Look at that! Two updates in two days! Anyway I hope you enjoy this, another fluffy one. I promise, all this fluff is going somewhere, stick with it, I'm gonna start jumping months a bit after this to move it on a bit, so I'll put the month in the chapter title.

"Mmm, I've got to go!" Tom broke away from Sam. "Goodbye Laura." He pulled on his coat, waving goodbye to both of them. They were lying on the bed, and Sam picked up Laura's hand and made her wave, although she was looking in the opposite direction. It was a week since they had brought Laura home, and already she was much more settled. Their house now looked like they had a baby: random packets of nappies and baby wipes strewn everywhere, the odd toy, and the chaotic mess of the kitchen and living room indicated this. Their lives had changed that much in a week, Sam realised. She exhaled slowly as she thought about it, then got to her feet, Laura balanced on her hip as best she could be; she was still smaller than a full term baby. Sam reached the kitchen. The clutter still managed to amaze her. Normally, when she and Tom were out of the house most nights, it was orderly and clean, but now, they were having to eat when Laura was asleep, and it had thrown their schedule a bit. Sam looked around, trying to decide where to start. She put Laura down on the baby gym that was lying on the living room floor, so that she could keep an eye on her, but have her hands free. Then she began to wash the dishes and clear the surfaces.

It was Tom's birthday. They hadn't planned to do anything, seeing as they now had Laura to think about as well, but Sam wanted to make him a cake. She was about half an hour into it when she began to wish she hadn't chosen such a complicated recipe. It was a chocolate cake with three layers and thick, buttery icing - Tom's favourite. Definitely not her sort of food, but it wasn't her birthday, and she was sure Tom wouldn't mind eating the whole thing on his own. If she ever finished it. She was having a hard time not picking up the book and burning it. The pretentious steps were so long-winded and infuriating.
"This is going to take all day!" she groaned. Still it wasn't like she had anything better to do. On with the baking.

Over four hours later, Sam was finally making progress on the cake when Laura stopped looking so content on her mat on the floor, screwed up her face, and began to cry.
"Oh Laura, not now, please," she sighed in exasperation, before washing her hands that were covered in some sort of chocolatey mixture, and whisking her up off the floor.
"What's wrong baby?" She hadn't been fed for a good two hours, so Sam could bet it was that. She sat down on the sofa, and began to feed her. After thirty minutes Laura became uninterested and slowly worked herself up to cry again. Sam checked her nappy, and went to the bathroom hurriedly to change it. When that was done, Laura was red in the face, still whining.
"What do you want, Laura? Do you just want a cuddle?" She rocked her gently in the cradle of her arms, giving her a toy bear, but she wouldn't calm down. Sam sat nursing her daughter for a long time, going through the things that could be making her so upset. She wasn't hungry, or uncomfortable. She could just want attention, or she could be colicky, but Sam didn't want to be too hasty. She kissed her daughter's scarlet cheek, before taking her upstairs. She decided? to see if she was overly tired and if she could get her to go to sleep. Laura, still screaming, was laid in her cot. Sam tucked her up, and switched the baby monitor on, taking the other half back downstairs with her. She moaned as she heard the baby continue to cry, but carried on with the cooking, which was not going well. She finally put the mixture in the tins, placed them in the oven, and stopped for a second to survey the kitchen, which looked worse than when she had started.

She was just starting on the icing when She heard Tom come in the door and gritted her teeth.
"Hello," he popped his head around the door. "What's going on?"
"Go away, I'm busy. I'm being a housewife. It's not working," Sam said.
"Are you cooking? Okay, you've completely lost it," he grinned. "Do you want some help?"
"No, it's a surprise."
"Okay okay. Is that a crying baby I can hear?"
"Yes. She's been crying all day. I can't get her to stop. I've fed her, changed her nappy, cuddled her, and I put her down for a nap about half an hour ago, but she won't calm down."
"I'll go and see her," Tom said, hurrying out of the room.
Suddenly, the baby monitor fell silent, except for Tom's soothing. He appeared back in the kitchen, carrying Laura, raising his eyebrows. "I think she just wanted her daddy," he chuckled. Sam frowned.
"Well that's great. You're going to be out every day. If she's going to be like this all the time, you can take her to work with you."
"I'm sure she'll relax once she gets used to it."
"Well how long's that going to take?" Sam exclaimed.
"It'll be fine, Sam. I can always come home at lunch or something."
"No. She doesn't need to be babied, she needs to get used to it. Anyway, this is nearly ready, and I've done a pizza, you can take that out the oven and serve it up," Sam said to him, persevering in spreading the thick icing over the lopsided cake.

When they had finished the pizza, Sam brought over the cake.
"Happy birthday, Tom! I'm sorry about... this," she gestured to the 'cake'.
"I'm sure it'll taste fine," he grinned. "Do you want a piece?"
"Um, no thanks. I've seen what's gone into it!"
"Suit yourself," he said, cutting himself a big slice. He took bite. "Ugh!" he gagged. "Sorry, but what have you done to that?!"
"I told you it hadn't worked!"
"If this is what you get up to when you're alone, I think I should stay at home!"
"Shut up." She pursed her lips. "Sorry it's been such a rubbish birthday."
"Hey." He leaned over and kissed her. "It has not been rubbish. I got to come home to our newborn baby, and you, of course. Now, lets go to bed. We can clear up in the morning," he said.
"Hold on, I've got to feed Laura and give her a bath first, and anyway, it's not like we can do anything," Sam muttered.
"I'm sure well think of something. Come on." He took her hand, picking Laura up with the other arm, and pulled her upstairs.

Hope you enjoyed it :) I'm still looking for suggestions for things they can do now they have Laura home, so if you have any ideas, let me know, all welcome :D happy 2014!