With all the free time he now has, Roger settled into the role of stay at home dad rather quickly and he has to admit, he's liking it.
He likes getting up in the morning to get Ellie ready for nursery, he likes getting her breakfast and snacking on the crusts of the toast that she refuses to eat.
And if Rebecca's got an early client consultation and she's the one who's gotten Ellie up and out of the house, he likes that he's no longer having to worry about being late for meetings and can sleep in as long as he likes. Or at least until Heather starts to stir in her own room.
He doesn't hear her that morning though and he's just in that place between awake and asleep when the bedroom door creaks open and he doesn't hear little feet padding toward him but he feels Pippi, who's laying on the bed beside him taking up Rebecca's spot, start wagging her tail.
"Pip," he grumbles as it beats against his leg, "Pip, come on now. Stop."
When the wagging didn't stop, he huffs and rolls over, opening his eyes to check the time, only to see Heather is standing by his side of bed and he swears he almost has a heart attack.
"Daddy," she grins, clearly not aware that she has scared him within what feels like an inch of his life.
"Heather," he breathes, finally glancing at the clock, "It's only nine thirty. What are you doing up, Poppet?"
She wordlessly grabs the blankets and starts pulling herself up onto the bed, Roger hovering a hand behind her just in case she needs help.
But she's fine and crawls over him, bony little knees digging into his stomach so she's sat beside Pippi, who's tail is now going a mile a minute.
She is quite the climber.
Roger turns over so he can watch her, watching as she eagerly runs her hand through the Pippi's fur, giggling when the dog licks her chin.
When she sees Roger watching her, Heather is quick to lay down beside him and cuddle into him.
This is another favourite of his. He wishes that they'd stay this small forever, when they're never too afraid to come to him or Rebecca if they're scared or if they just want a little cuddle.
"What do we want to do today? Hm?" he asks, running his hand through her wild hair, taking a glance out the bedroom window where he can just see the sliver of bright blue sky, "Think it's going to be warm again today. Shall we set the paddling pool up?"
She nods, but knowing his daughter as well as he does, he can tell that she's falling asleep again - something she can do at the drop of a hat.
"Or we could go for a little walk?" he's rambling now and when Heather puts her little hand over his mouth, he can't help but laugh and he presses a kiss to her palm, "Alright, I'm boring you. I'll be quiet."
||-||
When they wake up properly, it's around eleven thirty and after a quick brunch, it's already after twelve and the two of them make their way out into the back garden with Pippi and Heather plays on the decking while Roger wrestles the paddling pool from the shed.
Their garden is coming along quite nicely. Jim had come over and planted some flowers for them, they'd set up a little play area for the girls and while Roger had wanted to put an actual pool in, that idea had kind of taken a backseat.
As the pool fills up, Roger tries to get Heather into some older clothes that she can get wet. Of course, for some reason, toddlers love to be naked so really, he spends twenty minutes running around the living room and kitchen trying to catch her so he can dress her.
"Come on, love," he laughs as she runs by him into the living room, "You wanna paddle don't you?"
She nods.
"Well, you've gotta put something on!"
"No!" she shrieks as she tries to get past him once more but he manages to grab hold of her, "Daddy, no!"
"Heather," he laughs, "Honestly, child. Can't have the neighbours seeing you naked, can we?"
Well, they don't have neighbours but she didn't know that.
Finally, he manages to wrestle on some shorts and a T-shirt and he makes sure to grab his camera before carrying her outside to where the pool is full.
It isn't that big but they've got some toys for it; plastic balls, floating boards and the like and Roger puts Heather down on the grass so she can step into the water in her own time, tossing one f the balls into the pool as he sits beside her.
The toddler eyes the pool hesitantly for a couple of minutes, casting a wary glance at her father, who gives her an encouraging nod.
When she's ready, Roger lifts her over the edge of it and holds her above the water so she can dip her feet in, laughing as she shrieks from the coldness.
"Cold!" she shivers but wriggles in his grasp, letting him know that she wants to be put down and he does as she wants.
The water comes just halfway up her leg but it's plenty for her to have fun in and be safe.
Heather decides to just go for it, plonking herself right in the middle of the pool, another scream leaving her as Roger snaps a couple of photos.
They splash about in the small pool for a good forty-five minutes; playing with the toy boats, throwing the balls for Pippi (who loved the pool just as much as Heather did) and when Roger hears the phone ringing inside, he's just as wet through as his daughter, who thought it was hilarious to soak him.
