WHERE Blue & Gansey’s room WHEN Middle of the night, Oct 21st WHAT Gansey wakes up an Old, Blue’s been pulling an all-nighter. STATUS Complete! WARNINGS None really!
Waking up alone was a rarity for someone like Gansey. He was late to bed and early to rise, his sleep schedule typically much shorter than the two people that frequently slept with him. He had often been the one to slip out of bed to get the kids when they’d woken up in the middle of the night, and was usually the first up in the morning, leaving Henry and Blue to get a little extra sleep as often as he could. (Mostly he just liked to avoid morning crankiness before he was prepared to offer a full cup of coffee in payment.)
So reaching out with his eyes still closed, he didn’t expect to feel the cool, empty bed next to him. Gansey’s eyebrows furrowed before he even opened his eyes. And then he was just faced with dim blurriness because his glasses were on the nightstand.
He squinted across the room, because somehow that seemed to clear his vision a little, and then up at the wall, and decorations he hadn’t seen in a long time, a dresser that was decidedly Declan in it’s simplicity. “Oh no. Jesus Christ not again.” He let his head fall back to the pillow, immediately remembering all the times weird time shit had happened in Vallo. It was then he heard the rustle in the corner, and Gansey reached over for glasses that were immediately proven to be an old prescription and still made him squint.
But he could see well enough to spot Blue’s outline in the corner of the room, a younger Blue. One that was maybe a little too young to have a baby on her chest, and yet the sleeping form of one was nestled there and clearly comfortable.
Shit. Gansey immediately went soft and he melted a little into the bed, heart warmed over the view and not even trying to hide that he was enjoying it.
Babies were not easy. Whoever said they were was a liar, and whoever got extreme enjoyment out of waking up in the middle of the night to rock them back to sleep was masochistic. Blue did not pity them. She was getting her very own crash course in babies since the morning they woke up to one cradled happily in their shared bedroom.
At least Blue wasn't alone when it came to help. Ronan, in his old age, was shockingly intuitive. Adam threw himself into reading baby books as problems arose, and Gansey, with all his worries, had been helpful as she was. Or as helpful as two young adults who suddenly were gifted a child could be.
But this evening had been particularly hectic. Little Owen—she still did not believe that was his name, even after all the obvious fake ones Ronan threw out there—couldn't seem to settle. After offering food, a clean diaper, a warm bath, and constant pacing-slash-rocking around the room and up and down the stairs, nothing seemed to stop him from crying. Blue was feeling unexpectedly overwhelmed, but she figured that was the exhaustion that had been creeping over her for the last few days.
By the time Owen fell asleep, wrapped in her arms while she sat up in Declan's desk chair, Blue had shushed Gansey off to sleep. She wasn't moving. She could deal with this, as long as Owen didn't wake up for, like, an hour.
She was only partially asleep, dozing in and out, when she heard Gansey moving out of the bed. She was oblivious to his abrupt shift in age, her only focus at the moment was Owen. Her eyes remained closed as she whispered across the room, "If you wake this baby up, I will forget that you are my boyfriend and dump you out the window."
Gansey sat up and stacked his hands in his lap happily, openly grinning now. It had been a long time since they’d had babies in the house, their two were firmly in the teenager stage, and too young to be giving them grandchildren (if that was something they were interested in someday at all, Gansey wouldn’t pressure) but he’d really come to enjoy the baby stage, and missed it.
But he was quiet, he stayed quiet, letting her eyes stay closed as he took it all in. He felt a little bad for his heart welling up with emotion and love, but there was not much that would drag him away from looking at Blue like this. It was a mirrored image of when he got to appreciate Henry like this as well, comfort and giddiness spread across his whole upper half.
“Sorry.” He whispered the apology, low enough that he hoped Owen wouldn’t fuss. That had been a thing for a good six months, especially during the teething age. “Is it Owen? He takes after me in insomniac land.” That was giving him away, and Gansey truly hoped that Blue wasn’t about to scream and fling a baby at him in surprise. Though he did ready his palms upward to catch just in case.
The small consolation is that Blue had been through this before. She had woken up to an older Gansey in her bed almost a year ago and navigated the complicated nature of that relationship. So in the middle of the night, holding their child as she acted as a makeshift bed, Blue only made a small face of disapproval, a not this again sigh, before she opened her eyes. She could handle this. Owen had fortified her against the absolutely strange and unusual coming at them this week.
