freshoffthefarm | The Baby's Room ][ for fakes

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Current Location: Falls Church, VA

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with: clay

The Baby's Room ][ for fakes_death (future)

Deciding to use Clayton' s old bedroom as the nursery had been a no-brainer for Annie; it was simply where their daughter would belong. The furniture she had ordered from her work computer during her last week at the Agency, since no one was letting her touch anything that she was going to feel the need to work on long-term, and no one wanted her to do anything stressful.

She was six months along and with three day delivery on the things she'd ordered, she made sure that she'd be home in time to have it all set up. She'd also hired people to store the things that were in there already. It was extremely quality furniture, that was no doubt, but there wasn't a crib amongst it and Annie wanted new and, like the things that had been in there before, dark. Dark wood, to her, signified elegance. From there, she chose a pale pink scheme that complimented it well.

Once everything was set up just the way she wanted, she spent her second full day at home washing bedding, making the crib beautiful, putting decorations where she wanted them, folding the layette and finally, hanging tiny metal flowers on the wall.

That's where she was when Webb came home.

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Clay spent all of Annie's pregnancy to date, dreading her maternity leave, mostly because he was going to miss their morning coffee break. He also figured he was going to regret leaving Annie with his platinum card. So far though, she hadn't spent much on the baby's room so that was good.

He'd been told he wasn't allowed to go into his old bedroom until Catherine's room was finished, and was assured that everything that was in there was safely in storage. Clay was proud of himself because he didn't peek into the room at all, though he did wonder when Annie was going to be done.

"Annie, I'm home," Clay called when he got back from the office. Annie answered that she was upstairs, which was his first stop after leaving his briefcase by the door. When he saw his old room he was surprised to say the least.

"It's really nice."

As if she'd ever given him reason to worry about her and his platinum card. Everything he'd ever bought for her or given to her had been something he'd bought on his own and paid for himself. The only time she'd ever taken control was the wedding and that had been a party worth spending money on... or, at least she'd thought so. The President of the United States had shown up. Also, the open bar. And since they didn't have friends that could drink them into bankruptcy, they'd done okay.

Their daughter's room, however, had to be perfect. Even more perfect than the wedding. And when it was just finishing touches, Annie was more than happy to let Clay in. She was thrilled it had only taken her two full days to make it presentable, and that was with the delivery team setting up the furniture appropriately.

Turning when she heard him in the doorway, her face fell just a little and she looked around the room to see what it was he saw in an attempt to see it from a "man's" perspective. Then she looked back at him, confused. "'It's really nice'?"

She'd been hoping for a little more enthusiasm than that and her disappointment showed. Maybe he'd been hoping for more? Suddenly, discouragement washed over her and she set down the last flower on the dresser and eased into the rocking chair.

Apparently, there was something wrong with what he said. Clay didn't see what the issue was, as he did complement her, but he knew Annie was disappointed. "You did an excellent job, just like the rest of the house."

"Are you just saying that now or do you really think that?" She looked around the room again before looking up at him from where she was in the chair. "Because if you don't like it, you can say so and we can return this and do something different."

It wasn't her first pick, but she'd make do.

"I think Cathrine's going to love it. It looks good."

He picked up the metal flower from the dresser, "Where did you get the idea for these?"

Annie made a face when he used a mild word like 'good' again, but hefted herself out of the chair to join him at the dresser.

"I saw something kind of like it in an article about decorating a room in a house, but I thought it'd look really pretty in here. Kind of delicate and elegant and all of the things we want for her," she explained.

"You'd like her to be delicate and elegant?" He smiled a little, "I would too, as long as she's like her mother too."

Annie was one of the strongest women he'd ever known and that, more than anything was something he wanted their daughter to have.

"I know it sounds silly, but that's why I kept the wood dark in here. It reminded me of you. Strong and solid and still very..." She slid her hand into his and rested her head on his shoulder. "You. I want her to be like both of us. Smart and funny and tough and elegant and yeah, maybe a little delicate when it counts."

Annie didn't think of herself as delicate, but she knew that she was softer when she was around Clay. He'd taught her that side of herself, too, and she didn't mind.

