#dad ash

thankfully, the tour they’d been on ended by month three of your pregnancy and ashton was so excited to throw himself into the full process of making the nursery. 

he was also being over the top protective and it was amusing for you to watch but frustrating as well.

when you opened the can of paint, you could hear him about to start up again.

“i swear to god irwin if you say anything other than ‘pass me a brush please’ i will waste this entire tin over you.” you threatened calmly. it took him a second and you glanced over to see him grinning at you.

“can you pass me a brush dear? i’ll do the edging of the room and let you roller to your hearts content.” this earned him a bright smile as you passed him one of the smaller brushes with a kiss.

“if i get tired i’ll let you know, but please baby, calm down. i’m fine.” he wrapped his arms around you and pressed a kiss to your lips.

“i know, i’ll try and ease off a bit my love.” and you smiled at that.

“it’s all i can ask for. now come on, this room isn’t going to paint itself you know.” 

-

She was never normally this shy about spending time with Calum, but Ashton assumed it was because her brother had wanted to practice and she’d been vocal in her distaste for the loud ruckus her brother always caused.

Calum knew different.

“Uncle Cal, are we gonna play some songs today?” Her question was filled with excitement as Ashton pulled the car out of the driveway, her posture relaxing. Calum laughed at his niece.

“Yes we are sweetheart. Did you find a song that you wanted to learn?” And he watched as a blush coated her cheeks, eyes ducking down.

“I wanted to do one of the songs you and daddy used to play.” The admittance was quiet, but Calum heard and his heart melted as he held his hand out to the smallest Irwin.

“C’mon then kiddo, I think I’ve got all of the sheet music for our old songs. You can pick the one you want to learn.” And her eyes flew to his the look of shock colouring her features.

She didn’t hesitate as she took his hand and they headed to the small studio he’d created so many years ago and they went about getting the bass ready. He’d already taught her how to take care of the instrument and she was good at it.

Calum knew that she was scared to tell her dad that she preferred the bass over drumming, and part of it was like she was betraying him, or so she’d told him when she’d begged him not to tell Ashton about giving her lessons.

He couldn’t help but laugh when she settled into his lap, despite not needing his assistance, but she huffed at his words.

“It’s a new song and you wrote it. Of course I’m going to need help.” She was so wonderfully stubborn with her ways and Calum adored her for it. It was the streak of stubbornness that had her hiding her talent from her father, but Calum silently mused that it was the universe giving back the amount of times Ashton was stubborn as a teenager and it was coming back in spades with his children.

They’d settled on on of their older songs, and he guided her fingers with ease and repetitively. He found himself humming the lyrics as she played, making her giggle before they started again.

“You got it!” He crowed in delight when she did her first run through of the song. It had been riddled with small mistakes, but she would learn. She laughed as he squeezed her tight before she slid from his lap and sat cross legged in the middle of the floor, starting from the beginning.

Calum hadn’t heard his front door opening, and he hadn’t heard the call of their names. But he caught movement from the corner of his eye and he recognised Ashton easily.

He turned to see his best friend watching his daughter avidly, his eyes alight with sheer joy as she got lost in the world of going over the song, giggling when she made a noticeable mistake.

Ashton’s eyes never left hers as she played and Calum smirked at his best friend when he finally glanced to him.

“Wow.” The word was barely breathed but Calum understood.

When she finally stopped, her eyes widened at the sight of her dad, but the beaming grin he wore eased any concerns she held. She still turned an accusatory glare onto her uncle who held his hands up in surrender.

“This is all your dad sweetheart. I didn’t hear him when he turned up.” And she relented before her gaze flickered back to her dad.

“It’s not that I don’t like music, because I love it. But I don’t like playing the drums.” She hummed and Ashton beamed in return.

“I’ll take it baby girl. Who knew I’d end up creating the next best rhythm section?” He shot to Calum who laughed.

“Of course you would. The rhythm beat lives in your blood, I’m certain of it.” Calum snarked back, earning a giggle from the youngest.

“So you don’t mind me playing bass, dad?” And Ashton felt himself melting.

heading up to her room, he gently knocked on her door waiting until the muffled “fuck off” came through the door and he hesitated.

