Like Mother...
Rating: PG, Drabble
Pairing: Sara/Warrick
Feedback: Makes my day
Disclaimer: If it was in the show, it's not mine.
Archive: At my site Checkmate (http://helsinkibaby.ahkay.net) , Fanfiction.net; anywhere else, please ask.
Notes: For the CSReports LiveJournal Music challenge
It was an act of sheer desperation that finally worked.
They'd tried everything that they could think of to get the baby to sleep, taking it in turns to rock her, to walk the floors with her. Sara had taken her outside in the hopes that some fresh air would do the trick, only to come in again when she'd realised that Emma's screams could very easily wake the neighbours. Warrick had used one of Catherine's tried, and allegedly true tips, taking her out in the car for a drive, but while Sara had managed to grab a few minutes of shut-eye, he'd returned with a still screaming baby and a raging headache. After that, they'd tried leaving her in her crib, hoping that she'd cry herself out, a strategy that had only intensified Warrick's headache and made Sara's heart feel like it was being ripped out.
"She's not going to stop," she said finally, standing and going to the bedroom, hearing Warrick's words following her.
"Stubborn, and a bad sleeper," he observed dryly. "Wonder who she takes after?"
Any other time, she would have given him hell for that, but she was too tired, too frazzled to do anything but pick up the baby, cooing to her and whispering into her ear in an effort to calm her, beginning to walk the floor again, ending up back in the living room.
Once there, she found Warrick sitting at the piano, the notes already echoing around the room, warring with Emma's cries, and tired and frazzled as she was, Sara still felt a smile coming to her face. How many times had she watched him play like this, how many times had she fallen asleep with those notes as her lullaby?
The thought made her look down, to see that miraculously, Emma was quietening. Almost afraid to hope, Sara brought her closer to the piano, angling her so that she'd be able to see Warrick as well as hear the music, the child getting less fussy all the time. Little by little as Warrick's long fingers moved across the keys, her cheeks grew less red, her eyes changing from teary eyed squints to wide green orbs of wonder, until finally they closed altogether and her breathing evened out. Even then, the music didn't stop, just in case, and when Warrick's hands stilled, they both held their breath.
When Sara was able to tear her eyes away from the sleeping baby, she met Warrick's gaze, matching his slow smile. "We should have known," she whispered, and he nodded, standing up carefully. He reached out to run a careful finger along Emma's cheek, and Sara held her breath, doing the same thing for a different reason when he repeated the gesture, this time on her cheek.
"Like mother, like daughter."