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"Ugh already?…” I groan as I hear my phone alarm going off as it does every morning. There is suddenly a sleepy chuckle near my ear as I grab my phone from the nightstand to silence the alarm. "Babe please you hate it as much as I do." I mumble as I roll over to face her. She hasn't opened her eyes yet but she smiles softly and tightens her hold around my waist.“True but you’re cute when you first wake up.” Chloe says as she leans in and kisses my lips softly. I can’t help but smile when she pulls back slightly and carefully pushes my hair back behind my ear. Her eyes finally flutter open a little and look back into mine. “Hey baby.”“Hi” I reply sleepily as I lay my head down on her pillow next to her still inches away from her face. I feel her hand slide under my shirt and start to rub my back. I let out a contented hum. “You know you can’t do that if I’m actually expected to get up in time for work right?” She just laughs in response as she knows me well enough to know I’m completely full of shit. Sure she’s making me want to get up even less than before but I’d never be late for a photoshoot even if it’s one I’m not particularly excited about.“Lucky for you I also have to get up hella soon for work but we can lay here for a few more minutes.” She insists as she leans in again to kiss me. I smile against her lips as we kiss very gently. Neither of us bother lifting our heads from the pillow. We are far too lazy for that. I place my hand on her cheek then run my hand up to stroke her freshly dyed blue hair as she continues to rub my back. After a few minutes the kisses slowly get a little less lazy and we start waking up a bit.“Mmm okay.. I really do gotta go.” I sigh and pull away just a little. She grumbles shaking her head in protest. I smile as she carefully pushes on my shoulder to roll me onto my back and she starts kissing my neck. “Chlo.. mmm… I.. really…mmm… stop” I grumble half heartedly. I wait another few minutes just enjoying my wife teasing me a bit before finally rolling out of bed with a groan. She grumbles again and stretches before following me. I begin picking out my clothes for the day and she kisses my cheek on her way out of the bedroom. She’s most likely going to make coffee as she does most mornings. I much prefer her coffee addiction to her cigarette one which she only gave up due to my instance a few years ago.I climb into the shower and my mind wanders a bit. The soft pecks this morning remind me of the first time I kissed Chloe. She dared me in her bedroom during the worst week of my life. Sure that week had been completely awful but there were definitely some moments I wouldn’t trade for the world. The kiss being one of them but also the night before that in the Blackwell pool. I think that’s when I knew I would never leave her again. It hadn’t taken long after we were reunited for us to become best friends again and I’m sure all the trauma pushed us together faster than what may have happened in normal circumstances but I know it would have happened eventually regardless. If anything “hell week” as Chloe always referred to it as kept us apart romantically longer than what may have felt natural. It took a good six months of both of us putting it off before we finally ended up talking about how we felt.
~ May 2014 ~
Chloe sounds like a herd of elephants running up the stairs before she bolts into my room. She has a bright smile on her face and it is absolutely contagious. I haven’t seen her this happy in forever and I feel a rush of butterflies in my stomach at the sight. Wowsers! She looks absolutely beautiful! She is in her normal outfit, white tank top and black skinny jeans, her hair has started growing out a little and the blue is just starting to fade to a sea green. There is nothing abnormal about her appearance but the joy radiating from her makes me realize just how gorgeous she is. My legs feel like jelly. Luckily I’m sat on my bed so she shouldn’t be able tell unless she is observant enough to see the slight blush forming on my cheeks. I really hope whatever is going on is distracting enough that she doesn’t pick up on it.“Hey Super Max! Guess what?!” She exclaims practically bouncing around my room. Before I can even open my mouth to answer she interrupts me. “I passed! I got my GED!” My mouth drops open in surprise and I jump off my bed and into her arms. She catches me midair and spins me around. I can’t help but let out a girlish giggle as she places me back on my feet.“I’m so proud of you Chloe!” I say into her neck. I want to tell her that I knew she had nothing to worry about. She has always been smarter than me when it comes to school but I know she doesn’t need the “I told you so” speech. She deserves praise and someone to support her. She’s spent way too long without someone who supports and believes in her. Losing William and now Joyce has been so hard on her and I just want her to believe in herself again. I feel her lay her head on my shoulder clearly not ready to let go of me any more than I am ready to leave her arms. We stay like that for a long time. Far longer than two friends giving a hug. Even longer than any celebration hug has any right to be but neither of us seem to care. I take in her scent as we hold each other in a comfortable silence.After a while I finally will myself to pull back and look into her eyes. “Seriously Chloe your parents would be so fucking proud of you!” As soon as I say it I wish I hadn’t. If I hadn’t swore never to use my powers again I might consider rewinding it. Though I do think she needs to hear it even if I know it can’t be easy to hear. I also would rather be the one to say it first and not my parents. I can almost guarantee they’ll say it when they find out as well.I see tears start rolling down her cheeks and I pull her back into my arms. I run my fingers through her hair and walk us over to my bed. We lay down together and I hold her and stroke her hair while she cries for awhile. “I’m so sorry Chloe. But you deserve to hear how proud they would be.” She nods against me and sniffs a little.“I know Max. I’m sorry I kinda freaked.” She says trying to laugh it off. I shake my head as I continue running my fingers through her hair.“You have nothing to be sorry for.” I kiss the top of her head without really thinking about it. She’s done the same to me a few times usually after I have one of my many nightmares. I’ve been getting them pretty consistently after the storm but luckily she is always happy to comfort me. I think she appreciates the gesture as she just settles more into me. I can’t help but let out a contented sigh. I know this isn’t the time but I can’t help how I feel. It feels so damn good to hold her. Her hair is so soft in my hand. Her arm is wrapped tightly around my waist and I can feel her fingertips lightly touching the skin on my hip where my shirt has ridden up a little. Her head started out on my shoulder but has slowly moved down to my chest. Part of me doesn’t want to ruin the gentleness of this moment but I want to bring the mood back up a bit. She deserves to celebrate today. “So is my boob a nice pillow?”“Uh yeah duh! Boobs are the best pillows Maximus!” Chloe replies laughing a bit. “And I’ll give yours a solid 10/10 would boob pillow again!” We then both start laughing. She looks up at me with a bright smile again clearly feeling a lot better. Suddenly the tension rises again but in a very different way. I want nothing more than to kiss her. Or at least tell her how much she means to me. Instead I just kind of stare at her awkwardly. “You okay there Mad Max?” She asks.“Uhhh.. umm uh yeah..” I mumble in a very unconvincing way. She shakes her head and moves her body off of me to get a better look at me.“Talk to me. I know something is up.” She insists. I don’t want to lie to her but I shift around trying to avoid her gaze. I’ve been wanting to tell her how I feel for so long but I don’t want to ruin today’s mood more than I already have. I just shake my head as I continue to look away from her. “Nuh uh Max. I know you better than that. You know you can tell me anything right?”“I know Chloe but it’s no big deal. We should go tell my parents about your GED. They’ll probably take us out to dinner or something to celebrate!” I try to change the subject and get off the bed. Chloe gently grabs my arm to stop me.“No freakin’ way dude! I’m not moving until you tell me what’s up!” She says stubbornly. I sigh knowing there is no getting around it when she gets like this. I don’t know what to say to her. I’ve been avoiding this for so long and I’ve definitely thought about this conversation a million times but that certainly doesn’t mean I have any clue how to go about this. She was my first kiss for fuck sake! I’ve never told anyone I like them before. Also she is my best friend who I sacrificed an entire town for. Shouldn’t it be obvious I have feelings for her? “Earth to Max. You in there?” She asks poking my side clearly trying to cheer me up. I grumble a little in protest.“Chloe I.. I can’t.. I don’t want to lose you.” I feel tears building in my eyes.“Shit Max there’s nothing you can say to do that. I promise.” Chloe assures me grabbing both of my hands in hers. I look into her eyes and I know she’s being honest. Even if she doesn’t feel the same way about me we’ll make it work. God it will hurt but she’s right she’d never leave me.“Chloe.. I.. I um was wondering if you.. Well.. umm.. Why did you dare me to kiss you?” I ask deciding to deflect a little of the pressure onto her. Chloe gets a little flustered and wide eyed at the question.“Wait.. why exactly are you asking?”“Oh come on answer the question!” I press.“I asked you what was wrong first!” We just kind of stare at each other for a minute both of us clearly trying extremely hard to read the other’s mind. Then I finally break.“Fine! I was thinking that I wanted to kiss you. I’m sorry if that’s super weird and you don’t feel that way about—“ I’m instantly cut off by Chloe’s lips being pressed into mine and her arms wrapping around me. At first I worry it’s going to be a shy peck like our first kiss but I lean into it and attempt to deepen it. She enthusiastically obliges and we both let out soft moans before pulling away.
~ Present Day ~
“Babe hurry up your breakfast is going to get cold!” Chloe shouts from the kitchen. This knocks me out of my stupor and I realize I’ve been standing in the shower like a fool for way longer than I should. I quickly finish washing my hair before getting out and getting dressed as quickly as I can. I head into the kitchen and smile seeing my wife is already changed for work. She’s wearing her short sleeve button up for the garage open with a white tank top underneath. Her name patch reading “Chloe” seems like it’s coming off a bit at the corner but I still think she looks sexy in it. I especially love how she smells after work. Not everyone would find their wife always smelling like motor oil and gas extremely hot but I sure as hell do. I go over to her and grab ahold of her collar to pull her down to kiss me. She kisses me deeply running her tongue against mine. “Mmmm. Better stop that before I make us both stay home today.” She winks at me. I can’t help but laugh.“As tempting as that is I already said no. Trust me if we were staying home today we’d still be in bed.” I reply as I lean in for one last kiss. “Thanks for breakfast.” I slowly pull away and grab the plate of waffles she had prepared for me. I appreciate that she likes cooking for me but I really should tell her to take it easy on the waffles. The fact that she is still as much of beanpole as she was at 19 but I actually have boobs and an ass feels like no coincidence. I sit down at the kitchen bar rather than the dinning table so I can hang out with her while she finishes making her own waffles and drinks her coffee.“You’re welcome hippie!” She grins watching me as I take a bite and sigh happily. Chloe has definitely gotten her Mom’s talent for cooking. There are times I’m tempted to tell her that but I don’t like to bring up either of her parents too often. Even after all this time it still is a deep wound for her.“Mmm you never disappoint in the kitchen.” I compliment with a smile.“Or in bed?” Chloe teases.“You’re such a dork! But yeah definitely not in bed either.” I roll my eyes.“Neither do you babe.” She licks her lips and grabs her own plate. She then walks over and sits down beside me. “So what is your job today?”“Should be pretty straightforward. Just engagement photos.” I much prefer those over weddings. Shorter hours, I don’t have to dress up and way less stress. She nods and kisses my cheek.“So I get you home in time for dinner then?” She asks clearly hoping for a yes.“Well only if you’re cool with a bit of a late dinner. They always want golden hour photos. So it will be dark by the time I’m home.” I admit rubbing my hand up her thigh. “I’ll have to make it up to you later” I tease with a wink. She just chuckles and puts her hand on mine. After that we eat in a comfortable silence. I clean up the plates afterwards and she begins getting her things together to leave.Once she’s sure she has her keys, wallet and phone she comes back over to me. “Have a great day baby.” I say as I wrap my arms around her neck and pull her in to kiss me. Her hands run up the back of my shirt as she kisses me back deeply. I moan softly and run my hands through her hair. “I love you.” I whisper into her ear once I pull back from the kiss and pull her into a hug instead. She smiles as she presses her lips into the side of my head and returns the hug.“I love you too, Maximillion.” She grins and moves her hands down my back and squeezes both of my butt cheeks before she stepping away slightly.“You’re terrible!” I joke as I get up on my tip toes to give her one last peck on the lips.“That’s not what you said last night.” I playfully push her away from me and she gives me another wink before waving and walking out the door. Damn I love that goof so much.
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“Okay I think I got it.” I say as I snap a few more photos of the couple in front of me. The man introduced himself as Jimmy. He has blonde hair blue eyes and a tall bulky figure. His fiancé is named Tracy she is a slender brunette. They are both probably around my age. Late 20s to early 30s by my guess. We’ve been to quite a few locations through out the day as well as in this park but right now we’re taking a few shots by a small pond. It’s currently golden hour and the sun is about halfway set. I’m pretty happy with the shots and I think they will agree. I turn my head slightly away from them and I notice something out of the corner of my eye that brings a huge smile to my face. Maybe fifty feet away there is a bench facing the water. Perched on the back with her feet resting on the seat I see my wife. She’s still wearing her work clothes and is staring off at the lake. She didn’t tell me she was coming. I’m honestly surprised she found me at all. I always give her a little outline of where I’m going on my shoots just incase of emergency but this is a pretty big park. Who knows how long she was wandering about before finding us. I turn back to the couple. “Give me five minutes to go through these to make sure everything is good. If you have any other shots you want me to take we can do that after okay?”They both nod in response. “Sounds good thank you Max.” Jimmy says as he wraps his arm around Tracy. I give them a smile and nod before taking my camera over to the bench my wife is sat on. I try not to look like I’m in a hurry but I know I’m almost at a jog as I head over to Chloe. She smiles brightly at me as she slides off the bench and greets me with a soft and slow kiss.“You all done?” Chloe asks as she wraps her arms around my waist. I smile and wrap my arms around her neck. I give her another quick kiss and then rub my nose against hers.“Almost. Just gotta make sure these came out okay then maybe do one last location if they want it. Shouldn’t be more than 15 minutes.” I sit down on the bench as I start browsing the photo previews in the camera. “Not that I’m not happy to see you but what are you doing here?” She sits down next to me wrapping her arm over the back of the bench behind my shoulders.“Well I got done with work and was thinking yeah if I just go home and wait for Max I’m gonna pass out of the couch again like I have for the past three days. So I figured I’d rather take a walk in the park and go on an adventure to find my lady.” Chloe answers shrugging. I lean over and kiss her cheek. “While I was looking for you I think I saw a food vendor. Do you want a hotdog or something?”“Yeah I’m starving to be honest. We’ve barely taken a break all day.” I sigh trying to hide the exhaustion in my voice.“Well I was thinking we could go for a walk after but you seem kind of tired maybe we should just get take out and go home instead?” She suggests sweetly. Clearly I still can’t hide anything from her. The thought of being home does sound extremely inviting but I don’t think I’m ready yet. Seeing her gave me a second wind. The idea of a relaxed walk in the park with Chloe no longer seems tiring. In fact it sounds like just what I need after a long day.“You know I think a walk and a hotdog actually sounds really nice. Thanks for surprising me Chlo.” I answer with a soft smile as I continue browsing the photos I took for the day.“I didn’t exactly plan it but I’m glad I’m here too. Let me go grab us some grub and we can meet back here when we’re both done.” I nod and she kisses the side of my head as she stands up and then takes off down the path.As I’m just about to get up and rejoin Jimmy and Tracy I notice they have already wandered over to me. “How are they looking?” Tracy asks. I look up and smile at them as I stand up.“They’re looking good to me. Here are a few highlights I picked out.” I say as I turn the camera towards them and browse through a few of my favorite shots. They look at each other and seem to nod in approval. “Anywhere else you want a few shots?”“Actually your umm.. girlfriend? Gave us an idea. How about here at this bench?” Jimmy suggests patting the back of the bench and Tracy hopped up to sit on it the way Chloe had been. Jimmy then stood behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist. I smile at the idea and the fact that Chloe could inspire it for them.“She’s my wife actually.” I answer unable to hide the pride in my voice. “And yeah that’s a great idea.”“Must be interesting doing engagement photos and wedding photography having just gotten married yourself.” Tracy muses. “Bet you are excited to think about things besides weddings.”I laugh. “Well we’ve been married for five years but yeah when we first got married it was kind of a lot. Luckily I didn’t do quite as many weddings back then.” They both looked shocked when I told them that.“No way! You look like newlyweds to me.” Tracy gasps clearly still trying to process the information. “You better live up to their standard in five years Jim” She teases. They both laugh and I begin taking photos again.About ten minutes later we finish up. I shake both of their hands and promise to send them some samples in a few days. Once they are gone I see Chloe is walking back towards me. She’s holding 4 hotdogs in one arm and balancing two drinks in the other. I quickly meet up with her and carefully take the drinks to prevent her from spilling them.“Well done babe. Those drinks would have been on the ground in two seconds if it was me bringing all this back.” Chloe laughs and nods at my statement. She knows it was true my clumsy nature would have never survived such a task. We head back over to the bench and eat our hot dogs in a comfortable silence. The sun had almost set but there was still enough of a view of the lake for us to enjoy. I lean into her a little as I let out a contented hum and Chloe does the same. Maybe we really do act like newlyweds.Later on we’re walking through the park hand in hand. We had a little small talk about our day but nothing with much substance or weight to it. Normally silence between us is comfortable but something in the way Chloe held my hand and was looking through me that felt off. She seems like she’s really deep in thought. It started to make me feel anxious.“Chloe? Are you sure you just came here because you were bored?” I ask trying and failing to hide the concern in my voice.“I mean that’s not exactly what I said. I can totally see why you took it that way though. Just wanted to mix things up. I don’t want you to think that means I’m bored. I guess I just always want to have new adventures with you.” She answers as she stops and pulls me into her arms. I grin and wrap my arms around her neck and look into her eyes. Her answer calms me down instantly Chloe has always been very spontaneous I feel silly for my worry in the first place.“Is there a particular adventure you want to have?” I ask in a teasing manner expecting her to suggest something ridiculous like public sex or playing an elaborate prank on a police officer. But then I notice her shifting her eyes away from mine a little. “Wait.. there really is something isn’t there?” She sighs and shakes her head. “Don’t do that Chlo. We’ve talked about this a million times you don’t need to hold back with me okay?”She bites her lip a little. I’m not sure I’ve seen her so nervous before. Oh my dog! That’s the face she made right before she proposed! Now I’m really nervous. What the fuck kind of crazy idea does she have?
~ August 2017 ~
Chloe and I had just finished eating out at an oddly fancy restaurant for our usual Friday night date night. Normally we go to a pub and have some bar food and a few drinks. Today Chloe insisted we do something different to be more “adventurous”. I won’t lie and say I expected an extremely fancy and expensive restaurant to be my girlfriend’s idea of an adventure but I guess the surprise in itself was the adventure. She is wearing a white button up shirt with the top few buttons undone so I can see a little bit of cleavage as well as her three bullet necklace. Over that she has a nice black suit jacket unbuttoned and tight black dress pants. For shoes she’s wearing her usual black combat boots. Her hair is freshly dyed blue and cut a little shorter than her usual look. I know I’ve been checking her out all night. I can’t help it she looks so hot and if she didn’t dress up for that very purpose I would be quite surprised. I may as well let her enjoy the result of her effort. I certainly had the same goal when I chose to wear my short black dress tonight. I normally only pull out this dress for fancy photography events that rarely happen but a nice date night is a good excuse to dust it off. Because it’s for professional events it’s not what I would consider too revealing but also it’s not exactly modest either. It’s cut a little above the knee and is low cut enough to reveal a tiny bit of cleavage.“So baby.. Do you want to go to go on a walk on the beach or something?” Chloe suggests as we walk out of the restaurant and back towards her truck. Her voice seems a little nervous and it immediately makes me concerned.“That sounds really nice but are you okay?” I reply as I grab her hand and squeeze it. She stops walking and grabs my other hand and looks down at me.“I am. I’m great Super Max!” She leans in and kisses me. The kiss is passionate and calms me down slightly. I’m still a little worried about her but the kiss was enough to shut off my dumb anxious brain. She leads me to the truck and we drive off to the beach.Before I know it we’re walking hand in hand along the shore. We’ve both ditched our shoes so we can walk along the shoreline where the waves crash against our toes every so often. We’ve been pretty quiet since our kiss in the parking lot and I’m slowly beginning to worry about her again. It’s not like Chloe to be this quiet for this long. Just as I’m about to ask her again if she’s okay she stops me.“You are so fucking beautiful.” Chloe compliments taking both of my hands in hers and facing me towards her. At that I feel my cheeks turn a deep dark red. That came out of no where but I can see in her eyes she means it. Fuck she REALLY means it. I lean in and try to kiss her but she stops me by putting a single finger against my lips. “Wait there’s something I got to say first…” She takes a deep breath. “Max I think I’ve been in love with you since the moment we met. Every day I get to spend with you makes me feel so fucking lucky. I’ve seen my life and what it turned into without you in it and I NEVER want it to be like that EVER again.” She stops and looks at me again biting her lip awkwardly. “So..” She kneels down in the sand and pulls out a tiny box and opens it. “Max Caulfield will you marry me?”I am beyond shocked. Tears fill eyes as I enthusiastically nod at her while I wait for the words to come out of my mouth. “Yes! Of coarse I will!” I cry out as I pull her back up to her feet and wrap my arms around her as tightly as I can. I can feel her excitedly remove the ring from the box. She then gently takes my hand so she can put the ring on my finger. I look down at it and smile. It’s perfect and I can’t believe this just happened. I run my hand up the back of her neck and grab ahold of her short hair to pull her down for a kiss. When her lips touch mine it feels like the first time. Except it feels even better. I can’t wait to get home and show her how fucking much I love her.
~ Present day ~
I shrug off the memory when I remember the very intense moment I’m currently in. I reach up and push a strand of Chloe’s hair behind her ear. I know it always relaxes her a little.“Well I.. I guess I’ve been thinking…” She pauses for a little too long.“That sounds dangerous! Do you think you’ll be okay?” I tease seeing how much she is really panicking.“Shut it nerd!” She laughs and pushes my shoulder a little. It seems to have given her the courage she needs because she tickles me a little before pulling me back into her arms. She seems to be able to maintain eye contact with me again now. “So I know this is going to totally freak you out so don’t answer right away.. and no pressure or anything.. but I guess I was thinking it might be cool if… Do you think we’d be good parents Max?”“Wait.. WHAT!?” She is absolutely right I am completely freaked out right now.
