Perfect Preparation

Chapter 83: Surprise Visit

Unlike most mornings where Lain would awake next to Mallix or even Kaila, she was startled to meet Nina's dark ember eyes staring with bug eyes.

The sudden realization of being watched caused Lain to jolt back nearly falling off the bed if it wasn't for Nina catching her by the arm and pulling her upright as she was laughing.

"How long were you just watching me sleep?!" Lain questioned while Nina finished laughing and opened her curtains revealing the bright glow outside.

It backlit her til she was nothing but a silhouette until she returned to the bed where her figure reappeared. "Not long, just enough to remember how annoying of a sleeper you are."

"I am not an annoying sleeper!" Lain defended putting her hand to her chest.

"Sure, so the entire time you were snoring and hogging the blanket definitely means you aren't an annoying sleeper. I swear I'd much rather sleep with Kaila than you. At least she gives out cuddles." The laughter in the room persisted until Lain gave Nina a gentle but firm punch to the arm.

"I give out cuddles to you know...just only to the people I love." She crosses her arms looking into the distance behind Nina's head.

Nina gasped and returned an even more firm punch to Lain's shoulder, "excuse me, RUDE!"

They happily spent their morning picking fun at one another until a sudden thud could be heard downstairs. Worried Lain jumped out of bed and ran down the steps, Nina wasn't too far behind.

At the bottom Lain could see Kaila playing alone in the living room with multiple large books. She was standing on the couch struggling to lift up three bulk sized books before dropping them to the floor causing the loud thud to echo again through the quiet house.

"What are you doing down here alone?" Lain's scooped her up off the couch and took the books away from her. Kaila whined as Lain passed them over to Nina who put them back in their rightful place on the bookshelf.

"Books!" Kaila cried reaching out towards Nina as Lain walked away into the dining room. She strapped Kaila down to her high chair after some struggling. Mallix walked out of the bathroom seeing Lain looking unamused at him.

"What?" He questioned seeing the pout on Kaila's face and his wife's hands on her hips. 'This is what I get for taking a quick minute to use the bathroom.' He thought before walking over to them.

"She was dropping books from the couch onto the tile, she could've broke something or hurt herself if she dropped them wrong." She scolded as Nina walked into the room for a second before slowly backing out before things could get any worst.

"I just left her for a minute, I had to pee." He threw his hands up and turned his attention to Kaila. "I thought I told you to behave while I was gone."

"Was playing!" She whined out catching a glimpse of Nina's head pop back in and made grabby hands for her.

The couple turned around as Nina shyly entered the room.

Lain sighed taking a deep breathe, "don't raise your voice Kaila, you can play again after some breakfast. For now just sit here." She walked away into the kitchen pulling out pans and ingredients.

After what seemed like an endless cycle of pouting, crying, and laughing Kaila finally finished breakfast and was released back to go and play. Only this time Nina was with her to keep her company.

"I'll be back, I'm going to the courthouse to drop off the paperwork and stop by the studio to check on some stuff." Mallix announced to the household before leaving.

He drove over to the courthouse as fast as he legally could. Excitement was filling his entire body, this was a moment he and Lain had been waiting ages for.

And now here it was. He pulled up to the courthouse for hopefully the last time, grabbing his briefcase of paperwork and headed in.

Inside he was greeted by the woman at the front who directed him towards the proper office to file the paperwork. It was a quick in and out process.

There was no line, no wait, the only thing standing in his way was a wooden door he knocked on to enter the office. After a fast twenty minutes he was leaving the courthouse officially as one of Kaila's new guardians.

His day was officially made, nothing was going to stand in his way. With an easy mood and light feet he enjoyed the sweet scent of the world around him out his open window. The gentle breeze that blew into the car hit his wavy hair back.

In the distance he could see the studio, making a final turn he pulled into the parking lot. As he stepped out of the car he was met with one of his employees who does reception work.

"Morning Mr. Colden." He greeted walking past Mallix towards his car. Nodding his head in response he continued into the tall building.

Inside he walked towards the elevator heading up to his office. The entire way he dug through his briefcase pulling out a hard copy of his book to have his assistant mail to his editors.

But when he walked into the top floor he was surprised to see it wasn't empty. Inside James was sat on the couch reading one of Mallix's novels from off his desk.

"What are you doing here?" He questioned pulling his briefcase off his shoulder and throwing it down into his chair.

"Waiting for you," James stood up and walked over to his brother with a serious face. "Is Lain at home?"

"Yeah..." Mallix answered warily.

"Are you going there afterwards?"

"Yeah I am...why?" Mallix turned giving his brother his full attention at this point.

"I need to talk to you two about some changes in your schedule for the next few weeks. Can I come over?"

"Sure, what's going on with our schedule?"

"I'll get into the more of that when Lain's around. I only want to explain it once."

"Fine then...wait, how'd you know I was going to be here?" Mallix asked realizing that he had never told James he was going to be here.

"Uh, I just knew I guess." He shrugged walking back over to the couch to pack his things back into his bag waiting for Mallix to be ready to leave.
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Let me know what you think. Thanks Lexx signing off