Blue didn't get up, electing to have him come to her—she had the baby after all. "How long did we argue about naming him after Glendower?" Blue asked, as she took in Gansey's form in the dark. She wanted to turn a light on, seem him for real, but that was immediately asking for the crying to start again. "I honestly thought Ronan was pulling my leg, he's almost exactly the same asshole, just older."
Gansey also seemed the same, just older. She could feel his good mood from here—which was not uncommon from him, even at her age. She was tired, her body already protesting coming more awake for this that she had wanted, but she smiled back. His happiness was contagious. It should have been weird, but it was nice.
This whole thing was stirring up feelings in Blue that she had only dipped her toe in before. "Come closer, I want to see you better, since we're both up."
Gansey complied without complaint, pulling the blanket back so he could scoot to the edge of the bed for a closer look. His knee protested, but he silently cursed that betraying bastard and pushed on. This, perching on the edge of the bed, within a foot or two of Blue and a sleeping Owen, was a much better view now that he could toss his glasses off and see them both a lot more clearly.
He did keep up the whisper though, under penalty of death. “We didn’t. I wrote it on the list in the middle of the night and crossed it off, never brought it up for real. You and Henry cornered me one day and told me what you’d decided.” It was on the tip of his tongue to reassure her that they didn’t follow up the trend of dead welsh king names for kid number two, but he kept silent, as he remembered from this age, the early 20s, that they were nowhere near ready for kids.
That thought had him glancing around, looking at the room again now that his eyes had adjusted a little more. “Ronan’s older too? Anyone else? Is--” Gansey winced as he took in the muted presence of Henry. It wasn’t gone, exactly, but there was much less of him taking over than he was used to, not to mention the bed being empty of his snoring self. “Henry’s still gone?”
The years looked good on Gansey. She'd nearly forgotten, given how much had happened between now and his last future visit. If her hands weren't so focused on keeping Owen snuggly against her chest. Blue probably would have touched. Put sensation under her fingertips into reality. She'd settle for Gansey being close, whispering how she caved about Owen.
"That doesn't sound like me, but I'm not going to argue because I'm tired and it's one—god, no two in the morning," Blue said with a soft sigh. Part of Blue wanted to keep listening to Gansey talk, be lulled to sleep—in a good way—by his voice, warm with age. But the mention of Henry was like someone dumping ice water over her head.
She sat up a little, her eyes wide with surprise. She missed Henry dearly, they both had. "Yeah he is. When did he come back? Is it soon? Is it—" Owen made a small noise in her arms; Blue hadn't realized her whispering turned louder. She froze, worried that she had woken him up, but he settled right back to sleep. "I know you can't tell me but I wouldn't hate a hint."
“Maybe you remembered this madness.” Gansey made the suggestion with a cheeky grin, thoroughly enjoying this whole situation now. Getting to surprise Blue was rare enough in itself, combined with getting to see them like this? His hands itched to join them, to reach out and touch, but he kept them steady and held firm on his own lap just to prevent things from getting weirder.
“I can’t remember exactly at this point, it’s been a while. But we didn’t get into any of this,” Unable to resist the urge and using this as an excuse, he reached out to stroke a hand across the back of Owen’s head. “Until Henry was back.”
The baby reacted to his touch, he made another noise and resituated himself on Blue’s chest, clearly debating the fine line between sleep and mayhem. “If you want, I can take over. You can go back to bed? As much as I’m enjoying the view.” And he was, but she looked exhausted and Gansey had that surge of paternal instinct that reared its ugly head.
Blue was listening, but it was hard to focus when Gansey was being so fond with Owen. It wasn't like she expected him to not be, but there was a difference in taking care of a baby that was unceremoniously dropped in your lap and carefully tending to one that was indisputably yours. While Blue couldn't deny the connection—that gut pull of mine, ours when Owen first showed up—Gansey right now was a reminder of how much she loved him. How much she would continue to love him and Henry. How much this didn't actually scare the hell out of her like it might have a year ago.
"This is good, I can wait," Blue responded softly. She didn't know when she started rubbing Owen's back, but instinct was slipping in and after a few days of being the caregiver with her version of Gansey. She followed up by pressing her cheek against the top of Owen's head, replacing where Gansey's hand had been.
