Progeny

It's been heavy and humid here for a couple of days. This morning it finally broke in torrential downpour, so I went out and danced around a bit then decided it was time to post fic. When it rains around here, it's probably time to post fic.

This is the sequel to Multiplication, because I'm still in a state of disbelief at the number of reviews that story got. For those of you that haven't read Multiplication- Michael and Fiona procreated. Aren't summaries fun.

Fiona reclined against the pillows of the hospital bed watching Michael get to know his son. When the police had finally done their sting on the docks district they'd been astounded to find the two of them with a new born baby hiding behind some packing crates in a warehouse. It had required a certain amount of fast talking on Michael's behalf to get taken to hospital alongside Fi rather than into custody for questioning.

'Holy moly, Mike. You're a dad.'

Michael looked up in alarm at Sam's abrupt entrance but he relaxed as soon as he saw who it was. 'Sam. Say hi to Theo.'

Sam grinned dopily and walked closer to inspect the blue-eyed baby. 'He's gorgeous, Mike. Fi. Can I hold him?'

'No,' Fi stated flatly.

Michael raised his eyebrows at her, cradling his son against his chest. Sam shot him an appealing look and he just shrugged. 'She's the boss,' Michael pointed out. Sam chortled at that.

'Fair enough. I sure wouldn't wanna be the person that go on the wrong side of you, little guy. Gotta tell you though Fi- I'm gonna miss the waddle.'

'Hit him, Michael,' ordered Fi regally.

'I'm not going to hit Sam, Fi,' Michael told her with a sigh.

'Why not?' she pouted.

'Because Sam has had a chat to some of his buddies in the police force and they're going to quietly ignore the weirdest thing ever to come out of a sting operation,' Sam suggested.

'Hey, who're you calling weird?' Michael challenged jokingly, holding Theo a little closer.

'Aw, I'm just kidding Mike. He's beautiful. I think I'm gonna skedaddle before your mom gets in here though.'

Michael's eyes widened as he registered his mother bearing down on the hospital room. With a groan, he handed Theo back to Fiona and braced himself. 'Thanks for the warning Sam. I'll see you later.'

'Count on it, buddy.'

oo00OO00oo

'Michael, relax. You have a beautiful son. Being a good father is as simple as being there for him. And for Fiona,' added Madeline pointedly.

'It's not that simple, Mom. Dad was there. It would've been better if he wasn't a lot of the time.'

'Your father never really… he never had this moment of panic that you're having now. But you- you're thinking about your family. That's why you'll do OK.'

Michael nodded and tightened the last screw back on the broken toaster. 'You make it sound easy.'

'It is easy, Michael. If the love is there, everything else will follow.'

'Including diapers?' asked Michael ruefully.

'Including diapers,' answered Madeline with a wide smile. 'Now you better get home before Fiona accuses me of stealing you from her.'

'We're not together, Mom,' Michael reminded her, for what had to be the thousandth time.

'Oh I know, I know. I still think you should give it another shot. I want my grandson raised properly.'

Michael sighed, nodded, and beat a graceful retreat. It seemed every appliance in his mother's house had found a way to break over the past week, and each visit to act as handyman resulted in an hour long talk about his new son.

Theo and Fiona had come home from the hospital two days ago. Since then, Michael had been waiting on them hand and foot. He barely let Fi get out of bed. She was starting to get bored of the mother-hen act, but Michael intended to keep it up as long as she let him. Having witnessed the birth first-hand, he felt it was the least he could do.

When he got home, Fiona was curled up asleep, half-tangled in the sheet. All the violence went out of her in sleep. Smiling fondly, Michael gently straightened out the beddings, careful not to wake her. That done, he went to check on Theo.

The little wooden cot had been hastily erected whilst Fiona was still in hospital. Although they'd known the baby was coming for nearly nine months, somehow it hadn't seemed real; even with Fiona's enormous belly. Now, contemplating what they were going to do when Theo started to crawl seemed too far in the future to contemplate. Michael didn't even want to think about Madeline's not-so-subtle proddings on the issue of buying a house together.

Theo was awake- his wide blue eyes staring muzzily up at Michael. They'd discovered early on that Theo was a particularly quiet baby. He hadn't cried when he was born, and did so rarely since then. The middle of the night awakenings were nothing new for a spy, and as soon as his belly was refilled with milk, Theo was content to be put back down. The nights when the club below filled the air with heavy bass thumping actually seemed to make him sleep better. 'It's like a heartbeat,' Fi had explained.

Unable to help the small smile that tugged at his lips, Michael reached down and picked him up. He had absolutely no idea when it came to babies. In the past, he'd panicked whenever one was shoved in his direction. Yet somehow, his own flesh and blood made it different. The way his heart melted when those blue eyes locked on him seemed to come as part of the fatherhood package. His reputation was almost certainly going to suffer for this.

Holding Theo carefully, Michael began a slow stroll back and forth. He'd learnt from Madeline that repetitive motion seemed to calm babies. Not that Theo needed calming, but Michael enjoyed just holding his son. Soon enough, the blue eyes fluttered closed and the mouth opened slightly as the child sunk into sleep. Michael put him back down in his cot and moved over to the kitchen to start cooking dinner.

The smell of stir-fry woke Fiona half an hour later and she sauntered into the kitchen to poke her nose into what Michael was doing. He grinned over his shoulder at her and allowed her to sneak a piece of capsicum out of the wok. 'Sleep well?' he asked.

'Mmm, beautifully. There's something about that bed, Michael.'

'It came with the place.' He shrugged it off and added some pepper to the mix.

'Good deal then.' She smacked him on the arse before sashaying over to check on Theo. Michael blinked in surprise. Her words hadn't just been about beds. But surely… he shook his head and concentrated on making sure the stir-fry didn't burn. He wasn't going to risk the comfortable friendship they had now by pushing for something more.

oo00OO00oo

'I'm moving out, Michael,' Fiona informed him almost off-handedly as she chopped a carrot into thick chunks.

Michael stopped what he was doing to look at her. After a moment she elaborated. 'This was never meant to be permanent. Theo needs a nursery. And a place closer to a daycare centre would be nice.'

Michael thought for a moment although mental churning would probably have been a more appropriate descriptor. His face as always remained unreadably blank. 'OK,' he said. Fi nodded like that was all decided and started on the next carrot.

TBC (Because Fiona has to make life difficult).