notsocommon | Happy Birthday, Will!

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will

Happy Birthday, Will!

Helen wasn't exactly in the interest of keeping her plans for Will's birthday a secret but she imagined he wouldn't want a big party and would prefer to spend it quietly and at home as they'd done for the past two years. That was more than fine with Helen, who was still sleep deprived more often than not, and she took Gregory with her up to the Compound to bake what she felt like was a spectacular cake. It had just a touch of chocolate in the sauce and banana in the cake part - while it wasn't chocolate banana nut bread, it was close enough to the concept while still passing for an actual birthday cake.

She'd dressed Gregory in his little Blue Jays onesie and a teeny baseball cap that she coaxed from the box and, cake done, started going through the machinations to get both cake and baby back down to the hut by the time Will got home. With the stroller, it was quite simple, and she would have to remember to thank Nikola yet again for his generous gift.

Once she got back home, she laid Gregory in his cradle (where he was more than enthralled with the mobile Uncle Nikola had made him) and dressed herself - she could finally fit back in the green dress from St. Patrick's the year before last and she knew it was one of Will's favorites. She spritzed on a bit of her rapidly-dwindling perfume but left her hair loose and simple, just the way Will liked it.

"Today is your daddy's birthday," Helen sing-songed, completely shameless when it came to babytalking around Gregory. "We're going to make sure he has a good time, aren't we? Yes, we are."

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Will's been in the office most of the day, and though he's pretty sure Magnus is going to be up to something while he's away (because that's how she is) he's not sure what. So when he gets home, the smell of banana bread is kind of a surprise. Magnus in that green dress, though, is a whole other surprise. "Hey, what's all this?"

"It's your birthday," Helen said, slightly sheepish at having been caught babytalking (even though Will must have heard her a thousand times over in the past three months). She lifted the baby out of his cradle and went to greet him properly.

"Gregory and I baked a cake. Well, Gregory watched while I baked a cake."

"Did you help your Mommy bake a cake?" Will asks, in the same silly babytalk Magnus just used, and kisses his son's chubby little cheek. Then he kisses Magnus, too. "You look awesome," he says. "I would say you didn't have to get all dressed up, but I'm not gonna lie, I like it."

"I had hoped that you might," Helen said, smiling wide. It had been a long time since she'd felt up to really dressing up so she benefitted as much as Will from pulling out this dress to wear.

"He has been fed already. I know he'll need it again soon enough but we'll have a little while, I think, before we get interrupted."

"Then I want to try this cake you've made," Will says, and holds out his hands for Greg. He loves this kid, and Magnus, and he can't think of a better way to spend his birthday than with his family. "Sorry, you can't have any," he tells the baby. "Not yet. Maybe next year?"

"Hopefully he'll be able to have a bit at his own birthday," Helen said. It still shocked her just how big Gregory had gotten and the milestone of one year still seemed so far away. It would be here before they knew it. She gently passed the baby from her arms to Will's.

"I tried to make it sort of like banana bread only with a cake consistency. Banana-flavored chocolate cake? You'll have to tell me if you like it. I slaved over it, you know. Only for you. Would you like me to cut you a piece?"

"You'll have to," he says with a grin. "I kind of have my hands full." Greg's getting to the point he can hold his head up (though he wobbles some now and then) but holding him is still a two-hand job. "A big piece, please?"

"I'll give you a big piece and then eat some of yours," Helen said, smirking a little at him. Some people didn't have his rapid metabolism and inability to gain weight. Some people had just given birth two and a half months ago and had just gotten trimmed down again.

"I really hope it's good. I didn't get you anything else," she added, cutting the cake and putting it on a plate for him. "Aside from wearing the dress for you, that is."

"That's all I want," Will says, and he's not just saying that because gifts are hard to come by around here. Growing up with a lot of birthdays that sucked for various reasons means that spending this birthday with his family is more than enough for him.

He shifts Greg against his shoulder so he can have a hand free for the fork, and takes a bite. "Ohh, that's good."

"Isn't it? I admit, I tasted the batter a little," Helen said, beaming at the idea that her cake was good. She was an accomplished cook, yes, but she'd always had any number of tools and ingredients at her fingertips. The island required some measure of improvisation that she'd never encountered before.

"So there was something I wanted to talk to you about. I figured plying you with cake was the best approach."

"Good? It's better than good. I can only think of one or two things in life that are better than this cake," he says, and winks. Then he scoops up a biteful of cake and offers it to her. "So, what did you want to talk about?" This is maybe not the best time to feed her a bite of cake, but oh well.

Helen took the bite of cake and took the subsequent few moments chewing in order to gather her thoughts. It wasn't really something she felt Will would be against, at all, but it would affect their lives and the baby's as well.

"I was thinking about running for Council again now that I'm not about to give birth. I just didn't know how you might feel, considering it would take away some of the time I have to spend caring for the baby."

