I'm like a paper plane. That's called the winds that change. I've never sailed so high. Your love will be my lullaby. I'm like a paper paper plane. Cant be afraid of heights. Don't know how far I'll fly. Just keep me in your heavenly sights
3rd April 2021
The beginning of April was proving to be good so far, with the weather being nice and warm. Dylan had taken Amhar out a lot of times now that he was on holiday and had completed the majority of his work early to allow for him to have a longer break. The offer on the house had been accepted fortunately, Merlin and Morgana quickly paid their ten percent deposit so they could move into the next stage and soon get the keys. They had tenants ready to move in to their house that had had a couple of viewings and decided they loved the place so for now William Jones would not be much of a problem.
Easter Sunday was tomorrow and Merlin and Morgana were currently busy hiding Easter eggs around the house though in obvious places so Amhar could easily find them, and maybe Alfie too. He wasn't yet crawling though would shuffle while on his bottom or on his tummy in a type of army-crawl. They had ten small chocolate eggs hidden with smarties that would be hidden around the house, they wanted to hide them outside but it was still frosty at night time and it would be awkward to deal with frosted chocolate eggs and keep up the pretence of 'The Easter Bunny came!' so it was easier to do it indoors. Amhar had drifted off and Alfie was asleep in bed so Merlin and Morgana were 'hiding' the eggs around downstairs, one on the stairs, a couple on the mantle of the fireplace, kitchen table and dotted around. By the fireplace they'd also planned to keep the Easter baskets for the kids and also the eggs for themselves that they had agreed to get (a Thornton's unicorn for Morgana and Thornton's football for Merlin).
The baskets for the children were simple cheap and round blue ones that were only a pound, filled with different trinkets for each. Alfie had lots of dummies, a pack of melty puff snacks, farm animal eggs, a bunny stacker, jellycat toy duck, cuddly bunny rattle, a corn and banana teether, some baby pasta and a gorgeous little grey elephant comforter (it had a head attached to a blanket), much like Amhar's blue striped bunny one, though he had an Elmer the elephant one too.
Amhar had a huge chocolate egg, a talking toy Peter rabbit, Peter rabbit costume, chocolate Peter rabbit, Peter rabbit mug (they were sticking with the Easter theme!) a little hot chocolate mug melt thing shaped like a chicken, and a paw patrol bowl and cup with spoon and another little egg.
"I get the feeling that this year Easter's going to be much better than last year" Morgana smiled as she looked around the living room.
"Me too" Merlin agreed. "We can see my mum and dad. Alfie's here and he gets on well with Amhar, he's a great big brother".
"And the end seems to be in sight" Morgana said wistfully. "The fact that we're technically just out of lockdown after a whole year is crazy".
"Here's to the next?" Merlin awkwardly shrugged.
"Here's to the next" Morgana agreed. "We need to get ourselves a passport for Alfie and Amhar".
"Oh yeah, we do" Merlin realised. "I thought we were for one for Alfie last year?".
"No, we didn't get round to it in the end" Morgana shrugged. "I need to renew my passport too as it's expired. Do you need yours doing?".
"My one is fine for now" Merlin said. "I got my adult one when I was eighteen? I think. It doesn't expire until 2022".
"Mine did last year" Morgana grimaced. "So we ought to get the kids done".
"Then after May we can go abroad hopefully".
"Hopefully indeed" Morgana agreed.
4th April 2021
A typical day in the Emrys house had begun, Amhar had awoken and Merlin and Morgana squeezed their eyes shut against the bright sunlight, it was due to be extremely sunny and warm on Easter.
"Has he come?" Amhar asked.
"What the!" Morgana spluttered, jerking Alfie as he had his morning feed which the baby scowled in protest at.
"The Easter bunny!" Amhar sighed as though it was the most obvious thing in the world (as he tended to do). "Did he come?".
"I guess we ought to see" Merlin grumbled as he got up. "I'll start the breakfast and lunch. Alfie still feeding?".
"He has been for an hour" Morgana sighed as she sat up. "I think for now he'll be fine with food, I can feed him later if he needs to be fed. Okay, let's make up this bed, brush teeth and head down". With Amhar's help, it took around ten minutes to make the bed and keep it nice and tidy before they all brushed their teeth, went to the toilet and made sure the baby's nappy had been changed, followed by eggs for breakfast. Amhar eagerly looked at the fireplace as he walked past but carried on into the kitchen for breakfast, patiently waiting until everyone had finished before going to the living room.
