Author's Note: Thank you all so much for coming back and I hope that you all like this chapter!
The first thing that Anna was aware of when she woke was the feeling of her husband's hand moving back and forth across her bump. For a couple of minutes, she laid in silence with her eyes closed but when she felt their child push one of its little hands or feet against the wall of her womb in response to his touch she opened her eyes and smiled down at her stomach. It had been a month since their return to Downton after staying with her mother which meant that there was just a fortnight until she gave birth. Just the thought of holding the perfect child she'd carried around for nine months set her heart racing.
John had had to go back to work for a while after their trip – news that Adelaide hadn't taken well – but at last he had been granted paid leave which meant that he wasn't expected to resume his duties until two months after the birth of their child. She had loved waking up with his arms around her for the past week. More often than not, when he was working she woke up alone each morning because he hated waking her and so it felt so nice to be able to wake up with him curled around her. 'How much longer are you going to make me wait for my kiss?' She smiled to herself when he whispered quietly in her ear.
The smile that she saw on his lips when she rolled over in his arms made her heart melt and she couldn't resist slipping her arms around his neck. 'Good morning…' She grazed the tip of her nose against his while stroking his hair with her fingers.
'It is a good morning,' He ran a hand along the curve of her side through her nightgown before bringing her as close as her swollen stomach would allow. He then slid his hand around to the small of her back before pressing his lips to hers in a soft kiss. The two of them exchanged several kisses, neither one of them too eager for their embrace to reach its end, before the urge to breathe came along and she pulled back from him. 'You didn't have the best night again, did you?' He sighed while moving his hand from her back to her face so that he could slip a blonde curl back behind her ear before stroking her cheek.
'It's just impossible to find a comfortable position to lie in at this point,' She told him. 'It's not for much longer though.'
'Doctor Clarkson is coming to see you this afternoon, so perhaps he can prescribe something to help you sleep.' He figured.
'I'll ask him and see what he says.' She replied before both of them shared a smile when their bedroom door started to open.
John sat himself up just as Adelaide poked her head around the door and he couldn't help but chuckle when she looked over at him. 'Come on then,' He patted the space between him and her mother on the bed before she stepped inside the room and closed the door behind her. She then hurried over to him with her stuffed bear in hand and raised her arms so that he could help her onto the bed. 'Be careful around your mummy, darling.' He told her as she crawled into the space between him and her mother before smoothing a hand over her red curls when she slid beneath the covers and settled. Oh, how he loved her.
'Morning, mummy.' She said before pressing a kiss onto her lips.
'Morning, princess.' Anna ran the back of her hand down her freckled cheek.
Adelaide then turned to her father before stretching up to press a kiss onto his lips. 'Morning, daddy.'
'Good morning.' His heart swelled at the sparkle he saw in her eyes before she snuggled between him and Anna.
For quite some time after that, the three of them relaxed together in a comfortable silence before Adelaide laid down beside her mother and shuffled closer to her. 'Can you make the baby kick, please, mummy? I want to feel it!' She smiled up at her.
'Let's see if it wants to,' Anna nodded before placing a hand on her large stomach and smoothing the gentlest circles into it. Sure enough, after a couple of seconds she felt her baby kick its feet against the palm of her hand and she lifted her hand off her bump before taking Adelaide's and resting it in the same place. 'Can you feel that?' She covered her hand with her own.
'It's kicking! It's kicking!' Adelaide gasped as the happiness she felt was evident on her face.
Anna brushed several curls out of her daughter's face and back behind her ear before slipping both arms around her middle. 'You're going to be able to hold it in a couple of days,' She said. 'I don't think it wants to wait much longer to come out and meet us because it keeps fidgeting and won't keep still, no matter what I do.' She held her daughter closer when she smiled.
'Why can't the baby just come out now?' Adelaide asked.
'Because it's nice and warm in mummy's tummy at the moment,' John answered before his wife could, prompting their little girl to take her hand off of her mother's stomach and roll over so that she could look at him. 'Your little brother or sister is going to be just as exhausted as mummy when it's born, so it's getting as much rest as it can before it comes out to meet us all,' He watched her nod in understanding before she cuddled against his chest and he chuckled into her hair when he heard the growl of her stomach. 'I think it might be time for us to go downstairs and have some breakfast, sweetheart, don't you?'
