"Happy birthday dear Ella! Happy birthday to you!" Rebecca and Colby sang and he watched the redhead sit the cupcake in front of his daughter on her highchair.. Ella looked at the dessert in front of her and then up to her mother
"Go on" Rebecca said as she bent down in front of the little girl and she put her hand in the frosting and brought it to her lips and they watched her little feet kick excitedly as she got her first taste of chocolate
"She's one" Rebecca shook her head "Can you believe it's been a whole year?" she asked
"My baby is growing up" Colby shook his head "and I don't like it" he grumbled
Present Time:
Colby thought back on his daughter's first birthday as he watched her blow out the five candles on her cake, all the memories ran through his head of the last five years.. how Ella's first word which of course was Momma, rolled effortlessly out of her mouth at just 7 months old, Her first steps were taken in a wrestling ring before Monday Night RAW when she was just over a year old and she hadn't stopped moving since, it was almost hard to keep up with her now because she was running everywhere.
"Happy 5th birthday my little love" Rebecca kissed her daughter's head and looked over at Colby with a small smile and he just shook his head in disbelief
Later that night..
Rebecca poked her head into her daughter's bedroom and saw Colby laying in the bed with her as he read her story to her for the night. A nightly routine, Rebecca or Colby always read to their little girl until she was asleep from the time she was born they had been telling her little stories and it seemed to calm her down and put her to sleep almost every time.
Colby moved carefully out of the bed, tucked the blanket around his daughter and turned her nightlight on before moving out of the room quietly shutting the door behind him.
He made his way across the hall to his bedroom and saw Rebecca carrying stuff from the closet and placing things in her bags that sat on the bed.
"She's out" he said quietly as he moved to his suitcase
"Party went well" she said and he nodded "Can you believe she's five now?" she asked with a shake of her head
"No" he said with a laugh "It seems like just yesterday we were bringing her home"
"It seems like just yesterday you were telling her her first fairytale" she smirked at him and he shook his head
"You're never gonna let me live that down are you?" he asked
"Not a chance" she shook her head
5 years earlier:
Ella was one week old..
Crying, that's what woke them up, The tiny cries coming from the co-sleeper that was next to the bed were quickly becoming louder. Colby sat up slightly as Rebecca gently grabbed Ella from the Co-Sleeper and began to feed her.
After the little girl was fed she was passed to her father who would burp her and change her if needed while Rebecca tried to fall back to sleep but that would never actually happen until the newborn was safely swaddled back in her blanket and next to her.
Even though they had only been home for 2 days they were in such a routine now, it was almost unspoken.
They were waking up every hour and a half to two hours to either feed or change her. It was a struggle that night for sure.
It was the first hard night they had in the week Ella had been in their lives.
Rebecca opened her eyes at one point after not hearing little Ella cry for a few hours and looked at the clock, 3:12AM.. She noticed Colby wasn't in the bed next to her and then she noticed that the newborn wasn't in her co-sleeper. She knew they had to be together, wherever they were in the house.
She climbed out of the bed, and slowly walked across the hallway and stuck her head in the nursery and they weren't in there, then she heard his voice and she followed it. She stood at the top of the stairs and watched the sight in front of her with a small smile and her heart melting.
There he was, with his little girl held protectively in his arms, a blanket over his shoulder as he walked around the living room talking quietly to her.
"and it was in that second that the boy knew the princess had his heart" he whispered and she could see the smile on his face "He knew from the first time they met, he was going to marry her.. he just didn't know it would take as long as it did" he said "Then the princess got into a relationship with a mean man and the boy had to sit and watch the relationship" Rebecca sat down on the top step and listened "He watched the two get closer and didn't say anything" he said "The boy tried to move on but he knew who really had his heart.. then a few years later, the princess broke up with the mean man, the boy knew he needed to talk to the princess before another person got to her, he got his chance at the ball.. he was going to talk to her and admit his feelings to her but the princess and the boy drank a lot at the ball" he nodded and it clicked in her head, this was their story "Fate stepped in and pulled them together on one of the craziest experiences of their lives, and soon after the Irish princess and the boy admitted their feelings and he promised to make her his Queen one day in the future and then they had the most beautiful little princess of their own" he kissed her nose "and that boy realized that once again, a princess had his heart"
Rebecca walked down the stairs as quietly as possible but he turned around to face her
"How much of that did you hear?" he asked
"I missed the beginning but if it was anything like the middle or the ending I'm sure it was good"
"Man.." he shook his head and she could tell he was embarrassed
"What?" she asked as she looked up at him "What's wrong?" she asked and they walked to the couch, sitting down carefully
"I didn't want you hearing that" he shook his head
"You don't want people knowing that your an excellent fairytale author" she laughed and he looked over at her "If it makes you feel any better your daughter seemed to enjoy it" she said and he looked down at Ella who was fast asleep against his chest
"Should we move upstairs?" he asked quietly and she shook her head
"I think if you put her down and she doesn't hear your heartbeat anymore she's going to wake up" she said and he nodded, they watched their daughter sleep peacefully as Rebecca ran her finger up and down her back
"She's sleeping" Colby said "Why aren't we?" he asked and she shrugged as he laid back and Rebecca followed his motions and carefully slipped under his free arm and her head laid against his chest, she was face to face with her babygirl who was still fast asleep
Present time:
"She has always loved her stories from her daddy" Rebecca smiled
"She loves her stories but she keeps asking for the same one every single time" he shook his head
"The pretty Irish princess is my favorite one" she shrugged
