Sleeping Arrangements

[littlemiss]

awww! Love how they are a team now and Aden demanding Belle's attention just as he wanted a hug!

Mattie and Ric, in Aden and Belle's house, tut tut but lol.

Sad about Roman, I hope that he is ok!

Brilliant update as usual Louise, thank you!

[bradyell]

I hope Roman's gonna be ok!

otherwise.....

That was fan-fluffin-tastic!!!

Loved every single word of it! The begining with him ordering her into the room for a kiss and the whole convo about New York The middle bit with the kiss in the locker room Near the end with them telling Ric n Mattie and then the end!

LOVED it and can't wait for more!

[~Zoe~]

I liked that chapter, it was great I liked the bit in the locker room & the bit with Mattie and Ric was funny

[Jody]

Adelle The joking, the teasing, the cuteness..... you're killing me here. I'm am going to miss this fic sooooo much when it's over. But I'll stop thinking about that now.

I like that Aden still had some worries about certain things. It wouldn't feel right if they had all dissappeared overnight. But I'm glad that Belle came through in the end by telling Mattie and Ric.

The part with her kissing him in front of his teammates was awesome.

Adorable is the only word that I can think of to describe Mattie here. She just is sometimes. at Mattie and Ric "trying" as well as Mattie's reaction to finding out about them. Loved the scene between the four of them. And the talk between Mattie and Belle as well.

Didn't see that twist at the end coming at all. Great one though even if it is really sad.

Yay, he dumped her! Yeah, even considering what happened at the end I couldn't hold that one in. Had to express my joy about that.

[Lise]

More brilliance! The locker room scene was awesome. Matilda and Ric are just adorable with all their 'trying'. Roman's going to Iraq? That was a good twist. I hope everything's ok with him in the end.

[amz89]

I loved this chapter so great, the whole thing, oh yah bttb. That should be good. Poor Nic. More soon please.

[matticus01]

I love you Louise

really do...

They're a team

Written beautifully, and Mattie and Ric in Aden's spare bedroom made me

[Louise_2983]

Chapter 16

“Leah, she is so beautiful” Belle gushed as she cradled the baby girl in her arms.

She was mesmerised by the adorable little girl, her jet black hair so dark in comparison to her china white complexion. She held her close as she ran her fingertips gently over Zoey’s soft skin before taking her tiny fingers with her own and jiggling them gently. A cute, tiny smile spread across the baby’s face and Belle felt a huge tug on her heart as she struggled to tear her gaze away.

“Well I think so” Leah chuckled softly as she sat on the opposite sofa from Belle and Aden with her other daughter sat quietly in her lap.

“But I am a little biased”

“Oh that’s allowed” Belle smiled finally looking up at her.

“Who wouldn’t be when she’s as adorable as this?”

“Can’t disagree with you there” Roman smiled as he leant against the door frame having just returned to the house.

“But what are you two doing here? I told you that there was no need Aden”

“We wanted to come” Belle smiled up at him with a wink.

“How else am I going to steal little Zoey here?”

“And you might have told me not to come” Aden laughed as he reached over to gently stroke the baby girl’s bootie covered feet.

“But Nic practically begged me to come and talk you out of going”

“She knows that’s not going to happen” he sighed deeply sitting down next to Leah and giving her a weak smile. It was clearly causing tension between them and Belle had a feeling Nicole hadn’t been

the only one begging Roman not to go.

“And anyway” Aden announced with a smile, trying to ease the tension.

“I wanted to grab the chance for a cuddle with my gorgeous little sister but I’m still waiting!”

Belle snuggled the baby closer to her chest and cheekily poked her tongue out at Aden as the little girl perched on Leah’s lap jumped off, her blonde ponytail bobbing behind her, and stood in front of

Aden with her arms outstretched.

“Awww!” Both Belle and Leah cooed as Aden wrapped his arms around her tiny waist and lifted her into his lap.

“Well of course I meant you Effie” he laughed pressing a kiss to her forehead.

“You’re my favourite girl. But don’t tell Nicole I said that will you?”

“Isn’t Belle your favourite girl?” she asked, her big blue eyes gazing up at him.

“Nah, not even close Eff” he joked and Belle simply laughed.

“You’re my favouritest brother Aden!” she smiled sweetly, flashing all her teeth at him.

“Well thank you sweetheart” he grinned.

