Stay With Me - A KathNiel Story

Chapter 55

DJ rushed upstairs when he heard Camille start to wake up through the baby monitor, whimpering as she did so. He shushed both Camille and Kath as he came into the bedroom, Kath still half-asleep as she went to reach into the bassinet. "No, no! Baby girl, go back to sleep. I've got her." DJ assured her, kissing Kath's temple.

"But..." Kath trailed off, her eyes barely open and DJ made her lie back down on the bed.

"Relax, baby, I've got her." He repeated himself, covering Kath with the duvet again and Kath watched as DJ lifted Camille from the bassinet, cradling her.

"Love you both," Kath mumbled and DJ smiled.

"We love you too," DJ said softly, blowing Kath a kiss before walking out of the bedroom with Camille with the hospital bag, shutting the door so that Kath wouldn't be disturbed but he knew that she wouldn't let herself fall back to sleep until she heard Camille calm down. He walked through to the nursery, setting the bag on the armchair which was set up by the changing table.

"This is your bedroom, princess." DJ cooed, rocking her gently and he smiled as she slowly started to calm down. "Mommy did all of this, just for you - to make your room extra special," DJ said softly, showing Camille around the room, pointing out the birds in the trees Kath had painted over a couple of months and the clouds she'd painted on the ceiling with an old sponge. Camille slowly started to whimper again and DJ grimaced.

"Oh! Camille Padilla, I have a feeling we have a code brown situation right now!" He exclaimed dramatically, cradling Camille to him and he got the wipes, a diaper, and the cream out of the hospital bag before lying Camille down on the changing table. "We're out of diapers now, princess... you and I will go on your first trip to the grocery store to get you some diapers! Mommy and Daddy were supposed to bulk buy supplies for you at the weekend, but you decided to come on Mommy's big night instead." DJ chuckled to himself, but his smile soon vanished as he took off her dirty diaper. "Oh, Camille Padilla!" DJ complained, but he leaned down and kissed her forehead before cleaning her up, applying the cream, and putting on a fresh diaper, fixing the baby girl's clothes so she wouldn't get cold. She curled into DJ's chest as he held her there and he rubbed her back slowly and soothingly to keep her settled, and he smiled as he came into the master bedroom to see Kath had fallen sound asleep again.

"We have to leave Mommy a note in case she wakes up whilst we're out," DJ whispered, grabbing a piece of scrap paper and a pen from her nightstand and he left her a note leaning against her lamp so she was guaranteed to see it when she woke up:

'Gone out with the princess to grab some diapers, etc.

Go back to sleep!

We both love you loads!

-D & C x'

He smiled at his own note before kissing Kath's hair and he took Camille outside, the baby girl cooing as the cold breeze hit her skin.

"I know, princess, but we'll be nice and warm in the car in a minute." He assured her, lying her down in the car seat. The baby girl whimpered at the feeling, DJ shushing her gently and he tucked the blanket around her after making sure she was strapped in, double and triple-checking that she was safely in her car seat before he got into the car too and started to drive them towards the grocery store - he took the drive slowly, taking his time and he constantly checked on Camille through the rearview mirror. The car seat faced the backseat, but they'd bought a special mirror in the baby store that connected to the headrest of the backseat and let the driver see inside the car seat through the rearview mirror. He smiled to himself, seeing that she'd fallen asleep before they were even halfway to the store.

DJ laid Camille's blanket out on the baby carrier that was connected to the shopping cart, not trusting if it was clean or not and then he laid Camille on top of the blanket, tucking in another blanket around her before he pushed the cart towards the grocery store, going inside. He smiled back to those who grinned at him, cooing over the obviously-newborn baby girl. "You see that, baby girl? Everybody loves you and you're sleeping through it all." DJ teased quietly, kissing the top of her head. "I know Nanna said she was going to cook tonight, but Daddy thinks Mommy deserves something extra special as a dessert - should we see what they have that's covered in chocolate, huh?" DJ smiled to himself, pushing the cart towards the dessert section before he'd go to the baby aisle. "Mommy deserves a treat." He confirmed to his sleeping daughter.

"Mister Padilla?" A voice called and DJ turned his head.

The man coming towards him didn't need to introduce himself for DJ to know who he was - he could see features of his girlfriend in the man in front of him, the collar on his black shirt giving away that he was a preacher.

DJ was face-to-face with Kath's father.

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