her arms around his leg.
“There, there.” Herbert rested a palm on Evelyn’s shoulder, rubbing in gentle motions he hoped was soothing. “He’ll be back soon. I miss him too, you know.”
Given her current state of distress, he doubted that she would be able to return to sleep without some form of intervention. Herbert’s gaze flickered toward the cabinet where he and Dan kept their sedatives, but banished the thought before it could solidify. He could only imagine how mad Dan would be if he came home to see that Herbert had drugged their child.
What would Dan do if he were here? The solution struck him with a jolt.
Herbert hobbled forward, down the hall and into the kitchen, Evelyn still attached to his leg like a particularly stubborn barnacle.
He retrieved the required equipment from the kitchen cupboards and set about preparing a delicate mixture of hot milk and cocoa powder. Evelyn peeked up at him, half of her face still pressed against his thigh.
She watched intensely as Herbert mixed his concoction; he heated the milk on the stove and added heaped spoonfuls of powder, stirring the pan periodically at timed intervals. Perhaps in a few years, once she developed the necessary dexterity and fine motor skills, he could recruit her as a lab assistant.
“Here we go, my darling,” Herbert said, pouring a ladleful of hot cocoa into Evelyn’s pink bunny mug, and a larger measure into his own cup.
She unlatched herself from his leg immediately, reaching up to grab her drink.
“Ah-ah. You’ll burn yourself. Go sit on the couch.” Herbert held both mugs out of her reach.
Evelyn bounded out of the kitchen, disappearing around the corner. Herbert followed at a more sedate pace, entering their living room with a grimace.
Dan and Evelyn had decorated the space few nights ago, transforming their living area into a headache-inducing display of festive cheer. There were popcorn-garlands and string-lights hung across the walls; paper snowflakes taped to their windows; Dan had even taken his axe to one of the pine trees growing at the border of their property, dragging the sad heap of foliage through their garden and into the house, shedding pine needles everywhere.
Herbert sat beside Evelyn on their threadbare couch and carefully handed over her mug of hot cocoa, pointedly ignoring the flashing lights and tinsel that surrounded them. She kicked her legs over the edge of the couch, happily slurping from her mug.
He took a sip of his own drink; Dan would be proud of him for ingesting something other than coffee for once. Herbert still missed the thrum of his reagent in his veins, the clarity and sharpness it afforded him. There was a time when he hadn’t felt the chill in their basement, nor hunger pangs when he skipped one meal too many. But Dan had insisted he quit, and if it kept Dan by his side... Herbert had found that some things were worth the sacrifice.
Evelyn slumped against his side, her eyes lidded and her grip on her pink bunny mug slipping. Herbert quickly placed both of their mugs on the coffee table before a disaster of shattered porcelain could occur.
A warmth filled Herbert’s chest that had nothing to do with hot cocoa.
A soft snore came from the space beside him. Herbert adjusted his position so that they would both be more comfortable whilst Evelyn settled into a deeper sleep. In a little while, Herbert would carry her to bed, then return to his experiment. Maybe Dan would even help him with the next stage of the procedure when he returned home from the conference.
It had started to snow by the time Dan pulled into his driveway. He trudged sluggishly to the door, fumbling twice with his keys before he slid them into the lock.
Cautious of the creaky hinges, Dan entered the house as quietly as he could. Herbert likely wouldn’t hear him from down in the basement, but Evie should be in bed by now.
Dan started to creep toward the stairs, but paused at the door to the living room. Why were the Christmas lights on?
He poked his head inside.
Illuminated in the glow of flickering colourful lights, his husband and his daughter lay curled together on the couch. Herbert still had his glasses on, his arms cradling Evie’s smaller form as she lay with her head burrowed in his shoulder.
Dan removed Herbert’s glasses for him, setting them on the coffee table next to two empty mugs. There was a slight indent on the bridge of Herbert’s nose where the glasses had been pressed against the flesh.
It was cute, and Dan had to resist the urge to press a kiss to the reddened spot.
Loathe as he was to disturb the pair, Herbert was sure to complain of backache in the morning after spending a night on their lumpy couch.
“Herb?” Dan whispered.
Herbert’s eyes blinked open slowly, taking in Dan’s blurry yet familiar shape.
“Danny?” Herbert murmured, voice thick with sleep.
“C’mon, time for bed,” Dan said, picking Evie up. “I’ve got our girl.”
Herbert followed blindly, one hand fisted in the back of Dan’s sweater as he followed him upstairs.
Evie barely stirred as Dan tucked her into her bed. Dan licked the pad of his thumb and wiped away a streak of chocolate on her cheek.
He turned to Herbert with a soft smile that widened when he saw a matching chocolate stain at the corner of Herbert’s mouth.
Herbert tasted sweeter than ever when Dan kissed it away.