“i’ll check on you a bit later.” he finally spoke through the wood before heading down. he knew that she needed her space and he wasn’t about to barge in on that. it’d been a stringent rule in their household. always ask permission to step into someone else’s space.

when she didn’t come down for dinner, ashton grabbed his plate as well as her own and knocked on the door once again. 

“you can come in.” was finally muttered and he awkwardly managed to get the handle down with his elbow, the door pushing open, sticking his head around the opening.

“may your old man come in, princess?” she nodded her head from where she sat on her bed, arms clutching one of the stuffed bears he’d gotten for her long ago when she was an infant.

“bedroom dinner?” he held up the plates and she gave off a shaky giggle before prompty bursting into tears, alarming ashton. he ditched the plates to the side before moving to her bed, letting her cuddle into his side as she cried.

“what’s wrong princess?” he asked as she clung to him in tears.

“jer broke up with me. apparently having a famous dad isn’t what he expected and thought he’d get something out of it.” she got out quietly, and ashton felt his heart break for her. 

he knew the dangers of dating whilst being famous. he hadn’t thought it would’ve applied to his little girl.

“well he’s an ass. so when we’ve eaten, i may have a nice sweet treat for the both of us and i know that there are a couple of uncles who haven’t spoken to you in like a week, and your uncle cal was quite put out with that.” he teased earning a tear-filled smile from her.

“reckon he’ll accept an apology and a promise to marathon buffy with him?” ashton laughed at that as he pressed a soft kiss to her forehead.

“any time with you will make up for it, princess. dinner first and then we’ll see about facetiming them all.” 

-

Landing back in LA felt like chaos personified, especially after the extended honeymoon the two of you had, but neither of you realised it was what you needed.

-

Lay next to Ashton, his body practically glowing in that post sex haze you were both in, you found yourself thanking whatever deity put him in your life.

“Baby?” Ashton’s eyes were watching you, his body shifting and you matched his movement, lay facing him. His arms pulled you closer, a kiss to your neck, leaving you with a soft smile as you hummed in appreciation.

“Just thinking.” 

“What about?” His eyes were curious now and you hesitated. But it felt right, at least, to talk. But not with your husband-god you still couldn’t believe that-looking so delicious lay next to you.

So you shifted your leg over his hip, pushing yourself to straddle him, a strangled moan escaping his lips as you rolled your hips against his, leaning down to press a kiss to his lips.

“In the morning. I think another round is in order.” 

The following morning had you both showered and in light clothes. You’d cooked breakfast and finally decided it was time to talk.

“You ready to hear what I was thinking about last night? Other than having you in every way possible?” The tease brought a blush to his cheeks with a smirk before he nodded.

“Honestly, part of my mind was stuck on the baby we lost. How difficult it had been for all of us. You especially.”

He frowned but didn’t interrupt as he held his arms open to you, and you took the silent invitation, settling in his lap as his arms wrapped around you tightly.

“What brought this on baby?” 

“I didn’t realise how sad we were till I saw your smile when I met you at the altar. The smile you had when our little girl realised that her daddy loved her just as much as she loves him and that you wanted her too. And last night, god it felt like when we were first dating all over again.” The giggle that escaped you as his lips found your neck, trying to pull your skin from his reach.

“All mine.” He muttered, making you laugh.

“Alright caveman. But everything we went through, I couldn’t see how sad you were, and I’m sorry. It was your baby too and my only reaction was like I was the only one suffering.” Ashton shook his head almost immediately.

“You had to feel every moment of that. I wasn’t expecting you to get over it, love. But we’ve got time on our side.” His voice was reassuring and soft and you couldn’t stop the smile from overtaking your lips.

“How about we spend longer out here? I’d feel bad asking your mum to keep our little girl for a month-” 

“It’s our honeymoon. We’ve got a village to help raise her and I think we needed to get away from everyone to really accept the recovery from losing the baby. I don’t think anyone is going to begrudge us this time together. I’ll talk to Luke and see if he can take our little miss for the last couple of weeks, that way it’s not all on my mum. And she’ll already be home when we get back.” 

“Sounds like a plan. Now Mister Irwin, there is a private pool with a view to die for and you’re wearing far too many clothes.” The coy smile you gave him as you made your way off his lap, had him smirking in return.

