A/N: Sorry if the next few chapters seem a bit too rushed at times.
Chapter 4: Adjusting to Parenthood
"Lara?" I looked over at the door. Dick was standing there in his uniform.
"What time is it," I asked sleepily. Ida's been asleep in my arms probably for about an hour.
"It's three in the morning," he said, finally moving from the door. "Come on, let's get you to bed." He gently took Ida out of my arms and helped me up from the chair.
"I think I lost track of time," I said as he helped me walk to the bed.
"I know babe," he said and helped me in the bed as Ida began to whimper. I tried to move again to get her, but Dick stopped me from moving on the bed.
"No, no, you need to get some rest," he said. "I can feed and change her." I nodded, the exhaustion finally beginning to take effect, and I closed my eyes. For a eight month old baby, she can be a handful at times. I woke up briefly when I felt an arm slide over my waist under the blankets, and I moved closer to Dick.
"She's okay?" I asked.
"She's fed, changed and finally asleep," he said, and I felt a light kiss on my shoulder. "Don't worry about feeding her later, I'll take care of that. I just want you to get caught up on some sleep, okay?"
"Okay," I said as I placed one of my hands on his. "Thanks, Dick."
"You're welcome babe," he said, and I fell back asleep.
For the last eight months, I haven't gotten much sleep at night. I didn't realize that adjusting to parenthood would be that difficult. I know Dick's having a hard time adjusting as well since he has patrol on some nights, but Bruce has cut back his nights to help me. I know Dick's protested against it on many occasions, but Bruce has made a good point. Dick can't always go and patrol the city if he hasn't gotten much sleep from taking care of Ida if I'm not well.
When I woke up later that morning, or rather early afternoon, Dick was holding Ida, who was fully awake and smiling in his arms. I felt very refreshed since Dick told me he'd take care of Ida for a while.
"Good afternoon," he said lightly as I walked into the room. I lightly smiled and fixed my crazy bed hair into a bun as I walked over towards them.
"I really slept that long?" I asked as he gave me a light kiss.
"You needed the extra sleep, Lara," he said as I sat down on the couch. "How do you feel?"
"A lot better, but could probably use a lot more sleep," I said. He nodded and walked over to the couch to hand off Ida to me.
"I'm going to grab your lunch from the kitchen," he said as I gently held Ida in my arms.
"You made lunch?" I asked as Ida got fussy.
"Yeah, about fifteen minutes ago," he said as Ida began to cry.
"Shh, it's okay baby," I said. "Did you feed her earlier?"
"She took a full bottle when I got up this morning and I changed a diaper an hour ago," he said as he walked back into the living room and set my lunch on the table. I felt her diaper, which was dry. "Go ahead and feed her, and I'll feed you." I smiled as he gave me a light kiss and then I got adjusted to feed Ida.
"Some people would find this a bit weird," I said as he fed me.
"Well, they obviously don't think about caring for their spouse enough like I do," he said. "Tea?" I nodded and he handed me the mug. I can easily juggle a baby drinking from my boob and drink tea with a free hand. I wish I could manage eating by myself while feeding my daughter, but I think Dick would feel useless if he couldn't do one thing for me while I feed our daughter, so I don't mind this at all.
"I'm glad I have a very caring husband," I said after I handed my cup to Dick.
"Oh, I almost forgot," he said and he got up from the couch and walked to the hallway closet. "Your parents mailed this to us. It was delivered this morning. Don't worry, I doubled checked that it wasn't a bomb or anything."
"Thank you for that reassurance," I said as Ida broke off her latch. I fixed my bra and got up and walked over to Dick while I burped Ida. He opened the box and I gasped. My mother mailed me Beth and I's baby clothes and items. "Oh."
"She kept all your things and Beth's after all these years?" Dick asked.
"I know mother and father were going to try for a third kid, but realized they were happy with just the two of us. I didn't realize that she'd kept all of our baby stuff," I said. So that's what this big box was. "I always wondered what this box was every time we moved. She was always so careful with this box whenever we moved, but I never knew why. Not until now."
"Well, would you be up for a trip to the manor?" he asked. "I can handle Ida while you shower and get ready, then I'll quickly shower and we can head over."
"That doesn't sound bad," I said and Ida finally burped. "Ah, there we go."
"I'll get her settled into her nap while you go shower," he said and I nodded. I gently handed her off and then picked up my tea as I headed back to our room and started a shower. After stepping in the shower, I let out a light sigh. The warm water felt good on my skin, and then felt a pair of hands slip around my waist.
"She's taking a nap," I asked him.
"She fell asleep as I walked into our room, so I set her in the bassinet and decided to join you," he said as I lightly placed my hands on his arms. "Plus, this saves us a lot of water with me joining you, so can't really complain there."
