forever and always- glitch one shots | jack hughes

Maeve wants a snack

Eliott: 6

Maeve:4 

Jack

I'm woken up from my sleep by a sound that haunts me. It's been in nightmares and in my real everyday life. It's the sound of my baby crying. "Mama," I hear her soft cries, tugging on the blankets on Josie's body. Unfortunately for Maeve, my worn-out wife is dead asleep, because she took some medicine to help her sleep. That doesn't stop Maeve though, she continues to cry for her attention, begging her to wake up. 

"Mae," I say softly, getting her attention. Her head looks up and over at me as I wave her over to my side of the bed. "Come here, my love," I call her over. Her tiny barefoot feet run over to me, reaching up for me to pick her up to see her red-rimmed blue eyes. Her light brown curls stick to her face from all the tears that ran down. I examine her quickly to make sure she didn't hurt herself before she sniffles and whispers. "I had a bad dream," 

My heart breaks at the way her voice croaks, probably from all the crying she's been doing tonight. I pull her out of my bedroom so she can talk without worrying she'll wake Josie up. "And I'm very hungry," she says, making me chuckle to myself. I carry her down the steps, careful not to wake up Eli on the way down. "What do you want babe?" I set her down on the countertop as she quickly comes to a decision as to what she wants. 

"Do we have pickles?" she asks, making me laugh. She is her mother's daughter. I loathe pickles, but I love Josephine so I endure the odor that comes with the horrible snack. I remember when we went on a date before we were official she asked for extra pickles on the side and gave me a dirty look when I grimaced at her. She devoured the pickles, moaning after every crunch it made in her mouth. I kissed her that night and I hated the taste of it on her tongue, but it was her tongue so it couldn't have been that bad. 

"Of course," I smile, telling her to be careful as I move over to the fridge. I open the side door, that stores their favorite kinds of pickles and cut one up for my daughter. I hold my breath as I cut it and put the little slices in a bowl, washing my hands as fast as possible. "Want some daddy?" Maeve asks, chewing the green vinegary vegetable. 

I scrunch my face us, politely declining, telling her that pickles aren't my favorite. She nods slowly before looking like she wants to ask another question. I encourage her to ask, ready to listen to her quiet request. "And can you make me some noodles," She wants instant ramen. Without a single feeling of annoyance, I pull out a pack of instant ramen and pour some water into a pot. We wait for it to heat up before putting the noodles in. 

I let her stir it as she chews another pickle, suckling on it. The sight of her like this makes my heart drop. I need to start locking these moments into my brain because one day she won't be my little baby anymore. She won't wake me up in the middle of the night to ask for food. I won't get to cut up pickles for her and make her ramen. I kiss her forehead, reminding her that I love her so much and nothing on this planet could make me love her any less. 

She's four so half my words go over her head, but what she knows sticks with her. We pour the seasoning in there, distributing it throughout the noodles as she stirs it carefully. I get lost in the the way her face pulls together to concentrate on being careful.

I roll around in bed, patting my side to reach for Josie since I must've let her go while I was asleep, except the more I feel around there's no Josie. I spring up from my pillow, looking around the room, and check if the bathroom light is on. She's not there but I do hear some rummaging downstairs. I pass our son's room before quietly running down the steps.

I'll be dead if I wake Eliott up. The closer I get to the kitchen, the brighter the stove light gets. She must've gotten hungry. This baby has made her hungry all the time, snacking on the most random food combinations. Weirder than the pickles and peanut butter. God, I wanted to puke when I saw her eat that, and best believe she yelled at me for making a face. It was the scariest day of my life. She took her snacks and walked outside to eat them on her hammock.