Colossal Jump

I find myself easily giving into the sense of belonging and warmth Blake River's gives me. He pulls me onto the couch and I easily curl into his arms and rest my head on his solid chest. The light from the television flickers across his tired face, which gives it a simple glowing effect that makes me smile.

"How was work?" I ask, attempting to make light conversation.

"Tiring," he groans, squeezing his eyes shut. "How was your day?" He rapidly blinks his eyes, forcing himself to stay awake.

"Alright." I look towards the television and keep talking. "Tori freaked about me moving in here, but I managed to calm her down. We've decided to do more Face Time videos so that she can see London and interact with her," I explain.

When Blake doesn't response, I look up and see he's fallen asleep. Before Blake can get comfortable on the couch, I gently shake his shoulder, which sends his eyes pinging open.

"I'm awake." He shakes his head, his eyes still droopy with exhaustion.

"Hardly." I frown.

"I'm sorry," he apologises.

"Come on, go to bed and I'll take care of London," I say.

"Are you sure?" he questions, stifling a yawn with the back of his hands.

"You're tired, get some rest." I lean in and press a kiss against his lips before I move off his lap. Blake smiles as he groggily pulls himself off the couch. Before he walks upstairs, Blake leans down and softly kisses my forehead.

"Goodnight," he says.

"Goodnight, Blake," I reply.

As he trugs upstairs, I get off the couch and walk towards London's bassinet. She's awake and kicking, but not grizzly, so I leave her be.

Heading into the kitchen, I grab a clean bottle and start preparing it for her. When I'm almost finished heating it up, the sound of her grizzling gets louder. Grabbing the bottle, I rush to test the formula on my skin before swinging through and picking her up.

I turn the lounge room light on before getting comfortable on the couch. I cradle her in one arm as I use my other hand to hold the bottle. She latches on and starts drinking. Partway through, she spits the bottle out and the milk runs down her cheek. I take the bottle and touch it to her bottom lip, but her hand swats it way.

"Okay," I say, leaning forwards to place the bottle on the table.

I carry London into the kitchen and clean off her face, then readjust her position in my arms. With her pressed against my chest, I walk towards the far wall with the pictures as I pat her back. My eye catches the picture of our Christmas lunch. We're all dressed in Santa hats, London included. Blake is holding London in one arm with his other wrapped around me.

"Look, this was when you were even littler." I smile, pointing out the picture.

"And this one, this looks like Blake when he was ten." My eyes scan over the pictures, another one of Jude and Tori catching my eye.

There's an image of them standing in front of a fake plastic background with Big Ben from London. They are both grinning from ear to ear.

"You know, my brother, Logan, always wanted to travel to London, Paris and New York. My parents have these three large pictures of Big Ben, The Eiffel Tower and Empire State Building. He'd always say he was going to travel there. Maybe one day we can for him? Do you think that would be fun?" London coughs up, a small bit of milk spilling onto the end of my shirt.

"I'm taking that as a no." I frown.

Walking towards the lounge section, I grab her play rug and spread it out while placing the plastic frame with dangling toys on it. I lay her under the frame and she starts swatting the toys. I go into the kitchen and clean off my shirt, then grab my study books and join her on the ground.

London rolls onto her stomach and pushes herself up. She wiggles from side to side and tries to move forwards, but the fabric of her clothing and the mat doesn't make it an easy task for her. I don't move the mat, I let her struggle with it. I'm sure it'll either be a good learning experience or a way to tire her out quicker.

With a yawn, I open my book and start reading. The words go straight through my brain as my eyes wander towards the end of the page. I have no idea what I've just read. Sleep would be so nice right now, but it's not that important because I have the day off tomorrow to catch up on sleep.

"Creating an engaging space for young babies is important for their brain development..." I read, already bored with the work.

"You should be doing this for me London, you're the expert here," I tease.

She manages to get past the blanket and shuffles along the ground. She's building up her skill to crawl, but it's more of a snake wiggle. She gets under the table before she spits the dummy and starts crying. I place the book on the floor so that I can grab her.

I place her on the ground in front of me and open the book up. Pointing to the baby on the page, I turn it over and start reading over some of the development stats. When she starts crying again, I close the book and pick her up.

"What do you want?" I raise her up into the air, then bend my elbows to lower her to my faces. I making kissing noises as I draw her close to my face, then a silly tongue one as I push her up into the air. I do this a couple of times, but her amusement draws short.

She frowns and looks away. Placing her back on the ground, she rolls onto from side to side, then uses her arms to reach out towards me.

"You're going to get me in trouble, missy!" Her eyes soften as she desperately reaches for me.

"A lot of trouble," I warn, but she takes no notice of this.

Grabbing my book, I toss it onto the couch before picking London up. I lean back against the couch and rest her against my chest. She snuggles her face in and wraps her arms around my chest. I awkwardly hold the book in the air as I try to read, but with her warm body pressed against mine, it's almost impossible.

"You win," I mutter, tossing the book onto the ground.

I rub her back as I watch the television. As the talk show host drowns on about nothing in particular, I find my eyelids becoming heavy. One minutes I'm awake, the next minute my neck is rolling back and I'm out of this world.

From what seems like a millisecond later, I'm woken from the heat source being moved from my chest. My eyes open to see Blake carefully lifting London.

"Bed time girls," he says.

Following Blake upstairs, I watch him put London into her cot while I strip out of my clothing and changing into one of Blake's discarded shirts on the ground. I slip under the cover and press my head against the pillow. I roll towards their side of the room to watch Blake get into bed. I wiggle across the bed as I snuggle into the side of his chest.

"Get some rest, baby." With no strength left, I close my eyes and enjoy the warmth radiating from of his chest. Laying right here with Blake gives me a sense of content and a desire for more.

What gives you a sense of belonging or warmth (personally, my bed is my answer).