Work Text:
Waking up with a one year old is never an easy feat. Crying drifting from the baby camera sitting on the nightstand rustles the two sleeping men awake.
“I’ll get her, Baby.” Robby groggily tells Dennis when the younger man moves to stand. Dennis flops back down at this, mumbling something along the lines of a ‘thank you’. He loves Clementine but he needs to get some sleep. He’s not sure how much time passes by the time that he feels Robby’s warm arms wrap around him but he’s happy to cuddle right back into the embrace.
The next time he gets up is when Robby kisses him goodbye to leave for his shift. Dennis had been granted a day off and while he usually bids Robby goodbye at the door, he bids him bye from bed to get some extra hours of sleep in (or at least before Clementine wakes him). As he drifts off he hears Robby tell him, “I left you a little message, My Love.”
When he finally does wake up, he doesn’t immediately remember what Robby had told him before leaving out. He walks to the nursery, opening the door to be greeted by the light yellow walls and their baby laying in the crib. As he enters the room Clementine lets out a happy gurgle.
“Hi Sweetie!” He loudly whispers, a huge smile on his face as the baby moves to stand up.
“Papa!” She babbles out as Dennis grabs her out of her crib. She giggles loudly when he spins her around before settling her on his hip.
“Do you want some food, Clementine?” Dennis asks. As she chirps out a yes, he leaves to make his move to the kitchen.
Once they get to the kitchen, he sees stuff set out for pancakes sitting out and waiting for them. He snorts to himself, Robby must have grabbed the stuff for him. “It looks like your Dad was thinking about us before he left for work.” Placing Clementine down into her high chair, he moves to start grabbing what he needs to make their pancakes. He pauses when he sees what is on the fridge.
A drawing of Dennis, Robby and Clementine is stuck on with a “Nebraska” magnet. Robby stands hugging Dennis while Dennis holds Clementine. It looks like a little cartoon, scribbled out quickly but made with love. His eyes drift to the side as he sees the message written in the alphabet letter magnets they got for Clementine. The letters spell out ‘I LOVE YOU’ in a burst of rainbow color. That gets a laugh out of him as he turns to the baby.
“Do you know what that says, Sweetie?” Dennis watches as she looks at the letters confused. “Your dad is a silly guy.”
He remembers what Robby said to him before leaving for work, ‘I left you a message, My Love.’
He quickly pulls out his phone to send Robby a message.
Dennis: I love you too!