I'll Paint You Wings

"You wanna feed her?" Jack whispered as the only sound around us was the soft hum of the plane.

I nodded and clicked on one of the small overhead lights so I could see what I was doing as Jack handed Lexi off to me and waved his hand to grab the attention to one of the flight attendants.

"May I help you?" She said softly, cautious of the passengers around us whom were sleeping.

"Yes, could I have a bottle of water? We need to make her formula." Jack said with a smile.

She smiled and nodded as she walked off to the back of the plane to retrieve the bottled water. I couldn't help but feel my heart swell when I saw Lexi open her eyes for the first time since we got her. She's been sleeping literally like a rock ever since we took her from the hospital, barely waking up when we first fed her.

"Hi, Lexi May." I cooed, rubbing my thumb along her cheek. She stared blankly up at me before yawning. I was totally lost in her eyes, running my fingers through her thin hair and letting her suck on my pointer finger.

If Jack and I were able to literally have children, I feel like she would look like this.

"Here, baby." Jack said handing me the bottle. I was totally unaware that he had already made the bottle.

"Thanks." I said as I took the bottle and kinda nudged the tip into her mouth. She jerked away for a moment before happily sucking away, eyes slipping closed in the process.

I crossed my legs under me and ordered Jack to cover me and Lexi up with the blanket.

"Diva." Jack laughed.

I rolled my eyes, "Oh be quiet. She's cold."

"How would you know?" Jack said, eyebrows furrowing together.

"Lift up her sleeve," I instructed, Jack doing so, "See, goosebumps."

"Doesn't she have a jacket in my carry on?" I ask and Jack shrugged.

"Nevermind, I'll just swaddle her when she's done eating." I mumbled.

Jack sighed and leaned his chair back, "How long till we get home, Alex?"

"An hour or so?" I mumbled, focusing my attention on Lexi who was staring up widely at me.

"Want me to hold her so you can get some sleep?" Jack asked with a sleepy smile on his face, "You look genuinely sleepy, baby."

"Please." I pouted, pulling the bottle away frown Lexi's mouth. She whined as I was passing her over to Jack who continued to feed her after she was situated nicely in his arms.

I smiled and leaned over to kiss both of them before I leaned my seat back and curled up under my blanket and drifted off to sleep.

~

"I miss everyone." I whined as I started to unlock our front door, Jack holding Lexi in his arms. She was awake, eyes inspecting his face as she babbled on and on about... Baby stuff I guess.

I opened the door, gasping when I saw everyone surrounding our living room with balloons, streamers, confetti, and even cake. Cake.

"Surprise!" Rian shouted. Zack, Heaven, and Larissa, loudly 'shhhhh' him, pointing to the baby in Jack's arms.

I nervously laughed as I walked up and hugged everyone, "Thanks for doing this guys."

"No problem!" Zack smiled, "I wanna see the baby!"

Everyone nodded and I held up my hands making them slow down, "One at a time. Everyone go wash their hands, and before anyone holds her, we all need to talk."

Everyone nodded and rushed towards the kitchen sink, Larissa and Heaven pouting when Rian and Zack hogged it so they ran to the bathroom sink.

"How're we gonna tell them?" I asked Jack softly, making grabby hands to Lexi.

"I... I honestly don't know. We should have thought about this on the plane ride here." Jack confessed.

"I just-, oh hey, Rian." I said smiling, softly bounding Lexi in my arms.

"Hey, how is she?" Rian said looking down at her smiling.

"Good." I replied.

"Hi, Lexi." Rian cooed, bending over to get a better look at her. Lexi, of course, didn't flinch at his voice. Rian frowned and repeated himself.

"She's tired, Ri." Jack said with a sad smile.

"Oh, well she looks pretty awake." Rian said as I looked down to see her staring intensely up at me.

"Um, we need to talk to all of you guys." Jack said as everyone else crowded back into the living room, Heaven sitting next to me and Larissa sitting behind Rian, resting her head on his shoulder.

"What's up?" Zack asked, eyebrows raised.

"Um, there's something we haven't told you guys yet about Lexi." I said softly, Heaven rubbing the bottom of her foot with her thumb.

They were all silent, basically telling me to continue with their eyes. I took a deep breath, letting it our through my nose, the air making Lexi's hair flow with it. Her eyes screwed shut a little before opening them back up.

"I'll do it," Jack said, "Lexi; she's deaf. We didn't know when she was first born. The first day when she was born, we were able to hold her but we didn't know. They had us go back to our hotel cause they needed to do overnight observation and run some tests. The next day, they called us in cause something was wrong and that's when they told us she's deaf."

"B-But she's healthy, right?" Larissa said softly.

"Oh, yeah. She passed every other test with flying colors. It's just her hearing." I said with a smile, though my lips were pursed.

"She's perfect, though." Rian said smiling, "Can I hold her?"

I nodded and stood up to give Rian the baby, having him cradle his arms so I could set her down in them.

"Oh my god, she's so cute." He said quickly with wide eyes, looking up at me.

"Keep your eyes on her, Ri. She's lookin' at you." Jack said blushing.

"Hey, baby girl." Rian cooed. Lexi's face scrunched up, hands flying up to cup his lips.

"Are you sure she can't hear me?" Rian said softly, voice muffled as Lexi's fingers were invading his mouth.

"I'm sure. I looked up on the plane ride back here that babies who are deaf, if you talk to them and they can see you, it's almost like they can hear you. It's like they know you're talking to them. That's why I told you to look at her, she likes eye contact i've noticed." Jack said.

"How do you know she likes eye contact?" I asked, eyes wide.

"Well I would know cause I was awake with her the majority of the plane ride cause I let you sleep." Jack laughed and I rolled my eyes.

"Hey, when are you coming back to work?" Zack asked as he was playing with Lexi's foot like Heaven had done earlier.

"Um, shit. Next week sometime? I can't stay here forever, but I do need to get back to work so I can provide." I said glumly.

"Well take your time, yeah? We all miss you but family is more important." Rian said.

"Thanks guys."

Notes

So short chapter, I'm sorry. But everyone got to meet Lexi! :)

My life is really stressful at the moment... So sorry if this isn't great. I'm also sick.

Chase (My brother) lives with us now, so that's nice. He's still always at the station, but he's on his way to being a licensed EMT c:
He's in the process of getting me to start taking fire school classes so I can work at the station with him, also. That'd be great c:

Larissa is still my best friend omg. She's great. <3 I love her.

Leave me some comments <3