Work Text:
By the fourth floor, Dan’s panting slightly, and Anne smiles to herself at the display.
“God, what’d Eddie say? The seventh floor? The city’s too - too verticle” he pants. “Too vertical for no elevators”.
She turns to him and they pause in the stairwell, catching their breath. She shrugs, “probably cheaper rent to live on the top floor of a walkup”. She can’t imagine how that pair of jackasses are making rent in New York. Or, well, in the Bronx, but still.
“This can’t be good for you”
Anne laughs, as best one can so out of breath. “Honey, you’re a doctor, you know that’s not true this early”.
He shrugs his tired shoulders. “Yeah but”, he breathes heavily between words, “it’s an excuse to complain”.
Anne looks again at the text she’d gotten with their address on it. Many of the doors next to theirs have decorations of at least the residents’ names written somewhere. Eddie and Venom had lived out east for almost a year, now, and theirs is blank. And a little dirty.
Dan’s still slumped against the way in exhaustion when she knocks.
“Just a sec!” Eddie calls, and then she thinks she hears Venom grumble… something, and then some shuffling noises. Something falling to the ground.
And then the door is pulled open. “Hey, come'on in!” Eddie calls.
There’s no one there, but she catches a black tentacle retracting away out of the corner of her eye. They both barely glance in Eddie’s direction before collapsing onto the couch, their luggage forgotten the moment they closed the door.
“Ed that’s - that’s a lotta stairs buddy”, Dan’s still wheezing through his words.
“Yeah” Eddie laughs, Venom echoing it like rumbling thunder. And then some other layer to it, but they’re still too tired to look up. “We might’a - we forgot what it’d be like for uhh - humans”.
“So weak and fragile. Tiny”.
More of Eddie’s laughter, and more of that higher pitched bubbling noise. Anne just rolls her eyes. The fact that this has become normal - being ridiculed by an alien for her poor little earthly mortality, it’s a bit ridiculous. But she feels her lips curl into a tired smile anyway.
“Figured we’d have to come down and let you in, how’d you guys get into the building anway?”
“Someone was on his way out, let uuuu…”
Every word, every thought drains from Anne’s head when she turns to Eddie. Venom looming above him, arms draped over his shoulders. And they’re cradling something between them. Eddie’s got a goofy grin on when he realizes she’s looking at them, like he’s just been waiting for her to notice. “Hey”.
“Hey…”
Dan’s finally looked up now, too. He’s just staring, mouth hanging ever so slightly open. Clearly trying to figure out if they’re actually seeing what it looks like they’re seeing.
Venom catches their gaze and flashes something like a smirk before bringing the little ball of goop in their arms to His face, cooing to it like a rumbling engine. Eddie leans his cheek on His and joins in.
She starts to get up, but immediately finds herself on shaking legs for a whole new reason, and sits right back down. Her hand finding Dan’s shoulder, anchoring her to reality.
The pair’s right in front of them now, slumping into the (only slightly busted) armchair across from them. The… the little thing in their arms falls into their lap. It’s - it’s got a face. Blinking at them, bright red eyes flitting between her and Dan. Little mouth - mouths - smiling. It’s making that gurgling laughter she’d heard before.
It sure looks a lot like a baby. Like a baby version of Venom.
“Hey guys, how're uhhh -” Eddie runs his hand through his hair, looking a little sheepish. “How’re you doin’?”
“Eddie…” Anne hears her own voice, but she had no idea what she’s trying to ask. Blackness curls out of Eddie’s legs and torso, bouncing the tiny blob up and down and coiling around little green tendrils of its own, like something between holding hands and tying knots.
Venom clearly has an idea of His own what she’s asking. “Look how perfect they are” He says, so much pride in His voice. “So perfect”.
She nods along. Still in some kind of shock. Or trance. And then she hears Dan’s voice from beside her. “Is that a baby? ”
Well isn’t that the question.
“Yes” the Symbiote nuzzles against Eddie’s face. “Ours”.
“Our little Sleeper” Eddie kisses the corner of His jagged maw.
Ok . Anne swallows a lump in her throat. Trying to sort through everything. Ok. Ok. Eddie’s got a baby alien in his lap. She hopes it’s not too obvious she’s staring. Ok. Alright. “Congratulations”.
Eddie’s doing his best not to break out laughing at the couple in front of them. They really hadn’t meant to spring this on them like this. Or, well, he hadn’t. Venom had argued that it would be funny to watch them process it all at once.
