Work Text:
“Sweetheart, we need to set off soon if we want to have enough time to stop by Auntie Franny’s for biscuits before your lesson today." Colin called out as he went to grab Ellie’s water bottle and back up snacks from the kitchen counter.
He walked toward the back door checking to see if he could locate a matching pair of shoes for the two of them. When he realized that Ellie hadn’t responded. He placed the bottle and snacks next to his keys on the credenza by the door and walked down the hall to poke his head in and see what the hold up was.
There Ellie was; red faced, eyes full of unshed tears, sitting on the floor of her room staring at her reflection in the floor to ceiling mirror next to her dresser. She was armed with a brush in one hand and sitting what appeared to be in a nest of hair supplies gathered around her.
He took in the sight of her looking distressed and came to sit next to her. His arm came around her shoulders and pulled her right against him. He gave her a loving kiss on her head then turned to look at her reflection.
She was already dressed in her leotard and tights and her auburn hair was poofed out around her like a halo and not what it usually looks like when Pen gets her ready for her dance classes. So he decided it was probably her hair that was causing her frustration.
“What are you trying to do with your hair sweetheart?” He asked as he took the brush from her and gave her arm a reassign squeeze.
“Teacher said we have to have our hair up and nothing sticking out and looking a mess or she won’t let us step foot in her studio.” Ellie said, her feelings of frustration and hopelessness battling it out behind her remarkably indigo eyes. “And then Christine said ‘Looks like Ellie won’t be coming back then’ and everyone laughed at me!”
Ellie's eyes shone with tears and her voice wavered as she went on, “Sssoo I have been trying SO hard to get it all up like how mummy does it but it just gets fluffier and I can't do it right!”
She looked up at him with the last ounce of her hope hanging on to her trust in him to always save the day. It was a look so like the one her mother had always reserved just for him, long before he even realized she owned his heart. His chest swelled with love for his two beautiful girls and their expressive eyes and wild mane of seemingly untamable red hair.
“You know, I happen to be very good at plaiting hair, would you let me have a go at it?”
Ellie nodded at him as she wiped her eyes, keeping her tears at bay. Colin moved to get a tall chair for her to sit on so that he could reach her hair more comfortably.
After sorting through the supplies she’d assembled on her floor, he grabbed the antifrizz serum and rubbed it into his hands and then started to run that through her hair. He then took a comb and started to separate her hair into two even sections.
“You know I have always loved that you have your mum's hair?”
”Uhuh, Uncle Benny says mummy’s hair hippo…uh hipporized you and made you get that boo-boo on your chin.”
”Oh he did, did he? Well I guess he’s not really wrong,” Colin said as he got a big clip to section off one half of her hair.
“The day I met your mum we were at the park over by granny’s house and I was showing off my biking skills to your aunties, not paying much attention to what was around me. But then when I happened to look over to my left I saw her! Sitting there on the grass wearing a dress covered in sunflowers. She was so completely enthralled in whatever book she was reading at that time that she didn't notice anything else around her. When suddenly a gust of wind knocked her hat from her head.”
Colin took some styling gel out and ran it through the hair he was going to begin plaiting. “Only I didn’t see her hat, all I saw was this bright orange and red burst out like the sun had suddenly appeared right there in the park in all its splendor!”
“Daddy!! The sun can't just be on the ground" Ellie said with an exaggerated sigh.
Colin took a small section of the front of her hair where he’s just put the gel. He used his index and middle fingers to part it into 3 equal sections. Then started plaiting by bringing the left side into the middle, then the right side into the middle being sure to hold the hair taught. On the subsequent rounds he made sure to add more hair, of roughly the same amount, with each turn as he made his way down her head. Being careful to smooth and tighten each strand as he went.
“Well,” he continued, “Her hair glowed in the sunlight with such bright oranges and reds it looked like living fire. I was so captivated that I didn’t notice her hat swoop right into my bike gears causing it to stop suddenly and fling me over the handle bars where I landed, chin first, in the gravel.” Colin rubbed the scar on his chin, “It was worth it though because your mum came over all in a tizzy so worried I’d gotten hurt. But all I could think about was the fact that she must be an angel with the way the sunlight behind her made her wild hair shine like a halo. She helped me to get back to granny and grandpas so they could take me to get stitches and we have been more or less inseparable ever since.”
