Watching Him Sleep

5. Daddy's Chest

Characters: Jesse Cardoza from CSI: Miami and my character Telia C. James.

Warning: None

Chapter 5: Daddy's Chest

Summary: Nothing comforts like daddy's chest.

It had been a couple of hours since Telia had seen Jesse or heard their daughter cry. She didn't realize that she had fallen asleep. She had been grading papers and was thankful that she fallen asleep before she made unreadable marks on the paper she was holding. She left the papers on her desk and closed up the house for the night.

She walked into their bedroom, expecting to find her tired husband asleep on the bed. Horatio Caine's team had worked a lot of overtime the past week and a half. Jesse was barely walking in the door every night. And on top of that, they had a sick baby on their hands. Little Taylor had a fever, a bronchial infection that got worst as it was dismissed as a simple chest cold.

Her cries in the middle of the night woke Jesse from his sleep every time. Telia made him sleep and she tended to their daughter. However, little Taylor wouldn't be satisfied until her daddy came in to see her. So every night, in order to help her sleep, he would rock her against his chest after she had been given her nighttime medicine. The warmth of his arms seemed to soothe her more than any of the medicine the doctor prescribed.

And that's where Telia found him tonight. Reclined in the recliner rocker, he held Taylor close in his arms against his chest. Telia laughed at the fact that they were wearing the same thing: white socks, white t-shirts, and plaid pajama pants. His blue/green plaid, hers pink/brown. Sighing, she walked into the nursery to place her back into her crib but she wasn't having it. Jesse opened his sleep-filled eyes and said, "I've got her babe." Telia surrendered, covering them both with a blanket.