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Cooper jolted awake to the sound of crying. It took him a minute to understand that it was two people. A baby and the quite begging of his mother.
"Honey, shhhh. It's going to be okay baby," Ariana whispered into the night.
Cooper hobbled his way out of bed to check on her.
He walked into the living room to see her holding the baby close to her chest silent tears running down her face.
"Ari, baby, what's wrong," "Cooper I can't do this I don't know what to do. I need help," Ariana said her voice catching with her tears.
"Okay, darling do you want help with the baby or do you need help with something else," he said to her while hugging her from behind.
"Can you just hold him long enough for me to take a shower. I just need a moment. Please I just need a moment," she cried into her baby's blanket.
"Ari, Ari. Baby you don't need to feel guilty or upset when you need a break. Let me hold him. You go take care of yourself take as long as you need, I'll get him back to sleep and then we can go back to sleep okay," Ariana nods her head and moves towards the bathroom.
With the baby in his arms Cooper moved to the rocking chair listening to the water of the shower kick on mixed with the quieting crys of the baby in his arms.
Whom Cooper just realized he had never actually held before. And now in the stillness of the night he realized just how much he would do for th girl in the shower and the baby in his arms.
And with that thought in his head he started quietly humming a new found joy and responsibility on his heart.
Twenty minutes later the shower clicked off and Cooper took the now sleeping baby and set him gently in his crib before making his way back to their bed.
He didn't even notice the transition from hers to theirs. He couldn't belive how much he loved that girl.
He walked into to her dressed and drying her hair. "Do you want me to brush your hair," he asked grabbing her brush from on the dresser.
She nodded facing away from him on the bed.
As he brushed her hair he noticed the tension and the closeness of their bodies. As soon as he finished with her hair he turned the light out and laid down on the bed with her following after.
After a beat she turned around to face him. "Thank you for tonight. I don't know how I would have gotten through this without you," she whispered into the dark.
"I will be here for you until my dying breath or until you decide I need to leave, Ariana, I have never felt this way about anyone ever. I love you and that little baby more than anything in this world," he spoke through growing tears. "I promise I will take care of you two forever no matter what. I won't let you deal with the heartbreak of losing me if I have anything to say about...."
He was cut of by her grabbing his neck and pulling him in. Before he could even gather himself she had pulled away and was saying, "You silly boy I have loved you since the moment you mowed my law because you "didn't know how else to help" I love you Cooper Noris, and thank you for reminding me what love feels like.
And for not the first time, and definitely not the last time they fell asleep in eachothers arms.