Science and faith

~Chapter 116~

Danny's pov:

It was almost 4AM when I arrived back home. We'd been working in the studio 'til around 1AM and decided to go for a few drinks after that.

I took my keys out of my pocket and let myself in before locking the door behind me again. I kicked my shoes off and made my way upstairs. I carefully opened the door to Liz's room and walked over to her cot, she was lying asleep on her back with her little fists next to her head. I looked at her for a few moments until I left her room again and went to check on Ava. She was lying half out of her bed and had kicked her duvet on the floor. I leaned down and carefully lifted her up to place her properly in her bed again. After that I picked up her duvet from the floor and tucked her in again. I kissed her softly on her forehead before I made my way to the bedroom. I stripped myself from my clothes and climbed in next to Am, who was asleep as well. I spooned her from behind and rested my chin on the top of her head. 

I woke up what felt like a few minutes later from Liz crying. I was just about to throw the duvet back to get out of bed when I felt Am shift. 

"I'll go." She whispered, pressing a kiss on my cheek. I mumbled something understandable and turned over again. I looked at the clock and saw that it was 5.10 AM, so I had slept for longer than I thought. I snuggled down in the pillow, ready to fall asleep again. I was almost asleep when I felt Am crawl back in next to me. 

"I think she's having a cold, can you look after her today?" She whispered, pulling the duvet over her.

"Yeah." I replied simply before falling asleep. 

I groaned when I woke up for the second time from Am's alarm going off. She immediately turned it off and sat up. 

"Just go back to sleep babe." She whispered kissing me before she got out of bed. I turned around, frustrated that I was now woken up for the second time in two hours when I'm having a day off today. 

I heard the shower running in the bathroom and lay listening to that for a while, almost falling asleep. I vaguely heard Am telling me that she was off to work, before I really fell asleep. 

My peaceful sleep was brutally interrupted by Ava jumping on me. I opened my eyes to find her sitting on my stomach, grinning at me. 

"Morning daddy!" She said happily. 

"Morning sweetheart." I replied, looking at the clock to see that it was 8.15 AM. 

It wasn't long until Ava had dragged me out of bed, complaining that she was hungry. I sighed to myself, running my hands over my face before following her down the stairs to make her breakfast. I put a slice of bread in the toaster before I poured her a glass of orange juice, handing it to her. Once her toast was ready I put it on a plate and put it down on the table while Ava climbed on her chair. 

When she finished her toast I handed her a banana, preparing myself for the battle we're having every day with trying to get Ava to eat fruit. 

Instead of complaining immediately -like she normally does- she changed her tactics today and just simply jumped off her chair and walked off to the living room to play.

"Ava." I said, causing her to turn around to look at me. I held up the banana letting her know that she wasn't done yet. She looked at the banana and me before she turned around again and ran off to the living room. 

"Ava come back, now." I said stricter this time. She didn't come back though, and when I walked to the living room to get her she hid herself behind the couch, thinking I couldn't see her. 

"Ava I'm counting to three..." I told her. Before I even started counting she already came out of her hiding place.

After half an hour I'd gotten Ava to eat half of the banana and decided to leave it here, knowing this was all I was going to get today.

I spent the rest of the day singing Liz to sleep, changing her and feeding her, while trying to entertain Ava who was punishing me for not taking her to the park -because it was raining- and making her eat a banana by being extremely annoying. 

I was lying on my back on my bed with Liz on my chest. I was singing softly to her hoping she'd get to sleep again. Just as she fell asleep, the doorbell rang waking her up again. Since she was lying on my chest, her screams were right next to my ear, almost deafening me. I stood up holding Liz on my hip and made my way downstairs to open the door, revealing Mark. 

"Hey, you alright?" He asked, coming in.

"Not really." I sighed.

"Why not?" He asked.

"Liz is having a cold and won't settle down, and Ava is punishing me by being annoying." I explained quickly. 

"You take Liz upstairs to her bed, I'll play with Ava." He said walking into the living room where Ava was. I smiled thankfully at him before making my way upstairs. 

As soon as I lay Liz down in her cot her cries became louder so I quickly lifted her out of it again. I cradled her against my chest, bouncing lightly up and down while singing to her. Half an hour later, she finally stayed quiet to my relief. It took a few more minutes until she was asleep, I lay her carefully down in her cot, so I wouldn't wake her before making my way downstairs. 

I found Mark and Ava sitting at the table playing Connect four. I was surprised that it took Mark so little effort to entertain Ava, but I was too tired to give it much thought and flicked the kettle on, making myself a well-deserved cup of tea after barely four hours of sleep and spending all day looking after Ava and Liz, who were not making it easy on me today.

After dinner Ava settled on the couch watching a film while I was clearing the table with Am, who'd gotten home just before dinner. 

"I won't leave you on your own tomorrow." Am said chuckling after I'd told her about today. I didn't reply, knowing she was just winding me up, and wrapped my arms around her waist instead, hugging her close to me. She reached up and ran her hands through my messy hair, since I hadn't styled it today so it was sticking out in every direction and hanging over my forehead.

We joined Ava on the couch and watched the film with her until she had to go to bed, which she did without complaining. Am went upstairs with her while I changed the TV channel to a random football match that was on and continued watching that. 

Half an hour later Am came back downstairs and cuddled up to me on the couch. I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her into me, resting my head on top of hers.