not the proudest of this one but I hope you guys like it :)
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I Told You So.
Beth loved sleep.
It was simple. Sleep was right on up there in the category of things she loved most in the world, right underneath Derek and her motavators and the seven month old baby boy that was currently laying on the couch with his dad watching Harry Potter (Derek covering his eyes whenever he deemed it to be too scary for his son), hence the reason why she'd been deprived of sleep for so long.
When people had told her during her pregnancy to 'get as much sleep as she could' before the baby arrived, she took them up on the offer. She slept during the day, and all night, and ignored every single remark Derek ever made about her sleeping habits ("Don't you want me and this baby to be healthy?")
So when Ronan Hough screeched his way into the world, Beth was so glad she had listened to everybody's advice because her and Derek's days of sleeping whenever they wanted were long gone.
Beth knew she'd be getting less sleep, but no one told her just how little sleep she'd be getting.
Ronan was alert and had been alert ever since they brought him home from the hospital, and he worked like clockwork too.
Every three hours, no miss no foul, Ronan was crying. Beth still remembered how horrible those first three weeks of Ronan's life for them were like until they finally got him to settle.
Beth was perfectly okay if Ronan wanted to be awake while she filmed a video (Derek was sure her viewers knew Ronan just as well as they did because of how frequently he was in her videos). Beth was okay if he was awake while she visited Derek at the studio (because Derek was intent on teaching Ronan the 'family business' as he so eloquently put it).
Beth, however, was not happy if Ronan wanted to be awake in the hours between 12 am and 8 am (the times Beth swore should have never been created by God if not to sleep). Between those times was the time Beth needed to sleep, but Ronan wasn't having it.
So that first week after having brought Ronan home from the hospital, and after a week of not having Ronan (or herself and Derek) not sleeping in the hours that were dark, she had been completely exhausted.
"Bethany?" Derek walked out of the nursery, Ronan wide awake in his arms. "Beth?"
His wife was lying face down on the couch, her hair resting all over her face, causing Derek to chuckle looking down at Ronan.
"You broke mummy." He told the little boy, looking straight into Ronan's big blue eyes identical to his own. "Mummy needs her sleep Ronan, or else she gets a little grumpy."
They tried their very best to get Ronan into a routine those first few weeks but with all the constant visiting from the pros and family, it was proving hard for them. And though Ronan finally accustomed to the routine after three weeks and it was rare to wake up to him crying at 3 am, that didn't make them any happier when they woke up to that one night in July.
"Derek, the baby's crying." Beth said with her eyes still closed.
"He's hungry." Derek said in the same way. "He needs you."
"Go feed him." Beth said slightly louder, knowing what she had said made little to no sense at all.
"Sure, let me just borrow your boobs and I'll be on my way." Derek said louder, the hour doing nothing to stop the sarcasm that came with the statement.
Bethany reluctantly pulled herself out of bed, hauling herself to Ronan's room. And by the time Ronan had settled and had started to eat, Bethany found herself drifting off in the rocking chair. "C'mon Ronan. Mummy likes sleep. Daddy likes sleep. We think you should like sleep too." Ronan just stared back at her, his big blue eyes full of wonder, like he understood (but he very clearly hadn't considering the amount of times he made his parents get up that same night).
