Strike 3 (Aaron Tveit)

No Worries (Candace x Aaron fluff)

"Lily, please don't tire Auntie Candace out!" 

  Liv chased after her two year old daughter, Lily, who had been clinging to Candace's leg as she walked around. Candace only laughed as she played along with Lily, who was trying quite hard to battle her fit of giggles. She looked down and winked at the two year old, 

"Don't worry, Lily. Auntie Candace isn't tired, what do you say about running away from mommy?" 

Lily only giggled louder as Candace quickened her pace as Liv still tried to catch up with them. She sighed in defeat, watching her best friend play along with her daughter, quite excited to see her as a mother. Which she would be in about 4 more months...and carrying a two year old on her leg certainly would only tire her. So she put her hands on her hips as she continued to watch the two, knowing the words that would escape her lips would be the only thing that made her stop. 

"AARON!"

Candace turned around, her eyes wide in shock despite Lily's giggles. Liv only smirked as a reply when she had frowned, saying "no fair, Liv!" 

    Now, as much as everybody loved Aaron, they had to admit that he was extremely hands on as both a husband and soon to be father. Candace was convinced that having him read What to Expect When You're Expecting with her had only driven him closer to the brink of insanity. You could hardly tell that he had portrayed roles such as Roger Davis in RENT and Enjolras in Les Miserables with the way he'd been these last few months. 

"Looks like duty calls, Aar bear." Malcolm teased as he and Aaron had a couple of beers inside the baby's room, whose paint fumes had finally disappeared. Aaron's heart raced, just as it always did when his name had been called in that tone. He rushed out the door, and when he had noticed that Malcolm wasn't following him, he barged back into the room and dragged him out.

     When they had arrived, it had only taken another few minutes for Aaron to reprimand her without uttering a word Liz hadn't uttered herself. A while later, Lily had grown sleepy and Malcolm and Liv left, leaving them with the loft to themselves again. 

"Can't you trust me with a child even once?" Candace said, with a hand on her hip as Aaron had closed the door. He smiled as he walked over to her, "honey, it's not that I don't, it's just that..."

Candace had finished his sentence for him, "it's just that you don't?" 

"No" he replied, snaking his arms around her growing belly, "I just don't want you tired." 

"How ironic" Candace replied, taking to the stairs as Aaron followed behind, "it's like you don't know the amount of back pain, heartburn and foot ache involved in pregnancy....I'm always tired." 

Aaron sighed as she turned around right when they had gotten to the baby's room, she smiled widely, "you're too uptight and you know it." she laughed, "come on, I've got something to help me earn your trust." 

They entered the baby's room, which had permeated with a mix of men's cologne and beers. Candace raised a brow at her husband, "well, guess I'm not as uptight as you thought?" he laughed. She pulled out her phone, connecting it to the speakers Aaron had already set up in the room. The instrumental of A Whole New World had begun to play when Candace looked down at her belly, "Can you hear that?" she asked, "this is the very first studio recording of the instrumentals for broadway and guess what, you're the first one to hear it!" 

Aaron smiled in delight, "guess what else?" he said, putting his hands over Candace's on her belly, "your mommy directed all that! she can help instruments make wonderful sounds called music!" 

Candace looked up at Aaron, "and your daddy can sing wonderfully along with the music." 

Aaron smiled at her, then looked back down at her belly, "so come on out and let us show you a whole new world. I promise you'll like it.....well, I'm not rushing you. Take your time, sure." 

Candace laughed as she looked back up at him, "you're gonna make a great dad, you know." 

"Well, hopefully...."he shrugged, "I'll try to be. I can bring things to extremeties sometimes, but I'm just trying to be as great as a husband and father as I can be." 

"I've already said you're doing great....so quit being such a worry wart." Candace replied, holding onto Aaron's hands, "cause when you're calm, so am I. When you don't worry about me, neither would I. With all that aside, it's just you, me and the little....and you know what? I think we can live happily ever after. Well, I mean, we should." 

Aaron planted a kiss on her forehead, "yeah, I think I like the sound of that."