Second Chances

A nanny? (Prequel)

Prequel

Adrien's awoken by his baby girl, and too many sleepless nights take quite a toll on a single dad.

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Emma's cries had him up like a shot. After smacking on the tap light by his bed, he walked across the room to the crib. He picked up the tiny babe, holding her and rocking her in his arms. "Shhh," he soothed, not knowing what else to do. "Shhh."

But she continued to cry. He sniffed her and realized it wasn't a diaper issue, so he wondered if she was hungry.

He made his way down to the kitchen, fumbling his way through making a bottle for her and spilling the can of formula in the process.

He'd been at this for a month. One would think things would be easier by now. But they weren't. Not remotely.

Emma took the bottle, but only for a second. She was back to crying in no time.

Adrien held her on his shoulder, patting her back and hoping that she just had a bit of gas. But no. It wasn't that either.

She did calm a little bit, though, so that was a bonus.

Emma was simply fussing by now, so Adrien relegated himself to just holding her. The clock on the oven said 1:36.

He sighed, his eyes closing and head rolling closer to Emma.

Only to discover that now there was a diaper issue.

He made his way back upstairs-he'd clean up the kitchen in the morning-and handled that. Finally, he breathed a sigh of relief when Emma stopped crying.

"Thank you," he whispered. He picked her up and put her back in her crib, only for her to fuss again. He groaned, picking her back up to hold her. Apparently, the 'rocking to sleep' phase wasn't going to end any time soon.

He sat down on the bed, holding Emma in his lap. "You need to sleep," he mumbled.

She stared up at him with blue eyes. Chloe's blue eyes.

It would be so much easier if she was here. If he had someone to lean on. Alya was the best friend he could possibly ask for, but she wasn't Adrien's wife. She wasn't Emma's mother.

He wondered if he could call her. She was usually up late. But... probably not this late. And if she was finally getting sleep, he didn't want to wake her.

But it was hard. And he was tired. And he felt like he hadn't talked to her in a while.

His phone glowed on the nightstand, and he caught sight of the beginnings of a message.

From Alya.

Without thinking, he reached for his phone and called her.

She answered on the first ring. "So you are awake."

"Emma was fussing."

"Yup. It's called a newborn."

Emma was just over a month old, but to Adrien, it was the same difference.

"Just got back into town," Alya said. "Flight was way delayed, but I'm here and just wanted to check in on you."

"I'm holding on."

"My guess is barely."

He didn't even have to answer that.

"You okay?"