Chapter One
Roughly rubbing at her eyes to clear the slumber from her orbs, Elizabeth slides her legs over the side of her bed before putting her feet into her house slippers, the alarm blaring as she does her best to wake up enough to head downstairs. Dropping her hand onto the alarm to shut it off, she makes her way out of the master bedroom to get started on breakfast. Elle will be asleep for another couple hours, giving her enough time to do some housekeeping, knowing the kind of mess they left in the living room last night.
For a moment, just before she makes her way out of the bedroom, she slides her hands over her abdomen, remembering how off balance she had been after giving birth. People say that its not typical for a woman to be that off balance, that the body should regain its normalcy once the baby is out of her body, but she couldn't agree with that. She had grown used to the shape of her body and its taking her a little longer than most to regain her sense of balance without the baby bump.
Shaking the thought from her head, Elizabeth drops her hands to her sides and continues her venture to the living room, a soft smile gracing her lips when she steps into the room and finds it just as they had left it. Emily had commented that for a one month old baby, playtime with Elle left a larger mess than most children her age. Elizabeth had nothing to compare it to, so, she just took her at her word. Playtime with her, Jason, and Elle, however, is nowhere near the chaos that ensues when her father visits.
Ready to start cleaning up, she makes her way to the couch where lays the pile of blocks that she had been using to teach Elle the alphabets. They abandoned that task after Elle merely looked up at her with a drool dripping smile, but they'll keep trying. Its never too soon to teach your child. That's what she believes, at least. From the smiles and giggles, she thinks that Elle doesn't mind it, as long as she doesn't go all crazy with it they should be just fine.
A few feet from the blocks is Jason's favorite toy to play with when he and Elle are together. Eli the Elephant. They can only play it at night, seeing as its a light display toy, but it works out for them. Its at night that Jason spends the most time with his daughter. Sometimes they'll play together, but other times he'll just sit with her on the window seat, staring out at the backyard and just talking about the day and what he has planned for her in the days to follow. During those times, she sits by the fireplace watching them, amazed with how easy it is for him to talk to their daughter.
Grabbing the toy basket from beside the couch, Elizabeth gets started on picking up the toys, needing to get the living room cleared up before she gets started on breakfast. Jason's out on assignment and that usually means that the guys will be coming home with him for breakfast before they head to the warehouse to update Sonny on whatever happened.
Things with the business have been on the quiet side, something that Jason's more than grateful for, truly thankful for an uneventful month as they settle into their new home. A sentiment that Elizabeth can't argue with. After everything she's been through with her psychotic family, boring is a welcomed change of pace.
Setting the baby monitor down on the kitchen counter, Elizabeth gets started on breakfast, thankful that she had the sense to continue her cooking lessons with Sonny all this time, certain that pasta can tend to grow old after a while. Grabbing the ingredients from the fridge, she gets started on a breakfast fit for royalty. In comparison to her art, cooking comes up a close second, a task that brings her great joy and clarity. When her minds starts to cloud with useless facts, cooking clears her mind almost as quickly as sculpting.
Setting the last platter down onto the dining room table, Elizabeth is about to head upstairs to check on Elle when she hears her husband's voice come on over the baby monitor. Smiling to herself, she makes her way out to stand by the stairs as they make their way down to her. In that moment, as he steps onto the landing with their daughter, Elizabeth swears she could literally feel her heart grow ten times its size as she stares up at them.
"Say good morning to mommy, Elle." Jason says as moves to stand in front of her. "Doesn't she look beautiful this morning?"
"Uh-huh." Elizabeth laughs softly before leaning up to kiss her husband. "Our angel takes the cake on beauty every morning."
"So do you." Jason points out before following her into the dining room. "The guys are parking the car in the garage. They'll be in soon."
"Figured as much." Elizabeth says simply. "So, which one of us is feeding the angel breakfast?"
"I'll do it." Jason says with a slight smile. "Daddy's been lacking lately."
"Okay. Her breakfast is sitting on the warmer." Elizabeth points to the bottle on the counter. "I'll be right back. I forgot to bring out the drinks."