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Chloe’s idea of adventure always has a way of taking me by surprise but this time is by far the most extreme. I take a deep breath trying to calm down as I’m worried my heart is going to beat right out of my chest. Chloe pulls me into her arms tightly. “I’m sorry Max. Are you okay?” She asks as she rubs my back and kisses the side of my head.“I uhh… yeah of coarse I am.. I’m just really surprised.” I admit as I press my face into her neck. “To answer your question I know you’d make a great Mom Chloe.”“I sense a ‘but’ coming on” She says trying to be playful but I can tell she’s a little apprehensive to hear what I’m about to say.“You did say I didn’t have to answer right away right? I’m serious though you’d be an amazing Mom I know that. It’s just I guess I really need to think about this more. This is a big deal.”“Of coarse. I didn’t mean to put so much pressure on you. It’s just a hard topic to bring up.” She pulls back from the hug a little so she can look at my face. I do my best to look calm even though my anxiety has completely spiked. I think she can tell as she kisses my forehead. “Come on Super Max let’s go home. It’s been a long day.” I nod and let her take my hand as she leads me out of the park.The drive home is very quiet for Chloe but in my head is anything but quiet. My brain is completely bombarding me with thoughts. Having a baby isn’t exactly simple for us. We can’t just fuck like rabbits and hope for the best like a straight couple. Are we going to adopt or try artificial insemination? If we go with artificial insemination who should do it? My thought goes to me right away as I imagine it would be a lot easier to be a pregnant photographer than a pregnant mechanic. God that idea is scary. I mean I have thought of this before I won’t lie to myself. It was always hypothetical and a “someday” thought though. Never a “my wife actually wants this and wants to talk about it now” thought. I guess the most important question for me to get an answer to is do I actually want a baby?… I think I do. Don’t I? Yeah the idea of Chloe holding our baby is completely overwhelming but in a good way. But is now the right time? I think that’s my biggest concern.“We’re home now Maxi.” Chloe interrupts my thoughts as she can see I’m completely zoned out. “You good?” I nod as I get out of the truck and grab my bag with my camera and equipment to bring it inside.Once inside Chloe and I curl up together on the couch and watch a few episodes of Stranger Things as we do most evenings. She lays sideways across the couch and I lay between her legs on top of her with my head resting on her chest. She’s running her hands through my hair gently massaging my scalp. It’s so damn relaxing there are many nights we do this and it puts me right to sleep but I’m wide awake tonight.She seems pretty relaxed even after our conversation. I think she’s accepted that I’m going to take a while to want to talk again. I keep debating pausing the show and telling her where I’m at but I can’t quite bring myself to do it. I have so many worries swirling around in my head. I know she would never want me to feel pressured or rush into anything though. I let out a soft sigh as a bury my face deeper into her chest. She is still in her work tank top and smells like motor oil which I can’t help but find extremely sexy. Without me even thinking about it my hand starts to move under her top and strokes up her abs slowly making its way towards her breast.“Mmm” Chloe moans as she pauses the show and she looks down at me with hungry eyes. I smile at her and climb up her body a little to capture her lips in a passionate kiss. I deepen the kiss and slide my tongue against hers as I move to straddle her lap. I slowly trail my kisses across her jaw and then down her neck. “Mmm Max.. I love you.” Her tone is deep and breathy which makes a chill to run up my spine.“Love you too babe.” I mumble into her neck as I suck a little at her pulse point. Her hands wander my body eventually landing on my ass and squeezing it as she guides my hips to grind against her. I feel my body heating up and I consider asking her to take me to bed when I hear my phone start to ring. We both groan in annoyance.“I swear to God Max… It’s your Mom again isn’t it?” She complains as we both pull away. I take a deep breath and lift my phone up from it’s place on the coffee table. Sure enough it is my Mom.“I should answer it. If I don’t she’s going to interrupt us every night for the rest of our lives.” I whine. This was the third time this week. Chloe doesn’t look happy but I pick up the phone anyway as I roll off of her and settle in on the opposite end of the couch.“Hey Mom what’s up?” I ask trying my best to sound happy to hear from her. I love my Mom and I do love hearing from her but damn does she have shit timing. I see Chloe get up out of the corner of my eye and head into the bathroom. She’s probably going to take her shower now. She usually showers at night but I can’t help but feel disappointed and I can tell she’s pretty disappointed as well.“Nothing much sweetie. I’ve been trying to call to chat all week. You’ve been busy?” I bite my lip to prevent myself from laughing about the kind of busy I always am when she calls.“Yeah sorry about that I’ve had a lot of shoots this week. I keep meaning to call you back but it keeps slipping my mind.”“No problem Max. How are you and Chloe doing?”I chat with Mom for a little over a half hour. I hear Chloe get in and out of the shower during that time. She changed into a tank top and boxers and seems to just be hanging around by the door clearly unsure if she wants to rejoin me or just go to bed.“I’m sorry Mom but I really should go. It’s getting kind of late and I have a few things I need to do before bed.” We say goodbye pretty quickly and I toss my phone aside. I get up and quickly go over to where Chloe was waiting for me. “I’m really sorry about that.”“It’s okay. Can’t say that was fun but I don’t think I could take getting interrupted like that again tomorrow.” I take in a small sigh of relief happy she doesn’t seem like she’s pissed at me or anything.“Yeah agreed.” I take a deep breath and realize now is as good of a time as any. “You know we’ll get interrupted all the time if we have a baby right?” Chloe is clearly a little shocked that I brought it up already but seems glad I did. She just shakes her head.“True.. but at least I’ll be expecting it when our baby does it.” She wraps her arms back around my waist. “Though if you think a baby is going to keep my hands off of you then you got another thing coming.”“I hope you’re right. I would really miss it.” I laugh and give her a soft kiss. “We have a lot to talk about though.” I look to her with seriousness in my eyes. “I won’t lie to you I’m scared.” Chloe pulls me into a hug.“Me too.” She admits.…The next morning I wake up alone in bed. We stayed up super late that night talking over everything. It was a very long conversation that we were both glad we had but I feel awful for Chloe. We kind of lost track of time and she got less than 4 hours of sleep before having to go to work today. I luckily only have to edit photos from the shoots I’ve been on for the last few days so I’m able to sleep in a little. I yawn and stretch before getting up and going to take my shower. I smile to myself remembering the result of our conversation last night. We decided we wanted to look into artificial insemination and I will be the one to carry the baby. We also agreed to start researching soon but not to rush anything. I want to be as prepared as possible before committing.I soon find I’m extremely distracted while trying to edit photos today. I’m sure Chloe is even worse and dealing with a lack of sleep on top of that so I decide to surprise her for lunch. I make us each a turkey sandwich and grab a bag of salt and vinegar chips from the cupboard. Once I’ve packed everything up I head out.It’s a short drive to the garage Chloe works at and I find a parking spot and head to the front desk. Chloe’s boss and owner of the garage is working the desk today. He’s a bald older man in his early 60s named Tim. I’ve always liked Tim. He hired Chloe when she barely had any experience. She was basically fresh out of trade school but he took a liking to her right away. Obviously he is a good judge of character but he’s also taken care of us very well over the years and Chloe has been a good employee in return.“Hey Max! What brings you by?” Tim asks seemingly surprised to see me. I suppose that’s reasonable I don’t visit her at work often. I’m usually at a shoot or editing when she’s working.“Hi Tim. I just made Chloe some lunch. Is her lunch break soon?” He smiles at me clearly finding it cute that I’m here hand delivering lunch for my wife.“Damn I’m jealous. I wish my wife would drop everything and bring me lunch.” He teases. “Go on in she can take her break whenever she wants.” I laugh and nod in thanks as I head into the work area.When I find Chloe she’s digging into the hood of a car grumbling a bit. “Has this idiot ever heard of a fucking oil change? What the fuck were they thinking?” She finally looks up from the engine and notices me out of the corner of her eye. She quickly heads over to me seeming happy to see me. “Maximus! What are you doing here?”“I couldn’t focus and needed a break so I brought us some lunch. Hope that’s cool?” I ask giving her a little hug and kiss. She smiles against my lips as she kisses me back. Some of the other guys roll their eyes at us but she just ignores them.“Are you kidding? That’s more than cool I’m freakin’ starving!” She takes my hand and leads me into the little employee break room. “Not much of a location for a hot date but I’m sure we can make do.”“Indeed but this meal isn’t exactly fancy either.” I hand her a sandwich and open the bag of chips and lay it down on the table between us.“You’ll hear no complaints from me. You do remember our first date right?” Chloe reminisces with a laugh.
~ June 2014 ~
KABOOM BAMMM. I practically jump out of my skin when I hear a sound like a gunshot going off in the hood of Chloe’s truck.“Mother fucker!” Chloe shouts as she jerks the steering wheel towards the breakdown lane of the highway. She slams on the brakes once we are safely on the side of the road and we both quickly jump out of the truck.“What the fuck was that Chlo?” I ask still a little freaked out at the sound. Any sound even slightly resembling a gunshot would freak me out after what we had been through in October but I’m also a bit worried the truck is about to blow up.“I don’t know but maybe stand back a little.” She warns clearly having the same idea as she gingerly opens the hood of the truck. A cloud of smoke comes out as she does so. “Well fuck me..” She coughs a little accidentally breathing in a bit of the smoke. She bats it away with her hand as she looks over everything trying to see if she can tell what the problem is. It didn’t take her long to decide to slam the hood shut and rush over to me. “I’m so sorry Max but I think we’re kinda fucked.” She admits looking absolutely heart broken. She loves that old truck so much and I know that is part of the reason she is upset but she’s been planning our first date for a while and she knows it’s totally ruined now.“Hey it’s okay. We’re safe that’s all that matters.” I assure her as I wrap her up in a hug. She is clearly trying not to cry now. So I just hold her tighter. “We’ll call my Dad. He’ll come get us and get the truck towed. No big deal.”“I can’t afford to fix this! I might not know what’s wrong but I know that much.” She shrugs and pulls away from me and turns away. “I’m so damn sick of my shit ass luck. I worked my ass off to fix up this stupid thing. And for what? To have it let me down when I need it the most.”My heart breaks for her. She’s had so much disappointment in her life. So many people have let her down myself included. She’s not just upset about the truck and the date anymore. It’s about so much more than that. “I know it sucks but I promise you it’s going to be okay.” I grab her hand to turn her back to around so I can get eye contact. “We’re in this together. You’re not alone anymore. I won’t let you down again.” She looks into my eyes seeming very surprised I picked up on how she was feeling. Tears start running down her cheeks and she wraps her arms around me again.“I’m so sorry Max. This is the worst date ever.” Her voice breaks a little as she presses her face into my neck.“It’s still the best date I’ve ever been on!” I joke as I rub her back and rock her back and forth gently. That earns me a slight chuckle.Once I feel her starting to calm down a little I keep holding her with one arm while I call my Dad with the other. I am disappointed and upset too but I do my best to stay strong for Chloe. I don’t even know what she had planned. All I know is that she wanted to take me outside of the city so we had to drive. We didn’t really dress up and it was early. She insisted I bring my camera. As if I’d ever leave it behind. This makes me think she had some scenic location picked out for us to visit. That would have been totally amazing. We haven’t been a couple for long but I already know I have the best damn girlfriend ever.We wait on the side of the road for about an hour before Dad comes and picks us up. We then spend a few more hours dealing with getting the truck towed home. He can tell we’re both incredibly upset so he takes us to a shitty diner to try and cheer us up. This turns out to be a huge mistake as all three of us get terrible food poisoning from it that night.
~ Present Day ~
“How could I forget? I don’t think I’ve ever been that sick in my entire life.” I shudder at the memory.“No kidding. I still feel awful for almost puking on both you and your Dad.” She laughs. “Your Mom was ready to call 911. I think it we may have scarred her for life. But seriously though any date with you will not only top that one but will always be totally awesome. Even if it’s just sandwiches in the break room.”“You’re so adorable.” I push my chair against hers and we take a break from our sandwiches to kiss.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
“I’m so fucking excited!” Chloe exclaims basically bouncing up and down in her seat as we drive down the highway. I place my hand on her thigh and squeeze a little as though I’m trying to calm her down. I’m really not though I’m totally thrilled she’s so happy.“I couldn’t tell.” I say sarcastically. “But seriously me too. I love playing D&D online with Steph and Alex. It’s awesome they are finally settling down in Salem. It’s really not that bad of a drive we’re almost there already.” I notice the GPS on my phone says we’re about five minutes away. “It will be nice to have friends living close to us.”“No way this trip flew by! We should play in person instead now!” Chloe suggests and I nod in agreement. “D&D in the spookiest town in the world! FUCK YEAH!” I can’t seem to remove the grin from my face seeing how happy my wife is. She really is too cute when she gets like this.Soon enough we drive down a cute little residential street. I notice a U-Haul parked outside of a small white house. “I think that’s it babe.” I point and she nods as she pulls her truck into the driveway. We hop out and grab hands as we walk up to the door. Before we get a chance to knock or ring the doorbell the door opens and we see Steph smiling brightly at us. She then basically tackles Chloe in a hug.“Dude thanks so much for coming!” Steph pulls back from Chloe and then gives me a quick hug as well.“Duh of coarse we’d come! Plus you told me there’s a fucking pirate museum you know Long Max Silver and I can’t pass up that shit!” Chloe wraps her arm around me once I pull back from Steph. “So we ready to get to U-Haulin’?”Steph rolls her eyes and shakes her head. “If you’re trying to make a U-Hauling lesbian joke you should shut your mouth. You and Max ARE a U-Hauling lesbian joke.”“Oh fuck off!” Chloe laughs and playfully pushes Steph’s shoulder.“Don’t scare them off before we unload all this shit. You may have drummer strength but I have nothing.” Alex complains as she comes over to join us.“Sure whatever you say babe.” Steph says sarcastically rolling her eyes. Clearly she does not believe a word Alex said. She takes a finger to lift up Alex’s chin and kisses her. “Let’s do what the lady says before I get in trouble.” We all laugh and head back into the driveway to begin unloading everything.Luckily for us Steph and Alex don’t have much stuff so we finish pretty quickly. I suppose that comes with being on the road as long as they have. The idea of traveling the country playing shows sounds pretty amazing but I can’t blame them for being ready to finally settle down. Steph told us paying gigs are really hard to come by and most of the time they barely made enough to pay for gas and lodging. Days off were few and far between and they’d push without a day off until they’d get to the point of Alex losing her voice. Then they’d be forced to take off for a week or more and get really behind financially. Now they planned to get some more steady work and supplement that with various gigs within driving distance. I can tell they both are really looking forward to their new life even though they had enjoyed the adventure in the past.Helping people move isn’t exactly my normal definition of a good time but with Steph, Alex and Chloe it actually was kind of fun. We mostly just lugged boxes inside while catching up and goofing off. Before we know it we are at the pirate museum.“How have we never come here before?” Chloe muses as she squeezes my hand. “There was a fucking pirate museum within driving distance of us for years and we had no fucking idea. I’ve failed as your captain! Long Max Silver should start a mutiny.”“Well babe it’s hard to mutiny when your captain is so cute.” I tease and then get instantly pulled into a kiss.“You two are worse than we are!” Alex interrupts with a laugh.“You’ve agreed to go to a pirate museum with Chloe. You have no one to blame but yourself for anything she puts us through in the next hour. A little kissing is the least of your worries” I warn. “Seriously as much fun as this is going to be I definitely feel like I’m taking a serious risk.”“Seriously Maximum burn? I don’t know if I should be proud or insulted.” Chloe replies as we all head inside.The pirate museum is a very fun time. It’s smaller than I imagined but it came with a fun little tour and a history of the pirates that once lived in the area. I had plenty of opportunities to get photos. It was a bit dark for my Polaroid but luckily I also brought my digital camera so I was able to get some decent shots. Whenever we’d stop to listen to our guide Chloe would stand behind me and hold me. I noticed Steph would do the same with Alex and it brought a smile to my face. I don’t think Chloe and I have ever been on a double date before unless you count going out to dinner with my parents. I think it’s awesome that even though Chloe and I have been together for so long we still have firsts every once in a while.…“So what’d you think of the museum Captain Bluebeard?” I ask as we start walking back to the truck.“Arrr matey! It was hella cool! I think the only thing missing is finding some booty!” She then went ahead and grabbed my ass. “Oh never mind I found it!”“You dork!” I blush as I try to escape her grasp.“I really like your booty Max.” She whispers in a husky voice in my ear. My stomach practically flips over at her words. She really knows how to drive me crazy. All this pirate stuff really brings me back to my childhood even if Chloe is trying to corrupt it with her dirty talk.
~ August 2001 ~
“B-but I don’t wanna walk the plank!” I whimper. There are tears brimming my eyes threatening to fall as three little boys are pointing sticks at me. We are stood on top of a jungle gym that is pirate themed. The “plank” they are trying to make me walk is just a slide. I am pretty small for my age and to me I feel like I am hundreds of feet up even though in reality it is less than eight feet. I am completely terrified of falling off of it though.“Are you crying Maxine?” One of the boys asks with a laugh. “Little baby Maxine is crying!”“Hey! Leave her alone you butts!” I suddenly notice a tall blonde haired girl has climbed up on the jungle gym and is now standing behind the three boys. She seems much more prepared to play pirates than we are. She is wearing a captains hat and has an actual toy sword now pointed towards them.“Yeah right! Whatcha gonna do about it?” One of the other boys asks taking a step towards her. The other two also step forward trying to intimidate her but she stands her ground. Her face only gets more intense as she stares them down.“Arrrggg! I be Captain Bluebeard and this be my ship! My ship my rules! She won’t be walking the plank on this day.”“This ain’t your ship dummy! Beat it!”“Make me!” She shouts clearly not at all scared. Though she probably should be. It is three on one. I would try to help but I am completely shocked and terrified. There is no way I will be moving for awhile. The boys move closer to her looking as though they are about to start hitting her with their sticks when a man comes over to break everything up.“What’s going on here Chloe? Is everything okay?” The man asks looking at the girl with a soft but concerned face. The boys back off a little and put down their sticks seeing an adult is now present and paying attention to them.“Dad these JERKS were trying to push this girl off the slide!” Chloe answers pouting a little looking worried she may have gotten herself into trouble.“Is that so?” The man looks sternly at the boys who bolt off the jungle gym and then run away in the opposite direction. He then looks to me. “Are you alright?” He asks in a very calming tone. Normally I’m terrified of strangers but this man just seems so nice and is clearly here to help me out.“I.. I.. I wanna get down.” I admit in the smallest most timid sounding voice. I look down at my feet and hold onto my elbow as I’m still crying and shaking a little. He frowns and carefully climbs up enough where he can pick me up and gently sets me back down on the ground. In the meantime Chloe comes down the slide to meet us.“Is she okay Daddy?” She rushes to my side and takes my hand in hers squeezing it a little. “Don’t worry! It’s okay now. Those jerks won’t hurt you anymore!” I look at her face and I almost instantly feel better. There is something about this strange little girl that puts me at ease. Normally strangers have the opposite effect.“I-I’m okay.. thank you.” I sniff and wipe my eyes off on my sleeve. I pause a moment seeing her expression shift from concern to happiness. “I’m Max.”“I’m Chloe! But that’s Captain Bluebeard to you!” She doesn’t let go of my hand but I don’t really mind. Chloe’s Dad smiles at us seeming satisfied that I’m okay now. He lifts Chloe’s hat so he can ruffle her hair a bit clearly proud of her for sticking up for me.“Alright sweetheart I see you got this from here.” He kisses her cheek and puts her hat back on slightly crooked. “Have fun plundering the seven seas kids! I’ll be right over there if you need me though.” He points to bench off to the side of the playground before heading over to it. She readjusts her hat then gives me a toothy grin.“Come on Long Max Silver! Bloody Bill is right we have plundering to do!”
~ Present Day ~
“I think Alex fell asleep.” I whisper into Chloe’s ear. We’re cuddling on the couch in Steph and Alex’s living room. They also have a loveseat which Steph and Alex are cuddled up on. We went back to their place after the museum and ordered take out. We just finished eating and started chatting about anything and everything. The more time I spend with them the more I understand Chloe’s excitement from earlier. I knew them from playing D&D and Chloe and I attended a few of their gigs but getting to hang out in person all day is so different from that. They are so easy to talk to and we really do have a lot in common.“I think you’re right babe. I think I see a little drool.” Chloe whispers back. “We should probably get out of your hair.” She says to Steph as she removes her arm from around me and we both stand up. Steph moves like she’s about to get up as well to say goodbye then she stops realizing her girlfriend has completely passed out on top of her. She chuckles softly.“Sorry about her. She’s been up a long time. She took the last leg of the drive.” She then frowns. “Now that I think about it she’s probably been up almost 24 hours. We’re used to weird sleep schedules but now I feel kinda bad.”“Well we appreciate you hanging out anyway. We had a blast.” I go over and offer a fist bump to Steph. She smiles and gives me and then Chloe one as well. “Please tell her thank you from us too.”“Totally! This needs to be a regular thing from now on.” We all nod saying our goodbyes quickly so we don’t disturb Alex.…I let out a little yawn as Chloe drives us down the highway.“You gonna fall asleep on me now too?” She teases. “Didn’t think I was that boring.”“Oh shut up you dork! It’s been a long day. A fun one but still moving is a lot of work.”“For real! I’m just fucking with you.” She grabs my hand and pulls it towards her mouth to kiss the back of it. “I wouldn’t actually judge you if you passed out on me.”“I’m fine baby. Thanks though.” I move my hand from hers and rub her thigh instead. “So… Now that we’re alone… Why don’t you tell me more about what you think of my booty?” Her eyes widen at that but she seems more than happy to oblige.“Aye aye Long Max Silver! You have the best booty in all of the seven seas. I could be offered any and all riches in the world and I would refuse as I only live to plunder you.”“Mmm. My sexy captain really knows how to woo a girl.” I say in a sultry tone. I lean over to her and start playing with her hair.“Oh my God Max… I’m about ready to pull over and plunder you right now!” She groans stealing a quick glance at me before looking back at the road. I didn’t think I could her get that excited so easily but who am I to doubt Chloe Price and her extremely high sex drive.“Don’t you dare! I think I might die of embarrassment if some cop finds us on the side of the road with steamed up windows like a couple of teenagers!”“Where’s your sense of adventure hippie?” Chloe teases knowing very well there is no way in hell I’d agree to that.“I think I left it at home in our bed? Or maybe the shower? Hmm maybe even in the entryway? How about you help me find it when we get there?”“You bet your pirate booty I will!”
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
I wake up to my absolute favorite feeling. I’m wrapped up in my wife’s arms, and there is no alarm clock disturbing my slumber. I almost feel like it’s my birthday! Lucky me, though; it’s the next best thing: it’s my wife’s birthday. It’s her 30th birthday, to be exact. Sometimes I can’t believe we made it. After what happened in 2013, Chloe living to be 30 almost feels like a miracle. It’s a miracle I don’t plan to take for granted. I have a big day planned for her. As much as I would love to lay here until she wakes up, I must move and put my plans into action!I very slowly and carefully roll out from under her arm and slide out of bed. I tiptoe my way out of the bedroom. Once I’m out of earshot, I take a breath of relief. I really want to let her sleep in at least until I’m done making breakfast. I then start preparing said breakfast. It’s a huge Chloe move to bring me breakfast in bed, so I figure it’s time for me to repay the favor. I make us each a bacon omelette with extra bacon on the side along with toast and orange juice.I make my way back into our bedroom and set the plates down on her bedside table. I then strip naked and crawl into the bed again. If I’m going to wake her up, I figure I may as well make it as fun for her as possible. I gently snuggle into her side and start kissing down her face and up her neck to her ear. “Happy birthday, babe.” I whisper into her ear. She hums a little and slowly starts to wake up. It only takes her about a minute to touch my hip and notice I’m completely naked.“It really is my birthday! You’re in your birthday suit. I should get in mine.” I laugh and run my hand through her hair. I knew she’d appreciate a naked Max surprise.“You can if you want to, but I also come offering food. It’s your choice, but the food will get cold if you don’t act fast.” She opens her eyes at that and looks to the trays set to the side of her.“Nice one, Mrs. Price! Stealing all my moves, I see.” She laughs and leans in to kiss me. I smile into the kiss, glad my morning surprises seem to have pleased her so far. “Thanks, baby, this looks hella good… But then again, so do you. I won’t lie; it’s hard to resist tasting you first!” She winks as she sits up in the bed and grabs her plate to eat. I grab my own, and we snuggle as we dig in.After we eat, we decide to shower together, and it naturally leads to sex. I take the lead and give her extra attention because it’s her birthday, but she is not one to leave me hanging after.“Oh fuck! I love you!” I moan out as I feel my legs buckle beneath me. Chloe does her best to hold me up as I pant, trying to catch my breath.“I love you too, Maxi.” She replies before pulling me into another hungry kiss. I’m still struggling to breathe a bit, but I don’t care. I let her push her tongue into my mouth, and we both let out soft moans. My body presses against hers as though I can’t get close enough to her. The feeling of her naked body against mine will never get old. When we finally pull back from the kiss, I look into her eyes and stroke a lock of her hair out of her face.“Let me wash you now. We should actually have a real shower. I have a lot planned.” I grab the body wash from the shelf and start to lather my hands.“You really didn’t need to plan any more than this. You’ve already spoiled the shit out of me.” She closes her eyes and sighs softly as I rub my hands all over her. I leave a few loving kisses across her chest and shoulders as I wash her.“Babe, I’ve barely even started spoiling you.”“Shit, that’s hot, Max. You’re gonna have to take it easy. I’m an old lady now. You’ll give me a heart attack.”“I think you can handle it, you dork.” I laugh as I begin to wash her hair.…“So I was joking about that whole heart attack thing earlier, but now I’m not so sure.” Chloe jokes as we sit together at a small bar. First I had taken her to a tattoo and piercing place where we both got matching cartilage piercings. Then we went to the movie theater. We saw two movies, ate our weight in popcorn, and made out in the back row like horny teenagers. Then I took her to a pub where we split the most amazing cheeseburger and an order of pulled pork mac and cheese. We are now at a bar to see a local rock show. I checked the bands all out online before deciding where to take her. They all seem up her alley. One is a pop punk band. One seems a little heavier and more of an alternative rock style. The final band seems to do a bit of both of those genres.Chloe is on her fourth beer, and I’m on my second rum and coke. I’m a total lightweight, so I have to be careful. If I have too much more, Chloe will have to carry my drunk ass home, and I wouldn’t do that to her on her birthday. I was bad enough on my 21st birthday.