Blue's eyes drifted closed, and the offer to sleep was tempting, but... "Trying to get rid of me so quickly? What if I wanted to stay like this? You get years with him," Blue said, nudging Gansey's leg with her foot. "If this is Vallo being weird I probably only have a few more days. A week, tops, well—until we actually, you know."
Gansey laughed and immediately stifled it, trying carefully to not fuck it all up so they both ended up with a crying baby, he knew that’d get him in hot water. “Never trying to get rid of you, promise.” Especially not when their mantra back home had been do not wake the sleeping baby, under any circumstances. It was especially true when they were teething or going through some growth spurt. He wasn’t sure exactly where they were at with either stage just from this angle.
“He’s in the fistbump-only stage right now, so enjoy the cuddles while you can get them.” They didn’t last nearly long enough in Gansey’s estimation, but that was also partially because the older he got, the decidedly less cool he felt, and he’d already been a leg behind on that even with a husband to help him stay afloat.
Her reminder that they might only have a week, tops, had him reaching for the phone on the nightstand and opening it up to flip through the calendar. “The wedding, shit. How stressed is Adam right now?” Because he knew full well that if Ronan was older, he was acting like the Ronan they were all used to.
"Fistbumping, huh?" She asked, before murmuring ever so softly to Owen, her eyes on Gansey as she spoke. "Your dad loves those, make sure you give him a lot when he asks." As if on cue, Owen's tiny hand curled against her shirt, and Blue felt both stunned and proud that she had managed to cut through his newborn subconscious without startling him awake.
When Gansey mentioned the wedding, Blue let out a heavy breath. She had watched Adam try to put on a good face through the week, but there were obviously other things bothering him that wasn't just the surprise of kids and newly-spawned adults. Seeing Gansey like this would either cause him to suck it up or spiral—luckily though they had a few hours before anyone had to know.
"So stressed. But you know him, shouldering everything until he collapses. I'll be surprised if he makes it to the altar on his own two feet." She paused, staring at Gansey's silhouetted features in the light from his phone. "Nora's here, too. No chance that we'll have a teenager come through next?"
“It’s my own fault,” Gansey admitted with a tinge of sadness. He wasn’t really sad, he had so much to ultimately be thankful for, and having two healthy kids that he had a good relationship with was tops. And it wasn’t like he could judge, given that his own family had never been one for hugs. “But he’s very good at them, so I’ll consider it a win.”
Gansey glanced over at the closed door of their former bedroom, frowned, and then looked back down at his phone. He did a few searches, pulling up saved itineraries and schedules of things that still needed to be accomplished. “Of course he is. I’ll pull out everything I’ve got and do what I can to help. At the very least, I don’t remember anyone being the wrong age during the actual wedding, it was beautiful.” They had plenty of pictures to prove it, too.
He did glance up and grin again, though, with her question. “I can’t promise anything about the teenager thing, sorry. I don’t know if saying anything more is going to scare you into hiding for a few days.”
Blue smiled, amused and fond, at Gansey going right into must help mode. She didn't have to be psychic to know that he was undoubtedly a good father, just the same way he was a good friend and a wonderful attentive boyfriend. Even if Blue wasn't ready for kids—she was barely even ready for the institution of marriage—she didn't have to worry about whether or not they could do it.
And that was even before Gansey was this charmingly older version of himself in front of her. The two of them had managed to get the hang of this. The fact that Owen fell asleep, generally for a few hours, even against Blue, was testament enough.
"If a baby hasn't sent me into hiding, I think I can handle a teenager—" Owen stirred then, a little more aware than the other previous times. She waited between one breath and the next for him to settle back down, but she heard that familiar gurgle, that confused little whine, and Owen deciding that it was time. He had slept enough, the darkness was scary, and crying was the only solution.
So much for believing they could do it. "Gansey—" Blue hissed as she jolted from her sitting position, attempting to run through the series of steps to lull him back to sleep. Rock, pace, gently bounce, rub his back? Oh, she felt instantly frazzled.
“I don’t know about that,” Gansey muttered back, but good-naturedly. “Teenagers are an entirely different beast.” An unknown one, that they were all still learning how to navigate. Nora had given them all a little practice as a head-start, but the personalities of all of the children in their giant ever-expanding family was like night and day.