Well, you’re right, darling. This is kinda funny.
His Other rumbles through his ribcage, smug and content. Cuddles him closer. The baby radiating warmth and happiness back to them.
And then he remembers to talk to the - the people who aren’t in their headspace. “So uhh - sorry to drop this on you like this”, he shoots them an apologetic look. “We just - it kinda felt like too much to say over the phone…”
“Yeah Ed this - this is a lot” Dan’s smiling at them, eyes still fixed on Sleeper. For the first time, Eddie wonders what the child must look like to just… normal people. Do they even see them as a baby? Or just some little lump?
Venom bristles with protectiveness at the thought.
Our baby. Our family.
Eddie hums in agreement and squeezes the hand he suddenly finds manifesting out of his arm.
“It’s strange. Other people in our home, seeing our child”.
“They’re - they’re beautiful, guys” Anne’s seemingly caught up to reality, cocking her head and looking Sleeper over, a bit more understanding. At least he hopes so. He’d never even thought about the possibility of Anne and Dan not instantly loving and accepting their child, but now…
“Yes, they are. Our beautiful baby.”
Eddie kisses His cheek. They find themselves getting up and moving to sit down next to the couple. And then before he knows it, he’s picked Sleeper up and is holding them out slightly, towards Anne and Dan, sitting very close, clutching one another in what he hopes isn’t fear. “do you wanna hold them?”
Anne freezes up again, but Dan hesitantly leans in and gives them a smile, admittedly a watery one.
They cuddle Sleeper close. “Ok love bug, remember what we asked? No biting Annie and Dan, yeah?” he flashes a slightly overdone manic grin, after thinking about how that must sound, to them. Kisses the wriggling little ball all over. No snacking right now, ok? “Can you promise? Be nice to your aunt and uncle?”
Venom rumbles and nuzzles at the baby. They’re both a little more on edge than they, maybe, realized, about handing the spawn over to anyone else. Even Anne and Dan. It’s just, these past few months, it’s only been them. Their self contained little unit. Just a tangle of love. But now -
Now they kiss their baby one more time before slowly, tentatively bringing them to Dan’s outstretched arms. The Symbiote lingers a moment, keeping a few little tendrils playing with Sleeper’s, as Eddie let’s go.
The face Dan makes as he tries to figure out how to hold the melty little blob is priceless.
Anne’s leaning in, now, and they hold the baby between them. Calming, slowly but surely. Getting used to their little alien spawn.
Until they’re not.
Anne’s eyes go wide and Dan’s whole body tenses up as the baby experientially cuddles closer to them. More and more contact, and Eddie feels like an idiot for not even slightly remembering to warn them about -
“What - wha’s going -”
Venom’s reached back to the baby, grabbing them and quickly depositing them back in Eddie’s lap.
“Wha’s going - were they just in my head?” Dan looks genuinely close to fainting. Anne’s a little less affected, just staring in shock at little Sleeper. But, well, she’s done this before, he remembers. Only briefly, until he can remember nothing - until the rapid transition from meeting two new people and then a sudden break in connection registers to the child, and they start crying.
Their guests fade away in an instant. Now, Eddie’s only concerned with cuddling the baby against his chest, his Other swadling them in darkness and glowing with safe, it’s ok, you’re safe, little one, safe, we’re all safe, it’s ok.
“Shhh, shh it’s ok” it’s ok , Eddie coos, “daddies got you, it’s alright. We’ve got you sweetie pie, shhh it’s ok”.
Now Sleeper blinks up at them, once again mingled in the familiarity of their bonds. They gurgle contentedly, and then look once more at Anne and Dan. Ceaselessly curious. Reaching out a short fat arm, and Eddie can feel their desire to try again.
Anne’s rubbing Dan’s shoulder consolingly, like trying to calm a spooked horse. They’ve been here maybe five minutes, and already they’re being bombarded with alienness. Eddie doesn’t feel even a little bad.
“That’s how they - how they talk. How they connect with people” he explains, absently orbiting his finger with one of Sleeper’s little tendrils, like two binary stars. “Sorry we uhh - we forgot that’s not something you two are used to.”
Not sorry , Venom corrects, kissing Eddie’s temple. “Baby’s just curious”.
Anne nods, eyes still fixed on Sleeper. “So that’s - your baby can read your thoughts?”