~ September 2016 ~
“Yer cuteee!” I poke Chloe on the tip of her nose. I haven’t had that many cocktails, but they hit me like a ton of bricks. I’ve never been one for parties or the bar scene, but Chloe insists it’s tradition to hit a bar on your 21st birthday. I was skeptical at first, but she always makes me feel safe. We also picked a pretty chill place. It isn’t crazy packed because it is a weeknight, so that helps as well. There is loud music playing, but we are far enough away from it where we can still hold a conversation without having to shout too loud.“Holy shit, hippie! How are you such a lightweight?” She asks with a laugh, taking the drink from my hand and setting it on the table just out of my reach.“Awww, but babeee… It’s muh birfffday!” I pout looking at her, trying to give her puppy eyes.“I know that ya nerd, but I really don’t want to deal with Maximum pukage tomorrow.” She wraps her arm around my waist. “I honestly might be too late, but I have to try for the sake of our carpet.” I’m about to protest more, but then I get distracted and start playing with her hair.“I like yer hair like this…” She hasn’t cut or dyed it for a few years now, so it is showing a lot of her strawberry blonde roots, the blue had faded to green, and it is about shoulder length. “It’s soooo ‘I don’t give a fuckkk’”.“I guess I’ll take that as a compliment. What else do you like about me?” She asks, deciding to try to take advantage of my inebriated state.“Wellllll… I dunno… I’d like you more if you give me my drink back.”“Aww, come on, Mad Max! Spill.” She kisses me softly and strokes my hair gently.“Mmm well… I like yer kisses.”“I’m glad because I really like yours too.” She goes in for another kiss, and we make out a little. Normally I wouldn’t let her take it that far in public, but I’m extremely tipsy, and she makes me feel too damn good for me to give a fuck. When she finally pulls back, she looks over at the dance floor. “You up for a dance, baby?” I nod, surprising even myself with that answer.She helps me off my stool and leads me over to where there were already people dancing. Luckily she lets me lean into her as I’m not feeling particularly steady or graceful. The music playing is typical club music, which neither Chloe nor I really enjoy, but we still do our best to get into it and just have fun dancing together. She spins me around, and I let out a girlish giggle before almost falling on my ass. She catches me and shakes her head. “You’re such a cute little drunk!”“Whatever, dork!”“Nerd!”“Uhh, umm… You’re an ass!”“Really? That’s the best you got?” We both laugh at that before continuing to dance.A little over an hour later, Chloe and I walk back home. I am still struggling to walk straight, so she is almost carrying me by the time we reach our apartment. I try to unlock the door, but I keep missing the keyhole with my key. Chloe hasn’t stopped laughing at me since we left the bar. We drank together in the past, but we’d have to do it in the apartment, so I would just laze around the house, say some dumb shit, and then pass out. Me trying to perform basic tasks as a drunk person is clearly some of the funniest shit Chloe has ever seen. At least she’s acting like it is.“Okay, okay, Max, let me.” She takes my key, puts it in the lock, and turns it so we can go inside. I can barely keep my eyes open now. As soon as we enter the apartment, I collapse face first on the couch. “Oh no. What do you think you’re doing?”“Just chillin”“No, no. No ‘chillin.’ It’s bedtime.”“Oooo, kinky! Tell me more about how you need me in bed!” I say as I roll off the couch to try to get up but then end up promptly on the floor. She groans a little. I know she’s not mad. She just knows there is no way I’ll be awake long enough for her to get laid tonight, and the idea I’m so eager to try is just a huge tease. She struggles to pick me up as I’m getting closer and closer to being dead weight. “Mmmm, you smell real nice.”“Let’s go Maximum tease.” She finally gets me to help enough where she can drag me into the bedroom and drop me down on the bed. She gets my pajamas and starts trying to change me into them, but I’m already falling asleep.“Love you.” Is the last thing I remember slurring out as I pass out face down on the bed.
~ Present day ~
“Seriously, this has been the best birthday ever!”“You’re sweet, but we haven’t done anything that crazy.” I protest as I lean in and give her a slow and soft kiss.“Today has been so amazeballs! Don’t you dare sell it short. I love you.”“I love you too. Come on, I think the first band is about to start.” I go to stand up, but she shakes her head, holding my arm to keep me in place.“Nope! We don’t go into the pit until you say the magic words.” She has a devilish grin on her face. I know exactly what she wants, and I really don’t want to say it.“Come on, babe, don’t make me.” She shakes her head again. I know she’s stubborn enough to just sit here all night, and it IS her birthday, so I suppose I can make an ass of myself for her. “Ugh, fine... Ready for the mosh pit, shaka brah?”“You’re goddamn fucking right I am! Let’s go hippie!” She takes my hand and we head up near the stage. We stand at the front for each of the three bands. The place isn’t very crowded considering how good the bands were. A lot of people were just hanging out near the bar and at tables drinking, but the crowd near the actual stage was pretty sparse. Chloe and I don’t mind, though we dance a little with each other when the songs call for it. I feel a little self-conscious at first, but I refuse to let my shyness impede my wife’s good time. The bands seem to enjoy our shenanigans, though. Especially the last band. The guitarist announces to the crowd that if anyone else would come over and try to show us up, he’d give them 50 cents. The drummer replies he’s probably not good for it but that they should definitely do it anyway.Soon we return home. We’re both wearing t-shirts I bought after the show. Chloe has been pretty handsy ever since we left the bar. She’s pretty tipsy as well but nowhere close to drunk. It’s already past midnight, so we head straight to bed. Chloe pulls me close to her and kisses me. Her tongue teases my lip before I open my mouth so our tongues can meet. We both let out moans at the contact. Kissing Chloe will never get old. I still feel butterflies in my stomach like I did when we first got together. Her hands roam my body, exploring it as though she doesn’t already know every inch of it. Her right hand eventually makes its way to my breast and begins squeezing it. Her thumb runs over my nipple, earning her a breathy moan in return.“I love you so fucking much, Max.” She pulls my shirt and bra off as she begins kissing all over my chest. She continues massaging my breast with her hand while taking my other nipple in her mouth.“Oh god! I love you too, Chlo.” I run my fingers through her hair and massage her scalp as she teases me. My entire body heats up, and I’m already so fucking turned on. It barely takes her any time to turn me into complete putty in her hands. I wouldn’t change it, though. I love how she makes me feel. I reach down and pull her shirt up over her head, and she happily helps me remove it.“It’s not my birthday anymore, beautiful. Now I’m going to treat you like it’s your birthday.” She whispers against my skin. I lean my head back as she pulls my pants off. Wowsers! I’m a lucky woman.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
My eyes feel like they are on fire. It’s as though I’ve been staring at my computer screen for days even though I know it’s only been a few hours. I had a wedding shoot last night and didn’t get home until after 2 am. I still got up with Chloe when her alarm went off for work just to try to keep our schedules in sync. I’m kind of regretting it now, though. My eyes fall shut, and I lay my forehead on my desk for a second as I let out a low grumbling sound. Just as I’m trying to will myself to continue working, I hear a sound like someone is unlocking our front door and entering the house. It also seems like it’s being done rather frantically. My eyes pop open, and I’m now wide awake. Chloe isn’t supposed to be home for hours, and even if she is, why would she be trying to get in so quickly? I’m absolutely terrified. Is someone actually breaking into my fucking house right now? The shock has frozen me in place, but even if I could move, I’m not sure what I’m actually going to do. Maybe I should hide?“M-Max?” I hear coming from the front door. I take a sigh of relief hearing my wife’s voice, but then it hits me. She sounds upset. No worse than upset. She’s heartbroken. I jump up from my desk chair and rush into the living room where she is standing. As I expected, her eyes were bright red. She’s clearly been crying and seems like she still is crying a little. I rush over and pull her into my arms.“What’s wrong? Are you okay!?” Fuck Max, she’s obviously not okay, you dumbass.“W-We have to go. I got a call from Karen. You remember her from Away? It’s David… He.. he was in a… car accident.” Her voice breaks at the words ‘car accident’.Shit! No fucking way! No wonder she’s so upset. Sure, this is David we’re talking about, and we’re not SUPER close with him, but he is her last living parental figure. She has kept in touch with him over the years, and he has really changed since Joyce died. And it’s not even just that. A car accident AGAIN? What the fuck? Chloe still gets nightmares about being in the car with William during his accident sometimes. It breaks my heart every time I see her waking up in a sweat, as I know how it feels all too well.“Is.. Is he…?” I don’t dare even say the words.“He’s alive… but in a coma.” She answers. “They think we should come visit him to see if he wakes up.”“Of course we should!” I reply, kissing her forehead. “You sit. I’ll get us plane tickets.” I lead her over to the couch and get her to sit down. I want nothing more than to hold her and comfort her, but I know the best thing I can do is take care of everything and get us there as quickly as possible.…“We’re here for David Madsen.” Chloe tells the clerk at the hospital desk. “I’m his stepdaughter, and this is my wife.” She continues knowing they would probably only let family members in. The lady nods and types a few things into her computer.“He’s in room 107. Down that hall. Fourth room on the left.”“Thanks.” I can barely squeak out as Chloe grabs my hand and drags me away.When we enter the room, we both wince a little. David looks really fucking rough. I wasn’t shocked by that; I knew he was going to look bad, but seeing something like that with your own eyes isn’t easy. His face is all bruised up, and it looks like his nose was broken. His left leg and arm are also broken and in casts. They shaved his head on one side, and there is a scar where I imagine they had to open him up for surgery. I look to Chloe, and she has started tearing up again. I wrap my arms around her and hold her tightly. I have no words to try to comfort her with. I just choose to be there for her as my mind wanders back to our last visit with David.
~ May 2023 ~
“So how’d you two enjoy the view this morning?” David asks us with a smirk. He clearly already knows the answer but still wants to hear us gush about it. Chloe and I had just walked back down to Away after spending the night camped out on the canyon under the stars. It’s the most romantic place I’ve ever been, and we’d fully taken advantage of the atmosphere. Something about the beauty of the canyon and the bright night sky turned us both into lovesick teenagers again. I’m a little sore this morning, but damn, it was so worth it. This wasn’t our first time doing this, but it is so incredible every time. Visiting David in Away always feels like a vacation just due to the location. So of course we would take full advantage of it.“It was freakin amazeballs, dude!” Chloe beams. David just chuckles.“And here I thought you’d grown out of that kind of talk.”“She’ll never grow out of it. Though it’s definitely less frequent than when we were teens.” I explain. “You know she’s excited when things are ‘hella dope’ or ‘freakin amazeballs’.”“Shut up, nerd. You love it.”“Whatever, you dork.” I tease her before turning back to David. “I do agree with her though. The stars last night were so breathtaking, but damn, the sunrise this morning… I don’t even have words to describe it. I think I went through 3 rolls of film.”David smiles. “Yeah, I didn’t think it would disappoint. I’m glad you two could find the time to visit. Speaking of how’s the photography going, Max?”“Eh... Well, it’s been doing okay as a day job but not so well at galleries. Living near Boston has been great for submitting to a bunch of places I could actually show up to in person, but I don’t get many invites for exhibits.”“That’s a shame. People don’t know what’s good nowadays. But I am really glad to hear your freelancing business is going well. I know that’s not exactly your dream, but having a practical career is also impressive. I’m proud of you both for that, and your mother would be too.” He looks at Chloe with a smile.Chloe blushes, clearly not expecting that compliment. I lean over and kiss her cheek. “Who knew Chloe’s need to escape the world with a beat-up truck would come in handy? It made her… well… handy.”“Well, I gotta take care of my hippie somehow.” She jokes, trying to wave off the compliments, even though I know how much she enjoys the praise. I think the mention of her mom stung a bit, so she was deflecting a little.…We stayed with David in Away for about a week. We spent time camping as well as just hanging out with David and the other folks who live there. If it weren’t on the other side of the country, we would probably visit more often. Though, as they say, absence makes the heart grow fonder, and I think that’s one thing that helps a lot with Chloe and David’s relationship. Being apart gives them the space they need to really appreciate each other when they are together.Before we know it, David is dropping us off at the airport. He and Chloe unload the bags out of the back of his truck and turn to each other to say goodbye. David goes in for a handshake as usual, but Chloe hesitates for a second and then wraps him in a hug instead. He seems a little shocked at first but then happily hugs her back. I smile and try my hardest not to cry. This is such a huge step for them.“Be safe, kiddo… Both of you... I, uh... I-I love you, Chloe.” He says quietly. It is clear he is worried about how she would react to that.At first it was met with a shocked silence. Until finally she pulls back from the hug. “Love you too.” She says weakly. I then go over to David and give him a quick hug as well.“Thanks again for having us. We had an amazing time.”“You’re welcome here any time, Max.” He smiles as we step apart. “Take care of Chloe.”“I will. I always will.”
~ Present Day ~
We eventually pull away from our embrace long enough to move two chairs next to his bed. We sit, and she takes his hand in both of hers, and I wrap my arm around her shoulders.“Hi David… It’s me, Chloe… and Max.” Chloe says softly. “I can’t believe this shit happened. I fucking hate people who drive like idiots.” She bites back a little bit of anger. “But you’ve been through worse shit than this. I fucking know you have! This is just a fucking Tuesday for you, dude.” I give her a sad but reassuring smile and kiss her cheek.“She’s right. You’re a total badass.” I add. She nods in agreement, and I rest my head on her shoulder, and she rests hers against mine. “We’re right here, and we’re not going anywhere. You can wake up now and tell Chloe to get her ass back to work.” I say mostly to try to cheer Chloe up a little. I don’t care if it’s only for a second. I’ll take what I can get at this point.We took a red-eye flight to get here, so we’re both pretty exhausted. I managed to pass out for most of the flight because I was already running on barely 4 hours of sleep, but I know Chloe has been awake ever since she got the news. I think she was too worried about him to sleep.“Close your eyes for a bit.” I urge, as I start running my hand through her hair to try and soothe her a little.“You’re really sweet, baby, but I don’t think I’m going to fall asleep.”“You should at least try. Please? For me?”She grumbles. She really hates when I pull the ‘for me’ card, but it almost always works.“Fine. Just for my wife, who worries far too much, I’ll close my eyes and not fall asleep.” She kisses the top of my head before settling back down and relaxing into me. I also close my eyes and settle in against her. I stay awake until I eventually feel her body relax and get heavier against me. Once I’m satisfied she’s fully asleep, I stop stroking her hair and let myself also drift off.…We’ve spent about three days in the hospital with David, and so far there have been no changes to his condition. I’ve been able to edit photos from my laptop, but we’re starting to get to the point where I’m going to start missing shoots if we don’t head home. Chloe also can’t be away from work for too much longer before she runs out of sick and vacation time. We agreed to stay one more day before we have to give up and go home. Luckily, Karen and some of the other folks living in Away have also been visiting and assure us they will take care of him and keep us up to date on how he’s doing. The idea of leaving him behind is still completely heartbreaking. Chloe really wants to be there when he wakes up and be able to make sure he’s okay in person.“Maxaroni, you’re a lifesaver!” Chloe exclaims very over-dramatically as I hand her a large cup of coffee.“It’s just Starbucks, babe.” I reply with a chuckle.“It’s coffee, and it’s not the weak shit they try to pass off as coffee I’ve been getting here for the last three days. You’re a hero. You’re my Super Max!”“You are ridiculous!” I kiss her cheek as I sit back down beside her.“You love it.” She winks as she happily drinks her coffee.“Never claimed I didn’t.” I sigh softly as I look at David. “I’m assuming I haven’t missed anything?”“Not a fucking thing… Goddammit. I wish we didn’t live on the other side of the country.”“You know it’s strange. When we decided to try the whole art photography adventure in New York thing, I didn’t expect to actually stay on the east coast for so long, but I do really like it there. The downside is obviously being so far away from David and my parents. You ever think we should move back?”“Before this week I didn’t think I’d even think about moving back. Settling down far away from Arcadia Bay just seemed like the right move.”“I honestly still think it was the right choice. I haven’t even been homesick or anything. Sure, I miss my parents and David sometimes, but I really like where we live and our jobs.”Chloe nods. “Yeah, I feel the same way. I just hate that—“ She stops mid-sentence as she looks down at her hand that is holding David’s. “Holy shit, dude, I think he just squeezed my hand!” She presses the call button for a nurse and leans in closer to him. “D-David? Are you waking up?” There is no immediate response, and we both let out a disappointed sigh. Soon the nurse comes in.“I thought he squeezed my hand, but he hasn’t done it again or anything.” Chloe tells the nurse, clearly wondering if she had imagined it. The nurse starts checking him over and eventually calls the doctor in to take a closer look.“His brain activity seemed to have picked up a bit. He might wake up soon.” The doctor explains. “Small movements are a good sign.”Chloe smiles brightly, and I kiss her softly in celebration. We thank them and then settle back down to wait again.We wait a few more hours before Chloe once again jumps, feeling David’s hand move. This time I look down and see it’s moving. We both lean in a little and begin talking to him.“Please wake up David. We miss you.” I say as I rub Chloe’s back.“Yeah, David. We really want a chance to talk to you before we have to head back home. Please.” Chloe adds as she starts to clearly have to focus on holding back tears. We wait for another few minutes before we notice his eyes have fluttered open.“David?!” She quickly stands up and gets in his line of sight so he can see she’s there. I press the button for the nurse knowing he should be checked on as soon as possible.“C-Chloe? What happened?” He asks, clearly confused but not so confused he doesn’t know Chloe. We both take a sigh of relief. He’s going to be okay now. I just know it!
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
I feel a few tears run down my cheeks. I know I’m being totally ridiculous, but I can’t help it. This was our first try, so of course I’m not pregnant yet. I set the failed test on the bathroom sink and turn the faucet on. I then splash some water on my face trying to calm myself down a little. Today probably wasn’t the day to check, but the doctor said this was the first day we’d get a reliable result, and I was too excited to wait. I didn’t even tell Chloe; I just went for it. God, I’m a fucking idiot.“Max? You almost ready?” I hear Chloe ask from just outside of the door. “Mikey will be at the airport soon. We should get moving. I can’t fucking wait to see the look on Steph’s face when she sees him!” I don’t respond, as I know if I do, it will be obvious I’ve been crying. I want nothing more than to push these emotions aside, but they just won’t fade. I can’t believe I was foolish enough to subconsciously expect a positive test on the first go. I feel like I’m losing my damn mind right now. “Are you okay in there?” Oh shit, she’s starting to catch on.“Y-yeah, fine. Just need a minute.” I croak out. Damn, there is no way in hell she’s gonna buy that. Just as I expected, the door just opens without another word from her. She then gasps seeing the test and my teary eyes.“What the fuck? Why would you do that by yourself?”“I don’t know... I’m sorry... I’m so stupid.” I begin to sob, and she pulls me into her arms. I feel some tears fall from her face onto me as we hold each other as tight as we can.“Hey, it’s okay… You’re not stupid. Maybe just a little overexcited and too optimistic but not stupid.” I just nod against her, glad she figured out what I was thinking so easily. “We’ll try again. As many times as it takes, okay?” She runs her fingers through my hair, doing her best to calm me down.“I’m so sorry, Chloe.” I sniff as I do finally start to relax a bit.“No more sorries. I love you, baby.” She pulls back just enough so we can get eye contact. She begins to brush my tears away with her fingers and then pulls me in to a soft and slow kiss. I hum into the kiss she’s putting so much love into it. It makes me feel a little lighter.“I love you too. I love you so fucking much.” I look into her eyes and give a sad smile. “I shouldn’t have taken the test today. I just couldn’t wait. I wanted to be able to tell you good news before we left. I didn’t expect to have a fucking meltdown if it came back negative. I really thought I would be able to handle it and then break it to you gently later.”“I get it. I really do. Just next time, please tell me. I want to be here for it too.” She leans her forehead against mine and continues stroking my cheeks with her thumbs.“Now I’m just embarrassed.” I admit with a sigh. She shakes her head and kisses me again.“You’re fine. We’re going to have a fun day today, remember?”“Yeah, we are. We’re going to play D&D with our friends and help Alex propose. It’s going to be totally awesome.” I answer, doing my best to assure her I’m feeling better.“Now that’s the attitude I’m looking for!” She playfully smacks my ass. “Now move your cute little ass. Mikey is gonna land in less than an hour!” I give her a more genuine smile. She’s so good at cheering me up. I know she’s just as upset about this as I am, but she’s doing a damn good job at having a positive attitude about it.…We soon arrive at Steph and Alex’s house with Mikey in tow. When we knock on the door, we’re greeted by Alex. She looks pretty nervous but also excited. “Hey! Thanks again for coming. I just sent Steph to the store for snacks and pizza. She’ll probably be back in about an hour or so.” Alex leads us into the house, and we all take seats in the living room.“So how you holding up?” Chloe asks Alex as she wraps her arm around me, pulling me closer into her side.“I’m nervous, I won’t lie. I mean, I don’t think she’s going to say no or anything… I just want this to be amazing for her.” Alex blushes a little knowing she’s being a bit sappy.’’“I totally get it, dude.” Chloe replied with a chuckle. “I was so stupid nervous when I proposed to Max. I knew she was going to say yes. I didn’t get where the nerves were coming from. It was fucking strange.”“You were so cute and romantic, though. Even if it was kind of freaking me out that you were all nervous for no apparent reason.” I giggle and kiss Chloe’s cheek.“At least I have an excuse. I’ve never been a DM before. If I look nervous, I can just say I’m worried I’m going to be a shitty DM.”“I have a funny feeling Steph might not buy that. But it’s worth a shot.” Mikey jokes.“Seriously though, Alex, Steph is going to fucking love this! Even just the surprise of Mikey being here is enough to make her totally flip her shit.”Alex takes a deep breath. “I really hope so.”…A little later I go to the kitchen with Alex to help her make some spiked punch while Chloe and Mikey catch up. They haven’t seen each other in person since they were teens, so I wanted to let them have some time. Normally that wouldn’t be a big deal, and I wouldn’t give it a second thought, but after this morning all I want to do is curl up in Chloe’s arms. I keep noticing Alex is looking at me funny every so often. She can’t possibly know, can she?“Uhh, Max? I think it’s full now.” She points out as she tries and fails to hold back a soft chuckle.“Oh shit!” I pull the jug I was filling up away from the faucet and pour out some back into the sink. “Sorry, I was kinda spacing out a little.”“Yeah, I see that. Are you alright?” I sigh at the question. I guess I should have known I couldn’t hide it. Steph always calls Alex “Empathy Queen.” Of course she’d pick up on my shitty mood.“Yeah, I’m fine.” I lie extremely poorly.“I don’t mean to pry. Obviously you don’t have to say anything if you don’t want to… But just so you know, I’m always here for you, Max.” In that moment I’m almost tempted to tell her. She’s been such a good friend and clearly cares about me, but Chloe and I agreed this would stay between us, and there is no way I’m going to fuck up that promise.“I really appreciate that, Alex. I really am okay, though. I’m just being stupid about some bad news. It’s no big deal.” Even just saying that much oddly makes me feel a bit better. “I’m sorry, though. I don’t mean to bring you down at all today.”“Don’t apologize for having feelings. You’re good. Now, I’m seeing this recipe is calling for only six shots of rum. That sounds like bullshit to me. I’m thinking eight might be better. Or maybe even ten.”“Ten sounds right to me. Six has to be a typo.”…Before we know it, we hear Steph’s car pulling into the driveway. We all get comfortable in the living room and wait for her to come in. Everyone wants to make sure they get a good view of her face when she sees Mikey. When she enters, she is holding 3 large pizzas and a large grocery bag full of snacks. She almost drops all the food when she lays eyes on Mikey, but luckily Alex had already rushed over and grabbed everything just in time.“What the fuck? W-What are you doing here?” She stammers out.“Well, Alex invited me for her D&D one-shot, and we thought it would be fun to surprise you.” Mikey answers with a smirk. We all know there is more to it than that, but for now that is the only answer Steph is getting.“Fuck dude, you definitely succeeded!” Steph looks to Alex and gives her a bright smile. “I can’t believe you didn’t tell me about this!” She then pulls her into her arms and gives her a loving kiss.“Why would I tell you anything if this is your response to a little surprise?”“A LITTLE surprise? Alex! A LITTLE surprise was how I felt earlier when I noticed you ordered three large pizzas for what I thought was a group of four people. There is nothing little about this.”We all laugh as we settle in and start getting ready to play. The snacks, pizza, and drinks all get passed around as we goof off and enjoy each other's company. I stick close to Chloe the entire time. I do feel quite a bit better after my little conversation with Alex, but I still just find my wife’s presence comforting and helpful. Plus, I also just enjoy being close to her. It’s not as though this is out of the ordinary behavior for me. I’m just doing it a bit more on purpose than usual.“Really? You’re playing as Barb again, babe?” I ask as I peek at Chloe’s character sheet and try not to laugh.“Listen, Maximus... This is not just ANY Barb. This is Barb the Barbarian, the tenth of her name. The tenth time is definitely going to be the charm! And we have a new DM. Maybe she will show me some mercy, unlike some people.” Chloe looks to Alex and playfully bats her eyelashes.“Yeah, right. I give you a solid 10 for commitment but a big old zero for originality.” I continue to heckle her.“Is that so? Why don’t you show me your character sheet if you’re just oozing with creativity?!" She insists as we playfully fight over my character sheet.“It’s not done yet! Stop it!” I yelp as it soon turns into a tickling match.“These two are terrible. How do you put up with them?” Mikey jokingly asks Steph, who just laughs in response.“Alex and I are good competition normally, but she’s a bit too busy to try to roast me at the moment.”“Oh please, you want a roast? I’ll give you one right now! Let’s see your character sheet. When’s the last time you’ve actually PLAYED D&D?” She teases knowing Steph suffers from the curse of the DM. Never actually getting to play the game, always having to run it.“Look, Chen, that’s not my fault! Today you’ve opened Pandora’s box. I might have to insist you do this more often.”“We’ll see if you still want me to after this.”“You’re going to do great, babe. I’m so excited because I KNOW this is going to be amazing!” Steph beams, taking her hand and squeezing it. She was unable to keep up the teasing banter when Alex decided to put herself down. She clearly wasn’t going to stand for that even if it was meant as a joke.Alex blushes a little. “I guess we’ll see.”Soon everyone had finished making their characters, and Alex started running the adventure. She did her best to keep things pretty simple. We all met in a tavern, and we were offered a job from the owner to rescue their friend Alto, who had been kidnapped by a local gang. As we played, I kept watching Steph, who was clearly having such a great time. I couldn’t help but notice she and Alex kept making eyes at each other, and it was just too adorable. After what felt like the millionth time they had a cute moment, I took Chloe’s hand and squeezed it to get her attention. I then gave her a knowing look. She gave me one back, which just brought a bigger grin to my face. They haven’t changed a bit from when we first met them.
