𝖕𝖗𝖎𝖒𝖊𝖉 𝖋𝖔𝖗 𝖘𝖎𝖓 • 𝖗𝖔𝖒𝖆𝖓 𝖗𝖊𝖎𝖌𝖓𝖘

88.

When it was finally time to get some rest for the night, Joe and I were starting to feel exhausted after everything that's transpired over the past few days. WrestleMania, the birth of Alani, and the long-awaited trip back to Toronto.

Later in the night, Joe and I tucked Alani into her blanket and hoped for the best that she'd sleep for the rest of the night. We installed a small baby monitor around our nightstand in case she were to wake up and needed our assitance.

I couldn't help but to notice that Joe looked very exhausted in the face over the past few days. His beard was ruffled along with his hair, and he was more than ready to get some asleep, as was I.

Joe groaned, "I really hope I can get some rest tonight. I love our daughter so much, but I hope she sleeps for the rest of the night. I've been on my toes for a couple of days and I need to rest my eyes as much as possible, babe."

"I understand. We can only hope for the best, Joe." I leaned down and pressed my lips against his, "Goodnight, babe."

"Goodnight." He replied with a yawn, before resting his eyes.

Joe
It was a good few hours of getting our well-deserved rest, until the baby monitor alerted us that Alani was in her bedroom and crying nonstop.

I knew that Chloe was probably more exhausted than I was when it came to taking care of our daughter; and I was more than glad to take care of Alani while Chloe was asleep underneath the blankets. I could tell that her body was still slightly sore after giving birth not too long ago, and I didn't want her to overwork herself.

I stepped out from the bed and walked over to Alani's bedroom and when I opened the door, I seen her laying inside of her crib and she was starting to sob uncontrollably. Thankfully, I made sure that there was an area on the table that had a bottle of milk and sat down on the small wicker chair next to the crib.

I scooped up Alani into my embrace and sat down with her in the chair while attempting to feed her the warm bottle of milk. She refused to drink; and I sat the bottle back on the table before making my gaze over at my daughter, who was still crying in my arms.

It was still hard to fathom that I was finally a father. It was a little stressful at first with the lack of sleep, but I didn't mind. I was still new to the road of fatherhood; I had little-to-no experience on everything. But yet, I felt like I had this connection with my daughter; like I had to protect her from the world and the evil all around it.

"Shhh, Daddy's here, now." I said in a soft voice, "Don't be scared."

I brought Alani into my arms and rested her near my shoulder. While she still continued to sob a little, I started to notice that she had calmed down after a few minutes until she fell back asleep. Silence filled the bedroom and I couldn't help but to crook a smile at how precious she was. My eyes began to water out of emotion that I was finally a father and brought me nothing but happiness.

I waited a few minutes before gently placing her back in the crib, tucking her in, and making sure that everything was peaceful and quiet before I went back to the bedroom for the night. I was tired to the point I was noticing dark circles underneath my eyes. I felt groggy and couldn't wait to lay back in the bed for the night.

I crawled underneath the covers and wrapped my arms around Chloe and brought her closer into my embrace, allowing my chin to rest around her shoulder while I closed my eyes for the night. Although I fell asleep for the night, I was able to get my normal hours of sleep in before waking up the following morning.

I rolled over and noticed that Chloe was still asleep. I knew she needed some time to rest and pressed my lips against her cheek while she was asleep. While I silently left the bedroom, I went to check on Alani and to my surprise, she was asleep as well.