Babies won't sleep

Christian's sound sleep was a much needed blessing. He hadn't been as bad off as Cadence but... Adjusting to having two infants in your home was always rough. Particularly when those infants are roughly 3/4 of an inch long. It was surprisingly easy to get them to fall asleep with him. Cadence said it was the vibrations of his voice or something. But getting them to go BACK to sleep... That was another story. Around a crisp 3am, Melody stirred in her cradle on the nightstand. The fussing turned into full on wails within moments, demanding parental attention. Unfortunately, she was too small to wake Christian up from his much-needed sleep.

Cadence blinked awake, her blue eyes slowly adjusting to the soft glow of the four light spells that dimly lit the ceiling above and around the nightstand. She took in a deep breath, trying to find the strength to roll over and stand up. But she still couldnt force herself to stand after a several more breaths. She was just...exhausted. Her, Chris, and their two new little ones had been home for just over three and a half weeks. A week into it and everything had still been practically fun. Chris helped as much as he could, but...well the obvious was obvious. By day 12 Cadence had felt annoyance start to rear its ugly head. Tonight had been even harder. The girls had finally fallen asleep just before 12am, and now they were up again! Biting her lip, the small fae pushed herself up and out of the bed that was sitting several fae measured feet away from the twins cradles and the other nursery things. It just made things easier for her to sleep this way...even though she felt worlds apart from her husband.

She muttered a spell and thr lights brightened just slightly,  letting her look into the carved and beautifully intricate acorn shell cradles. Her girls were almost identical, both around the same size and weight, faces red and splotchy from crying,  and little hands clenched into angry fists. But she could already see some of the differences between them...May not only would likely have her father's hair but some of his chin too. Melodys hair was close to the same blond color as her sister, but it was straighter and a pink hue was starting to show. The small mother's heart swelled oddly as she gathered the babies into her arms.

"Sshhhhh. Sh, sh, sshhh. Whats wrong? Why do my little birds need to fuss?" Cadence took in a shaky breath and continued to walk and gently rock her babies.

Why do I feel like I...Cant....fix anything? They won't stop crying no matter what I do. And I can't help Chris! He wants to do more....Hell I'm desperate to help too. But he...he just can't! How do you fix that? She sniffed and carefully hugged the tiny, squirming bodies; she made herself not look at Chris's massive sleeping form. She'd only get annoyed he could sleep through this and she never would.

Half an hour later, Christian rolled over onto his side with a soft sigh. His sleeping state lessened as his hand fell upon an empty space where he was used to feeling a tiny warm body under his palm. Gradually, his mind roused enough to hear her little voice somewhere nearby. 

"Cay?" He mumbled in that groggy voice of his. His massive silhouette shifted, turning over onto his stomach when he caught sight of her on he nightstand. The twins were egging each other on it seemed into who could cry the loudest. Christian's heart immediately ached for his wife, wishing he could lift this load from her shoulders. 

"Is there... Anything I can do?" He offered gently. Usually the answer was a look up and down at him, a small smile and a shake of her head. Which meant, you're too big for this, babe. mToo friggin' big to even rock his own kids to sleep.

Cadence kept singing softly, her worn out voice wavering from the strain of holding back tears. Her eyes were shut and head laid back against the headrest of the rocking chair Ruth had given her, and the two small babies were squirming away on her lap. It had felt like hours since she had first woken up. But a glance at the digital clock across the room, sitting ontop of Chris's dresser, told her that it had been a half hour. Half hour. How can these kids not be screamed out yet? 

Her voice shakily halted as she took in a deep breath. Finally she started to pray, slowly unclenching her tight hold over her pain and confusion. It hurt to even just try and...let it go. But she'd tried everything else...

I'm sorry...I guess I forgot...You. I'm just...just so exhausted and frustrated--

Her husband's voice quietly rumbled and she looked up at him; even her facial muscles were too tired to look surprised. The fae mother looked up into Christian's face, the strong planes illuminated in a pale relief from the glow spells that only made the dark circles under his eyes stand out more. Her eyes quietly searched Chris's hazel eyes, and she felt her heart break again. Sniffling, her eyes closed again and she shrugged. 

"I-...I dont know. I don't know what the hell I'm supposed to do. They just...wo-...won't stop cry-....crying." she stuttered through tears.

Chris breathed out broken hearted silence as he listened to Cadence's small, tear-stricken voice. 

"You just fed them at midnight. They can't be hungry again, can they?" He had to squint to make out the slight, exhausted shake of Cadence's head. 

He sat up halfway, propping himself with one arm on the pillow. He had to do something. She wasn't supposed to go through this on her own. But Melody and May were so frickin minuscule when he was his proper height... He avoided holding them many times. Especially when he was tired... It wasn't worth risking a slip up with his only daughters.

Still, he couldn't stop himself from lowering a huge hand to touch her shoulder. 

"You want to... I don't know.. Bring them into bed with us?"

Cadence's anger suddenly flared. Did he seriously think he'd get to swoop in and fix this? Like she was a bad mother and he some giant super hero? The small woman was about to snap when Christian's finger gently touched her shoulder. The comment died before she said anything, and her eyes slipped down to the finger on her shoulder. Her electric blue eyes studied the massive finger, moving down to the hand it was attached to. 

Maybe I still have some crazy hormones sitting in my brain....just waiting to turn me into the kind of wife you hide from.

The fae looked up into her husband's face and nodded, a small smile on her pale face. She stood up and quietly muttered a couple of spells, making a couple of the babies' pillows and blankets float along behind her as she carefully flew over to her husband. 

Chris was usually too worried to pick her up when she was holding the girls; he even sometimes found real creative ways to avoid holding the three of them in his open palm. But as she landed on Chris's chest, his t-shirt incredibly soft under her feet...She started to wonder if this was a reason they were... like this; a former human turned fae mother and a once-widower sculptor, now a giant father. Maybe it was because they were supposed to raise these kids together... In the most crazy, literal way. 

At least tonight, she thought as she tenderly arranged the pillows and blankets around her still squirming daughters, tucking them in over their father's beating heart, Tonight both of us will get these kids asleep. Together.

 "Now it's your turn," Christian murmured. The other hand came up, touching Cadence with a little less caution and stroking down her side, pressing her lightly against him. "Get some sleep, honey." He pushed her long soft hair back and smoothed the agitated feathers on the top of her folded wings. His entire family was sleeping on his chest. He didn't dare fall asleep.

Cadence practically hummed as Chris' fingers ran down the length of her wings, each feather tingling when a massive fingertip lightly trailed over it. The fae woman almost instantly fell asleep, her cheek snuggled into his shirt, tense body relaxed into the impossibly strong chest under her, and lulled by the sound of his heart and the soft breathing of her two baby girls. But with a frown and raised eyebrow, Cadence sat up and pointed back at Chris. She knew that her giant husband would know what she meant. What about him? They both needed sleep. Scratch that, all four of them needed it. The man never moves in his sleep anyway...

Christian raised his eyebrows back at her, then let out a breath between a sigh and a chuckle. He rolled his eyes and sent her a compliant smile. Fine. I'll try. 

She knew him too well. The newfound quiet finally settled in over the room, sank into his bones. Quiet was a luxury around their home these days. His hand remained draped over his tiny wife like a fleshy blanket, his fingertip resting on her minuscule hand. With the satisfaction that all three of his beautiful girls would be sleeping peacefully, Christian shut his eyes and allowed himself to have this small victory.