~ November 2019 ~
“Dude, you guys were so fucking awesome!” Chloe shouts as she bounces her way over to Steph. We had just finished watching Steph and Alex play a gig at a small bar outside of Boston. I follow behind her, nodding enthusiastically in agreement.“Yo Price! It’s great to see you! It’s been way too fucking long!” Steph exclaims as she and Chloe give each other a quick hug. “Is this your wife? I still can’t believe you’re married. I honestly thought you were fucking with me when you said you were bringing your wife today.”“Yup! This is Max!” Chloe happily wraps her arm over my shoulders.“It’s great to finally meet you, Steph! Chloe’s been telling me stories about you for years. I’m so happy you guys got in touch again.”“Same! We had some great times back in the day. I miss running games for her. She’s a fucking trip as a D&D player. I think I killed her character Barb the Barbarian at least—” Steph stops mid-sentence when she hears Alex starting to have a bit of a coughing fit behind her. “Oh fuck, just a sec.” She quickly grabs her water bottle and runs up to Alex, placing it in her hands. Once Alex stops coughing, she drinks a little out of it.“Thanks, babe.” Alex gives her a tired smile as her voice comes out a little weak and scratchy.“Hey, are you okay?” Steph looks to Alex with concern on her face.Alex lets out a little cough and clears her throat before she answers. “I may have pushed a little too hard on the last few songs. I’m okay, though.”“Ugh, not again. You’re whispering the rest of the night, and we’re going back to the hotel as soon as possible.”“But—” Alex tries to protest but does give in to Steph’s request that she whisper.“No buts!”Chloe and I can’t help but overhear their conversation, so we go over to join them. “Do you want a hand packing up?” Chloe offers.“Sorry, I got kind of distracted. Alex, this is my high school friend Chloe and her wife Max.”“Nice to meetcha!” Chloe says, giving an enthusiastic smile. “You were awesome, by the way!”“Yeah, you were great! I hope your voice is okay.” I add.“Thanks so much. Don’t worry; I’ll be fine. Steph is overreacting, as usual.” Alex looks at Steph trying to act like she’s annoyed, but it is pretty clear she is trying to hide her appreciation for her.We only get to visit for a few minutes before Steph decides to take Chloe up on her offer to help her pack up. As we load the van, I notice Steph hasn’t stopped fussing over Alex. She had basically begged the bar to make tea for her and then refused to let her help with the packing so she could drink it right away. It was extremely cute even if Alex seemed pretty embarrassed.“So did you still want to hit a late-night diner, or do you want to call it a night?” Chloe asks worried the plans we had made might be out the window now.As Steph goes to open her mouth, Alex stops her. “Please, baby. I’m starving.” She gives a little pout and grabs both of her hands to force her to look into her eyes.“You’re just being cruel now, Chen.” Steph sighs but also can’t seem to fight off a grin. They look into each other’s eyes for a bit before she leans down and gives Alex a very sweet and slow kiss. “Alright, you win, baby. You owe me, though.”“I think I can make it up to you.” Alex playfully wiggles her eyebrows at her.“I can’t wait to see you try.”
~ Present Day ~
We had been playing for about four hours when we finally rescued Alto. Steph’s character was the first one over to speak with her.“Thank you so much for rescuing me! But I’m afraid I’m not this Alto the Bard you’re looking for.” Alex says as she takes a deep breath and stands up next to Steph. She then takes her hand and pulls her up from her seat so they are standing face to face. I prepare my camera under the table as subtly as possible. I notice Chloe out of the corner of my eye taking a sneaky video from her phone.“What do you mean you’re—“ Steph begins but is quickly interrupted by Alex again.“And you’re not Esmerelda, the super sexy drow warlock. You are my gorgeous girlfriend, Steph Gingrich. You’re the most amazing person I’ve ever met. You’re not just my partner, my band member, my protector, my best friend, my love, and my only family; you’re the first person who ever looked at me and thought I was worth anything and everything.” As Alex talked, they both had started crying. I can’t blame them. Hell, I am tearing up a little too. Alex really put everything into this, but it’s also super obvious she means every single word with all of her heart. “That being said…” She gets down on one knee. I begin snapping photos as it is now very obvious what is going on. “I love you, Stephanie Gingrich. For real this time, I’d like to offer you my hand in marriage and all of its associated benefits.” She pulls out the ring and looks up at Steph with hopeful eyes.Steph brings her hands to her face in complete shock. “Yes! Yes, I want to marry you!” She then pulls Alex up so she can kiss her. She seems to have forgotten the rest of us are even here as the kiss lasts quite a bit longer than I was expecting. I think the third snap of my camera finally alerted the two of them that they should probably pull away. “I love you so much, Alex! I didn’t think I could be more surprised than this afternoon, but holy shit… What the fuck… I don’t deserve you. You’re so fucking amazing!”Alex’s smile brightens up the room; clearly, she’s so happy with how things have gone. “I’m so glad you liked it. I always feel like I don’t deserve you, so it’s good the feeling is mutual.”“‘Liked it’ is the understatement of the century, but duh, of course I liked it, babe!” She kisses her one more time before turning back to us. “And you three... holy shit, thank you all. You helped with all of this, didn’t you?”Chloe smirks at her after taking a big drink of punch. “Hell yeah, we did, dude! It was hella worth it. You should have seen your face! Wait, you can! I got it all on here!” She says, waving her phone about playfully. “How’d the photos come out, baby?” She asks, looking to me. I grin and drop about ten Polaroids on the table. She looks over them for a quick second, seeming satisfied until she gets to the last three. Her smile turns into a big laugh. “Holy shit, Max got three shots of that kiss! I’m surprised you didn’t pass out kissing that long!”“Shut it, Price!” Steph says, rolling her eyes. “You’re lucky I’m in such a good mood right now, so I’ll let that comment slide and not kick your ass.”I laugh and go over to Alex and give her a hug. “Congrats, Alex. You absolutely crushed it.” She hugs me back tightly.“Thanks!” She pulls away from the hug before looking to me again. “I, uh, was wondering… Would you want to be my maid of honor? You’ve already done so much, so I don’t want you to feel obligated or anything; it’s just you’re my first choice.” She admits with a blush.“Wowser! Sure, I’d love to!”Today may have started off like total shit, but Chloe was totally right. We ended up having a great time, and even though I’m excited about our future plans, there’s so much good about right now. There’s no need for me to rush anything.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
“Stop fussing; you look so gorgeous, baby.” Chloe insists as she presses her lips gently into my neck. I’m standing in front of a full-length mirror wearing my best black dress. It’s very plain, but when I dress up, I always like to keep it as simple as possible. I just don’t feel comfortable otherwise. Even this dress makes me feel kind of like I’m playing dress up to be someone I’m not. Chloe’s hands run slowly up and down my sides as she holds me from behind.“Are you sure? What about my hair? Should I put it up or something?” I ask nervously. Chloe just sighs and shakes her head as she moves her hands to my shoulders and begins to lovingly massage them.“I promise you already look perfect and beautiful. All the fancy dicks at the gallery are going to love you and your work.”“Mmm,” I sigh and lean back against her a little as she works some of the tension out of my shoulders. “Thank you, Chlo. Sometimes I don’t think I could do this shit without you.”“You definitely could, but I’m happy I can at least seem helpful.” Once she is mostly satisfied that my shoulders have relaxed, she slowly spins me around to face her. She then leans in and kisses me. “I’m really fucking proud of you. You take every rejection so hard, but you still haven’t given up. Now you get to reap the benefits of that. So relax and enjoy it hippie!”I feel my face heat up, blushing at her words. “You look beautiful too.” I compliment her as I step back a little to take in her outfit. She also chose to keep it simple with a black dress shirt, black pants, and a shiny blue tie that matches her hair. Her sleeves are rolled up to her elbows, so I can still see a bit of her tattoo.“Thanks, but don’t change the subject.” She winks and gives me one more kiss before pulling back and taking my hand. “You ready to get going?”I take a deep breath and nod. “Yeah, let’s do it.”…I feel my entire body tense up as we enter the gallery. It’s a small place, but it’s completely packed with people. The crowd on its own is overwhelming to me, but knowing all these people are about to see my work just plain freaks me out. “What the hell. Why is it so busy?” I grumble, making Chloe chuckle.“They’re all here to see Maxine Price’s amazing photo, duh!” She kisses my cheek as she’s now buzzing with excitement. I let go of her hand and hold onto her bicep instead to keep her close as we begin wandering the gallery floor. I look carefully at all the other pieces and try to network with the other artists. I’m still pretty shy and nervous around people I don’t know, but Chloe does her best to quietly encourage me out of my shell a bit.I swap a bunch of business cards with a lot of people before we eventually end up at my photo. I had chosen one of the sunrise photos I took at the canyon in Arizona last year when we visited David. It wasn’t a photo that you can look at and see a ton of meaning in, but the gallery theme had been for landscapes, so I figured this was a great fit for it. The main standout thing about it is that it’s a Polaroid, so it is totally unedited, unlike the other pieces here.“It really is a beautiful shot, Max.” Chloe says as we look at the photo together.“To be fair, it was hard not to get a beautiful shot up there.” She just rolls her eyes at me. I do always have some excuse my work isn’t good or anything special. Chloe will always insist otherwise, though. “Sorry, I know you hate it when I say stuff like that. But I want to be honest with you. I like the photo more than I normally would just because it has sentimental value. The night we had together before I took that photo was so magical. Not to mention that entire week seeing you and David finally having a nice relationship was incredible. That’s why I titled it ‘New Beginnings.’.”“Holy shit. You never told me that before. That’s really beautiful, baby.” I turn to her and we share a short kiss. “I love you, Max.” I smile and blush as my mind wanders to the first time she said those three words.
~ July 2014 ~
“You want another s’more, Mad Max?” I look to Chloe with a soft smile. She’s sitting on a blanket on the ground in front of the small fire pit. She already has two marshmallows on a stick she’s holding out in front of her. She is holding another marshmallow in her free hand, awaiting my answer.“I think I’ve had enough. Thank you, though.” I walk over and sit down on the blanket beside her. She puts the marshmallow away and then holds out her stick over the fire. I let out a little hum as I lean over and rest my head on her shoulder.“Camping out for the 4th of July was a hella good idea. We’re so getting a free fireworks show out here tonight! You know some rich asshole spent a shit ton of money on fireworks to blast off over the lake, and we'll get to reap the benefits!”“I think the campground will also set some off. But yeah, this was a great idea. We definitely need cheap entertainment right now. We’re the ultimate fresh-out-of high school and still-living-with my parents kind of broke.” Chloe eats her last two s’mores, and then we settle in to cuddle a little closer. She moves me to sit between her legs so I can lean back against her chest. “Mmm, you’re comfy.” I compliment as she wraps her arms around me, pulling me in closer.“I’m glad I can be of service.” She teases as she kisses the side of my head. We sit for a long time in a comfortable silence as we watch the sun set over the lake. I’m too relaxed and in the moment to even bother grabbing my camera.Chloe and I have been dating now for a little less than two months. Things have been going well, but we’ve been taking things really slow. After our failed first date last month, we haven’t dared to try going on another one. I think this is a date even though we didn’t really plan it as one. It’s just us here, and it’s extremely intimate and romantic. Suddenly Chloe moves one arm from holding me and starts stroking my hair and rubbing my scalp. We’ve cuddled like this plenty of times before; we even would do this before we started officially dating, but there was something special about tonight that made me feel so fucking amazing. We don’t have the TV on, and we’re not involved in some silly conversation; it’s just us and the quiet beauty of nature.Eventually Chloe breaks the silence. “This has been so awesome.” She breathes softly into my ear.“Not that I don’t agree, but the fireworks haven’t even started yet.” I reply with a soft chuckle.“No, I don’t just mean tonight… I mean US. Like, our relationship is awesome.” She explains. I was a little surprised at the declaration, but I push back my shock and turn in her arms so I’m facing her. I see she’s blushing a little, so I stroke her cheek gently and lean in for a kiss. The kiss starts off gentle and chaste but slowly gets more passionate. I started off cupping her cheeks in my hands but slowly moved them both to tangle in her hair. Her hands started on my hips but eventually moved to squeeze my ass. I end up laying her down on her back and climbing on top of her as we begin to make out.I recently realized I’m in love with her. Actually, it’s more than that. I’m madly in love with her. It just hit me out of nowhere one day when I looked at her. Nothing of particular interest was happening at the time; it just popped into my head. Like, oh my dog, I’m in love with this woman. I haven’t had the balls to say anything yet, though. The time never seems right, and I want it to be special for her. Maybe I should do it tonight? It would be really special to say I love you as fireworks go off. The thought makes my stomach tighten, though. I don’t want to fuck this up. What if it’s too soon? What if she doesn’t feel the same way about me? Damn it, I’m such a chickenshit!Soon we’re interrupted by the fireworks starting. We pull away from the kisses and readjust our positions so we can snuggle and look up at the sky.When the fireworks slow down a little, Chloe strokes my cheek. “Max?” She asks hesitantly to get my attention again. Once we’re looking into each other’s eyes, she continues. “I love you.”
