Shipping meme #22, for Rose & Cullen?
things you said after it was over
“She’s perfect,” Cullen said, voice soft with awe, accent rougher around the edges. “You’re perfect.”
“You’re hogging her,” Rose reminded him.
Cullen flushed as he looked away from the bundle—so tiny—he carried and Rose’s heart gave a twisting triple beat even as her eyes filled with tears. Happy ones. Maker-I-didn’t-know-I-could-be-this-happy ones. “Forgive me, I—”
She sniffled the tears away. “And I was joking. Come here, the both of you.”
Like a good soldier, he obeyed her at once, sitting close beside her on the bed without once jostling the sleeping baby in his arms. He offered her to Rose, who shook her head. “You’re better at this than I am.”
“Younger siblings.”
“Not just that. You’re calm. You’re… you’re not afraid.”
He chuckled, shaking his head. “Afraid? No, love, I’m terrified. It would be foolish not to be, I think. She’s so… fragile.”
“Good thing her Da’s so gentle, then.” She leaned over, smiling down at the perfect little pink face. “She looks like you.”
Cullen smiled, turning his head to press a kiss to Rose’s brow. “She looks like a newborn.” A second kiss landed lightly on the crown of the sleeping baby’s head. “Her hair’ll be red, like yours.”
“And I suppose there’s no escaping the curls.” She reached up and ruffled his; he’d let his hair grow a little, and he no longer kept it quite so ruthlessly pomaded. “She really is perfect.”
“Yes,” Cullen said, catching Rose’s gaze and holding it, “she is.”