Work Text:
The fireplace crackled as Kate threw new logs onto the dimming flames, adding a little life to the fire that kept the living room well-insulated from the cold winter air outside the farmhouse.
She checked the clock that sat on the mantle. Harvey had gone upstairs to put the twins to bed nearly 20 minutes ago—a lot longer than the routine usually took. She frowned and wondered if he needed her to rescue him: their two oldest were wonderful 90 percent of the time, but getting a 4-year-old to wind down enough to go to sleep was a recurring challenge, especially when it was two against one.
She headed for the stairs, climbing to the second floor just as Harvey slowly emerged from the kids’ bedroom, pressing a finger to his lips once he saw her.
“Hey, everything good?” she whispered, trying to peek around him into the room, dark except for the soft glow of a nightlight.
“Well, they demanded a third story to try and stall, but I think it ended up working in my favor,” he said, and stepped to the side to let her see more fully into the bedroom.
Alice and Henry were fast asleep in their beds, Henry burrowed into his blankets and Alice more or less in a spread-eagle pose, arms and legs all askew and her brown hair a fan across her pillow. But both were dead to the world, neither trying to sneak out of bed or whisper to each other as soon as she or Harvey left them alone like they usually did.
She let out a quiet, impressed whistle. “How did you manage that?”
He shrugged with a little mischievous smile. “I might have started reading them one of my newest medical journals. They held out longer than I thought they would, actually.”
Before he had even finished talking, she had wound her arms around his neck, kissing him soundly as he quickly moved his hands to her hips. When she pulled away she smiled at the blush that colored his cheeks.
“Yoba, you’re so sexy,” she breathed, laughing softly at the way his pupils dilated just a little. “I’ll meet you downstairs in a minute; I’m going to check on Kit.”
He made a dumbfounded noise of agreement as she crossed the short hallway to the nursery, cracking the door open just enough for her to slip through.
Their month-old son was sound asleep too, hopefully for the next few hours, and Kate lingered by the side of his crib for a moment as she watched him stir a little and sigh, her fingers fluttering over his wispy brown hair. She never minded when they were small like this, but already she was eager for him to grow and get older so she could show him the animals and crops and teach him about the farm the way she was already doing for his older brother and sister.
She lingered a moment longer before retreating back down the stairs to where Harvey was lying on the couch, eyes closed like he was moments away from falling to sleep too. But as her footsteps padding on the hardwood floor drew closer, he cracked open one eye and smiled at her, arms open and waiting.
She sank down to drape herself on top of him, tangling her legs in his as his arms wrapped around her waist, pulling her down to kiss her with a slow tenderness that they hadn’t had the time to indulge in lately. She relaxed fully into the kiss, sighing against his mouth as he trailed his fingers down her back, and he let out a little satisfied groan as she nipped at his bottom lip and reached up with one hand to push his glasses up to rest on top of his head, her other hand cupping his face to try and bring him even closer.
When she eventually pulled back for breath, she took in his flushed face and tousled hair, the hazel of his eyes soft and warm as it reflected the light of the fire, and reveled in how she could still undo him so easily. She leaned forward once more to press a kiss to the tip of his nose.
“Hi there,” he murmured with a sweet grin. One of his fingers twirled through a strand of her hair, up near her forehead.
“Admiring my grays?” she teased, and ran her own fingertips against the side of his temple. “I’m catching up to you.”
He rolled his eyes with a frown on her behalf. “You have maybe five gray hairs, Kate; I think I’ve only got five left that aren’t gray.”
“You’re exaggerating a little,” she laughed, but the gray in his auburn-tinged brown hair had spread little by little over the last eight years, now concentrated around his temples and ears and peppered throughout the rest. “Besides, I think it makes you look very attractive anyway.”
He chuckled a little. “I think Alice and Henry are responsible for most of them, but I appreciate it.”
She smiled, resting her head on his chest so her voice was almost muffled against him. “Can you believe we have three kids now? Who let us do that?”
“Do you need to hear the birds and bees talk again?”
She smacked his chest lightly as he laughed, curling around her even more.
“It just doesn’t feel real sometimes. If Lewis or Robin had told me that first day that the town doctor would be the love of my life and one day we’d have three kids together, I think I might have gotten back on the bus.” She propped herself up to look at him properly. “I don’t know what I did to be this lucky.”
Harvey’s hand still tangled in her hair moved to rest against her cheek, his thumb stroking the skin that was becoming more worn by the elements with every passing year, her tan growing deeper and little crow's feet starting to appear at the corners of her eyes. Still he caressed her face like it was the most precious thing he’d ever touched.
“Sometimes I don’t either,” he whispered, some deep, determined emotion welling up behind his eyes. “But my life is devoted to you and our children now. I don’t even want to imagine where I would be if I had never met you.” He brought her down into another slow kiss, almost reverent in a way that always made butterflies kick up in her stomach. Then he pulled back just enough to murmur against her lips, “I don’t think it’s possible for me to be happier than I already am.”
Kate sighed, breaking into what she knew was a dopey-looking grin that she didn’t care to fight. “I love you so much.”
“I love you too,” he replied, and pulled his glasses off his head, setting them on the coffee table beside them. “We have probably two hours before Kit wakes up again, and I brought the baby monitor down here. I would very much like to take a nap with you, if you want.”
She groaned with a relieved smile. “Yoba, yes; I’m so tired.”
She felt his chest rise and fall with another laugh as she laid against him again, letting her eyes slip closed as his hands cradled her, falling into sleep to the rhythm of his heartbeat.