~ Present Day ~
“I love you too, babe.” I give her another peck on the lips. We pull back, and I grab her hand as we step away from my photo so others can take our place. Chloe insists we stay nearby so we can listen in on any comments made about it.We spend almost two hours just hanging around nearby my photo so we can eavesdrop as well as try to sell some prints. I’m really happy with how well it’s going. I haven’t done super accurate math or anything, but assuming everyone who told me they were going to buy a print actually does, I’ve made at least a couple of grand so far today. Chloe hasn’t stopped smiling the entire time we’ve been here. I know she’s just proud of me, but I find it extremely cute that she doesn’t seem bored at all. I wouldn’t have blamed her if she was.“Maxine Caulfield… Price?” The woman who has come up to my photo next reads out loud from the plaque. She sounds both extremely shocked and confused. She then looks over her shoulder, and we lock eyes. No fucking way that’s Victoria Chase! She actually hasn’t changed much in appearance since high school. She still has the short pixie cut and designer clothes, but they are very fitting for the setting today. The only major difference is she’s wearing a pair of black-rimmed glasses.“Uhh, hey, Victoria.” I greet her, still unable to help my shy tone. I’ve not spoken to her since before the storm, but I know she’s made a big name for herself in the photography scene, unlike me. She is mostly known for running the Chase Space, and it’s not just her work that has gotten her where she is today, but even after all these years, I still find her a bit intimidating. Chloe squeezes my hand and rubs the back of it with her thumb to try to calm me a little. I must have tensed up.“Max! Holy shit I can’t fucking believe it.” She comes closer and offers me a handshake that I accept. “That’s a great shot. Still with the Polaroid camera too. Some things never change.”“Uh, thanks.” I try to hide my surprise at the compliment. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but what are you doing here?”Victoria opens her mouth to answer and then locks eyes with Chloe, who has now wrapped her arm around my waist and rested her hand on my hip. "W-Wait... I think I’m having a fever dream. Price?! You and Max are married?!”Both Chloe and I burst out laughing. “You’re damn right we are!” Chloe answers as she decides to drive the point home a little and gives me a hard kiss on the cheek.“To help with some of your confusion Chloe and I were childhood best friends, but I moved to Seattle when I was thirteen. We then reconnected again on the week of the storm. We escaped together, and we’ve been together ever since."“Holy shit…” She does her best to try to regain her composure. “Sorry, I was already shocked you were alive, Max; never mind both of you, and you’re fucking married to each other! But anyway, to answer your question, I travel a lot to scope out artists for the Chase Space. We rely mostly on submissions, but sometimes it’s nice to discover artists ourselves. There are quite a few things going on in Boston this weekend, so here I am. Do you have a lot of showings here?”“Not exactly. I’ve been working at it, but I get a lot more rejections than acceptance letters. I’ve mostly been relying on freelance photography for money.” I admit with a sigh.“I mean, freelance photography is cool and all, but if you want to do more gallery showings, definitely submit to the Chase Space. I’m sure you’ll get in. I might know somebody there.” She winks. “Also, don’t worry about paying for a flight either. Put it in your application that you require airfare. For the right photo we will usually pay for that.”Now it was my turn to be completely shocked into silence.“Holy shit, Chase! That’s fucking awesome! Max will definitely do that once she picks her jaw up from the ground.” Chloe teases.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
“Holy fuck, it’s hot!” Chloe complains as we take our first few steps out of the airport.“Seriously. Remind me to never come here in July again.” I agree as I fan myself with my hand. “How does David stand living here year-round?”“I suppose you’d get used to it eventually, right?” Chloe muses, clearly still wondering how anyone deals with living in such heat all the time.Soon a familiar SUV pulls up, and we see David’s friend Karen get out along with a teenage boy.“Chloe! Max! Glad to see you made it safe!” Karen greets us as she opens up the back hatch. We head over to put our bags in. “This is my son Daniel. He’s also visiting for the week.”“Hi! David told me a lot about you guys.” Daniel smiles at us and takes each of our bags and loads them for us. “Plus, your photos are all over his trailer.”I laugh. “Hi Daniel. I’m Max. This is Chloe.”“It’s nice to meet ya Daniel. You still in high school?” Chloe asks, trying to make conversation as we all hop in the SUV and Karen drives us to the hospital.…David is finally being released from the hospital today. He’s had to do a lot of rehab and be observed, as he did get a bit of brain damage from his accident. He had to learn to walk again and sometimes has difficulty finding the word he’s looking for, but for the most part is doing really well. The doctors say he is extremely lucky to be doing as well as he is.I hold Chloe’s hand tightly as we enter David’s room to see him for the first time since he first got hurt. I smile when I notice how much better he looks. His arm and leg are no longer in casts, and his face is all cleared up. He now has a buzz cut and is clean-shaven. I will be the first to admit I’ll miss his long hippie haircut and beard. His face is a bit sunken in, like he hasn’t eaten much and is now rocking a bit of a tired smile when he lays eyes on us.“David!” Chloe exclaims almost as though she’s surprised to see him. I let go of her hand so she can run over and hug him.“Thank God you’re here, Chloe. Maybe you can whip these damn doctors into shape and have them sign the last of my release paperwork?” He asks clearly, a bit frustrated.“You got it! I’ll go find them right now and kick their asses until you’re all set to go!” She teases as she pulls back. I take her place in the hug before grabbing her hand again.“Don’t worry, everyone; I’ll go with her and make sure she doesn’t get herself kicked out.” I wink at David as everyone laughs.…About three hours later we finally arrive in Away. Chloe really did have to hunt down and harass multiple people in order to get David’s paperwork signed. I thought he was just joking, but I was so very wrong. Chloe and I are completely starving at this point. We haven’t eaten since a very early morning breakfast in Boston before our flight, and with the jet lag, it feels like it’s way past dinner time for us. Karen and I help David into his trailer as he decided to take a nap while Chloe and Daniel start making dinner.By the time we get David settled and rejoin Chloe and Daniel, they’ve already started grilling burgers outside of Karen’s trailer. Chloe is manning the grill and is having a casual conversation with Daniel as he prepares the buns and condiments on the nearby picnic table. I creep up behind her and softly press my lips between the skin on her neck and shoulder blade as my hands slowly slide up her hips. “Mmm, smells good, babe.”“And so does the food, right?” She teases.“I thought we were at the point in our relationship where that sort of joke is just automatically implied?”“Well, that’s no fun. I want to hear it.” She pouts playfully as she turns in my arms so she can hold me as well. After a minute or so, I reluctantly pull back, not wanting to disrupt the cooking any further, and go take a seat at the picnic table with Karen and Daniel.“Is it cool if I flip the burgers?” Daniel asks as he gets up and goes over to Chloe. He seems to have a hint of mischief in his eyes.“Daniel!” Karen warns clearly, also seeing that look.“I wasn’t gonna break the rules, Mom. Jeez, you didn’t even give me a chance.”Chloe laughs. “I know that feeling, kid. Sure, you can flip them. It’s ready now if you want.” She tries to hand him the spatula.“Sorry Mom is a party pooper, but I don’t need that. I have, umm... powers. Obviously I can’t use them in front of many people, but everyone here has been cool with me using them and not telling anyone. Mom said I have to warn you first so you don’t like freak out or anything. Or at least so you can be prepared before you freak out.” He says with a chuckle.Chloe and I immediately make eye contact at the word “powers.” He can’t possibly mean what we think he means, can he? “What do you mean, powers?” Chloe asks, clearly having the same train of thought as me.“It’s probably easier if I show you. If that’s cool?” He looks at her for confirmation.“I mean, sure, I guess. Just don’t ruin the burgers. Max and I are so freakin’ hungry right now.” She adds, not willing to give up our dinner over what could possibly be a teenager’s idea of a hilarious prank.Daniel raises his hand up much like I used to do when I used my powers. That alone made our eyes bug out of our heads. Then all of the burgers smoothly lift themselves off of the grill and flip over before slowly floating back down on the grill. Chloe drops the spatula on the ground as our mouths hang open in a shocked stupor.“Holy shitballs, you have freakin’ telekinesis, dude!?” Chloe finally was able to spit out.“Uh, yeah. You won’t tell anyone, will you?” He asks, realizing he should have probably made us agree to that BEFORE showing us his power. Karen just facepalms a bit as she sits at the table watching him.“No, of course not! Your secret is safe with us.” I reply quickly, knowing exactly how scary the idea of the wrong people finding out you have supernatural abilities can be. “How long have you been able to do that?” I ask a little worried his power might come with some kind of terrible consequences like mine did.“It started when I was nine.” He takes a deep breath before continuing. “My dad got shot by a cop and killed in front of me. We think that’s when it started. I didn’t really have control of it at first. Stuff just kinda started flying around whenever I got upset. My brother Sean helped me practice, and now it’s as easy as breathing.” I try to hide the sigh of relief I have getting the impression that Daniel’s telekinesis seemed unlikely to cause any unnatural weather to occur since he’s been using it for so long.“Dude, that’s fucked up. I’m sorry.” Chloe puts her hand on his shoulder.“Yeah, it was the worst. Dad was so cool.”“I also had a super cool dad who died way too soon. I get it.” I go over to Chloe and wrap my arm around her, knowing she always needs a bit of comfort when she talks about her dad. She gives me a sad smile but then decides to change the subject. “You want to help me serve these burgers? I kinda dropped the spatula.” We all laugh a bit as we work together to pass out burgers for everyone. We all grab plates and put buns on them so Daniel can float a burger on each of them for us.After we finish eating, I lean back a bit, playfully rubbing my stomach. “The burgers came out great! Good job, babe. And you too, Daniel.” I add giving him an encouraging smile.“Thanks!” They both respond together. I grin at my wife. She still has the enthusiasm of a teenager, and it’s so cute. She completely matched the energy of Daniel when I complimented them.“I should take David his plate.” I begin to get up, and Chloe does the same.“I’ll go with you. I could use a walk.” I nod, and we politely excuse ourselves before heading off to David’s trailer.…After we drop off David’s food, we take a little walk around Away. It’s still pretty hot, but it has cooled down enough where we don’t feel like we’re going to pass out or anything.“So… I guess I should have known I’m not the only person in the world with powers, but I’m still pretty shocked.”“Yeah, no kidding.” Chloe squeezes my hand. We gently swing our arms back and forth as we walk down the path.“You’re probably going to say I’m crazy for this, but… I kind of want to tell him.” Chloe looks to me with wide eyes. “It’s just that it felt really good to know I’m not alone. Like I’m not a lone supernatural freak. It’s got to be worse for him. He’s a kid.”“He can’t tell anyone, though, Max. If David ever found out, he’d not want anything to do with us anymore. I know we’ve been over it a million times that he cares about me, and I do believe you, but he cared about Mom way more. I don’t think he’d look at us the same knowing what happened was because of me.”“To be fair, it’s more because of ME than it is because of you, but I do see your point.” I stop us from walking and take both of her hands. “If you really don’t want me to say anything, I won’t, but I do think we can trust him. He seems like a good kid.” She gives a gentle nod at that and lifts my right hand to kiss my knuckle.“I trust you, Super Max. Every good superhero needs a team, right? Sure, there are only two of you now, but who knows? Maybe you’ll meet more someday.”“Hmm, maybe. I’m not much of a superhero anymore, though. I’m a retired superhero at best.” We resume walking as our serious conversation seems to have slipped back into banter.“All the superheroes at the retirement home wish they could look like my sexy wife.” Chloe playfully licks her lips at me, and I roll my eyes.“If you say so, babe.”…Later on that night we all sit around a campfire enjoying the evening’s cool weather and each other’s company. I’m sitting sideways on Chloe’s lap as there aren’t many chairs to go around. Not that I’m complaining; I’m very comfortable. Chloe has one arm around my waist, and her other hand is resting on my thigh. I’m playing with her hair absentmindedly with one hand as I move my other hand to tangle with hers on my thigh. We’re both really jetlagged and exhausted, but we find it best just to push through it for the first couple of nights so we can adjust to the time difference. I think we both keep taking turns nodding off as every so often we bonk heads gently.“Hmm, tired?” I mumble, just trying to make conversation to try and stay awake.“So fucking tired.” She replies, running her hand up from my hip to my back. “Yet I’m probably going to sleep like shit. This is codependent as fuck of me to say, but I’m not looking forward to sleeping alone tonight.” David only has a small couch in his trailer, so we agreed Chloe would sleep there and I would crash on Joan’s couch. We’ve rarely slept in separate beds since the storm. It is going to be weird sleeping apart for an entire week.“Yeah, I feel the same way. I know it’s silly, but I’ll miss you.” We look at each other for a second before sharing a chaste kiss.“If teenage Chloe knew she would one day give up having you in bed for a whole week for David, she would be so pissed.” We both break out in giggles at the thought. There is no way that would have flown back then.We manage to stay up a few more hours before we finally give up and agree to head to bed. We decide we want a bit of privacy, so we walk together to Joan’s trailer.“I feel like a teenager dropping you off at home after a date.” Chloe jokes as we stand holding each other in front of the door.“Well, I did have fun today, so thank you for the amazing date!” Whenever we joke about being teenagers, I like to kiss her in the same fashion I did when she dared me that first time. I place one hand on her shoulder and the other on her cheek. I stand up on my tiptoes and peck her lips. The only difference is Chloe’s response. She smiles against my lips and pulls me closer instead of stepping away. I let a soft moan slip out of me as Chloe begins deepening the kiss. Her hands slide up the back of my shirt, and she teases like she’s going to unhook my bra. “Hey, hey! Easy now, babe.” I tease as I reluctantly pull away.“You’re no fun.” She winks before resting her forehead against mine. “But I love you anyway.”“I love you too, ya dork.” I rub my nose against hers.…The next morning I woke up pretty early. Not quite early enough for sunrise photos but still earlier than I had planned. I yawn and rub my eyes sleepily as I get ready for the day. I do my best to be quiet so I don’t wake up Joan as I slip out of the trailer and carefully close the door behind me.I didn’t expect to see anyone else up at this hour, but I notice Daniel is sitting outside of Karen’s trailer. He’s reading a comic book totally unaware of my presence. I slowly make my way over to him. “Good morning.” I say softly, not wanting to accidentally startle him.“Hey Max. Morning.” He puts down his comic and gestures to a lawn chair beside him.“I was thinking I might take a walk. Would you like to join me?” I see this as a good opportunity to get him alone to talk about my powers, so I decide to take advantage of it.“Sure.” He answers, not really thinking much of it. He stands up, and we walk together along the path. I lead him away from as many trailers as I can before starting to broach the subject.“So Daniel… You told us a pretty big secret yesterday. I really mean what I said: you’re more than safe with us, but I was thinking in return I might tell you something. The thing is this secret has to stay between us. No one else can know. Not even other people in Away. Can you promise me?”He seems pretty surprised that I’m willing to trust him, but he nods. “Of course, but why?”“It will make sense once I tell you. Trust me.” I stop walking so I can get a better look at his face. “You’re not alone in the powers department. I have powers too. Not the same ones, though.”“No way! What can you do?!” He exclaims excitedly.“Well, my powers come at a bit of a price, so I can’t show you. You’ll just have to take my word for it but I can rewind time. The problem is when I discovered my power, I used it, and it caused horrible things to happen. I’m sure David told you about the storm that killed his wife, right?” Daniel is shocked but manages to nod. “We’re pretty sure that storm, along with a bunch of other unexplainable things, happened because I was fucking around with time.” I go on to explain a little bit about what happened in October 2013. I mostly focus on how I had to save Chloe’s life all those times and a little of the alternate timeline meddling I did because honestly he’s a kid who doesn’t need to know about Mark Jefferson and his fucked-up shit.“Anyway… I decided to tell you this because yesterday when you showed me your powers, it was amazing to know I wasn’t the only one. I thought you deserved to know you’re not alone. If you ever want to talk about it, I’m happy to listen. Though I should probably be the one asking you for advice. I only used my powers for less than a week before I had to stop.”“So you really never used your powers again after the storm?” Daniel asks.“It was really hard. Especially at first. It had started becoming a reflex, but I managed to never do it. Even though there have been a few times I’ve come close to risking it.”
~ November 2014 ~
It has been a long fucking day. I had classes starting at 8 am until about 2 pm. Then I had a shift at the coffee shop from 4 pm to 11 pm. I yawn as I unlock the door to our tiny studio apartment. It’s almost midnight now, and I want nothing more than to just pass out the second I get inside. I notice the apartment is dark, so Chloe must have already gone to bed. She has the early morning shift tomorrow. Most of the time we’ve been pretty lucky with getting matching shifts, but this week whoever did the schedule put us on completely opposite schedules. It kind of seems like it was done on purpose.I do my best to try to be quiet and not turn on the lights as I really want to let her sleep. Chloe’s been working really fucking hard so we can live together while I go to college for photography. She deserves to at least get a little uninterrupted sleep. I wander around the kitchen area blindly and bump something off of the kitchen counter. I’m met with a loud shattering sound. I gasp, and I hear Chloe sit up in bed, clearly jolted awake by the loud sound. I then quickly flick the light on.That’s when I feel my heart jump into my throat. My hand goes up in the air to rewind. Chloe sees and jumps out of bed as she screams, “NO, MAX!” She yanks my arm down, but then we both look at the floor, where her dad’s camera is completely shattered.“I know I shouldn’t… But I really, really want to. I’m so fucking sorry!”Chloe has no words as she kneels down to gather the pieces up. I feel sick to my stomach. This camera is the only thing we have left that belonged to William. We can probably get it fixed, but we’re so goddamn broke right now. We’re barely making enough to afford this shitty apartment.“What the fuck, Max?!” Chloe shouts, now finally having the words to get pissed off at me. I understand why she’s upset. Looking back on it, what I just did was pretty fucking stupid, but it was just an accident.“I didn’t want to wake you, so I didn’t turn the light on.” My voice cracks as tears start running down my cheeks.“Well, good fucking job with that! Do I look asleep to you? Why’d you put the camera on the fucking countertop anyway? It’s like you don’t even give a shit! You’re so goddamn clumsy; of course this would happen!” She is also crying, but instead of breaking down like I would, she’s lashing out at me. Seeing her heartbroken is really hard; seeing her pissed at me is even harder, but seeing both at the same time is too much for my exhausted brain to handle. I run into the bathroom and slam the door behind me as I begin to sob.I seriously consider rewinding again, but I know I’m probably past the point of my limit anyway. I pace back and forth in our tiny bathroom, giving myself a headache as I try to think of a way to use my power to fix this. Then I think back to last year. I can’t risk people’s lives over a camera. Chloe was totally right to stop me earlier. I’m knocked from my thoughts when I hear our front door slamming. Chloe must have left. I bet she went to smoke. I slowly crack the bathroom door open to check, and I’m correct. The apartment is now empty. I turn back into the bathroom and splash some water on my face and then get changed into my pajamas.After changing, I go back into the kitchen area and finish cleaning up the mess. I sweep up some small pieces of glass that were littered all over the floor. I also made sure Chloe had grabbed all the pieces of the camera before putting them all in a plastic bag together. I distract myself by cleaning and organizing the mess as long as I can before climbing into bed. Once I’m surrounded with nothing but silence, I bury my face deep into my pillow and I start to cry again.I lost track of how long I’ve been crying for. Just when I think I’m going to cry myself completely dry, I hear our door squeak open. I don’t bother looking up even though I’m very aware of her presence. I’m too upset to even attempt to stop crying. I hear her footsteps walk a very quick and direct path from the front door to our bed. The bed shifts under her weight as she climbs on, and I hear her kick her boots off her feet and fling them off in random directions.“Hey, Max…” She says gently. I feel her hand lightly stroke my back. Most of the time I’m pretty forgiving and even more so with Chloe, but today I just didn’t have it in me to give in so easily. I move away from her touch a little and roll over to my side, facing away from her. She pauses for a minute before she dares to speak again.“God, I’m such a dick.” She admits. “I know you give a shit, Max. I’d have to be pretty fucking stupid not to know you care about me. Why you do is the part I don’t get.”At that I roll over so I’m facing her side of the bed now. I see her face and eyes are still red from crying. She looks calmer, but instead of angry, she just looks as sad as I do. “Chloe, I’m sor—“ She interrupts me before I can finish.“No… I’m sorry.” I give her a sad smile when she apologizes. That’s all I need to hear. I move into her arms and she holds me close.“I think we should consider ourselves lucky this was our worst fight so far as a couple.”“Shit yeah. I guess you’re right. Fucking up and saying stupid and harsh shit is how I generally operate.”“I gotta admit you did get one thing right, though. Thanks for stopping me from rewinding. I wanted to do it so bad, but it would have been such a huge mistake.”“It’s what Dad would have wanted.”“For sure.” I reply as I move to give her a makeup kiss.
~ Present Day ~
“The only way I’ll ever do it again is if Chloe’s life is in danger. It’s just not worth risking it otherwise.”He smiles and nods. “That makes sense. Thanks for trusting me, Max. I always thought I was the only one with powers. It’s actually really comforting in a weird way to know that’s not the case.”“Of course. Just do me one favor. Be careful with your powers. I’m sure you’ve heard it all from your family, but I know better than anyone that Spider-Man’s uncle Ben knows what’s up. With great power…”“I know. I know. My brother says the same thing. I have ‘great responsibility.’”
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
“Yeah, Mom, he’s doing pretty well.” I reply into the phone as I walk up my driveway. My mom had called as I was driving home from a shoot today. I haven’t had a chance to catch up with her since we got back from Arizona, so I need to fill her in on how things went. “Chloe and I really didn’t have to do much to help him settle in, but I think it really put her at ease being able to see he’s doing well for herself.”“That’s great to hear, honey!” Mom replies.“Honestly, it felt almost like a vacation, but I’m paying the price for it now. I had back-to-back shoots all this week, and now I have days worth of editing stacked on my plate. Chloe really wants to go to the beach tomorrow, though. I almost feel like I shouldn’t go.” I struggle to grab my key and put it in the lock while also holding the phone, but I eventually get the door open and enter the house.“You’re such a workaholic, Max. You may have felt like you were on vacation, but it wasn’t one. Not to mention you just told me you’ve had back-to-back shoots all week. So enjoy your beach day with your wife. They can wait one extra day to get their photos back.” As Mom talks, I walk into the kitchen and see Chloe is making a pizza for us. She starts to open her mouth and then stops once noticing I’m on the phone. Instead of greeting me with words, she kisses my cheek and hugs me.“I guess you’re right, Mom. Chloe will be thrilled to hear you took her side.”“I don’t even know what this is about, but hell yeah, she did!” Chloe interjects.“Oh! Did I just hear Chloe? Tell her I said hello!”“Say hi yourself; I’ll put you on speaker.” I set my phone on the counter and press the speaker button.“Hi Chloe!”“Hey, Ma!” It’s so cute she’s recently started calling my mom “Ma.” She’s definitely the closest thing she has left to a mother, so it makes sense. I know it also means a lot to Mom that she is comfortable enough with her to do that.“Max was just telling me about David’s recovery. I’m so happy to hear he’s alright!”“Yeah, same here. Thanks!” Chloe puts the pizza in the oven and starts the timer. “So I gotta know what did you take my side about?”“Oh, it’s just the fact that your wife is a workaholic, and I told her to listen to you and enjoy her day off at the beach.” I wrap my arms around Chloe from behind and lightly kiss her neck.“You’re damn right she is taking her day off! There is no getting out of it either. I invited Steph and Alex, and they agreed to come. Now she can’t cancel without fucking up their plans too.” Chloe turns in my arms and gives me a devilish grin.“That is brilliant, Chloe.” Mom laughs as I grumble a little.…“Baby, wake up. We’re here.” I hear Chloe say in a soft voice as she squeezes my thigh.“Hmm... Huh? What?” My eyes open, and I realize I must have drifted off during the drive. It’s not like me to fall asleep during a relatively short drive. Maybe Chloe was right; I really did need a day off. I rub my eyes and then look sheepishly over at Chloe. “Sorry, Chlo.”“No worries. I’m happy to see you relax for a change.” She leans over and gives me a soft kiss. “You ready?” I gently grab her cheeks with both hands and pull her back to me for another kiss before nodding.The beach is busy but not ridiculously busy. We made a good call doing this on a weekday. Even with the small crowd, we manage to find Steph and Alex pretty quickly. They already set up two umbrellas with their towels laid down underneath them. Alex is lying on her stomach, and Steph is putting sunscreen on her back.“Hey!” Chloe greets them as we plop our stuff in the sand next to theirs.“What’s up!” Steph exclaims as she looks up at the both of us. “Thanks for the invite. It’s a fucking awesome day for this!”“Hey! I didn’t say you could stop.” Alex interrupts as Steph had gotten totally distracted and had stopped putting sunscreen on her. Chloe and I laugh as Steph rolls her eyes playfully.“Who knew becoming my fiancé would make you so needy?” Steph puts her hands immediately back on her fiancé, though. Clearly she was more than happy to oblige Alex’s request.“Yeah, it’s beautiful out today. I probably shouldn’t stroke Chloe’s ego too much, but this was a great idea.” I agree as Chloe and I set up our things.We all sunbathe and chat for about an hour before I suggest we go for a swim. Chloe is up in an instant at the suggestion.“I’ll race you, Mad Max!” She doesn’t wait for my response before taking off. I’m not at all new to her games, though, so I’m quickly on her tail. I grab ahold of her arm and try to drag her backwards. She laughs as I make her stumble a little, and we both end up trying to jump ahead of the other and pull each other to the ground. Chloe eventually stops our little wrestling match by picking me up over her shoulder and running into the ocean. I then let out a little squeak as she dumps me into the water.“You ass!” I playfully squeal as I start trying to splash her in the face. Chloe responds by splashing me back. We have a childish water fight for a few minutes before Chloe finally gives up on splashing me and playfully tackles me into the ocean instead. Once we both resurface, we smile at each other, and I wrap my arms around Chloe’s neck. She grabs the back of my thighs and pulls my legs to wrap around her waist. We bob around in the waves as we hold each other in silence as we catch our breath.“So you’re glad you listened to me?” She asks clearly just wanting to rub it in that she had a great idea. I roll my eyes as though it’s so much effort for me to admit she was right.“Yeah, babe, you’re a genius.” I giggle and press my forehead and nose against hers.“I know.” She winks. “I love being in the water with you. It reminds me of when we went swimming in the Blackwell pool. You know that’s when I first realized I wanted you. You looked so hot in your little pink underwear.”“Geez, I really made you wait!” I laugh as she leans in to kiss me.
