A/N: Sorry for late update but keep forgetting to post! I've managed to catch up more now and have an inventory of chapters left. I also made a couple of minor changes to some chapters in STAGES OF LOATHING and STAGES OF MIRTH as some parts didn't make sense before so I corrected them. And now it's time to buy the house!
All it'd take is 24 hours, sign the check and the place is ours, it's a little soon but I wanna come home to you. I don't know how this'll go, I promise that I'll love you so. I'll bet it all on me and you, I'll bet it all youre bulletproof. Let's throw away our backup plans, and people might not understand. Who cares about if they approve, I'll face them all to be with you
12th April 2021
"Amhar's nursery bag and lunch, the baby bag, I've got the bee in the boot so I can take Alfie around the shops easier as I know it'll be busy—have you got all your work stuff?".
"Yup, these two bags" Merlin replied as he held them up.
"Perfect" Morgana smiled. "I've had a booking in with the Peugeot showroom in Avalon to look at the cars, I might pop into town depending on how busy things are". Merlin and Morgana had done a lot of research and had decided after a lot of research the best car choice for Morgana to move on to would be the Peugeot 3008, though it naturally needed to be seen in person and ideally test driven to decide if it was a good car for them. They'd keep Merlin's Volkswagen Golf for nipping around as it was smaller and not an SUV so would be easier to park when they didn't need as much stuff like when doing the school run. With it being the twelfth of April the lockdown had officially ended as non-essential retail had now opened alongside hair/nail salons, holidays within England, outdoor pubs and restaurants, theme parks, cinemas and no more curfew (not that Merlin and Morgana would take note of that one, with two young children meaning that they'd have to stay at home in the evenings).
"That'd be good to see the new cars and whatnot" Merlin commented. "Though today's the day?".
"Well it's fourteen days to the date since we put our ten percent deposit down, I presume so" she smiled.
"Well, twenty-four hours then the place is ours" Merlin smiled as he wrapped his arm around his wife and kissed her then the baby in her arms.
"Yeah" Morgana grinned. "Twenty-fourth of April".
"Well that's hoping it goes through of course. Good planning on getting the removal vans in early. And demolishing the conservatory". With Merlin no longer working from home, the conservatory was currently being used as an inventory of sorts with the old beds from their apartments being stored alongside many things from the attic that they had gotten down ready for the move with the baby carnage that wasn't used often (the double buggy's spare seat fabrics/carrycot/basket, the lightweight one Morgana had panic bought, and the maxi Cosi packed up in a protective bag).
"But first, you need to go to work and Amhar needs to go to nursery. Today is a busy day".
"You braving primark?" Merlin asked as he put his shoes on while Morgana put Alfie in the car seat.
"Next week, at the earliest" Morgana scoffed. "No way am I queuing with a baby for that long. I rather like online shopping too and the only reason actual shops are good is for trying things on before you buy them so you don't have to faff around with returns. Okay, back door locked, window's closed and oven cooker off?".
"I'll check, you get the kids strapped in" Merlin replied as he kissed his wife. Morgana picked up Alfie's car seat and held Amhar's hand as they walked to the car. She put Alfie's car seat onto the base and then went over to the drivers side and strapped Amhar in his car seat, tightened the straps and climbed into the front seat. Merlin joined her after he'd locked the door and put his bags in the boot, as they began the drive to Camelot. The radio was on with the hosts talking about how good it was to have the kids at school, the shops reopening and some other related things that Merlin and Morgana didn't pay attention to. Morgana dropped Merlin off in front of Camelot grammar school, giving him a chaste kiss as she dropped him in the car park and remaining calm despite the endless traffic and road rage. She made it to Amhar's nursery on time, urging him to go in as he clung to her leg and cried while she handed over his bag and awkwardly held Alfie's car seat (they were no longer allowed in the nursery to settle the children due to covid guidelines and instead handed them over at the nursery gate).
"What shall we do today Alfie?" Morgana cooed as she positioned herself in the drivers seat. As of late she had gotten used to driving Merlin's car, it was bigger and with all the baby and toddler crap they needed all the room they could get, though as it was just her with Alfie she was fine to have her small polo for the day. "We need to go take a look at the new car, mummy's hoping to test drive it too. Maybe have some lunch outside? But then the flies... well, we don't have baby swimming until Friday and are free all day today with no baby sensory so we shall see". Morgana headed over towards the A40 though stopped at the local costa to sit down for a coffee and to breastfeed Alfie before she got them all in the car and headed over to Avalon.
