This Ain't A Fairytale- Lando Norris

40. I Only See Daylight

"I'm pretty sure this does not count as you sitting and resting." Lando sighed. "What are you doing?"

He'd gone to put Isla to bed, which had been something of a mammoth task in itself, and had left Hannah half asleep on the sofa. She'd been up half the night before, having reached the point of being too uncomfortable to sleep, so he was surprised to find her upstairs and not fast asleep on the sofa when he finally left Isla.

"I'm uncomfortable and doing something is better than sitting there thinking how uncomfortable I am." She groaned, continuing to fold the baby clothes she'd got out in anticipation and packing them into drawers in the nursery.

"You need to get some sleep, though." He sighed, walking over to her and capturing her hands with his to stop her from folding anything else.

"I need to put these clothes away." She argued. "What if the baby comes and I haven't finished getting things ready? Then what?"

"Then I'll sort it out." He reassured her.

She couldn't hold back her snort of laughed. "I'd have more luck asking Isla to fold everything than asking you to do it."

"That might be a little bit harsh." He laughed. "But if it makes you feel better, I'm sure mum would come and help."

"You're not going to let this go, are you?" She sighed.

"No, so come on." He pushed the drawer shut and took her hand, turning her around to face him. "Let's get in to bed."

"It's only seven." She pointed out.

"So?" He shrugged. "You're tired, let's go to bed. Isla is finally asleep, Bolt is in with her... if we go to bed now we might get a decent nights sleep before she wakes us up."

"Unlikely." Hannah sighed. "Your other child is too busy using my bladder as a punching bag. I think I might've been up every half an hour the whole of last night."

Lando ran a hand soothingly over her swollen belly. "Not much longer left."

"That's only comforting when you're not that one that has to push another human being out of you." She pointed out. "I've still got all of that to look forward to."

Lando was quiet for a minute, thinking. "I uh... I don't know what to say to make you feel better." He admitted.

"It's fine." She reassured him, squeezing his arm. "I'm just fat, tired and my back is killing me. No matter what you said I'd still be grouchy."

"Be as grouchy as you like. I'll still love you, no matter what." He smiled, giving her a kiss on top of her head. "Now come on, let's get you into bed."

He put his hands on her shoulders, gently steering her out of the nursery and across the hallway to their bedroom. It was slow progress, her walk had turned into something of a waddle in the past couple of weeks, and the fact her back was killing her did nothing to speed her up.

"Come on, nearly there." He said softly.

She stopped for a minute, bracing herself against the door frame and sucking in a sharp breath.

"What's wrong?" He asked.

She was quiet for a moment, not answering him. "Nothing. I'm fine. It's fine."

"Hannah?" He prompted.

"No really, it's fine. Just my back. I'll be fine when I lie down... or maybe I'll take a bath." She looked at the bed indecisively, unable to decide what felt like it would be the most comfortable.

"I can run you a bath." Lando offered quickly, just grateful to have something he could do to help.

"Thanks." She nodded, still leaning against the door frame as he disappeared in to the en-suite bathroom, the sound of running water immediately filling the room.

"Hannah?" He frowned, coming out of the bathroom having finished running the bath to find her still in the same spot, still gripping the door frame.

"I'm coming. Hang on." She groaned.

"Come here." He crossed the room and offered her his arm, which she gripped hold of as she leant against him, slowly making her way across their bedroom to the bathroom. "Are you sure you're alright?"

"I'm fine. I'm just so tired." Her eyes filled with tears again before she could even try to blink them away. "Oh god what if I get stuck in the bath."

"You won't get stuck." He reassured her, helping her lift her shirt over her head. "I can lift you out if we need to."

"I'm not sure you can. I'm gigantic." She sighed.

"I can, I promise." He told her. "If you think it'll make your back feel better then get in, and I'll help you get out again. It'll be fine."

"Okay." She mumbled, nodding in agreement as he helped her out of the rest of her clothes, holding her steady as she climbed into the bath.

"Better?" He asked, closing the lid on the toilet so he could sit down.

"Are you really going to sit there and stare at me the whole time?" She asked.

"Yep." He agreed. "Did you really think I was going to leave you on your own?"

"I'm not going anywhere." She pointed out, knowing full well there was no way she was going to manage to get out of that bath on her own. "You could go and watch tv or something."

He shook his head. "I'm fine right here. I did tell you I wasn't going anywhere until the baby was born now and I meant it."

She rolled her eyes at him. "I didn't think you quite literally meant that you weren't going to let me out of your sight."

"Well, I did. So get used to it."

"Lando." She sighed.

"Stop complaining. Close your eyes and try and get some sleep." He told her.

She was going to argue with him, but she was so tired she just gave up. She let her head drop back against the edge of the bath, her eyes drooping closed. The warm water soothed the ache in her back enough that she just might get some sleep.

It had obviously worked, because the next thing she knew, Lando was shaking her shoulder gently to wake her. "Han, come on." He said softly.

"Huh?" She blinked at him sleepily. She'd obviously been asleep a while, it was now pitch black outside the bathroom windows.

"Come on, the waters cold. Let's get you out." He suggested, picking up a towel off the rail and getting to his feet ready to help her up.

"Just leave me here." She groaned. "I'm not sure I can get up."

"Come on." He persisted, wrapping an arm around her back and gently helping her to her feet.

He was thankful for all the extra gym sessions he'd been putting in because he managed to lift her reasonably easily.

"You alright?" He asked as she stood there, eyes squeezed shut and gripping onto his shoulders.

"Yeah, just give me a minute." She mumbled. "I'm dizzy."

"Okay." He nodded in agreement. "You tell me when you're ready, I've got you a hot water bottle in bed to see if that helps your back, and if you can't sleep then we stay up all night and watch movies."

"I love you, you know that?" She said softly, opening her eyes tentatively to look at him.