Catfish and the Bottlemen Imagines

Pick Him Up From Heathrow (Dad Van)

AN: Just a little something I wrote dead quick this morning as everyone's been talking about Dad Van on Tumblr and it's making me feel soft 💗

You're tired. And not just a little sleepy. Bone-weary tired. The kind of tiredness that seeps into every fibre of your being and clouds your mind. All you want to do is close your eyes and stretch out your limbs and burrow into the comforting warmth of your bed. The thought of burying your face into the pillow and cocooning yourself in the softest of blankets sounds like the closest thing to heaven right now, but it's not to be. You're at Heathrow airport in the dead of the night, heavily pregnant with a fractious toddler in tow, waiting rather impatiently for the flight from New York to disembark.

"Where's Daddy? He was supposed to be here hours ago! He promised. He said he'd be back in time for dinner and he'd get me ice cream!"

Your little girl's face screws up in frustration, her tiny hands balled into fists in her lap. You reach out a comforting arm around her shoulders and she nestles into your side, pushing her face into the folds of your sweater, sulking.

"It's not his fault sweetie, the flight got delayed. They've had really bad snow in New York so it wasn't safe for the plane to take off. He's here now though. The flight's just landed so we'll see him really soon."

She pushes herself away from you then, stretching up on her tiptoes to see through the crowd, shuffling forwards with an uncertain look on her face. "But I can't see him!"

Her expression is distraught when she turns back to you and you can see the tantrum simmering just below the surface. Like an oncoming storm it roils under her pinched pink cheeks and brews in her tear brimmed eyes. "Come and sit back down Grace, he'll have to wait for his luggage... but it won't be long now, I promise."

"Promise?" She sulks, eyes forlorn.

"I promise," you reply, breathing the vow as you press a sweet kiss to her hair, drawing her to you again. She holds herself taught for a while but eventually you feel her give in, her slight body slumping against yours, head resting on your swollen baby bump.

You always found it hard when Van was away on tour, but now you're not the only one missing him it's even harder. Even though your days are busy and there's a little intruder crawling into your bed most nights to fill the empty space, you sometimes resent the fact that Van's career takes him away from your little family unit.

A soft whimper falls from Grace's lips as she starts to slip into a restless sleep against you. She's worn out, totally exhausted, and you feel a pang of guilt for not being insistent when she'd kicked up a fuss about getting a hotel nearby and waiting for Van there. She could have been tucked up in bed right now, sleeping peacefully whilst you waited, but she'd begged and she'd pleaded and eventually you'd given in, too tired yourself to put up a fight. She was stubborn like that. Just like her dad. And she always won you over. Just like he did.

You smile to yourself, one hand stroking over your belly as you feel the baby stirring, the other pushing back a silky strand of Grace's long hair off her face. Not long now...

And then there he is, all of a sudden, a familiar face in the crowd, his eyes searching the arrivals lounge until they come to rest on you, glowing with that spark you know so well. You feel excitement fizz in your gut as you let out an exhale, breathless as you raise up a hand in a wave. Even though you've been together for many years he still evokes that feeling in you, transporting you back through the years when love gave you that giddy exhilaration, butterflies bursting into flight in your belly as he strides through the terminal towards you.

Your muscles tense, instinctively wanting to rise up out of your seat to go to him and throw yourself into his arms but of course you can't. Grace murmurs in her sleep, little fingers gripping on to your sweater as she shifts where she lays.