~ January 2015 ~
“Ooo! Why’s it so romantic in here?” I ask as I walk into the apartment. I see Chloe is standing by the kitchen counter lighting multiple candles. Not a single light is on in the apartment.“I wish this was for romance. The power is out again.” Chloe sighs as she puts her lighter back in her pocket.“Ugh, seriously? Not again!” I go over and wrap my arms around her, and we kiss softly.“I keep fucking telling George there is something wrong with our electric box, but he never actually calls anyone to fix it before the box just decides it wants to work again.”“Well, I guess I’m not doing any homework tonight. May as well take advantage of it. Let’s do something fun.”Chloe looks at me with a raised eyebrow. “What are we going to do without any power?” She knows we’re far too broke to go out on the town or anything. I clearly mean staying in.“Hmm… I was thinking maybe we could take a bubble bath?”“Wait… You mean like together?” She asks, very surprised by my suggestion. Even though we’ve been together for about nine months, we haven’t had sex yet. I’m a virgin, but Chloe has been nothing but patient with me. It’s so hard because I know I want her so bad, but I keep getting nervous and chickening out. There have been a few times when we’ve been about to do it and she grabs my wrist the wrong way or something, and I have a dark room flashback. Then sometimes I get so anxious that I’m going to panic that it causes me to panic. I feel like I’m letting her down and that I’m being a shitty girlfriend even though she always insists otherwise. I’ve also been pretty shy about being naked in front of her. I’m pretty self-conscious about my body.“Yeah, together. Unless you don’t want to.” I answer, biting my lip nervously.“Are you kidding?! Of course I want to!” She is so excited. I really hope I don’t disappoint her. Chloe leans in and kisses me again. The kiss is soft and loving but doesn’t last too long. “I’ll go get the water ready.” She grabs a candle from the counter and heads into the bathroom. I follow behind her shyly as I start to feel my nerves building up. I take a deep breath and try to talk myself into relaxing. I’m not going to freak out today. It’s just a bath, and it’s dark; she’s barely going to be able to see me.Once the tub is filled with water and bubbles, Chloe starts to pull her shirt off. I take a deep breath and grab her hands.“Can I?” I look up into her eyes, and I suddenly feel my breath catch in my throat. I didn’t think it was possible, but she looks even more beautiful in the candlelight.“Uh, yeah! Please!” Chloe seems shocked once again but more than happy that I’m about to undress her.I bite my lip again as I pull her shirt up over her head and toss it on the floor beside me. I then slowly run my hands up her sides and then around her back to unhook her bra. She shrugs her bra straps off her shoulders and lets her bra fall to the floor between us. I try my best not to stare at my half-naked girlfriend’s breasts, but I think she can tell because she just chuckles at me.“It’s okay to look, baby.” I blush but nod as my eyes lock on her chest once again. As I begin to move my hands to her jeans, she stops me. “Is it my turn now?” She asks with a hopeful inflection.“Y-yeah.” I answer with a nervous smile. She looks into my eyes as if to double-check that I’m actually sure before she removes my shirt and bra in a very similar way to how I just did it for her. She’s a lot less shy and is very obviously staring at my naked breasts. I feel my entire body blush.“You’re so beautiful, Max.”“I’m nothing special. You have seen yourself, right?” I try to say it as a joke, but she sees right through that.“We’re both hot! Don’t even try to deny it. I’ll just have to keep telling you until you believe me.” She says as she leans in and gives me a passionate kiss. Our chests press together, and oh my dog! Her skin against mine feels so fucking good.“I love you.” I say breathlessly as we pull apart. Without even thinking about it, my hands have wandered down to her jeans, and I start unbuttoning them.“Holy shit!” She groans in response. “I love you too.” We are now in a hurry and finish stripping each other down as fast as we can. Chloe climbs in the tub first. I then settle in between her legs with my back pressed up against her chest. She places one hand on my shoulder to pull me closer against her as she starts playing with my hair with her other hand.I let out a loud, contented sigh. “This is so fucking nice.”“You, Max Caulfield, are a genius.” Chloe whispers into my ear as she leans down and starts kissing my neck. “I’m not even a little mad about the power anymore. Fuck it. Don’t care if it ever comes back.”“Same here.” I close my eyes and we cuddle in the tub for about ten minutes in comfortable silence.The longer we rest like this, the more I want to touch her. I finally give in to the temptation and turn myself around to face her. I straddle her lap, and she happily wraps her arms around my waist as I kiss her. I hear her groan into the kiss as we both open our mouths and our tongues dance around each other. My hands run up her neck and tangle in her hair as I try to get closer to her. I can feel Chloe holding herself back from touching me anywhere that could make me uncomfortable. She’s kept them mostly rubbing up my back but also teasing at my hips and waistline. Then suddenly it hits me. I’m so fucking turned on right now. I’m not scared anymore. Not even a little. I just want her. No, I NEED her.“Chloe?…” I moan out as I slowly pull our lips apart.“Mmm, yeah, baby?” She asks, looking at me with half-lidded eyes.“I want you, Chloe. I want you so fucking bad.” Her eyes pop open fully in shock. She takes a minute to process the information, so I speak again in a low, sultry tone against her ear. “Take me to bed. I want you to make love to me.” I slowly pull away and start to get out of the tub.“Oh fuck yes! I want you too. So fucking much!” She finally gains control of her words and body again and quickly jumps out of the tub as well. She grabs a towel we have hanging on the door and wipes us off just enough so we aren’t dripping wet before scooping me up in her arms in a bridal carry. I can’t help but giggle; she’s such a dork. She rushes out of the room and then playfully tosses me on the bed. She takes a half second to take in the view before diving on top of me.We meet once again in a passionate kiss as I guide her hand to my breast. We both moan in unison as she starts massaging it. Chloe’s touch is gentle and yet firm. It makes me feel so fucking amazing. She moves her kisses from my lips and starts kissing up and down all over my body. The way she is taking her time and exploring my body is making me feel so goddamn wanted as well as ridiculously turned on. I start getting to the point where I can’t take much more. My body feels like it’s on fire, and I’m absolutely aching for her.“Chloe… please.”“Yes, Max?” She asks, pulling back and looking into my eyes. She wants to hear me say it.“I want… No, I need you! Please… Please touch me.”She kisses my lips lovingly and smiles against them. I’m so glad I’ve already seemed to have made her so happy. She slides her hand off of my breast and slowly down my belly and over my mound. She groans softly as her fingers start to slide against my folds.“Fuck, you’re so wet, Max.” She pulls away from the kiss a little and watches my face as she slowly starts teasing at my clit. I instinctively grind a little against her hand. I have no idea what I’m doing, but luckily it seems to be coming pretty naturally so far. She gives me a satisfied smile. “I love you so much, Max. We can always stop at any time if this is uncomfortable, okay?” She assures me. I just enthusiastically nod.“I’m ready, Chlo. I really am. I know it.” I say. I'm unable to help but let a few tears escape my eyes. I’m so fucking happy this is finally happening.
~ Present Day ~
“You were more than worth the wait.” Chloe says as we pull back from the kiss. “I would have waited forever for you. Don’t get me wrong; it would have sucked, but I would have!”I laugh. “I know, babe.” I then notice Alex and Steph have also made their way into the ocean.“Are we safe from your little warpath now?” Steph jokes.“Oh please, Gingrich! A little water to the face never hurt anyone.” Chloe teases.Alex laughs and then splashes her fiancé. “Oh great, not you too!” Steph groans playfully before a smile breaks through her fake annoyance. Chloe reluctantly lets me go, and the four of us break into another water fight.Sometimes I wonder if Chloe and I will ever stop acting like children. She’s already thirty but hasn’t lost a bit of her childish nature. I really hope that never changes. I wouldn’t trade a day like this for anything.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
“I’m going to miss you so much, Maximillion.” Chloe wraps her arms around me tightly as we hug outside of the airport terminal.“I’ll miss you too, babe.” I snuggle into her tightly and take in her scent.“Text me the second you land.” She requests as she pulls away just enough to look into my eyes.“Your phone will blow up with texts the entire time I’m gone. I can promise you that.” I assure her as I stroke her cheek. She smiles at that, and we lean in for a long and passionate goodbye kiss.Chloe and I don’t spend much time apart. To say we’re codependent is a bit of an understatement, but it’s worked for us so far. As much as I hate spending time away from Chloe, I am excited about this trip. After we ran into Victoria at my last gallery show, I took her advice and submitted my work to the Chase Space. As promised, a few of my photos were accepted, and they are flying me out to Seattle for a few days to attend the event in person. Chloe considered coming with me, but she’d have to pay for her flight, and she has next to no vacation time left after all of our trips to Arizona this year. It just makes way more sense for me to go on my own.When we finally pull apart, we rub noses gently. “I love you, Chloe.”“Love you too. Fly safe.” She gives me one last peck on the lips before reluctantly letting me go. She pulls my suitcase out of the car and passes it to me.“Thanks, babe. I will. I’ll see you soon.” I take her hand and squeeze it before I finally manage to drag myself away from her and head inside the airport.…Max: Just landed. Miss u already <3Chloe: Yay! Miss u 2. Tell Ma and Ryan I said hiMax: Will do :)Chloe: I let your first emoji slide. Don’t push ur luckMax: :(“Hi Mom! Hi Dad!” I exclaim as I rush over to them and pull them each into a hug. I was so glad that they were both able to come and pick me up at the airport.“Max, it’s so good to finally see you!” Dad replies as he kisses my cheek.“Yeah, it’s super lucky the Chase Space is here in Seattle, so I get the added benefit of seeing you guys.”“I couldn’t agree more, honey!” Mom gives me a bright smile. “I will admit I wish you could stay longer and have Chloe with you, but I’ll take what I can get.”“She says hi to you both, by the way.” I grin sheepishly. “I wish she was here too. It’s pretty sad I already miss her. I’m not used to being so far from her.”“Aww, Max, that’s so cute. You’ll be back home before you know it.” Mom assures me. I nod knowingly. I know I’m being so clingy, and I’m a bit embarrassed, but I can’t help how I feel.Mom and Dad take me out for lunch before bringing me back home. Luckily, today is just a travel day, so I can just hang around the house and try to fight off my jet lag before the gallery showing tomorrow. I make myself at home in the living room and continue visiting with my parents, but I also hold a text conversation with Chloe at the same time.Max: At Mom and Dad’s now. What r u doing?Chloe: I may or may not have just eaten an entire package of OreosMax: WTFChloe: sorry not sorryMax: I should probably consider myself lucky if that’s the worst trouble ur getting up 2Chloe: Exactly!…The next morning I meet up with Victoria for breakfast at a little cafe. We discuss things for the show that evening but also try to catch up a bit.“Are you excited for tonight, Max?”“Yeah, of course! I’m super nervous, though. This is by far the biggest gallery showing I’ve ever done. Also… Well… never mind.” I almost admitted that I’ve never been to a gallery showing without Chloe. Unless you include the one in San Francisco in the alternate timeline.“You have nothing to worry about. I’ve seen your photos; they’re great. What else are you worried about?” She takes a sip of her coffee as she awaits my answer.I didn’t expect Victoria to care about my anxieties, but she does seem pretty genuine. “Nothing. It’s silly. You’re right; I’m sure I’ll be fine.”“I won’t judge you, Max. This might be hard for you to believe, but I’m not the same bitch you knew in high school.”I can’t help but laugh at that. “I already know that. The old Victoria never would have hooked me up with an opportunity like this.”“Maybe not, but I did always like your work. I wouldn’t have been caught dead admitting it back then, though.”“No shit.” We both laugh.“I don’t tell many people this, but I feel like you deserve to know since you knew me back then… I kind of realized I was being an ass after the storm. David Madsen, that security guard everyone hated, saved my life from that psychopath Mark Jefferson.” She shudders a little at his name, and I do the same. “I can’t believe I had a crush on that guy! It makes me sick.”“Same here. I really respected him.” I put my hand on my stomach as I feel it turn like I’m going to throw up.“Sorry, I hate bringing him up, but it's important to the point. David saving me made me think about how he was showing the worst side of himself to everyone when deep down there was an amazing person underneath. I guess it made me realize I was doing the same shit.”“Wowsers! I’m going to have a hard time not telling David that next time I see him.”Victoria’s face fell. “What do you mean?” She is so confused. Wait… Duh, of course she’s confused!“Sorry, it was stupid of me to assume you knew. David is Chloe’s stepdad.”Victoria looked like she saw a ghost at my words. “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me?”“Nope, not kidding.” I can’t help but laugh. “They never got along before the storm. Even after that, things were pretty shaky. Chloe’s mom passed away in the storm, and they even fought about that for a while. A few years later David reached out and apologized for how he was in the past. Losing Chloe’s mom really changed him, and Chloe also grew up quite a bit in that time, so they have a distant but decent relationship now.”“Arcadia Bay really was the smallest place.” Victoria tries to joke.“Yeah… I try to think of it that way too.” Thinking of it as small helps me deal with all the loss I caused. But I’d never make a different choice. Chloe is more than worth it. She’s my everything.My thoughts get interrupted by a text message.Chloe: Guess who has 2 thumbs and changed a tire in 1 minute flat? It’s this girl!Max: ur so cute <3Chloe: No u hippieI can’t help the dumb smile on my face as I put away my phone. Victoria is watching me, clearly trying not to laugh.“So now that I spilled my guts to you, are you going to tell me what else has you all nervous about tonight? Maybe I can help.”I sigh. I guess it’s only fair in exchange for such a personal story. Even though she definitely can’t help. “Fine. It’s pretty embarrassing, though, so prepare yourself.” I look down into my coffee as I admit my feelings. “I’ve never been to a gallery show without Chloe. She’s always so supportive, and when I get overwhelmed by crowds, she calms me down.”“That is extremely adorable, Max.” Victoria says, clearly trying not to laugh. I think if she had laughed, it wouldn’t have hurt my feelings. She seems amused but not enough to tease me about it. “I actually get it, though. I started dating this guy about six months ago. His name is Peter. I’m always so high-strung, and he’s always down-to-earth and mellow. Being around that energy kind of levels me out. I can see what you mean about needing good vibes during a showing.”“Wowsers… I didn’t think you could help, but I actually do feel a little better now. I thought I was just being a clingy mess.” I admit with a laugh.“I mean, you could still be? But who cares really? Anyway, I’m sure it will be harder without her, but you’ll do fine. I really do think people will like those photos. Having a successful show here is going to really give you an edge at getting accepted to other ones. Soon you’ll be having big shows in Boston with Chloe on your arm again.”I smile at the thought. I really hope she’s right.…I still have some time to kill before I need to be at the gallery, so I made plans to meet up with my high school friend Kristen. Kristen and Fernando were the only two people I got at all close with after I moved to Seattle. They were good friends, but obviously I was nowhere near as close with them as I was with Chloe. I also pulled my typical bullshit and was terrible at initiating contact with both of them once I moved away again. I know Fernando is no longer in Seattle; I think he moved to Florida. I’m friends with him on Facebook, so we chat once in a while if he initiates it. As for Kristen, we are a bit closer. She texts me a few times a month, and I work really hard to reply promptly. I don’t want to make the same mistakes with her that I did with Chloe.As I walk up the path towards her front porch where she’s waiting for me, I can’t help but reminisce about making this same walk back in 2014. Kristen may not have been in Arcadia Bay, but she hadn’t exactly had the smoothest senior year of high school either.
~ January 2014 ~
I feel my knee bouncing up and down nervously as I sit in Chloe’s truck. She isn’t exactly thrilled that I begged her to drop me off at Kristen’s house, but I made sure to explain why.Kristen has been acting really strange ever since I returned to high school here in Seattle. At first I just thought it was because she was concerned about me and everything I’ve been going through. I also will admit I haven’t given her much of my time. I’ve been trying to deal with my own shit as well as Chloe’s. Even when I’m not by Chloe’s side, she’s all that I have space for in my brain. I just want to take care of her; she needs so much support after losing her mom. After we returned from winter break is when I really started noticing the changes in Kristen. She barely pays attention in class and seems quiet and zoned out half the time even when she’s just hanging out at lunch with Fernando and I. I’ve questioned her about it a few times, but she always brushes me off and says it’s nothing.Yesterday was monumentally worse, though. Not only did she seem quiet and distant, but she also seemed just plain upset. I’m pretty sure I caught her sneaking off to the bathroom multiple times to cry at various points throughout the day. I finally confronted her about it at the end of the day. It was Friday, and there was no way in hell I was going to leave her alone for two days without knowing what was going on. She reluctantly agreed to tell me but insisted I meet her at her house today so she could be sure we would be totally alone.When we pull up in front of the house, Chloe leans over and hugs me tightly. We have struggled with being apart ever since the storm. She feels like she’s completely lost and alone without me, and I’m still extremely paranoid that leaving her alone for too long will cause some horrific event to transpire. We stay in the hug for longer than two best friends should. I take a big, deep breath, taking in her scent. I don’t even care that she always smells like weed and cigarettes; I’ve actually started to like the smell because it’s so her.“Text when you’re ready to leave. I won’t be far.” She says with a sigh as she finally releases me from her arms. “Have fun, Super Max.”I can’t help but chuckle at that. I know she thinks my friendship is some kind of magic power. It’s very adorable, and I have to fight the urge to kiss her cheek.“Thanks for being cool about this, Chlo. I’ll try to make it quick, but I also need to make sure she’s alright.”She just nods in response as I give her a little awkward wave and hop out of her truck. I see her light up a cigarette as she drives away. I look to Kristen’s house and notice she’s watching me from the porch. I blush a little wondering if she saw the long hug we had.Once I make my way over to her, she gives me a sad smile. “Thanks for coming, Max.”“Of course I’m here, Kris. I’m really worried about you.”“Let’s go inside; it’s freezing.” She seems to want to look anywhere besides at me as she leads me inside and into her living room. We sit next to each other on her couch, and I turn towards her and try to get her to look at me.“Now we’re totally alone, so please tell me what’s going on.”She avoids my gaze, but she nods. “Okay, fine, Max. I’ll talk. Shortly before you came back, I went to a party with a few of the girls I play basketball with. You know me; parties aren’t normally my thing, but Fern was away visiting his dad, so I had nothing better to do.”I try to hold back my audible gulp. I shouldn’t be that concerned from just the mention of a high school party, but after what happened in Arcadia Bay, it makes me feel sick to my stomach at the thought of anything like the things that went on at the Vortex Club parties happening to Kristen as well.“Derick was there. I’m sure you remember how much of a crush I had on him. I was pretty sure he had no idea I existed, but for whatever reason he started hanging around me. We both started drinking. He might have already been drunk when I got there, but I’m not really sure. I didn’t drink too much, but it was enough to give me some liquid courage.” She pauses, seeing the look of absolute horror in my eyes. “I ended up sleeping with him. It was my first time, and to be honest, it kind of sucked. I really liked him, though, but I guess to him I was just an easy lay. I was a slut, Max. I don’t know what I was thinking.” She started tearing up at that.I quickly pull her into my arms to comfort her. I didn’t expect this from Kristen. She was always much more outgoing than me but was still pretty shy, especially around guys. “You’re not a slut, Kris.” I rub her back as I feel a few of her tears drop onto my shoulder.“And then… Well, I missed my period.” She pulls away and turns, facing away from me again. “I’m pregnant. I told Derick about it after school on Thursday. He told me to fuck off and that it’s not his. He called me a whore and said that I was just trying to ruin his life.”I pull her back to me and hold her. I know she doesn’t want to look at me, so I just cling to her back like a koala. It’s obvious she’s super embarrassed and ashamed of herself.“Like I said, you’re not a slut, Kris. You thought you loved him. I know if someone I loved wanted to have sex with me, I’d want to do it too.”She turns around and looks at me. “I’m glad you think so, Max. I probably should have had an abortion, but I just didn’t want to. I saw the ultrasound, and I got attached. I couldn’t just end my baby’s life because I made a dumb choice.”“I understand. Whatever happens, I have a feeling it’s gonna work out. You’re a total badass.”
~ Present Day ~
“Hey, Kris! It’s so great to see you.” I greet her as I give her a big hug.“It’s good to see you too, Max.” Kristen replies as we pull back from the hug. We sit down on a couple of patio chairs she has set up on her porch facing the street. “So, how are you and Chloe doing?”“We’re doing great.” I can never help the dumb grin the crosses my face when anyone asks me that. “I know we made the right choice to have her stay home, but I really wish she could be here.”“That makes sense. This gallery show is huge for you. I’m sure Chloe wishes she could be here to see it too.”“Oh, totally. You should have seen her at my last one! It was a fraction of the size of the Chase Space, and she was nothing but ecstatic the entire night. Sometimes, I think she gets more excited about it than I do.” I feel myself blush as I gush about my wife, and think about how freakin’ cute she is.“Wow, Max, you still got it so bad!” Kristen says with a laugh. “I remember when I saw you with Chloe for the first time. You hugged for like 45 minutes before you’d get out of the car to come see me.”“Oh fuck off! It was not THAT long!” I frown at being teased so mercilessly even if I know she has a point.“Maybe I’m exaggerating, but only like a little bit.” She chuckles. “Then when I confronted you about it you were all like ’Oh no Kris, Chloe couldn’t possibly feel that way about me…’” She changes her voice trying to do an extremely poor impression of me. I just roll my eyes at her. “But seriously, I’m happy for you, Max. I will admit I am a little jealous, though. I know I’ll never find anyone. I have to put Emily first.”I frown at that. “Kris, just because you put her first doesn’t mean you can’t find anyone. If someone doesn’t want to date you because of your amazing daughter, they can fuck right off. I’m sure there are plenty of guys willing to try anyway.”“It could not be more obvious you’ve never dated men.” Kristen says with a laugh. “But I appreciate the sentiment just the same. I’ll try not to give up, but we can’t all be lucky enough meet the love of our lives on the playground when we’re children or save their lives in a public restroom.”I open my mouth to retort, but then realize she has a point. Chloe and I are really lucky that we found each other. Even though we’re not physically together today, and I miss her, I don’t feel alone. The message I left her when I moved to Seattle eventually came true. We’re always together, even when we’re apart.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
“Babe, you can’t be serious?!” I laugh as I see Chloe holding up a pirate outfit out to me. We’re currently out shopping for Halloween costumes. Our house gets a lot of trick-or-treaters and we like dressing up and decorating to encourage them. We’ve gone as pirates every Halloween since we reunited, and I’m trying my hardest to get her to try something new.“But why not Maximus? You’ll look hella sexy in this!”I roll my eyes, now noticing how skimpy it is. “Oh my dog, Chloe! We’re giving candy out to children not going to a frat party to try to get laid.”“I mean we COULD get laid afterwards.” She wiggles her eyebrows at me.“You’re such a perv! I swear your kink for pirates gets worse every year.”“And your point isssssss?”“My point is no way in hell.” I take the costume from her and put it back on the rack. She pouts at me and I shake my head. “How about we compromise... We get PG costumes for Halloween, but I’ll dress up as a sexy pirate for you some other time.” I wink, and her face brightens a little.“Alright, as long as you promise.” She grabs my waist and gently pulls me closer to her.“Fine. I promise, Chlo.” She pecks my lips softly, and I giggle as we pull back. “You’re ridiculous!”“How about we go as zombies? You have anything against zombies?” She teases as she starts browsing the racks again.“You know damn well I have absolutely nothing against pirates!” I playfully roll my eyes. “And also no, I have nothing against zombies either.”
~ A few days later ~
“How much damn candy did you buy?!” I exclaim as I pull out yet another bag of candy from the grocery bags Chloe just brought home.“Look, Mad Max, we can’t be too prepared! Worst-case scenario, we get stuck eating some. Oh no! What ever will we do?” She says sarcastically.“You’ve done this on purpose. There is no way we’re not going to have a ton left over.”“Better safe than sorry!” She comes over to me and pulls me into her arms. “Where’s my welcome home kiss?”I grin as I wrap my arms around her. “Hmm, I dunno. Maybe you should look harder.”She touches her nose with mine before pulling me in to a tender kiss. “Mmm, you better watch out. Zombie Chloe might get hungry and get herself a little hippie snack later.”“Don’t threaten me with a good time.”“Oh, you are in so much trouble now!” She then playfully groans like a zombie and starts making munching sounds as she places kisses on my neck. I let her have her fun for a minute before I let her go.“Come on, we aren’t even dressed yet, and kids are going to start showing up soon.” She nods and takes my hand as we head into the bedroom and get changed.Our costumes are pretty similar. We both have ripped blue jeans and a ripped flannel. Mine is purple and hers is red. We did each other’s makeup to look like zombies and covered each other in fake blood.“Zombie Max is hot. Not quite as hot as Long Max Silver, but I’ll make do.” Chloe teases.“I’m sure you’ll survive.”“Or will I? Are you gonna eat me, zombie Max?”I laugh and facepalm. “Chloe! Can you at least keep it in your pants in front of the children?”“I mean… I can try.” She winks, and I playfully smack her shoulder.…“Wowsers, babe, you might have been right to buy so much candy!” I muse as we see another large group of kids make their way towards our house.“What can I say? I’m a zombie with lots of brains!”“As if. You need to work on your jokes. That was weak.”“Don’t lie; you loved it.”“Trick or treat!” We’re interrupted by the group of kids reaching our front porch. I let Chloe take a turn putting candy in the bags for each kid. She makes zombie moaning noises at each one, getting laughs out of most of them. As they turn to leave, we notice two little girls, probably around 7 or 8 years old, coming up behind them. They are dressed as Woody and Buzz from Toy Story and are holding hands.Chloe and I look at each other as we both have the same thought. These two girls really remind us of ourselves at that age.
