“I feel like there should be laws against this many people staring at my mate’s breasts,” Nick muttered darkly, tugging the edge of the blanket up another half inch with the focus of a male defusing a bomb.
Verna did not even glance at him as she nudged a pillow under Kara’s elbow.“And yet here we are, surviving somehow.”
Kara snorted tiredly.
Then immediately regretted it, because apparently literally every muscle in her body now hated her personally and had organized a small union about it.
Motherhood was magical.
The baby made a tiny frustrated noise against Kara’s chest, rooting clumsily, her little mouth bumping along skin while Verna adjusted the blankets again with patient hands.
“She is impatient,” the elder female observed.
“She got that from her father,” Kara said instantly, not even looking up.
Nick’s head whipped toward her so fast that she felt the air move.“Excuse me?You once threatened to stab a drive-thru employee because they forgot your fries.”
“In my defense,” Kara murmured, brushing one finger along the curve of the baby’s cheek, “they were curly fries.”
Rachel nearly choked laughing from her chair near the fire, one hand clapped over her mouth as her shoulders shook.Zara, leaning against the stone wall near the door with her arms crossed, did not bother hiding her grin.
The baby finally latched properly.
Kara gasped softly.
Oh.
That was.Strange.
Not painful exactly.Just overwhelming, in the way standing too close to a wave was overwhelming, in the way grief and joy and exhaustion all decided to share the same square inch of her ribcage at the same time.
Emotion swelled so suddenly in her chest it caught her completely off guard, climbing up her throat with no warning whatsoever.Her daughter relaxed instantly against her, the tense little body going soft, tiny fingers curling weakly against Kara’s skin while soft little swallowing sounds filled the room.
Nick went utterly silent beside her.
Kara turned her head on the pillow to look over at him.
Well.
Great.
Now he looked emotional again.
His gold eyes remained fixed on the baby with the same stunned awe he had worn ever since she had arrived screaming into existence beneath collapsing realms and magical apocalypse lighting.His throat worked once.Twice.He blinked too hard and pretended he was not blinking too hard, which Kara was absolutely going to bring up the next time he tried to act unaffected by anything.
Honestly?
The child had excellent timing.Showing up in the middle of the apocalypse was the kind of dramatic entrance Kara could respect.
“She knows you,” Verna said quietly, easing back to give them space, her hands folding in her lap.
Kara looked down at the tiny dark haired baby against her chest, at the impossibly small ear, the soft eyebrows already drawn into a faint, focused crease.
Joy.
The emotion hit so hard it almost hurt, blooming behind her sternum until she had to breathe carefully around it.
Not the frantic desperate kind people clung to during battle.Not the loud, laughing kind that came with too much wine and not enough sleep.