"That for me!" Amhar squealed as he grabbed his Easter basket. "And that for Alfie!".
"Nothing for mummy or daddy?" Morgana pouted.
"Yeah, mummy had unicorn and daddy had football" Amhar said as he passed them their respective eggs.
"Oh good" Morgana said as she sat down on the floor and put Alfie in her lap.
"Alfie has boring stuff" Amhar declared. "All baby toys. Bleh. I have big kid stuff".
"You do, cause you're a big boy" Morgana agreed. "Shall we see what you have?". The parents helped the two children take their things out (well, Amhar insisted on doing most of his himself and Alfie was in his own little world not really caring much as he lay on his tummy).
"Ooh! Is that chocolate egg up there?" Amahr asked as he jumped up and down.
"I think the Easter bunny hides eggs around the room for us all to find" Morgana said. "Shall we try to find them?".
"Yeah!" Amhar beamed. Merlin helped Amhar to go around while Morgana stayed on the floor with Alfie, smiling at the baby and cooing at him.
"I share with Alfie" Amhar said as he placed a couple in the baby's basket. "He doesn't have any".
"They're all for you kiddo" Morgana said. "Alfie doesn't eat chocolate cause he's a baby".
"All for me!" Amhar gasped.
"All for you" Merlin confirmed. "This year anyway".
"Yayyyyy!" Amhar squealed as he jumped up and down a couple of times.
"Merlin look!" Morgana gasped as Alfie went onto his knees and hands, rocking back and forth.
"Oh my god!" Merlin grabbed the camera.
"Alfie, come to mummy!" Morgana said as she shuffled backwards slightly. Alfie crawled a tiny bit and fell into Morgana's lap.
"Well done baby!" Morgana gasped as she kissed his chubby cheeks. "Well done! Mummy's so proud of you".
"And Amhar" Amhar added.
"And daddy" Merlin added too.
"I guess we ought to start on lunch then" Morgana said as she stood up with Alfie. "And get into our Easter clothes. It's so nice and warm".
"It is, a miracle for this early in April" Merlin agreed. Easter lunch/dinner would be a vegetarian chicken with vegan gravy, roast vegetables and Yorkshire puddings, Amhar playing outside with Alfie happily playing with his new stacking rings in the highchair while Merlin and Morgana went about doing their food. They decided to cook in their pyjamas to keep their outfits nice and clean. Naturally though, Amhar was bored of playing by himself for a while so Merlin and Morgana ended up taking it in turns to entertain the toddler and also ensure the dinner was nicely cooked.
"Mum and dad are going to be so happy!" Merlin exclaimed. "I can't wait to see their faces!".
"The offer's accepted so now we jus need to get the last part done!" Morgana said. "Well, this is the last major holiday for us in this place".
"All the memories we have from here" Merlin wistfully sighed. "There's so many".
"Babysitting Amhar for the first time" Morgana chuckled at the memory. "Coming back to this empty house after the accident. Our first kiss after the fallout. You asking me to marry you".
"Not getting pregnant as that happened in the hospital" Merlin grinned. "We've had some good times here haven't we? Things weren't always plain sailing but now, things can only seem to get better".
"Exactly" Morgana agreed and kissed her husband's forehead as they looked outside at Amhar, the two year old standing at the top of the slide. They awkwardly watched as he tumbled down the slide and landed with a loud thud at the bottom. Merlin and Morgana glanced at each other, bit their (respective) lips and burst out laughing. Amhar saw that and began crying, Merlin going outside and picking Amhar up.
"Oh dear, what happened?" Morgana sniggered.
Amhar looked at Morgana and cried harder, crying "dad, pick me up". Merlin lifted him up and he buried his head on his shoulder.
"You're fine sweetie" Merlin insisted. "It's okay".
"Well, I'm leaving this chicken in the oven, let's get changed" Morgana said as she took Alfie out the high chair. They changed into some nice, semi-fancy outfits—safari dungarees with a t-shirt for Alfie, matching with Amhar (though of course a bigger size!), Morgana wore a long black dress with cherries on it (even though it would be hard to breastfeed in it, she felt comfortable enough with everyone that was coming to undo the dress and take half of it down to feed Alfie as necessary), while Merlin had jeans and a nice blue checkered shirt. They put the children in the travel cot outside while they went between the kitchen and outside (despite being early April it was warm enough to leave the doors open and not get the house cold), setting the tables and moving the highchair while keeping an eye on the children, kids music playing in the background to keep them happy.