As Colin finished explaining how he had met her mother he used a small hair elastic to tie off the plait and moved to repeat those steps on the other side.
“When we were growing up, you know how mummy would come over my house practically every day? I think we all had a special bond with her that made her feel like a Bridgerton long before I convinced her to marry me.” He paused smiling to himself as he brought to mind images of Pen with all of his siblings over the years. Proving a worthy adversary in debates with Eloise, having gossipy tea parties with Hy, helping Greg with his homework, playing dress up with Daphne, beating Ant at chess, baking with Franny and being the first to successfully pull a prank on the prank master himself Benedict.
“But my favorite moments were when she'd come over for movie night sleepovers.” Colin worked the strands of her hair together methodically, ensuring each was smoothed out and tight against her head.
’Your mum would sit next to me and plait her hair during the movie so it would be ready for bed time. I would watch her every single time. Absolutely hypnotized by her fingers deftly moving through her fiery mass of curls and seemingly as though by magic she would get it to twist and turn precisely where she wanted it to. And I desperately wanted to touch it and see if it would feel as soft as it looked or if it would burn me like fire. I watched her for so many nights over the years that I was convinced I could do it without being taught. And do you know what I did?”
“Nuh ah, what did you do?” She asked.
“Well I borrowed one of Auntie Daph’s dolls, you know the ones she calls her fancy dolls that she keeps in the display cabinet?”
Ellie nodded her eyes glued to her dad’s reflection in the mirror as he tied off the second plait. She knew it was going to be good because he was starting to blush, which he usually only did when he and her mummy were talking about things she didn't understand.
“Well you know she has one with that lovely bonnet on tucked in at the back?” *Ahem* He cleared his throat. “Well…. as it happens, I did not know how to plait hair. And if you do it wrong with hair that is thin and curly, it can get knotted easily. And so I pulled and tugged at it trying to get the knots out, only for it to get so matted there was no undoing it. Well, embarrassed at what a mess I'd made, I took a bonnet from one of the other dolls and tried to hide it. But your auntie has an eye for detail and she spotted it immediately. She was on a tirade for years trying to figure out who had destroyed her doll.”
Ellie gasped “Daddy! Did you never tell Auntie Daph it was you?!”
Colin looked chagrined and he shook his head. “I am still looking for the right… moment…” he hedged.
The plaits were then pinned to Ellie's head wrapping over each other in the back. He thought it looked remarkably like something Princess Anna from Frozen would have her hair styled as. Then he took out the hair spray and used it to lock the style in place and smooth down any determined flyaways.
“There now, what do you think my little pumpkin? Will this suffice to keep you in class?”
Ellie looked at herself, carefully moving her head to examine his handiwork. Then she turned and hugged him, her arms tight around his neck and her cheek pressed warm against his. She moved to nuzzle her face against his cheek and whispered, “Thank you daddy, I look just like mummy!”
They pulled back and he looked down at her and it was like looking back in time at little Penelope. Only their daughter did not have the same haunted expression that Pen wore for years. The heavy specter of impossible familial expectations was thankfully not something Little Ellie was burdened with. Instead he and Pen flooded her with the unconditional love that every child deserves. One that Pen had not known until much later in life.
It was a balm to his soul to get to witness the healing Pen had worked so hard at over the years. It started first with her getting subsumed into the heart of the Bridgertons. After years of all of them showering her with love and affection even after some fairly large fights and conflicts, she found she could not get them to abandon her. She was embedded in the family long before she officially changed her name.
But it was the bond she created with their own daughter that was the most healing. She had been so worried about becoming a mum, scared that she would somehow transform into her mother. But anyone who knew Pen, knew that was impossible. She was someone who loved so deeply and strongly that there was no way she would repeat the cruelties of her parents.
The day she held Ellie in her arms for the first time she started to believe it too. She also formed a bond with Violet, the Bridgerton matriarch, during those first months at home with a newborn where the learning curve seemed impossibly high. Violet was there helping her through the hurdles, reminding her of her strength, crying with her, and never giving up. Pen drew strength from realizing that while Violet was not her mother by birth, but had instead chosen to love Pen as though she were her own daughter for years.