“But I wouldn’t let VJ hear you say that!”

“Veeee jay is grumpy” she told him dramatically as Leah and Roman both chuckled and nodded in agreement. VJ had reached the difficult teenager stage and was driving them all insane with his moods.

“And he isn’t on TV like you are Aden! I watch you all the time”

“Glad to hear it” he grinned ruffling her hair affectionately.

“But football is rubbish. I wish you would be on In The Night Garden instead!” she told him honestly as everyone else in the room erupted into laughter and Aden smarted in defeat.

“I’ll see what I can do Effs” he let out a low chuckle.

“Really?!” she gasped excitedly leaning up to press a kiss to his cheek.

“Aden, you’re the bestest!”

“I try my upmost to be” he shrugged with fake modesty as Belle nudged him playfully on the arm

“Adeeeeeennnn...Is Belle your girlfriend?” the little girl asked curiously as she stared at him waiting for an answer.

He looked up to find Effie wasn’t the only one staring at him. Both Leah and Roman were waiting for his answer, clearly intrigued to know exactly what was going on between their two guests.

“Yes” he smiled happily down at her.

“Yes she is” he told her and heard a triumphant Leah whisper “See! What did I tell you?!” a little too loudly in Roman’s ear.

“But you can still marry me when I’m bigger though can’t you?” Effie asked seriously as she tugged on the bottom of her red pinafore dress.

“Effie!” Leah giggled.

“You can’t marry Aden, he’s your brother”

“But I like Aden!” the little girl protested as she swirled the end of her long blonde ponytail around her little fingers.

“And he’s not logically my brother! Nicole said so!”

“Oh well if Nicole said so” Aden laughed tickling her gently.

“Stop it Aden!” she squirmed around on his lap giggling and kicking her feet against his legs.

“Nicole’s bigger than me” she panicked looking up at Aden.

“But don’t marry her first!”

“I think Belle might have something to say about me marrying either of you, sorry princess” he chuckled.

“That’s ok” she shrugged nonchalantly.

“I’ll just marry Harry instead and then Rachel will be my second mummy. I like Rachel and I like Harry”

“It’s nice to know I’m so easily replacable” Aden laughed before tickling her once more.

“Isn’t he a bit old for you anyway little missy?”

“ADEN!” she bellowed through her giggles.

“I said stop it! And Harry isn’t old, he’s only 8!”

“And you’re only 5”

“And three months, 2 days!” she protested as the adults in the room all laughed.

“Oh we can’t forget the three months and 2 days can we sweetie?” Belle giggled, rocking the baby in her arms.

“It makes all the difference”

“And Harry likes me!” Effie told them almost puffing her chest out in pride.

“He lets me play with the red power ranger”

“Oh it must be love” Belle grinned as Aden cuddled the little girl he considered to be his sister a little closer.

“I think I’m going to have to have a word with Harry, see what his intentions are for my little sister!”

“Don’t be silly Aden!” Effie scolded him as though he were stupid.

“We’re only little! We don’t have tentions yet!”

“Well you act so grown up that I forgot” he ribbed her as she smiled happily at the thought that she acted grown up.

“Belle?” the little girl suddenly asked, tilting her head to look at the brunette.

“Yes sweetie?”

“Do you and Aden have sex?”

Both Aden and Belle instantly let out a splutter of laughter in disbelief.

“Euphemia!” Leah hissed, a flush of red rising quickly up her necks and into her cheeks.

“My Mummy and Daddy had sex” the little girl continued regardless of her mother’s harsh tone.

“That’s how they made Zoey”

“I see you went for honesty is the best policy on that one” Belle giggled still not quite believing what she was hearing but glad that the little girl didn’t seem to want an answer to her earlier question.

“No” Roman shook his head.

“We didn’t. Nicole did”

“Ouch” Belle grimaced.

“Bet she was popular”

“Daddy’s tadpoles met Mummy’s egg in her tummy. But it’s not like an egg you have soldiers with because you don’t get a chicken you get a baby!”

“Well thanks for the biology lesson Effie” Aden chuckled as she jumped off his lap and ran across to Roman, clambering up onto his knee.

“I always did struggle with that in high school”

“My Daddy was a soldier” she told them quietly as she snuggled into him.

“Not a toast soldier though, a strong, brave soldier who wears lots of green clothes” she contorted her face into a distressed expression.

