Maryanne Elizabeth Walker (maryanne_walker) wrote in spinningcompass, @ 2014-11-01 21:34:00 |
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Maryanne wasn’t sure when she had drifted off to sleep. But she felt like she’d slept for ages. Because she now felt human. A slightly deflated human, but still human. She went through her normal series of cat like stretches. Groaning softly, as she did. And ever so slowly she opened her eyes. Her hands ran over her tummy, still slightly swollen, but no where near the size that it had been with the triplets. Triplets! That was something she was going to have to wrap her head around. There had been three babies, rather than just two. Maryanne eased up against the pillow, rather than raising the bed and making unnecessary noises. === Clint hadn’t slept yet. Part of his brain still decided that it wasn’t allowed, even though he knew there were plenty of people to watch the babies, and they’d done little more than lay in their cots or on his chest, sleeping or not. He didn’t know why it made him so nervous, he’d been there since Richie was born, he’d been around babies. But it still felt different, knowing they were his. And the fact there were three added to those nerves more than he’d admit. He didn’t remember who had brought him the recliner but he’d have to find out and thank them later, because there was no way he’d still be comfortable there without it. Once Maryanne had dozed off, he’d put up the first photo, settled in with one bassinet on either side of him and a baby in his arms, switching them out every now and then to try and get himself used to each of them...and to try and make sure he’d remember which was which while they still had their names wrapped around their wrist. When he first noticed Maryanne stirring, Clint had the chair tilted back a bit and Barney was resting belly down on his chest. He couldn’t help the little grin, “Mornin’ Mama.” === His voice hit her before anything else did, and she turned toward it. A smile brightened her face at the picture he made. Nothing could be more perfect. That vision made three just fine, in that very second. It would be busy, but they would make it work. “Mornin’ Daddy.” Maryanne purred, sleep still clutching to her voice. She shifted a little more on the bed, hiding the want to wince since she was still a bit sore. Not wanting to add to his load. “Barney?” She nodded toward the infant on his tummy. Both him and Mitchell being towheaded, it was hard to tell at a distance. === His grin got a little bit wider, he really was a daddy now. He’d felt like it for a while, with Bucky especially, for one reason or another, but it still seemed...different, to know now that they were his, biologically too. He nodded. “Yeah. Want him? He’s up, just kinda lookin around.” he told her, moving the baby’s blanket out of the way a little bit so she could see more of him. === “Nooo I wouldn’t change that view for the world. Only if he gets fussy.” Or if any of them got fussy. Maryanne wiped at her eyes with the corner of her blanket as her eyes got a little wet. “You four are beautiful right there.” She fanned her face furiously to try to will back the flood of emotions. “I’m leaking.” She sniffled. === “Five.” he corrected softly, because she may not have been made up or dressed up, and probably just had one of the more strenuous nights of her life, but she was still one of the most beautiful things he’d ever seen. And he still couldn’t quite figure out how such cute babies were still half him. He gave her a breathy little chuckle and reached to gently, and carefully put down the foot of his recliner, not wanting to make any sudden moves or noises and startle the babies. Once he could stand he scooped up Barney and walked to the side of the bed. “Scoot over.” he told his wife gently. === Maryanne didn’t have to be told twice, she eased over and made room for them both. Probably more than enough, as she pressed herself against the railing, just so she could peep at them. At least until Clint got comfortable. She ignored the aches her body claimed to have, because this was far too important to give anything else any attention. “We might have to get one of those chairs for the bedroom. Think it’ll fit?” She knew they had a traditional rocker in Bucky’s and Timmy and Richie’s rooms, but she wanted to wake up to sights like that more often. === Clint shuffled the baby very carefully to one arm and used the other to bring both bassinets as close to the bed as he could get them before climbing in himself. He saw the way she pressed herself as small as she could be and just used his free arm to slide around her and lightly ease her back closer to him. “I promise it’s real, you don’t gotta be afraid to touch me.” he teased lightly. “Might be tight once we get a third crib in there but I’m sure we could find a way.” he smiled, kissing her temple. “Take him?” he asked a moment later, “Don’t want to play favorites, and they’re probably pretty eager to really meet you.” He was already sliding the baby in to her arms, ready to get the other two up with them next. === “I love you.” Maryanne whispered. If she hadn’t known better she would have sworn he read her mind. Maybe it was that he simply knew her. Knew her train of thought almost before she did. She curled up against his side, and had to wipe at her eyes again. He knew her, and he stayed. “I was thinking, those little side bed things you found would probably be better. I don’t know where we’d put the third but it would mean a chair could fit in there.” She eased back only a little, so she could take