First stop as planned was Avalon, morgana driving around the industrial estate areas of the city before she found Peugeot and parked up. She strapped Alfie into the ergo on her chest and headed in, checking in with the track and trace app and gaining entry before being guided to her car. She moved Alfie's car seat base over to the 3008 and then put the seat with Alfie in sideways as usual and turning it to rear facing, pleasantly surprised at how much better the spin function was within an SUV. She drove around a bit and then returned the car, talking to the people there about how she had decided that she liked it though would check with her husband and needed to move house first before heading off.
Afterwards she began driving towards Tesco, the one in Avalon being much bigger therefore better in Morgana's opinion (though she mainly preferred the layout!) and having more options of things to buy, given that they usually had the food delivered and it was from Camelot meaning it was a bit more restricted. That and they couldn't order clothes online. Fortunately the Tesco wasn't busy (it had remained open throughout lockdown anyway) so Morgana parked up in one of the baby and parents spaces, put Alfie in the buggy and masked up as she walked in. Even though he was now eight months so may have wanted to look around, he was a lockdown baby and not used to seeing other people so Morgana kept him parent facing. When Amhar was that age they'd had him in a basic umbrella stroller though times had changed significantly, Alfie gazing up adorably at his mother.
"We need some bigger baby clothes, don't we?" Morgana asked him smiling under her mask as she made her way to the baby clothes section. "No more three to six month old clothes, I think we shall go with six to nine months now. Those should fit you, shouldn't they?".
Alfie babbled slightly and slumped to the side as he held his hands close to his face with an adorable little smile.
"I can't believe how big you're getting!" Morgana gasped as she looked around and saw the tiny newborn clothes. That alongside a few pregnant women. They looked to be around five months pregnant, not looking too heavily pregnant though having a rather prominent bump, looking rather confident as they cooed over newborn clothes. Morgana remembered when she was pregnant with Alfie. How she didn't feel comfortable until she was well into her sixth month. That combined with the pandemic didn't help at all. Granted they'd had three lockdowns and thing's were looking back to normal (provided the Delta variant wasn't too deadly) though it still sent a pang of sadness through Morgana. The fact that she wasn't able to relax when she was pregnant with Alfie until the later stages due to the miscarriage. The amount of fear she had as a new mother in the middle of a pandemic. Coupled with a previous miscarriage at a time when she was extremely vulnerable did nothing to help with her anxiety. Though the baby was here now, he was happy, safe and grinning up at his mother as he chewed his sophie la giraffe.
"How old's your little one?" One of the women asked, though kept her distance.
"Eight months" Morgana smiled.
"Oh wow, so a lockdown baby! He looks tiny".
"He is" Morgana agreed. "We've only just moved up to six to nine month old clothes. When his brother was this age I could've sworn he was a lot bigger!".
"Aw you've got two, that's so sweet" she cooed at Alfie. "How was the birth?".
"Thirty hour labour with no epidural, managed on gas and air plus the birthing pool".
"Bloody hell woman, you're a super mum!".
"Thank you" Morgana blushed slightly.
"Though with coronavirus, nothing to worry about is there? With the birth?".
"No" Morgana reassured her. "They swabbed me as soon as they could, fortunately negative. I didn't have to wear a mask and neither did my husband though I believe things have changed now".
"Oh yeah, it looks bad. Some women had to wear face masks during labour".
"I wouldn't stress about it" Morgana said. "They can hardly force the mask on you. When are you due?".
"September".
"Good luck with the rest of your pregnancy" Morgana said, Alfie was starting to get agitated as he'd need a feed then his nap.
"Thank you, you too with the little one".
"Right baby, we need your nappies then we can go home" Morgana said as she wheeled the baby to the baby aisle. "Still in size three, I guess you are tiny" she mused. She could've sworn that Amhar was in size four or even five at this age. She paid for the shopping and headed back to the car, feeding Alfie before she put him in his car seat and drove back home. Alfie remained asleep and Morgana put him in the ergo as she began preparing the family's favourite meal, vegetable lasagne with her favourite music on in the background. She eventually sat down with Alfie and played with him happily, giggling and smiling. They wouldn't have much more time in the country and they had planned to make the most of it while they could.
Morgana waited for the lasagne to cook down after it had finished cooking, sprinkling it with cheese and dishing herself a plate and leaving a bit on the highchair tray for Alfie (baby-led-weaning was great albeit messy). As of late he'd been living having food so Morgana would tend to put a huge bib over him for lunch and then strip him down to a nappy for his dinner so he could go straight in the bath. Usually he'd have three naps a day (at nine to ten, then twelve until one followed by three thirty to four) though today had to have two longer ones to fit in with their schedule. In the middle of lunch Morgana's phone had begun to ring.
