After being in the hospital for two days, Alex and Piper are ready to go home and get into their own routine. Ella is a good baby. Yes, she cries and needs diaper changes every 20 minutes it seems like, but she is a good baby. She sleeps, which is a good thing, and Piper and Alex are keeping their fingers crossed that she keeps up the sleeping habit.
Piper and Ella are wheeled outside as Alex brings the car around. The get her car seat all buckled in and secured, and after Alex inspects it a hundred time, it is deemed safe for travel. Piper slides in next to Ella, and Alex goes around and starts the short 5 minute drive to their apartment. They unload everything, not that there is much to unload, a couple bags and of course, Ella.
They walk inside the front door to see that Nicky and Red have obviously been there and cleaned their apartment, but that's okay. It probably really needed it.
"Ella, you're home!" Alex whispers as she reaches down and takes the baby out of her carrier, kissing her. They walk back to the nursery and Alex places her in her crib. Piper and Alex stand there for a few minutes just watching her sleep. Alex turns on the baby monitors and angles it so she can see Ella perfectly and they walk out of the room and into their bedroom which is right next door.
Piper and Alex both collapse on the bed, totally exhausted. Piper falls asleep almost instantly. Alex is too nervous to sleep, so she goes into the office to grab some of the baby things they had bought. She grabs the box with the bassinet in it, and takes it into the living room to put it together. It takes about an hour, but she decided that she wants Ella to sleep in their room, at least for the first couple of weeks, until they get a routine down. She carries the bassinet into the bedroom and sets it on her side of the bed, for now, since she is the one who is awake. She walks into the nursery and sees that Ella is just beginning to stir. She checks her diaper, which is definitely in need of a change. She cleans her up and figures that she is probably hungry. Piper hasn't started pumping, so Alex has to wake her up to feed Ella.
Piper sits up slowly, still sore obviously. She feeds Ella and then she hands her over to Alex who burps her, swaddles her, and then places her in the bassinet. Alex lays down, watching her daughter sleep, until she is overcome by sleep, too.
Ella has a first good night at home. She only cries a couple of time to be fed and changed, which is good, because Piper can do the feedings, and then Alex takes over the changing and soothing. Alex knows how tired Piper is. She wants her to do as little as possible for now, so other than feeding, Alex is covering all the bases.
Piper wakes up, and has a brief panic moment when she looks at the bassinet, which had been moved to her side of the bed, and sees that it's empty. She looks next to her and no Alex. Piper gets up quickly and walks into the nursery. Empty. She walks out to the living room and her heart swells. Ella is laying on Alex's chest as Alex lays asleep on the rug.
Piper walks over and gets the camera, making sure she gets this moment on camera. They had probably taken a few hundred photos since she was born, but Piper thinks this one is going to be her favorite.
Piper takes this little bit of quiet time to go through some of their baby gifts they had gotten, and find the breast pumps. She figures it will make things easier if she just goes ahead and does it now, so she reads the instructions, puts them together and it starts to pump.
"Jesus Christ" she says. It's so uncomfortable, but she knows she has to do it.
She goes and puts the pumped milk in the fridge and makes sure they're labeled and times are written down on them.
She goes and sits on the couch and just watches her wife and daughter laying there on the floor. After a little while, Alex wakes up, careful to not disturb the sleeping newborn laying on top of her. She spots the blonde sitting on the couch smiling at them.
"Good morning, baby. How long have you been sitting there?" She says, gently lifting Ella, so that she can get up and place her in the rocker so she can go sit with Piper.
She sits down and snuggles up next to Piper, wrapping around her arms and resting her head on her. They're both staring at the sleeping baby who has no clue that anybody is watching her.
"This doesn't seem real." Piper says
"I know, I keep thinking it's a dream, and I'm going to wake up and she's not going to be here, and I panic."
"How long have you been out here with her?"
"Uh, since about 7, so like 3 hours." Alex says, looking at the clock on the wall. "She was a little fussy after you fed her, so I brought her out here and decided to lay down with her. I didn't want to lay on the couch, you know, in case she rolled or something."
"Oh, well that makes sense."
"So, what are we going to do today?"
I don't know, it's up to you. Whatever you want."
"I kind of just want to be here. Just the three of us for a couple days before we have anyone over. You know what I mean?"
"Yeah, I think that's a good idea." Alex says, kissing Piper's cheek. "I'm going to make us some breakfast." She says, getting up and walking into the kitchen.
Piper is sitting on the couch just thinking taking everything in. She's never been so happy in her life. She feels complete.
So they're home. Hopefully you all enjoyed this chapter. Lots more to come, so please review and leave feedback, because it is much appreciated, and very helpful when I'm writing. Writing this story is the only thing getting me through the week, and I hope you all like it as much as I do. Anyways, thanks for reading!