20// ~Settling~

"Hewwwoooo." I blinked my eyes open slowly, hearing Ara's voice come from her room. We had put her to bed in her big girl room last night. She had slipped a bit, but it wasn't much and we weren't sure if she would be comfortable with sleeping in a crib that early so we'd decided to just have her stay in her bed. "Hewwo?" She said, this time a bit quieter. I laughed silently and slipped out of bed, looking over my shoulder to see Dani and Athena still fast asleep.

I made my way to Ara's room, not knowing yet what I was getting myself into. I opened the door the rest of the way and saw her sitting up in bed, the lamp on her nightstand turned on, and a children's book placed in her lap. It was open to the middle of the book. "What are you doing in here sweetheart?"

She looked up, just now realizing that I had entered the room. Her eyes lit up and she took one of her hands away from the book and waved in up and down in a floppy manner. "Hi!" She said in a high pitched voice, more so than usual. "I wead." She held up the book in the air, showing me the cover. It looked to be a book about a puppy, one who was dragging a backpack behind him.

"You're reading? Wow, what a smart girl you are!" I said in surprise, making my way over to the bed and sitting down next to her. Her comforter had swallowed up her lower half, resting at the start of her hips.

She nodded her head, looking back to the book before holding it out to me. "You wead pease?"

"I love those manners, but you know what?" She furrowed her eyebrows and tilted her head a bit, thinking for a second before shaking her head back and forth. "It's still really early in the morning and we should all be sleeping." I explained softly, not wanting to make her feel bad, as I know she is very sensitive to 'breaking the rules' per say, even though this doesn't directly disobey a rule, we would prefer her to stay asleep all night so she isn't tired the next day.

"Oh." She looked down at the book.

"Ya." I nodded. "It's about two in the morning."

"Woah, that wate!"

I laughed at her surprise face. "Ya, it is late isn't it. How about I read this book to you, but you have to close your eyes and try to sleep while I do, okay?"

"Ya, I do dat!" She closed her eyes tightly. It looked almost painful the way she was squinting her eyes as she layed down. As soon as her head hit the pillow, her eyelids relaxed before opening once again just to check that I was still there, before closing them again.

I opened up the book once she looked nice and comfortable and began reading. My voice soft and melodic dripping through the room. Her face looked so peaceful. Her mouth parted in the slightest way, her nose twitching once in a while in response to the book.

Around half way through the book, even though it was small, Ara was passed out and in a deep sleep already. I chuckled looking down at her. She always falls asleep so fast. At least that's good for us, bedtime shouldn't be too much of a hassle at any point unless she's uncomfortable, has a sugar rush or some other random thing occurs that causes her distress.

She had one arm wrapped tightly around tootsie, pulling her into her chest, and the other one had wrapped itself around my arm, her cheek nuzzled up to me.

Looks like I'm staying here for the rest of the night. No complaints from me.

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"So pwitty..." I felt a finger gently tracing over my face. Along the sides of my cheeks, down my nose, and for some reason...on my ears. A was laying on my back and could feel a weight pressed against my stomach, someone wiggling around a bit.

That's when I felt a kiss pressed against my cheek. I opened my eyes to see Ara sitting on my stomach, her face just a few inches from mine. "What are you doing silly girl, huh?"

She blushed and leaned down into my chest, burying her face away, presumably so I couldn't see the blush that was most likely plastered all over her face now. I rubbed her back a bit, trying to calm her down and let her know I wasn't bothered by her actions. "No." She mumbled.

"No?"

"No." She repeated again.

I laughed, continuing to rub her back. "No, just no?"

"Uh-huh." She nodded her head, her forehead rubbing up against my chest, before she looked up and brushed her hair from her face using both of her hands. The embarrassed look faded from her face, mostly, and she smiled at me, her eyes twinkling with innocence and naivety.

I leaned forward and attacked her face in kisses, my lips pressing into her cheeks, forehead, chin, and nose, as she squealed and squirmed around, giggling loudly.

"Oh my goodness, what is all that noise I hear in here?" Dani exclaimed as she walked into the room. I could tell she had just woken up, most likely from the loud sounds coming from this room, as she was still in her pajamas and her hair was a fit frizzy.

"S-save m-me Dani." Ara giggled out, reaching her arms out to Dani. "Aahhh." She squeaked again.

Dani walked over and pulled her up by her armpits and placed her onto her hip, kissing Ara's cheek before she laid it down onto Dani's chest. "Have a go to time-out Morgy." Ara told me, her nose scrunching up into what I presumed what supposed to be an intimating face, but it just looked extremely cute.

"Time-out?" I say in fake shock.

"Uh-huh, cause no 'tack people's." She pointed at me with her finger, like she was trying to talk some sense into me.

"Oh come on, cut me some slack." I stood up next to Dani, playing along.

"What do you say pumpkin, should we let her off with a warning?" Dani whispered to Ara.

She brought her finger up to her chin and tapped it a few times. She was really taking this whole thing seriously. "Ummm... otay but no more 'tack k?" She asked me seriously as she brought her hand up to the hem of Dani's shirt and grabbed a hold of it.

"Okay, I promise." I saluted, which made her fall into another fit of giggles.

"Phew, that was close. I thought for sure she deserved a time-out." Athena said, walking into the room. She had been standing at the entrance, leaning against the door, just observing rather than getting involved.

