Burning Heart // CL16

Forty One

Alessia's POV

I woke up to Ruby crying and my first thought wasn't her but Charles as I instantly got up and walked over to her, watching with a slight smile as I see Charles's eyelids flutter rapidly before he sits bolt upright and tries to remind himself of his surroundings. I pick up Ruby and can instantly smell the problem as I hold her in my arms, slightly away from my body and tilt my head to the side, soothing Ruby by bouncing and watching as Charles locates the noise and goes through many stages of realisation as he remembers why he is here.

"Oh my God, is she okay? Why is she crying?" He asks panicked as he stands up and I have to try and distract myself from the realisation that he's just in his boxers as I look down at Ruby with a smile, trying to shush her.

"She's a baby, she does that," I tell him quickly, hoping I don't seem too sarcastic, still not making eye contact for a few moments before forcing myself to look up and let my eyes meet his, trying to hold back the amusement from how crazy his hair is right now. Also trying to distract myself from how damn good he looks, the last 16ish months have done him really fucking well as I notice the faint stubble I'd missed before in my anxiety and brain fog of needing to tell him about her. He'd matured physically which was only a positive thing although I needed to ignore it, Ruby was the priority right now and always to be honest. "In this instance, it's because she needs her nappy changed," I tell him with a shrug before raising her towards him and watching as he recoils, lightly retching from the smell as I bite down on my lip to not laugh.

"Oh God... it's not funny," he says pointing a finger at me and I try my best to not lose my shit laughing, failing and eventually he does too, clearly seeing the easy comedic value of what just happened. "Alright... so what do we do now?" He asks and my heart swells slightly as he steps forward again, ready to tackle the challenge at hand and I have to swallow back the tears stinging at my eyes. I should have expected this from him, I sort of did but still... it was a different thing to see it in person.

"Car up!" I hear Ruby ask before I can answer and she brings both of our attention from one another back to her. I quickly pass her over to him, watching as he once more tries to not smell the odour she's produced as I walk towards the door.

"Come on Car boy," I tell him with a smile and watch as he quickly follows me back to the room and all the supplies needed for changing a baby. It's an amusing thirty minutes as I take Charles through changing her nappy step by step, watching with silent admiration as he memorises everything and lets her hold onto his finger, gnawing slightly to help deal with the teething pain she's feeling - only for her to immediately need changed again because we took so long. The second time I get Charles to do it, only having to correct him once and then smile at him.

"All done!" He says proudly and I smile back at him as I nod, not hiding how impressed I was.

"Now it's the fun part... we get to dress her!" I tell him, clasping my hands in front of my chest in excitement as he looks at me amused and I pick her up, putting her back on my hip as I try to show him the different options wanting to let him put an outfit together. I quickly decide against that after a combination of clothes leaves me wondering if he might be colour blind... which would quite frankly explain some of his own fashion sense. I take the leggings he suggests but choose a different jumper before letting him put on her socks.

"She's so small... her feet..." he says in amazement as he fiddles with her feet, kissing them lightly and I smile as I watch him grin down at her, rubbing her stomach lightly to make her giggle which she does immediately, holding her hands up to him.

"Car up!" She asks / tells him and he quickly obeys, holding her higher on his chest and I watch as he almost melts when she lets her head rest on his shoulder, her eyes meeting mine with a little smile that makes me think she knows exactly what she's doing.