"We also haven't had a shower together in weeks," I said. "Between patrolling Gotham with Tim and Bruce and me taking care of our daughter, we haven't had much time for this."
"Well, over time, we'll get adjusted, but until then, we have to make do with what we can," he said. "At least we'll know how difficult it'll be when we decided to have more kids."
"You have a very good point, Richard," I said. "I will say that I want our kids close in age, but not so close or far apart."
"Like a couple years apart at least?"
"Well, that's what I'd like to happen, but I think I may just want to have our kids be at least two or three years apart," I said. "How does that sound?"
"I like that idea," he said, and he picked up my shampoo. "May I?"
"Sure," I said, and let him wash my hair.
"Maybe we should leave Ida with your parents tonight and we have some time to ourselves," he said. "I can give you a massage, we can take a nice long bath, then get some sleep. Tim's got patrol the next few nights, so maybe just for tonight we can just have some 'us' time."
"I love the sound of that," I said. "Do I still have some bottles in the fridge?"
"When I fed Ida this morning, there was five bottles," he said. "We have enough to bring a couple for your parents for the night."
"Good, then tomorrow morning I'll pump some more so we have some for the nights you decide take care of Ida," I said.
"We sound so organized, but we are really bad about getting things done in a plan," he said. I lightly laughed.
"Well, once our daughter is older, we'll get better. For now, we have the best excuse," I said. A few minutes later, we stepped out of the shower and got ready. I covered the bags under my eyes and did a light makeup coverage, and then got dressed. It was a bit cold out, being winter, so I put on a pair of comfy leggings and a sweater dress and began looking for a scarf.
"I think this is the one you're looking for," Dick said. I turned around and found him holding up the perfect scarf. "You dropped it here the other night after we got home from dinner with Bruce. You were exhausted, so I took Ida and you undressed by the chair before collapsing on the bed in your lingerie."
"I really should pay attention more to where I drop my clothes," I said as he handed it to me. "Thanks."
He gave me a kiss. "You're welcome," he said. "I'm going to get her bag ready while you get her dressed."
"She finally woke up from her nap?"
"No, but it's better to get her dressed now than leave her in her thin clothes," he said. I nodded and walked to the nursery, pulling out a nice baby winter outfit for Ida. Dressing Ida can be difficult sometimes, but when she's sleeping, it's easier because she tends to sleep through motions and also very loud sounds. After getting her dressed, I walked out of the nursery and handed her to Dick so he could place her in the carrier while I got my shoes on. "Ready?"
I adjusted my scarf. "Yeah," I said, and I picked up the carrier and we headed down to the car.
"Master Richard, Madam Lara, what a nice surprise," Alfred said as he walked to the car. "Ah, and little Ida. She's growing to be an average size toddler." I loved seeing Alfred's face when we bring Ida over. "Your parents are in the main study."
"Thank you, Alfred," I said, and we all walked in.
"Lara," my mother gasped.
"Hello mother, hello father," I said, giving them a hug after I walked in. Dick set Ida's carrier on the couch and gave them a hug as well.
"This is a nice surprise," she said after we pulled away.
"Well, I wanted to say thank you for the package, mother," I said and her smile glowed. "You kept everything after all these years."
"I was attached to the clothing, but knew one day you'd need them as well," she said as Ida woke up from her nap. "Looks like someone's finally awake."
I lightly smiled as Dick picked her up from the carrier to calm her.
"So where's Beth?" I asked.
"She's in the gym practicing," father said.
"I'll stop by in a moment, but Dick and I actually wanted to know if you'd like to take care of Ida for the night?" I asked them. Mother's face automatically lit up. She's been waiting to hear those words from me for a while now.
"Of course," father said before mother could scream out her words. "Don't scare the baby, Chloe." I held back a laugh as my mother gave him a glare.
"I'll be right back," I said to Dick in a light tone. He gave me a brief kiss, I gave Ida a light kiss, and then walked out of the room to go see Beth. She was missing her block on the floor for her combination pass. "You're not getting a good block." she turned, ready to scream at someone but that melted when she saw me, and she ran. I picked her up in a hug. "It's so good to see you, baby sister."
"Out of everyone in the manor, I'm glad you're the one here," she said after I dropped her to her feet. "How long are you going to be here for?"
"Maybe another hour or so," I said. "Dick and I are dropping off Ida to mother and father so we can have a night to ourselves."
"Want to help me practice?" she asked. I smiled.
"I'd love nothing more," I said and we walked back to the floor. "You need more speed and force to get the right block."
"Speed and force, okay," she said and walked to the corner of the mat.
"Don't think about getting the right height until you've got the right force and speed, otherwise you'll land on your back every time," I said. "Go." she picked up her speed and punched out her pass, landing perfectly in the corner. "See?"
"Thanks," she said, walking back over. "Are you up for some hand to hand combat?"