It was well-timed that Owen decided to have his opinions known, and Gansey’s head shot up with a smile. “It is just like him to try and prove me wrong immediately.” He sounded nothing less than proud of that fact, something they’d all taught him growing up. Gansey shuffled around the bed and over to Blue, where he held a hand out both as an offering and as support. If Blue wanted to be stubborn and do it herself, he’d support that. “May I?”
When it became obvious the answer was yes to that request, he gently shifted Owen over to his shoulder. The fussing continued, but Gansey took a few steps back, and then around the room, almost like they were dancing. “You’ve probably already noticed, but a bad habit he picked up from Henry is that he constantly likes to be moving.” As if Gansey himself wasn’t just as guilty as their other half in that regard. But the movement worked, as Owen started settling again, slowly but surely.
Gansey didn't need to ask twice. It had taken a lot of willpower over the last few days to not immediately pass Owen off when he started to—or didn't stop—crying. But if Gansey was offering, especially a version of him who had done this dance before, she wasn't going to hesitate.
As quickly as she stood from her chair she had resigned to sleeping in, she sat down on the edge of the bed to watch Gansey move around the room. She should have given Owen to him earlier when he asked, because watching this tender care from her vantage point was making her stomach do flips. She'd have to deal with this later, come to terms with what it all meant, but for now, she was content. Even with Owen being fussy and the clock slowly sliding into earth, unfathomable, insomniac hours.
"I'm not surprised that it was Henry's doing," Blue said. As she pieced Henry together as a father in her brain, there was another stomach flip. "And I'm not sure if it's a bad habit now." It was proving to be a surefire way to get Owen to settle back down. She hoped his brief cry wouldn't cause the rest of the house to come running and interrupt her unfiltered view of Gansey being a father.
"Maybe in the future, when he's walking." Blue paused, realizing the strangeness of the statement. "But you already know that, don't you?"
“It’s only really a bad habit when we’re exhausted,” and he knew full well that Blue had to be, at this point. Adjusting to new baby life was tiring, and having a baby abruptly thrown into their laps without the third partner to help make it work? Oof. “Now we can just be proud he learned how to breakdance before all the other kids in his first-grade class.”
Gansey danced back, a terribly un-smooth version of the moonwalk at his feet as he scooted over closer to her. It did the trick, and Owen was gurgling happily instead of crying now. Gansey leaned over to press a kiss to the top of her head, but kept it at that. The age difference was weird enough, he wasn’t about to make things even more awkward on her, if he could help it.
“Why don’t you climb in and get some sleep? Once Owen’s out, I can go see if Ronan’s being an insomniac downstairs and make him help me set up the extra pull-out mattress. Then maybe we can both manage a few hours.” At least it looked like luck was somewhat on their side, as the baby snuggled against his chest started dozing off to the movement of his feet.
The ungraceful moonwalk was charming, and Blue covered her mouth to stifle a laugh. She didn't want to startle Owen back into crying, given that Gansey was pulling out all the parenting stops to get him to settle. She appreciated the kiss, too, with all its innocence. It reminded her of those early days of their relationship when even something as gentle as that might have meant death. What a relief to know that there was no reluctance on either end in the future, just an unaccounted for gap in age now.
She yawned, and would have questioned if he put a little more umph behind his words if she wasn't already gravitating toward the pillow. She laid down on her side so that she could still watch Gansey skirt around the room with their son.
"Only for a few hours," Blue said, tucking her hands under the pillow. "Just because you've done it before or because I'm not used to it, doesn't mean you have to take over doing all of it. Wake me for breakfast?"
Gansey, having perfected the art of a quiet, gentle, chuckle, looked over at his partner fondly. “Only a few hours, promise.” To the bassinet in the corner, he took the gamble and placed Owen in it, then frozen. No movement, no sound, just staring at the baby balancing so precariously on the edge of sleep, as if any breathing might wake him and then they’d have to start all over.
When it seemed like they were out of the woods, and the baby continued to slumber peacefully, Gansey tip-toed silently over to Blue and finished pulling the blanket up over her. He leaned down to kiss her head again. “Sleep tight,” he whispered, knowing damn well there was a 50/50 chance by the time he had the foldable mattress, Owen would be up again.
But he’d do his best to make it a silent and quick retrieval mission.