IN THE HEIGHTS

13

A/N -in honor of ITH at the Kennedy Centre, it's another 'evolution of....' one that I kinda like and you guys seemed to enjoy so here ya go

Vanessa could sing.

Nina was smart, Usnavi was kind, Benny was strong and Vanessa... well she was brash and harsh and... she could sing.

Nina was clearly the first to hear her sing. As kids, they used to prat about and sing duets together. By the time they were 14, Vanessa had worked out a few harmonies to some of their favourite songs. There had been a school performance that Nina had begged Vanessa to audition for but she'd been so strongly against the idea that Nina was nervous to even bring it up again.

Her mom heard her sing when she was 17. There was some school concert Vanessa had been in, she'd had a verse solo and a duet or two and her mom had scraped up a few dollars for the high priced ticket to watch her daughter. It had made Vanessa's week.

When she'd first got the job at the salon, they used to have the radio on continuously in order to fill the silence with music. And Vanessa often joined in, famous amongst the regular customers for her ad-lib riffs and stunning harmonies.

After that, no one heard her sing until Usnavi heard a melodic whisper from his newborn son's bedroom in the middle of the night.

Standing by the door, Usnavi listened in at his fiancés beautiful tonality, her clarity in her diction and her voice. It was only a nursery rhyme, child friendly and not on any of Vanessa's playlists. It was nothing special, but sung by a girl that is something special.. the song could be beautiful.

It was such a sharp contrast too. For Usnavi to peek round the door and see Vanessa dressed in her pyjamas and one of his old hoodies, their son asleep in her arms as she sang soft tones to help him doze off.

Warmth filled his heart as he watched her place their son gently in his cot, her voice halting as she turned to see Usnavi.

"Don't stop for me, Ness." He spoke, a tired smile pulling at the corners of his mouth.

He knew, even in the dark, that she was blushing. It was familiar to him, the way her eyelids fluttered and her lips disappeared as she bit on them harshly.

She turned to put their son down and halted at Usnavi's footsteps.

"Don't be too noisy, he's only just settled."

"How long have you been up?" He crept over as  Vanessa put the baby down.

"He was hungry again at 3, I don't even know why I tried to get to sleep myself. He's been fussy since."

He spied over the cot as his little boy, tired and covered with drool and maybe a little vomit. Stunning.

Usnavi put his arm around Vanessa, allowing her to lean in to his arm as he guided her back to bed.

In the dark of their room, he would ask her to sing him to sleep. She'd laugh and tell him that he wasn't 6 weeks old and he would pout but not complain. He'd heard her sing again, and that was more than most people could say.

It was perfect.