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Can was up first, so led Arslan downstairs, releasing him into the garden to relieve himself. Can stood outside for a moment, feeling the morning sun on his skin and listening to the birds singing - the first signs that spring was on its way. Arslan bumbled around, sniffing at the grass and rummaging through the flower beds and bushes.
Once the dog was finished, Can whistled him over, stepping back inside the house. He walked over to the sofa, where the kittens were tangled together, still half asleep. Ihsan yawned, stretching his front legs out towards him.
"Morning, Sanie." He whispered to the light ginger tabby, scratching under his chin and making him purr. They were growing so quickly, Can was amazed. They looked nothing like the scrawny, starving little creatures Sanem had bought home just a few months ago. Their weight had come back quickly, and with time to grow and the added illusion of bulkiness their long fur provided - the kittens were starting to look like cats.
Sanem appeared at the doorway. Being Sunday morning, she hadn't bothered to change out of her pajamas yet. Can smiled. His wife was always beautiful regardless of what she was wearing, but there was something so endearingly cozy about the sight of her dressed in her favourite pj's. It reminded him of hot chocolate and melted marshmallows, and sitting around the fireplace in the middle of a snowstorm, the flames burning the cold air away and warming his heart. He loved it. Can watched as she walked to the kitchen, rubbing her eyes.
Having grown up moving from place to place with parents that were always arguing and pulling the family apart by the seams, Can had grown up never truly understanding the meaning of 'home'. It's why he'd spent so long traveling. No nostalgia or sentimentality tied him to Istanbul. It was a few months before he had proposed to Sanem, that he started to realise that home wasn't just a place - but the people in it. That it was found in the little moments. In the feeling of comfort and warmth that flooded through him when he woke to find his wife sleeping in his arms. It was in the soft and sleepy side of her that he had fallen in love with. When her eyelashes would blink open, messy haired and bleary-eyed, as the first rays of sunlight filtered through the window. It was in their drowsy exchange of 'Günaydın', whispered through smiling lips every morning. And now he finally understood, because he had found his home. In Sanem. In Sanem and her large, extended family - a patchwork of caring neighbours, close friends and relatives. In Sanem and her collection of ragtag strays that he loved with all his heart. And now, In Sanem and the tiny little baby - their baby - that she was carrying inside of her. Still so small, and barely even showing...
Wait.
Oh my god. Can stared at her, his breath catching in his throat as his eyes focused in on her frame.
Sanem placed a bowl down on the counter and was reaching for a box of cereal in the cupboard above her when Can crept up silently behind her. The feeling of his hands settling around her waist made her jump. The box slipped out of her grasp, falling. The contents scattering over the floor.