the tiny bundle from him. They were so little, not unhealthily so, they’d got a clean bill of health, that much she remembered. But she was pretty sure Timmy hadn’t ever been this small. She settled Barney on her chest, and cooed at him. “Aren’t you handsome? No wonder you were hiding from the world. You have your Daddy written all over you, and you would have had the girls wrapped around your finger before you were even out of the womb.” Already she could see Clint in him, as he seemed to stare up at her. === Clint kissed her hair, "I love you too." And he did, he loved her and the little life they'd made here, the comfort they had with each other to where they didn't always need to speak to know how they felt, but he still knew he'd never get tired of hearing her voice. And it may have been a little bit strange, but their odd little family felt like a real home, more than he'd ever really felt before. He pulled the other bassinets as close as he could and carefully pulled the little girl first on to his chest, then the final baby he settled gently in to the dip where his and Mary's bodies met. "They're so little." He commented softly. He hadn't seen Richie this soon after he'd been born but he never remembered him this small. "I feel like I'm gonna break them." He admit a little softer. === Even there in that room she felt at home. A delicate happy little sigh parted her lips. With Timmy and Bucky, AJ, Tony and Richie, they were a pretty rounded out family now. She couldn’t be happier. “Timmy was not this small, he was a big baby.” Maryanne confessed, softly. Her attention shifed from the little boy on her chest, to the other two. She glanced up at Cliff. “You’re doing pretty good, so far. You have a Daddy glow.” === He gave her a little smile. "If you say so." He mumbled, chewing the inside of his lip. If he were honest it still scared him a bit. Or a lot. But he was proud too, and overjoyed. And he felt loved, to know that someone so amazing wanted this with him. "You did amazing. You are amazing. And look it too." He kissed her lightly. "We're gonna have to find more stuff though. That was...a surprise. " === “You didn’t do to bad yourself.” She didn’t quite remember all of it. But she did remember him being there the whole time. Raising up just a little she kissed him, soundly. “You did good work.” Three was a big surprise. But she knew they could handle it. “We might have to see if we have any builders that can add at least one room on to the house.” Or they’d have to find something bigger. “Instead of just ten fingers and ten toes we got thirty.” The part that scared her was the obvious. How Barney had hid from them. “Bruce do tests on him yet?” She asked softly, her fingers caressing over the downy soft hair. === “I’ll start asking around tomorrow. Or next week. I don’t want to break the bubble yet.” he murmured, nuzzling in to his son’s hair a little, rubbing his fingers gently up and down his back. Because somehow it felt like, at least for a little while, there wasn’t anything to worry about. As long as they stay there, in that room, with their babies. He shook his head. “No, not yet. I’m sure he’s curious but he said they could wait. And would probably go over better with him right after a meal anyway.” He didn’t quite understand how an entire baby had hidden from them, he’d seen the print outs, watched ultrasounds, he hadn’t even seen a hit that there might be anything more than two little ones. And, not for nothing, he had a keen eye. “You ever hear of anything like that? From the school or through the grapevine? Something that could hide him that way?” he asked, because he’d known and worked with enough mutants to know that just about anything was possible, but he hadn’t heard of anything that could explain this either. === “It can wait for a little while. We can keep our little cocoon for as long as you want.” This was so different from the first. But she’d been depressed after Timmy was born. This, she just felt the natural glow of love. Maryanne shook her head, nuzzling her cheek against his shoulder a bit. Then it hit her, she slowly sat up straighter. Looking over at him. “My Dad… The first time he… When I was four, I remember him screaming at me ‘You hid…’ with a few other choice words. I always thought it was because I was behind Sean, and even in 1992 ultrasounds weren’t all that… exact. But what if it was because… I was invisible to it?” There was no way to know, that she could figure. She was pretty sure it was next to impossible to get her records. === Clint was careful to make sure none of the little ones got jostled too much as Mary moved, Mitchell seemed to be on the verge of sleep and even he knew that if a baby was willing to sleep on it’s own you didn’t disturb them. “It could be. I mean, I guess anything is possible.” he murmured, knowing there seemed to be some genetics involved with mutations. “How young were you when you figured it out?” he’d never thought to ask before but he wondered if they might be chasing a kitten around the house anytime soon. === “Seventeen. It hit me like a train. Me and… He was drunk, and I was getting ready to go to prom. And he hit me, and called me a whore. And instead of… Instead of just taking it like I normally did I decked him. And it was like… the emotional wave that came after that… I started to shift. It was scary, and it was painful, there’s only one thing that’s more painful than that was.” She shifted Howard a little so that he wasn’t lopsided, since she moved. “But there are a few, a very very few that actually present when they’re born. I couldn’t