Will shrugs a little. "I don't see why you shouldn't, if you want to," he says. "It's not an insane time commitment, and I don't have a huge patient load so I can always spend more time taking care of him, too. If you want to do it, I think you should." Magnus is always happiest when she has multiple things on her plate, he knows.

"I just don't like the idea of saddling you with a child if you have other things you want to do," Helen admitted, giving him a bit of a smile. "You realize, of course, the fact that I actually ask you about things and don't just do them makes you a very special man, don't you? It's been said I'm damnably stubborn."

And fiercely independent, at that.

Will laughs. "I would be a pretty crappy dad if I thought taking care of my kid was being 'saddled' with him," he says, and gives the baby a little squeeze. "You know I love taking care of him."

"Which I am grateful for," Helen said, winking at him. "I'm just trying to be respectful of the...holy bonds of matrimony. Yes, I think that's the way I'll put it."

Seeing Will with Gregory always lifted her heart and, frankly, one of the most attractive things about him was the way he cared for their child. It was an incredible turn-on.

Will offers her another bite of cake. Yeah, it's his birthday, but he's had like six bites to every one of hers and she went to the trouble of making it, so she should get to enjoy it too. "So you'll run again?"

"I will. I think I cut back entirely too much in anticipation of Gregory and now I find myself at loose ends."

Helen knew exactly what he was about, offering her cake, and while she really shouldn't she couldn't help but indulge again. It was a damned good cake.

"Well, you didn't know how he'd be or how fast you'd bounce back, so of course you had to cut back," Will says reasonably. "But he seems to be a pretty mellow baby and you haven't had any problems, so there's no reason you can't take on more stuff if that's what you want." Though if she just wanted to stay home with the baby for a while, that's cool too; Will's thinking is she should do whatever she wants.

"He's quite possibly the calmest baby I've ever had experience with," Helen agreed. "It's a blessing. Ashley was hardly such a sweetheart."

Gregory, for example, seemed to mostly cooperate when she got it in her head to do photos and he was fairly quiet during her classes. It was much better than Ashley's fussing.

"I think he's getting a bit sleepy, at that. Must be because you're here."

Greg does look kind of tired; his eyes are a little droopy and he's leaning his head against Will's shoulder. "Want to feed him now?" he asks. "And then maybe he'll sleep for a while." Will's not as good as interpreting all Greg's moods the way Magnus is, but he does seem to sleep longer on a full stomach.

"I think that might be wise," Helen agreed, keeping her voice low and soft. "Just think, we might get to have a few hours to ourselves, hmm?"

Not that having Gregory around was a bad thing but couple time was few and far between with a newborn.

"If I'm lucky." He kisses Greg and carefully passes him back to Magnus. "Do you need anything? Glass of water? Piece of cake?" He feels a little left out of feedings, sometimes, so he tries to make himself useful.

"Help me out of this dress? It's not exactly nursing accessible," Helen said, thinking that perhaps that should have been something she'd kept in mind before putting it on. Oh well, Will got to see her in it for a little while at least.

"I think I can manage that." It didn't occur to him she couldn't feed the baby in that dress, but duh, he thinks now--it's a good thing he's not in charge of baby-feeding because he'd probably fail at it. He steps behind her and carefully unzips the dress for her.

"I'll be just a few moments," Helen said quietly, trying to soothe Gregory. "Mummy is almost ready."

Gregory had started to fuss a little, having figured out what was going on, and that elicited a biological response in Helen that simply couldn't be stopped. She sat down with him and was infinitely grateful this dress didn't allow for a bra.

"There, darling, eat," she said, giving Will a sheepish look. "Sorry. It's not very romantic, is it?"

"You gotta do what you gotta do," Will says. He thinks his wife taking care of their baby is one of the sexiest things he's seen but he doesn't say so; he doesn't want to weird her out or make her feel like she's on display. "You want a blanket? Pillow?" More trying to be helpful, though sometimes he thinks he sounds like a nervous old woman with his hovering.

"Both," Helen decided after a moment, shifting a bit so she was more comfortable. Nursing always relaxed her and made her blissfully tired; her reactions were always a bit slower unless she had something else pressing going on at the same time.

"I should have just worn sweats and a tee if this was how I was going to end up, shouldn't I?"

Will gets a pillow and a blanket for Magnus and helps her get comfortable. "I think you looked great in the dress, even if you only got to wear it for a little while. Seriously." He sits down beside her and rubs his fingers against Greg's foot; Greg pushes his foot against Will's hand but doesn't stop nursing.

"I just wanted to make your birthday special," Helen said, gently lifting Gregory up to burp him when he finished. He had a bad habit of wanting to go to sleep straight away instead of burping and then he woke up crying later. Helen wanted to avoid that, if possible.

"I think, if you lay him down very carefully, he may sleep for a few hours," Helen said softly, keeping her voice pitched low and even.

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Happy Birthday, Will!

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