Lovely, Stay Lovely

Crying in the middle of the night startled me and I woke up. Rolling over, I rubbed my eyes and focused on Dani. She snored softly next to me and I couldn't help but smile at the thought of how much she needed a good rest.

My thoughts quickly flashed to Abi in the other room. Dani wasn't waking up as she usually did. I frowned unsure of what to do. I really didn't want to wake up Dani. Even in her deep sleep, you could clearly see she was still exhausted.

I found my feet hitting the floor and walking to the other room. "What are yeh doin' Jona?" I mumbled to myself, entering the living room. "Yeh 'ave no idea how to care fo' a baby."

I stood over Abi's whining body looking at her like some type of foreign object. "Well," I said leaning down. "It can't be too hard." Picking up Abi, her head slowly flopped back and I instinctly supported her head. "Sh now," I whispered to the baby. "Why are yeh cryin'?"

I sighed and slowly rocked her back and forth. "Yeh know yeh Mum is realleh tired. Yeh shouldn't wake her up so much. She needs sleep jus' like yeh do," I spoke to the baby. I knew she couldn't answer but I felt compelled to talk to her.

"You're really good with her."

I turned quickly to see Dani standing sleepily in the doorway smiling. I couldn't help but feel a bit of pride well up in my chest. "Yeh fink?"

She nodded and walked over, peering at the whining baby in my arms before sighing. "I don't know what's been up with her. She never cried this much until recently."

I nodded and looked down at the baby. "Do yeh want her?"

Dani shrugged before leaning against my arm. "You got this."

Abi sniffled a bit before a smile grew on her face. She giggled up at Jona and reached one of her small hands out to him. "Look!" I grinned. "She's smilin'!"

"Good job," Dani yawned next to me. "You have the magic touch."

"I fink it's cause she saw yeh," I answered truthfully. "Yeh make takin' care of a baby look easy."

"When you love someone this much, it's easy to change."

I don't know why, but I was awestruck at that sentence alone. I stared down at the baby and wondered how powerful such a small person can be. Surely it can't be Abi's personality or looks that made Dani love her so much, but they had a connection. A real connection that I couldn't understand.

Dani yawned into my arm and I chuckled, continuing to rock the child in my arms back to sleep. "Yeh a bit tired still."

She nodded, "yea. I'll go back to bed as soon as Abi does. I'm sorry she woke you. I'll stay out here-"

"No," I interrupted, immediately flushing afterwards. I cleared my throat and repeated, "no. Yeh need some real rest."

"But I can-"

"Dani," I warned, looking down at her.

She smiled up at me, shaking her head slowly. "You're really something, Jona."

"Oh yea? What's tha'?"

"You're like a march lion. Slowly turning into a lamb, ya' know?" Without waiting, she patted my back and turned on her heel, heading back to the bedroom.

I looked down at the baby and smiled, "did yeh hear that? Yeh mum finks I'm somefing. Yeh know her bettah than I do. Is tha' a good fing?"

Of course the child didn't answer, simply cooed and closed her eyes. I nodded before placing her back down into the pile of blankets. "Sleep sounds good to me too," I stretched my arms into the air. "Night little baby. I promise yeh this is the last night yeh'll evah have to sleep in a pile of blankets. Promise."

I slowly trudged my way back to the bedroom, shaking my head. "I just made a promise to a baby," I chuckled. "I'm nuts, I realleh am."

I looked over at Dani and sighed, noticing just now that we were both still in our day clothes. I grabbed a t-shirt and boxers from my drawer before walking over to her and gently shaking her. "Dani?" I whispered.

"Jona, you told me to sleep. Now what?" She sarcastically said, a smile crawling on her face.

I grinned back, glad her eyes were still closed. She made me smile so easily, and it was annoying to say the least. "Change," I said simply, placing the shirt on her face jokingly.

She giggled and sat up, grabbing the clothes and going to the bathroom. I looked down at myself before sighing and stripping down to my boxers. I always slept without clothes. As long as I didn't wake up with morning wood next to her, I didn't really see the problem.

I slid under the covers just as she came back into the room, face planting into the pillow. I laughed and pulled the blankets over her. "Yeh pretteh weird."

"Weird is good," she said simply before pulling the blankets over herself.

I didn't protest. If she was weird, she was right. Weird was good. I was falling for weird.

How weird.