Adelaide looked up into his eyes and nodded with a giggle. 'I'm hungry, daddy.'
'I think it's time for someone else's breakfast, too.' Anna stroked her daughter's arm before Adelaide gasped excitedly.
'Bella!' She turned her head in her mother's direction. 'Can I get her breakfast for her? Please?'
Anna nodded. 'Of course!'
In seconds, Adelaide had crawled out from between her parents and gotten off of the bed to rush over to the bedroom door. 'I have a feeling we're going to need a bigger bed when this little one arrives,' Anna teased as her husband helped her to sit up before she sighed when he kissed her on the cheek. The two of them then climbed out of bed before straightening it up a little and walking over to their little girl. 'Come on then, you,' Anna slid her hand into their daughter's. 'We shouldn't keep Bella waiting. We all know how she gets when she's hungry, don't we?' The giggle that Adelaide let out warmed her heart.
She and John then shared a smile before he opened the door for her and their daughter and the three of them began to head downstairs for breakfast.
John couldn't help but smile when he stopped reading the novel in his hands and looked over at his wife as the pair of them sat in a comfortable silence in the sitting room. She was curled up on the settee with Bella sleeping on her legs, a cup of tea cooling on the table beside her and a pair of knitting needles in her hands. He couldn't tell what she was making since she'd just started casting on, but he had a feeling that it was going to be another matinee jacket or hat for their little one. For the last couple of weeks, she had been quite obsessed with making them and he feared that there wouldn't be room for them all.
Still, it managed to take her mind off of the ache in her back and the discomfort she was in for a while and that pleased him. She looked so beautiful and at peace as she sat there in her own little world. Her hair was still in the simple braid that she'd put it into before bed the night before and errant strands had fallen into her face, there was a blanket draped over her small shoulders and she was tension-free since she had finished all of her little chores and Adelaide was taking a nap in her room. 'Staring again, Mr. Bates?' She tutted with a smirk without looking up from her knitting and he laughed softly in response.
'Can you blame me? When I have such a gorgeous wife?' He closed his book before placing it down on the arm of his chair.
Her gaze flitted to him for a moment and she blessed him with the little side-smile that she reserved for him before settling back into her cushion, glancing at Bella as she shuffled further down her legs and going back to whatever she was knitting. For some time after that, he sat in silence and watched her knit with ease and it was clear that she could feel him looking at her because she kept smiling to herself. 'What?' She laughed eventually while putting her knitting needles down in her lap.
'Come here.' He held his hand out to her.
'I'm kind of in the middle of something.' She teased while lifting her knitting needles again to prove her point.
He feigned hurt. 'You would rather knit than come and have a cuddle with your husband?'
She pretended to consider his words for a moment before looking into his eyes. 'Well…'
'Just come here.' He told her.
With a giggle, she put her knitting needles and the ball of white wool into the basket on the floor before sliding Bella off of her legs and onto the cushion next to her. She then trailed a hand along her back, revelling in the softness of her fur, before pushing herself to her feet and all but waddling over to her husband's chair. Once she had sat down in his lap, he laced both arms around her middle and let her rest her head on his shoulder as he traced the curve of her bump with his hand. 'I adore being pregnant, but if there's one thing I'm looking forward to about giving birth then it's losing this bump.' She admitted.
'I like it.' He replied while pressing his cheek against her forehead.
'Because it's not attached to you,' She pointed out. 'Believe me, if it made it nigh-on impossible for you to find a comfortable position to sleep in and if it weighed you down from dawn till dusk then you'd feel different. I'm not saying that I hate it – that's not true at all – but I just think I would find things a little easier if I wasn't so massive. If the size of me is anything to go off of, our baby is going to be massive,' She heard her husband chuckle and a tender smile spread across her lips when she tilted her head back on his shoulder to look into his eyes. 'I'm grumbling far too much about all of this and I apologize.'
