“So,” Jim asked, “what do you think?”
Cece shrugged, the hand that was holding his tugging up for a moment. “I don’t know,” she said, “they’re kind of boring. All they did was sleep.”
Jim laughed. “It’s tiring being born, monkey girl. You did a whole lot of sleeping too.”
Maybe he was experiencing some sort of muscle memory from his last experience as the father of an infant, but despite only having about 6 hours of sleep in the last 48, he felt strangely energized. He was probably punch drunk and sleep deprived, but somehow the idea of a six-year-old and newborn twins didn’t phase him a bit.
In fact, he felt like he could run a 10k about now.
Cece, on the other hand, was dragging her feet. Jim was pretty sure it wasn’t from tiredness, seeing as how his mother said she’d slept about nine hours.
But he also knew if he called her out, she would be indignant. Like her mother, sometimes Cecelia needed a little time to process.
And a little reassurance.
“Big day,” he started, “meeting your new little brother and sister.”
Cece shrugged.
“Bet all the excitement wore you out a little, huh Cee?”
She shrugged again as they walked slowly down the hospital corridor. “Little bit,” she whispered, peering up at him through her long bangs.
Jim smiled tenderly at his first born. “You want me to carry you the rest of the way?” He knew she needed some special attention, a reminder that she wasn’t going to be forgotten about in the midst of two new siblings.
She scuffed the toe of her red shoe on the linoleum and nodded. “Uh huh.”
“Uh huh,” he said back to her, reaching down to pick her up. Cece wrapped her legs around his torso and her arms around his neck, resting her head on his shoulder. He held on tight and pressed a kiss to the side of her curly head.
“Mommy and I are so proud of you,” he said, “you’re going to be the best big sister ever. Alexander and Natalie are so lucky to have you.”
She whimpered a bit, a little reluctant, he knew, to give up her spot as the one and only Halpert child.
“You’re Daddy’s extra special girl,” he whispered to her like it was a secret. “You know that?”
She nodded against his neck and wrapped her arms more tightly around him. Jim was being slightly choked, but he didn’t mind. He just held on tight too, wanting her to feel safe.
“Daddy?”
“Yeah, baby?”
Cece’s voice was muffled against his shoulder. “What’s sex?”
Choking whilst carrying a six year old was not a good thing, but Jim took comfort in the fact that at least they were still in the hospital, if the shock of hearing his little girl say “sex” actually was producing the heart attack he was pretty sure he was having.
He shifted her so she was eye to eye with him. “I’m sorry, what?”
Her eyes were big. “Ava said babies come from sex. What is it?”
He remembered something from high school biology: Coronary thrombosis.
No. No. If he dropped dead and made Pam a widow with three small children, she’d kill him.
“Well, um,” he began. Holy crap, how was he going to do this? “When a mommy and daddy love each other very much…”
Seriously, Jim, “when a mommy and daddy love each other very much?” Did he think he was on “Sesame Street?“ He could hear his brothers, both of whom still used the word “douche” liberally, mocking him.
“Wait a minute,” Cece interrupted him, narrowing her eyes suspiciously. “Is there kissing?”
Well, this could prove promising…
Jim nodded gravely. “Yes,” he told her soberly. “There’s kissing. And…”
“Ew, Daddy,” she instructed. “Stop.”
Oh, the saving grace of squeamish six-year-olds.
Author's Chapter Notes:
There's a small homage to one of Pam's favorite movies in here.
Chapter End Notes:
Thank you for reading!
