Little Ones [A Vikklan, Poofless and Merome Fanfiction]

↞Chapter 16↠

Lachlan's P.O.V.

Their diagnosis was, heartbreakingly, painfully correct. She was deaf, a neurological disorder which meant she would never be a candidate for a hearing aid or cochlear implant and she would remain deaf her whole life. There was nothing she or I or any of the doctors could do unless the technology made some drastic improvements throughout her life. They were nowhere close to being able to allow her to hear considering it wasn't the fault of her ears, it was the brain.

For the first while I put YouTube on the backburner which I found to be an easy choice. I needed some time to look after her and get settled in this new life, despite having been prepared to do this from the outside. I had known I would be raising her on my own, but not to this degree. Not without Morgan at least somewhat involved, not without my family and not without friends. I had no support system around me, no one to turn to if I needed, no one to talk to. It was a scary prospect but in the beginning, the first three months it was about getting settled, learning the ups and downs of this new life with Ella and all the doctors appointments.

God, the doctors appointments. Because of her disability I was constantly asked to come in so they could do one test or another, give her a scan or something and it was getting on my nerves. I understood they wanted the best for her but she was only deaf, it wasn't like it was some new major disability that called for all of this. As the weeks wore on I got more and more annoyed at the constant interruption to our otherwise peaceful life, in our own little bubble at home.

My other main achievement, what made my heart bubble for weeks, was my quick adaption to using Australian sign language. It seemed obvious that I would have to learn it but I dedicated myself so much to the study of the language when Ella was sleeping I could honestly say I was fluent- fluent enough to hold a basic conversation, not without hesitation and mistakes of course- but I even surprised myself with that.

I could tell myself that as much as I could, to get comfortable, to settle down, to learn this new routine and live this new life. It was strange, unfamiliar territory and in the beginning I wasn't sure I was ready for it, but now I knew I was. I was ready to move forward as the dad of a little girl, raising her in a tumultuous and strange world. God, what would her future be like? Having a famous- relatively famous, I wasn't bragging that much- dad would throw a spanner in the works and for now, I didn't know how I was going to deal with that. For now because I was pushing it back, for later when it wasn't so hectic and chaotic.

"Morning little one." I whispered, switching on the light in her nursery as she lay awake in the dark making the little cooing noises that were now the only audible sounds she made. She cried but never made any noise when she did so, confirming the diagnosis. "I bet you're hungry, let's get a bottle hmmm?"

Scooping her up into my arms I carried her downstairs, placing her down on her back under the fabric baby mat with little toys hanging around it. She couldn't do much other than kick back and forth and attempt to hit the toys above her but it was cute either way, plus she made some noises, coos and gargles.

I couldn't help but watch her as I stood at the kitchen bench, because this was my reality now. I had a daughter who I had to raise and I didn't know how I was going to go about that.

I was just happy that everything was going smoothly.

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Ella was a little over four months old when Vikk called one day, seemingly out of the blue. We hadn't really talked in a while, me because I had been looking after Ella and Vikk... well, I didn't know why Vikk had been taking a break, he just hadn't been uploading much recently and I had assumed he had just been taking some time to himself.