Work Text:
“Mama.”
The word still makes your heart skip a beat.
Laurel has been talking for two years, but the rush of affection you feel at the sound of ‘Mama’ falling from her lips when she’s reaching for you is still just as strong as it was the first time.
Laurel knows it, too, you’re sure. She’s devious, always using the fact that you are completely besotted with her to her benefit.
“Five more,” she demands, her tiny hands clasping at your shirt and pulling you close.
She sounds so much like Kara in the morning, turning off the alarm and begging for five more minutes, and the resemblance only makes it harder for you to say no.
“Five more minutes,” you agree, settling back down in Laurel’s too small bed and running your fingers through her dark hair.
It tangles so easily; you don’t quite understand how. You work the knots out carefully and she sighs, so entirely relaxed.
“Do you want me to read you another story?” You ask, but Laurel’s already blinking sleepily; you give it less than three minutes before she’s asleep.
“No. Just cuddles,” Laurel says, burrowing her head against your chest.
“All right, sweet girl,” you smile as she clings to you, your little monkey.
“I love you mama,” she mumbles, fighting sleep, and your heart pounds. You’re still not used to how easily she says it; how freely she gives her love.
“I love you, too,” you tell her.
You tell her every day, desperate for her to know it, to understand it. You don’t want her to question it, not for even one day of her life.
“I love you more than anything in the world.”
You couldn’t fathom it, before she was born. The depths of the love you’d have for her.
For this messy, enthusiastic, crazy little girl who takes life on at full speed with no looking back.
You bite back a smile as she wriggles, always moving, fighting sleep until the last second.
You feel her drift off, but can’t bring yourself to move. Laurel’s toddler bed is too small for you, your legs bent awkwardly and your hip digging into the frame, but she looks too peaceful to disturb yet.
You lie with her until your own eyelids start falling, at which point you start planning your escape. You’re about to lift Laurel so you can slide out from under her when you hear footsteps in the hall.
“Hey.”
Kara smiles at you from the doorway, her eyes soft, so clearly enamoured.
“Hey,” you whisper.
“Trapped?”
“I couldn’t bring myself to move just yet.”
Kara grins knowingly, approaching the bed and pressing a soft kiss to Laurel’s forehead and then a lingering one to your lips.
“Did Supergirl save the day?” You ask, smoothing out her cape where it has twisted on her shoulder.
“You bet she did.”
You grin.
Sometimes you wonder how this became your life.
A happy, healthy, three-year-old daughter and a kind-hearted, beautiful wife.
You’re sure you don’t deserve it.
“Want me to lift her?” Kara whispers, and you nod, detaching Laurel’s fist from your shirt.
Kara lifts Laurel with little effort, returning her to her bed once you’re up and tucking a stuffed toy under her arm.
She curls up in a ball like a cat, her hair a tangled mess on the pillow.
You brush a kiss to the top of her head, tucking her hair behind her ear and out of her face.
“We love you, Laurel,” you whisper again, before turning off the light and following Kara out to the kitchen.
“You’re such a good mom,” Kara says, her tone so genuine that it makes your chest clench.
“So are you,” you return, but Kara doesn’t let it go so quickly.
“No, I mean…” She presses her lips together. “You’re amazing. Laurel’s so lucky to have you. I’m so lucky to have you.”
You blink back the tears forming in your eyes, touching a kiss to Kara’s lips.
“She makes it easy,” you say, and it’s the truth. Any part of you that’s good at being a mother is because Laurel is the greatest kid on the planet. “I never thought I’d be a mother. Let alone a good one,” you admit, eyes downcast.
You wanted it, so fiercely it scared you, but you never thought it would really happen. You definitely never thought you’d be good at it, let alone good enough to warrant the wonder in Kara’s eyes.
“I know,” Kara answers simply. “That’s why I tell you, every time you make my heart explode with how amazing you are.”
You laugh, tugging her closer so you can wrap your arms around her.
“Thank you,” you murmur.
You hold her for a moment longer, your face pressed to her neck.
You truly have no idea what you did to deserve this.