Adventures in Urchin Rearing: an Iris One-Shot Collection

~~Fevers and Self-Actualization Queries~~

Chloe woke up on a balmy August morning to Iris moaning and crying on the baby monitor. She rolled over, her eyelids still heavy with sleep, but she realized that Lucifer wasn't beside her. 

She got up to take care of Iris first, then she would track down the rest of her family. 

As she crossed the hallway (the floors finished with a dark hard-wood, and the walls painted light gray and decorated with some art work from Lucifer's collection) Chloe could hear the sound of pans against counter-top and Trixie bantering about something. Well, at least she knew where they were now and that breakfast would be waiting for her.

Gently, Chloe opened the white door to the nursery, smiling as she entered. The nursery was still bathed in darkness from the drawn pink drapes. Neither she nor Lucifer wanted to change it much from the nursery he created at the penthouse, so they kept the same colors and just rearranged the furniture to fit the new room. They order a wall sticker to hang over the crib on the only pink wall. In scrawling black letters, it read: Iris Melody.

Iris picked her head up as the door opened and made cooing noises. As her mom came closer, she pulled herself to her feet using the bars of her crib.

"Hi baby," Chloe whispered. "Good morning! Sleep well?" She asked as she lowered the gate of the crib.

Iris's face scrunched up and she started crying before Chloe even picked her up. 

Chloe thought that was odd. Iris wasn't normally this unhappy in the morning unless somebody woke her up earlier than she wanted. 

"Did Daddy and Sissy wake you up?" Chloe wondered. They knew they were supposed to be quiet if either of them got up early. 

Iris cried harder, but then she did something she's never done before. She rubbed the back of her tiny pudgy hands over her eyes and nose, rubbing them as best her little muscles could do as if they were bothering her. 

"Hmm. Come here sweetie." Chloe muttered, picking Iris up out of the crib and holding her close. 

Iris clung onto Chloe while she still cried. 

As Chloe tried consoling her, she sat down on the white rocking chair in the corning and turned on the small black lamp.

Now that she had better light, Chloe balanced Iris on her thigh and got a better look at her. 

Concern filled any lightness Chloe felt when she woke up this morning. Regardless of the crying and the look of pain on her daughter's face, Iris's nose was running and the tip of her nose was red. Her cheeks seemed redder than normal too and her eyes were glossy. 

Chloe gave an uncertain hum and gently pressed her hand against Iris's forehead and held it there for a moment. Her temperature seemed warm. 

"Oh no." Chloe sighed. "Shh shh, it's okay baby. Mommy's here." Chloe consoled, pressing Iris against her. 

She held Iris with one hand and pulled her cell phone out of her pajama pants. She typed, as quickly as she could, a text to Lucifer, asking if he could come up here.

A few minutes later, Chloe heard the sound of somebody gingerly running up the stairs. Then she heard, "Detective?" called a few times as Lucifer searched for her. 

"In here," She called. Soon enough, Lucifer had peaked his head in Iris's room. 

"What's wrong?" He asked. 

Chloe looked at Iris sadly, feeling so sorry for her, and worry evident in her tone. "I think Iris is sick. She feels like she's running a fever. Do you think we should take her to the doctor?"