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Children are, to say the least, entertaining; Levi had learned that much after being a father for the past five years. They are also extremely rewarding, in a way he never understood until he watched Isabel take her first steps, say her first words, and be the first girl he absolutely loved.
Seven years ago, had the alpha been told he would have a child with bright red hair and green eyes, with the omega of his dreams, he would have laughed. Firstly, he hated children, secondly, he had no desire for a mate and thirdly, Levi was not father material.
Now, he wouldn’t have it any other way.
Being a stay at home alpha-dad was different, he couldn’t deny it; but he loved every minute of it, and it gave Eren the chance to work at the hospital helping other Omegas cope, and succeed in life. It gave Levi the chance to write during the hours Isabel was at school, and dote on both her and Eren when they were home. It wasn’t always perfect, but it was close enough for him.
“Papa!” Isabel’s voice echoed through the house as he heard the front door open and shut with a soft click. The sound was almost completely drowned out by thudding footsteps running towards his office door.
Levi managed to turn just in time to catch a blur of curly red hair and squirming five year old. “Hey, Is.”
Isabel managed to wrap herself around Levi, like a damned tree monkey , as he stood. The young girl pressed a sloppy kiss to her dad’s cheek, and practically vibrated in his arms as he made his way to the living room.
Eren sat in the side of the soft cream coloured couch, his shoes off, and his knees brought up to his chest; or as close as he could get them with the baby-bump in the way.
“Guess what, Papa!” Is patted at Levi’s shoulder.
“What?” Levi leaned down to kiss Eren on the cheek before he sat down on the other side, and had Eren place his feet in his lap to rub them.
Isabel huffed and pushed out her bottom lip as she crawled off Levi’s hip and sat down between her parents. “Papa! You’re not paying ‘tension.”
Eren had to hide his smile as Levi turned to look at Isabel, looking extremely serious, “I’m sorry, Issy. What did you want to tell me?”
She seemed to ponder if she wanted to tell him after all, before she looked at her mom, then back at her dad, “Momma wore makeup today.”
Levi wasn’t quite sure what his daughter’s point was, but he nodded, “Yes, he did.”
Isabel sighed, clearly frustrated that her dad couldn’t keep up, “ Why? ”
Sending a look over at his mate, Levi tried to express his lack of understanding, was he forgetting something? “To look pretty.”
“But Momma’s always pretty.” Isabel shifted in order to snuggle closer to Eren, her head falling just below Eren’s chin.
Levi felt himself grinning, Isabel was right, Eren was always absolutely stunning.
“Thank you, Is.” Eren pressed a kiss to her red hair, and gently squeezed her shoulder.
Leaning over to kiss Eren’s lips, Levi grinned at the omega, “Yes, you are always pretty.”
A flush rose to Eren’s tan cheeks, but he returned his husband’s smile and kiss.
As Levi leaned back, Isabel spoke up again, “Papa. You should wear makeup.”
Levi raised an eyebrow, feigning hurt at the, probably, unintentional blow to his self-esteem, “I’m hurt, Is.”
Eren, however, was laughing so hard that tears began for form in the corners of his eyes, seemingly unaware of his mate’s rapidly deflating ego.
Isabel just tilted her head to the side before nodding solemnly, “I’m sorry, Papa.” She then proceeded to kiss his nose like he did when she was hurt and gently pat his cheek. “You are very pretty without makeup.”
Eren just kept laughing, but Levi smiled and kissed her forehead, “Thank you, Is.”
“But not as pretty as Momma.” She reminded him sternly.
“Of course not.” He pulled Issy into his lap and let go of Eren’s feet, so that they both could stand up. “Ok, dear, you need to get back to work.”
The omega stood carefully, trying to keep his belly from throwing him off balance, he pulled both Levi and Isabel into a quick hug, and kissed Levi on the lips.
Wrinkling her nose, Isabel pushed at Levi’s face, “Ew.”
Chuckling to himself, Levi shook his head, “I love you, drive safely. Okay?”
“Don’t I always?” Eren grinned, his dimples flashing as he slowly slipped his shoes back on. “I love you both. I’ll see you when I get home in a few hours.”
As the door shut behind Eren, Levi looked at Isabel, who was once again clinging to him like some sort of primate.
“How about we make some cookies for that bake sale your school is doing?”
She nodded, and squirmed out of Levi’s hold, only to climb into one of the chairs at the island counter in the kitchen.
