Yesterday | Seth Clearwater

Chapter 33

Tell me if I'm wrong

Tell me if I'm right

Tell me if you need a loving hand

To help you fall asleep tonight

~ Ed Sheeran "Cold Coffee"

"Please stop crying," Seth said to Ellie. He wasn't sure what else he could do— he had fed her, burped her, changed her diaper, given her toys, read her a story, drove her around the block, but she just wouldn't go to sleep and she wouldn't stop crying.

Brooklyn was at work, his mom was at work, and Leah was on patrol. This was the first time that Seth had been left completely alone with Ellie, and he felt like he was blowing it. Usually, if no one was home, he would take Ellie to Sam's house, and Emily would help out, but today, Ellie had been fussy since Brooklyn had dropped her off a few hours ago, and he hadn't wanted to inflict a screaming baby on a house full of super-hearing shape-shifters. His own ears were pleading for silence, and he felt like his sanity was barely in tact.

"I know you miss your mommy," Seth tried to reason with the infant. "I do too, but she's going to be back in like... an hour, and then we can see her again. So can you please just stop crying?"

He was rocking her gently as he spoke. Ellie was one of the best things to ever happen to him, but right now, he felt like he was doing everything wrong. He felt like he was failing at being a father.

Time seemed to drag on forever, until finally Brooklyn walked into the house.

"Are you guys alright?" Brooklyn asked. "I could hear her crying from the driveway."

"Thank god you're here," Seth exclaimed. "She won't stop crying. I don't know what's wrong or how to fix it."

"Yeah, she does that sometimes," Brooklyn said as she took the baby from his arms. "Take off your shirt."

"What?" Seth asked. "This doesn't really seem like the time for that."

"Shut up," Brooklyn laughed. "I'm trying to show you how to make her stop crying. Just do it."

"Uh, alright," Seth said skeptically, and then he removed his shirt. He watched as Brooklyn removed a wailing Ellie's onesie.

Brooklyn handed Ellie back to Seth. "Hold her against your chest— yeah just like that. Skin-to-skin contact always calms her down when she's fussy, I think she likes to listen to heartbeats or feel body heat or something."

Much to Seth's delight, it worked. Ellie had finally calmed down, and after a few minutes, she even seemed to be on the verge of falling asleep.

"Brooke, you are a genius and I am so fucking lucky to have you as my imprint and the mother of my baby," Seth said.

Brooklyn smiled at him. "I think I'm the lucky one. I don't think that I could have done any of this with anyone else— not that I've ever had eyes for anyone but you."

"Ew, we're so cheesy," Seth crinkled his nose.

"There are worse things we could be," Brooklyn replied. "I'll take cheesy over the bad stuff any day of the week."

"I'm gonna go put her in her crib," Seth said as he noticed that his daughter had finally fallen asleep. He returned with a baby monitor a few minutes after leaving— not that he really needed it, seeing as he had super hearing. It was mostly so that Brooklyn could hear their baby too.