Hatchetfield.

magic

Knock. Knock. Knock.

Paul opened the door, smiling at the two people on the other side, "Hey Tom, hey Tim! We're so glad you could come!"

"I wanna meet my cousin!" Tim said promptly, bouncing up and down on his toes.

Tom placed a hand on his shoulder to get him to relax, "Hey, calm down, bud. The baby is little, you can't be bouncing all over the place when you hold her or you could hurt her."

Tim stopped, frowning, "Sorry."

"That's alright, Tim, You guys can come in," Paul said, stepping to the side. Tim greeted him with a brief hug, Tom with a clap on the shoulder.

"Emma and the baby are in the living room. Eloise just woke up from her nap, so she's all happy and smiley for you," Paul said, smiling to himself. His daughter's sweet little grin, however reflexive it was, was almost too much for his heart to handle sometimes.

He led the Houstons to the living room, where Emma was lounging on the couch with the baby propped up on her knees. Her face lit up when she saw Tim, "Hey buddy!"

Tim rushed to her side, stopping short as he got closer so he didn't disturb the baby. As he walked nearer and the baby's face came into clearer view, a small smile made its way onto his face, "She's really cute."

"Isn't she?" Emma said, laughing as the baby gave another lazy smile, "She's really excited to meet big cousin Tim! And her uncle, of course."

"How're you feeling, Emma?" Tom asked, settling down onto the armchair across the coffee table from her.

"Oh, I'm okay," she said, sending him a weak smile, "Still a little sore, and really tired."

"After having Tim, Jane was sore for a month, and she didn't have to have surgery or anything like you did," Tom said, shaking his head, "That all must've been scary."

Emma had had a hard last couple of weeks of her pregnancy, and the birth had been rather traumatizing and resulted in emergency surgery after the fact. Eloise was almost two weeks old, and thinking about it for too long still made Emma shiver.

"It was... terrifying," Paul confirmed, his eyes slightly glazed over at the memory, going and standing behind Tim.

"Tim, do you want to hold the baby?" Emma asked softly to change the subject, looking up at her nephew.

He nodded eagerly, "Daddy had me use hand sanitizer before we came in!"

"Oh, so good!" Emma said, patting the couch cushion next to her. Tim plopped down, and Paul reached over to place a pillow in his lap and help him get his arms into a ready position. Emma gently placed the baby into them, adjusting his hands so she was supporting her neck and head with the help of the pillow, "There she is!"

Emma tickled her stomach lightly, eliciting a small coo, "Say hi to Tim, peanut! He's your big cousin and he's gonna show you the world! When you're big enough, you can play with him, and it'll be so much fun."

"I can teach you how to play Mario Kart when you learn how to grab things!" Tim said enthusiastically, "I'll teach you how to drift and do all the cool things!"

"I'm sure she'd love that," Emma said, "It might be a couple of years, though."

"That's okay," Tim said sweetly, "I'll be waiting, though! In the meantime, you can watch me do it."

"That sounds like a plan," Paul smiled, "Once she can sit up, she'll probably like watching all of the colors on the screen when you're racing."

Tim nodded happily - that was satisfactory enough. He looked to his father. "Daddy, do you want to hold her!?"