Work Text:
Espio had barely stepped out of the bathroom door from his shower when his wife pleadingly accosted him with their daughter.
“Honey?” Tangle pleaded, elongating the pet name and holding Saffron out to him. “I know it’s sudden, but I just got a call. Can you take her?”
The chameleon took the smaller lemur into his still-bare hands. “What kind of call?” he asked in response.
“Nothing serious,” she replied. “Just a request for the Diamond Cutters to help find some lost hikers. I’ll probably just be a few hours. I know you had some stuff to get done, but it would be my first mission back. Should I take it?” She looked pleadingly at him.
The chameleon smiled at his wife. He supposed he couldn’t ask for a better mission to be her first back from maternity leave than a simple search mission. He gently nodded his head. “Not a problem. I’ll see you when you get back.”
Tangle grinned. “You’re the best!” She ran over to the closet and began piling some of her gear into her work bag. “She seems clingy today, so she might not go down without some extra cuddles.” She slung the work bag over her shoulder, making for the door. “Thanks so much!”
“Hold on,” Espio called, his voice halting her at the door.
Tangle turned, wondering what she had forgotten.
Espio switched Saffron to one arm, then held up the hand that the baby didn’t have inside her mouth. “Say ‘bye bye, Mama,’” he said as he waved her little hand.
Tangle’s mouth pressed into an adoring smile. “D’aw, goodbye my lovelies.” She crossed the room, placing a kiss on Saffron’s forehead. “Mama will be back soon.” Then she put a quick peck on Espio.
“Come home safe,” he whispered.
“Always,” she responded as she pulled away.
When she had left the room, Espio slipped on his house shoes and walked out into the hall. As he left their bedroom, he heard the sound of their front door opening as Tangle left, and by the time he had carried their daughter into the living room, he heard the sound of the car pulling out of the driveway.
“I suppose it’s just us, my little cherry blossom,” he said, holding the little lemur up under her arms. “Shall we start with lunch?”
He moved to situate Saffron in the high chair, but the baby began to whine, holding onto him in protest of the action. He gave the child a puzzled look and retracted her to sit on his hip. His daughter leaned her head against his chest, returning her fist to her mouth.
“Clingy indeed,” he murmured.
He realized that he had neglected to put on gloves. Normally, the chameleon would have donned a pair after coming out of the shower, but Tangle had passed Saffron to him before he had a chance. He thought briefly about running to the bedroom to grab a pair, but with Saffron uneager to be set down, putting them on would be a chore. He shrugged off the idea; it was just he and her around the house, so they would be fine.
“All right, blossom, you may stay with me.” He brushed a finger over the fur on her cheek and the gesture was returned with a slobbery grasp of his hand by hers. His daughter pulled his hand and bent her face toward it. Espio attempted to follow what she was trying to do and moved his hand so that his palm rested against her cheek. The little lemur nuzzled into him, reaching both arms to wrap around his wrist.
Espio deeply regretted that he didn’t have someone around to take a picture. Tangle would eat this up. He gently lifted his daughter and pressed a kiss to the top of her head.
“Small, lovely creature,” he whispered, then paused, counting syllables in his head. “You fill my world with wonder. How I love you so.”
Espio did not often speak in haiku, but the thrill of joy and love for this little girl seemed to strike him unaware. He had never thought he could love someone so much as he loved his family, and then this tiny treasure came and broke the scale.
He stroked the tips of his fingers in the back of her head as best he could with his hand immobilized.
“I shall need that returned if you wish to be fed,” he warned her with a warm smile turning up the corners of his mouth.
He managed to extricate himself and begin going about the process of preparing baby food one-handed. Soon Saffron had her bib on and the two sat at the dining room table with the baby sitting in Espio’s lap. The chameleon spooned a bit of baby mush from the bowl on the table and Saffron’s mouth opened wide to receive it, revealing sparse, tiny teeth. She burbled happily between mouthfuls, chatting with her dad in her own way and Espio made light conversation in return.
“Yes, it is a pleasant day out. Perhaps your mother would like to join us for a walk if she gets back early enough.”
“I agree,” he said as he wiped a collateral bit of food splash off himself with a napkin. “This sweet potato orange color does not go well with my scales.”
When the food was done, Espio cleaned them both off and was confronted with the problem of his own nourishment. He looked longingly in the fridge at the leftover rice and vegetables that he had been looking forward to stir-frying and instead grabbed a handful of some fresh veggies and hummus. When he was finished, he rinsed the dishes and loaded the ones he could in the dishwasher and carried Saffron into the living room.
“I had hoped to get some paperwork done,” he said aloud as he glanced down the hall to the office, “but I suspect that shall be made difficult.”
He gave the child a look as she grabbed at his unoccupied hand, completely unbothered and gripping a finger in each hand.
