Iris Rhodes.

"Which screwdriver again?" I look at the pile between us on the floor. My brain is so foggy I couldn't tell you which does what or what Nathan asked for. Last year I could build anything, but I'm useless right now.

Nathan leans over, grabs the red-handled one and chuckles to himself.

"I'm sorry, it's the baby brain, I can hardly think, never mind take instructions," I rub my hands over my face before I pick up my next Amazon parcel.

"Don't worry about it, it's fine if you want to take a break, you can?" he offers but I shake my head.

"No, I want to do this with you and I've been in bed all day," It's the harsh truth of officially being in the third trimester.

For the last week, I've been constantly exhausted and unorganised; I can't seem to find any motivation to do anything; I just want to sleep all day. The only things that have kept me from doing so are the babies kicking me and Bailey wanting attention. I'm forcing myself out of the rut though, starting now because I don't want to rot away for the rest of my pregnancy; I want to be present, but it's easier said than done.

"Just stick to the parcels for now, baby, we have a lot to unbox and I'll keep building; I'm almost done with the second crib," he says with a proud smile.

"You're doing amazing," I tell him.

"It's getting there," he looks around the room.

All the furniture we bought for the nursery is in a beautiful soft grey; the last thing to put up after this will be their changing table. Guaranteed, I will be stocking it with all the diapers, wipes and necessities we have accumulated in recent months, as soon as it's built.

Getting on with the remaining parcels, I open a multipack of baby towels Nathan ordered last night and I place them on the large pile of clothes for laundry, which will be tomorrow's task. I wish I could say I'm dreading it, but I'm not; I simply can't wait to do the laundry and organise their clothes in the closet. It's something I've been looking forward to since the beginning.

"Are they good quality?" Nathan asks, pointing to the towels, "The reviews weren't telling."

I chuckle, "They're very soft, you chose well."

The next box is rather large and one by one, I pull out boxes of baby bottles. There's no telling if I'll be able to breastfeed or if the babies will be able to latch, so we've prepared for either outcome by ordering enough bottles to feed an army; we needed them if I'm able to anyway for when I pump, just not this many.

"How many babies are we having again?" he jokes, looking at the pile in amusement.

"We have enough bottles to last the night feeds without having to do dishes until late morning," I estimated it to be six bottles each.

The bottles we won't use if I can breastfeed will be donated; that way they won't be gathering dust, or taking up space and they can help a parent in need.

We've been in the nursery since we put the girls to bed almost two hours ago and it's starting to come together finally. The finished crib is against the left wall and the one Nathan is building will be on the right, so they're opposite each other. The babies' changing table will be between the cribs, separating the room in two.

We've not dedicated a side to the twins yet, nor do I think we will until they're here and much older. We decorated the room to be neutral for now, but we will gradually make changes once they're here. While they're newborns, it's not needed, especially since they won't be sleeping in here until they're six months old anyway.

"What are you thinking about?" Nathan asks, bringing my attention back to the room and him. When I look over he's stood, fitting the base of the crib.

"Just the babies and how they'll be sleeping in here eventually," I smile at the matching cribs, "Doing this is making it all feel more real."

"It is," he agrees, "It's coming together nicely."

"It's going to look amazing once it's finished, I think," I hope it does. I have a vision in my head of how I want it to look and so far it's fitting the picture well.

"It will, baby, don't worry about that," he assures me and I smile, picking up another parcel bag. "I'm also glad this room will no longer be a storage room for all this stuff we've bought them because it was piling up."

"I didn't know we went this insane," I admit. Our late-night online shopping sprees were never small, but when we walked in here earlier we could hardly move for the amount of boxes that had built up over time. Now that the stroller and cribs are built, and I've gone through several parcels, there's more space freed up.

"Me neither, the parcels are never ending."

My phone suddenly decides to ring, interrupting our conversation, and I sigh, picking up my phone from the floor. I frown at the name staring back at me and Nathan looks over as I answer the call.

"Aiden, what's up?" I answer, keeping my tone semi-neutral as I speak to my ex-fiance, which has Nathan's frown deepening. We've communicated purely over messages about my housing issues; I haven't spoken to him in person or over call since I broke up with him two years ago.

"Hi, babe, I thought I'd ring to tell you some good news. I've found an apartment near your old one; it's two bedrooms and the rent is decent, I think this could be your shot," Aiden tells me, and my brows raise at the information.

I forgot he was still looking at properties for me.

"Wow, seriously, that's great," I avoid Nathan's gaze and try to ignore the unpleasant feeling brewing in my gut as I continue, "Could you send me the information and I'll get back to you?"

"Of course," he replies, "I'll send that right over, let me know as soon as you can, it went on the market this evening and already has so much interest."

"Thank you for letting me know," I say, but again it feels so wrong.

I'm sitting on the floor of my babies' nursery with Nathan; I can't imagine moving out and leaving him and the girls, not after everything. This arrangement was temporary, but so much has changed since I moved in, has the offer changed with it?