"Oh stop it." I walked over to her and kissed her. "Good morning."

"Morning." She smiled and kissed me back.

"Eww." Ara exclaimed, drawing out the end of the word.

"Ew? What's so icky?"

"You kissy!" She laughed, pointing between me and Athena.

"Oh really, it's icky? I think you need some kissy's am I right? You want some more?" I walked slowly towards her.

"No!" She squealed out, hiding her face in Dani's chest again.

"Okay, okay, no kisses for Ara today."

She peeked out from Dani's chest and smiled at all of us almost in a teasing manner, her head still resting down and a soft peaceful look fell across her face.

"All right, who's up for some breakfast?" Athena broke the silence.

"Oh god yes!" I shouted, making Ara giggle out loud. We all brushed our teeth quickly, me assisting Ara, before making our way downstairs.

"I'm gonna make some scrambled eggs, do you mind cutting up some fruit?" I asked Athena, as Dani was already preoccupied with our little girl.

"I hewp?" Ara raised her hand in the air.

"You wanna help?" She nodded her head rapidly. "Okay, come here you can help me stir the eggies up in the pan!" I smiled, grabbing her out of Dani's hands and bringing her over to the counter. I sat her down on the edge of it and told her to stay there while I grabbed the eggs out of the fridge.

It took only a few seconds and she did as I asked, sitting nicely exactly as I had asked. "Alright, let's get these eggs cracked and into the bowl." I handed her the egg and showed her how to crack it and have it land in the bowl.

She pressed in onto the counter a few times and picked it up, separating the two half's. She missed the bowl somehow and the runny egg whites and yolk fell onto the counter, some of it sliding off and onto the floor. Her hands froze and she looked up at me with wide eyes, not knowing what to do. "Uh-oh." She said quietly.

"That's okay baby, it was just accident and we can clean it up really quick! No need to worry." I leaned over and grabbed a few paper towels to wipe it up when I heard a sniffle come from beside me.

I looked back over to her and she had her eyes pinched shut as thought she was afraid to open them, with tears silently streaming down her face. "Oh baby what's the matter, huh?" I grabbed the egg shells out of her hands and placed them onto the counter before quickly wiping her hands off so I could comfort her properly.

"Sowwy." She cried out.

"It's okay sweetheart, you're not in trouble. You're safe. Everyone is okay. Come here." I picked her up and placed her onto my front, bouncing up and down slightly while pressing one palm over the back of her head and into my neck, rocking back and forth. "Ssshhh, that's it deep breaths. Oh you're such a good listener, good girl." I cooed.

A few minutes later she had calmed down a bit and the crying noises went quiet. "Can I see your face for a second honey?" She sat up a bit, but kept her head mostly down. "Let me see those beautiful eyes of yours huh, and those little freckles." I rubbed my thumb up against her cheek.

She looked up fully this time, the look in eyes broke my heart. "Those were some big feelings huh?"

She nodded. "Big." She mumbled while she played with the necklace hanging down onto my chest, flipping it and rubbing it between her two fingers.

"You were so brave listening to m-me and calming down." Jesus that was a close one. At least it just sounded like I stuttered a bit. "It was an accident, and we will never ever be mad or upset or disappointed in you for having an accident. It's super easy to pick up and then we move on and finish what we were doing, okay?" I smiled at her, running my hand through the end of her hair.

She nodded. "Otay. Fank you." She wrapped her arms around my neck and hugged me tightly.

"Oh there's no need to thank me sweet girl. Now let's pick this up super quick and finish making breakfast. Me and my little helper." I tickled her a bit, before placing her back down onto the counter to grab some more paper towels. Wiping up the counter before moving onto the floor, I then threw away the paper towels and handed Ara another egg.

She held it in her hands looking a bit confused. "But...mess up."

"You didn't mess it up. You tried and had a little accident, so that means you try again, and guess what? This time I bet you'll get it." She hesitated a bit. "Go ahead." I smiled.

She pressed it against the counter again, and separated the two parts. This time the egg landed in the bowl. "Good job honey." I kissed the side of her head.

She smiled and blushed. "I doed it!" She placed the egg shell down onto the counter and clapped her hands.

"Woohoo!" I heard Athena and Dani cheer from across the kitchen.

Athena walked over and picked Ara up, swinging her around and cheering her on causing her to let out one of the longest strings of giggles I've heard from her. "Let's go eat some yummy fruit and leave Morgy to do all the hard work with the eggies." I heard her whisper into Ara's ear as she walked over to the fruit salad she and Dani had just finished preparing.

I'm so glad Ara is settling in fast. God, I'm gonna like this life.

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These are Ara's pajamas she got changed into last night!

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2314 words

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I had to find time to write up another chapter cause you guys deserve it! Oh my goodness now we have 20k reads, it's going up so fast I can't even keep track of the days anymore!!

Also if I don't write things like when they shower, brush their teeth, or things like that, just assume they did because I feel like I'll forget things like that but I'll try not to!

I hope everyone had a good day and has another one tomorrow!

Question for this chapter:

Do you usually shower in the morning or at night?

I usually always shower at night. The only time I shower in the morning is if I don't have time to shower the night before, but I need to before the next day. I also don't like morning showers usually cause it means I have to get up earlier to fit it into my schedule, which I don't like!

Bye-bye!

- lauren 💕