"Yeah," I said, and pulled off my scarf and sweater. We practiced for a while before she called for a break. While I was stretching, I felt a hand on my shoulder, but still instinctive to the combat that Beth and I were doing, I flipped them onto their back, and stared directly at Dick. "Oh! Babe, I'm sorry!"
"That was a nice flip though," he said as I helped him up. "I should be careful not to startle you when you have enough rest."
"I thought Beth was sneaking up behind me," I said.
"I'm on the other side of the room," I heard. I turned around. She was still at the water fountain. "Though it was nice seeing that happen."
"Did you train when you were younger?"
"I excelled through martial arts training when I was younger and was a black belt shortly before I began all those years of moving," I said. "I guess instinct kicked in."
"Well, I'm glad you have those skills. I just wish that we could have put them to use a while back," he said, referring to our kidnapping.
"Hey, it was unexpected," I said. "We're prepared now." he lightly nodded and the three of us left the gym.
"Want to use my shower before we head back?"
"I'll be fine," I said, and we got in the car and left back to the apartment. Once he locked our door, I pulled him along with me. "Besides, now that we have the night to ourselves, why don't we start it off with a shower in our own bathroom with privacy?" he smiled.
"Need a massage?"
"I do need one of those," I said, and we stepped into the shower. I let out a deep sigh as I felt the knots loosen in my shoulders, and just let myself get lost of Dick's hands.
"Whoa there," he said. I slipped and fell back into his arms. "I think we need to get out of the shower and go lay in bed so you don't get hurt." I nodded and shut off the water. After slipping on some lingerie, I got on our bed.
"I'm one lucky guy," Dick said as he climbed onto the bed.
"And I'm one lucky woman," I said as Dick continued to massage my back. "Right, there," I lightly moaned out.
"I don't think you stretched enough before doing those combat practices with Beth," he said.
"Well, we were in the moment, and I forgot to stretch until after she and I practiced," I said. "I am sorry that I flipped you."
"It's fine," he said. "I thought you heard me walk in after you were both done, so I caught you by surprise."
"I should be the one giving the massage, but then again, I'm in a bit more pain, ow!"
"Sorry," he said, and then resumed gently.
...Six years later…
Just after Ida had turned two, Richard and I bought a house in the suburbs, that way we could raise Ida in a home where she can run and play around, and just have a large amount of space that I never got when I was growing up because of all the moves that occurred when I was growing up around her age.
"Mommy, can we go visit Uncle Tim?" Ida asked me one morning as I set a plate of food down on the table.
"Sure, why not?" I said as Dick walked into the kitchen. "Morning."
"Morning," he said.
"Morning, daddy!" she jumped into his arms and he lightly chuckled.
"Morning baby," he said. He gave her a light kiss on top of her head before setting her down on the floor again and Ida walked over and got on the chair to eat her breakfast. "Did I hear something about seeing Tim?"
"She wants to go see Tim, but I think she just really wants to go to the manor again," I said as I handed him a cup of coffee. "Which I can't really blame her." He lightly laughed as he gently took the coffee.
"Thanks, babe," he said and gave me a kiss.
"Mm, one more," I said. He smiled and gave me another kiss.
"When does she start school?"
"Three weeks," I said. "Bruce said he was going to pay for her education?"
"Yeah, sorry I never got to talk to you about that," he said. "I can tell him that he doesn't have to if you're uncomfortable about it-"
"No, no, it's fine," I said. "I just wished he'd have told me a month ago instead of me being told three weeks before school starts that it's already been paid for."
"I can kick his butt if you'd like," he said.
I lightly laughed. "No, there's no need for it," I said. "But if he did something that made me angry, well, then I'll personally kick his butt myself."
"And this is why I try to stay on your good side," Dick said, smiling. "So, when should we leave for the manor?"
"Couple hours?" I said. "I need to shower and get ready for the day."
"Sounds good, can I join you in this shower?" he asked, a grin forming on his face.
"You know, I'd be very sad if you didn't," I said and as Ida ran out of the kitchen and to her playroom. "I'm glad she can't catch on to our little 'jokes'."
"Be thankful it'll be another number of years before she can," he said and we walked up to our room. We didn't lock our bedroom door, but we did lock the bathroom door. Ida might run in later, but it won't bother us as much since our bathroom door will be locked. "Have I ever mentioned that you're beautiful?" he asked as he turned on the water to the shower.
I lightly smiled. "On occasions," I said as he grabbed my waist and pulled me closer. "Well, on several occasions."
"Good," he said and he gave me a kiss.
"We're not going to do anything too sexual, are we?" I asked him.
"Well, nothing that we can't control," he said, and that made me laugh a little. "Come on, I think we need just a little bit of release, don't you agree?"
I grinned. "Can't say no to that," I said, and as the bathroom began to collect steam, the clothes came off and we floated to cloud nine from there.