[ct] 51.2 - plans for valentine's day

The soft pink teddy bear hovered in midair before the delighted infant’s features as Tommy held his daughter up and held the toy aloft with power alone, watching her try to reach for it.

“What’s that?” he asked, laughing as she squealed gleefully. “Is that a bear? Is that a buddy bear for May-May? I think it is a buddy bear for May-May…”

Finally relenting, Tommy let the toy drift close enough so that she could grasp its leg with one tiny hand and guided it into her grips until she had it in her lap, steady enough to tug on its ears contentedly.

“Pretty things for my pretty thing.” He cooed, kissing the top of her head as she concentrated all her attention on trying to destroy the sturdy little stuffed animal. “That’s your Valentine’s Day present. ‘Cause you’re my Valentine…yeah, you are!”

She paused just long enough to smile up at him, then turned back to pulling and finally chewing on the bear’s right ear.

( Steadying her in his lap with one hand, Tommy reached out to the table beside the couch and picked up the second gift... )

Muse: Tommy Karras
Fandom: Original Character
Words: 651
Partner: Ziyah Ambrogio (zee_ali) [deceased]

[sws] a post where Tommy tells the world what Belle already knows...

[Art director.

Gainfully employed once again.]

[mad muses] kings of convenience lyrics

Parallel lines, move so fast,
toward the same point,
infinity is as near as it is far

He was getting her ready for bed when it came over him. Staring down at her on the changing table, his sweet little girl in her pretty lavender jammies, kicking her feet and staring up at him with her mother’s wide, warm eyes. It almost suffocated him for a moment, the things they had already endured side by side and yet the gulf of space that lived between them. This tiny life that didn’t yet have function or voice could speak without words and heal his deepest wounds just by touching her pudgy little fingers to his face…

He stepped back. He shut his eyes. He pictured the sound of her voice, heard it in his ears…and called on power that didn’t come to him naturally.

A moment later, there was a soft sound of feet touching the floor. The hand on his face was slim and fine-boned, fingers long and artistic.

“Daddy…don’t do this.”

Tommy reached up to catch the hand in his, pressing a kiss to her palm as he felt the tears come. “I’m sorry, I just…I had to hear your voice. I had to…tell you…”

The hand slipped free from his as a slender dancer’s body pressed to his, strong and sure arms wrapping around his neck in a fierce embrace. “When you talk, I listen. I hear, I understand. I always will.”

He hugged her back fiercely, eyes still shut. “I’m doing my best, baby. I just…want you to know that.”

“I do…and so is she.”

“What? Who?”

Her lips touched his cheek, warm and soft. “Believe, Daddy. Please?”

“…I believe in you. That’s all I got left.”

“I know… I love you, Daddy.”

He felt the first sob escape at that, his head burying itself against her neck. “Aww, baby, I love you…”

She held him as he cried for ages before she tried to step back. He let her go, never opening his eyes.

He stood there with them closed until he heard her coo again from her place on the changing table.

Opening them again, he moved back up hastily and lifted her back into his arms, holding her close for a moment. He pressed his lips to her soft little cheek, breathing in the sweet scent of newborn, clean skin, and talcum powder that was hers.

The pudgy hand touched his cheek to soothe his pain…and the tear stains on her jammies reminded him that it always would.

NOTE: Based on the concept of this illusion. The incarnation that appears in this piece is Mayilia Karras at the age of eighteen.

Muse: Tommy Karras
Fandom: Original Character
Words: 406