Butterfly Kisses||Phan Oneshots

15: When Pooh Bears Go Bump In The Night

Title: When Pooh Bears Go Bump In The Night
Genre: Parent! Phan, Tooth Rotting Fluff

Summary: Neither of the couple have slept in months thanks to the wailing baby in the next room, but neither would exchange the sleepless nights for the world. This time, it's Dan's turn to sort out Dee.
Author: making-paper-stars on Tumblr

Warnings: Extremely Brief mention of premature birth
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Dan is woken once again by the soft gurgles and gabbles of the baby monitor and internally sighs. Phil groans next to him.
"I'll get her," he says, and Dan shakes his head.
"No, I will. It's my turn."
"Damn right it's your turn," Phil moans, lying back down and pulling the duvet up over his shoulders, and Dan laughs a little as he shuffles his slippers on and ventures out onto the landing.
The baby's room is across the hall in Dan's old room - they had to completely refurbish it. They moved Dan's piano into the lounge and everything else they could manage into Phil's room, but wound up selling the bed; not such a loss. The slats had broken on that bed a long time ago. Dan remembers buying the bed from IKEA when he and Phil had no money, and he looks back on the last few years, seeing how things have changed. Now they don't just have a decent, pocket sprung mattress on the bed - they have a kid too. Her room is now painted in pastel yellows, pinks and blues, with clouds and a rainbow painted on the ceiling. There are too many soft toys for Dan to count, alongside the compulsory Dr Seuss and ABC learning books. Maybe she's still a little young for the ABC, but they'll read her Dr Seuss and Winnie the Pooh and she seems to enjoy them - admittedly, Dan has no idea if she's enjoying them or not; he'll take the spit bubbles and raspberries as an indication of happiness.
"All right, Pooh Bear," Dan says quietly, picking up his tiny daughter and holding her tightly, gently bouncing her, rocking her back and forth in an effort to get her to stop mewing. "Quiet now. Papa's here."
Delia gurgles and makes some kind of unintelligible noise in baby language before finally quieting down. Dan smiles and strokes the baby's cheek softly with his forefinger, and Delia grabs on, squeezing with all her baby might, and Dan melts on the inside, studying his little girl. She has beautiful, almond shaped eyes the colour of chocolate or hazelnuts, and a few strands of ebony hair sprouting from her head. She has a cute button nose and rosebud lips, and Dan just can't get over how perfect she is, and how much he loves her.
Albeit reluctantly, he returns the now sleeping baby to her cot, tucking in the blankets and moving the heffalump plushie a little closer so she can grab onto it. She takes Lumpy's trunk in her tiny fist and Dan leaves the room as silently as possible.
But he's barely a step out of the door when Delia stars crying again, and he sighs, rolls his eyes and returns to the room, turning on the light so it's on its dimmest setting, and picking up the baby again.
"What's up, Dil?" He says, holding her over his shoulder and rubbing her back. She babbles again and Dan sits down on the little yellow chair that has Paddington Bear prints on it. He sits Delia on his lap and takes her little hands. She giggles, and Dan laughs too, because his daughter has the most contagious laugh.
"Now would be a great time for your first words, honey," Dan says.
"Mmbwa," Delia mumbles in response. Dan sighs and shrugs.
"Close enough."
He pulls her in against his chest and her arms and legs spread out as she leans against him like a little frog, like a little warm lump wearing a Winnie the Pooh onesie (which, ironically, was Phil's idea). With the baby still making noises, Dan settles on a lullaby.
"Winnie the Pooh, Winnie the Pooh,
Chubby little cubby all stuffed with fluff
He's Winne the Pooh, Winnie the Pooh,
Willy nilly silly old bear..."
Dan yawns twice in the course of singing the lullaby, but it seems to work.
Once Dan is sure she's sleeping, he carries her back to the cot and repeats the process of laying her down and tucking in the sheets, making sure the heffalump is within reach. As he straightens up, he takes a moment to look around his old room.
It used to be very classic and simplistic - mostly whites, blacks and greys, with the occasional splash of colour every so often when Phil would misplace a sock. Now it's a nursery - a tasteful Paddington Bear chair for either Dan or Phil to sit in when reading to the baby, a host of soft toys (the entire Winnie the Pooh collection is to be accounted for), a soft cream carpet and on the wall, above Delia's cot, a cross-stitched certificate that reads:
Delia Samantha Howell-Lester
Born 16th March, 2019
6lb 4oz
Delia had been born prematurely, hence why she had been so small at birth. Dan remembers the first time he held her - he'd called her Thumbelina, because he was quite certain that she would fit in his pocket. But she was so perfect, and he loved this baby girl he was proud to call his daughter. He thinks about how small she is now, and finds it almost impossible to imagine her one day being a teenager in her room, taking after her fathers and browsing the internet all day. He wonders if she will be a fan of YouTube, or if she will like listening to Muse and My Chemical Romance, or if she'll only dress in black or if she'll wear odd socks all the time. But of course, Dan doesn't mind - he just wants her to be happy. That's all he wants for her. That's all he'll ever want for her.
Dan imagines what she'll be like as a troublesome toddler - he imagines her running into the room during one of Phil's YouNows to show him a drawing she'd made, and he imagines her doing up Dan's hair whilst she sits on his shoulders. He imagines the first time he sends her off to school - he'll cry for sure, he knows it. And he'll link arms with Phil and watch her from the gate as she bounces away, his little girl, growing up so fast...
Dan can't wait for all that to happen. But he also never wants it to, and that makes him laugh.
Ever so silently, he tiptoes out of the room, turning the light off on his way out. This time, it seems to have worked - she remains asleep as Dan quietly returns to bed.
And he hasn't sat down on the bed for two seconds when Delia starts crying again.
"Oh my God," he says, laughing in despair. "This child will not sleep."
"Mmmm..." Phil groans in the dark, and Dan retraces his step back to the nursery.
"Okay, Dee," he says, lifting her up and holding her close. "What do you need? Are you hungry? Are you clean?"
Delia looks up at him with innocent brown eyes and it's obvious she's not hungry and she's completely clean. Dan sighs and strokes her few wispy strands of hair.
"Nah," he says. "You're just lonely, aren't you?"
Delia blows a raspberry in response and Dan holds her in one arm whilst he reaches down to pick up the Lumpy plushie. Rocking her gently as he walks, he returns to his room and lies down on the bed with Delia spread out in a frog again on his chest, one tiny fist clenching the heffalump.
Phil laughs sleepily. "You'll have to leave her alone one night, Dan."
"That night is not tonight," he yawns, lying back on the pillows with one hand on Delia's back. Phil reaches over with one hand and strokes the baby's cheek with one finger, and since he has the opportunity to do so, Dan takes his hand.
"I love you," he says sleepily, eyes closed. Phil chuckles.
"Who are you talking to there, Dan?"
"Anyone who's listening," he says nonchalantly, because its true. He runs his finger over the gold wedding band on Phil's finger, and with one hand cuddling their beautiful daughter and with the other hand held by the man of his dreams, Dan finally falls asleep.
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I love this one so much It's so cute!
Thanks For Reading!
Have a candy🍬
-Adrian