(no subject)

[takecourage]

Mostly, what she does is stare. She holds Edie in her arms and she feeds her or she sleeps and she just...stares at her. Mostly, she's trying to figure out how something so utterly perfect can have come from her. Danny, she can believe it of, but her? What she do to deserve something like this. A few days after Edie is born, Alex lets Danny start texting people, letting them know that they can come and visit, if they want to. She installs herself in the sunroom with Edie wrapped in a blanket in her arms and she rocks, slowly, and she feels, for the first time in her life, like she's something entirely new.

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[takecourage]

"It's like you don't know me at all," says Alex, with a smile. She shifts to the edge of the seat that she's sitting in, Edie cradled in her arms. "What did you bring me?"

[mitsubishievo]

"Bunch of stuff," he said, holding the hot-cold bag up. "Figured you and Danny could both use a few meals that would keep as good leftovers. It's mostly Bulgarian because that's about all I know how to cook--so you've got mixed grill, moussaka, and a couple different soups."

He smiled, gentle and adoringly, looking at Alex and Edie. He was maybe, a little, sad about it. Seeing her made him think of Beca, and all he could think of for a moment was hoping she stuck around. That was selfish, so he kept it to himsel.

"Also? Good ground coffee from the Slavic store."

[takecourage]

"You're the fucking best," she says. She catches something in his face, just a flicker, gone as quickly as she sees it. She knows him well enough not to ask. "Fix me a plate? You know where everything is in the kitchen. Then I'll swap you."

[mitsubishievo]

"Absolutely," he said with a smile, stepping close enough to smack a big kiss on her forehead before heading toward the kitchen. "How much coffee do you want with all this? I can just put the pot on if that's better."

He probably would anyway, given that it was good coffee and he planned to hang out for a while. So he started there, pot of coffee, before unpacking the food to make a plate and put the food away as well. A little bit of everything, just so she could try.

[takecourage]

"One of the big mugs," says Alex, shifting Edie's weight again, putting one foot on the floor so that she can rock them a little. "I pumped earlier, so I should be good to load up." She leans to the side a little so she can watch him through the open kitchen door. "What's Bulgarian for uncle?"

[mitsubishievo]

"Edie would call me vúycho," Kavinsky informed from the kitchen, and then laughed a little. "There's like...eighty goddamn words for uncle, but that's, like. That's what a kid calls their mom's brother."

The complex relations that could be constructed were most important when it came to marriages and the associations of siblings and their spouses.

"Newt would be vúycho too or...eh, I guess tetíncho, but that's a little homophobic in our case." He smiled out at her, though, this smirking, sort of shitty smile. "That's like. It's your mom's sister's husband."

[takecourage]

Warmth blooms in Alex's chest, in the cavity that she'd thought had been carved out when Hellie died. She doesn't ever doubt Danny, not really, not for a second, but the fact that she's got family here? Boys that she thinks of as brothers, a man who might as well be her father. Sometimes, she doesn't know what to do with this much love.

"Would that make you my sister?" she asks, grinning at him. "Because, like...I've seen you in stockings. On stage, admittedly, but..."

[mitsubishievo]

"Listen, Bulgarian doesn't have a lot of words for queers, okay. So yeah, that would make me your sister. Shut the fuck up."

He was grinning throughout it, even if she couldn't see him at the moment. He finished up make food and drink and carried everything out to Alex, still smiling about the whole thing.

"If you ever call me your sister, I'll kick your ass, stockings or no."

[takecourage]

"Pretty sure I could take you, bro," she says, grinning at him. "I'm scrappy." She shifts. "You want to take her while I'm eating?" Her stomach growls, embarrassingly loud and she winces. "I was waiting on Danny to come home and fix me something."

[mitsubishievo]

"We both are." He grinned as he put the food and coffee down, taking Edie from Alex without really acknowledging her question about taking her. He held her comfortably and easily in his arms, murmuring noise at her without any real language behind it.

"Lucky for you," he said, finger-gesturing at the food. "God, I'm so happy for you assholes."

[takecourage]

He takes the baby, a natural, and Alex immediately shifts, starting in on the food that he's brought for her. "Don't swear in front of little ears," she says, but she's smirking whne she says it. She does it as a half-hearted impression of Danny, knowing that Kavinsky will recognise him. "That suits you. Watch you don't get too broody, man."

[mitsubishievo]

He stuck out his tongue at her but didn't disagree or object to the correction. It probably wouldn't do anything in the long run. And it wasn't like Edie could understand English at this point, anyway.

"Oh, I've been broody," Kavinsy said, rolling his eyes. "It certainly wasn't Newt's idea for us to take on a ward. I mean, I was expecting someone a little younger, but it was good energy. It was nice to be a big brother again."

[takecourage]

Alex's mouth twisted with sympathy at the reminder that they'd lost Charlie, recently enough for it to still sting. "You think you guys will try again?" she asks. "Look for a kid this time?"

[mitsubishievo]

"Might be a while," Kavinsky said without too much thought. He'd love to have a kid, to have the noise in the house again. Rosie and Sabrina were still always welcome, and any of their friends, and would always be--but it was different without Charlie there. And Newt took these losses longer and more heavily than he did.

"Besides--" He cradled Edie close, gently rocking her and swaying back and forth. "--I think I make a better uncle and big brother than I make a dad, anyway."