#baby jane/lisbon is my fav!

[sdottkrames]

Queen of Hearts (Chapter 2)

@comfortember prompt 29: make/build/create something beautiful

Summary: Months 6, 9, and 1 year with Baby Cammy Jane! (everyone is still in love!)

Notes: I hope you enjoy! I decided to do a third chapter because I just couldn’t let it go! 😭

Read on AO3: Here

Six Months

Teresa couldn’t decide if she’d rather have her daughter screaming, or this lethargy instead.

When Cammy got her 6-month shots, Teresa had fully expected her to scream (she had when she’d received her other shots). But today, she was just very quiet.

This wasn’t unusual, per se. Except for the month of hell where she’d refused to sleep, and the occasional tantrum, Cammy was a very happy and chill baby. (Teresa used it to endlessly tease Patrick, saying she definitely didn’t get that trait from him, to which he just scoffed and claimed that Teresa had never been chill a day in her life either with that troublemaker smile of his.) But this quietness felt different. 

Usually when Cammy was quiet, it was because she was studying something intently (like her favorite rattle), having inherited her father’s keen eye. Or playing with one of her toys, or practicing rolling over. Today she wasn’t interested in doing any of those things, simply wanting to be held. Placing her on the ground had caused her bottom lip to pout and tremble, and her eyebrows to pull together. And really, how was Teresa supposed to refuse that?

After calling the doctor to hear that it’s a perfectly normal reaction, she resigned herself to snuggling on the couch with her sad six-month-old. Wrapping Cammy in a soft blanket and situating herself comfortably, she held her daughter close.

“Oh, baby. I’m sorry you’re not feeling good,” she murmured, rubbing the little girl’s back gently. She glanced at the clock. “It’s close enough to nap time, why don’t you take a little nap, huh?”

She kept gently rubbing Cammy’s back, humming softly like Patrick would when he put their daughter down.

The thought of Patrick made Teresa’s heart ache. He had to go to work, investigating the murder of some rich oil tychoon, and she found it kind of ridiculous to miss him so much. They’d been working more lately, leaving Cammy with Grace (the first time they’d done that had been a tearful event, even though they’d only been gone a few hours) but today Teresa had stayed home for Cammy’s appointment and had convinced Patrick to go without her.

She allowed herself to wallow for a little bit, but then turned her attention to more positive thoughts. She let the warmth of the blanket, and the soothing weight and sleepy snuffling sounds of her daughter surround her, and soon she fell asleep, as well.

When Jane got home about an hour later, he smiled at the sight of his two girls still asleep on the couch, and he couldn’t resist taking a picture. Teresa was just so cute, her face relaxed into a small smile, her hair splayed around her. And Cammy had obviously inherited that trait, because she looked like an absolute angel in Patrick’s totally, absolutely, completely unbiased opinion.

He set the picture as his lock screen and absolutely refused to change it.

9 Months

Cammy loved food. She’d never had trouble nursing and had taken like a champ to eating all kinds of puréed fruits, vegetables, and even meats. It all sounded rather disgusting to Patrick, but he was no baby, and the resident baby seemed to love it.

On the menu was mashed peas and carrots, and Patrick opened the plastic container, wrinkling his nose at the strange scent. No matter how many times he’d fed them to Cammy, he could not get over it.

“You really like these, huh?” He asked, and Cammy giggled in response, reaching boldly for the spoon he was holding. He handed her a secondary one he prepared for just such a moment, and it did the job, distracting the little girl enough for Patrick to take a swipe of the green goo. Cammy ate it happily, and then accepted another bite, and then another.

It wasn’t until the fourth or fifth bite that disaster struck.

As Patrick moved the fully loaded spoon towards her mouth, Cammy suddenly jerked her hands upward, squealing, and the spoon flicked backwards…launching the mashed peas right onto Patrick’s face.

Cammy was absolutely delighted, and Patrick couldn’t help but giggle along with her despite the mess on his face. He wiped his face on a nearby bib and tried to give his daughter another bite. However, she had other ideas. As the next spoonful neared her face, she threw her hands into the air with obvious purpose and the food went flying again. 

Patrick tried to get more food into her mouth, he really did. But she was so entertained that he couldn’t get any food into her mouth without her arms going everywhere, launching food onto his face, his shirt, the walls.

Soon, Patrick and Cammy were both covered in stick green peas.

He was about to complain to his daughter about her lack of eating etiquette when, suddenly, a flash distracted him.

“Teresa,” he groaned. “While I’m covered in peas? Really?”

She laughed. “You don’t see Cammy complaining.”

Patrick rolled his eyes, but later that night, he snuck Teresa’s phone out of her pocket and sent the picture to himself. It really wasn’t a bad one, despite the green goo all over. Patrick smiled as he stared at his little girl’s happy, pea-covered face. She was smiling right at him. 

He’d never get tired of that.

 One Year

“I never pegged you for the type to be so particular about a simple party for a baby,” Patrick teased, bouncing a giggling Cammy on his hip.

Teresa had just gotten off the phone with the bakery who was making Cammy’s cake. They were an hour late for delivery, guests were about to arrive, and she had admittedly let the heat of the moment get to her a little. She probably hadn’t needed to call the driver an idiot. 

At least Patrick was amused.

Teresa turned her icy glare on him, not that it had ever worked before. HOwever, the scathing comment that had been on the tip of her tongue dissolved as she took in her husband’s smile and the matching one on her daughter’s face. She melted and grinned mushily back at them instead.

Then the guests began to arrive, further distracting her.

First was Cho, ever punctual. He placed his surprisingly gaudy present on the table. Shortly thereafter was Abbot, then Grace and Wayne arrived with Ben and Maddy, then Wiley. 

After greeting each guest, Patrick sat back and observed (he never could stop noticing each small detail) as each guest interacted with his daughter. It was clear that he and his wife were not the only ones helpless to her charms. 

Little Benjamin had all but adopted Cammy as an honorary sister, and his parents said watching her was the highlight of their week. Even Cho cooed as he took a turn holding her, which surprised Patrick almost as much as when Abbot made a silly face just to hear Cammy’s delicious, adorable giggle. . 

As Grace and Wylie bonded over computers, Wayne and Cho watched Maddy and Cammy play, trying (and failing) to keep from melting at the cuteness, and Abbott hovered in the fringes eating a brownie, Patrick held his wife and watched it all with growing fondness.

It was a perfect little slice of heaven, a beautiful, blissful moment only comparable to their wedding day, and Patrick can’t help getting a little misty-eyed.

“She really is very loved, huh,” he murmured into Teresa’s ear.

“Yeah. She’s a lucky baby.” She smiled, watching as Cammy squealed and banged a toy while Maddy giggled next to her. Literally every adult giggled along. “A beautiful, lucky little baby.”

As the sun sunk lower and lower, and the brownies and cake got smaller and smaller, Patrick and Theresa held close to each other, perfectly content and oh, so very grateful for the beautiful little family they had made for themselves.