Eddie’d hoped they wouldn’t ask about the details of the mechanics of… any of it. Or, well, less ‘hoped’ and more ‘forgot there was anything to ask about’. But now Anne’s got that fascinated tone of voice, and he knows that it’s conversation time.
So much for going out to dinner as soon as guests arrive.
Eddie sighs. “They don’t - ‘s not like us ”, he motions to the Other and himself, “we’re not like - bonded like that”.
“Not the same as symbiosis”
“But we can share things back and forth” Eddie kisses the top of the child’s head, sending a little wave of we love you , a demonstration the others will never see. “Can still kind of - influence each other, just like little shadows of our feelings. But, you guys felt it, yeah? ‘S just a - a light connection”.
“Our little human baby” Venom preens. Perfect. Our perfect symbiosis baby. Ours, Eddie.
“Human?” Dan raises an eyebrow.
Eddie laughs for a moment, but he’s clouded over a bit defensive too. And he’s not sure they’re all Venom’s clouds. “Well, yeah - Sleeper’s kinda - kinda pretty damn human.” he strokes their little cheek affectionately. “Our little miracle”.
“So they’re - they’re yours? ” Anne asks, right to the point as always. Maybe it’s the lawyer in her, but Annie’s never been one for ambiguous language.
Not that there’s any ambiguity here. “Yeah, Sleeper’s mine. Ours.” His heart swells.
Dan’s pale as a sheet. He can feel the baby sharing that they’re hungry! Hungry hungry! And he knows that what he’s about to do is not going to make the couple any more at ease. But it doesn’t really matter, does it?
“Here you go, love bug” Eddie murmurs, holding out his limp hand in front of Sleeper’s face. Barely even flinching when those sharp teeth bit the base of his thumb. Petting their head gently with his free hand as they lap up blood, Venom numbing any pain.
Finally, he gets the courage to look up at Anne and Dan once again.
“Jesus, Eddie!” Anne’s - he’s not sure. He can’t read her expression in the slightest. He’d forgotten how hard it is - trying to interact with people who he can’t feel deep in his heart. Turns out it doesn’t matter because then her face contorts into something easy to read - horror. “Is the baby - is it sucking your blood!?”
He can feel Venom’s discontent as if it were his own.
Well, I guess it kind of is.
Ours.
He kisses Venom, short and sweet, before gathering his thoughts. “It’s - it’s not that different than nursing” he shrugs. Sleeper’s gnawing a little deeper, now, but Eddie can feel that they’re almost full. For now, at least. His ever-hungry little alien spawn.
“Don’t worry, easy to heal” Venom assures, more than a little smug. Always happy to show off how well He takes care of His host. “Always take care of my Eddie”.
Anne rolls her eyes, at that.
“But doesn’t it - it’s just so - so creepy ” Dan squirms in his seat, still clutching Anne’s hand.
Eddie just shrugs in response. “Ehh, not really”. His hand’s covered in slobber, now. Bright and acidic and green. He just finds it so endearing, every time. The way their goopy little baby squirms happily, glowing with contentedness. How could this seem creepy?
Not creepy.
No, not creepy, he agrees, Venom lifting his hand into collective view as He stitches the skin over.
“Well,” Anne looks them up and down once more, exhaling and giving one of those smiles that means she’s conceding ground. Or at least taking her hands off an issue. “I’m happy for you two”.
Venom tangles Himself more and more around Eddie and the baby. Weaving tendrils between His Other’s fingers, slipping into the space between his ribs, holding Sleeper tight. He’s so damn proud of His little family, and He’s excited to show people, He really is. But He’s… possessive.
And He can feel Eddie, getting… ideas. Thinking about offering the baby to the couple, again.
It’s what humans do , he reminds. Let friends hold their baby. It’s nice.
But He’s… a little suspicious, still. He likes Anne, even Dan. But they’re… outsiders. People who aren’t part of them. And they’d reacted so badly . And there’s only a fine line between this sort of terrified concern and the utter disgust that quickly devolves into abuse. And He’s still so scarred from the years and years and years back… there , where a baby like Sleeper would be killed or worse. And He just… it’s all just too vulnerable raw.
And all He wants is to protect His family. They’re everything He’s ever wanted. Nothing else matters and now He just -
Sweetheart , Eddie calls to Him, soothing as ever. Darling don’t worry. Thought you said it was good for them, to feel other people?
Venom nuzzles into the nape of Eddie’s neck. Yes , He concedes, only a little irritated at being corrected. Yes, Eddie. And then, “Do you want to hold them again? Feels like they like you”.
