Lily's cry boldly rung from the baby monitor, as Aria and Mike separated in response. Mike looked at Aria hopeful, "Can I go and get her?" he asked as Aria nodded and Mike began taking off.
"Up the stairs, second door on the left," Aria screamed after her brother as he disappeared out of sight. Ezra's arms came around Aria as they both smiled, knowing they'd chosen perfectly for Lily.
"Hey beautiful girl," Mike said to Lily when he found her room and began walking towards her crib. "It's your godpapa," Mike said before squinting his face, "Okay, so that title doesn't exactly work, or maybe it does? Perfect for us, Lily? I'm your godpapa," he smiled as he reached in and gently pulled the crying baby out of the crib. She lay content in Mike's arms as he bounced her slightly, her crying immediately ceasing.
"I love you, Lily," he said as he kissed her forehead. He then walked out of her bedroom holding her snugly, as he began walking back towards the lounge room where Aria and Ezra were waiting.
4 years later.
Ezra sat on the couch in the lounge room, quietly reading the newest book he'd picked up from the bookstore where he and Aria met 5 years ago now. Aria was upstairs in her study, writing her second novel. Her first, written with Ezra, was based on their story, and it had been received well. They were thrilled with the positivity that had come from it from the public; though truth be told; they were just happy with their creation even if no one else ever saw it.
There was a slight skid of the one seat chair next to Ezra against the floor, as he remained concentrating on his book. Though he had failed to look, Lily was there leaning on the arm rest of her chair, pulling faces at Ezra trying to get his attention. Being born into a family who worshipped books and the written word; she was patient and appreciative of books, and knew they were important. Ezra could feel Lily there, and decided to tease her now, keeping on 'reading' while she got frustrated and kept pulling faces without him reacting.
Lily stuck out her tongue, and tilted her head while she crossed her eyes, trying to make him laugh. Ezra saw out of the corner of his eye what she was doing and smiled softly to himself, trying to not give away to Lily that he could see her. She screwed up her face and scowled her eyebrows, looking just like her mother as she did, and pushed herself off the chair and threw her feet loudly on the wooden floor.
Ezra maintained 'reading' appearance as he tried not to give way his thoughts; his thoughts that she was so beautiful just like her mum would have been at her age. Next thing he knew, Lily had crawled onto the floor and pushed herself in between Ezra and his book.
"Boo!" she shouted at Ezra while he falsified surprise. Her shout though was enough to secretly send her dad's heart through the roof.
"Lily," he exclaimed through a smiled, and grabbed the little girl by the waist. He tossed the book to the end of the couch, held her on top of him and tickled her ribs and under her neck while she laughed and screamed and kicked her tiny legs furiously
"Stop, stop," Lily laughed as Ezra stopped his tickling and she sat straighter on his left knee.
"Daddy," Lily said as she put her arms as far around Ezra's neck as they could go.
"Yes my darling," he replied as his hand began rubbing her shin.
"Do you think it will be cool; me going to the same school as you?" she asked, clearly having thought about this a little bit.
Ezra pursed his lips tight and brushed a finger across without realising, thinking before he spoke. He lowered his wrist back down to his free leg before meeting her eyes, that were slightly nervous, yet curious.
"I think it will be great," he said with a smile. "Daddy's teaching grades a lot higher than you will be; so I won't see you very often; but I'll always be around if you need me," he smiled at his little girl whose mind had already moved onto a new topic, based on the excitement on her face. Her eyes were huge and her lips making a perfect circle while she thought, and then spoke her thoughts;
"We have to go," she said, gesturing her tiny head towards the wall clock.
"Oh, God," Ezra panicked as he grabbed Lily up by her waist, and held her like a plank of wood next to his waist as she laughed uncontrollably.
"Daaaaddd! Put-me-down," she complained in between her laughter as he carried her up the stairs in this way. They walked a little way up the hall of their second story as Lily continued to laugh, before they paused outside a closed door.
"Aria, time for our girl's big day! And uhh.. we're running late" he said as he knocked once on Aria's study door.
"Coming," she shouted back as she threw the door open not 3 seconds later.
"I thought you were going to get me with 20 minutes notice; so we were on time," she scowled at Ezra before breaking into a huge smile. "It's fine, we'll get her there," she replied succinctly and sweetly before giving him a quick peck on the lips. His hand that wasn't holding Lily came behind Aria's brunette hair softly holding her there during their kiss. In the meantime, Lily managed to manoeuvre herself in Ezra's arms so she was clinging to his side like a koala; no longer like a plank of wood like earlier. As Aria pulled away, Ezra turned to meet Lily's eyes that were level with him now. He smiled as her mischievous smile shone, recognising what she had managed to navigate while he was distracted. He tapped her back then helped her to the ground.
"Right miss, go and get your bag. We'll meet you at the car," Aria told Lily who immediately went running off to her room. Ezra locked his hand in Aria's as they began to descend their staircase.
"So, that went fast, didn't it?" Aria sighed, talking about Lily's growing up.
"I know. But they've been wonderful days so far, and they will continue to be as she grows. Even if they're going faster than we'd like," he smiled as he kissed her hair while they continued down the stairs.
"I'm nervous," Lily said as she stood at the front gate of the kinder.
"You'll be fine, and mummy and daddy will be back in just a few hours to come and get you," Ezra while he was crouched next to Lily, so their eyes were level. Aria was holding Lily's other hand and standing next to her, yet bending down so they could talk.