Much to Heather's protests, Roger lifts her from the water as the phone continues to ring, wrapping her up in a dry towel and carrying her inside as the little girl does her best to wriggle free.
"Two minutes, love," he pleads, closing the back door behind him once Pippi has followed him inside so she can't disappear back outside on him, "I can't leave you out there on your own! Something could happen and your mum would never forgive me for it."
He puts her down, watching as she makes a run for the door and even though he knows that she can't reach the handle, he watches just to make sure before finally picking up the phone.
"Hello?"
"Hey, Roger, it's me."
"Becca," he greets, smile creeping onto his face, "Hey, you alright?"
"'m fine, listen the bride to be is being an absolute nightmare and wants me-oh shit, she's coming. Look, I'll tell you when I get home but it just means that I'm not going to be able to pick up Ellie."
"That's alright," he murmurs, looking towards Heather who is still desperately trying to reach the door handle, "I'll pick her up."
He hears his wife sigh in relief, "Thank you. You're the best, you know that, right?"
He shrugs, "I do but it's always nice to hear it."
"Well," Rebecca giggles, "You're the best, Roger Taylor. Thank you."
"No problem. So we'll see you when you get in?"
She hums in affirmation, "See you when I get home."
"Be safe," he says softly, "I love you."
"Love you too," he could hear the smile in her voice.
As soon as he hung up the phone, Heather was stood by him, tugging on the leg of his jeans, "Pool now?"
"Sorry, Poppet," he sighs, picking her up, "We've gotta get you dressed and then we gotta go pick up Ellie!"
"No!"
"Yep," Roger hummed, tightening his grip on her ever so slightly as she tried to climb up onto his shoulders as he made for the stairs, "You can go back in the pool when we get back!"
"No!"
She wasn't going to make this easy for him.
||-||
Despite her protests, Heather fell asleep not five minutes into the journey, being in the car always did make her nod off. It had taken him a little longer to get her changed into dry clothes and glancing down at his watch, he saw that he only had twenty minutes to do a half hour journey and while speeding never used to bother him, he had his child in the car with him.
So he stuck to the limits, pulling up at the nursery ten minutes later than planned but he's relieved to see that there's a lot of other parents still loitering outside the building which meant that the kids hadn't been let out yet.
And so seeing that Heather is still fast asleep, he rolls down his window and waits until the kids are released before he gets out of the car, drumming along to the radio on the steering wheel.
He keeps an eye on the doors, grinning when they open and Ellie is one of the first to make a break for it and he quickly gets out of the car so she can see him.
Her face lights up, having been expecting Rebecca to pick her up and makes a beeline for him, "Daddy!"
"Hey!" he laughs as her small body collides with his and he lifts her up to swing her around.
"Where's mummy?" Ellie asks, brow furrowed in adorable confusion.
"Mummy had to work late," Roger informs, opening the back door of the car to put her in her car seat, "So I came to get you. Is that alright?"
She nods eagerly and as he buckles her in, launching into telling him about her day, which consisted of a story, painting a picture for them and of course, a whole lot of playing.
When Roger turns off of the main road and onto the one that will take them back to their home, he hears Ellie speak.
"Daddy, can I drive?" she asks and he looks in the rearview mirror to see her kicking her legs back and forth excitedly.
"You want to drive?"
She nods eagerly and Roger pulls over onto the side of the road and gets out of the car.
"Now, remember what we agreed?" he asks, opening her door to unbuckle her.
"Don't tell mummy," Ellie giggles and he nods, lifting her from her car seat to take her into the front with him, sitting her down on his lap once he's pushed his seat back a little bit.
Now, if this had been any other road, he would never do this but the road to their house, it's safe. They're the last house on it and if you drive long enough, you reach a dead end so he knows that no one will be coming the other way.
Besides, he loves seeing the way her eyes light up when she thinks that she's actually controlling the car but there is one thing he knows for certain; Rebecca would kill him if she ever found out.
||-||
so i thought i'd do a little chapter with roger having some quality time with his girls.
and here's a little hedgehog update for anyone who's wondering;
the little dude (or dudette) comes back every couple of nights and he still goes to the same spot and so i've put a wee bowl of hedgehog food out for him and when i check it in the morning, some of it's gone which i'm really happy about. i haven't really taken any more photos of him though cause i obviously don't want to scare him or hurt his eyes but yeah, i am so chuffed with the progress i'm making. kinda hoping he brings some wee pals along with him sometime