sweeet-as-honey: She did, bless her. I can't see Ethan panicking and that is true, poor Ethan. You'll soon see Lily's girly day out with her daughter :-)

Is-there-somewhere-x: Thank you :-)

ETWentHome: I think Ava would be a good big sister.

Chapter Thirty

Lily woke up to the sound of crying. At first she had no idea where she was, she wiped her weary eyes to try and get rid of her blurred vision and soon realised that she was lying on the sofa in the living room. Ava was knelt on the floor playing with her doll's house and the crying just continued, it sounded like it was coming from upstairs. Lily yawned and groaned, as she went to sit up.

"I'll deal with him!" Ethan offered, pushing her back down onto the sofa.

"Who?" Lily groaned, rubbing at her eyes again.

"Our son," Ethan chuckled. "Did you forget that you recently had a baby? You look shattered Lily, why don't you go and lie down on the bed?"

"I'm fine here," she yawned, slowly closing her eyes. "He might be hungry so..." She trailed off, keeping her eyes closed.

"So?" Ethan shrugged and shook his head. "Are you going to continue that sentence?"

"Sorry?" Lily asked, opening one eye at him.

"Never mind," Ethan chuckled and rolled his eyes. "I'll see to him."

"Ethan," Lily yawned again, her eyes slowly shutting again. "If we ever get a cat, can we not fry it?"

Ethan frowned, intrigued as to what Lily had actually been dreaming about. He laughed to himself and headed upstairs to the nursery where Zack was lying in his crib crying, his face red and screwed up. Ethan leaned over the side of the cot and lifted him into his arms. He patted his back and paced up and down the nursery with him, trying to get him to go to sleep.

"Hey my little prince," Ethan soothed, kissing his head. "Come on, what's wrong? Sleep for daddy, come on."


"Mummy, can you play with me?" Ava asked, walking over to the sofa and giving Lily a small shake. Lily stirred slightly but didn't say anything. "I'm bored. Please mummy, play with me."

"Sweetheart, mummy needs to sleep," Lily said. "Daddy will play with you as soon as he is finished with your brother."

"Mummy, you always play with me!" Ava whined.

"Ava," Lily said, beginning to lose her patience. "Mummy is still very sore and she is also very tired. Let me sleep and I'll try and play with you later. You're not even supposed to be at home today, you're supposed to be at school."

"I wanted to stay home with you," Ava whispered and hung her head, stepping away from the sofa. "Mummy, when are we going to have our girly day?"

"I'm not sure, honey," Lily said.

"I think he's hungry," Ethan called through as he walked into the room with Zack in his arms. "Sorry Lils, are you okay to feed him? I don't have the right body parts. Sorry."

"Sure," Lily agreed and sat up on the sofa, gently taking Zack from his dad. "Hey buddy, ssshh. Are you hungry?" She soothed and began to feed Zack, glancing across at Ava who was stood frowning with tears in her eyes. "Ethan, could you take her out or something? She's doing my head in."

"I could take her to the park?" Ethan suggested.

Lily glared across at him, remembering what had happened the last time Ethan and Ava had gone to the park.

"Right," Ethan sighed. "Why don't I just take Ava and Zack into the garden for a bit? It'll give you some time to rest." Lily nodded, liking that idea. "Ava, after Zack has had his feed how about the three of us go and play in the garden? You can take some of your favourite toys out there."

"Will Zack be there as well?" Ava asked and crossed her arms.

"Well, yes," Ethan sighed. "But we'll put him in his pushchair to have a nap and then the two of us can play a game. That sounds like fun, huh?"

"I suppose so," Ava sighed. "Will mummy be joining us?"

"Mummy is going to stay inside and sleep," Lily said, as she finished feeding Zack. "Daddy has offered to play with you Ava so don't be ungrateful."

"I wasn't," Ava whispered.

"Look, she just wants to play with you," Ethan whispered to Lily. "Don't talk to her like that. I'll take the kids, you get some sleep okay?" Lily nodded as Ethan took Zack in his arms and carried him outside, Ava dragging alone behind. Ava sat on the step with her doll whilst Ethan tucked Zack into his pushchair with his blanket and teddy. He put the break on and sat him in a shady area before walking over to his daughter. "Right, what's wrong?" Ethan asked, sitting down on the step and stroking Ava's hair.

"Zack's getting more attention," Ava pouted. "And mummy won't play with me."

"Ava," Ethan sighed. "I'm going to talk to you like an adult, okay? Now, having a baby can be quite painful."

"I know." Ava nodded. "Uncle Cal told me."

"Did he?" Ethan raised an eyebrow. "Right. Anyway. Zack wasn't quite in the right position so they had to just make a little cut on mummy to get him out."

"Like a paper cut?" Ava asked.

"A little bigger than that," Ethan said. "But mummy is still in the recovery stage. Usually whilst having a baby, the pain goes away afterwards but for mummy she still has a bit of that pain there because Zack wasn't in the right position to come out right away. Do you understand what I'm saying?"

"I think so," Ava said. "When will mummy be better though? She's very boring now, she just sleeps."

"Soon," Ethan said. "But for now, daddy needs to look after Zack so that mummy can get some rest. It doesn't mean that we don't love you anymore because we love you very, very much. A new baby does need a lot of attention but you can help us out with that."

"Can I?" Ava asked. "What can I do?"

"Well, you can help put Zack to bed?" Ethan said. "And maybe I can show you how to change his nappy?"

"Gross!" Ava pulled a face and stuck her tongue out.

"Come here you," Ethan said and pulled her into his lap, before kissing her head. "You are my best girl! I love you very much and I always will!"

"I love you too daddy," Ava said.

Their moment was interrupted as Zack started crying from his pushchair.

"Zack's crying, daddy," Ava stated. "We should go and see if he's okay, shouldn't we?"

Ethan smiled at his daughter with tears in his eyes. He'd never been so proud. "Yes princess," he said. "We should."

I hope you enjoyed the chapter x