Léon Pierroux ⚜ Louis de Pointe du Lac (sufferme) wrote in thereincarnates, @ 2017-01-08 17:28:00 |
|
|||
Entry tags: | leander durant, léon pierroux |
Who: Léon Pierroux and Leander Durant
What: Léon is desperate, and there's only one person he ever turns to when he needs help. Of course, it's not usually with a baby.
Where: Léon's apartment in New Orleans
When: Sunday, January 8; night.
Warnings: TBD, but probably mild since there's a baby involved.
It wasn't the first time that Léon had kept Giselle on his own since she'd been born. He'd promised Esmé that he'd do his fair share of parenting, and he'd meant it. Even if he missed some of the most important moments in his daughter's life, he was going to be there for as much of it as he could. Every moment that he could manage. When something came up at work and Esmé had been called in, of course he'd agreed that he could keep Giselle. For as long as she needed someone to watch Giselle. Overnight, of course, wasn't a problem. He was up overnight, anyway, and it wasn't as if he had plans to spend his night doing something that he couldn't do just as easily with Giselle there. She was just over five months old now, his little princess, and she had a smile that grabbed his heart in a fist as surprisingly strong as the one she would grab his fingers with. She didn't understand why daddy couldn't be there during the day. Léon was certain, in darker moments, that she didn't even know that he was someone more important to her than a random stranger. They were meant to be developing attachments, at her age, to the important people in their lives. He'd read all the baby books.
Most of the hours that he spent with Giselle were hours that she was supposed to be sleeping. She was even starting to, now, for longer than a few hours at a time. Léon had been... useful, when Esmé needed a full night of sleep and Giselle had still been waking up every few hours. Now that she was sleeping longer, she didn't need him like that, anymore. Neither did Esmé, even though she had never stopped giving him the opportunity to be a part of Giselle's life, even when he was certain it had become more of an inconvenience, now that she could keep a normal, daytime schedule if she wanted to. He'd kept waiting for her to start canceling visits, for the time he spent with his daughter to begin dwindling. He was surprised that it hadn't. Not because he thought that Esmé didn't care enough to make certain that he got to be a father to Giselle, but because... it was inconvenient. He wouldn't have blamed her in the least.
This, though, this was a way that he could be useful, taking Giselle when Esmé had a work emergency. Even band managers got to take time off, sometimes, though Léon had his laptop with his work email open on the coffee table. He'd thought that he would get to it, when Giselle went to sleep. Which, of course, was the problem.
He'd tried. Mon Dieu, he'd tried. He'd used every single one of the tricks he had, trying to get his daughter to go to sleep. To at least settle down. She was having none of it. She wasn't hungry. Her diaper was clean and dry. Just holding her, providing her with touch, wasn't enough. It was because he wasn't her mother, he thought. She wanted Esmé, and there was nothing he could do about it. Except, of course, for calling Esmé at work and admitting that this thing, this one thing that she'd asked for his assistance with, this one part of fatherhood that he'd been able to participate in, he couldn't do it. Léon wasn't an acceptable substitute for Esmé. He was cold where she was warm, withdrawn where she was passionate. He wasn't the sort of father that a child would ever want, and he'd been foolish to ever assume that he could be.
"Shhh, shhh, I've got you, sweetheart." Léon was pacing the floor with her, voice very near to desperate. He'd asked Leander to come. He didn't know why he'd asked Leander to come, either, it wasn't as if Leander had any more experience with babies than Léon, but... but there was a part of him that wanted him there. There was always a part of him that wanted Leander there, anymore. He didn't know what to do with that part, with that stubborn, painful part, the part that wanted him there in spite of everything he had done to him. At the same time... he'd done so much for Léon. Been there, when he needed. Whenever he asked. There was no one else that he wanted to call. He was entirely aware that Claire, or his mother, would come without a question asked, but... he wanted Leander. It was selfish of him, wanted Leander to come, to be there for him, instead of someone who might have a better idea of what to do, but Léon wasn't without his flaws.
At the very least... maybe she'd prefer Leander's voice to his own, if Léon could convince him to sing her a lullaby.