~ October 2001 ~
“Look Daddy, we’re a yummy cookie!” Chloe says as she presses her stomach into mine. We are wearing matching cookie costumes that, when we press together, make us look like a single cream-filled cookie.“That’s right, sweetie. You two will have the best costumes in the parade!” William compliments as he kisses the top of her head.“What’s the parade like, Chloe?” I ask nervously. I’ve never been in this costume parade that William is taking us to, and I know Chloe did it last year.“It’s so cool, Max! You just walk with a bunch of other kids, and they play Halloween music. Then they do a costume contest. Everyone gets candy after, but the winner gets a prize!”“H-How many other kids?”Chloe frowns at my question. “You’ll be fine, Max. I’ll be with you the whole time!” She takes my hand, and I give her a toothy grin.“Thanks, Chloe.” I blush slightly embarrassed about my anxiety-driven question.“Chloe is right, Max, you have nothing to worry about. Crowds are nothing to be afraid of.” William adds as he pats my head gently. I haven’t known William or even Chloe for that long, but they are so comforting. I know I can trust them. William then smiles and pulls out his Polaroid camera and takes a photo of us. I watch with wide eyes as William shakes the photo after it comes out of the camera.“Can I see?” I ask with great interest. He smiles and hands me the photo. My heart beats harder in my chest as I look at the photo of us. I have never seen an instant camera before. “I wanna take a photo!” He kneels down and shows me how to hold the camera and look through the viewfinder. We snap another photo of Chloe, who happily poses for us. “That was so cool!”“Glad you liked it, Max. Let’s get going; we’re going to be late.”…When we arrive at the parade, I get nervous right away. The crowd is even bigger than I imagined, and there are kids there of all ages. Some of the older kids are wearing scarier-looking costumes than I’m used to seeing, and they are just being kind of loud and rowdy. I grab ahold of Chloe’s hand and grip it tightly.“You okay, Maxaroni?” Chloe asks as she squeezes my hand.“I guess… It’s just… There are so many kids here.”“Remember what Dad said. No reason to be scared of a crowd. If anyone tries to mess with you, they have to deal with me. You saw what happened with those boys on the pirate ship. No one messes with Captain Bluebeard!”I nod but still keep a tight grip on Chloe’s hand as we start to walk in the parade. As Chloe explained earlier, there is loud Halloween music playing nearby. She starts hopping around dancing to the music as we walk, and she eventually coaxes me to join her. Before I know it I’ve started to relax a little. I’m having too much fun with her to worry about the people around me anymore. She grabs both of my hands and spins me around. It causes me to lose my footing, and I slip and fall to the ground. She frowns and rushes over to help, but not before I cause two older girls to trip over me and fall down as well.“I—I’m sorry.” I apologize immediately as both girls scowl at me.“What the heck is wrong with you, kid?” One girl scoffs at me as she stands back up.“Yeah, seriously, watch where you are going, dumbass!” The other one adds as she joins her friend.I’m instantly intimidated as I stumble over my words trying to explain myself and apologize again. Nothing really comes out besides whimpering sounds, though. Luckily I don’t suffer long, as Chloe has already stepped between me and the girls.“Hey! She said she was sorry! Back off!” Chloe demands.“What are you gonna do about it?” The bigger of the two girls asks, rolling her eyes.Chloe stares at her with a fiery look in her eyes. She looks like she’s about to punch her in the face but then stops when she notices me in the corner of her eye. I had started rubbing my leg where I had fallen.“You’re not even worth it.” She grumbles as she bites back her anger and switches to concern as she kneels down in front of me. “Are you okay, Max?”A few tears had started running down my cheeks. “My knee hurts.” I admit. She frowns and offers her hand to help me up to my feet. By the time she’s helped me up, William has noticed what happened and made his way into the crowd to check on us.“Daddy! Max fell, and she says her knee hurts!” William picks me up, and we move off to the side, out of the way of the parade. He then carefully rolls up my pant leg. I have a small scrape on my knee, so he goes to find a bandaid for me.“I didn’t mean to make you fall, Max.” Chloe says sadly as she is still looking at me worriedly.“I know Chloe. It’s not your fault. Thanks for saving me again. I’m okay thanks to you.”She smiles again, now looking very proud of herself. “I told you, Super Max, I’ll always protect you!”Soon William comes back and cleans my cut and puts the bandaid on me. “Would you like to go back to the parade, Max?” He asks.I take a deep breath and then remember what Chloe said about always protecting me. “Yeah, I guess we can go back.” Chloe does her best to hug me with our costumes in the way. When she pulls back, she takes my hand and leads me back into the parade. This time she is much more gentle and doesn’t dance. We walk at a normal pace, swinging our arms back and forth.When we arrive at the end of the parade, we wait to hear the results of the contest, still holding hands. A few adults come by to observe us, and we press our bellies together to show off how our costumes connect together. I think they seem pretty impressed, and it makes me smile. Chloe bounces on her heels excitedly.Soon William rejoins us, and an adult I don’t know gets a microphone out.“Thanks everyone for coming out to the Arcadia Bay Kiddie Costume Parade! We’ve had a great turnout this year. There were over 100 entries to the costume contest! First I will announce the winners of the best group costume!” He pulls out a piece of paper. “The winners are Chloe Price and Max Caulfield for their cookie costume! Congrats, kids!”My mouth opens in shock, and Chloe lets out an excited scream.“Holy crap, we won, Max!” She grabs my hands and we jump up and down in celebration.…The rest of our Halloween outing goes normally. We return back to Chloe’s house with a big bag of candy each and huge smiles on our faces. Since it isn’t a school night, my parents allowed me to spend the night at Chloe’s. We change into our pajamas and then meet back in the living room. We get cozy on the couch to watch Scooby Doo while we stuff our faces with candy.After the first few episodes finish, we set the candy aside. Chloe grabs a blanket, and she scoots closer to me so she can pull it over both of us. As the night gets later, we move closer together to the point we are fully cuddling. I then notice Chloe has gone quiet. Wowser! She fell asleep! She still has her head on my shoulder and her arm wrapped around me. I’ve never had a friend like Chloe before. Actually, she’s my first real friend at all, but even though we’ve only been friends for a few months, I already know she’s special.“Good night, sleepyhead.” I say softly as I close my eyes and start to drift off as well.
~ Present Day ~
“Trick or treat!” The girl dressed as Buzz says loudly. The girl dressed as Woody smiles shyly and reluctantly lets go of Buzz’s hand so she can hold her bag out to us properly.“I love your costumes! Group costumes are the best!” Chloe winks at the girls as she puts quite a bit of extra candy in both of their bags.“Thank you.” Woody says softly as she quickly grabs Buzz’s hand again. Buzz smiles at her, and then they skip away towards the adult who is waiting at the end of our driveway.“You think they’ll end up falling in love like we did?” I ask, looking to my wife. I know it’s silly; they are just little kids, but it’s fun to talk about. Chloe and I agreed a long time ago we fell in love the day we met. It just took us a long time to realize it.“I mean, they definitely look like us. It’s actually kinda freaky how much.” She wraps her arm around my shoulders and rubs my arm lovingly. It’s starting to get a bit chilly, so I appreciate the gesture. “Maybe next year we do a Disney theme?” She pauses to think for a few seconds. “Actually forget that; let's just steal their costume idea. You’d look so sexy as a cowgirl!”I rest my head on her shoulder and chuckle. “I’m starting to think you have a general Halloween kink. Every costume idea you suggest for me seems to get you going.”“I’m sorry, but I’m just spouting facts, baby.” She kisses the top of my head as we settle into each other a little. We hold each other for a few minutes, enjoying the crisp, cool air.“Mmm. I think it’s starting to slow down a bit. You want to go in and start our horror movie marathon?” I try to stifle a yawn.“We’ll see how far we get with that, but yeah. I’m more than ready to go inside and get cozy with you.” She leaves the bowl of candy on our doorstep for any last-minute trick-or-treaters and we head back inside.I prepare the movie, and Chloe makes some popcorn for us before we get comfy on the couch with a blanket.“Mmm, today was so fun.” I cuddle into Chloe’s shoulder tightly and let my eyes close.“Yeah, Halloween will always be my favorite holiday.” Chloe agrees as she strokes my hair. “You seem sleepy, baby. Are you okay? It’s still pretty early.”“I’m fine. Guess it’s just been a long day.” I shrug and look at her through half-lidded eyes. She leans down and kisses my forehead.“I suppose I can let you fall asleep first for a change.”“Yeah. It only seems fair I take a turn. I’m sure I’m really twisting your arm to make you hold me and watch TV.”“It’s not like it’s my favorite thing to do or anything like that.” She says sarcastically as we lean in for a kiss.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
I wake up feeling kind of shitty. This is the fifth morning in a row I’ve felt kind of off, but this morning is particularly rough. Could this be morning sickness? I’m trying not to read too much into it, but it’s hard to ignore as it’s starting to become a pattern. I see Chloe is still fast asleep beside me. I want to tell her, but at the same time I’m afraid to. It’s bad enough that I have my hopes up. What if I just have a weird stomach bug and I get her all excited for nothing? I sigh softly as I watch her sleep. Once she wakes up, I’ll definitely tell her. I can’t keep things like this from her after what I did during our first try. Ever since then, when the time came, I’d take the test, and we’d get the results together. Getting failure after failure has been hard on us, but at least we’ve supported each other. Not to mention we really haven’t been trying for a concerning amount of time. I know some couples take years to conceive. We just need to be patient.I’m not sure if it’s because of the train of thought I’m on or if it’s just a coincidence, but I have to dive out of bed as fast as I can and rush to the toilet. Luckily, I make it in time before losing my dinner from the night before. I flush and start brushing my teeth when I hear Chloe slowly getting out of bed. My quick exit from the bed must have woken her up. She slowly makes her way over to the bathroom door frame and leans against it sleepily.“Umm… Where’s the fire?” In her half-asleep state, she hasn’t picked up on why I darted out of bed and woke her up just yet.I smile at Chloe’s sleepy face. She’s so cute it makes me feel better even though my stomach is still turning. “There’s no fire; it’s okay.” I go back to brushing my teeth. I notice the gears turning in her brain as she begins to wake up.“Wait…” Her eyes slowly start to open up a bit more. “Were you just sick?”“Yeah, but… it could be anything.” I admit. I'm still trying to brush it off as nothing.She frowns as she wraps her arms around me from behind as I finish brushing my teeth. “Sure, but either way, come back to bed, baby; it’s still early. I’ll go get you some water.”“You’re sweet, but—”“No buts! You know the drill: we take care of each other when we’re sick. Morning sickness or not.” She kisses my cheek as she leads me back to bed, still holding on to my waist.“Uhh, well… Shouldn’t I take a test first?” I remind her.“Oh shit. Is it that time already?”I grab my phone from my bedside table and open my calendar app. “Hmm, yeah, looks like it is.”Chloe smiles brightly at me. “Amazeballs! Go take the test, and I’ll get your water.” She gives my hips a gentle squeeze before she takes off to the kitchen.By the time I finish taking the test, I see Chloe has climbed back into bed and is sitting up leaning against the headboard. She pats the space beside her, wanting me to join her. I put the test on my bedside table next to my phone and then climb in next to her. She passes me a glass of water before wrapping her arms around me.“Thanks, babe.” I take a few sips before putting it aside so I can snuggle into her tighter while we wait for the results. “Chloe, I’m nervous.” I admit in a soft tone. I didn’t expect it, but I feel a single tear escape my eye.Chloe frowns and strokes my hair back. “Hey, it’s okay. Nothing to be nervous about. We’ve been over this. We’ll keep trying until it happens. It’s gonna happen, Max.”Her pep talk helps, but I still keep trying to snuggle closer to her anyway. She kisses my head and then starts running her hands through my hair and massaging my scalp. She knows exactly how to relax me. My eyes fall closed, and I let out a relaxed hum. Only Chloe could make me feel better while my stomach keeps threatening to empty itself again.“Mmm, I love you.”“I love you too, Maximus.”We cuddle in silence for a little while. I’m unsure of how long it’s been, as I think I might have started to doze off. I forgot to set an alarm for the test, but Chloe’s alarm to get up for work goes off, disturbing my half-asleep state.“Whoops, sorry.” Chloe whispers as she turns the alarm off.“Hmm, no problem. We should probably check the test now anyway.” I rub my eyes as we both sit up a little more. I take a deep breath and grab the test from its spot on my bedside table. Chloe leans over my shoulder so we can both look at it together.I turn the test towards us, and there is a long silence. Much longer than usual. I think we’re both too shocked at what we’re seeing. I know I just kind of woke up, so I start rubbing my eyes again, and Chloe takes the test from me to get a closer look.“Holy fucking shit balls!”I have no words, so I just turn to Chloe and press my lips into hers. We kiss like our lives depend on it. When I finally pull back, I look at the test again. Sure enough, it’s positive. Tears start running down my face as I’m so overwhelmed and happy. Chloe also starts crying, but she moves to hold my face in her hands and starts wiping my tears away with her thumbs.“We did it, Chlo! I can’t believe it!” We press our foreheads together, and she moves one hand from my face to my belly. I put my hand on hers as she starts to rub it.“We’re having a freaking baby, Max! I love you so much!” She doesn’t give me a chance to reply and just captures my lips in a passionate kiss again. I melt into her touch until I suddenly realize something and stop her.“Babe, don’t you have to go to work soon?” I ask with a frown.“Oh fuck that! I’ll get someone to cover my shift. Tim will probably even find coverage for me. There’s no fucking way I’m leaving your side today!” She pauses a second and then frowns. “You don’t have a shoot today, do you?”“Luckily I don’t. But I do have to edit yesterday’s shoot.” She pouts at me. “Don’t give me that look; it will only take a few hours.”“Ugh, fine, but I’m going to do nothing but spoil the shit out of you all day! Let me call work real quick.” She grabs her phone from her bedside table and taps a few times. I lay back down in the bed, and I rest my head on her lap. She instinctively starts running her hand through my hair. I love how she always seems to know what I want.“Hey Tim. It’s Chloe. What are my chances of getting coverage for my shift today? ... I know I’m sorry it’s last minute. … It’s not an emergency, but yeah, something has come up. I need to tell you anyway because I’m probably going to need other random times off pretty soon. We just found out Max is pregnant. So I’d like to—” I can now hear Tim’s voice; he’s excited for us. I can’t tell what he’s saying, but the volume and tone are enough for me to be able to tell that much. “Thanks so much; I really owe you. … Yeah, I will. Thanks again. Have a good day. Laters.”“Sounds like good news?”“Yeah, Tim is covering my shift himself. He told me to tell you congrats from him.”“That’s so sweet of him. You’re right; we definitely owe him.”“I’ll get him a ‘world’s best boss’ mug for Christmas or something.” She jokes.“You’re a dork.” I laugh as I sit back up in the bed.“That’s right, baby! I’m your dorky baby daddy.” She leans in and starts kissing my neck. “And you are my sexy baby momma.” Her words are muffled against my neck.I close my eyes and a goofy grin forms on my lips. I didn’t think this was what she meant about spoiling me all day, but I certainly have no complaints so far. My hands tangle in her hair as I hold her close. Once she realizes I’m into it, she carefully lays me down on my back, and she climbs on top of me. Her touch somehow feels even more gentle and tender than usual. I didn’t think that was even possible. It’s such a turn-on that a loud moan escapes me already. I feel her smile against my neck in response.About an hour later we are both lying in bed completely naked, sweaty, and out of breath. I’m still on my back, and Chloe is lying on her stomach between my legs, looking up at me with love in her eyes. She’s careful not to put too much weight on me as she begins placing loving kisses all over my belly. I brush her hair back and stroke her chin as if she’s a cat.“Mmm. How do you feel, baby?” Chloe asks as she slowly climbs up my body, then rolls off to my side. She rests her hand gently on my belly.“So fucking good.” I roll to the side so we are almost nose to nose. I can barely keep my eyes open, but I do my best to fight off sleep as I’m not ready to let this moment end. She leans in and kisses me softly. Her hand strokes my cheek.“Good. Me too. Let’s take a nap, then I’ll make breakfast.” She wraps her arms around me, pulling my head to rest on her chest.“I love you, Chloe.” I mumble as I already feel myself drifting off.
~ Chloe ~
“I love you too.” I kiss the top of her head and smile as I feel Max is already fast asleep. I said WE should take a nap, but I know damn well I’m not going back to sleep. I’m far too excited to sleep. If I insisted she take a nap without me, she would have fought me on it. I’m more than happy to hold her while she sleeps, though. She can sleep all fucking day if she wants to. I don’t give a single shit. In fact, I want her to get as much rest as possible. She needs it, and I’m really enjoying holding her. I gently run my fingers over the soft skin on her arm as I take in the shampoo smell coming from her hair.The longer I lay here, the more it hits me that this is the happiest moment of my entire life. Nothing else even compares. My heart is absolutely bursting with love for Max as well as our unborn baby. I know it’s still early and anything can happen. There is a reason doctors say not to tell people too soon about a pregnancy, but it’s too late; I’m already so attached. I do my best to push away my negative thoughts. I can’t go down that road. I refuse to let myself go down some kind of spiral I can do nothing about. Max is so fucking strong, and I’m going to take good care of her. I always try to take care of her no matter if she needs me to or not.
~ February 2008 ~
“Shit!” I shout as I put my hand a little too close to the steam coming from the pot I have boiling on the stove.“That’s a dollar for the swear jar!” I hear Dad shout as he joins me in the kitchen. He then gives me an odd look once he notices that I’m attempting to cook. “Uhh… What are you doing?”I look away from him a little embarrassed. “N-Nothing! None of your business!” I then turn back to Mom’s cookbook I have open on the table, hoping he’ll just drop it and leave me the hell alone.“Okay… I guess I can figure it out for myself then.” He tries to lean over my shoulder to see the cookbook, which I keep trying to cover with my hands. He eventually wins and catches a glimpse of the recipe I’m looking at. “So… Why exactly are you trying to cook chicken noodle soup on a Tuesday evening by yourself?”I know for a fact I’m blushing, so I do my best to keep my back to him. “Max is sick.” I say under my breath. At first I don’t think he heard me, but then he puts his hand on my shoulder.“You’re making your sick best friend homemade chicken noodle soup?”“Ugh, Dad!” I groan.“Sorry, sorry! I’m just trying to make sure I understand. How exactly do you plan on delivering this to her?” He asks, seeming genuinely curious. Max’s house is a pretty long walk from here. It would be an especially long one carrying even a single serving of soup in 20-degree weather.“Uhhhh.” Maybe I haven’t thought this through after all.Dad just lets out a hearty laugh. “This is very sweet, Chloe. I’m just teasing you. I’ll take you and the soup to Max’s house.”“Really?”“Of course, Chloe. I’ll even help you make the soup too if you want. But you have to answer a question for me first. Why are you really doing this?” His voice is soft and gentle. I think he’s trying to get my secret out, but I’m nervous. He doesn’t even know I’m gay, never mind that I have a giant crush on my best friend.“I told you she’s really sick.”“And her parents can’t get her soup because?”“She didn’t ask me or anything. I just want to.”“Oh? And you want her to know YOU are the one to bring her this soup, right?” Dad is really starting to get on my nerves now.“Yes, of course I do!” I blurt out.He grins. “You love Max, don’t you?”“I-I-I, uh, yeah, duh! She’s my best friend!” I add, still trying to hide the truth. I hide it out of instinct, but then I realize he figured it out and is still being pretty chill.“I see. Well… Just so you know, you can tell me anything, Chloe, but if you say you’re just being a good best friend, I’ll take your word for it.” He opens up the fridge and pulls out some chicken breasts and begins to prepare them.We cook together in silence for a little while before I finally gain some courage. “Fine, you’re right, Dad. I have a crush on Max. I got off the phone with her about ten minutes ago. She sounded so freakin’ miserable and sick. It kinda made my chest hurt. Then I got to thinking about how you or Mom always make this soup for me when I’m sick, and it makes me feel better. So I thought I could do the same for her.”Dad smiles and pulls me in to a tight hug. “Max is so lucky to have you.” I feel tears build up in my eyes.“She’s really not. She’s the best. I don’t know if I’m good enough for her. What if she thinks it’s weird that I like her like her?” Dad lovingly strokes my hair.“Max is a good person. I know she won’t judge you. But I will warn you, Chloe, she is quite a bit younger than you. It’s likely that she’s not ready for those kinds of feelings just yet. If you really love her, you will have to be patient, but also don’t wait for her forever. You are worthy and deserve love. I know I will always love you. No matter what.”“I love you too, Daddy.” I haven’t called him Daddy in years, but it just kind of came out of me. He got me all sappy about Max and now about him. What the fuck is wrong with me today?Dad and I spend about an hour making the soup before driving it over to Max’s house. He lets me hold the pot full of soup, and he rings the doorbell for me.We wait for what seems like a very long time before the door finally creaks open. My heart both swells and breaks at the same time at what I see on the other side. Max is standing there looking completely exhausted. Her eyes have bags under them like she hasn’t slept in days. Her nose and cheeks are bright red, highlighting her adorable little freckles. She’s wearing pink flannel pajama bottoms and a white t-shirt that is a tiny bit too small, so I can see a little bit of the skin of her belly. She’s wrapped herself up in a large blanket that she draped over the top of her head, and yet it still drags behind her on the floor. It’s hard to tell, but her hair is down and a complete mess under the blanket. She’s shivering as if she’s standing naked in a blizzard. I’m sure the cold February air we’re letting in isn’t helping.“W-What’s this?” She asks in a very stuffed-up sounding voice.I give her a sweet smile. “I made you some chicken noodle soup. Thought it might help.”I think my heart stops for a second when she smiles back at me. “Chloe, that’s…” She stops to cough a little. “So nice of you.”I quickly enter the house, not wanting to wait for an invite. She’s clearly freezing. “Go lay down on the couch, Maximus! I’ll get you a bowl.”I head into the Caulfields’ kitchen and help myself to their bowls, utensils, and another pot to put the leftovers in. Once I’ve fixed Max her bowl and placed it on a pot holder, I gingerly bring it in to the living room. I find Max curled back up on the couch with her large blanket laid on top of her from her chest down to her toes. I can now fully see her messy long hair is flowing about in every direction. I know it’s super weird I find her to be so cute even in her sick state, but she just is. She sits up and pulls her arms out from under the blanket so she can take the bowl from me.“Careful, it’s still pretty hot.” I warn as I gently place it in her hands.“Wowsers! It looks so good!” She stirs it a little with the spoon and takes a small spoonful. She blows on it carefully before putting it in her mouth. I sit on the arm of the couch near her feet as I watch her eat. “Thanks so much, Chloe. You’re such an amazing best friend.” She beams as she is clearly enjoying the soup. My heart soars at that. The effort I put in was worth it ten times over just for that.“Don’t mention it, Super Max. I just want you better. Everything sucks without you.” I didn’t mean to admit that out loud, but it earns me a smile, so I get over it pretty quickly.She starts to lean over to put her now-empty bowl on the coffee table, but I beat her to it and grab the bowl from her myself. I set it down and I kneel down beside her. I adjust her pillows and pull her blanket back up over her arms again.“Are you tucking me in?” Max asks with a cute giggle.“Yeah? So what if I am?” I wink.“Isn’t your dad waiting Chloe?”“Yeah, and he can keep waiting until I’m good and ready.” I make sure she is tucked in tight like a burrito before I sit on the arm of the couch again. This time I sit on the side by Max’s head. My hand starts gently stroking her hair. I frown, feeling how hot her forehead is.“You always take such good care of me, Chlo.” She yawns and her eyes slowly close. She lets out a soft hum as I see her snuggle into the blanket. She looks very cozy and warm now.“I’ll always take care of you, Max.” I whisper. I keep stroking her hair until I hear her let out a cute little snore.
~ Present Day ~
I lay in bed with Max for about two hours before she finally begins to stir. I kiss the top of her head as she slowly wakes up.“Mmm, what time is it?” She mumbles into my chest.“A little past ten. You hungry?”“Ughhh, no.” She groans. I frown and rub her back lovingly.“I’ll make some chicken noodle soup. That might feel good on your stomach. You gotta eat for the baby.”“The homemade kind?” She perks up a little at that.“Yeah, duh! Only the best for my wife and baby!”