"I think she's going to be like both of us, I just hope she picks up on our best qualities."

Clay put his arm around Annie's waist, "I love the rocking chair."

He could see himself spending many hours in that chair with their daughter in the coming years.

Edited 2011-10-30 01:50 (UTC)

Annie turned to him so that their casual holds turned into more of a hug and she looked up at him with all seriousness. "I want her to be like you and have all your qualities, down to your neurotic paranoia about everything." Going up on tip-toe, she kissed him quickly and then looked over at the chair. "It's a very comfortable chair."

He doubted Annie wanted her to have all of his qualities, since he'd been accused of being cold a lot of the time.

"It looks it."

Considering that Annie could count the times that he'd been cold to her on one hand, she really didn't mind the thought of their baby being a lot like him. His positives outweighed his negatives, at least in her mind. That's why she enjoyed being married to him as much as she did.

"Do you want to sit in it?" He looked like he was contemplating it.

"Oh, Sure."

He hugged Annie properly before sitting in the rocking chair. "I think I claim midnight feedings except the night before the monthly directors meeting and the Intelligence Committee Meeting."

Seeing him in the rocking chair made her smile properly and she nodded as she leaned up against the rocking chair.

"I was thinking about nursing her, at least for the first few months. And if you're up that late, because midnight is sometimes actually two or three in the morning and sometimes both, then you're going to have a bad day the next day." She gave a small shrug. "If you want to use a bottle, that should be okay, but you're still going to be exhausted."

"And you're going to be exhausted all day. The least I could do is give you a good night's sleep."

"The fact that you've thought that far ahead is really sweet," she said, walking to his side and bending down to kiss his head. "I love you."

"Love you too, Annie."

Clay rocked back and forth once to try out the chair, "Do you want help putting up that last flower?"

"I can do it," she said, nuzzling her cheek against his hair once more, indulging her love of it as secretly as she could, before moving back to the dresser and picking it up. "Just relax, tell me about your day."

Then she picked up the tiny pins and her mini-hammer and went to work.

He was still rocking slightly in the chair, "Same old, same old really. From what Arthur was saying, I think Joan misses you down in DPD."

Clay watched as the flower was put up with all the others, "No one has asked if you're coming back yet, and if they do I don't think I'll answer. It's not my place to do so."

"Don't."

She wasn't going to say one way or the other if she was going to go back, simply because she hadn't decided. She knew how he felt about the subject, mostly since they'd fought so violently over it six years earlier, and she wasn't looking to fire up that argument again.

"This is all I'm going to say on the topic, and I intend to stand by it. I trust you to make the best decision for you. If that means going back to work that's fine with me. If that means staying home, that's fine with me. I want you to be as happy as you can be, in every facet of your life. Whatever you decide, I'll support it and I know we'll make it work."

He said it with a lot of conviction, because he truly believed it. Clay needed to trust that she would come home and he wanted nothing more for her to be happy.

"I know you will," she said as she finished hanging the flower, then set the the hammer down as she turned to look at him, a small smile on her face. Since they'd worked past that fight, and as she'd gotten older, she understood how he felt about it and where he'd been coming from. "You weren't wrong back then, and I understand that now. Not wanting the same bad things for your kids that happened to you doesn't make you overprotective or bad. That makes you a good parent, Clay, and I get that. And you and I both know that if I want to stick with the Agency, there are other things I can do."

Her voice was tender and also full of that same conviction, knowing just how much it had taken for him to come to a different conclusion, just like it had for her. They'd both grown up.

"Okay." Clay was beyond glad that they both seemed to understand the other person's point of view, even if it took them a long time to get there.

He smiled, "Just try not to threaten the women at the club too much."

She quirked her mouth and rolled her eyes as she sat down on the ottoman at his feet, the effort causing her to say 'oof'.

"As long as they don't say anything too bad, they'll stay out of harm's way." Giving him a wink, she added, "And as long as they don't try to hit on you now that I'm pregnant."

"You have something they don't." Clay thought about making some snide remark but instead left that as the end of his thought. Annie had a lot of things none of the other women had.

The Baby's Room ][ for fakes_death (future)

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