Mal and Ben ~ Parenthood

Fixing things

Time was going faster than any of them really wanted it to. Lily was now almost 1 and a half year old, but for Mal it still seemed like she was not even 1 yet. It was crazy thinking that in just a little more than 6 months she would have another birthday. So much more reason to remember to enjoy every single moment.

Lily was starting to be able to get out of her bed, and Mal would more often than not wake up to her standing beside her trying to get up into their bed. Which by the way was the best way she could imagine to wake up.

Ben had just told her that he would have to go fix something a bit far away, and that it would take some days and therefore he wanted both Mal and Lily to come with him. Mal really didn't feel like going, but she knew there were no way Ben was leaving Lily for so long.

She felt kind of bad for him having to do this, probably mostly because she got to spent every second of every day with their daughter while he had to be king and all that. But he seemed to like it. And taking Lily a bit around the country was probably only good for her.

"Okay," Mal said, "Then when are we leaving?"

"Tomorrow," he answered, "I'm sorry for the short notice, but I didn't know about it before, you know how it is."

"Of course," Mal said, looking down at her sleeping daughter, "It's only a couple of days, so I guess it doesn't matter."

Just as she had said that, she heard a silent cry from Lily letting them know she was awake.

Mal picked her up looking down at her still sleepy face, "Did you have a good sleep?" Mal asked, before placing her down on the ground.

She would honestly never get tired of watching her do whatever she was doing. Just knowing she was actually able to make her feel happy and loved, made her feel more lucky than anyone in the world.

Mal looked back and saw Ben looking at her too. She was so thankful that they were sharing this wonderful gift they had been given. It was so great knowing all that love there was in just this one room. It was more than she had ever experienced in her entire time growing up.
-

They were leaving early the next morning, so they could arrive at their destination as early as possible. Lily woke up when they carried her to the car, but fell asleep again soon after.

It would take about 6 hours to get there, so Mal just hoped she would be able to entertain Lily enough so that she wouldn't be too bored.

The first part of the drive Ben was talking on the phone nonstop, all of it stuff Mal didn't even want to try and get herself into.

Instead she tried to keep Lily asleep for as long as possible. But after two hours she woke up.
She crawled out of Mal's arms and tried to get her father, who was still one the phone, 's attention, which she succeeded in eventually.

"I'm sorry but I have to go," Ben said on the phone, "We should be arriving in about four hours I guess, so see you then."

As soon as he had hung up, Lily crawled into his arms and gave him a hug.

Mal couldn't help but smile, seeing how easily he could get distracted.

For some reason Lily didn't seem confused of why they were driving, but just acted like that was totally normal. But then she looked out the window, and then back at Ben, with that cute questioning look on her face.

"Just going to go help some people," Ben explained, "But I promise you it will be fun."

Neither Mal nor Ben were really sure how much of that she understood, but after hearing it she settled down, looking out the window. Which not to any of theirs surprise, only lasted for a couple of minutes, before she started to get fuzzy.

Mal had brought a few toys, which she gladly started playing with, while Mal looked at Ben.

He was looking out the window, with kind of a thoughtful look in his eyes. "Is something wrong?" Mal asked him.

He slowly looked away from the window and at her instead, "No, I'm just thinking about what to do when we arrive."

"And?" Mal asked, knowing there was more.

But before he had a chance to answer, they were interrupted by Lily. Mal gave Ben a look telling him they would continue later, before turning her attention towards her daughter.

They still had 3 hours left, and Lily already seemed bored, "Would you like to watch a movie?" Mal asked, hoping that would be able to keep her entertained for a little while. But as she tried to find something for her to watch, she started crying and crawled into Mal's arms. Lily wasn't usually one to cry because of something like that, unless she was really tired, which didn't seem to be the case now. "Are you feeling alright?" Mal then asked, noticing she felt a bit warm, "I hope you're not getting sick."

She wasn't really sick that often, but whenever she was Mal always worried way more than she should.

"What?" Ben asked, as she let out a small cough.

"She did seem a bit tired yesterday," Mal said, hugging her tighter, "But she seemed fine until now. Maybe it's nothing."

They both nodded, hoping that that was true, knowing themselves how worried they both got in situations like this.

Mal again tried to put on a movie, hoping she would be able to relax and watch it, which she luckily did.
-

When they finally arrived at where they had to be, Mal was sure that Lily wasn't feeling to well, and felt kind of bad for taking her with them to a crowd of people. But then again, it was only Ben who was forced to stay there, so she could just go somewhere quite if she needed to, and she hadn't woken up from her nap yet, which probably would be a bit longer than normal if she really was sick.

They both greeted the people, and listened to them explained stuff. As soon as Mal saw the opportunity she carefully made her way away from the crowd, so she could be a quite place with Lily, so she wouldn't wake up.

She knew it probably was nothing to worry about, but she was just always so scared that something would happen to her. Something she wasn't able to make go away, or to provide from happening. Just knowing she was uncomfortable was something Mal hated.

They were staying a couple of days, and as soon as Ben had had a little small talk with them, they went to where they would be staying, and Ben again left.

Mal stayed with Lily there for the rest of the day, hoping she would be feeling a bit better the next day, but knowing she needed to relax for now.