Eddie’s insides glow with a sunshine smile. He wants this so badly, the family talk. And so when Anne holds out her arms, tentative smile on her face, He scoops the spawn up and hands them over, not before bringing them up to His Other’s face for a fluttery little kiss goodbye. And one from Him too, for good measure. Sleeper giggles.
Anne brings them close, hesitantly leaning them on her shoulder, as He’s now seen so many human’s do to their children.
“H-hey there” she whispers, patting the baby’s back very, very delicately. Dan reaches out a hand and nudges Sleeper’s cheek with the back of a finger. Tentative and affectionate.
“Ok man” Dan smiles, “I’ll admit it, this is one cute kid you got here, I - yeah, yeah I’m talking to you, buddy” he laughs, raising an eyebrow at the spawn.
“Yes” Venom purrs, cuddling His husband close. “Our baby is cute”.
Within maybe half an hour, things have settled a bit. Enough that Anne remembers it’s late, and neither she nor Dan has eaten since before they got on a plane, back on the west coast.
So now Eddie’s looking for his keys, fumbling with the messy counter. Venom building a jacket for him, as much to hide the baby as to keep him warm or decent. Sleeper squirms, excited about going out, food, new places. Excited about everything, all the time.
It’s weird, getting impressions of the world from a newborn. The smallest things are amazing. Just tiny, secondary shadows of amazing, but still, he can feel it.
He can feel, too, the satisfaction of finding his keys. He doesn’t know where they are, but he turns around to see a little tendril, sprouted from his shoulder, picking them up where they’re hung on the coat rack by the door. “You guys ready to go?” Dan calls, tugging a blazer on.
“Yes,” Venom says, tucking the child just out of sight as they open the door. “Need to stay hidden while dadas go out, little one”. Venom licks a stripe up Eddie’s cheek before disappearing into the too-big fleece sweater.
The place they've finally managed to agree on is only just over five blocks. Anne pulls up some car service app on impulse, and Venom complains that they should just walk, and she shoots back that she’s tired from walking up ‘all those fucking stairs’ and Eddie says that all those ride share companies won’t let their workers unionize and Dan concedes that it is good for the heart to get in some exercise before (and after) eating.
So now they’re stumbling down Story Ave, laughing like old times.
Dan settles in to his chair, watching Eddie glance over his shoulder a few more times, his back to the room. A corner table as always. Before Dan knows it, he’s face to face with an alien, draped over Eddie’s shoulders like an overly-friendly scarf. Little tendrils spilling out of the sleeves of the man’s sweater, playing with his fingers affectionately. The baby peeks their head out of Eddie’s clothing, too, just high enough for Dan to catch a glimpse of them over the table. It’s all quite a sight to behold.
“Hey Dan, do you think soup and grape leaves is too much appetizer?”
He chuckles softly at the juxtaposition of the mundane question and the scene across the table. He’d gotten used to the Brock-Symbiote family. He’d gotten used to the strangeness. But it’s been almost a year.
It’s been almost a year, and now there’s a baby , with tiny hands clawing at the tablecloth. Red eyes squinting at him inquisitively.
“Dan, honey?”
Sorry. He turns to Anne, glancing briefly at the item on the menu she’s talking about - lentil soup with red peppers - before finally replying, a bit too late. “Sorry, distracted. We could split some soup, I don’t think I want a whole bowl”.
That gets him a kiss on the cheek.
The waitress is back, and across from him suddenly he sees Eddie Brock, alone and human. “Can we get - and I want to say I’m sorry, first, can I get as many veggie samosas as you can fit on a plate? And an order of lamb curry, as rare as you’ll do?” he gives a sheepish little smile. And then, as she’s getting ready to move on to Anne, “and uhh, can we get some of that chocolate rice pudding as an - an appetizer? Sorry” .
The woman just rolls her eyes, and Dan makes a mental note to keep his order easy.
So now he’s watching Eddie break off pieces of samosa and feed them to the little blob in his lap.
Blob. Is that offensive? He thinks he should remember to ask, later. Not now, while Eddie’s mouth is black around the edges and filled with too-sharp teeth and he’s - well, they both are - wolfing down curry. Seemingly too busy to answer questions.
Anne’s still trying to keep a conversation going, but she’s engrossed in food too. It’d been a long flight.
