вяσкєи нєαятѕ {raia}

C2 - Late Nights

~Ross~
Opening the door, I am once again greeted by the cold and empty house. This sight isn't new for me, almost every time I come home, my children are asleep. Unless Riley refuses to or Charlotte sneaks out of her bedroom to give me a hug, like she is doing tonight. Although her attempt failed and she is fast asleep on the grey armchair, which made her look incredibly tiny.
It baffles me how much she's grown in four years, it seems like yesterday Maia and I were bringing her home wrapped in a soft pink blanket just a new born baby, and now my little girl was 4 and a half years old, which she tells every new person she meets, along with her full name Charlotte Rydel Lynch.
Shaking my head, I chuckle lightly and gently pick up her fragile body. As I hope I won't wake her, I carry her up the stairs and to her light pink bedroom. Lying her down amongst her hundreds of cuddly toys and tucking her in to her Disney princess blanket, I gently kiss her head.
"Night, little one." I whisper, brushing a piece of her blonde hair out of her face. "I love you." Since her nightlight was already on, I leave the room, gently closing the door.
I loved her. I loved her and Tom and Jakey more than anything, there was only person who tied with my love for them...
Wait I'm not supposed to think about that about my...
That's one of the confusing things about mine and Maia's relationship, we're not together but we're married. I love her but I'm not in love with her. Sometimes it feels like the only thing that could bring us together was our children, but I don't want them to grow up with parents who are always at each other's throats. No matter how much I love Maia, were too far into this hole to climb our way out.
Running a hand through my hair, I quietly go back down the stairs, only to find the one and only Maia Charlotte Lynch with our baby boy, standing in front of the kitchen counters with Jake leaning his head on her shoulder. Her brown her was beautiful, reaching her mid back in effortless waves. Her skilled hands were putting together a bottle for our 5 month year old.
"Hey." I mumble quietly, walking up next to her and grabbing a mug from the cupboard above her head. With that, I start boiling some water so I can have a cup of tea. She turns to me and smiles weakly, obviously exhausted. "Did he not want to sleep?"
"No, that's what he wanted. But he's been screaming in pain. He's toothing." She informs me, letting out a tired sigh.
"Do you want me to put him to bed and you can go up to sleep." Offering to help her out, I finish making my tea and lean my back on the counter.
"Are you sure?" Maia asks, her Australian accent, she's somehow still managed to keep, tired.
"It's fine, go." She gently kisses Riley's forehead and passes him to me, smiling thankfully. Her smile still makes my heart flutter like it did all those years ago when I met her on the beach. But things aren't as perfect for us now as they were back then.
~Maia~
"Charlie, come on! Open the door, it's times for school!" I once again knock on my daughters bedroom door who was refusing to leave. This often happens nowadays since she hates school. I don't really understand why. Half of the school day is playing outside and the other half is watching 'educational children's programmes' (Dora the Explorer In its correct terms) and then lining up coloured pencils in the order of the rainbow. She loved reading to me and Ross but hates anyone else doing so, and screams at the top of her lungs in reading buddy time.
"No!"
"Why not?" I roll my eyes, leaning my temple against the door. This is pure torture. She'll try the Im sick on me and I just ignore that, usually after that she stops. She went so far once to say the school had been taken over my dragons and she was scared. Dragons turned out to be teachers. Ross took her into school that day.
"I'm sick." She fake coughs. Ah, there it is.
"Nice try, honey. You try this every Wednesday, you have to go to your tutor!" Charlotte had been diagnosed with dyslexia by her teacher and had been given a tutor to help her catch up to the others in her class. She didn't like this because she thought it made her stupid. She is actually extremely intelligent if she tries hard.
"I don't wanna!" Groaning, I walk over to Ross' spare bedroom and knock on the door. After hearing much shuffling and grunts he opens it, looking at me completely exhausted.
"What?" My husband yawns, rubbing his eyes, only wearing a pair of sweatpants. The dark circles under his eyes and messy hair almost make me laugh. He looks like me for once.
At least he doesn't have the permanent smell of baby food on his clothes and hair. Because I'm usually home alone, I don't have a lot of time to have a showers and wash my hair since I have to make sure my three children are alright, especially Jake since he's only five months.
"Charlotte won't open her door, can you try and get her out while I go wake Jake and Tom?"
"Again?" He sighs. I nod slightly and he rolls his eyes. "I'm on it." Walking past me, he knocks gently on Charlie's door. "Little one? Baby, it's Daddy." Almost immediately the door opens and she jumps up into his arms. I smile slightly as I watch Ross pick her up as she lays her head on his shoulder. Rocking her gently backwards and forwards, he walks into her room and shuts the door behind them. Yep, she was a Daddy's girl.
Pushing back the fringe of my hair, I let out a huff before walking towards Jake and Toms nursery. I even painting this room with Ross...

