Work Text:
Any sane person would think that at one in the morning the house would be silent with all the occupants inside sleeping...well that would be true if 10 month old Emerson Noelle Magnum wasn’t teething.
In the 10 months since Emerson’s birth, Juliet and Magnum have found out quite a number of things about their youngest child. The first one being that she was ALL about Juliet. Now that’s not to say she wouldn’t let Magnum do anything for her, but she was happiest when she was with her mama. Another thing they learned, she absolutely adored her big brothers and they were both pretty smitten with her as well. Kai who was now nine and Ryder who was now seven absolutely doted on their little sister and would do anything to make her smile and laugh. They also found out that Emerson loved to use her vocal chords and they were honestly shocked the whole island couldn’t hear her. The final thing they learned was that if she was without her binky, blankie and her stuffed dog then to her the world was ending and all hell would break loose and everyone would hear about it.
Speaking of those vocal chords, she was definitely exercising them now in her complete displeasure that she was in pain and in her mind nothing could fix it.
She had woken up from the pain in her gums and Magnum decided to let Juliet sleep since she had been busy with the kids all day and Emerson had decided during teething to constantly be attached to Juliet and was cluster feeding so he knew she was exhausted.
Walking into Emerson’s nursery he saw his daughter standing in her crib, tears streaming down her face, cheeks red, ever present binky in her mouth, her beloved stuffed dog and blankie clutched in her hand.
“Aww peanut, you don’t look so good.” Magnum said as he picked up the baby and held her close, feeling how warm she was.
“Mama” Emerson said as she wiped her nose against her fathers shoulder.
Magnum laid his daughter on the changing table and went to work changing her diaper and grabbed a clean pair of pajamas out from the drawer. He had also grabbed the teething medication and thankfully Emerson allowed him to put it on her gums.
“Mamas sleeping peanut, you wore her out today” Magnum told the sick little girl as he finished buttoning her onesie.
Magnum tried giving Emerson back her pacifier but the little girl just moved her head away from him.
All Emerson did was looked at Magnum with her water eyes and just said “No dada”
Magnum wasn’t surprised by his daughters insistence that she wanted Juliet, she really was a ‘mamas girl’ and honestly tolerated Magnum on the best of days.
“I know I know, I’m not who you want but we gotta let mama sleep baby girl.” Magnum told the little girl again but all that did was just upset her even more.
Thomas hated when any of his kids were hurt or upset, but knowing that he can’t comfort his baby girl broke his heart. Going over the rocker in the corner, he hopes that Emerson will relax enough to try and go back to sleep.
Emerson looked up at her father with her dark hazel eyes that were exactly like her mothers and just couldn’t understand why she wasn’t with Juliet. She clutched onto her blanket and rubbed her eyes as she sucked on her binky.
“Mama.” She cried pitifully as she squirmed in Magnums arms.
Magnum was thankful that Kai and Ryder were having a sleepover at Rick and Suzy’s cause he could tell Emerson was about to have a fit and he didn’t blame her, she was in pain and didn’t feel good.
Kissing the top of her head, he just wanted to make his baby girl feel better.
“Peanut, mama is sleeping.”
“No she isn’t.” Juliet said from the doorway and he never saw his daughter's head turn so fast.
The minute the sick baby saw Juliet, she couldn’t get out of Magnum's arms fast enough and Juliet barely had a hold on her. The minute Emerson was in Juliet's arms she immediately started pulling at her top singling she wanted to eat.
“What are you doing up? You need to get some sleep.” Magnum asked as he got up so his wife could sit down and nurse their daughter.
Juliet sat down and adjusted her daughter so she could eat and she felt the baby sigh against her breast as she got what she wanted.
“I appreciate you trying to let me sleep, but I heard her start crying and I knew you could handle it, I knew she was seconds from having a complete meltdown if I didn’t come in here.” Juliet told him as she rubbed the little girls back and looked up at him.
Emerson for her part was content to nurse and stare up at Juliet like she was the best thing in the world and to the little girl, she was.
“She’s lucky she’s cute.” Magnum said jokingly as he sat on the arm rest and ran his hand up and down his wife’s back as he stared down at his daughter who was fighting sleep.
Juliet couldn’t help but laugh, she knew he was joking and that he would do anything for Emerson and the boys but he definitely wasn’t used to not being able to comfort one of his kids or having one of them not want to be around him. While the boys didn’t favor either parent, as babies they were content with any attention they got. Emerson on the other hand was only ever completely content when she was with Juliet, if someone else had to hold her she would fuss until she was back with Juliet or if Juliet was in her line of sight she would follow her everywhere.
