Work Text:
It had taken a lot of time for the babies to fall asleep that night. Lulu kept crying awake, while Teddy never slept in the first place. Ace and Nancy had juggled their babies every time one of them woke up, the other trying to cram their deadlines.
Ace didn't really have a work-induced deadline, but he often made one himself to spend some more time with Nancy. Having stayed awake for 24 hours, Ace was found in the kitchen making some grilled cheese for both him and his wife
"Guess a song was all they needed," Nancy came up from behind him, her chin hovering over his shoulder. She was on her tiptoes, swaying from one side to the other as she took in the wafting smell of Ace's favorite. Just like old times.
To Ace, she smelled of the same strawberry shampoo as all those years with him at the Claw, and Ace loved it.
He drank her in, her violet cotton robe slipping over his pale shirt, his boxers bagging up around her thighs. Ace would love his wife no matter how she dressed, but he had to admit he fell in love all over again when she wore his clothes. It gave him a sense of acceptance - one little evening cuddled up in his pullover, his old eagle scout jersey in her hand when she went out of town for work. It was all Nancy choosing to keep him close and love everything about him, no matter how absurd. She managed to love their kids just as reverently.
"Hm," he turned around, kissed her cheek with his lips leaving a warm imprint in their wake, "Maybe you could sing to me too?"
Nancy gave a small smile. When they first met, Nancy had only smiled a rare shy smile to him. Ace thought she didn't smile that often, but he soon saw her open up a bit more, laugh like a pair of Christmas bells chiming. Bess had pulled him aside one fine day and knocked some sense into him - Nancy smiled at all because Ace made her laugh.
From then, he began to cherish every look of hers, seeing the moon's grace in her lips. People often compared her to the sun, her wit and her kindness irradiating a glow that was the rarest. Ace disagreed. She wasn't the sun. His wife was the rain. When she was merciful, she was the cool raindrops that tickled a little child's happiness. When somebody was wronged, she was the angry flood that destroyed everything standing in her path to justice. When she was hurt, the skies wept in sorrow. Nancy was nature's kindest gift that could have been the angriest of forces, yet choosing to stay in exile as the tender drizzle that decorated the earth.
"I'm serious," Ace insisted, "Sing for me?"
He carried their plate, many toasts piled one over the other. "Feed me first," Nancy opened her mouth like a petulant child, although the smirk at the edge of her dimples told him she was enjoying denying him.
Two could play this game.
Ace held the plate behind his back, kissing Nancy. Pressing her against the table, he cherished the hitch in her breath like mother nature worshipped every element of her beauty. Nancy pressed back, her grip on his soft looks growing by the second.
She gasped against his lips, "Give me the toast Ace."
He enjoyed these moments with her. To the world, she was Nancy Drew - New York's most righteous journalist who never lost her mark. But for him, she was the angel that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with.
He hummed a quiet no, holding the plates up above his head with his hands outreached.
"Honey..." she hung onto him, her tiptoes standing on his as she stretched for this high hands. He wrapped his warm arm around her waist, swaying gently with her feet balancing on his. She laughed, a free note of glee as he stopped her from falling.
Soon, the warm toast was abandoned on a lone chair as they swayed to an imaginary swirl of rhythm in the kitchen. Nancy's arms found themselves around his neck, his hadn't strayed from her waist.
And finally, her voice blessed his ears. "When the red, red robin..."
He set her down, taking his hand in hers as they danced barefoot in their house. The children were sleeping, the town was barely waking up, but their love simmered like a fire that was blessed to live forever. They stepped in sync, twirling each other, swaying sideways with every click that their feet made.
"Comes bob, bob bobbin' along..."
"Along..." Ace sang with her in a whisper.
"There'll be no more sobbing when he starts throbbing,"
The window streaked with a streak of silent lightning, coloring their faces with silver.
"His own sweet song..."
"Wake up, wake up, you sleepy head," Ace's voice broke into a chuckle as he tapped his head against hers. He dipped her body down, their chests glued to each other.
All song stopped, their breaths enough to make their souls dance in joy. Nancy's lips twitched, close to the tip of his red nose. She kissed it, leaving all her grip groping for support as she fell into Ace's control. Her heart was light, her eyes awake with adoration.
"I love you," she whispered.
"That's why you married me huh?" he bit his lip.
"No, I married you for the toast."
He picked her up, smiling at her alight face as they made their way back into the kitchen.
"Alright Ms. Drew, toast it is."