Espio decided that he could at least try to work on paperwork. Saffron liked his office chair and he had rocked her to sleep once or twice in it. If the endeavor proved unfruitful, at least he would be in a position where she might go down for her nap and he could try while she was asleep.
She had manipulated his hand so that she was lightly bonking her forehead into his palm, pulling at his fingers with her arms over her head. The chameleon chuckled with a puff of air, gently holding his palm against her forehead and giving her a light rub behind her ears.
“What are you doing?” he asked as he carried her down the hall, his laughter jittering his voice at her antics. She rubbed her face around on his hand as he pushed the office door open with his shoulder and kicked it mostly closed behind him. He sat in the chair and swiveled half-towards the desk, settling Saffron into his lap and taking the opportunity to shake his arm out and stretch the aching muscles.
Saffron leaned against his side, playing with the hand of the arm he wrapped around her. With the other, he put on his reading glasses and sifted through papers on the desk. As he attempted to work, Saffron babbled, seemingly content to let him be as long as she was being held. Espio managed to get only about a half an hour of work done before the baby needed to be changed, but he was grateful.
The young lemur still objected to being separated from him as he placed her on the changing table in the nursery, so he tried to work quickly.
“I know, blossom,” he cooed as he slipped on a pair of disposable gloves. “I’m right here. Do you want to hear a poem?”
He uncurled his tail, reaching it up and letting her hand curl around it for comfort as he worked and thought.
“My little blossom is forlorn,
I cannot hold her as I work,
Her loving cuddles are forsworn,
Sanitation must not be shirked.”
The little lemur gripped his tail as she continued to whine. She wasn’t strong enough to sit up on her own yet, but she had learned to roll over a while ago and was attempting it.
“No? Perhaps another haiku…” He paused for a moment to compose. “Father is silly, his eyes move each on their own. They cross and look crazy.”
His eyes looked in opposite directions, one to the upper corner of the room and the other towards the floor. Saffron seemed to quiet a little, at least not trying to roll away. Espio smiled triumphantly.
“Ah, you like haiku,” he realized, then counted the syllables and decided to finish another. “They are not my favorite, but I can compose.”
“What should I speak of? What will keep you happiest, as I finish this?”
He wiggled his tail in her grip, gently tickling it against her tummy. A little smile poked at the corners of her mouth.
“I am nearly done, my little cherry blossom, just a little more.”
He fastened the new diaper on her and closed her pink onesie over it, then threw away the gloves and sanitized his hands.
“All done, my darling,” he said, lifting her from the table and holding her up near his face. “We are now free to cuddle. And soon you shall nap.”
Saffron giggled, grabbing at her father’s horn. Her little tail curved up and hooked over his arm.
Espio smiled and found he had one more haiku in him. “Your tail is growing. Soon you will climb like mother, playing in the trees.”
He grabbed her blanket from the crib and lowered her to rest on it against his shoulder, making his way back to the office. He was hoping she would settle down for her nap as he sat in the chair and slowly turned it back and forth with his foot.
Saffron, however, seemed to be having none of it. Her little arms pressed against him and she pushed herself up slightly, babbling in his ear.
Espio smiled. “I suppose Dad is not going to be getting any more work done, is he?”
Saffron answered by grabbing his nose.
The chameleon rolled his eyes as he crossed his legs and draped her blanket over them. He lifted her off his shoulder, resting her on the blanket with his knee supporting her head
“If you will not sleep,” he smiled down at her, “you might like more poetry. Have some more haiku.”
The lemur took his offered fingers in her hands as she babbled and let her legs kick against his hip and thigh. Her little arms strained against his hand as she pulled against it, trying to sit up.
“Almost there, blossom.” He slipped his fingers behind her and gently pressed her up to a sitting position. Her arms immediately wrapped around one of his wrists and she nuzzled into it. Her golden eyes peeked up at him as she gave him the most darling little smile she possessed.
Espio again cursed himself. “You need to stop being so adorable when your mother is not around. I fear she will strap a camera to my horn.”
Saffron paid the warning no heed, clinging to his arm. He moved his other hand to better help her stay sitting up and let his thumb rub across her back. Bending down, he softly kissed her on the forehead.
“I love you, Saffron, my precious little cherry blossom,” he whispered against her skin.
The two of them sat cuddling in the chair until Saffron’s eyes began to half-close. Espio gently removed his hand from her grip and pulled her blanket around her. He stretched out his sore leg as he lifted her back up to his shoulder, grimacing as he realized his foot had fallen asleep. He slowly swayed the chair back and forth, gently humming as his daughter lulled to sleep against his neck.
He was just thinking about taking her to lie down in the crib when he heard the front door open. He heard Tangle whisper-shout ‘I’m home’ and carefully rose to meet her in the hall.
