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Hughie rested his head gently on his wife’s stomach. His hand rubbed small circles against her bump as she ran her fingers softly through his curls. They were currently watching whatever was on TV, but to be frank, Hughie wasn’t paying that much attention to it despite his eyes being glued to the screen.
He inhales quickly and exhales longly yet another time this night. He doesn’t even realize he’s doing it so much until he feels her pausing her actions.
“Hughie?” Annie begins in order to break the silence. She gets a long hum as her reply for her to keep going. “You’ve been quiet since you got home. What’s wrong?”
Well…
He guesses he shouldn’t be that surprised she noticed his odd behavior; I mean, they’ve been together for how long now? He stops his movements too, thinking slowly, carefully at how he’s going to phrase his next few words.
“Well I just, um, had… had a thought at work that I uh…” His voice trails off barely as a whisper, but he makes an effort to tell her the truth. “That I… regret.”
“Regret?” Annie asked, taking in his words heedfully to fully understand. “What was your thought?”
His mouth suddenly felt like desert air for some reason. She wouldn’t hate him for thinking this, right? Shocked, confused maybe, but not hate.
Right?
He guesses he stayed quiet a lot longer than he realizes because she’s calling out his name again, followed by the question. He bites his tongue as a stability.
“It’s uh… about the baby. About what they might look like.” Hughie replies, holding his breath again. He hated the thought about pouring salt in this opening wound he’s causing.
Fuck. He starting to think he’s already added the fucking salt in.
He knows he can’t see her, he can’t even see her reflection on the TV, but he can imagine wholeheartedly that she’s tilting her head slightly with her perfect brows pushed together, completely thrown in a little loop by his answer.
“And… what’s exactly wrong with that?” She asked, leisurely.
“Well–” He pushes himself up to sit, shifting into her view. “What if our baby… looks like Homelander?”
Her brown eyes widened slightly, mouth agape.
And there it was.
The salt in the open wound.
He’s dumped the whole shaker in.
He held his breath as the silence grew and grew until it finally clicked.
She blinks, and shakes her head, baffled. “Hughie… what–”
He held his hands up, trying to show he was going to explain his crazy, out of this world, answer.
“I know that sounds crazy, but think about it. I-I mean…” He starts gesturing between himself and her. “I have blue eyes and you have blonde hair, so it’s a possibility that’ll happen–”
“Hughie–”
“What I remember from school, depending on if both parents have the recessive gene, then that’s totally a possibility and–”
“Hughie!”
“What?” He says while nearly out of breath, and wonders if she could hear his heart beating like crazy.
His body quivers a little bit, mind buzzing like a wasp nest as he waits for her to start yelling at him for his insane rant. Instead, Annie reaches over to touch his shoulder firmly, almost like she was grounding him back to Earth. Instead of looking angry, she just had a light smile on her peach lips.
“Hughie, you know our kid’s not going to look like Homelander. Even if they have blue eyes and blonde hair. Our kid’s not going to look like him.” She says, trying to be as reassuring as she can.
He bows his head in shame slightly, nodding subtly. “Yeah, I know. It's just…” He sighs and covers her hand with his; His thumb rubbing tiny circles again. “He’s hurt you, Annie. More than me, and…”
He lets out a frustrated sigh. “I mean look at when Butcher met Ryan. He had those bright blue eyes and that’s all Butcher saw. He didn’t see his wife he just saw this monster who–” He clenches his jaw in bitterness “Takes everything. ”
She nods slowly too, soaking up his emotional and gut-strucking words.
“Yes, but, Butcher eventually saw Becca in Ryan and came to love him like his own despite having Homelander’s DNA running through him.” Annie explains, cupping his cheek. He leans into the touch, holding a sad expression that almost makes her wanna copy it. “But there’s something else, isn’t there?”
Hughie closes his eyes, taking this silence to collect himself. When he opens them a moment later, he still sees the same soft features on his wife’s face; Patiently waiting for his answer.
“My mom had blue eyes.” He begins, swallowing. “Uh… and you know, she left. But, b-before… before that I loved her, worshiped her. So seeing those loving eyes who played house with me and… uh, made me costumes, and sang Billy Joel with me, just stared at me like I was nothing to her as she walked out the door. It… messed me up, Annie.”
