The Nanny

Blackout

I am a coward.

And I wasn't even ashamed of it. No, I was comfortable with the title as I sat on my bed, chin resting on my hands as I watched Jamie attempt to scoot across the bed as he reached for the teething ring he had thrown just out of his reach.

Anne had come and gone a few hours ago claiming to have to rush because she wanted to get back before Gemma arrived at her home. Darcy happily skipping off with her grandmother blissfully unaware of the awkward tension suffocating me as I plastered on a fake smile and waved my saving grace off.

As soon as the car was out of sight and the door was closed behind us, I was off, scuttling up the stairs without a word to the perplexed looking Harry. And I had been here ever since, roughly about four hours now and well into the evening.

"Aria?"

I froze in my spot eyes widening in shock as I looked down at Jamie who tilted his head up and looked at me before shoving his fist in his mouth, clearly giving up on the teether.

After a few beats with no reply I heard Harry take a deep breath and wondered if he would just leave.

I was wrong.

"I'm, um... I'm going to pick up a take away, do you want anything?"

I kept staring at Jamie like I expected him to answer for me but all he did was pull his wet fist from his mouth and smack it down onto the comforter while gurgling.

Sucking it up, I squeezed my eyes tight and turned my head towards the door. "No I'm good. Thank you though."

"Are you sure?" His voice almost sounded desperate, like he wanted to prolong this conversation for as long as possible, the exact opposite from what I wanted.

"I'm sure." Was my short replay, hoping he would get the hint.

He did.

I heard him hesitate for a second outside my door before his footsteps could be heard descending the stairs followed shortly by the door shutting.

As soon as I was sure he was gone, a quick glance out the window to see the taillights of his Range Rover turning out of the gated property for verification, I picked up Jamie and headed down the stairs.

With Harry out I had about an hour window to grab a quick dinner and shower before going back into seclusion.

Luckily for me as I placed Jamie into the playpen near the kitchen I realized that he was already getting drowsy and would be ready to be put down for the night very soon.

As I quickly set to making myself a ham sandwich I glanced out the windows to see the evening sky become even darker as clouds rolled in, the distant flashing in the horizon letting me know that a thunder storm was soon to be hitting.

Glancing over at Jamie who already laid himself down and was trying his hardest to keep his eyes open even as his blinking became longer and longer, I decided that it was a good idea to shower first then come down for my sandwich.

Once again picking Jamie up, this time working extra hard not to jostle him out of his half asleep state, I made my way upstairs and into his nursery. I was still in awe of this room and the thought that was put behind it, not only from Harry but the other boys who helped and of course Niall who had been the one to plant the idea in Harry's head according to Harry.

A speedy shower later and I was peeking back into the room, making sure Jamie was still knocked out as I grabbed the baby monitor receiver, clipping it to the waist band of my pajama pants, and headed back downstairs for my sandwich.