Neil heard the front door opened and snapped his eyes open. JJ lay beside him, still asleep. His gaze settled on the cot and relaxed when he saw the baby still asleep. He heard a knock on the door and stretched as he saw Lara out her head into the room. 

"Hey tesero, how was school?" 

"Were you sleeping?" 

"Yeah, your mama and I decided to get some sleep whilst the baby slept. She's still getting used to being home. Did spend a month in the hospital to be fair." Neil looked up as Lara dropped her bag on the floor. He saw the frown on her face and shuffled on the bed before lifting the duvet up. "Come here, sweety." She huffed before getting under the duvet. "Long day?" 

"Yeah," she mumbled as she hugged him. "Papa, I'm trying my best in school, I promise." Neil kissed the top of her head. 

"I know that, tesero. Is your teacher giving you grief again?" 

"Yeah. I tried telling her that I'm trying but she called me a liar. Said all I do is sit in class and do no work but it's not true." 

"It's okay, sweety. I'll call the school and talk to her. I know you're trying your best and that's all that matters to me. How about after we all eat, I look after the baby while your mama has a bath and then I can help you with the science? We can do what we did last time with the definitions." 

Lara nodded her head before leaning back to kiss his cheek. "I love you, Papa." 

"I love you, too my lara banana. Now go and get changed and give your clothes to wash." 

"Okay. Shall I put some clothes to wash then? Like mama taught me?" 

"If you want to. Just leave the baby's clothes out though." 

Neil watched her leave the room with a smile. He heard the baby shuffling and when he looked towards the cot, he saw the baby with her eyes wide open. "Baby's awake," JJ groaned. She turned to him with her eyes still closed. He leaned down to kiss the top of her head, watching as she smiled. "Is Lara okay?" 

"Yeah, just struggling with science. Gonna help her later though." 

"Hmm, I heard a little. But I'm so exhausted." 

"You rest for a little more. I'm going to put the chicken and potatoes in the oven." Neil started to leave the bed but stopped when he heard her groan. "You want a kiss?" She nodded her head and he leaned down with a laugh. After kissing her, he kissed the top of her head. "I love you, cara." 

"I love you, too." 

"Alright, little missy, lets give your mama some peace and quiet," he whispered as he leaned down to pick up the baby. She cooed in his arms and he laughed softly as he walked out. "Let me put the food in the oven and Papa will give you some attention." She cooed again. "Good idea? Thought it would be." 

* * *

"Lara, can you quickly get me a tissue please?" Neil called out quickly when he saw the vomit start to dribble down the baby's chin. Lara quickly reached for the box of tissue and threw it to the empty space beside him. "Gee, thanks." 

"Hey, you said quickly and that's quicker than me walking to you from the desk. And make sure she doesn't get vomit on my bed again." 

"Just because you said that, I'm going to leave this tissue under your pillow." 

"Papa, that's gross!" 

"You're gross." 

"Are you two arguing again?" JJ said as she opened the door. She had her robe on and a towel on her head. "I thought you were meant to be working?"

"We finished with science already. Doing some maths now. Would you like to join?" 

JJ smiled as she walked to the bed. She sat beside Neil and he leaned down to kiss her softly. They heard Lara fake gag and pulled away with a laugh. "Both of you are gross." 

"Shut it, I know you find us cute. Your friends call us goals," Neil said.

"Well my friends are stupid." 

"Glad you fit in well with them." JJ took the baby off Neil. 

"You can throw something at him now." Neil gasped as JJ turned away to shield the baby as Lara threw her pencil case at him. 

"Right, no hugs for the both of you for the rest of today. I'm taking Gwyneth and you guys can do maths." They both rolled their eyes as Neil took the baby back in his arms. "I hope you don't grow up to be mean to me." 

* * * 

JJ slowly opened the door to the balcony. She saw Neil on the chair and a sleeping Gwyneth in his arms buried under the blanket. "You want me to put her away?" 

"No, that's okay. I'm going to come in now." Neil rose to his feet and looked over the sky once again before walking into the living room. "You okay?" 

"Yeah. My boobs were aching before but I just pumped some milk so I feel a lot better now." She looked at him as he put the baby down in the cot. "You okay, honey?" 

"Yeah." He looked between them and them wrapped his arms around JJ. "It still doesn't feel real that we finally have our little girl in our home. That month in the hospital was absolute torture. Seeing her with all those tubes and wires..." 

