I wasn't alone in my belief

One Shot

Wasn't about to pass up writing a fic to celebrate Leigh's upcoming memoir. I'm so excited to read it and so excited for what's to come from her solo career. 

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The price that comes with being a mother of twins is her incessant need to wake up at all hours of the night just to check the baby monitor. Sitting up in bed, she glances over at the hunk of a man sleeping next to her, smiling as she reaches out to stroke Daniel's face. Simply checking the baby monitor is never enough for her, Leigh supposing that it's her motherly instincts that always takes her out of bed and down the hall to the twins' room to see their sleeping faces for herself. One of her cubs' hands suddenly twitches as they lay fast asleep on their back, Leigh smiling as she reaches inside the crib to gently rub the soft tummies of her babies.

"Sleep well, my angels."

This bout of insomnia she's experiencing is annoying, Renée sighing as she sips on the hot milk that she had been so confident would get her to go to sleep. Maybe it's the fact that her host is someone she idolizes is what's keeping her awake, Renée having already pinched herself multiple times just in case the fact that she's sleeping over at the Leigh-Anne Pinnock's house after attending a celebration dinner in her honor alongside her brother is actually a dream. She thought Daniel had been fuckin' with her when he'd called her up and asked if she wanted to go to a dinner celebrating Leigh's completion of her first memoir. It's hard to determine what floors her more between a member of one of the most successful girl groups in history being a mentor to her and the rest of Flo and said iconic girl group member dating her older brother of all people.

She's getting better at not letting her haze of admiration get in the way of forming a genuine friendship with Leigh but Renée's still a work in progress, her anxiousness having kept her quiet during the majority of the dinner, Renée having been in desperate need of Jay's warm hand in hers and his lips near her ear as he whispered to her that she was doing fine. But even if she's upset at herself for not carrying herself like she would've preferred at dinner, she's just glad that Leigh had the happiest glow about her all throughout the dinner. She'd listened intently in on Leigh detailing how it hadn't been easy opening up to the writer of the memoir about how much she'd struggled as black woman in the industry over the years. Renée couldn't wait to get her hands on a copy of the memoir, prepared to come out of finishing it admiring Leigh more than she already does.

"Can't sleep, lovely?"

Renée's startled slightly by Leigh's kind voice, smiling awkwardly up at the beautiful mother standing behind her chair. "Unfortunately."

From her first date with Daniel had Leigh known her boyfriend had a sister, Daniel having never went into detail about what it was his little sister did for a living, which was why it had been startling to one day be sent a text from Daniel of him saying all about how excited he was about his little sister and the girl group she was in finally dropping their debut single. She'd been so impressed after listening to Cardboard Box for the first time, loving it's more old school, yet fresh sound. She'd given Daniel a good and hard smack on the arm as punishment for him not telling her sooner that his sister was so talented and that she was in a group full of girls equally as talented as her.

Sitting down across from the younger woman, Leigh says with a sincere smile on her face, "Thank you so much for coming out to dinner tonight."

"Oh, it's no problem," Renée says shyly. "I was so awkward the entire time. I apologize."

Leigh dismisses the beauty's apology with a wave of her hand. "Nonsense."

She enjoys taking shots at her older brother unprovoked, Renée suddenly saying with a playful smile, "You can do so much better than my brother, by the way."

Leigh laughs, shaking her head. "Oh, you're such a little sister."

"Guilty," Renée smiles.

She likes this lighter, friendlier air between the two of them, Leigh greatly enjoying being respected like anyone but she wants more than a relationship based strictly on respect with the members of Flo. "When you and the girls are free, let's all four have dinner together."

She's endeared by how thrilled Renée looks, the dark-skinned beauty saying, "Oh my goodness, we'd love that."

Leigh smiles at her. "Ya know, something tells me that I'm gonna be writing about you and the rest of Flo in another memoir of mine in the future."