And while Colin knew that Pen had to work constantly to break the cycle of abuse and neglect that she was raised in,he was filled with pride each time he witnessed her breaking the chains that tried to hold her back. Each time she fought through self doubt or confronted a hidden wound he saw her grow stronger and brighter. He could not believe how lucky he was to be by her side and be touched by the glow of her light.
He felt that glow now as he smiled down at their daughter, “Yes my gorgeous girl, you look just like your mum.” He kissed her forehead then and ticked her side.
“Right, well I think we might not have enough time to stop by Auntie Franny's before lessons. So why don't I send her a message and see if we can pop by after and maybe convince her and Auntie Michaela to grab some dinner with us?”
“Oh yes please!” Ellie squealed! “Auntie Michaela promised to show me how to do a cartwheel!!!!”
”Why am I not surprised?” Colin said affectionately as he typed a message to his sister and her wife.
“Make sure she doesn’t forget the biscuits!!” Ellie said as she walked down the hall to get her coat and shoes on. Colin caught up with her at the car and watched as she admired hair in the car’s side mirror.
“Hey daddy, how come you did my hair so good when you broke aunties dolly?”
”Oh well that’s easy, little one, I got lessons— Here up you go, let’s get you buckled in.” Colin helped get Ellie into her car seat and walked back to the front to start the car.
”You know how Auntie Hy has curly hair like daddy’s?” He asked. “Well, when she was about your age, she wanted to be just like your mummy. And she asked over and over for mummy to plait her hair so that they could match. Only your mum had never had to do them to someone else and so she needed to practice. And don’t you know I just so happened to have had pretty long hair at the time and I offered my services as the test dummy.”
”Hehehe you had plaits in your hair!?” Ellie giggled at the thought.
Colin winked at her through the rear view mirror, “Anything for my girls,” Colin beamed at the memory of that first time Pen had her hands in his hair and he had realized it would be no hardship at all. He couldn’t tell their daughter this, but it was the first time his body made it very clear that his feelings for his best friend were more than just platonic. Something he had been suspecting for a while. But the feel of her hands combing through his hair, twisting and pulling, tugged directly at his heart… and some places lower in his body. He is pretty sure he groaned the first time she tugged at his curls and probably should have been embarrassed. But he was too distracted by the sound of Pen’s whispery gasp.
”And because your mum is a perfectionist, she never wants to disappoint anyone by having any task poorly or half done. So for a week after school, before Hy got home, we would go up to her room to practice. She would pull up a tutorial video and I could see it too and well the knowledge just kinda stuck in my head as well.”
Colin could see Ellie nodding in the backseat. “Did she ever plait Auntie Hy’s hair?”
Colin smiled warmly, “She did and it was perfect, just like yours is now and for years any time Pen spent the night she would plait both of their hair.”
”Can we show mummy my hair? I miss her.”
“Of course sweetheart, why don’t we take a picture and send it to her that way she will see it as soon as her plane lands.”
Ellie nodded and asked,”Where is she flying to tonight?”
”This next stop on her book tour is Perth Australia, then she will go to 4 more stops in Australia, 2 in New Zealand and then finally back home with us.”
”I wish she was flying home right now,” Ellie said with a pout. Colin felt like pouting too. He was so proud of his brilliant wife and the smashing success of her book series. He just wished Ellie was still young enough not to be in school so that they could all go together like they did for all of her other book launches.
He missed being able to watch Pen get showered with much deserved praise and affection from her legions of fans. He also knew without him there to take care of her, she wasn't taking nearly enough breaks. Forcing herself to push through to sign one more book, and give a little bit of herself with every greeting not noticing how tired she was getting.
He just hoped Eloise, who had gone with her this time, was making sure she ate and rested once in a while. Especially at this stage in her pregnancy. Then he smiled, if anyone could get Pen to listen it would be his sister. Even if Eloise has to tie her to a chair and force her to rest.
They pulled up outside the dance studio and got out. Colin took a few pictures of Ellie with her plaits and sent them to Pen attached to a little voice message from Ellie. Colin knew her plane wouldn't be landing for a while yet but sometimes messages went through and he knew seeing and hearing Ellie would bring her joy. And he loved to make his girls happy!
Rather than get back into his car to drive somewhere during Ellie's lesson, Colin decided to walk down to the nearby park and enjoy the cool air while they had a bit of relief from the rain. His phone trilled with an incoming message, so once he found a nice place to sit at the park he sat down and opened his phone.
