You're Beautiful To Me

I turn to Anna and pick her up, her arms sliding around my neck as she buries her face into my shoulder and cries and I gently rub her back, shushing her softly as I bounce her around, my own tears slowly stopping and she whines against my skin. "It's alright baby, daddy's alright, we're all ok" I whisper in her ear and she quietens down, letting out a soft hiccup followed by a yawn and she pulls her head back to look up at me. "Dada?" She says softly and I lift her up and press a kiss to her cheek. "I'm sorry baby" I tell her and she lets out another small yawn so I cuddle her closer to my chest again and turn to leave the room, going back to the bedroom and laying on the bed with Anna, pulling the blanket over us as we snuggle and a few seconds later Frank comes in with a still sleeping Miles in his arms who he lays in his bassinet before joining us on the bed. I turn on my side, Anna still curled into my chest and her eyes start to droop shut so Frank and I remain silent, just staring at each other as we lay side by side until Anna starts snoring softly and Frank reaches out to gently stroke one hand down my cheek. "Wanna tell me what's up?" He asks softly and I close my eyes and lean up into his touch. "Bad dream" I tell him softly, my eyes still closed and Franks hand stops, just resting on my cheek with reassuring warmth and I hear him sigh softly before saying "About Anna?" "All of you" I tell him, slowly opening my eyes again and my vision is blurry with tears as the images replay in my mind again. "Shh baby it's alright, we're all ok remember?" I nod, biting at my bottom lip and Frank frowns slightly as he says "You wanna tell me?" "Maybe later" I say softly and Frank nods, his thumb gently rubbing against my cheek and I let my eyes slip shut again. The next time I open my eyes the late afternoon sun is shining through the blinds, casting long shadows across the bed and floor and Anna is poking at my nose and lips, giggling to herself as she plays with my face and I let out a low growl which makes her shriek and clap her hands as she says "No dada." "No? Did you just tell me no?" I playfully scold her, wrapping my hands around her sides and picking her up, lifting her above me before bringing her back down to the mattress and laying her on her back, my fingers sliding around to tickler her stomach and she shrieks and giggles, slapping at my hands as I continue to tickle her until another small gurgle sounds out and I stop tickling her and sit up, looking over and seeing Miles sitting up in his bassinet. "Hey baby boy" I greet him as I climb off the bed and go over to pick him up. "I thought you were with daddy" I tell him as I turn back towards the bed where Anna has gotten to her feet and is gently starting to bounce and I smile as I say "Anna don't do that, you might get hurt" but she lets out a little giggle and keeps going before flopping back onto her butt and letting out another giggle as I walk back over and sit down again with Miles. I sit him on the mattress beside me and Anna crawls over to sit in front of him saying "My" as she reaches out and gently pats his head. Miles lets out a small shriek at her and Anna smiles as she brings her hand down to his stomach, her fingers poking and scratching against him as she tries to tickle and he giggles and bats at her hand and I sit back and smile so wide it hurts my cheeks, watching them play together and have fun.

After a few minutes Anna gets bored and crawls back over to me, pushing herself up to stand again before bouncing once and launching herself into my chest, knocking the wind out of me a little and I wrap my arms around her to stop her falling off the bed as I playfully scold her about the rough housing. "How about we go find daddy huh?" I ask and Anna nods her head while Miles just claps his hands together once and I stand up, taking Anna with me and settling her against my hip before leaning back down and scooping up Miles against my other hip and we make our way out towards the kitchen where something smells absolutely delicious. When I walk through the doorway I see Frank and Mikey at the stove, both working on something and Frank curses under his breath before putting his hand to his mouth and Anna lets out a giggle and claps her hands, alerting them to our presence and Frank spins around, smiling at us as he crosses the room and presses a lingering kiss to my lips. "How was your sleep? Do you feel better now?" He asks and I smile as I say "Yeah i feel great." "Good" he says as I let Anna down and she takes off across the room to Mikey, her arms wrapping around his legs as she says "Ma" making Frank and I laugh at the name.

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