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Harvey roused to the sense of someone else in the bed with him, and it was confirmed by a hand on his chest. He smiled, not bothering to open his eyes. He loved waking up like this, lazy sunny mornings where the only thing that calls him from bed is the smell of coffee wafting in from the kitchen. The hand moved to his cheek, patting gently, and he turned his head to kiss the palm that lingered there.
“Good morning,” he said, sleep still thick in his voice.
“’mornin’, Daddy.” The little hand moved from his cheek to open one eyelid and peer in. “How come your eyes is still closed? You’re awake.”
“So you’re surprised when I do this,” and he lifted his head quickly, blowing raspberries into the soft pale tummy that hovered over his face. He turned them over, tickling where he could reach and continuing his assault while she laughed and screamed. He stopped when he was out of breath and so was she.
“You’re silly, Daddy. And your face tickles.”
“It does, huh? I guess I should go shave,” and his daughter nodded solemnly. He sat up in bed and scrubbed his hands over his stubble as he yawned. “Where’s Mama?”
The little girl wrinkled her nose. “Baby was smelly.”
“Hmm, I bet. And she told you to come wake me up?”
“Actually,” said another voice, “I told her she could crawl in with you if she didn’t wake you up.”
Donna came in and handed him the baby, definitely not smelly any more and apparently much happier for it. She gave him a gummy smile and a coo as he brought her close, placing a kiss on a head that was beginning to show signs of red hair. He was delighted. He’d been blond as a child and their elder daughter followed suit with curly dirty blonde hair. But the baby, she was going to be a redhead and he could already tell she was going to get away with a lot more than her sister. There was a high-pitched noise suddenly coming from everywhere and nowhere, and he looked around for it, hoping to silence it before it startled the baby.
He threw his hand out and the force of the contact with the snooze button brought him to consciousness. Again. He blinked against the dimness of his Seattle bedroom; the grey sky and light drizzle making it seem earlier than it was. He eyed the time and then dropped his head back to the pillow. An ache was settling over his chest that he knew had nothing to do with his family history (Donna was taking care of that) and everything to do with the happiness he had been so suddenly jolted out of. He could feel it receding: the feel of little hands on his body, the smell of freshly diapered baby, the sound of a child’s laughter calling him ‘Daddy’. It was so real.
He turned to his right, where Donna was still sleeping soundly, her hair escaping the braid she’d started wearing to bed because she was tired of him sleeping on it. He can hear Dr. Lipschitz’s voice echoing in his mind: “Would you ever want to have a baby? Or a family?” And while then he’d brushed off the question as irrelevant, he was coming to realize that the answer was yes. Yes, he wanted a baby. He had a family and always would, but now here with Donna in the bed they shared in their own place in a city they had moved to together… Harvey moved closer, snuggling up behind her and wrapping an arm around her waist. His hand drifted to where maybe, maybe someday someone precious would grow. He peeked at the clock. They had another ten minutes. Maybe they’d talk about it then.