After about three hours, the heat of the kitchen had Levi wiping his forehead on his arm. God, he hated baking in the summer.
Isabel still sat at the island, dooling in her colouring book with the set of crayons Karla had bought her last week. Her legs kicked back and forth as she coloured carefully inside of the lines.
School would be out in a week, and the PTA had set up a bake sale to help raise money for the next years class. Apparently, they did it every year to help pay for general supplies.
Since Eren worked, and Levi loved baking anyway, he had volunteered, but after three hours of the oven on at 350 degrees and the air conditioner on full blast--in attempt to keep the Ackerman-Jaeger house from becoming the next entrance to hell--Levi was relieved it was done and the space cleaned.
“Hey, Issy”
“Yea, Papa?”
Levi began to turn around, “Don’t eat any of-” Two cookies were missing from one of the perfectly straight columns. “Isabel. What happened to those two cookies?” He stares at his five year old, two cookies when you had just made close to a hundred, was nothing, but he wanted to torment her a little.
“Ninjas.” The word was spoken quietly, and she refused to look her father in the eyes. She couldn’t stop the smile that was forming on her face though, and the longer Levi stared at her, the bigger the smile became. The bigger the smile became, the more her dimples appeared, and the more her dimples appeared, the more she looked like Eren.
“I didn’t see or hear any ninjas, Isabel.” Levi leaned forward to boop Issy’s nose with his finger.
“No one ever does,” She was giggling now, and the alpha merely sighed, checkmate. She was definitely their spawn. Good heavens, what had they gotten themselves into?
With a playful growl, Levi picked her up, and tossed her over his shoulder. Red curls flew over his face and his back, a few got into his mouth and he had to spit them out while trying to keep from dropping the squealing and squirming child.
Plopping her down on the couch, Levi began to tickle her. “This is what you get for pilfering my cookies! ” He blew raspberries into her stomach, and held her feet still while he bombarded them with tickles. She screamed and laughed, twisting and turning under the attack.
“Papa! Stop! I have to pee!” She pushed at his hands, her face almost as red as her hair, as the laughter turned into a plead.
Levi stopped and raised his eyebrow, “You better not be trying to get out of your tickle torture.” He warned.
Issy’s eyes went wide and she shook her head, quickly darting to the bathroom and almost slamming the door shut.
“Make sure you wash your hands!” Levi called after her. He heard the flush of the toilet and then the sink being turned on.
Satisfied, he leaned back into the plush couch and let the cool air coming from the overhead vent drift over him.
This lasted for maybe thirty seconds, before Issy was pouncing onto his lap, “Papa?” She grabbed his shoulders and pushed to get his attention.
“Yes?”
“Why do adults con’tagulate you when Momma is the one who makes the baby?” Her lips were quirked to the side and thinned.
“Because I helped.”
“How?”
Levi froze. No. No. No. Nope. Abandon ship. He was not having this conversation with Issy. Nope. Think, Levi. Think! “I read him the instructions.” He blinked.
“Oh, wh-”
“Are you excited about having a younger sibling?” Levi rushed to ask before more could be said.
“Yup!” Her hair fell all over her face as she nodded, “I hope I have a little sister.”
“You do, eh?” Levi smiled at his little girl, as she smiled brightly at him. He didn’t care, as long as the baby and Eren were healthy.
“Yep! Then we can share clothes, and talk about boys, and-”
“Woah, woah, woah.” Levi almost jumped in his seat. “What kind of boy talk?”
“You know. How icky they are, and we can talk about how we hate them, and how they are so gross. Sorry, Papa.” She patted his shoulder, “You’re not icky. You don’t eat worms and play in the dirt.”
Levi just smiled, relieved. “It’s okay, Is. Boys can be icky. But you might find one one day that isn’t, or maybe you won’t, and you’ll find someone else.”
Isabel seemed to think about it for a moment, “When I get older, I am going to marry Momma.”
Levi had to keep from smiling at her look of determination, “Oh, sweetie. You can’t marry your Momma, I am married to your Momma.”
“So?” She huffed, “I love Momma!” her big green eyes started to fill with tears, “I want to marry Momma, he’s the only boy that I wanna marry.”
Levi pulled her into his chest, “I know, Baby. I know.” He pressed a kiss to her head, until her sniffles died down.
One day, she’d understand, so he’d hold onto this moment while he could.