Piper ~ H.S

~Chapter 106~

A/N: Hi hi hi! Fun fact: I cut out a good 1500-word chunk from this chapter because it turned out to be almost 6000 words long lmao. I cut it so it went down to about 4400 words instead. I've kept the chunk I cut out to save it for another chapter or something though 😚 enjoy!

The next few months passed by quietly. After I dismissed Heath that night, I didn't hear from him again.

I was surprised, to be honest. I was fully preparing myself for him to try and start some shit, but he never did. In fact, a couple of weeks after our altercation at the house, I got a call from the same courthouse that granted Heath his supervised visitation rights. They told me that Heath no longer expressed an interest in seeing Piper, that I still retain full custody, and that I'm no longer obligated to allow supervised visits between him and Piper. And...that was it.

Did I want to believe Heath was completely out of our lives? Absolutely.

Did I actually believe it? I don't know yet. It's hard to tell with him. But at least he's out of our lives for now...and that's good enough for me. For the time being.

As for us, we were thriving. Extremely tired, but thriving.

The time's just flown by. Aria was about to turn four months old – and she's looking more and more beautiful every single day. Piper came up with a nickname for her – 'Ari' – and we loved it so much that it's stuck around until now.

Piper turned six years old two months ago and will be starting Year 2 at school in September. She is absolutely flourishing at school and getting smarter and smarter every single day.

She has noticeably been much happier since I told her she doesn't have to visit Heath anymore. I mean, she was always a bubbly girl, but it's almost to a whole new level with Heath out of the picture. I honestly didn't realize how much her visits with him were bringing her down. God only knows how long she had been feeling that way...but I'm so glad she doesn't have to put up with it anymore.

Harry was an amazing dad and was getting better at taking care of Aria every day. When we first brought her home, I knew he was nervous. And I didn't blame him – he's never had to take care of a baby 24/7 – and I could tell that at times he felt completely lost on how to look after our baby girl. But he picked up on it so easily, and now he's doing an incredible job. And not just that, but he always tries his best to balance his time between Aria and Piper so that Piper doesn't feel lonely – especially since I still had my hands full with Aria a lot of the time.

Aria is super attached to me at the moment, but she loves her father so, so much. She instantly smiles whenever he enters the room. She's also started smiling whenever Piper walks by – beginning to recognize that Piper is her big sister and part of the family as well. And whenever Piper sees Aria smiling at her, it absolutely makes her day.

But even though these past few months have been amazing, they've also been so busy...and both Harry and I were starting to feel really tired and run-down. And I was expecting that – I mean, I've been here before; taking care of a young infant is so taxing and so demanding. We were both exhausted, and the intimacy in our relationship had taken a serious plunge. I don't even think we've actually had sex at all since Aria was brought home.

We've tried to make it work...but it's been so difficult with Aria staying in the very same room, that I honestly think we just gave up. And it's not like Harry's been complaining about a lack of sex, but...I don't know if it was still my hormones being imbalanced, because I'm really struggling with it.

But I don't openly complain either, because again – Harry is amazing and doing his best to be a good dad. He was doing more than I could ever ask for, and I loved him so much for it. But I missed his touch, his embrace, and the way he made love to me. And I missed it so fucking much.