Raef: Perfect

“Are you sure about this?”

“Yes.”

“Raef…”

“Stop.  Just stop.”
Raef held up a finger, looking at Az, pleading with him. “Please.  Trust me.”
He didn’t trust himself, but he needed someone else to.   He needed someone else to believe he was
doing the right thing, taking in Tikva.
Gavi had to think so, had to think she was doing the right thing, but
doubt circled around him.

Maybe he wasn’t doing the right thing.

Maybe she would end up like everyone else he had ever loved,
dead and covered in dirt, dumped into a pit, disappearing in a flash of red
lightning…scorched and burned as she screamed.

Raef squeezed his eyes shut as he gently laid her on the
bed, sliding onto it beside her.  He
wouldn’t let that happen to her.  She was
going to be fine, she was going to be safe.
Tikva was going to grow up loved and cared for.  No one was going to touch her.

“I trust you.” Az smoothed down his hair, brushing back a
strand and tracing the edge of his ear.  The orc leaned down to place a soft kiss to
the top of his head. “She’s beautiful.”

“She is.” Raef smiled warmly as he brushed his fingers
through the soft tufts of hair that curled a little, even now when she was just
a few days old. “She’s perfect.”

~\*~

“I don’t know what I’m doin’.”

“Just hold her.”

Az gave Raef a pained look, cradling Tikva in one arm.  She looked unnaturally small in his embrace.
“Then what?”

“Give her the bottle.” Raef sat down on the edge of the bed
beside Az, smiling with amusement as he handed him the bottle.  He was pretty fuckin’ sure this was the first
time Az had ever fed a baby.

“Why can’t you feed her?”
Az grumbled even as he took the bottle.

“I fed her last time and you need to learn.”

Az scowled, but he turned the bottle over and he offered it,
holding it out just a little too far.

“I swear… she’s a *newborn*.  Put the fuckin’ bottle *closer*.” Raef
reached up to guide Az’s hand so the soft nipple brushed along Tikva’s lips
before she finally opened her mouth.  Her
little fists balled up as she began to suck.

“How the fuck was I supposed to know?”  Az shot Raef a playful glare before he was
looking back down at Tikva, a soft smile dancing over his scarred features.

“You weren’t.  You’ve
got it, *ahuvi*.” Raef watched Az as Az watched Tikva.  His heart fluttered and danced.  He loved it, loved seeing Az crooning over a
child that wasn’t his – a child that was only born because of Griffin, a
painful and beautiful reminder of what could’ve been.  A child that was there when he came
back.  Az could’ve left, could’ve told
him ‘no’.  Instead he held her tenderly
and whispered softly to her.  Instead of
shunning her and abandoning him, he settled further against the headboard of
the bed and held her closer.

Raef reached out to gently place a hand on the side of Az’s
face, rose up to his knees, and leaned over to place a kiss to his husband’s
forehead.

~\*~

“You stunk out your daddy,” Raef teased with a smile as he
poured water over the top of Tikva’s head, careful to not let it splash over
his face.

“That’s a fuckin’ understatement.”

“Don’t be a baby.” Raef snickered and gently touched the tip
of Tikva’s nose. “Good job.”

“Don’t praise her.
She’ll do it again.”

He heard Az fumbling behind him as he struggled to put on a
new set of pants, borrowed from Hansel.  “She’s
a baby. ‘Course she will.” He turned his attention back to Tikva. “Right?  Yer gonna keep messin’ with your daddy?”

“I swear to Silvanus, Raef…”

“What?  He’d love her,
too.”

Raef could feel Az staring daggers at his back and he
chuckled, lifting Tikva out of the water so he could dry her and dress her.  He was going to have to get her new clothes
when they got back into town.  Something
to suit her, something to protect her.
He ran his finger across the top of her head.

“If you stare any harder, she’ll burst,” Az mumbled as he
wrapped his arms around Raef and Tikva.
He placed a soft kiss to the top of his head. “She’s perfect, *haim*
shelli*.”*

“She is.”

This was.