~Yes Captain~

~Always~

It was a peaceful morning in Brisbane, or well, it was kinda a very peaceful morning in the Indian team hotel which was a few hours away from turning absolutely chaotic and mad. It was 6 am in Brisbane and only few souls in the whole team were wide awake or well believed to be awake to be truthful and one, Ravi Ashwin was one of those few believed to be awake souls.

Eyeing the golden rays of hope gently penetrating through the glass windows of the large team room, creating looming shadows out of the objects blocking it's path. Ash waited for his cup of coffee to brew with saintly patience humming to himself. His dearest wife was asleep with his little munchkins, those balls of unconstrained energy wrapped around their mother in a tight bundle.

And Ash not wanting to disturb their sleep with his own nerves before the match had silently walked out of the room. His back still twitching with pain every now and then but it was better than before and he really needed coffee before they needed to vent out for the stadium. In few hours, It'll be absolute chaos around. The guys full of energy running around trying to maintain the humor of the group. Jinks checking and rechecking with Rohit about  his belongings.

It would become a full on circus then and Ash wanted a few moments to himself before that phase begins. A little calm as much as he loves this mad house they really can be a little overwhelming and to deal with them patiently through out the day. He needed these moments with himself, plain moments, to just breathe in and enjoy little things like coffee and silence.

The vibrations emitting from his phone suddenly created a hymn, a kind of soothing hymn mixed with the coffee machine disrupting the little randomly moving zone he was locked in, frowning slightly, he moved to check his vibrating phone lying beside the coffee machine. When did he put the phone on vibration mode? He didn't know and who's calling him so early in the morning? The cartoons were here.

They would have knocked on his room and it was too late for people in India to call him, now. It was what like 2 or 2:30 over there. So, who's the night owl calling him now? Sighing, he picked up his phone the caller Id making him smile almost exasperatedly. Of course, who else but the guy who had all but memorized his schedule will call him at this moment!

"How's your back now?" The question greeted him as soon as he picked up the call.

"Better" Ash smiled.

"10% bitter-better or actually better?" The guy inquired quite like an inquisitor with an unquenchable thirst.

"Actually better,"

"tying your shoelaces, yourself?"

"I'm wearing slippers!"

Okay, he wasn't absolutely grinning right now.

"Ashley!!"

The annoyed whine followed by a mewl, hushed curse and a soft hum of some song, he couldn't quite place as he heard his brother make an absolute fool of himself.

"You didn't hear that word, did you? Baby girl!! It's bad word, Okay!! you shouldn't ever speak that, well, you can shout that if someone is pestering you real bad then use it with a punch, alright, but don't speak it in front of mumma ever or your Mahi Tau ji for that matter! They'll scold your papa a lot! You don't want your papa to be scolded! do you my love?"

The soft smile playing on Ash's lips won't just disappear. He could all but see his brother in his mind's eye rocking the little bundle in his arms on his heels, humming the words to her in baby voice. He could see that and the image made him smile more. His Cheeku, a father, and head over heels in love with his baby girl as he should be, as any other father out there should be.

He wasn't there but when Bhuvi told them that Virat cried holding their little Viratee in his arms for the first time. All of them were inclined to believe it. It was a surreal feeling after all, holding, the life you made in your arms. And for an as emotional being as his Vi, Ash could totally imagine the importance that moment held in his life. The feeling greater than any other feeling in the whole world. The overwhelming feeling of absolute bliss and happiness that makes you weep and laugh all at once.