“Green not my colour hey baby?” Roman whispered softly as he held her close and pressed his lips to her temple.

“I don’t want you to go away” she whispered sadly into his chest.

“I know Effs” he sighed softly as he ran his fingertips over her mass of blonde, curly hair.

“But you’re just going to have to be strong and brave too and look after Mummy whilst I’m away won’t you?” he asked as Belle reached across and squeezed Aden’s hand gently and Leah tried to quickly

wipe away her soft tears hoping no one would notice.

They all noticed.

“I’ll be back before you know it baby”

Roman was speaking to Effie but his big, blue eyes were looking directly at Leah who smiled softly back at him and nodded.

“Will you bring me a present?” the five year old asked with a sudden excited smile.

“A big, special present?”

“I’m not sure they have presents where I’m going sweetheart but I’ll see what I can do ok?”

“Ok” she nodded with a saccharine grin, thoughts of a present seeming to soothe her as her little mind reverted back to the former topic and she looked back at Belle expectantly.

“Belle?”

“Yes, Effie?” Belle replied hesitantly dreading being asked the sex question once more.

“Are you and Aden going to have a baby?”

“Erm” Belle struggled to find a response before turning to Aden with a smirk.

“Is this her way of telling me she thinks I’m fat?”

“I don’t mean now silly!” Effie laughed, rolling her eyes as if Belle were stupid.

“You’re belly isn’t big enough for that yet!”

“Well that’s a relief!” Belle chuckled.

“But that’s what boyfriends and girlfriends do, they make babies together. So are you and Aden going to make a baby?”

“Erm...”

Effie wasn’t the only person waiting with baited breath for Belle’s answer. Aden was peering across at her expectantly too.

“Well...one day, yes” she smiled and saw a beaming smile spread across Aden’s face at the fact that she did want to have a baby with him one day.

“Which day?” Effie demanded to know.

“Will it be this week or next week?”

“Effie!” Leah’s tears gave way to a fit of giggles.

“You know it takes longer than that to have a baby”

“Well Nicole said” she announced as if the big sister she idolised was the top authority on everything.

“That it only takes one sleep to make a baby but lots of sleeps to make them grow”

“Nicole needs to learn when to be quiet” Leah snapped clearly not comfortable with the ideas Roman’s daughter put her in little sister’s head.

“It might be quite a while before Aden and I have a baby” Belle told Effie trying to defuse the tension so what as she saw Leah visibly try to calm down to stop herself criticising Nicole further.

“Will it be a boy baby or a girl baby?”

“I don’t know” Belle laughed.

“We’ll just have to wait and see”

“I hope it’s a girl baby so she can play dollies with me” she whispered sweetly.

“Well if it’s not” Aden grinned happily across at Belle.

“Then we’ll just have to have another one won’t we?”

“But what if they’re both boys?” Effie asked proudly thinking she’d outsmarted her brother.

“Well then we’ll just keep having babies until we get a girl”

“We will not!” Belle smacked him on the arm forcefully.

“Unless medical science advances so much that you can carry all these babies and give birth to them mister!”

“But we’re going to have at least four right?” he focused his entire purely on her as if they were the only people in the room. He seemed to have forgotten that they had an audience.

“Nu huh” she shook her head with a giggle.

“Two maximum”

“Three?” he asked, his blue eyes hopefully.

“Deal” she grinned leaning across to seal it with a quick kiss.

“Belle and Aden sitting in a tree!” Effie sang loudly and out of tune.

“K-I-S-S-I-N-G!”

“Effie!” Leah hissed once more but couldn’t help joining in the laughter filling the room.

“Well they were kissing Mummy!”

“Yes they were squirt” Roman chuckled.

“Is that what you do with Harry huh?” Aden teased his little sister.

“Sometimes” she gave the response Aden had not been expecting, his mouth gaping open in shock.

“But only tiny, tiny little kisses on the cheek” she clarified, Aden’s mouth closing in relief as Belle giggled.

“Thought I was going to have to get all macho with an eight year old then” Aden whispered in Belle’s ear.

“Not sloppy kisses like Nicole gives Geoffy” the little girl continued not having heard Aden’s comments.

“Geoffy?” Belle burst out laughing.