"You're going to make so many new friends hon. Go on, in you go," Aria said encouragingly as she tapped her daughter on the bottom giving her a slight push. Lily took the hint and took a few steps forward. Without turning back, the expression on her face changed to confidence and determination to do this well. She then turned back and smiled.
"Bye," she said, before she ran into the building. Aria and Ezra could see through the windows that she had met the teacher, who already had met Lily and knew who she was a few days earlier.
"Quick," Ezra said as he grabbed Aria's waist dramatically.
"What?" Aria asked in alarm.
"We have the house to ourselves for 4 hours. 4 hours we don't have tiny ears listening, and understanding a slightly nerve rackingly high amount of what we say," he said, obviously a little nervous of their daughter's already evident intelligence and advancement for her age.
"Well, she's got smart parents," Aria said unashamedly, while her hands came up lovingly to Ezra's cheek. He closed his eyes as she rubbed his cheeks, before he kissed the fingertips of one of her hands.
"I love you so much. We did it, she's on her own," he said, proud, yet with a twinge of sadness.
Aria nodded, sharing the emotions, before she slowly looked back in his eyes. "Come on, let's go home. You have work starting again tomorrow after Christmas break, I'm starting my Masters course..." She said with a smile and a wink reminding him that they really were running out of alone time.
They pushed into their house clamped to each other, already moving their lips furiously against each others. Aria was walking backwards into the house first, Ezra able to navigate them. There was no way they were getting up the stairs at this rate. He nudged her hips to a different direction and pushed her backwards to the lounge room; their favourite room of their house covered in books across the full wall bookshelves. They stopped on the thick, fluffy mat under their feet as they continued to kiss, before pulling apart; their hands still on each other's faces.
Ezra slowly reached behind her and unzipped the back of her dress. As the zip reached the base, she moved her arms out of the straps and let it fall to the floor. She then reached for the buttons on Ezra's shirt, tearing them out from the top layer of shirt. When they were all undone, she firmly dragged her hands down his chest, quickening his breath as he stared at her with yearning. She grabbed tightly onto his belt which acted as support as she jumped up around his waist while holding onto it as his hands came under her behind. Her legs tightened around his waist as their kissing resumed after a few seconds of smiling at each other. He placed his hands on her back before gently laying her down on the mat; he holding himself on his arms over her.
"Ez," Aria spoke breathlessly as he began kissing her down the centre of her chest.
"Mmm," he replied as he kept going.
"Do you want to make another baby," she asked as he immediately removed his lips from her body and brought himself up so their eyes were level. She looked at him smiling, her eyes sparkling; he could immediately tell what her wish was.
"Yes, of course," he said as he kissed her passionately as they both moaned into their kiss while Aria cradled Ezra's face.
"What's wrong, Lily?" Aria asked when they went to pick up their daughter. Lily walked towards them scowling with a bit of dirt on her cheek; she'd obviously had better days.
"This boy pulled my hair. And it really hurt. I didn't do anything to him. We were playing then he…" she cut herself off sobbing as Aria came and scooped her into her arms so Lily's cheek was next to hers. Ezra came behind Aria and levelled his eyes with Lily, stroking her cheek trying to also comfort her.
"Alright, here comes the lesson about boys," Ezra began as Aria also twisted her body so she was looking at him while he spoke. She smiled and rolled her eyes at him before he continued.
"When a boy does that, it usually means he likes you. Though I have a feeling, the women of this family do not respond to boys of that nature," he said winking at Aria who giggled at his comment while she nodded.
"Find a boy who reads baby; they seem to, for the most part at least, be a little more mature," Aria offered.
Lily nodded before responding. "He was mean! It didn't seem like he liked me at all. Boys are stupid," Lily said defiantly, crossing her arms while her legs were still wrapped around Aria.
"Yes, they are my angel," Ezra said as he kissed Lily's cheek. "And they always will be, even when you're 16, remember that you said that," he laughed.
"Keep dreaming, daddy," Aria said with a smirk as they headed to their car. When Lily was securely in her seat, Ezra and Aria climbed into their seats at the front of the car.
"You remember when you told me the story about me being a flower girl when I was a bit older?" Lily asked as both her parent's eyes met and they smiled. They had both subconsciously been thinking that they would like to get married soon now Lily was old enough to be a flower girl; yet hadn't voiced these opinions. They were obviously all on the same wave-link.
"Yeah, we remember honey. Why?" Aria asked as she turned around to Lily.
"Can we do it soon?" she smiled sweetly and innocently.
Ezra checked with Aria who smiled and gave a soft nod. "Yeah baby, we'd like to do that soon too," he smiled as Lily straightened herself in her seat and smiled triumphantly. Ezra turned the car on and they commenced their drive home.
Calm before the storm. Enjoy it mah ppllllsss ;)
And I'm WHOLE HEARTEDLY sorry that it's been so long since I've updated. It's true; life has gotten so busy. So I'm sorry, but I'll really make an effort to update more often. I appreciate every single reader, so I'm sorry if the delay pissed anyone off. I'm going to update more often again; I swear.
Thank you SO SO MUCH for all your kind reviews! And hello new readers! I love that still people are just coming across the story! It's beyond epic! :)
Please review! It means so much! ~St0ryTeller x x
And check out my other stories which will both be updated in the next few days. Both M ratings though, keep in mind. Bless x