"Jeez, what a shift" Iain sighed as he jumped from the ambulance once they arrived back at the station an hour after his shift was supposed to have finished, "talk about throwing me back in at the deep end."
"You're just out of shape mate, all that time you've been sat sitting about mate." Jez teased.
"Yeah, if you say so"
"Nah, I've missed you mate, I'm glad to have you back."
Iain laughed, "yeah it's good to be back, it'll be even better to get home though" Iain smiled, his smile growing more than he thought possible as he walked into the staff room at the ambulance station and saw Rita sat on the sofa, "Reet" he grinned when he saw her, "what are you doing here?"
"We got bored of waiting for you at home" she said as he leaned down to kiss her, "so I thought we'd get some fresh air and come and meet you here."
"Yeah, sorry I'm late, there's been a massive RTC on the motorway, 8 cars and a coach, we got called out about two hours ago, it's been mental."
"It's okay" Rita smiled, "I know exactly what you need though."
"Yeah?"
"Mhmm" Rita reached into her jacket and carefully lifted their tiny daughter from where she was sleeping in the sling on her chest, kissing her head before handing her over to Iain.
Iain slipped off his coat, dropping it on the side before taking the 6 week old from Rita, "hello Gorgeous, I've missed you and Mummy today, I have, I've been looking forwards to cuddles with you all day" he said quietly.
Jez and Rita smiled, Jez had watched from the doorway, seeing how much Iain relaxed the second Rita had placed the baby in his arms before he'd walked over to greet Rita, "he's missed you both" Jez said before flicking on the kettle to make them all a cuppa.
It was Iain's first day back at work after 6 weeks of paternity leave, he'd fallen so in love with his daughter the second she'd been placed in his arms so he'd known he'd miss her when he'd returned to work, he just hadn't realised quite how much he'd miss the routine the three of them had quickly fallen into.
"Thanks Mate" Iain looked up when Jez put the mug of tea beside him, "do you want to hold her?"
Jez's face fell, "no, no, I erm, no, you're okay" he mumbled, quickly leaving the room with his tea.
Iain laughed, "I think he might be scared of you Princess" he shifted the baby to hold her with one hand so he could hold the other out towards Rita, allowing her to snuggle into his side, his arm around her waist, "how was your day?" he asked her before kissing her temple.
"It was okay" Rita smiled, "we sat out in the garden for a bit and read together didn't we Darling."
"Dickens?"
Rita shook her head, "don't be silly, we finished Great Expectations last week didn't we?" Rita reached out to stroke the baby's cheek, "we're on Pride and Prejudice now."
Iain smiled, he'd never have classed Rita as a big reader but now he'd lost count of the times when they'd curl up together on the sofa together, him watching something on TV that she wasn't bothered about and her reading one of the many books she had in her house. He remembered the day Rita found out from one of their baby books that their daughter's ears had developed enough to hear sounds outside the womb, she'd been reading out loud ever since. Almost every night after Rita started her maternity leave he'd come home to find her laid on the sofa, a book propped against her bump reading to their child. Bedtime stories were his job though, they'd cuddle up in bed with a picture book after a family bath and he'd read the story as Rita fed their daughter, it was his favourite time of day.
"Are you going to go back to Mummy so Daddy can get changed and we can go home hmm?" Iain asked, gently kissing the baby's dark hair before handing her back to Rita, "I won't be a minute" he promised, kissing Rita's forehead before taking his clothes from his locker and going to get changed.
Rita carefully laid the baby on the sofa once Iain had left, slipping off her jacket and removing the fabric sling from around her chest, she knew Iain was desperate to be a good father and she didn't want him to feel like he was missing out on any 'bonding' time whilst he was at work so she'd let him carry the baby home.
"Hello Darling" Rita picked the baby up when she saw her eyes flutter open, "what's wrong, are you missing Daddy's cuddles?" she cooed softly, "well he'll be back soon and you can have a nice long cuddle with him as we walk home and then you can have a big snuggle and Daddy can give you a bottle at home and you can watch the news with him while I make dinner, does that sound good?" The baby clumsily reached out to her mother and Rita kissed her little fist, "I'll take that as a yes."
"Ready?" Iain asked as he came back, now changed out of his uniform.
"Yeah" Rita smiled, "I thought you might like to carry her home" she smiled, gesturing to the fabric of the sling she'd put on the sofa, "she's just woken up so you can have a nice chat with her.
Iain couldn't help but smile as he saw the baby's big blue eyes gazing up at him, "hello beautiful" he leant in to kiss her forehead before adjusting the grey fabric to fit him, "Can you…?"
"Yeah" Rita smiled, Iain holding the sling open so Rita could slip the baby between the fabric and his chest, "alright?"
"Yeah" Iain smiled and kissed the baby's head again, "we're good aren't we beautiful"
"Let's get home then" Rita slipped on her jacket and picked up her bag.
Iain nodded and smiled, one hand stroking the baby's back, the other reaching out for Rita's hand, "That sounds good to me. It's the only place I've wanted to be since I left the house this morning."
"Home?"
"Yeah, home, with my two beautiful girls, there's nowhere I'd rather be."