Work Text:
Somewhere between the chaos of staying in the upstairs apartments of your workplace (while very much on leave), taking care of the newfound member of the family, and ensuring that downstairs never remotely came into contact with the little one, certain things were… bound to fall through the cracks. Parents could wish that they were perfect, but nobody ever was. Still, she liked to think that she was doing a decent job.
"Kairi!" Her boss' voice cut through the quiet music in the main room, sharp and sudden. Trying not to wince, she turned, eyes wide. They weren't scheduled to be open for hours, so surely being downstairs to slip out for a walk with the baby shouldn't have been —
One look at him dismissed that reaction. Riku was stood in the doorway, his arms crossed, tiny knitted mittens in one hand. Stormy eyes softened slightly, a near-silent sigh leaving him before he started again, with considerably more caution, "You- You forgot her gloves. It's too damn cold for her to be going out there without them."
Like that, everything clicked back into place. He had been exceptionally kinder, at least towards her, ever since the start of the pregnancy, and that had only increased now that they were trying to navigate having Mei around. But if there was anything that seemed to make him forget himself, without fail, it was being worried about them.
"Sorry, Mr. Nakahara." Soft and respectful, she stepped over, adjusting how she was holding the baby. The pause was brief, little hesitation needed, before, "Do you want to hold her while I put her mittens on?"
The other way around would have worked just as well, and definitely was the more logical way to do it. Surely he knew that as well as she did, but even still, Riku had moved to take Mei from her before she'd even finished the question. Little pink mittens were pushed into her hands in the same gesture. "Hey, there's the princess. Are you going out with Mommy?"
Since the baby couldn't reply, Kairi softly clarified: "Just for a walk, sir."
"Oh, as long as you two won't be gone long. It's frigid out there." Honestly, it wasn't particularly warm inside their shared household either, but bad insulation be damned, at least there was a heating system in here. He'd been talking about getting that fixed soon, finally.
Gently pushing the gloves onto her tiny hands, Kairi smiled, stealing a thoughtful glance between the shared swirls of blue in their eyes for not the first time since Mei was born. It might have been nothing. The genetics of a family tree could be terribly complex, after all. But sometimes, when the light caught their eyes just right…
"Have her home before opening hours." It wasn't a request, as he begrudgingly returned the baby to her mother's arms. He was still calling this their 'home'; which was a fascinating contradiction to, "Don't forget to start looking at apartments soon. She can't stay here for long."
Well, sometimes, she had to wonder. But she wondered about a lot of things when it came to Riku.