His wife turned and saw him as he stepped out of the office. When she took in the sight of Saffron against his shoulder, she softly set her work bag down and moved toward them, whipping out her phone with one hand as she suppressed a squeal of affection with the other.
“D’awwmigosh lookit her!” she whispered and Espio had just enough time to let a slight smile cross his face before he heard the click sound of her phone’s camera.
“She just fell asleep. You were correct about how clingy she was. She would not let me set her down all day.” He returned her hug as Tangle wrapped an arm around him and followed it with a peck on the mouth. “How was work?”
She followed as he walked down the hall to the nursery. “Pretty good. The hikers are safe, the day is saved, chalk another one up for the Diamond Cutters.”
“Good,” Espio replied as he gently lowered Saffron into the crib.
Tangle stepped forward and placed a kiss on her fingertips to touch to Saffron’s head. “Have a good rest, my little cuddle bug. Love you.” She ran her hand gently over the baby’s head and stepped back, lacing her fingers through Espio’s as they left the room.
“Did you get any of your paperwork done?” she asked.
“I managed a little after lunch, but not as much as I had hoped” He stepped through into the office, Tangle following with his hand. “I was…distracted.”
His wife perked up, sensing a cute baby story coming. She pulled his hand closer to her as they stood in the middle of the room, clasping it to her chest. “Ooh, what’d she do? Do you have pictures?”
“Sadly, no.” He paused a moment for Tangle to get through her disappointment, then continued at the right moment to forego her admonishment about not keeping a camera out at all times. “Speaking in Haiku,” he explained, pausing to count as he went, “Saffron likes my poetry. She is very smart.”
“Haiku? D’aww that’s cute.”
Espio held up five fingers to indicate the number of syllables in the sentence she had spoken. Tangle’s eyes widened slightly and she apprehensively continued.
“I guess she gets it from her dad. Wait…that’s eight.” Her husband’s hand had counted three syllables for the third line. “…darn it,” she finished awkwardly.
Espio smiled, placing his other hand over hers. “Eight syllables, dear, do not make a good haiku. It’s five, seven, five.”
“Hey, cut me some slack. I’m not as good at that as you. Though when she does her first backflip, I’ll totally be there.”
The chameleon chuckled. “And a very good backflip it will be.”
Tangle hummed as he lifted their joined hands to kiss her knuckles. Then, as he sat down in his chair, she took the other one at her desk next to his, sitting backwards in it with her legs straddling the neck of the back rest. She crossed her arms and rested them on the backrest, setting her chin on top of them. “She do any other cute stuff?”
“Does she do anything else?” He held up his bare hand as he explained. “I hadn’t put on gloves when I took her…”
“Scandalous,” Tangle teased.
“Indeed,” he nodded, then continued. “She was grabbing my hands repeatedly. She hugged my arm a few times, and once, she pulled my hand onto her forehead. I was sitting here with her while I waited for her to get sleepy and she held onto my arm and gave me the most adorable little smile.”
Tangle was beaming, her hands pressed against her face as she tried not to squeal. “Mmmmmooohh, so cute!”
Espio laughed, enjoying the delight his wife was having in their daughter.
“Though that kind of makes me think…” the lemur continued. “She’s done that with me too and I was reading the other day in my parenting book…”
Espio leaned forward slightly.
Tangle continued. “Apparently, some babies have this thing where they try to pick up their parents’ scents as a self-soothing behavior. It’s big with lemur kids.”
“Hmm,” Espio hummed, a pleased smile slowly spreading over his face with the new information. His little girl had been trying to smell more like him because it made her feel safer and more calm. The idea warmed him.
The smile faded, though, with his next thought. He looked down at his hands, taking one into the other and running his thumb over his wrist. “But…I don’t really have a scent, do I?”
Tangle tilted her head, giving him a sheepish smile. “I mean…not really. Unless you count when you shed.”
Espio wrinkled his nose, the thought of his old skin’s stale, dry smell as it peeled away from him distasteful. Did him not having a scent like a lemur mean that Saffron wouldn’t be as comfortable with him or that he wouldn’t be giving her as much comfort as she needed?
His wife saw the disheartened look he had and backpedaled, waving her hands. “Sorry…for what it’s worth, I don’t think her actually getting your scent is as important as the cuddling itself. She does it because it endears her to you.”
The chameleon gave her a soft smile. “It does. It truly does.”
Tangle pulled herself forward on the chair, rolling it across the floor to be in arms reach of him. Her hands cupped his face and she lifted his chin. “You’re a good dad, Es. She loves you, so much. Anyone can see that. And so do I.”
Espio returned the affection, sliding his hands up his wife’s arms and over her shoulders. He pulled them closer so that nothing but the back of her chair was between them. Full of love for his family and surrounded by their love in return, he found himself inspired once again.
“Beloved daughter, and my loving, pretty wife,” he whispered against Tangle’s cheek. “Both are my delight.”