“That’s what Geoff stands for like Effie stands for Euphemia and Belle stands for Tinkerbelle”

“My name’s not T-“

“Sssh!” Aden interrupted her, placing an outstretched finger over her pink lips.

“Don’t ruin it for her!”

“Tinkerbelle Taylor it is then” Belle whispered in his ear.

“Is it me or does that sound like a dodgy movie star?”

“Mummy what’s a dodgy movie?” Effie piped up, Belle’s words clearly not having been as quiet as she thought they were.

“Erm” Leah mumbled.

“It’s just one that’s not very good sweetheart”

“And I think that’s my cue to leave” Belle chuckled.

“Before I get the same sort of reputation as Nicole for corrupting Effie!”

“Don’t be silly” Leah let out a quiet laugh.

“No one else could be that bad. You definitely don’t have to leave”

“Yeah, we do. I told Irene we’d have dinner with her”

“But I was going to come back later if that’s ok?” Aden asked as he perched on the edge of the sofa ready to stand.

“I thought we could have a few beers and a catch up Roman?”

“Sounds good to me mate” he nodded with a smile.

“But you might want to get that cuddle you were after now because Leah won’t be happy if you wake her up later”

“Well ok but only if you insist” Aden smirked before holding his strong arms out for Leah.

“Oh behave you!” she giggled, slapping him playfully asa she blushed slightly.

“You know exactly what he meant!”

“Yeah, unfortunately I do” he sighed taking a very sleepy baby from Belle’s arms and holding her close.

“But I’ll get you one day Leah” he winked suggestively.

“As soon as these two aren’t looking”

“I’m always looking!” Belle gave him a playful; slap around the head as she giggled before turning to Roman, her stance suddenly becoming more serious.

“I’m going to spend the night with Irene and Annie so if I don’t see you before we leave then good luck out there and be safe hey?”

“Thanks and I’ll do my best” he smiled sincerely back at her.

“But actually I need your help with something before you go if you don’t mind?”

“Of course not, what is it?”

“Come with me” he nodded his head towards the kitchen and she followed him curiously only to hear a cheeky Aden call out loudly “Now’s our chance Leah!”

“What is it?” Belle asked again when Roman closed the door softly behind them so they wouldn’t be overheard.

“Well first” he began placing a small box on the breakfast counter before her and opening it.

“I wanted your opinion on this”

“Roman, it’s beautiful” she sighed as she gazed at the diamond solitaire ring nestled inside.

“And it’s about time too!”

“Well I don’t like to rush things” he chuckled.

“And Leah falling pregnant 4 months after we first got together wasn’t exactly planned”

“No” Belle laughed too.

“But Effie’s five now and you’ve had another baby since then”

“And now I’m ready to marry her” he whispered softly.

“And I want her to know that before I go. I want her to know that I’m going to do everything in my power to come back to her and our girls”

“I think she already knows that” Belle smiled sincerely.

“But you should still propose!”

“I plan to, tomorrow night. My last night” he told her with a shy smile.

“I just wasn’t sure about the ring, I’m not good at picking jewellery and I didn’t want to ask Nicole for help because she would never have been able to keep it a secret”

“Roman, it’s perfect. She will love it, trust me” she told him taking one last look before snapping the box shut and handing it back to him.

“She’ll love it even more because you chose it yourself”

“You think so?” he asked still uncertain.

“I know so” she laughed.

“Now what was the other thing you wanted?”

He sighed deeply before placing a hand on her bare arm and looking directly into her deep brown eyes.

“I want you to promise to watch out for Aden for me. I know him, he’s going to think he has to be the strong one and look after Nicole and for Leah and the girls but this is going to affect him too and I

need to go away knowing that there’s someone here to look after him too”

“Roman, you really don’t need to worry” she told him with a genuine smile.

“All I ever want to be is there for him. I love him and I will make sure he’s ok I promise. But not because you asked me to. Because I want to”

“I’m glad he’s got you Belle” Roman told her as she smiled happily.

“And I’m really glad I’ve got him”

[LAURZY!]

LOVED IT!

Effie is so sweet, I love how forward she is lol

I hope Roman's safe over there and nowt happens to him, that would be far too and YAY he's going to propose!!! EEEEK.....

Brilliant update as per!!! Cant wait for more

[MrsL]

I love Effie, she is so cute and funny, asking when they are going to have babies

Roman and Leah too brilliant I loved it