"Alfie! Are you baby shark!" Amhar squealed as baby shark played.
Alfie grinned showing off his two bottom teeth as Amhar did the hand motions for baby shark.
"Is baby shark going to get me!" Amhar shouted as he did it near Alfie's mouth.
"This isn't ending well" Morgana muttered as she grabbed her phone to record.
"I have a bad feeling about this" Merlin added.
"Who's the baby shark!" Amhar cooed as he put his forefinger near Alfie's mouth. "Alfie is!".
Alfie went forwards and sunk his two tiny teeth onto Amhar's finger with a massive grin on his face.
"Ouch! Ouch Alfie, ouch!" Amhar screamed. "Alfie! That hurt!".
Merlin and Morgana looked away sniggering.
"What happened!" Morgana gasped.
"Alfie bit my finger" Amhar said solemnly. "Naughty Alfie".
"He's only a baby Amhar" Merlin sighed.
"That weallly hurt!" Amhar continued. "Naughty, naughty Alfie". Alfie didn't seem to care and grinned showing off his two new teeth and giggled. "No" Amhar said and smacked him on the cheek.
Morgana immediately put her phone down and went over to them. "No" she said harshly to Amhar as Alfie began to cry. "No. No hitting".
"He bit me" Amhar shrugged as Alfie cried louder.
"We do not hit Amhar" Merlin reprimanded. "That's naughty. Alfie's only a baby so he doesn't know what he's doing, you're a big boy now. Big boys don't hit".
"Uh oh" Amhar shrugged.
"I'm afraid we'll have to put you in time out" Merlin decided as Morgana sat down to feed Alfie, he was still extremely upset from being slapped by his brother and when he was hysterical like this only the boob could calm him down.
"Okay" Amhar pouted as Merlin removed the toys from the travel cot and went over to the table.
"Ouch!" Morgana gasped. "Alfie, no. No biting".
"Naughty Alfie" Amhar scolded.
"Amhar, you are in time out. You need to stay there and be quiet until the timer goes off" Morgana reminded him as she gently massaged her sore nipple and tried latching Alfie on, sighing in relief as he didn't bite her that time. Amhar was extremely grumpy after his time-out, even when he was allowed to play normally, scowling and sulking still. Hunith and Balinor arrived in time for lunch, Amhar immediately running to them and saying how mean mummy and daddy were for putting him in time out (though naturally, there were less sympathetic after hearing the full story) while Merlin and Morgana rolled their eyes, soon sitting down to dinner.
"How's things with the house coming along?" Hunith asked.
Merlin and Morgana grinned at each other and Morgana elbowed her husband to share the news.
"Our offer has been accepted" Merlin revealed.
"Wait, you got the house!" Balinor gasped.
"We did" Morgana confirmed with a smile. "Our solicitor checked it, we've put the deposit down so hopefully by end of April we shall have moved in".
"That's great news!" Hunith exclaimed. "We're really happy for you, truly".
"What about you guys?" Morgana asked. "When about's you planning to move back here?".
"In July hopefully" Balinor said. "You go back to work in September, don't you Morgana?".
"That's correct" Morgana confirmed. "Hopefully no face masks while teaching though by then. I am slightly nervous about Alfie starting nursery though, having just bought the house and with us needing a new car it is looking slightly uncertain about us being able to afford it for two little one's. That and Alfie being a lockdown baby means that he isn't used to people at all so".
"We've been thinking about that" Hunith said. "I was wondering if it would be okay for me to look after Alfie while you're working? If that's okay with you. Completely free of course".
"You're sure!" Morgana gasped. "That would make it so much easier, we'd only have the nursery fees for Amhar and Alfie already knows you so".
"I'm sure" Hunith confirmed. "I'd love to. We've actually found a house here in Camelot and have been planning to sell the place on Northern Plains and move to Camelot instead".
"That'd been amazing" Merlin whispered.
"It would be" Morgana agreed. "Thank you so much Hunith, that's great of you to do". It might've been the last holiday in that house though the new adventure was beginning.
A/N: I forgot to post last week as it was a bank holiday LMAO. Anyway as things are now normal again this week I remembered. Let me know what you all thought of this chapter and thank you for reading!