He shook his head in response and took one hand off of her stomach before lifting it to her face in order to caress her cheek. 'Don't apologize,' He soothed. 'You're exhausted and uncomfortable, darling, so if anyone has the right to grumble then it's you,' He watched her lips curl into a smile before she rested a hand on his chest and placed the gentlest of kisses on his lips. 'Maybe you should take advantage of Adelaide letting us put her down for a nap and go and get a couple of hours yourself.'
'You know; I think I might. If you don't mind, that is.' She replied.
'Of course I don't mind,' He stroked her spine through her cardigan. 'You need to sleep as much as possible at the moment.'
She nodded before lowering her hand from his chest to her bump with a quiet sigh when she felt their child shift its weight. 'Come upstairs with me?' She asked as she cuddled against him. 'I want you to read poems to me. It helps me to fall asleep.'
'I should be able to manage that, I suppose,' He teased and ran a hand along her side which made her smile before she stood and walked over to the settee for Bella while he rose from his chair. The little kitten mewled as she lifted her into her arms, not too pleased to be woken from her slumber, but soon relaxed in her arms when she scratched her gently behind the ears. She felt John's hand on the small of her back when Bella settled and she smiled up at him before sighing when he kissed her on the cheek. 'Come on. Let's get you to bed.' He told her while sliding his arm around her waist and looking into her eyes.
She nodded in response before snugging Bella closer to her chest, leaning against him and allowing him to guide her out of the sitting room and up the stairs to bed.
'Look who decided to wake up at long last,' John whispered as he watched his little girl shuffle into the sitting room almost two hours later. She seemed to be half-asleep as she approached his chair with her stuffed dog in hand and his heart swelled when she stopped beside him and let her head fall onto his arm. Just one look into her eyes told him that she was still tired. 'Do you want to come and have a cuddle with me until you wake up a little, sweetness?' He asked after kissing her hairline.
She responded with a silent nod before taking her head off of his shoulder and shuffling around to the front of his armchair. He then took her waist in his hands and lifted her into his lap before she curled up and laid her head on his chest. Once he'd convinced himself that she was comfortable, he put his arms around her and settled his chin atop her head before smiling at the sound of her contented sigh. 'Daddy, please can I ask you a question?' She asked him after sitting in his arms for a time.
'You can ask me anything you like, Addie.' He promised her when she tilted her head back on his chest and looked at him.
She hesitated for a moment-or-so before taking a deep breath, curling her fingers into the front of his shirt and cuddling up to him. 'Can we still have Addie and daddy time when the baby is born?' She inquired. 'I have to share you, but I like Addie and daddy time and I don't want to share that with the baby. Can you have Addie and daddy time and then baby and daddy time? Please?' John felt his heart sink in his chest as he could tell that this wasn't something little. She was feeling worried.
The two of them had had Addie and daddy time ever since he and Anna had brought her home to the cottage seven months ago. During that time, the two of them would spend time together while Anna took a long soak in the bath or caught up on some sleep. It was a time for them to snuggle and talk, to do arts and crafts and just bond in general. Knowing that she felt as though he wouldn't have time for that once the baby was born broke his heart. He would never stop having time for her.
'Oh, princess,' He cupped her face in his hands and looked into her sad eyes. 'I'm going to be a little busier than usual when the baby's here, but that doesn't mean I'm going to stop spending time with you. You are so, so important to me and shall I tell you why that is?' She nodded and his hands left her face so that he could hold her in his arms again. 'Because you're the one who made me a daddy. You were my baby first and – no matter what happens – I am never going to love you any less.'
The happiness that shone in her eyes lifted his spirits and he chuckled when she wrapped both of her arms around his neck. 'Please can I tell you a special secret, daddy?' She asked while playing with the hairs she came across at the base of his neck.
'Of course.' He nodded.
'You're my best friend in the whole wide world.' She whispered.
He couldn't help but chuckle before he pressed his lips to her forehead. 'And you, Adelaide Bates, are mine.'
The two of them shared a smile before she settled in his arms again. 'Where's mummy?'