PracticallyPenerific: Oh look at my gorgeous girl! Well done you, those plaits look fantastic, I couldn't have done it better myself!!
Col-me-daddy: Oh yes you could, but thank you I did learn from the best!
Col-me-daddy: I wish I was with you right now to plait your hair when you get back to the hotel room.
PracticallyPenerific: Me too my love. Just looking at her in those plaits reminds me of the first time you did my hair… mmmm one of the highlights of my life if I'm being honest ❤️
Col-me-daddy: It changed my life forever…
Col-me-daddy: I had just gotten back from my summer abroad exploring the Mediterranean
PracticallyPenerific: Ah yes your “summer” that turned into 10 months abroad
Col-me-daddy: Yes well it was supposed to just be the summer but I kept feeling like I was missing something and thought I’d find it at the next place or the one after that.
Col-me-daddy: When, come to find out, it was with me all along. In every text, call and video chat with you.
PracticallyPenerific: Aw ya big softie
Col-me-daddy: When I close my eyes, I can still see your face when I showed up at your old flat the morning I’d come back. I hadn't even told my family I was coming, in case they cockblocked me again. I just really needed to see you and hoped you might let me stay with you while I worked up the courage to tell you about this crazy revelation I’d had about us.
PracticallyPenerific: Well one thing is for certain, I was not expecting you, or any other human to have to be witness to my unwashed state
Col-me-daddy: I hadn’t heard from you in ages what else was I supposed to do!?
PracticallyPenerific: Col it had been 4 days and only because I had barricaded myself in to study for my exams as you well know!
Col-me-daddy: Yes I know that now but then, you might as well have stopped talking to me all summer, with how my heart ached for you! I knew if I didn’t see you I would have just wasted away to nothingness! I couldn't eat, couldn't sleep without you!
PracticallyPenerific: It’s a good thing you didn’t over react
Col-me-daddy: Remember earlier when you told me it was your favorite memory….
PracticallyPenerific: That’s because you haven't gotten to the good part
Col-me-daddy: Are you implying my heart stopping when it saw your beautiful eyes light up when you opened the door wasn’t the good part?
PracticallyPenerific: Ok you win, it was both a surprise and a joy seeing you for the first time in months. And I honestly don’t know if I’d have passed my medieval lit exam if you hadn’t arrived in time to help me study.
Col-me-daddy: Oh no you would have, that gorgeous head of yours isn’t there just to be admired, it also happens to house the most brilliant mind I’ve ever known! I’m just glad I could help.
Col-me-daddy: I can still remember you sitting there at your kitchen table, the last slice of uneaten Pat's pizza taunting me on your plate. Papers strewn around you studying like mad while your eyes grew heavier and heavier till you rested your head down on the table instantly asleep.
PracticallyPenerific: Mmm and next thing I knew I was flying
Col-me-daddy: You mean I was carrying you to bed?
PracticallyPenerific: Po-tay-toe Po-tah-toe
Col-me-daddy: I love how you seem so casual about it now and not like the person who tried to climb my head when you woke up half way to your room. But I will say for that brief moment before you turned into a monkey, when you were nuzzled in all warm and sleepy, I was pretty sure my heart melted into you.
PracticallyPenerific: Well mine had long ago deserted me to live within you.
PracticallyPenerific: God I was so tired from the weeks of late night cramming sessions for my end of year exams. I truly didn’t know up from down, but once I did realize I was being carried by none other than Colin Bridgerton, I thought I must have died from sleep deprivation. And then you went and helped me get ready for bed and I didn’t know how I was supposed to hide my feelings for you anymore. It was all too much!
PracticallyPenerific: There you were, this gorgeous man helping me brush my teeth when I could barely lift my arms. I knew it would be helpless to try to plait my hair so I was just resigning myself to dealing with a rats nest in the morning.
Col-me-daddy: ahh yes now we get to the good stuff…. your fucking hair! The moment I finally got to touch it, and somehow it felt better than anything I’d conjured up in my dreams.
PracticallyPenerific: Excuse me lets not forget how you helped me get in bed and then you skooched back to sit at the headrest and pulled me between those sexy thighs of yours…. and the heat that was pouring off of your body and into mine felt so good I would have been right back to sleep if it didn’t also turn me on like a faucet!