Noticing that the baby had fallen back to sleep, Juliet slowly moved her away from her chest so that she could close the shirt she was wearing.
“Can you take her for a second?” The blonde asked her husband hoping that Emerson stayed asleep.
Magnum gently took the little girl from her mother’s arms and almost instantly dark hazel eyes popped open and the whining started.
“Mama” The 10 month old whined as she turned her head to look at Juliet.
“Oh my love, you're completely fine. You can let daddy hold you and love on you, I’m right here.” Juliet told her daughter and she stood up from the rocking chair and handed Emerson her binky which she immediately put into her mouth.
Emerson relaxed into Magnums arms but as usual she wouldn’t let Juliet out of her sight.
Magnum loved the bond between his wife and daughter and had a feeling that as the baby got older that bond would only get stronger. While the boys didn’t favor either of them over the other, Magnum could definitely see that Kai was more a ‘mamas boy’ while Ryder hung out with him just a bit more.
“See princess, I’m not so terrible.” Magnum told the little girl as he placed a kiss on her head and he could feel her relax a little bit more against him.
Juliet knew that Emerson loved Thomas and even though she acted indifferent towards him most of the time, there is plenty of photographic evidence to prove that Emerson loved her daddy.
“She’s out, why don’t you head back to bed and I’ll meet you there once I get her settled.” Magnum told his wife, bringing her out of her thoughts.
Juliet smiled at the sight in front of her before placing a kiss on her daughter's dark hair then running her hand down Magnum's back and placing a kiss on his cheek before heading out of the room.
Magnum slowly walked back over to Emerson’s crib and tried to lay her back in there but she had a very tight grip on his shirt and started whining when he tried to put her down. He gently pried her little hand from his shirt and was able to lay her back down. He stood by her crib for a moment to make sure she settled down and when he was sure she was fine he turned to walk away.
The moment Thomas got to the door the little girl started whimpering and turned around to see her staring back at him.
“Dada” The baby girl said and she looked at him with sad eyes and extended her arms out to him.
Magnum headed back to the crib and picked Emerson up and had a good feeling she was going to be sleeping with him and Juliet tonight. Him and Juliet weren’t strangers to having a kid in bed with them, Kai pretty much spent the first two years sleeping in their bed and they were only able to get him to sleep in his bed when Juliet was pregnant with Ryder.
“Alright princess, you can sleep with mama and I tonight.” Magnum told Emerson as he grabbed her blanket and her dog before heading back to his room.
“Mama.” Emerson said around her pacifier as she looked at her father.
“Yes baby, we are going to see mama.” Thomas laughed as they walked down the hallway and into his and Juliet's bedroom.
Juliet couldn’t help but laugh when Magnum and Emerson walked into the bedroom, she had a good feeling the baby would end up in their bed tonight since that’s where she has ended up for the past week.
The minute Emerson saw Juliet she was already leaning out of Magnum's arms.
“Hello again my love.” Juliet laughed as Emerson snuggled into her arms.
Magnum smiled at his girls and would never tire of seeing Juliet being a mother to his children.
“Fifty bucks says she turns into Kai and doesn’t leave our bed until she’s two.” Thomas joked as he turned off the light and got into bed with his girls.
Juliet couldn’t help but laugh at that cause in all honesty, he probably wasn’t wrong. It shocked everyone when they found out that Kai slept with them until he was two cause everyone thought that Juliet would be adamant her kids sleep in their own beds but she was the one that let the kids sleep in their bed.
“Are you worried that you won’t get a good night's sleep anymore?” Juliet joked right back knowing that even though they did lose sleep and would end up with various little body parts in their faces or ribs they wouldn’t change a thing.
Magnum couldn’t stop the laugh that came tumbling out of him. “You know Higgy that I would lose sleep for any one of these kids.” He told her as he rubbed Emerson’s back hoping she would fall back to sleep soon.
Looking down at the brown haired little girl they both couldn’t help but smile at her. They could tell she was exhausted but was fighting sleep. The little girl in question grabbed at her mothers shirt letting them know she wanted to eat again.
Juliet got both herself and Emerson adjusted and let the baby latch before leaning against Magnum and letting out a breath.
“I do look forward to these teeth breaking through and giving her some relief.” Juliet said as she rubbed Emerson’s back and noticed she was starting to drift off and hoped she would stay asleep.
Thomas looked at his girls and wished Kai and Ryder were here with them but knew they were sound asleep after a fun day with Rick, Suzy and the girls, him and Juliet had gotten lots of pictures throughout the day. He was honestly such a lucky man to have a beautiful wife and three amazing children, a great job, amazing friends…He had the life he had always dreamed of.