"Speaking of drinks, the new chiller for the dining area is coming today." Jason replies. "Ritchie will be installing it some time this afternoon."
"Okay." Elizabeth says simply. "I'll be sure to let him in."
Looking at them for a moment longer, Elizabeth makes her way into the kitchen to grab the pitcher of orange juice, knowing it was the best option given the people at her table. She tried bringing out apple juice once and it was a mistake she will not be making again anytime soon. Johnny, though he hates apple juice, tried to force it down and ended up spitting it all over her new dining room rug. Jason wasn't too happy with him after that, but Johnny made it up to them by cleaning the rug after breakfast was done.
Pulling open the door to fridge, the cold rushing out, sending chills over her body, Elizabeth has to brace herself on the counter as a headache hits her hard in that moment. Shutting her eyes tightly, she takes in deep breathes, trying to relieve the headache so she can bring the juice out to the table, but it wasn't letting up. Shutting the door, she carefully inches her way over to the stool to sit down before dropping her head into her hands and massaging her temples, hoping it'll help to relieve the pressure.
"Hey." her husband's hands on her shoulders causes her to let out a rough sigh before she leans back against his chest. "You okay?"
"Headache." she says before his fingers move to massage the back of her neck. "Hit me when I opened to fridge."
"When's your next appointment?"
"Tomorrow." she says after some thought. "Nine in the morning."
"Okay. Good." he sighs, placing a soft kiss upon her forehead. "I know you don't want to make a big deal about your headaches, but they come too frequently not to."
"I know." she says before turning around to face him. "I'll talk to my doctor about them. Promise."
"Thank you." he replies, placing a soft kiss upon her lips. "Come on. I left Elle with Johnny and you know he's not that good with feeding babies."
"Right." Elizabeth laughs softly. "Juice."
"I'll get it." Jason assures with a slight smile. "You get our girl. I'll be right there."
"Okay."
Walking into the dining room, she wasn't all that surprised to find Francis feeding Elle instead of Johnny, smiling slightly as she makes her way over to them and taking her daughter into her hands. Sometimes she's certain that Jason does it on purpose, giving Elle to Johnny, knowing that the man was practically terrified of babies. Something about holding a tiny little human being who is so fragile and delicate just frightens the man to his core.
Breakfast goes by about the same as it usually does, rather quietly, before the guys head out to the warehouse. Elizabeth knows that he worries about her, ever since the headaches started, but he can't hover around her and he knows it. Its not like she's alone with the baby at any given moment. Every hour on the hour, the head guard on the house pages into the house to check up on her and Elle. If anything were to really happen, she's not saying anything would, but in the event something happens Elle would always be safe.
Clearing the dishes, Elizabeth takes Elle into the living room to spend some time with her, knowing that she would soon be going down for her first nap of the day. For a dinky little thing, she sure sleeps a lot, more than she thought was possible. The first day she was home with Elle and she kept falling asleep every few hours, Elizabeth had called her Grandmother in seek of answers, obviously her anxiety could be heard in her voice because Audrey had to calm her down before explaining to her that it was only natural for babies to nap frequently.
Of course, she also told her that she should appreciate the time during the day that Elle is asleep because she will surely make up for it in the middle of the night. Elizabeth hadn't been certain what that meant until their first night together, then she understood loud and clear. The more she learnt about Elle, the more she came to understand all the little things about her daughter, what all the little sounds and gestures meant. To think she understood her daughter more than she understood almost anyone or anything, her daughter that can't even speak to her, Elizabeth is beyond amazed with both herself and Elle.
Though her headache has lessened in severity, the throbbing could still be felt as she sits with her legs up, Elle propped up against her legs. Taking a deep breath, she forces herself to ignore it, knowing it would do her no good to give into the pain. After all she has been through, she'll be damned if she let a headache take her down. Staring into her daughter's beautiful blue eyes, she finds the strength to push past the throbbing pain to put a smile on her face, swearing there will never be another face more beautiful than that of her daughter's.