Lovers

Out Of Bed

Hello hello hello! I'm here with a PSA that the most recent Les Mis proshot has an American release tomorrow (August 4) so go buy your digital download! I'm HYPE about it hahah you all know how much I love Les Mis. Especially because I was supposed to be seeing it on Wednesday, I'm so happy we are getting the filming of the Staged Concert.
Anyway, enough about that. You all want this chapter, I'm sure. So without further ado....Enjoy/comment/vote xxxx
-ab

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December 10, 2028

Patrick

"Come on, Harper," I say. "It's a reasonably warm day, and I think we all need to get out of the house for a bit of fresh air. Let's just take Mills into the city, and we can have a nice walk through Hyde Park. It'll be fun."

"It's so cold," she whines, wrapping the blankets of our bed around her a little bit tighter.

"Harper," I laugh, "it's the warmest that it has been in weeks. Come on, you'll like it if you go."

"I just want to lay in bed all day."

After a particularly rough week of shows for her, I'm not surprised, but we both know that that won't be possible, because any minute now, our little girl will be crying and wanting her mummy.

As if on cue, the cries start.

"I'll go and get her, but you start thinking about getting up, okay?" I say to my wife.

"Fine," she replies, and I hear her moving around a bit as I leave the room.

I walk into Millie's room and pick her up, rubbing the back of my crying daughter. "Do you want breakfast, cuddly?" I ask her.

After a quick nappy change, since it's all soiled from the night, I take her out to the kitchen and prepare her bottle.

As I'm feeding her, Harper plods out, looking significantly happier than she did a few minutes ago. She's now dressed in a pink jumper and some leggings.

"Hey," I smile at her. "I'll finish up breakfast, then can you take her to get dressed so that I can do the same myself?"

"Sounds like a plan," Harper replies, running her fingers through the end of her long ponytail.

In an hour, we have all eaten breakfast and Millie is all bundled up in of her warmest winter clothes, because we absolutely don't want to risk her getting chilled, in spite of the fact that today is rather warm for December. Harper and I are also in our coats, because we don't want to be cold either, though we aren't as worried about ourselves as we are about Millie.

"She'll cry if she's too cold," Harper assures me. "It'll all be okay."

We smile at each other, nodding as if to say, "We can do this," and then leave the house.

I get into the driver's seat of the car, and Harper and Millie sit in the back seat. We loaded the pram into the boot of the car so that we can push the little girl around once we get to Hyde Park.

"I think she likes car rides," Harper remarks to me, as we are driving into central London. "She's looking around and she's all happy."

"That's so cute," I say, keeping my eyes on the road and refraining from looking back at my two favourite girls.

Once we arrive at the park, and I eventually find a parking spot, which is far from an easy task in central London, we start to walk towards the pond which always has so many geese.

We know that Madeline will like that. She, like every little kid, loves animals. She's too little to fully comprehend what they are, but she likes watching their movement, and we think that she knows that they're something different than what she is.

It's a lovely day in the park. Since it is December, it isn't super crowded, but there are certainly enough people here to make it a lively outing for us. We wouldn't have wanted to come if we thought that it was going to be completely dead. The hustle and bustle of this part of London is a nice little change for our family, since Hampstead is generally pretty quiet. If we wanted silence, we would have found a nice little, tucked away corner of Hampstead Heath for our walk.

Once we reach the pond, we sit for quite a long time, as Harper holds Madeline on her lap and the little girl watches the birds. There aren't that many out, as most of them have already migrated for the winter, which was something that I didn't think of when suggesting that. There are a few, however, who haven't left on their journey to somewhere warmer yet.

"They'll probably be going within the next few days," Harper remarks. "It's good that we are here when we are."

"Yeah," I laugh. "That would have been disappointing if we brought Millie to see geese and there weren't any."

"At least she isn't old enough to understand that yet," Harper laughs. "Don't make that mistake when she's like, four. She would never let you forget it, oh my goodness."

"That's true," I laugh. "Don't grow up and be a sassy toddler, cuddly. They're no fun."

My wife snorts. "They're fun, just in different ways."

"That's true," I admit. "But toddlers are a lot more annoying, too."

"True," she concedes.

After watching the birds for quite a long time, since it makes our daughter so happy, we realize that she's starting to get sleepy and is ready for her afternoon nap. We tuck her back into her pram, where she is quite comfy, and almost instantly, is asleep.

"Hon," I say, "since she's napping... I think that there's a good little tea house around here. I saw it while we were driving in, and I remember stopping in once, forever ago. Would you fancy stepping in for a cuppa and some lunch?"

"That sounds amazing," Harper tells me. "You're the best."

"We should have an hour or so before the little one is awake."

We walk in the direction that Google Maps tells us to, and eventually, find the tea house that I was thinking of. Inside, it is warm, so we take off our coats and sit down by a cozy fireplace.

Both of us order a little sandwich and a cuppa. Harper is excited, since she's never tried this place before, and she always loves trying new places for tea.

She hasn't had any 'new' tea recently. Most of her tea has been from the Theatre Cafe or similar places in the West End, right before a show, or she has made it herself at home.

"Is it good?" I ask, after she takes a few sips.

"It's perfect. This whole day is just perfect. Thank you for dragging me out of bed."