Gunhee was awakened in the middle of the night, by the slight jostling, and rustling of the bed. Turning over he glanced sleepily at the figure of his fiance' as he pulled on his robe, and tried his best to be as quiet as possible. The past week had been very hectic. Since the adoption, it was almost like their life had been turned upside down, and their time together was now almost nonexistent. They relished the few moments they could spend together.

“Yah, where are you going?” he asked quietly, propping himself up on one elbow, and blinking through the darkness of the bedroom. Even in the darkness he could make out his beautiful form, the thought occurred to him that he hoped he'd hurry back to bed.

Heechul turned his head quickly to look at him. He secured the tie of his robe, and gave him an apologetic shrug. He knew that neither of them had been getting much sleep lately, and he had hoped that tonight he wouldn’t wake him by leaving their bed, as he had done on many nights previous.

“The baby’s awake,” he whispered to him, as he pointed to the baby monitor that had rested atop the nightstand on his side of the bed for the past 7 days.

“Oh, I see.” Gunhee listened very intently to the soundless monitor. After a few seconds he spoke again. “...I don’t hear anything,” he teased.

“Well, not now,” Heechul replied. “You were asleep when she cried a few minutes ago, but trust me she’s awake. And don’t you even tell me that I’m just being a worried quote-on-quote 'umma'.”

Gunhee sat up in bed quicker than anything, his brow raised up to his hairline. “Heech, I think your mind is playing tricks on you. She sounds fine to me. And besides, I do think your just being a worried 'umma',” he said as he makes the quote-on-quote gesture, then  grabbed his hand and pulled him back down on the bed. “But, that’s another thing I love about you,” he said pulling him closer for a kiss.

The irony of his comment had not been lost on Heechul, and he slightly laughed through the kiss. “We’ll add that to the list,” he softly whispered as he pulled away smiling. “I’ll just go check on her, and be right back.”

“Don’t take too long. I’m wide-awake now,” Gunhee said, smiling back at him.

“Is that the only thing awake?” Heechul teased back as he rushed out of the room.

Gunhee glanced at the clock as he watched his Heechul leave the room. It was 1:37. He counted to ten and right on cue he heard Heechul’s voice coming through the baby monitor. He had never told him that he could hear his conversations with their little girl through the monitor. That was his own little secret. Heechul of course knew that he could, but that was his little secret.

“Hello there my little sleepy head,” Heechul whispered in the still surprisingly soothing voice that only a mother could have. “Why are you wide awake, it’s time for all beautiful little girls to be in bed.”

Gunhee then heard several seconds of silence, then once again Heechul's voice, and the creaking of the floor came through the darkness again, he knew that he had picked up their baby and was now rocking her back to sleep. “Awww, this is Umma’s precious girl. I told your Appa you were awake.” Gunhee laughed softly to himself, as he listened to the most important people in his life.

-----

Gunhee stretched and yawned with a large smile on his face. ‘I must have dozed off,’ he thought to himself, and reached to rest his arm over Heechul’s hip. However, instead of finding his fiance' lying next to him as he had expected, he found only the cold mattress on his side of the bed. He lifted his head from the pillow, and sleepily blinked at the clock on Heechul’s nightstand. The glowing red numbers glared back at him, and he was finally able to make out the time...4:45.

‘He should be back in bed by now,’ he thought. He sat in bed quietly for a minute listening for the familiar voice to come across the baby monitor. He could make out the soft creak of the rocking chair as it slowly rolled over the old floor boards again and again. ‘Maybe Chae-ri  didn’t want to go back to sleep,’ he reassured himself, and sure enough after a few seconds of silence he could hear the soft voice of his lover singing Mamacita. “Yep, my girl’s a night owl,” he said to himself as he lifted back the blankets and climbed out of bed to relieve Heechul in the nursery.

Gunhee tiptoed down the hall and into the nursery, and knelt down next to Heechul, who put his finger to his lips telling him to speak softly.

“Hey, there,” Gunhee softly spoke to his daughter, placing a hand lovingly on her tiny head. “What’s the big idea of keeping your Umma up this late,” he bent over to place a kiss on his daughter's cheek. Then he stopped suddenly and looked at Heechul  with concern in his eyes. “Heech, she’s burning up.”

“I know, she’s been hot since I got up, she was crying and fussy too,” Heechul  told him in a whisper.

Gunhee stood up quickly and turned for the door. “Come on and get dressed. We’ll take her to the hospital,” He could feel his heart in his throat, as he thought about his little daughter being sick.”

"Gunnie, wait,” Heechul whispered after him. “I took her temperature. It’s not that high, and she already feels a little cooler. I already called the doctor. He said what I thought he would. He said to give her this,” he held out a bottle of newborn Pedialyte.

“When did you give it to her, does she need more, and why didn’t you get me up?” he asked returning to her side, and taking the bottle from his hand to inspect the label.

“Younghun, I really think it’s just a bad cold. She sounded a little stuffy when we put her to bed, and I didn’t wake you up because you looked so peaceful, and you need your rest. What were you thinking about anyway? “ he tried to soothe his nerves.

“Never mind that, she sounded fine to me when we put her down, Heechul,” he said putting a soothing hand on his fiance's shoulder, and one on his daughter’s back. “How does she sound now?” he asked tilting his head closer to hear Chae-ri's breathing.

“Asleep,” Heechul replied, looking down at  the tiny baby nestled against his chest.

“Heenim, how can you be so calm about your daughter being deathly ill?” he looked at him sternly.

“Younghun, ” he sighed, “She’s not deathly ill. I’m telling you she just picked up a cold. Remember, I did the research. I think I can tell when a baby has a cold now.”

