sunday morning kidfic

[schmerica]

I felt an urgent need to write something today. Therefore, have some kidfic.

(Other installments can be found here.)

*****

Ray is always the last one up on weekend mornings. "Up with the sun," Fraser always says, and Ray's been managing to ignore him for a decade and more, but Carrie's the same way. By the time he drags his ass out of bed on Sunday, the others have been up for hours.

Fraser always puts the coffee on in the morning, soon as he gets up, so Ray always has it hot and fresh when he wakes up -- one of the worst things, besides the obvious, when Fraser goes on patrol and leaves them alone, are the mornings, waking up to the cold dark house, no good smells, no warm patches, nothing waiting. But every day Fraser is home, he wakes up first, he puts on coffee, and it's right there and waiting. That's love right there, no two ways about it.

Ray's still on his first cup when the other two come in from outside, loud and cheerful and bright, all bulked up in their outside gear.

"Morning, Daddy," says Carrie, leaning over to kiss his cheek. Her cheeks are bright red rosy, eyes sparkling a little, ice on the end of her hair where the hat don't cover all the way.

Fraser sits down at the bench and is taking off his coat and his boats, but he looks at Ray and smiles, a deep smile, lines etching across his mouth. "Ray," he says, greeting.

Ray grunts at both of them and takes another swallow of coffee.

"We were playing hockey out by the pond," Carrie says cheerfully, chatting along as she takes off her layers by the door, "but Dad got tired, so we came in for a rest for a bit!"

Ray raises his eyebrows behind Carrie's back; Fraser smiles to himself and shakes his head just a little.

"And now we're going to have sausages and eggs and toast! And later Dad and I are going to do a jigsaw puzzle, and you can help us if you want. And we're going to go on a hike down by the hill, where Dief caught the rabbit last summer."

"We'll see," Ray says, when she stops for breath. His voice is a little creaky, since it's the first thing he's said all day. "Sounds like you guys got a whole day planned there."

"Well," says Fraser, "we can't all be slugabeds, now can we? Lazing about, you miss all the best parts of the day."

"See, that's what you think," says Ray. "But the best part of the day is the part when I'm around."

Fraser shakes his head, clucks his tongue a little, keeping with the joke. He has a bit of hair falling over his eyes, need to get that cut, maybe later in the week, right around the kitchen table. Ray reaches over and pushes the little graying tuft out of the way.

Ray's plans run more to lazing about in his pajamas and getting another cup of coffee, but who knows, a hike could be fun. Between his best girl and Fraser the nature master, what better way to spend a day? Tomorrow Fraser will be back to work and the kid will be back to school and Ray will be back to keeping this place going, keep every one of them and everything they got going on all running the way it should be, but not today. Today's all right.

Fraser takes the empty mug from Ray's hand, walks to the counter and fills it back up for him. He sits back down at the table and reaches out for Carrie's hand. She comes closer and sits down on his lap, and Fraser's arms go around her, holding her close, till she leans her head back to rest against his chest, her head fitting under his chin.

Ray stands up and gets the sausage and eggs out of the fridge.

Comments

[celli]

Oh, I love your kidfic so much.

[pearl-o.livejournal.com]

*snuggles*

[akite.livejournal.com]

Awwww...I'm smiling this big.

[pearl-o.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

[kristiinthedark.livejournal.com]

*contended sigh* ♥

[pearl-o.livejournal.com]

*hearts back*

[eledhwenlin]

Awwwwwww. :D

[pearl-o.livejournal.com]

*grins*

[viciouscats.livejournal.com]

Awwwwww! :)

[pearl-o.livejournal.com]

Hee, thanks!

[nos4a2no9.livejournal.com]

This was lovely: warm and domestic without being cloying, heartfelt without being too schmoopy. I love Ray's voice here. He's a good blend of snarky (it's early, okay? And he lives with a couple of freaks who actually like getting up before 10am on a Sunday!) and affectionate. He and Fraser seem blissfully happy, and I love Carrie. It's odd because you've already written their whole lives: we all know how things started in the Carrieverse and how things end. The sappy romantic in me likes these middle bits the best, when they're a family and all is right with the world. But it's good to remember that the happiness in these sections makes the hurty stuff that comes before and after (age, illness, growing up) bearable. There's a good life lesson in that, somewhere.

So...thanks for the kidfic! All of it. *hugs*

[pearl-o.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much!

But it's good to remember that the happiness in these sections makes the hurty stuff that comes before and after (age, illness, growing up) bearable.

Oh, that's really interesting! Because I think you're right, and it also means that I don't think something like this really works out of context -- this snippet only means anything within the larger picture. I wonder if the reverse is true, too, that it's knowing the more hurty stuff that makes the more happy bits work.

(Actually, thinking about it, of the things I've written in the universe, I think this might be the closest to schmoopy. I'm in love with the imperfect happy ending, all the tensions and stresses that go along with them being a family, but those things are really underground in this particular bit.)

[phineasjones.livejournal.com]

oh. HUGE love.

[pearl-o.livejournal.com]

Yay!