Chapter Text
It was the crowing of a rooster that woke her from her slumber. Lexi blinked her eyes, adjusting to the sun that was beginning to pour through her bedroom window. She turned in the bed and let her eyes fall on her husband. His eyes were closed, his face still set into a look of relaxation.
She let her hand come to rest on the side of his face, feeling the roughness of his beard scratch along her palm. A set of eyes, blue-green, fluttered open to meet hers.
“Mornin’.” Fez’s voice was heavy with sleep, the golden orange sunlight pouring over his frame like honey.
“Good morning.” Lexi responded softly, watching her husband as they both slowly woke next to one another. “The roosters are telling us it’s time to get up.” She said, smiling down at him.
“Is that so?” He asked happily.
“Mhm.” She answered. Lexi leaned over and placed a kiss to the side of Fez’s mouth, and then another on his lips. They smiled against one another’s skin before Lexi pulled away. “Come on.” She said, pulling the heavy down blanket off of herself. “The girls will be up before we know it.”
Fez watched his wife as she stood from the bed, the round slope of her stomach draped by the soft white cotton of her pyjamas.
“Damn mama. Your belly really startin to pop.” He said, his voice still deep and rough from sleep.
“You think so?” Lexi asked, her brown eyes searching his for a moment before turning to examine herself in the full length mirror. She placed her hands above and below her belly, cradling it as she inspected her reflection.
Fez smiled at her as he watched her scrutinize herself. He loved everything about her.
He loved the litte things. Like the way her soft brown hair was always tangled in the morning, or the way she would hum unconsciously whenever her mind was deep in thought.
And he loved the bigger things. The more important things. Like how much she loved their girls, and how she had stood by his side after Ashtray had died, and he had gone to prison.
They had built a life together, and Fez wasn’t sure if he deserved it, but he was glad that he had it.
Their attention was pulled towards their bedroom door as it slowly began to open, the hinges creaking softly as it moved. A tiny mess of brown curls appeared as the the door creaked open.
“Mommy.” A little voice squeaked. Asling, their oldest girl, walked into their room, her tiny hands rubbing at her tired eyes. She looked around the room blearily, her brown eyes searching for her mother.
“Good morning, peanut!” Lexi cooed as she walked towards the tired baby standing in her doorway. She scooped the little girl up, holding her snug against her body. Asling let her head fall onto her mothers shoulder, her tiny hand coming up to gently sift through Lexi’s long hair.
Fez watched the moment unfold in front of him. His girls wrapped up in one another.
Sometimes he wondered if he had died along with Ash during that raid, and this was what his heaven looked like. But it couldn’t be heaven, because Ash wasn’t here.
The rapid pitter-patter of little feet running down the hall drew his attention away from his wife and oldest daughter. A blossom of red hair sped across the bedroom and towards Fez. Ocean blue eyes met his own. Eleanore, their youngest, ran to his side, her little hands grabbing onto his arm.
“Daddy! Daddy!” She giggled out. Fez watched her, a smile on his face, as his youngest girl fidgeted energetically next to him. He reached his arms towards his baby, scooping her up effortlessly into the air, and plopping her down onto his chest. She wriggled for a second before her tiny face was peering at his. Her hair was like Lexi’s in every way except for its colour. Fez smoothed Elenors hair down with one of his hands, watching her little face as she spoke to him.
“Daddy, can we go and feed the aminals?” She asked, and then her little brow furrowed. “Aminals. Aminals.” She repeated fruitlessly, the correct pronunciation of the word evading her.
“Animals.” Her father patiently corrected her, an amused smile on his face.
“Am-in-als.” She said again. She let her tiny body collapse onto her fathers chest, giving up. Fez and Lexi laughed at their youngest girl. She was exceedingly smart and self aware for a three year old.
“Nora, baby. Let’s eat breakfast first. Then you, and Daddy, and Asling can go and feed the animals. Alright?” Lexi said, moving towards her husband and her youngest daughter.
“Ok mommy.” Eleanor squeaked, smiling up at her mother. Lexi cupped the little girls face with one hand, the soft porcelain of her skin warm against her palm.
