BENDING THE RULES..A USWNT FANFIC

18

*flashback to 18 years ago* 

"Ashlyn, he's perfect," Whitney sighs as tears stream down her face. 

She continues looking down at the baby in her arms. She falls in love with his small features. Even the newly healed scar just above his eyebrow. 

"I know," Ash answers breathlessly. "...and he's ours," 

They both love saying those words. They can't believe it. 

He's ours...

Whitney and Ashlyn have been praying for a child for months. They finally got the call during late November 2002 that a newborn baby boy would soon be ready to join their little family. 

"Can you believe he's ours forever," Whit then says.

Ashlyn smiles as she kisses her wife's head. 

"I can," She chuckles.

Whitney grins. 

"...so what do we call this little guy," Ash continues softly. 

Whitney thinks a moment. 

"I know we're dead set on the name Tyler...but he doesn't look like a Tyler," She says.

"How about we keep his birth name," 

Whitney looks at her wife and then back down at the baby.

"Dalton..." She says. "...you're right, it's perfect," 

A tear slips from Ashlyn's face. 

"Dalton Michael Harris," 

Whitney begins crying again. And even harder when little baby Dalton makes a sweet noise as his little foot slips out from the swaddle.

Whit and her wife count his toes. One, two, three times...

"Um, I have an idea," Whitney then says. 

"Yea?"

"Let's write him something...something he can read when he's older," 

And so they did that...a poem to be exact. 

They read the first part to him on his first birthday...

"Dalton, do you like your cake?" Whitney chuckles as the one-year-old gets blue cake icing all over his face. 

He laughs as he splashes his hands about. 

Ashlyn chuckles as she snaps a picture and walks over to her wife. 

"Can you believe we've kept him alive for one year already?" She laughs. 

Whitney shakes her head. She frankly can't believe it either.

"He's a handle for sure," 

But not more than the handle they were expecting in the next few months. Dalton will hopefully be a big brother in November.

"So I think it's time for a nap," Whit then says. 

Ashlyn agrees and they lift their little man out of his high chair so they could clean him up for bed. 

As the two are rocking Dalton to sleep, Ashlyn takes something out of the dresser drawer. 

"What's that?" Whitney asks.

"His poem," Ash grins as she sits back down next to her wife and son. "...we promised him we'd read the first few lines," 

Whitney smiles. She almost forgot.