He chuckles dryly, humorlessly as he blinks to get rid of stinging in his orbs. “Then I got involved in this shit with the Boys, and I got to meet the worst fucking superhero in the whole wide world who was constantly at our throats and I just… the eyes just… the color is…”
“Hughie.” She says, gently. “I know you might not like it, but I really love your eyes. They’re a… deeper blue, but they become so bright and livid when you talk about something you really love. To me it’s…” She sighs blissfully. “Breathtaking. And I don't care what you say, because I would love it if this kid has your eyes, no matter what shade they are.”
He chuckles again, not even bothering with the tear that slipped out. Annie tenderly wipes it away.
“I just… whether or not if this kid has powers like you, or grows up like a plain-jane like me, I just want them to have the best life, you know?” He says, truthfully. “I don’t want them to look at me like I’m nothing, or… or with hatred. I want to be the opposite of what they were.”
“And you will. ‘Cause you’re nothing like Homelander–”
“But what about my mother? What if something clicks and I leave? I leave them, and you, and—”
“ Hughie . You’re not your mother. You always stick around no matter what. I know you’ll stay with us no matter what happens in our life. You’ll stick around for the lows and highs. I know you will. Okay?” She cups his face making sure he was looking at her. “Okay?”
“Okay.” He whispers with a nod.
She smiles. “Okay.” She gives him a peak on the lips that transforms his features into delight.
“Have I ever told you you’re the best wife in the world?”
“You might have…? But, you might have to say it a few times though.”
“Well then, you’re the best wife in the world.” He says, lovingly. He makes her laugh as he slithers his arms around her, laying back down. He sighs with relief as he rests his head back on her belly, muttering. “Thank you.”
She hums and runs her fingers through his hair like earlier. “We’ll figure this out, Hughie. We always do.”
He closes his eyes, taking this moment all in as he continues to smile. “I know we will.”
They ignored the frost growing on the windows; The small and varies sounds of many machines; The chattering outside the room. They even ignored a few texts and calls they’ll have to return in an hour or two. But as of right now, they cuddled up close in the slanted bed, being cautious of the small bundle in her arms.
"She has a bit of green in them." Hughie manages to say after finally getting his waterworks under control ( But he knows they’ll start soon if his baby makes that adorable face again).
"Yeah.” Annie agrees, a huge grin on her face that hasn’t been beaten by exhaustion yet. “She gets that from my dad. He has hazel."
He chuckles. "Funny how genetics work."
She hums while watching their child yawn, but makes no move to close her eyes and rest; Just staring up at them with curiosity and wonder. She looked like a perfect combo of them; The golden curls and navy blues eyes with the tiniest hint of green in them. They thought she was just…
The most perfect human being alive.
Annie casts a small glance to her husband. "See? You had nothing to worry about."
“Yeah, I know it was… dumb of me.” Hughie says, embarrassed. “Although, the thought of parenting now still scares the shit out of me.”
She scoffs, and elbows him the best she could without jostling their child. “Hughie.”
He raises an eyebrow. “What?” He was confused at the scolding until he saw the look. “Oh, shit!” He covers his mouth with his hand, earning another elbow and gasps from his wife.
“Hughie!”
“What?” He holds his hand up. “You do realize that our friends’ first language is cussing, right?”
“Oh, god…”
“You know our baby’s going to be cussing by two, right?”
“Oh, god. No…” She closes her eyes, sighing. “Oh, man. I can see the parent-principal school meetings right now. This is day one and we’ve fucked up already.”
“Annie.” He teases, holding back a laugh. He gives them both a moment to settle down and ask a real question. “So… I’m assuming we should give her a name?”
She purses her lips, thinking. “Well, it’s not a boy like the doctor said, so–” She gives him an apologetic look. “I’m sorry but ‘Billy Campbell’ is off the table.”
“Yeah, I figured.” He said, taking no offense. “We do have that other boy name we liked. Well, it’s unisex so…”
“Which was what again?”
“Jayden. Which means, ‘Thankful’. A ‘Healer’. Which I think is appropriate for this situation.” He smiles a little bit more. “Plus, we can call her Jade which is–”
“Green.” Her eyes light up at that one. “I like that one. I love it. ‘Jayden Campbell’.
“It’s settled, then. Jayden Campbell. The baby we’re thankful for.” He says, snuggling back up close to his wife and child. And the one thought he had before the nurse and friends would come in was–
.
.
.
.
.
The baby that’s healed me just the right amount.