ilya accidentally hurts their daughter while playing in yuna and david's house one day, and little hollander-rozanov (we'll refer to her as Baby because she's like, two) ruuuuuuns to shane, crying, telling him what papa did to her. and ilya has trailed after her, is imploring with her to believe he didn't mean to, it was an accident, he loves her so much. but she won't listen to him, refuses to even look at him, and only stops crying when shane picks her up and rocks her from side to side.
he tries telling her the same things ilya did in his calm voice (myshane doesn't use baby voice. he speaks to her normally) and she remains quiet as he talks, but even after he's done she won't look at ilya. eventually experienced mother yuna tells them Baby just needs a little time and takes her away to have a nice hot drink and maybe to do some drawing.
ilya looks CRUSHED. he feels absolutely terrible. shane ends up having to console him too:
"I didn't mean to, shane, the box slipped—"
"I know, baby, of course you didn't mean to."
"I'm a terrible fucking father."
"ilya, no you're not. you're an amazing father and she loves you."
"she has never looked at me like that. ever. like I betrayed her."
anyway, later in the day they're all in the living room together, david in the armchair doing a crossword, shane and ilya on the couch facing the tv, yuna and Baby on the floor playing with building blocks. ilya is only half-paying attention to whatever show is on; he keeps looking over at Baby, pained, and shane keeps stroking his hair comfortingly.
at some point Baby yawns.
"oh? feeling a little sleepy?" yuna asks.
Baby shakes her head. she moves some more blocks. then she yawns again and abruptly decides yes, actually, she's had enough of playtime, and stands up. rubbing her eyes, she turns towards the couch.
shane says, "hey, baby, you wanna go to bed?" and she nods as she walks. but she's walking towards ilya. and ilya is shifting up in his seat faster than lightning, hopeful—and when she stops in front of his knees and reaches up to him his face crumples. he sweeps her up into his arms and holds her close, one hand under her bottom and the other cupping the back of her head. he's murmuring to her in english, "my baby, my baby" and then in russian, "papa loves you so, so much. papa didn't mean to hurt you, baby. I love you so, so much, darling." and she murmurs vague baby things back, face hidden in his neck now and arms circling it.
the scene is so sweet there isn't a dry eye in the room. definitely not ilya's, and not shane's or david's or yuna's either.
maybe just Baby's, though. she's already fallen asleep.
titsay
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