prompts: Ethan helping his kid to bake a pizza for you + the ask I got about Ethan making his kid repeat affirmative words to herself in front of a mirror.
At first Ethan thought that what made him wake up was the dryness in his throat due to the heater. But when he felt thin, icy fingers touching his arm under the covers, his heart softened, forgetting what the weather was doing to him. His baby just wanted his attention.
“Are you feelin’ cold, little one?” His voice scratched and he doubted she understood him.
Alice was trying disastrously to steal a piece of cloth to herself.
Ethan lifted the cover, allowing her to nestle into him. Then, his arms squeezed her, pulling some purrs out of his girl. Without a doubt the best feeling he could ever feel, even more knowing that when he was on the road he couldn't have that. Soon it would be happening again and he would be missing every minute of it.
“Mommy told me that I could stay ‘ere 'til you wake up,” she murmured, snuggling into his warm even more.
“How long ago was that?” He asked. Usually, he would wake up before you, go out on the balcony, get a good look at the view and wait until you join him to smoke. You would hug him from behind and that would last until Alice wake up looking after you. That was a brief summary of his lockdown, he was having a good time with it.
“Not sure. Maybe 20 minutes or somethin'? Mommy’s workin’.”
Ethan looked at the bedside clock, smiling to himself after reading once again the post-it note that you had left there a week ago written 'love you, babe xx', and as expected, he had slept more than his new usual routine one more time.
“‘Kay,” he said, still processing it. “Are you well? why did you get up so early?”
“I’m fine. It was just a bad dream that made me wet bed,” Ethan thought of a joke about it, but feeling her body shudder as she spoke, he gave up. “Then I waited ‘til one of you woke up to help me.”
“That’s all right, little one. Nothing to be ashamed of.” He ruffled her hair, placing a kiss on her head, “Did ya have breakfast?”
She bobbed, “Mommy’s cooked fried eggs and mushrooms to me.” Alice rubbed her belly with a happy face.
“Oh gosh,” he stood up, wrapping Alice like a burrito filling between the covers. “How could I miss it?” His hand was brought up to his chest in a dramatic act.
“No need to complain. She saved a bit for you ‘cause she loves you." She said simply, eyes far away as if reliving the breakfast scenario she had minutes ago in her head. "I think it was kind of automatic, but I saw her keeping some in a bowl on the microwave.”
Ethan laughed at her words choices, making her smile spread because she knew he liked how she described feelings.
“Huh, I love her too, pumpkin. Did she eat?” He asked, knowing fully well that you barely eat when it was too early. Mentally, he noted himself that he needed to give you some snack before lunch.
“No,” She looked at him thoughtfully as he tried to make the bed with her slipping to the corner. “Can we cook lunch for mommy? Like somethin’ nice?”
She raised her arms for Ethan to catch her. In which he gladly did, stretching the piece of sheet she was lying on a minute ago.
“Sounds good. What do you have in mind?” He asked, wondering if inside her little mind ‘love’ meant cooking for someone you care about.
———
You had a pout on your lips and a bad posture attributing to your home office journey. Your concentration prevented you from paying attention to anything external that didn’t involve your work. It wasn't even halfway through the day and you were already feeling so tired.