"We should paint it blue!" Ross says excitedly, walking down the paint isle in the hardware store.
"What if it's a girl?" I chuckle, walking after him.
"And? Blues an awesome colour!" I shake my head as he starts looking at all the different shades
"Why don't we paint it yellow?" I suggest, pointing at a pastel yellow colour on the examples above us. "Then whether it's a boy or a girl, the room will have a happy colour."
"You know, that's the cheesiest thing I think you've ever said!" He laughs, turning to me and wrapping his arms round my waist. "But I like it." His lips gently touch mine before he pulls away and picks up a paint bucket of the colour we chose.
-----------------------
"Your not climbing a ladder." Ross folds his arms sternly.
"Why?" I whine, stomping my feet slightly which earns a smirk from him.
"Because your six months pregnant." He walks closer to me and places his hands on my stomach.
"Still." Shaking his head, he chuckles lightly at my persistence.
"I don't want you to get hurt, I'll do the top bits, you can do the bottom." He compromises. Sighing I nod, causing his face to light up as gently rubs my swollen stomach.
Hours later we finish the room but still had a ton of paint left over. The room looked amazing, Ross had found some wall art online and ordered it a while ago and there was tree and its leave less branches going across one whole wall. It took us forever to get on; he refused to let me up the ladder again. It was cute how Ross was running around making sure every little thing was perfect. This was so important to him. He was like this when Charlotte was born too, although then he was making sure every sharp object was out of reach and that every corner of the house was bubble wrapped.
"Ross." I grab his hand and turned him around as he stared at the wall again. He looks at me with panicked eyes and I chuckle slightly, placing my hands on both of his cheeks. "It's perfect. You've done amazing."
"You did this too." His smile makes my heart skip a beat. Biting his lip, he looks around again. "You really think it's okay?"
"It's beyond perfect. You don't need to worry about anything." Assuring him a bit more puts a small proud smile on his face.
"I think we over estimated how much paint we needed!" He laughs, looking at the half full bucket of paint next to us. Joining in with his laughter, I reach down for a paint brush and wipe it across the side of his cheek.
"Bitch!" His eyes widen as he attempts to contain his giggles. He runs closer to me and wraps his arms around my waist pulling me close to him. Squirming as he does so, he rubs his cheek on mine, transferring the yellow paint.
"Ross! Stop!" I giggle, trying to move away but my husband was too strong.
"You started this, Aussie."
"You haven't called me that in years, Lynchy."
"Your practically insulting yourself when you say that now, Mai."
"Whatever." Folding my arms, I roll my eyes at him as he smirks at me.
"Hey? Want me to run a bath? You might actually get to have one without millions of bubbles and kids toys up your arse." His comment makes me laugh. Charlotte had stayed round Stormies tonight, who had insisted she needed to see her Grandbaby more often.
"I would love that."
"I love you." He smiles, placing his lips in a gentle kiss to mine. "And you." His lips place on mystomach as I chuckle as how cliche he was being. I never wanted this to change.

But they did change, for the worst and now my whole life is trying to take care of my three beautiful babies which I love so so much.
As I walk in I can't help but laugh at Tom who was attempting to climb onto the shelf above his crib. Jake was lying in his tiny one and playing with his toes, singing and humming.
"Tommy your gonna hurt yourself!" I chuckle, detaching my son from the wooden structure; he grins at me.
"But I bored!!" He whines.
"But it would be ouch!" I reply in the same tone making him giggle.
"Can we have lucky charms for breakfast?" He sticks out his bottom lip and bats his eyelashes. I ruffle his messy blonde hair, I swear he looks more like Ross every single day. And acts like him, the little monkey.
"Your just like your father." I shake my head, smirking. "Go on then, it's not like you don't know where they are." Setting him down on the ground, he starts waddling towards the kitchen.
"Mama?!?!" Jake giggles, he was sitting with his legs in a straddle position, a teddy between them. Out of all my children, Jake was the calmest. Put a toy down in front of him to play with and he'll just sit and smile. It's often helpful when I'm trying to pay the bill for Ross and I's shared credit card and then he leaves me to sort through his work one. I don't have the heart to tell him to do it himself. It's always been that way, even when we weren't on separation. I wanted everything to be the way it was again. I didn't want to face reality just yet.
"Hey sleepy head." I walk over to him and sweep him up, raising him above my head as he giggles uncontrollably. Kissing his tummy only makes him squirm and laugh louder, making me instantly feel happy. The kind only the love for my children has ever made me feel.