Love Will Find A Way

Part Two - Chapter Sixteen: Being Parents

Nicole groaned as Antony started to wail waking her up, it had been a week since they had brought him home and all he seemed to do was eat, sleep, poop and cry; it had come as bit of a shock for the couple about their new responsibilities.

The brunette rolled over and glared at Cristiano, who was able to sleep through his son’s cries leaving Nicole to get up and see what was wrong.

Nicole climbed out of bed and pulled on a pink and black robe over her red plume chemise that she had worn to bed; she yawned as she padded out of the master bedroom and headed towards the nursery.

The brunette snuffled as she rubbed her nose and walked into the nursery, she smiled tiredly knowing that it would be long until Antony slept all night.

“It’s okay,” Nicole cooed as she lifted her son into her arms and held him close, she yawned as she headed out of the nursery and walked downstairs to feed her newborn son.

She knew it would be a while until she was completely prepared for raising him and it was all trial and error right now.

Nicole quickly checked that Antony didn’t need changing before she discovered that it was time for a feeding; lucky there was a bottle of her breast milk in the fridge so she didn’t have to find a way of putting Antony down without him crying.

Nicole started to warm the milk, and gently rocked a whimpering Antony in her arms while Toby stayed fast asleep in his basket and Kodiak lifted his head to watch the brunette and the baby.

Nicole smiled down at him before she picking up the warm bottle of milk and slipping into the living room; Kodiak was quickly on his feet to follow her, waking up Toby as he went making the Maltese follow after him.

Nicole sat down on the couch and lifted the bottle slowly to Antony’s mouth, who quickly started to suckle on it, while Kodiak settled himself at Nicole’s feet while Toby jumped up on the couch and lay down next to the brunette; the two dogs watched as she fed her son.

In the week since Antony had been born, the couple had noticed a strange change in the behaviour of their two dogs, who seemed to have gotten attached to the newborn.

They had even discovered that late at night sometimes Kodiak would sleep outside the nursery while Toby would lay at the foot of the crib to protect Antony.

Nicole smiled as her son finished feeding, she quickly burped him before she cuddled him close and yawned again; she stood and headed back upstairs knowing that he would be awake again in a couple of hours.

Kodiak and Toby followed the brunette upstairs, the Golden Retriever settled outside of the door while the Maltese entered the nursery and lay down next to the crib making Nicole smile.

The brunette carefully settled Antony back to sleep before she left the nursery and headed back to her bed; she rubbed her eyes tiredly as she removed to robe and climbed back into bed.

Cristiano turned over and wrapped his arms around her, he knew that he often slept through their son’s cries and he wished that there was something that he could do that would make this easier on her.

***

Cristiano yawned as he climbed out of bed and looked at Nicole, who was sound asleep making him smile softly knowing that everything would be fine; he pressed a kiss to her head as she continued to sleep.

The footballer moved to turn off the baby monitor before he rubbed his eyes and headed out of the bedroom, he smiled at the sight of Kodiak sleeping outside of the nursery; in the eight months that he’d had the Golden Retriever, it had proven itself to be a loyal companion.

Cristiano entered the nursery and quickly moved to collect Antony, he didn’t want his son waking Nicole since he was determined to make sure that she had some rest; he cuddled his son close as he thought about what he planned to do.

The footballer knew that it was risky but he had already asked his mother to look after their son on the night in November when he planned to propose to Nicole.

He had been planning this since they had gotten back together and now that they had their son he wasn’t going to be able to wait.

Cristiano headed downstairs with his son safely in their arms, he knew that this was going a little quickly which is why he was waiting until next month to ask her to marry him; he had everything who planned out and he knew that she would love what he had done.

***

“Bom dia, did you sleep well?” Cristiano asked as Nicole came downstairs as he relaxed on the couch with Antony; he had some football results show playing in the background as he rested their son on his toned stomach.

The brunette blinked as if wondering how she had managed to sleep in, she hadn’t been able to do so for months; being heavily pregnant had made her uncomfortable and having Antony meant that she was woken up every few hours.

“I slept fine… why didn’t you wake me?” Nicole asked as Cristiano carefully sat up and held Antony to him, she smiled softly at the sight of her boyfriend with their son; she knew that he didn’t get much time with their son with training nearly every day and a match every few days.

The footballer chuckled softly as he shook his head, he knew that she was used to being up all of the time with Antony and he wanted to change that; he wasn’t going to be one of those father’s that didn’t spend time with their children when he had the chance.

“I wanted you to sleep in… you needed it namorada,” Cristiano said as Nicole sat down and he handed Antony to her, he smiled knowing that while she didn’t show it; she was grateful for what he had done.

The footballer got to his feet making the brunette look at him, she shifted their son on her lap wondering what he was doing; she carefully moved to settle the newborn into his white baby bouncer chair that was sat in the living room.

“Relax amor… I’m just going to make you some breakfast,” Cristiano said as he stopped his girlfriend from standing up, he wanted her to relax and he knew that she deserved it; she was doing a lot right now and he worried that she was tire herself out.

Nicole sat back down and watched her boyfriend leave the room, she didn’t know what had gotten into him that morning but she was a little pleased that he was finally doing something around the house.

The brunette hadn’t seen a lot of her boyfriend since their son had been born, he had been at training and had two matches in the first week since he had become a father.

Mourinho wasn’t cutting the player any slack and Nicole was starting to dislike him for it.

Toby rested his head on Nicole’s lap making the brunette smile as she ran her fingers through his hair, she had already made the decision that she wouldn’t be returning to work until Antony went to school.

She wanted to focus on being a mother and she didn’t care what anyone else thought.

“Here’s some green tea, toast and porridge with some fruit,” Cristiano said as he reappeared, he smiled knowing that while he wasn’t the best at cooking; he was determined to learn so that he could treat his girlfriend.