Lexi was still holding Asling against her chest, her tiny cheek pressed against her mothers shoulder, her dark eyes blinking as she looked at Fez.
Fez stood, holding Elenore against him, her curly hair tickling his cheek, her face pressed into the crook of his neck.
“Good morning my Asling.” Fez cooed, walking towards his wife and oldest daughter. Asling giggled at her fathers attention, her little face scrunching up with a smile as Fez moved to press a few gentle kisses to her face.
The four of them ate breakfast together at their kitchen table. It was large and round, the wood a soft oak.
It had been the first item of furniture that had made their house feel like a home.
Five years ago, when Fez and Lexi had first bought their modesty sized home and the 50 acres of land it sat on, Fez had found the table at a flea market and decided to test his hand at reclaiming something worn and forgotten. It struck him that it wasn’t un-similar to the way Lexi had saved him all those years ago.
Fez felt an odd sort of kinship to this table. It was unremarkable and the edges were rough and chipped, the varnish long since peeled away, but it’s value wasn’t any less diminished because of it. Lexi had taught him that. When he had been at his lowest, during the darkest time of his life, she had recognized the value that his life still carried. Reminded him of it as often as she needed to. Told him that people were inherently valuable. He remembered all of this when he looked at the table at that flea market.
As he had dismantled it and loaded it into the back of his car. He thought of Lexi’s words. He spent the next month slowly and methodically restoring the old table back to its former glory in their back shed.
When he had shown Lexi, she had smiled at him brightly, brining her her hand to run gently across its varnished surface.
“It’s beautiful.” She had said.
“Yeah, it’s still got some marks and chips in it that I could’t quite get rid of, but it looks pretty damn good.” He had said, a tinge of pride in his voice.
“No, I like the marks on it. It makes it more beautiful. It shows that it’s lived a life.” She had said, turning her eyes to meet his. “And besides.” She continued, moving to wrap her arms around his waist and pressing her face against his chest. “I love it more because you made it for us.”
They sat at the table now, the four of them. Him and his three girls. They ate their breakfast in noisy domesticity. A blissful chatter emanating from their two little girls as they ate the scrambled eggs and bacon on their plates.
He was still often struck by the reality that this was his life. He looked over at Asling, her dark curls tousled around her sweet little face, her dark brown eyes still soft from sleep. She was chewing on a piece of bacon as she stared off blankly across the kitchen. Fez smiled as he watched her. She was so much like Lexi, often daydreaming and lost inside her own imagination.
He looked over at Nora, her little face and hands covered in maple syrup as she speared a piece of scrambled egg with her plastic fork.
He heard Lexi giggle from beside him, and turned towards her to see that she had been doing the same thing as him; watching their daughters work through their early morning routine.
“Daddy?” Asling asked suddenly.
“Yeah baby.” Fez cooed, looking over at his oldest girl, her little face scrunched up in contemplation.
“When can we start to plant our garden?” She asked, her big brown eyes locked on his, her face set into a serious look that had Fez trying to suppress a laugh.
“In the next few weeks, baby. Once the weathers warmer. We don’t want frost killin’ our crops before they’ve had a chance to grow.”
Asling nodded at him as she took a drink from her sippy cup, her little brow furrowed as she cataloged her fathers new piece of information.
Fez and Lexi looked at one another and smiled.
“She’s all you.” He whispered to his wife.
“And she’s all you.” Lexi said, nodding her head towards Nora as she tried to save a tiny spider that was walking across the table.
“Come here little spider.” Nora cooed out, trying to get it to crawl onto her hands.
“Just smoosh it!” Asling squealed from beside her sister, leaning as far away from the spider as she could. Fez looked at Aslings little face, her brown eyes wide with terror, and then he looked at Lexi, her eyes equally as big as she curled her tea mug towards herself and as far away from the spider as she could.
Fez laughed, standing from his seat to scoop the spider up in his hands.
“Put your hands out, Nora.” He said to his youngest, and the girl did as her father instructed, her tiny hands jutting out in front of her, cupped together so that her father could place the spider in them.
