As soon as they had gone through their apartment door and set down their bags, taken off their shoes and hung up their jackets, Ellie made a beeline for the couch and plopped down on it with a groan.
''I'm so exhausted,'' she complained, closing her eyes for a second as she said so.
''Hey, don't lie down while I'm making dinner. You'll just end up falling asleep again otherwise,'' Nick told her from where he was standing beside the couch, staring down at her with a slightly disapproving look on his face.
Ellie opened her eyes as he said that, making eye contact with him.
''Hey, don't tell me what I can and cannot do, Nick. After all, you're half to blame for me being this exhausted.''
Even though Ellie had been banned from field work after they'd found out she was pregnant, she still mostly worked the same long hours as the others did, doing desk work.
That, along with her being 32 weeks pregnant, caused her to suffer from exhaustion on a daily basis, in fact, had caused her to be exhausted like that over the last few weeks since she had entered her third trimester.
After Ellie's valid comment. Nick relented, putting his hands in the air as a sign of surrender as he walked toward the kitchen while he spoke.
''All right, all right. Do what you want. I didn't say anything.''
Satisfied with that, Ellie briefly smirked and then decided that she was just going to close her eyes for a few minutes, not any longer. She didn't want to risk falling asleep after all and thus prove Nick right.
Meanwhile, Nick was cooking dinner for them in the kitchen and had turned on some music on his phone so that it wouldn't be quite so silent as he lightly danced along to the rhythm of the music while he was cooking.
When the dinner was ready, he walked to the living room where Ellie still was.
Finding her there on the couch, fast asleep on her back, one hand on her quite large stomach, he didn't know whether to laugh about having been right earlier when he'd told her she'll fall asleep if she lies down or sigh because she'll now miss dinner since he didn't want to wake her up.
He knew how exhausted she was, had been for the past few weeks actually and how difficult she often found it to sleep due to her feeling quite uncomfortable with her large belly.
Knowing that she was so sound asleep she wouldn't wake up if he moved her, he lifted her into his arms and carried her into their bedroom, where he gently and carefully laid her down on her side of the bed.
Then Nick pulled the blanket over her so that she would be cozy and warm during the night.
He thought for a moment about whether to go to bed as well, since he was really tired too after their long work day, or eat a little bit of the dinner he had made since he was also hungry.
It didn't take long for him to make his decision, and he knelt down and placed a kiss on Ellie's temple, saying ''I guess we can heat up the food in the microwave tomorrow.''
After that, he went and got ready for bed to then get onto his side of the bed beside Ellie.
Sitting up in bed, Nick watched Ellie for a minute while she peacefully slept, her hand still resting on her stomach.
Nick protectively placed one of his own hands on her belly as well, as he finally lay down too, his head resting on his pillow. He closed his eyes after a few more seconds, promptly falling asleep as well.