“I could say the same about you, Mrs Irwin.” You laughed as you shed your own clothes, stepping out to the secluded area as you heard Ashton’s footsteps join you.

-

The chaos that surrounded LA made you groan as the two of you collected your luggage, both of you having gained some colour to your skin in the Hawaiian heat.

“Is Luke meeting us home or here?” You questioned as Ashton checked his phone.

“Home. He doesn’t want to bring her out into the chaos we’re going to cause with the paps.” You snorted at that before you made your way to the pick up point. 

“Are we waiting for an Uber or-?”

“Taxi service for the Irwin’s.” Your head snapped around from Ashton to the source of the voice, grinning when you found Calum stood next to his car.

“Cal!” He laughed as he greeted you with a warm hug, giving the same treatment to Ashton before helping you both get your bags into the car.

“A little princess of yours wanted to hold a welcome home party. We kept the guest list to bare minimum because apparently she only wanted her favourite Uncles to be there as well as Shay. However, Shay is currently away for the weekend with Marc and so you get to deal with all of us.” You couldn’t resist giving Calum a deadpan look, waiting patiently before he laughed.

“It is just the three of us there and she did want to have a party for you both, but she then realised that it meant sharing you both and she’s missed you both too much to share at the moment.” Calum’s second explanation made your heart ache.

It’d been the longest you’d ever been away from her. Ashton had to stop you from facetiming her daily because he knew it would drive you insane. But it also gave him a chance to stop acting on his own urges to facetime daily to check in and see her. 

“I’ve loved this time away, but I genuinely don’t think I could leave her for that long again.” You shared a grin with Ashton once you were both in the car and Calum was pulling away from the airport.

“We fully don’t expect to see either of you at all this week because she will monopolise your time and we may or may not have been encouraging it. She’s really missed you guys.”

The rest of the car journey was filled with details of the flight, and the check in attendants amusement at how you didn’t even flinch at her saying that you both needed to pay the extra luggage fee. It was worth it in your eyes and it meant that your little girl got spoiled too.

When you got home, you’d managed to get the suitcases by the stairs before an excited scream came from the garden.

And then she was in your arms, the collision of her body into yours sending you stumbling back a little bit as she held onto you tightly.

“Nice to see that her old dad doesn’t even get the scream of delight.” Ashton teased, and it took her a second before she pulled away and wrapped herself around Ashton, not even caring at how he still picked her up despite the fact that she was getting bigger.

“Missed you too princess.” He murmured softly and your arms wrapped around both of them. 

Despite the honeymoon, she was what you’d missed the most.

It took the three of you a moment to finally pull away. You were unwilling to let go of her, but you finally moved and headed out to the back, grateful for Calum to give the three of you that moment in privacy. 

Ashton followed and your little girl hung onto him which made the other three laugh.

“Pay up. I know my niece well.” Luke crowed in amusement and you laughed as both Calum and Michael handed him some notes.

“C’mon little bird, you let me down!” Michael whined, but she merely stuck her tongue out as she rearranged herself when Ashton sat down, keeping herself firmly in his lap, but her hand had reached out for you.

You smiled as you took the spot next to Ashton, pressing a kiss to her temple.

“Your mommy’s missed you baby. I know you told us everything you did with your nana and uncle lu, but fancy telling your dad and I properly now? I want to hear everything you did on the zoo trip.” 

“But you went on a bigger holiday!” She protested, a pout on her lips.

“Yeah mom and dad. You went on a bigger holiday so you’ve gotta tell us all about it.” Michael teased, wiggling his eyebrows at you both.

You shot him a dirty look which earned a round of laughter from the boys and you sighed as your daughter stared at you in confusion.

“Your uncle Mikey is being silly, princess. So what do you want to know about our trip? Because your daddy and I did so much, and we’re definitely going to take you back so you get to experience some of the stuff we did!” 

This seemed to be the right thing to say as her stern glare that had been directed at Michael shifted to a look of pure excitement and joy.

“Really? Oh please, what did you do that we’re gonna do?” 

Ashton grinned as he launched into the first story of many, the sun sinking into the ground slowly as she listened with rapt attention, the look of awe never once leaving her face.