When the spider finally crawled into Nora’s hands, she let out a delighted giggle, and Fez picked her up, lifting her tiny body above his head and lowering her down onto his shoulders.
“Lets take him out to the garden so he can chill and make a web.” Fez said as he walked towards the screen door at the back of the house.
“Ok, Daddy!” Nora chirped as she continued to watch the spider crawl around in her hands. “Can we put him on a flower?” Her tiny voice squeaked, and Fez felt his heart melt at the sound of her high pitched little voice.
“Yeah baby. We can put him on a flower.” He chuckled.
They walked out into the garden, Rose, Peony, and Lilac bushes all beginning to bloom.
Fez lifted Nora off of his shoulders and placed her gently on the ground. She reached for his hand, her little hand so small it could only fit around two of his fingers. He smiled down at her as he watched her walk beside him, her other little hand still cupping the spider.
“Can we put him on a rose?” She asked, her little face turning up towards him, her bright blue eyes shining as they caught the morning sun.
“‘Course we can.” He smiled. “ What rose you wanna put him on, baby?”
Her little face scrunched up as she looked around the garden, trying to decide what rose would make the best home for her new friend.
She kept her tiny hand wrapped around her fathers fingers and began to walk towards a yellow rose bush.
“This one!” She chirped, letting go of her fathers hand and pointing to a large yellow rose in the centre of the bush.
“That’s a pretty one.” He admired, walking towards the flower Nora had pointed to.
He crouched down so that he way eye level with his daughter.
“Here baby. Lemme see him and Daddy’ll put him on the flower.”
Nora stepped towards him, her tiny hands cupped together as she stretched them towards her father. Fez smiled at her as he placed one of his hands next to hers, the spider eventually crawling out of Nora’s hand and onto his.
Nora watched in rapt attention as her father gently placed the spider onto the yellow rose, the tiny creature immediately scurrying deep into the petals and out of sight.
“Bye spider.” Nora squeaked, waving a tiny hand towards the rose.
Fez smiled down at her and moved to scoop her up into his arms.
“You’re a good girl, Eleanor O’Neill. You know that?”
She rested her head against Fez’s shoulder, giving a little nod as she looked up at him. He smiled down a her, a gentle laugh escaping his lips, and she brought a hand up to rest against his cheek.
“Love you Daddy.” She cooed, burying her little face into his neck.
"I love you too, baby.” He said, placing a kiss to the top of her head as he made his way back into the house.
When Fez and Nora got back into the house, Asling and Lexi were at the kitchen sink, cleaning the dishes and dancing as they sang along to a song.
He watched as Asling ran a soapy sponge across the dishes from where she was standing on a step stool, her tiny body swaying back and forth as her little voice warbled along to the song.
Lexi took each dish from her, giving it a final scrub before running it under the water and setting it in the drying rack.
“Baby sisters dancing too!” Lexi announced as she continued to place the dishes in the drying rack.
“She is?” Asling squeaked out, moving to place her wet little hands against Lexi’s belly, dampening her mothers shirt in the process.
Asling giggled and smiled up at her mother when she felt her sister kick, and Lexi smiled back down at her, a beautifully exuberant look on her face.
Nora wiggled in Fez’s arms and he set her down on the ground gently, watching as she ran over to her mother and sister to dance with them.
Lexi turned to Nora, an exaggerated look of surprise on her face as she scooped her baby up into her arms. Nora giggled, closing her eyes as her mother spun her around and sang to her.
Lexi held Nora against her, her tiny body resting on Lexi’s hip as she continued to move around the kitchen. Asling jumped off of her step stool to join them, her tiny body jumping up and down as she giggled.
Fez watched the three of them. His two girls, and his wife dancing and signing in their kitchen as the early morning sun poured in through the opened windows, their youngest girl still growing inside of her mother, nestled just beneath her heart.
He thought of his own heart, and how it had never truly been filled until he had met Lexi. And then it became even fuller still once Asling and Nora were born.
As he looked at them now he realized they were his heart. His four girl. The four beating chambers of his life that kept him going, and breathing, and living.
He wished that Ash were here to see it; the one piece of his heart that was missing. A hole inside of it that would never fully heal.