tell you names, though.” She toyed with Barney’s toes, and then Howards. “Are we going to call him Howie until he’s old enough to tell us not too, or Grant?” === Clint hated hearing about the way she’d been treated, still had to force himself not to wince or want to seek revenge he knew he wouldn’t find anyway. But part of him would always wish he’d been there sooner. As it was, he just leant over to kiss her, his way of making sure she knew she’d never be treated like that again. “Mystique was one.” he didn’t even remember how he knew, but somehow he did and it was almost...reassuring. Because even if her past wasn’t always on the good side, he knew she was strong. It made him worry less about whatever had hidden their son somehow hurting him too. Clint chuckled, “I’m leaning Howie, though we might want to check with Tony first.” Part of him hoped that this might help Tony somehow, but he didn’t want him to feel bad either, hearing a name so much, that usually made him cringe. === “I didn’t know that.” But then she hadn’t been particularly astute as far as her predecessors went. “I didn’t really poke around, I should have, she was a shifter.” More like Sean was, than what she was, but still. She rest her head against his shoulder. “Are you okay with us calling him Barney?” Maryanne asked softly as she peeked up at him from the corner of her eyes. Her fingers rubbed over the little boy in question’s back. Hoping that hearing his brother’s name over and over wouldn’t hurt him. “And I highly doubt Howard ever went by Howie, if he did I highly doubt Tony would have heard it.” He hadn’t struck her as the kind of man that put up with nicknames. === "I don't think she could control it until she was older. At least that's what I heard. So she was just...blue." He shrugged lightly. "Kind of explains some of the uh, attitude though. Couldn't have been easy." Clint nodded a little "We had our...troubles, but I wouldn't be alive if it weren't for him. Wouldn't be here. And other than taking a bunch of my cash, we mostly left on good terms." He knew 'troubles' was putting it lightly but he didn't want to let the past ruin the only blood family he had, before now. He nodded, “You’re probably right.” === “Oh and Kurt Wagner, he was fuzzy from the start.” Maryanne puffed her cheeks out a little. “I don’t know about the attitude, I think that comes with most skinwalkers. It just… messes with them I think. And she’s also been around for a long time, seen a whole lot of ugliness.” She sometimes wondered if there was ever any peace for mutantkind. She smiled a little. “I think Barney suits him. I don’t know why exactly.” She traced a finger over his soft little cheek, as his tiny fist made way into his mouth. “But Howie or Grant seems like it would suit him.” She tweaked the tiny toes that shifted between them. Her gaze turned to their little girl. “And last but not least, what’s Daddy’s princess going to be called?” === “That’s true too.” he sighed, kissing her hair again. Things were a little crazy on the island and life always felt just a little bit fleeting, like he could wake up tomorrow and it’d all be gone, but they’d managed to do some things here so much better than in their world. He was glad Mary and Sean would hopefully never have to see that side of their lives again, and that if Barney was a mutant, he’d never have to know it at all. “Sorry I didn’t get their arms up in there, I’m still not so good at the swaddling thing. They always seem to escape.” He commented as he saw the baby start drooling over his fingers. AJ had tried to teach him a few times and he was sure she’d try again, but some things were never his forte. “We can just see what sticks.” he shrugged, either name would work for the little boy and he figured they’d fall in to one or the other naturally after a little while. “Does Mitchell know yet?” he asked, brushing his fingers along the tiny girl’s back gently. === She felt safe. Their little cocoon made her feel safe. He made her feel safe. Like nothing bad could ever happen to her. To them. Maryanne lifted her hand to trace her fingers along his jaw. “But we don’t have to worry about any of that here.” She whispered softly. “Not me, and not him.” She chuckled softly. “Don’t worry about it. I don’t usually bind up the arms, unless it’s chilly. As long as they don’t scratch themselves they’re fine.” Carefully she boosted Barney up. “It’s a sign that he’s hungry, that’s all.” Giving the little boy a sound kiss on the cheek, she slipped one of the ties at her shoulder undone, and lowered it enough to expose her breast, and set to help the baby nurse. Yelping softly the second he got the idea. “Oh yeah, he was hungry.” Mary nodded slightly. “Yeah, he seemed to get a little jealous that I was naming Barney after Harry, and I had been playing with the idea of using his name as her first name, I just wasn’t sure how he’d feel about our little girl being named after him.” === “Never.” Clint promised softly, because he knew that if anyone even tried to hurt any of them that way he would stop it himself. “That’s what those little...mitten things we got are for right? So they don’t scratch anything?” he just watched as she got the baby to her breast and he started nursing eagerly. It was something he’d seen plenty but was still a little bit amazed at every time. He noticed the way Barney did the same thing Timmy always did, peering up at Maryanne as he ate, focusing only on her. “He’s okay with it now though?” he asked, knowing they could always use her middle name or give her a nickname for the first few years at least. === |