Mal and Ben ~ Parenthood

I'm there for you

Mal woke up to the sound of her daughter crying. She hurried up, and picked her up in her arms.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Mal asked, "Don't be sad."

She stopped crying, as soon as Mal had picked her up. Mal smiled, but didn't put her back down. Ben and Mal had been talking about what they should name her, and they knew they would have to pick one soon.

"I love you," Mal said, "And I hope that I will be a good enough mom, for you to love me too." Tears appeared in Mal's eyes, and she wasn't really sure if it was because she was happy or sad, or both at the same time. "I just want you to be happy. I want you to have a great life. I want you to know you're being loved."

She had fallen asleep in her arms, so Mal putted her back down. And laid back beside Ben.

"Ben?" she asked, pretty sure he was awake.

"Mm-hmm," he replied, and turned to look at her.

"What should we name her?" she asked.

Ben smiled, "I don't know. I'm not really good at names."

"Tell me about it," Mal joked, "It's like everyone just have a name that sound familiar to their parents name, but I don't want that."

"No it gets pretty boring in the end," Ben agreed. "So we should name her something that's totally different from our names."

Mal nodded. "Let's name her Lily."

"Wow where did that come from?" Ben asked.

Mal smiled, "I have absolutely no idea."

"Okay," let's do it," Ben agreed.

"Wait, wow, wait a minute. You're not going to complain?" Mal asked confused.

Ben shrugged his shoulders, "No, I think the name is cute."

Mal smiled, "Okay then."

"Lily Bertha," Ben teased.

Mal glared at him, "So not gonna happen."

Ben laughed, "Why?"

Mal hit him on the arm, "Because I say so."

Mal couldn't fall asleep again, but Ben did. And when Lily of course was the first one to wake up that morning, Mal went to get her.

"Good morning," she smiled, "Today is gonna be a special day you know. Because I know everyone are dying to hear your name."
-

"That's so cute!" Evie squealed, and took her out of her arms.

Mal had a feeling that Lily and Evie were going to have a really special connection. And she sure knew she would always have a babysitter.

Carlos nodded, "Yeah, that's great."

"Yeah great," Jay agreed.

Mal laughed at them trying to be as excited as Evie.
-

Later that day, Mal was in her and Ben's room, while Ben was at a meeting. When Lily suddenly woke up and cried.

Mal had heard that parents usually got annoyed after some time, about their kid waking them up in the middle of the night, every night. But Mal couldn't imagine that would ever happen to her.

She picked her up, and sat at her and Ben's bed. "What's wrong now?" she asked smiling. She tried feeding her, and holding her, and everything else. But this time she seemed like she wouldn't stop crying. "Hey, don't cry. Why are you crying?"

After some time she didn't know what to do. She didn't care when she woke up crying at night, since she knew it was her only way to tell them that she needed something. But she couldn't bear to see her cry, and not being able to stop it.

She hurried out the door to go to Ben's meeting. Maybe he knew a little bit more about this than she did.

She knocked on the door, and walked inside. Ben stood up, when she saw her coming.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"And can't make her stop crying," Mal said, on the edge of crying. "I don't know what to do. I said I couldn't do this," she had a feeling it was all because she wasn't good enough at this. She should know what to do. Why didn't she know?

"Mal, it's okay," Ben tried, and took Lily out of her arms. As soon as he did she stopped crying, and Mal smiled.

"Oh, you just wanted to see your dad," she said relieved.

"See Mal, you're doing great. Everything will be okay. And..." he smiled, "You knew what to do. Instead of doing something crazy, you asked for help. And because you do that doesn't mean you can't handle it yourself, it just means you're good enough to find the answers. And that's what makes you a great mother."

Mal smiled, and hugged him. She took Lily from him, who had fallen asleep. "You better go back to your meeting," she said, and kissed him on the cheek. "See you later."

When Ben returned to the table, everyone were staring at him.

"Okay," ben said, "Where were we?"

"She's in good hands," someone said.

Ben smiled, "We're doing the best we can."

"You were all right. A villain kid, can really turn out to be good."

Ben smiled again, "There's good and evil in all of us."
-

Mal placed Lily back down in her crib. And returned to what she was doing before.
Maybe Ben was right. Maybe she was just overreacting. Lily seemed to be happy. And what was more important than that?
-

The days went fast, and Lily was growing up day by day. And she was soon 1 month old.

"This is crazy," Mal said to Evie, "I've been a mom for a whole month."

Evie smiled, "It really is."

"Hi," Evie said, and looked at Lily, "You're getting so old, soon you will move away from home."

"Hey," Mal protested, "Don't say that. She will never do that."

Evie laughed, "I hope not," she took her out of her arms. "Do you know when she will start talking?"

"I read that she will be able to say some sound around 4 months, and be able to talk with some kind of sense around 1 year old. And I think it was about 19 months where she will be able to understand a lot, and say a couple more words. And then it's just growing from there on."

"So there's still a lot of time before that. Then I better start making sure her first word is Evie." Evie said teasingly.

"Oh, so not gonna happen," Mal protested.
-

"Ben?" Mal asked, turning to look at him.

"Yeah."

"I just want you to know that Lily is not gonna sleep in her own room anytime soon, and when she does she will be allowed to sleep in our bed anytime she wants," She said.

Ben laughed, "Then what if we get more children?" he asked.

"Then we'll get a bigger bed."

Ben smiled and kissed her, "Deal."

Mal hugged him, and stayed in his arms for a couple of seconds. They both looked at their daughter. Ben placed his arm around Mal's waist, and she placed her head on his shoulder. Both as happy as they could be.