“Oh, well then, tell me where in the world would she have picked up a cold, the only people she’s been around are us, and we're not sick.”

“Babies get sick from germs that don’t make us sick, because they’re so small. She could have gotten this cold anywhere”

“Well, we’ll just have to keep her in the house all day then. No more daily walks.”

“Oh, sweetheart.” Heechul sighed again. “Being sick is part of being a child, trust me you’ll get used to it.”

“Heechul, she didn’t get sick from us, I’m positive of that, so where could she have gotten this from?” he began pacing the room.

“Shhh, keep your voice down, don’t wake her up,” Heechul admonished him.

Gunhee walked quietly over to Heechul  and Chae-ri, bent down beside them, and once again laid a hand on Heechul’s shoulder, and one on his daughter’s back. “Sorry,” he whispered to Heechul. “Appa's sorry sweetheart,” he whispered even softer to Chae-ri.

“Gunhee she could have even gotten this in the doctor’s office waiting room,” Heechul continued.

“What, I thought doctor’s were supposed to keep their offices clean, Chullie. What kind of doctor lets his patients get sick in his own waiting room?” Gunhee asked, lightly patting the baby's back.

“Babe, it’s fine,” he began, but never finished.

“No, it’s not. First thing tomorrow, we’re finding another doctor,” Gunhee  interrupted.

Heechul was starting to lose his patience, but he held his temper. This was his first child after all. He thought back to the way he had acted when his older sister Heejin got severely sick with a cold.   "Look, I've been through this before. Heejin was so sick I called my mother crying. I thought she was going to die. She was so hot, and she could barely breathe, but do you know what?"

"What?" Gunhee asked.

"It was just a cold, and she's still alive today isn't she?" he questioned.

"Yeah, well, Chae-ri's so little," Gunhee  kept up his argument.

"Gunhee, you're stressing this way too much. Like I said. Kids get sick quicker than we do, alright?" he said, brushing Gunhee's hair back from his face.

Gunhee looked down at the floor and shook his head. He looked back at him and began, "How do you do it?" he asked, looking into Heechul's eyes, trying to find an answer in them.

"Do what?" Heechul smiled at him, placing a hand on his cheek.

"Stay so calm when the world falls apart." he brushed a strand of hair back from his face, then took hold of his hand and held it to his lips.

"Oh, I just remembered that I've got a wonderful fiance who's never been a father to a little baby before, and who needs me to stay calm, and teach him all that I know," he laughed, with a twinkle in his eye. "Which is almost nothing but we'll get through it."

"The teacher's the wonderful one. It's the student I'm worried about" Gunhee said with a frown.

"Gunhee, you're a wonderful father. You just have to get used to not flying off the handle at every little bump or bruise or cold. I'm telling you she'll be sicker than this in the next eighteen years, but she'll live through it, and she'll be fine. And so, I might add, will you," he carefully leans over, giving him a quick kiss on the lips.

"I just don't know what I'd do if I lost any of you, and I can't bare to think of my little girl suffering, since she's so tiny." he looked down at his little girl cradled lovingly in her umma's arms.

"Babe, look at her, she's asleep. You're the one who's suffering."

With that, Gunhee laughed. "I  guess you're right, but...," Heechul silenced him with a finger to his lips.

"I already made an appointment to take her to the doctor first thing tomorrow morning. That is if we're still going to that doctor." He questioned him with a simple roll of his eyes.

Gunhee blushed slightly at his meltdown from earlier, innocently scratching behind his ear. "Well for now, but I'm checking out his waiting room tomorrow. If I find one speck of dirt we're outta there."

Heechul leaned forward and gave him another kiss. "Why don't you go back to bed, and try to get some sleep. Your dark circles are driving me insane."

"Aniyo, I couldn't sleep now anyways." Gunhee reached out and started to take Chae-ri from Heechul. "You've been up this whole time, it's your turn to go back to bed. I'll watch her."

"Yah...I want to stay up with her. I'm the worried Umma, remember?" he laughed, covering her tiny hand with his own, and delicately rubbing his thumb over each of her chubby fingers.

"Aigoo...I'll go put on a pot of coffee. We'll stay up with our little girl together." Gunhee stood and kissed first his lover, and then his daughter.

"Younghun, you know damn well coffee won't do me any good. You know that."

"Yeah but your devil of a cat tore through your tea holder, so it's either coffee or milk. Your choice."

Heechul sat in silence for a few seconds, before finally making his final decision. "I'll take two cups of coffee, extra sugar, and a splash of milk. Add a little soju while you're at it too. I need the extra power." he pats Gunhee on the shoulder, then pushes him in the direction of the door

Gunhee rolled his eyes, his hand reaching around back, giving Heechul the finger as a loving gift. "I'll be right back." he laughed and swiftly turned his head to look back at the two loves of his life.  Heechul had turned his attention back to the baby who was stretching in his arms. The past week had been wonderful, also  frightening. It had passed by slowly and too quickly at the same time. He looks back over to Heechul, who was now brushing their baby's hair.

"Psssssst," he whispered to him.

He looked up, somewhat startled that he was still there.

"I love you, ." he said, his voice trailing off at the end, and disappeared down the hall.

As he passed their bedroom a few seconds later, just before heading into the kitchen. he heard Heechul's voice come over the baby monitor.

"I heard that, Slippy Rickey. And...I love you too, jackass." he heard him say through the darkness, followed by a chuckle and then a cute little sneeze.

~~~~~

SEE WHAT THESE TWO KNUCKLEHEADS MAKE ME DO. I had too get this out because the thought of them being parents had been bothering me for the longest. Besides....at least I tried.

Anyway please upvote and comment~