Eddie drops a piece of lamb on his lap, then another, and Dan’s jealous his clothes don’t eat stains too.
“I’m assuming you two - you three ” Anne gestures to the aliens, “want dessert?” she’s soaking up the last of her massala with some bread, giving them a knowing smile.
Eddie shrugs. “I mean, yeah , but we got, like, a total of at least a gallon of various ice cream at home, so…”
So now they’re back at Eddie’s apartment, sorting through various, mainly half-eaten, pints of Ben and Jerry’s.
The baby gets first pick. Anne is exasperated that she’s sitting in front of the singular case where junk food is actually a nutritional requirement for a child. They’d initially moved towards the death by chocolate, but now they knock a pint of sweet cream and cookies. Practically crawling into the container. Dan holds out a mostly-full mango sorbet, and she takes a spoonful as she sits down at the table.
Eddie’s talking about some case they started the other day, all the details on how they’ve been remaining anonymous -
“Helps that I’m better than your stupid little cloth” Venom informs, smug as ever.
“You’re better than anything, babe” Eddie kisses Him, right on the teeth. Until the kiss's messy and slobbery and they're laughing against one another, only a little too handsy. She hadn’t realized how much she’d missed the pair of fools in front of her for the past eleven months. But now that she’s here, it’s so nice.
The child crawls across the table. Or, sort of crawls, sort of oozes, right into their dads’ waiting arms.
“Hey there” Eddie grins, lifting Sleeper above his head and tossing them high in the air. The Symbiote catches them in a mess of tentacles, pulling them back down to be cradled against the two of them. “You finish your ice cream, sweet potato?” The baby hums, and Eddie kisses the top of their head, Venom coiling around him to nuzzle at them affectionately.
It’s all so familial.
And it’s - it’s weird , seeing her ex-fiance, a man she could, conceivable, have had a baby with in an only slightly different timeline, cuddling his alien spawn and his alien husband.
And maybe the weirdest part is how natural this seems, to Eddie. Sure, she looks at Sleeper, now, and registers she’s seeing an infant. But they don’t set off that parental instinct, that pull deep down in her gut. Which is saying a lot, because the past month or so, everything seems to set that off. Even earlier today, when they hadn’t been able to reach the counter and they’d cried , she hadn’t felt, well, maternal. Not like a bawling baby on the bus.
But Eddie. Eddie looks at them, and she can tell every fiber of his being knows them as his child. As part of him.
“You remember what you said to me one time when you were - well, you were pretty high,” she laughs.
Eddie gives a dopey grin. “You’re uhhh, you’re gonna have to be a liiittle more specific, Annie”.
She smiles and leans her head on Dan’s shoulder. “You just - you said you were sad you’d never be able to like - carry a child. But I guess you got your wish”.
His face has pinked up, but he looks dreamily at the Symbiote. “Yeah, well, ya know - Venom’s given me a lot of things I thought I could never have”.
They talk well into the night, catching up, playing cards.
Everyone gushing over every cute thing Sleeper does. Glowing like a nightlight, making little shapes with their tendrils, knocking the deck onto the ground. The fact that their favorite movie is jurassic park, specifically scenes where people get eaten, might’ve been side-eyed earlier in the day, but now everyone thinks it’s just adorable. Even their little nibbles to Eddie’s fingers and wrists has become sort of - - charming.
But it’s late, now, and they have early plans to go to the Met. Dan’s never been to New York, so Eddie’s, for once, ‘willing to abide some tourist-y shit’.
He’s pulling the futon out, now, his husband’s tentacles spilling out of him to pull on sheets. Anne doesn’t think she’s ever scene Eddie make a bed before, but it’s sweet. And much more adult than the rest of the apartment. Venom even grabs two pillows down from above the cabinets.
“Ok love bug” Eddie coos, bouncing the baby up and down in his arms. “You gotta sleep in our room tonight”
Venom baps Sleeper on the - well, right were a nose would be, and they giggle in joy. Grabbing at their dad’s tendril when it tries to recede, babbling and tugging. “Bedtime for baby” the Symbiote kisses their little cheek, than Eddie’s.
Venom swaddles His family in blankets, and then in His own blackness. Kissing them all over, glowing with happiness.
The prying eyes of the human couple, as annoying as it can be, makes Him more… aware. Even more grateful, somehow, than He always is. Which barely feels possible. More aware of how much He has.
He’d spent His life hoping, and even then He was losing hold of that, hoping just for a tiny scrap of this. For someone to tolerate Him.
