After Our Love Prevails {Stelena} (2)

10- Getting Ready

3 weeks later

Elena's POV

"What's the plan for today?" I ask, carrying Layla into the living room where my husband's currently sat reading a book. I place her in her walker before sitting down next to Stefan.
"Well, we could always start the nursery?"
"Yeah, sounds good. Although, you know what we're going to have to do?"
"Hm?" He replies as he looks up from his book.
"We're going to have to sort through all our paperwork." Our office, which is soon to become the nursery, is currently a mess because of our past busyness and laziness.
"Oh, yeah. At the time it seemed to save effort and time, but now that way of thinking has come to bite us in the ass."
My laugh soon turns into a groan at the thought of having to sort through all the official documents and paperwork that we've neglected since having Layla.
"I know right."

"Right. Where to start?" I feel overwhelmed just looking at the state of our office and thinking about how long it's going to take to move everything out of the room. 
"We can start by putting things from the desk into boxes and I'll move them into our room."
"Okay, little miss. You're going to stay in your room for the time being." I kiss Layla's cheek before placing her on her playmat in her room, keeping her bedroom door open but her stairgate closed so she can still see us but can't leave her room. As expected, she fusses at being put down and left but soon becomes distracted by one of her toys.
It takes us both a good half an hour to organise and get all of our work into boxes to move them into our room. Just as I'm about to pick my box of work up I'm intercepted by a certain somebody.
"I don't think so." Before I can protest the box moves out of my grip into his own and he swiftly carries it into our room. 
"I'm pregnant, not incapable of carrying things." I huff but can't hide the smile that's stretching on my face at his protectiveness. There's no point in trying to be mad at Stefan, just seeing his face alone is enough to dissipate my argument and melt my frustration.
"I know, but you need to take it easy. Even the midwife said you shouldn't be putting too much strain on yourself." I think he can sense my frustration because he lightly grips my wrists before bringing me into a hug. I sigh against his chest and wrap my arms around his waist. "I know it's annoying. I'm just trying to make sure things as easy for you as possible."
"If you had it your way I wouldn't carry anything." I imagine what it would be like if I let Stefan have his way and not carry anything at all, I laugh at the idea of having to Stefan pick up the smallest of things for me, like my phone.
"No, you wouldn't. But I guess we can't all have everything we want." He kisses the top of my head whilst I left out a soft laugh.
"Mumma," I hear. I turn my head to see Layla stood by the stairgate at her door, looking straight at us with big eyes. I'm so thankful that she has Stefan's beautiful green eyes, although they do make it harder for me to say no to her. Saying that, I can't say no to either of them and I admit wholeheartedly that they have me wrapped around their little fingers.
"What is it, Layla?" Although, asking this is pointless as all she does is call for both of us and begin crying. I unwrap myself from Stefan and go to her, lifting her over the stairgate and into my arms. "What's wrong?" I kiss her cheek and take her into the office/ soon-to-be nursery. Her head perks up in interest and she looks around the room curiously.
"Everything's changing, huh?" I look around the room too. I can't imagine what Layla thinks about all of this, she's way too young to understand the fact that she has a sibling on the way but she has definitely recognised the fact that my body is changing. I constantly think about how she's going to feel and act when the baby arrives. A lot of my thoughts consist of worry about Layla being upset about the arrival of her younger brother and feeling left out because of the attention he'll get. Both Stefan and I know that this is completely normal since she's used to getting our full attention and, understandably, won't be used to sharing the attention. But, we're going to make sure she knows how loved she is, even if we can't spend every second of the day with her.