'I sent her upstairs for a nap because she was feeling tired,' He said to her. 'I don't think she'll be too much longer, though.'
'Would you like to have some Addie and daddy time with me?' There was hope sparkling in her eyes as she looked at him.
He gasped. 'You come up with the best ideas, princess, I can't believe I didn't think of that!'
'I'm in charge of fun, daddy, that's what mummy says whenever we play together while you're at work.' She revealed.
He chuckled. 'So, what does the little angel in charge of fun suggest we do?'
She tapped her chin with her forefinger while thinking for a couple of seconds. 'Let's have a picnic with the dolls and bears!'
'We can have some custard creams with them,' He smiled at her. 'Mummy won't be pleased if we spoil our dinner, will she?'
She shook her head. 'Come on, daddy, let's go and find the biscuits and go and wake the dolls and bears up.'
He waited for her to leave his lap before he rose from his armchair and slipped his hand into her own, smoothing his thumb across her knuckles. 'Those dolls and bears need an alarm clock, darling, they're never awake when they're supposed to be.'
She tutted. 'I keep telling them.'
The two of them laughed together before she began to leave the sitting room and he followed behind her with a smile, more than ready to spend some quality time with the little girl that he was blessed enough to call his own.
Once Anna had pressed a kiss onto his lips after climbing into bed beside him once she had finished up in the bathroom late that night, she laid down and he encircled her in his arms as she laid her head on his shoulder. 'John, what's troubling you?'
'What makes you ask that?' He asked after turning his head in her direction and looking into her eyes.
She draped her arm over his stomach and sighed. 'You don't have to hide your feelings from me, my darling, I'm your wife.'
He smiled somewhat at knowing that she was right. He had always been able to talk to her about anything that was on his mind and she had never judged or laughed at him for it. 'It's just something that Addie brought up after her nap earlier this afternoon. She asked me if she and I would still have Addie and daddy time together once the baby's here. It wasn't a minor thing either. It was something that she was genuinely anxious about and the look in her eyes just…it just broke my heart.'
'Did you talk to her about it?' She ran her fingers along the front of his chest.
He nodded. 'I told her that I would never stop having time for her and that she's important to me because I became a father when we adopted her. I told her that she was our baby first and that even though we're having another, neither one of us is ever going to love her less than we do now.' He felt her nod against his shoulder before she left a delicate kiss on his cheek.
'So, what else is there to be worried about?' She asked.
He thought for a moment before realising he'd been worried about nothing. 'Nothing, I suppose.'
'Exactly,' She replied. 'There was a problem and you handled it, so you should just forget about it and start moving on.'
He tightened his hold of her and pulled her closer before turning his head and pressing a number of kisses onto her temple. 'What on earth would I do without you?' He asked once he had pulled back from her a little and lovingly caressed her back.
'I ask myself that same question every day.' She snuggled further into him before settling down in his embrace and sighing.
'Tired?' He ran his hand over her hair.
She hummed. 'I didn't manage to get much sleep when I came upstairs for that nap. Bella, on the other hand, did.'
'Get some sleep, darling.' He told her after chuckling and dropping a kiss to the top of her head.
She tilted her head back to look up at him. 'But I thought you wanted to come to bed a bit earlier so that we could cuddle.'
'We are cuddling,' He pointed out. 'I don't understand your argument.'
She rolled her eyes at him in a good-natured manner. 'Well, I won't be able to get so sleep like this.'
Understanding what she meant, he waited for her to roll over onto her other side before he turned over and kissed the back of her shoulder while sliding an arm around her waist. He then covered her further with their quilt before pulling her back into his chest and settling with her. 'Do you think you might be able to get some sleep like this?' He asked in a gentle voice.
'We'll have to find out,' She replied before turning down the lamp on her nightstand and kill the flame. 'Night-night, John.'
'Night-night, Anna,' He whispered into the darkness. 'I love you.'
'I love you too…' She sighed and closed her eyes as he stroked her stomach. 'So, so much.'
Author's Note: Thank you all so much for taking the time to read this chapter and I would be so grateful if you would leave me a review to let me know what you thought. I'll see you in the next chapter!