"Oh, and Iris, before you go, how are you? We should get a drink and catch up sometime," he asks and I cringe, looking up at the ceiling.

"I'm good, life is busy," I answer the first of his sentence, "And to the drink; I'm kind of seeing someone, Aiden; our twins are due in four months."

"Oh, wow," he genuinely sounds shocked at the information, which means Isabelle has kept my secret mine, "I'm very happy for you, Iris; congratulations. I guess the extra bedroom will come in handy after all."

I laugh, nodding, "Yeah, maybe so; I'll get back to you when I know more, okay? Keep well."

"You too," he says before the line goes dead and I put my phone back down on the floor.

Nathan is looking at me with his brows drawn together in a frown, "I have so many questions, Iris, like why the fuck is a man ringing you and asking you for a drink? That's my line."

I can't help but giggle which has his face easing, only slightly, "Can I please explain before you fire them at me?"

"Of course," he nods.

"Aiden is my ex-fiance," I admit and immediately he gawks at me, not expecting that.

"You're still in contact with him?!"

"Not in the way you think," I assure him, "When I got my eviction notice through my front door, I got in touch with Isabelle because I knew she'd speak to Aiden, so I wouldn't have to. He's an amazing realtor; I wouldn't have bothered with him if I knew someone better. We've messaged a few times, but it's just him sending me listings to apartments in the city and me declining them because they didn't work whether that was price-wise or location, but that's it. He was ringing to tell me he found a perfect apartment near my old one, he wants an answer as soon as I can give him one. He asked me for a drink because he thought I was single, I haven't spoken to him properly in years, it's purely business, I can show you the messages."

"I trust you, Iris, I'm not insinuating that you're disloyal," he insists, "But to hear you've been speaking to a realtor, who is your ex-fiance no less, the entire time you've been living here, genuinely fucking hurts."

My heart sinks because this is what I feared would happen, "I should have told you-"

"Were you ever going to?" he asks.

"I didn't think I'd have to," I admit, looking around the place, "I mean, we're together, aren't we? I stopped looking for places months ago. You can't blame me for hiring a realtor before I even met you."

"But I can be upset that you've kept him around while you live here, like some backup option," he says.

"It's not like that," I promise him, "I have always craved and chased stability and for the first time in my life I feel like I have that here with you and the kids, but this deal was supposed to be temporary, Nath. You asked me to move in until I found a place of my own."

"That was before everything happened!" he points out, rubbing his hands over his face, "That was before you kissed me on that sofa and before you became a fucking mother figure to my girls, Iris."

"Exactly, Nathan and you're not listening to me. I stopped looking for properties months ago because things changed between us," I tell him the truth, "The last time Aiden messaged me was in November, baby and I didn't respond hence why he called today instead. I don't want to move out, how else can I say this?"

"Well, good because you're not leaving," he tells me matter-of-factly, "This is your home, Iris."

There are no words to describe how those words make me feel, so instead I crawl into his lap and pull him into a hug, "I'm sorry I didn't tell you, I didn't think it was relevant and I figured you knew in the beginning I was in touch with someone to help."

"I didn't expect it to be your ex though," he pulls away to say, "He hurt you so much, yet you can still speak to him, how?"

"I moved on, I'm happy now, he's not even an afterthought in my life anymore. I forgot all about it until tonight, I'm sorry, baby, I really am," I cup his cheek, stroking my thumb over the stubble, "I'm not leaving you, not now, not ever, Nath."

"Please stop apologising," he says, a small smile appearing on his face, "You have nothing to apologise for, you only did what you had to do, I overreacted because I was scared of losing you there for a second."

"You're not losing me," I assure him, "I'm not going anywhere."

"I was going to ask you to move in here with us officially, but then I thought it was a given, so you'd find me asking stupid. I also didn't want to scare you off," he admits, "There are a lot of things I want to do and say, but I'm terrified of scaring you away."

"You wouldn't have."

"It wasn't something I was willing to risk," he chuckles.

"So, I'm officially living here?" I ask with a grin.

"You have been doing so since August, baby," he presses his lips to my jaw, trailing kisses down my neck.

"That was only temporary," I remind him.

"Say temporary one more time, I dare you," he warns me, grabbing my arse in the process.

"Or what?" I test the waters.

"Then I'll slap this arse of yours until there's a temporary mark to remind you not to say the word again," he nips at the skin of my neck.

I laugh, pulling back to grasp his face, "There's not a thing temporary about us, Nath, you're more than permanent."

"That's much better," he leans in and kisses me, holding me in his arms gently as his tongue runs over mine, settling the debate perfectly.

~~~~~

A/N

This is a filler chapter if you couldn't guess by the length of it...

but hey, they're officially living together! (even though there's been no love confession nor are they in an official relationship) (I love my difficult characters)

I hope you enjoyed this one, it's not a fave, but it was needed xoxo

I have fourteen chapters left to write, I'm going to miss this book.

after a recount and deleting of some useless chapters... there are now eleven left...