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“Come on baby.” Lucy mutters to Sophie. “Come on. You don’t need to cry.” But the baby keeps crying. This brings Lucy back to Emma when she was a baby and they were still in San Diego. She was a colicky baby, and no matter what Lucy did she couldn’t calm her down. Chris would get furious and frustrated. Lucy in turn would get frustrated because she wanted the baby to stop crying but she couldn’t just make it happen.
And just like her sister, Sophie was colicky and miserable. Lucy didn’t blame the baby but she was tired. And cranky. She had a two month old who constantly needed attention, a five year old who she feared wasn’t getting the attention she deserved and—
Tim was at work all day, he would go to work in the morning, drop Emma off and pick her up so that Lucy didn’t have to drag Sophie and all her things out of the house.
It was great.
He was amazing.
He was everything she needed and more but it was still hard when she was the only one doing this.
Sophie keeps crying, and Lucy does everything she can to soothe her. “It’s okay baby.” He mutters. “I know. I know.” She feels like she’s going a little crazy, after Emma she didn’t think she would go through this again. Not to mention her postpartum anxiety, and how she was still going to therapy for that.
The door opens and Lucy looks around the corner to see Tim and Emma. Emma runs off but Tim stays where he is looking grumpy.
“Hi babe.” Lucy says. It’s not unusual for Tim to come home a little grumpy but he usually perks up after seeing her and the girls.
“Hi.” Tim says and he moves over to kiss Lucy and then Sophie.
“Hard day?” Lucy asks. Tim backs up a little with a frown on his face.
“Yes.” He says. Lucy sighs and she knows this won’t be an easy evening for them. She wasn’t in the best mood. Sophie had quiet down a little but Lucy knows it won’t last. She has things to do, and she just wants to lay down without a baby on top of her.
“I’m sorry.” She says. She doesn’t know what happened at work. She just knows her husband is home and he would do anything for her. “Would it be too much to ask you to do the dishes?”
Tim looks over at the kitchen, and it’s a mess. Lucy knows it’s a mess but there’s nothing she can do about it right now.
She’s exhausted, Sophie is finally calm and—
“Do you mind if I lay down for a little bit?” Tim asks and his voice comes out harder than he probably for it to be. Tim doesn’t raise his voice, he never has at her whether it’s at home or work.
“I’m tired too Tim.” She says and her voice comes out harder than too. She loves Tim, and appreciates all he does for her and the girls. He usually never hesitates to do anything but—
“I had a shit day.” Tim says and he sits down on the couch running his hand over his face. “Just let me rest.”
Lucy stares at him, and she’s not quite sure what to think. She knows Tim has bad days at work. Hell she has them too, she used to have them a lot when she moved here because she was worried about Emma. It wasn’t the daycare (until it was the daycare) but just the fact that her baby has anxiety being away from her and then she developed anxiety being away from Emma.
She’s already nervous at how it’s going to go when she returns to work. She knows Sophie will be in good hands… it just will be hard.
She looks at her husband again, and shakes her head a little. “You know you aren’t the only one who had a hard day.” She says.
She doesn’t look at him as she carries the baby over to the swing and lays her down. The last thing she needs is for her daughter to feel the stress she’s feeling. She takes a couple deep breaths, feeling like she is trying to win a losing battle.
And then she turns back to Tim, who has his eyes closed. She’s frustrated and really she should just walk away.
“Tim!” She says a little louder than she meant to. He opens his eyes and looks at her. He does look exhausted. “Can’t you just—”
“What? Do the dishes?” He asks his voice is hard again. And a little broken. “I will Luce. Just give me a few minutes.”
“Never mind.” She grumbles. “I’ll do it.” She walks past him and into the kitchen where she finds Emma at the refrigerator. She has no idea how long she has been standing there but knowing her daughter… she heard everything.
“Hi baby.” Lucy says. Emma’s eyes are wide and she looks past Lucy to where Tim is.
“Daddy should do the dishes mama.” She says her voice small and innocent. “You had a hard day.”
“Daddy did too Bug.” Lucy says. “It’s okay.”
“You were arguing.” Emma says. Lucy bends down in front of her daughter. The older she gets the more she looks like Lucy. She barely looked like Chris, but she was beautiful either way. “Daddy sounded mad.”
“He’s just tired sweetie.” Lucy says. “Like I am. It’s okay.” Emma blinks at her and then moves away. Lucy stands up and watches her climb up on the couch and onto Tim’s lap.
“I’m on mama’s side. You should do the dishes.” Emma says. Lucy bites her lip from laughing. She can only imagine the look on Tim’s face.
“Yeah?”
“I love you but she had a rough day.” Emma says in a matter of fact tone.
“Oh?” Tim says. He presses a kiss to Emma’s forehead and then moves the little girl off of him. She doesn’t seem to mind. Tim stands up and makes his way over to her.
“Emma says I should do the dishes.” He says.
“Yeah? And what do you think?” Lucy asks. Tim blows out a breath and pulls her into a hug.
“I’m sorry.” He says. “I was frustrated about something else and took it out on you.”
“I’m sorry too.” Lucy says. “I didn’t know I would have to go through a colicky baby again.” Tim brushes some hair out of her face.
“I’m sorry for being an ass.” He says. Lucy puts her hand on his chest. The thing about her and Tim is they always made it through any bump. This was barely a bump, but more frustration. But still—
They made it through.
“Don’t apologize babe.” She says. “I’m sorry you had a rough day.” Tim leans forward to give her a kiss.
“We can talk about it later.” He says. “I have dishes to do.” And that —among many other things—is why she loves this man so much.
“Thank you babe.” She says and stands on her toes to kiss him. She appreciates him, she really does and they will fight sometimes but they will always come back to one another.
“Anytime.” He says and shoots her a smile before she is walking off. She can relax now, they will talk later.
Everything will be okay.
***
“I am sorry,” Lucy says. “I could see you had a hard day and I didn’t respect that.” Tim rolls over so he’s facing her.
“Sophie has been colicky for a few weeks.” He says. Lucy nods and he gives her a soft smile.“We are going to have bad days Luce. It doesn’t mean I don’t love you or you don’t love me.”
“I know.”
“We just have to talk and not get frustrated or try not to.” He says. “Emma heard us arguing. I know she was fine—”
“I thought about that too.” Lucy says. “We just both had moments.”
“Exactly.” Tim says. “And it made me realize how much Emma is like you. She doesn’t back down.” Lucy lets out a laugh.
“No she doesn’t.” Lucy says. “So what happened today?” Tim takes a deep breath and then he lets it out.
“It’s not always easy being in metro.” He says. “There’s this new officer—” Lucy listens as he explains the officer wasn’t giving him or anyone else respect. And he almost got one of his officers killed.
“You are a good leader Tim.” Lucy says and she’s so proud of him. “You will figure it out.”
“Yeah?”
“Absolutely.” She confirms.
“We are okay?” Tim asks and he’s pouting a little. It’s adorable and a little infuriating but she loves him more than anything. Tim and her girls were what made her world spinning.
“Yeah.” She says and a smile spreads across his face. “We are good.”
And they would absolutely be fine.