But Eddie .
Eddie loves Him. Eddie would choose Him over anyone. He can feel it, He’s known it a long time, now. Sometimes, He’s afraid it isn’t true, but…
But now, everyone’s eyes on Sleeper, He’s aware, too, of the fact that Eddie would choose His baby over anyone’s. Right here, His pretty little host is babbling happily with their spawn. Looking at them like they’re perfect. Around Annie, Venom’s imagined, for the first time, Eddie with a human baby. There’d been a moment, earlier, where He felt so guilty, about taking that from him. But then Sleeper had made a little bubbling noise, and Eddie’s heart and head and whole existence had lit up with so much joy He drown in it too.
This is the family Eddie wants.
His Other’s caught onto the tail end of His thoughts, at least a little, and kisses Him on the side of His face, where He nestles against the man’s shoulder. “Hey,” Eddie murmurs, welling up with love all enew when their eyes meet and Venom melts . “What’re you thinking about, all deep like that?” He laughs softly, I feel like an exposed nerve .
“Edddiiiee.” He pours more of Himself out, big arms wrapping around His husband and Child. Nuzzling at Eddie’s face. Thank you. Thank you for giving me a family.
And now here He is, gazing at His beautiful treasure, His darling Eddie. Who’s stroking His cheek, so gentle and tender. Their baby resting on his chest, falling asleep.
Eddie wakes up to a nagging feeling he recognises immediately isn’t his own. Sleeper’s fussing with his face, too, tiny little clawed hands patting his cheeks and grabbing at his scraggly, stubbly beard.
“Ok munchkin” he sits up, scooping Sleeper into his arms. “Yeah yeah, daddies know”. He rubs their back soothingly as he kicks off a blanket. His insatiable little child. “We know, love bug, I know”.
They wriggle in his arms as he stumbles into the kitchen, his Other draped over his shoulders. Dada, they think, vague and amorphous. Hungry, too. He just coos to them softly, trying to be mindful of the guests on the couch.
One of whom is awake, aparenty. He’s opening the refrigerator, and light falls over Anne, looking right at him as he pulls out a bottle of chocolate sauce and offers it to the baby, who grabs at it eagerly.
“Hey” he murmurs, before kissing Sleeper’s head and shutting the door, leaving the room lit only by the fluorescence which filters in from the street, and the child’s faint green… aura. “Can’t sleep?”
She shakes her head, sitting up and leaning against the armrest, and he can juuuuustt make out a smile on her face. “Nah, just was. Guess I woke up”. She turns to Sleeper, gaze soft. “Little tyke woke you up for a midnight snack?”
“You’ve got no idea how often this little guy needs to eat”. The baby blinks up at him before returning to their bottle.
“It suits you” she murmurs, “being a family man”.
Eddie’s heart flutters a little, at that. He tries not to be, but he’s still so scared of ending up anything like his own father. But god, he wants so badly for it to suit him. “Thank you” he breaths, leaning over the back of the couch, now, snuggling Sleeper closer to his chest.
It’s all so - nostalgic, almost, but so strange too. These moments with Anne are familiar almost to the point of coziness, but everything’s so different , now. It’s not that he was unhappy in their relationship, because really, he wasn’t. He loved Annie. But it’s almost terrifying, now, to think he might have ended up… well, if he were to still be with her, he’d never have any of this. He can’t imagine it.
There’s been this hole, between he and Anne, ever since the day they broke up. And they’re friends now, they are. It’s just that that friendship is, in part, built on his apology for fucking up. And he does feel bad, and he is sorry. But he can’t regret it, not really. Wouldn’t trade what happened for the world. It’s always right there, between them, but now -
Now Anne smiles at him, and it’s the realest he’s seen in so long.
And then he remembers, “hey, what was it you wanted to tell us when you got here? Sorry, we got so caught up in -”
“I’m pregnant” and says, glancing down at Dan. “We’re having a baby too”.
Again his heart swells. “That’s amazing” he breathes. “You hear that, Sleeps? You’re gonna have a little cousin”.
“Hey” she says, reaching up and taking his free hand in hers, giving him an affectionate squeeze. “I’m really glad things turned out like they did”.
“Yeah” he sighs, feeling light and tender as a cloud. Sleeper’s falling asleep against his shoulder, joining his other dad in slumber, and the bottle falls to the floor with a quiet thud. “I think everything worked out perfect”.