"Let's see who it is!" Morgana gasped at Alfie before checking the caller. The estate agents.
"Hello?" Morgana greeted.
"Hiya, this is Katie your solicitor".
"Oh hi Katie" Morgana smiled and stood up. "How are thing's coming along with the house?".
"They've been going great" Katie responded. "As it's now been fourteen days, if you'd like to pop down to sign the check later today?".
"That'd be perfect" Morgana smiled. She was grinning on the outside though on the inside trying to resist everything within her to stop herself jumping for joy. "Is four-thirty okay?" Then I'll have my husband too though we will have to bring the children.
"That's perfect. Don't worry about the children as we social distance".
"Okay great, thank you!" Morgana grinned and jumped as soon as she hung up. "Mummy and daddy are buying a house!" She squealed as she picked Alfie up. He didn't understand though grinned and gurgled, glad to see his mother happy.
"Okay, back to food baby" Morgana decided. "And now I've got lasagne sauce over my top. Oh well. Mummy's so happy she doesn't care!".
Morgana put him down in his highchair and got on the phone to Merlin. It was half-twelve so his lunch had started.
"Hey babe" Merlin greeted. "Everything okay?".
"Four thirty, today!" Morgana squealed. "We're going down to the solicitor, signing all the papers then … twenty four hours".
"That's brilliant!" Merlin exclaimed. "So we're getting it?".
"We are" Morgana confirmed. "Four-thirty today. I'm going to collect Amhar early today, I'll call the nursery to let them know".
"That's great! I'll see you later then".
"I can't wait for it" Morgana grinned. After finishing lunch and cleaning up Alfie she sat down in the rocking chair to breastfeed Alfie as she always did before his afternoon nap then lowered him into his cot. She was unsure as to how well he would sleep in it given that usually he had his naps in the sling or in the pushchair so was used to motion though this time she simply couldn't have him in the sling. She headed down to the conservatory where there was all the old stacked up furniture. Merlin's sofa and dining table, her dining table alongside the chairs, the old tv stand, dismantled beds and wardrobes. They'd decided that they'd hire a skip at some point to get rid of all the things that they wouldn't be taking (most of the old furniture). Morgana sighed as she looked around and then made her way to the front room. Tidy with a hint of baby toys as per usual. She'd already put all the toys that the children didn't play with anymore in boxes in the loft so that would be rather easy. They just needed more boxes to pack up everything into. They'd need to notify their banks of their move and register with a new GP at some point too. It was all beginning to feel rather read by now, rather than it just being a theoretical house it was almost theirs. Just a few days away.
Morgana headed to get Amhar early and arranged with Merlin for him to walk to the solicitors so that they could avoid the school rush hour. Morgana waited in the car with Amhar and Alfie, Merlin soon arrived and the family headed into the office together.
"I need you to sign here …. And here … and here … and here" Katie said as she passed them the papers.
"So is this it?" Morgana asked. "After twenty-four hours we can get the keys".
"The estate agents will phone you to confirm, though yes. Five o'clock tomorrow probably".
13th April 2021
Morgana and Merlin anxiously awaited the call all day, even though Merlin was at work and admittedly getting excited whenever he felt his Apple Watch buzz (and was extremely disappointed when it would turn out to be something like 'close your rings' or 'it's time to stand'). Though at half past three as Morgana sat in the rocking chair with Alfie, she was thrilled to get the call. She made her way to the school first (to get in at the front of the line and thus avoid traffic) and collected Merlin, both of them embracing each other tightly before collecting amahr and heading to the estate agents. They headed in together carrying Alfie's car seat together while Amhar walked next to Merlin and were taken to a desk. They briefly spoke to the estate agents and then the keys were put in a white plastic box that was then passed to them.
"Congratulations" said the estate agent as he elbow bumped Merlin and then Morgana (and Amhar, as he refused to be left out). Merlin and Morgana were practically walking on air as they left, deciding to go straight to their new home.
"Amhar, do you know what this place is?" Merlin asked as they all stood outside the house with the car parked in the driveway.
"Uhhh… Jackson's house?". Merlin and Morgana shrugged at each other, never having heard of Jackson.
"No sweetie" Morgana said as she bent down to his level while Merlin unlocked the door. "This is our new home".