"Stefan… Stefan." Elena reached across the bed and nudged his arm. "It's your turn."
"I'm not the one who wanted her in her own bedroom." He mumbled back without moving. "If she was in here, she would be sleeping."

Elena huffed and threw the covers off her body. She walked down the hall and to their daughter's bedroom. She opened the door and stepped over the stuffed animals she had thrown out of her crib.

"Mommy!" She screamed out, stomping her feet and throwing her head back.
"It's time to sleep." Elena kept her voice low. She laid her down but she immediately stood back up.
"Mommy Daddy bed." She cried out between sobs.
"No." Elena tried to put her pacifier in her mouth but she turned her head and slapped it to the floor. "Lily is a big girl, she sleeps in her own room."
"MOMMY DADDY BED!" She hiccupped. "Up, up!" She reached her arms up to her Mother.
"No." Elena held her hands down. "Why won't you sleep in your own room?" She let out an exasperated sigh.
"Cary."
"It's scary?"

Lily nodded, the tracks of her tears clearly visible with the illumination of her nightlight. Elena rested her head on her daughters, exhausted. They had been doing this for days.

"You can come into Mommy and Daddy's bed but just for tonight, okay?"
"Tay Mommy." She reached her arms up.

"Nice." Stefan chuckled when he saw them come into the bedroom. "Now she's not just in our room, she's in our bed as well?"
"Shut it." Elena put Lily between them and slid back under the covers.

"Peas Mommy?" Lily tugged on her shirt and looked up at her with big eyes, wanting to nurse back to sleep.
"No, baby." Elena held her top to her chest even though her heart was breaking. "Not until the morning time." Lily's lip started to tremor.

"Lily." Stefan rolled to his side and opened his arms. "Come cuddle with Daddy." Lily moved across the bed and cozied up in his arms.

Elena woke in the morning to her daughter pulling her shirt down, helping herself to her big, milky morning boob. Lily's eyes were closed, still half asleep, as she latched on and started to feed. She curled her little warm body into her Mother's. Elena felt a twinge of sadness as she looked down at her and realized that she probably hadn't woken her up for her most favorite part of day, because she was afraid Elena might have said 'no' again. She brushed the hair off her forehead and bent down to kiss it.

Elena chewed on her bottom lip. She considered herself to be a pretty strong and smart person but this parenting thing really got her some days. She watched the rhythmic suckling of her daughter's mouth. Her latch hadn't changed since she was an infant, the tiniest bit of her tongue was always poking out. She smiled when she saw her starting to wake up, moving around and stretching, while trying to keep the nipple in her mouth.

"Ow." Elena said when Lily stretched too far, her nipple releasing from her mouth.
"Hi." She looked up at her Mother. "Mommy." She cuddled into her.
"Hi." Elena smiled, hugging her to her chest. "I love you so much." Her daughter smiled up at her through her dark eyelashes. "All done?" Elena asked, trying to pull her shirt back up.
"No Mommy!" She held her Mother's shirt down and took the nipple back to her mouth so she could have what was left of the milk.

Their little exchange had woken Stefan up and he rolled to face them, running his fingers the length of Elena's arm.

"Is this right?" She wondered out loud.
"Is what right?"
"Having her in her own room." She combed her fingers through her daughter's hair. "Was she not ready? Did I push her too hard?"

"Hey." Stefan moved closed to her so he could kiss her shoulder. "There is not always going to be a 'right' and a 'wrong' answer. We will figure it out. I think we are doing pretty well so far."

"You're so good at everything. You always know what to do and what to say. I just sometimes feel like you know her so much better then I do."
"It's not a competition."
"I know, but like, I wanted to get her in to some kind of preschool a few hours a week and now I am just thinking- how will she possibly be able to do that if she can't be one room away from us."
"Elena."
"And we were going to take away bottles… Is it too soon?"
"She can drink from a cup."
"It's not about that."
"We will ask the doctor at her two year appointment. It's next week."
"Okay." Elena let out a long breath and looked over at him.