"Hey, hey," JJ said as she put her hands on his cheeks. "She's here. She's right here and our little girl is a fighter and she pulled through." She leaned up to kiss him. "Now what's on your mind?"

He looked down at her before kissing her again. "Let's do it," he whispered. "Let's buy a house. We've got our girls, we got where we wanted to with work. It's our ten year plan, remember?" 

"Hmm, can we have a mini library so we can put our books somewhere? And make it into a reading corner for the girls?" 

"Of course we can. We can have that massive kitchen with 3 ovens like you wanted, that massive island in the middle, the large windows that lead to the garden where we're going to watch our girls grow up. And we're going to sit there and watch the sun rise or sun set- whichever way the garden faces. We're going to sit outside during summer for our Sunday breakfasts. I want it all. And I want it all with you." 

"You forgot something." 

"Yes?" 

"The pantry." 

Neil chuckled as he pulled her into a hug. "I'll give you a massive pantry, I promise."  

"I love you, Neil." 

"I love you too, cara. To the moon and back million times."

* * *

"So he wants to buy a house now?"

"Yeah," JJ responded to her friend Tina who was in the sitting room. She walked away from the kitchen, the milk bottle in her hand. "We saw a few good ones online the other day but none of them are perfect."

"Aww, baby I'm so proud of you two!"

"Thanks," she said with a blush. She gave the bottle to her friend who then began to feed the baby. "We both just cried yesterday. It was out of relief and joy and as much as we wanted to, we couldn't stop." 

"Hey...You both have had a long road but you got there in the end. You stuck by each other and you are so strong." JJ nodded her head. When she looked up, Tina saw the tears in her eyes. "I don't want you crying anymore. Jay look at her! She's here. You got her here." 

Neil gently placed the flowers down on the floor before opening the door. Inside he heard the baby crying so he quickly picked up the flowers and rushed in. By the time he got to the sitting room, he saw JJ reaching for the baby off Tina's lap. 

"Everything alright cara?" 

"Oh hey, honey. Yeah she's good, just wants some milk straight from the source I guess." Neil walked into the living room with a smile. "You shouldn't have," she said with a laugh when he brought the flowers into view. 

"Thought it might cheer you up a little." He turned to Tina. "I didn't forget you either. May not be as big of a bouquet but it's a thank you for taking her to the appointment. I did try my best to get out of the work meeting-" 

"Any time! But thank you so much, Neil, you didn't have to do this." Tina stuck out her hand and he gave her a high five before turning his attention to JJ. She had her head leaned back on the sofa, gently holding the baby up to her breast. 

He softly placed a hand out and stroked her cheek. "Tired?" 

"Just a little." 

"I'll get lunch ready. You sit up and relax. Finish feeding the baby and then I'll take over. Want me to run a bath for you?" 

"No. Just gonna have a shower and then have a nap." 

"Guys!" They both looked over to Tina. "I will cook and I will look after the baby. You both relax. You won't always get an opportunity to both relax so take it while I offer it. And don't even protest." She looked between them both. "You both look like utter shit anyways." 

* * *

Lara walked into her room, dropped her bag down on the bed and then walked out, making sure to keep the box upright. She expected to see Neil in the kitchen but gasped when she saw Tina. 

"Aunt Tina! I haven't seen you in ages." 

"Oh hey there sweety. Yeah we always seem to miss each other don't we?" 

"Let me put this cake down and then I will hug you." 

"Oh, what cake did you get?" 

"I stopped by the bakery and I got mama and papa some cake to make them happy. Gwen has been crying almost non-stop for the last two days and I know they're stressed." 

"That is very nice of you, Lara." 

"They raised me right, I guess." 

After talking for a few minutes, Lara went to her room and changed her clothes. She took out her phone and put it on charge before going to the sitting room to find Gwyneth staring at the door with her hand near her mouth. 

"You're so ugly and cute at the same time." 

"I heard that Lara!" Neil said from his room. JJ laughed beside him and a few seconds later, he saw Lara at the open door with Gwyneth in her arms. "Stop calling your sister ugly." 

"But she does look a little ugly though. Don't even get me started on how ugly babies look when they're born because she was atrocious." 

Neil looked down at JJ who was still laughing. "Cara say something," he mumbled. "She keeps calling her ugly." 

"She has a point. Babies are ugly when they're born." 

Neil groaned before turning around to face the ceiling. "The both of you are ridiculous." 

"But you love us," Lara sang.

"Unfortunately I do," Neil said as he wrapped his arms around JJ. "I love the three of you very, very much. To the moon and back a million times."