Col-me-daddy: You’re telling me about feeling horny that night? I had my dream girl literally between my legs, all warm and plush, smelling so good from your shower earlier and then being given permission to touch your hair? I thought my body would combust from being so aroused.
PracticallyPenerific: Oh yeah, that moment you touched my hair with such tender reverence? God, I get butterfly’s in my tummy just thinking about it. The feel of your hands running through my hair, being so gentle as you teased that mass of frizz into pretty decent plaits. It was heaven!
PracticallyPenerific: Come to think of it, how were you so good at plaiting hair without any hands on practice?
Col-me-daddy: Oh I had practice. I knew that if one day my time would come when I would be gifted the opportunity to run my hands through your fiery locks. Then I needed to be up to the challenge!
PracticallyPenerific: And…..
Col-me-daddy: Well your number 2 fan little Hy taught me. Or I guess more accurately she let me teach myself using her head. Honesty, I wasn’t too bad at it just from witnessing your own lessons those nights you’d plaited my hair, but the practice really helped me feel confident.
PracticallyPenerific: I can’t believe you did all of that before you knew you loved me
Col-me-daddy: I know, honestly all of the signs were right there in bright neon lights going “COLIN LOVES PENELOPE”! I think everyone else saw it but I was such a blind idiot!
Col-me-daddy: Thank god, like that man Bartimaeus that Jesus cured of his blindness, I too was finally made to see. And my body made it very clear how much it liked looking at you pressed up against me….
PracticallyPenerific: God I remember when I realized what that was pressed up against me. I think my whole body flushed the moment I figured it out.
Col-me-daddy: Oh yes it did, which only served to make your beautiful blue eyes pop when you turned to look up at me. Sleep and lust both swirling around in your eyes. And that is when it happened. The moment that changed my life forever...
Col-me-daddy: You looked down at my lips while your tongue glided out to lick your own. Making them completely irresistible. I just had to know what they felt like against my own and so I cupped your cheeks gently and leaned into you without taking my eyes from you as I brought my lips to yours in a tender kiss. Even now I can feel the shadow of that kiss embedded in my soul.
PracticallyPenerific: It was a perfect kiss, soft and tender and as soon as I moaned you lost that gentlemanly side and instead you opened me up and practically devoured me
Col-me-daddy: mmm yes and you did just the same to me if I recall. I had never felt anything like that before.
PracticallyPenerific: Me either and I think that might be why I was so desperate to get my lips everywhere on you
Col-me-daddy: And I had never been so grateful to already be on your bed so we could really take our time properly using our lips to make a map of one another….
PracticallyPenerific: My lips are tingling just thinking about it.
PracticallyPenerific: *Sigh* I hate to cut this short but if I don’t try to get some sleep now I won’t be able to have enough energy for later.
Col-me-daddy: I know, travel days are always the hardest ❤️ make sure you drink plenty of water now and when you land!
PracticallyPenerific: Yes sir!
Col-me-daddy: Mmm that’s my good girl
PracticallyPenerific: Keep talking to me like that and I'm going to turn into your naughty girl…
Col-me-daddy: God I wish I could touch you right now and show you what I do to naughty girls who disobey me
PracticallyPenerific: Yes please tell me… wait no, I need to sleep so I can be ready later
Col-me-daddy: What could possibly be happening later that is more important than me telling you in excruciating detail just exactly what I plan to do to your body when I see it again.
PracticallyPenerific: That's just it, I have good news… I managed to get Eloise her own suite tonight so we can finally have our own private video call after Ellie is in bed!
Col-me-daddy: Well in that case stop talking to me so that I can see your beautiful face when I make you….. blush….. later!!
PracticallyPenerific: I love you! Please give our girl extra hugs and love from me. I miss you two more than I can put into words! Make sure to have her ring me at bed time, I should be just departing the plane by then!
Col-me-daddy: We will! Fly safe and I love you too, more that I could find the words to adequately describe! xxxxxxxxxxx
PracticallyPenerific: xxxxxx
Colin pocketed his phone and began his walk back to the dance studio. He knew he had a goofy grin plastered on his face, talking to his wife seemed to always have that effect on him….
Hmm. His wife, Penelope Bridgerton, Mrs Colin Bridgerton…. God he loved being married to Pen. He truly was the luckiest man alive.