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“So how’s it going so far, Chloe?” Tim asks after he pulled me aside in his office. “I know you can’t talk about it in front of the guys yet, but I’m dying to know.”“Wow, Tim I had no idea you were such a gossip.” I can’t help but laugh at his antics.“Oh come on, don’t leave me hanging.” He teases.“Fine. I guess I’ll tell you.” I playfully roll my eyes. I try to act like it’s a bother to talk about, but I’m more than happy to do so. It’s been so hard keeping Max’s pregnancy a secret. We don’t have a ton of people to tell, but I would scream it from the rooftops if I could. Tim and our doctors are the only people who know so far. “Max’s appointment yesterday was hella awesome! All healthy so far. We got our first ultrasound. It’s so fucking cool! I keep looking at it, and Max keeps complaining that I’m going to ruin it by handling it too much.”Tim chuckles. “I had a feeling. You’ve been bouncing off the walls all day.”“Oh fuck off, old man!” I say in jest.He laughs. “I’m happy for you, kid. I remember when my first kid was born. It was amazing.”“Thanks, man. I appreciate it.”“Any time. Now get out of here. You don’t want to be late and worry your pregnant wife.” He winks.“Will do! See ya tomorrow.”…I decide to risk it and be a little late getting home so I can pick up a few things for Max. She’s been on a bit of an ice cream kick lately, and we’re all out. Also, her morning sickness has been pretty rough, and she’s always exhausted, so I decide to pick up some flowers just as a little surprise. I don’t get her flowers very often, but I have a feeling it will go over well tonight.When I enter the house, I notice it’s really dark and quiet. I turn on the kitchen light and put the ice cream away before making my way to the living room. That’s when I find Max is sitting on the couch with her laptop on her lap, but she’s fallen asleep. Fuck, that’s so cute, but hopefully she hasn’t been out for too long. I don’t want her messing up her sleep schedule. I carefully pick up her laptop and put it and the bouquet of flowers I bought on the side table. I gently rub her arm to try to coax her awake.“Hey Max. You gotta wake up, baby.” I let out in a soft tone.“Hmmm?” She groggily opens her eyes, and they slowly focus on me. It takes her a minute to realize what happened, and then she frowned. “Ugh, fuck. Shit... What time is it?” She rubs her eyes.“Don’t worry about it, baby; it’s fine.” I assure her, stroking her cheek a little.“It’s not fucking fine; I was editing.” She grumbles. “And I didn’t even start dinner.”“I can cook, or we can order out. Don’t even worry about that.”“God, I feel so fucking useless.” She puts her face in her hands. She looks way more upset about this than is probably warranted, so I hop on the couch next to her and wrap my arms around her.“Hey, it’s okay. You’re okay.” I rock her a little in my arms. At first I worry she is too upset to be comforted and will push me away, but a few seconds later she wraps her arms around me in return and buries her face in my neck.“I’m sorry. I’m such a mess.” She sniffles a little.“You’re not a mess, Max. It’s okay. You’re doing your best.” I kiss her cheek. “Speaking of… I know you’ve been kind of having a rough time the last few weeks with the pregnancy and everything, so I got you a surprise.” I pull back enough so I can grab the flowers and give them to her. “It’s nothing much; it’s just I thought… Well, I guess I thought that you’d appreciate it.”“Oh Chloe.” Her face brightens up, and she pulls me down to kiss her. I have to fight back a huge smile when she deepens it. If I thought she’d react to flowers this way, I’d give them to her every damn night. Her fingers tangle in my hair. I’m glad I started growing it out again; it feels so fucking good when she gets a good fistful to hold me in place. I can tell from her body language she’s going to stop me at any minute, but I plan to enjoy it as long as I can. I slide my hands up the back of her shirt and rub her back just the way she likes.Max soon pulls back as I expected. “So I was going to make us pizza. Would you mind? I need to finish editing these photos.”I consider telling her the photos can wait until tomorrow, but I know there is no fighting Max when it comes to getting her work done. Plus she was already pretty upset about falling asleep earlier, and I really don’t want to bring her back to feeling like that again. “No problem, baby! Whatever you want.” I peck her lips one more time before standing up and heading into the kitchen.…
I wake up from a deep sleep and notice a very familiar sight. “Dad?” I ask sleepily.
“Yes, kiddo?” He looks over his shoulder and smiles at me as he drives his old car down the road. Ugh, great, not again. I’m once again sat in the back of Dad’s old car. Country music plays quietly from the stereo. I’m fully lucid, and yet I know there is nothing I can do. Nothing will really change. I’ve been here so many times before, and I’ve tried everything. So I decide to play along as I always do.
“How are you doing today… Dad?” I gulp as I already feel tears building in my eyes. God, I miss him so fucking much.
“I’m fine as always, sweetheart. I think the real question is: How are you doing?” I notice a sly grin cross his lips. “Don’t you have something to tell me?”
“W-What do you mean?” My voice is shaky and full of tears.
“Yeah babe, don’t you think you should tell him?”
No! Fuck no! Nonononono. Please no. I can’t bare to see this… I lean to my left and look around to the front passenger seat. Sure enough, Max is sat there. She looks so fucking beautiful but not quite the same as when we went to bed last night. She looks like she’s at least six months pregnant.
“Max, no! You can’t be here!” I try to reach out and touch her, but my body doesn’t respond.
“I’ll always be with you, Chlo.” Max looks over her shoulder, giving me a sweet smile like she always does. She rests her hand on her belly, looking absolutely proud and excited. “Now tell your dad the news.”
“Umm, okay… Dad… Uh, Max and I are having—“ I start, and then I see the headlights. This time they are approaching from Max’s side of the car. “NOOOO, MAX!!!”
I wake up on the cusp of a scream that I manage to silence by biting down hard on my fist. Sweat is pouring down every inch of my body, and I can tell I’m still trembling. I look to the other side of the bed and manage to get the feeling of sweet relief seeing that she’s not only still asleep but also completely unharmed and safe. She looks warm and cozy all wrapped up in the blankets. She lets out the smallest little sigh every so often. I suppress the violently strong urge to wrap her up in my arms and never let go, but I don’t want to risk disturbing her. I know if she wakes up and sees me like this, she’ll worry.I suddenly realize I’m still breathing way too fast, so I concentrate on taking slow, deep breaths just the way my therapist always says to. No amount of therapy seems to take away these horrific nightmares, but at least it helps a little. I know Max is in the same boat. As fucked up as the nightmare I just had was, I’m thankful it was me who was plagued by a nightmare tonight and not her.
~ October 2014 ~
“CHLOE!!!” Max screams as she jolts awake. I suffer only a half second of confusion as I wake up. This is an all-too-familiar situation for me now. That doesn’t mean I’m in any way used to it, though. Seeing her like this will always completely shatter my heart into tiny pieces.“Shh, baby. I’m here. I’m okay. I promise everything is okay.” I coo gently against her. I wrap my arms around her tightly. She’s completely drenched in sweat. Even her hair is damp from brushing up against her face. She’s shaking like a leaf in my arms.She begins to sob into my chest as I rub her back, knowing it’s really all I can do to try and calm her down. “Thank god you’re alive, Chloe!” I can feel her heart pounding far too quickly against me.“There’s no getting rid of me, Maximus! I’m like a cockroach that won’t go away.” I try to joke, but I know it won’t help. It never does.“Chloe, no… All those people… They begged me to save them. But I never would. I made my choice. I’ll never regret it. I love you too much for that. It just hurts to know I have so much power, but it wasn’t enough to fix everything.”“I love you too, baby. I love you so fucking much. But seriously, fuck your powers. You don’t have to save the world, Max. You just have to be you.” I assure her as I move to kiss her. She allows me a soft peck but then pulls back.“I really wish it was that easy.” She sniffles.“Sure it is.” I wipe a few of her tears away with my thumb. “We’re here. Together. That’s it. End of story.” I know it’s not really that simple for her, but I have to try. It burdens her that she feels she killed all these people, but who knows if it had anything to do with her powers at all? I try to use that doubt to my advantage. Do I feel worthy of all those deaths? Not even close, but Max seems to believe it even if they do haunt her nightmares.“Chloe… I’m so tired.” Max admits with a sad sigh. I know she doesn’t mean that she just wants to go back to sleep. I know she’s just exhausted from life. From the weight of our past and the present. Things over the last year have been tough. Sure, we’re madly in love, and we’ve had amazing moments. I wouldn’t trade them for anything, but the bad times can be so fucking overwhelming.What happened last October is such a burden on Max. It’s hard to get her to talk about her nightmares, but from what I’ve managed to coax out of her over the last year is that she has about three different varieties of nightmare. The first one is the most obvious. It’s the storm. She’s stuck in the storm. Sometimes she’s alone, trying to escape. Sometimes a new storm is coming. Other times she’ll be back in time with me making the sacrifice. And sometimes she gets harassed by folks she knew from the town who beg her to save them. The second one is the simplest but is no less fucked. She’ll have nightmares in which I die in front of her in some horrific way, but she’ll be completely powerless to stop it. The last one is the one that makes me the most sick, though. It involves that fucking freak Mark Jefferson drugging her, taking freaky perverted photos of her, talking in his fucked-up voice where he makes her feel so fucking uncomfortable… I can’t even keep thinking about it.But even just the burden of the past isn’t the only obstacle Max has to deal with. She’s working so hard in school to reach her dream of being a professional photographer. This was her dream school and I think overall she’s glad she chose it but living in LA in an apartment instead of in the dorms so we can be together is a lot of extra work. Not to mention this apartment totally sucks balls. It’s a tiny studio apartment, and the walls are paper thin. It’s not exactly in the safest neighborhood either. Our landlord is a total dickbag, and yet the rent is still so fucking expensive. I work two jobs, and she works part-time while trying to balance her time with school, and we barely make enough for rent. In fact, her parents had to help us last month. I’m worried that pattern will continue this month as well.“I’m so sorry, Max.” I feel tears build up in my eyes. I try my hardest to prevent them from falling, but I eventually fail, and they drop onto the top of her head.“It’s not your fault, Chloe.” She assures me in between her own sniffling. “You’re right; we’re together. That’s what matters.”“Yeah. We’re together; we can get through anything.” I say with determination as I place a kiss on the top of her head.
~ Present Day ~
I get out of the shower with a soft sigh. I just needed to clean off all my sweat. I felt pretty gross earlier. God damn it, it’s so fucking early still. It’s around 3:30 am. I am tired, and I consider going back to bed, but I still feel pretty fucked up from my nightmare. I don’t want to toss and turn, as it would probably wake Max. So I make my way into the living room instead and flip the light on.I look to a bookshelf we have next to the TV, and my eyes fall on my dad’s old Polaroid camera. Max broke it back in 2014, but we managed to find a professional camera repair shop a few years later that was able to completely restore it for us. It looks brand new now. Max hasn’t used it since. I always tell her not to worry about it and that Dad would want her to use it, but she refuses. Instead we simply treat it as a reminder of him. Almost like a little urn sitting and collecting dust on our bookshelf.For the first time in years, I pick up the camera and plop myself down on the couch. I hold it out in front of me while I inspect every inch of it. My fingers run over the edges as though petting a small, delicate animal. I know it’s a bit ridiculous, but Dad’s grave is back in Arcadia Bay, and the need to speak to him overwhelms me. So I hold the camera as if it’s his hand.“Hey Dad… I know it’s been a while, but I guess I just really need to talk to you. Maybe that’s a part of what my nightmare was trying to tell me. I’m not sure if I believe in an afterlife or anything like that, but I sure as fuck wish you could know everything I’ve been up to. So you know, just in case, I guess I should tell you.” I take a deep breath like I’m nervous or something. God, I’m such a fucking mess right now.“I’ll start with the best part. Max and I are together. We’re so fucking in love, Dad. I have no words to describe it. We’ve had so many amazing times and some awful ones, but we always face them together. Maybe you’re not surprised about that. I was obviously pretty desperately in love with her right before you died. I know you could tell. You even told me so constantly. I know you liked teasing me, but I also wonder if you were worried about my heart being broken. You were right to be worried, I guess, as she did break my heart when she left, but she’s more than made up for the mistakes of her adolescence. I sure as fuck am guilty of a million adolescent mistakes.” The longer I hold this conversation with an inanimate object, the dumber I feel, but I don’t care. Talking like this is making me feel better anyway.“Now we’ve been married for six years. Fuck, I’m so goddamn lucky. She’s getting closer by the day to being able to make a living from her art, and I even have a steady job that I don’t hate. Then there is the big news. We haven’t been able to tell anyone who matters yet, and it’s driving me fucking crazy. So I guess you get to be the first to know. Max is pregnant. We’re going to be parents. I’m so fucking nervous but also so excited. I really wish they could know you, Dad. You’d be the best damn grandpa…” I get choked up at that, and then I hear a quiet shuffling sound behind me.“They will know William, babe.” Max says sweetly. She looks at me sheepishly as she comes over and sits next to me on the couch. She takes my hand in hers. “We’ll tell them all about him. Not to mention you're so much like him. I know you’re going to be the kind of parent William was. Goofy and fun as well as protective and comforting. Don’t worry; I know you will, so don’t even try to fight me about it. I know that for a fact because that’s how you are with me.”Max’s words are so passionate and honest. I can’t help the huge amount of emotion that flies out of me as I let out a sob and start to completely break down. She holds me and rubs my back silently for a while.“You had your nightmare again, didn’t you?” She finally breaks the silence as she strokes my cheek free of tears.“Ummm… maybe?” I admit with a frown.“You should have woken me up.” She pouts a little.“No way… Plus it wasn’t exactly my usual dream. I don’t want you to worry about it. It’s fine. I’m fine.” I kind of ramble, regretting my words the second they come out of my mouth.“Okay, spill. We’ve talked about this. We’re in this together. Always. No matter what.” I try to avoid her gaze, but she grabs my face to look at her. “Please tell me, Chlo. Honestly, you not telling me is more worrying than anything you could possibly say.”“I’m not so sure about all that. But fine… It’s just that… You were in the car too. And you were very obviously pregnant... You can probably figure out the rest.”She gasps. “Oh Chloe!” She holds my head tightly to her chest. “Nothing is going to happen to me or our baby.”I take in a deep breath against her chest. “God… I don’t think I could take it otherwise.” She leans in and kisses my head. “We should go back to bed, Max. It’s late.”“Okay, babe.” She carefully takes the camera from my hand and puts it back on the bookshelf. “Thanks, William. You’re the best. Don’t you worry about her. I’ll always take care of her.” She says quietly to the camera before coming back to me. She holds her hand out to me, and I take it. I’m so fucking lucky to have her.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
About a week ago, Steph called me and invited Max and me to have Thanksgiving dinner with them. This would be their first Thanksgiving together when not on tour, so they really want to go all out with the food and the vibes. I convinced them to come to our house so Max wouldn’t have to get up early or travel, but they wanted to cook, so we agreed to do all the cooking as a group. I’m really excited about it, and I think Max is too. We always enjoy our time with Alex and Steph. We’ve barely seen them all month as we had to keep canceling our D&D sessions. It’s mostly been us canceling as we’ve been so busy with appointments for Max or Max just not feeling up to the drive.The one downside to our “Friendsgiving” plan is the alarm I had to set last night. In order to cook all the food, we are going to have to start cooking early as fuck. Luckily I managed to get Max out of it with the truth. She had a wedding shoot last night and didn’t get home until super late. I think whoever decided to get married the day before Thanksgiving is a complete dumbass, but at least it worked out well for us. I told Alex and Steph I wanted to let her sleep in as long as she wanted, and they were more than cool about it. The three of us planned to start cooking around 6 am. If all goes to plan, the food should all be ready in time for an early dinner.I do my best to shut my alarm off the second I hear it go off. Unfortunately, I’m not fast enough because I hear Max groan a little.“Sorry, baby. Go back to sleep.” I whisper into her hair. She mumbles something totally unintelligible before rolling over to go to sleep again. She’s so fucking cute it never fails to make me smile. “Love you.” I say quietly as I kiss the top of her head. I allow myself to lay in bed holding her for a few minutes before reluctantly letting go and rolling out of bed.I make quick work of my shower and get dressed so I can start prepping the food. Alex and Steph should be here soon, but I want to get at least organized before they show up. I turn on the radio but keep it pretty low so it doesn’t disturb Max. I hum along a little under my breath as I begin to pull out food and stack it on our counter. We are making all the traditional stuff. Turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, squash, cranberry sauce, rolls, and some side vegetables. Steph and Alex also made pies. I believe they are bringing a pumpkin pie and an apple pie.I barely get all the food unpacked from the fridge when I hear a knock at the front door. I make my way over and open the door for them.“Sup, Price?” Steph says with a smirk as she comes in holding both pies in her hands.“Not much. Thanks for coming!” I hold my hands out and take the pies from her so I can put them in the fridge.“Thanks for having us.” Alex smiles at me as she grabs Steph’s now free hand. They follow me into the kitchen, and we begin preparing everything.Cooking with Steph and Alex is a fucking blast. It reminds me of when Max and I would cook with my dad. I always miss my parents around the holidays, but Max is my family now. And holy shit, next year we’ll have a new member of our family. I can’t help the big dumb grin that crosses my face at that thought. I notice Alex has turned and noticed my grin, so I do my best to turn away. Luckily she doesn’t say anything about it.The longer we cook, the more I miss Max. Not having her cooking with us is a bit harder for me than I expected, even though she’s right down the hall. Watching Alex and Steph banter is only making me miss her more.Alex started playfully badgering Steph about using too much salt, and in retaliation, Steph stole her mixing spoon and is holding it too high above her head for her to reach.“You’re such an ass, Gingrich!” Alex exclaims as she does a little hop to try to swipe the spoon back. Steph just laughs as she dodges the attacks.“Good try, shortie! It ain’t gonna happen!”“Shut up, you giant! You’re a giant pain in my ass!”“You want a pain in the ass? I can give you one!” She puts the spoon down behind her and starts trying to grab her so she can slap her ass.I chuckle and shake my head. They are cute, but I can’t take any more. I need to check on Max. It’s a little past ten, and she’s probably still asleep, but I figure it’s worth checking anyway.I take my time walking to the bedroom door, and I open it just a crack so I can peek in. I notice Max isn’t in the bed, so I quickly slip inside and close the door behind me. I smile when I see her doing her new morning routine. The day we found out she was pregnant, she set up a tripod in the corner of our bedroom. She’s been taking a photo of her belly from the side every day since. She wants to make a time-lapse of the pregnancy, and I think that’s just so damn cute. I sit down on the edge of our bed and watch as she gets herself in just the right position, removes her top, and then uses a remote to take the photo. Once she’s done, she gives me a soft smile.“Morning, babe.”I smile brightly back and rush over to her. I don’t give her a chance to put her shirt back on before capturing her lips in a kiss. “Hey! You sleep alright?” I finally ask as I force myself to pull away.She smiles and strokes my cheek. “Not bad, thanks. I almost went back to sleep, but I could tell you all were having way too much fun out there without me.”“Sorry if we kept you up.” I frown, but she stops me and shakes her head.“No, you weren’t that loud, I promise.” She buries her face in my chest and lets out a little sigh. I can tell she just wants to be held, so I do so for a few minutes. When she pulls back, she grabs her shirt and puts it back on. “I should get in the shower.”“Make it quick. Steph and Alex are being all cute and shit, and I need my cute hippie, or I can’t match that energy.” I wink and she giggles.“You got it. I’ll be done soon.” She pecks my lips again before she leaves.…“Wowser! You guys have really been busy!” Max seems a bit taken aback by the amount of food being prepared and cooked.Alex chuckles. “Yeah, we’re gonna have enough food for an army when we’re done.”“It already smells great.” Max compliments as she makes her way over to me. “Anything I can do to help?”“You can chop the veggies if you want.” I suggest.“Yeah, I think all the other prep is basically done.” Steph observes as she checks on each dish.“Can do.” She kisses my cheek before grabbing a knife from the drawer. She sits down at our bar and starts cutting up carrots.“So, rough day yesterday?” Alex asks, looking to Max.“It wasn’t so bad, but it was way too damn long. The wedding was about a two-hour drive from here, and they wanted me to stay through the entire reception. Didn’t get home until about 3 am.” She tries to suppress a yawn. I go over to stand behind where Max is sitting, and I rub her shoulders. She relaxes into my touch for a second before continuing to cut vegetables.“Don’t blame you for not wanting to get up at the ass crack of dawn with the rest of us.” Steph chuckles.“I definitely would have fallen asleep face first in the turkey if I had gotten up when Chloe did this morning.” She jokes. “I still might, but I’ll do my best.” She looks over her shoulder at me with a wink. I laugh, and I move my hands from her shoulders and wrap my arms around her waist instead. My hands make their way under her shirt and gently rub at the smooth skin of her belly.“I’m sure after all this food we’ll all pass out in a massive food coma.” Alex adds as she stands at the other side of the bar and assists Max in cutting up the veggies.…Once we finished prepping all the food, we all hung out in the living room while the turkey cooked. We decided to watch the parade on TV and visit. Max was sitting on my lap, but it wasn’t long before she got off and headed towards the bathroom. It didn’t seem like she was in a rush, but I have a funny feeling she is trying to keep it casual in front of Steph and Alex. I do my best to play along and just keep watching the parade.As the minutes pass by, I start fidgeting a bit, and my leg bounces up and down. It’s driving me crazy not to go and check on Max. Eventually I can’t take just sitting here anymore, so I get up and go in the kitchen to check on the food. I came in here as a distraction, but I do tend to some of the food and then decide to get Max a glass of water. Fuck it. I don’t care if they catch me; I’m bringing her the damn water.“You just can’t help it, can you?” Max asks me with a soft chuckle as she washes her face. I’m standing in the doorway of the bathroom watching her.“Nope, I really can’t.” I run my hand through my own hair awkwardly.She smiles and begins brushing her teeth. She looks past me to see if Steph or Alex are anywhere nearby before looking at me again. “I kinda just want to tell them.”I enter the bathroom so I can get closer as we talk. “Are you sure that’s a good idea?”“It’s not a good idea. But I still want to. Even though my parents would kill me if they weren’t the first to know.” She admits as she puts her toothbrush down and wipes her face one final time.I can’t help but chuckle at that. “I know, baby. It’s been driving me fucking insane, but you’re right, we have to wait. It will be worth it, though.”“Since when are you the patient one?” Max asks me, seeming legitimately confused.“That is a great question, actually.” I then smirk. “Maybe I’m growing up and shit?”She smiles and rolls her eyes. “Fine, Ms. Mature! Let’s get out of here before they get suspicious.”…“So since you’re going for the traditional Thanksgiving and all, are we doing the ‘what are you thankful for bullshit’?” I ask as I bring my huge, overflowing plate to the table and sit down next to my wife. I look at Steph, who looks over at Alex. They give each other a nod.“That’s pretty cheesy. Think you can handle it, Price?” Steph questions.“This ain’t my first rodeo, Gingrich.” I smirk.“Oh please! Let’s make it a game. Whoever says the most sappy, cringeworthy shit wins. Winner gets a free magic item during our next D&D session. If or should I say WHEN I win one of you has to run a one shot again so this prize works for me too.”“You’re so fucking on!” I immediately agree. She has no idea what she just got herself into.
~ November 2013 ~
“You okay in there, Chloe? Mom says the food is almost ready.” Max asks me from the other side of the bathroom door.I’m staring at myself in the mirror as I change into my one nice dress shirt. I feel so out of place at Max’s house. Even when we were kids, Max always visited my place, and I would rarely go to hers. It’s not that I don’t like Ryan and Vanessa. They are cool and all; it’s just that we were never close. Now I’m a fully grown orphan mooching off of them. Hell, they probably just see me as some dropout punk kid who is good for nothing besides corrupting their daughter.“Chloe?” Max asks again as I have been too far in my own head to answer her question.“Coming!” I open the bathroom door, and then my breath gets caught in my throat seeing Max standing in front of me. She is wearing a very cute black dress. It’s very simple, but I can’t stop staring; she looks so fucking beautiful in it.Max smiles shyly at me. Fuck, I really hope it’s not because I’m checking her out. “Y-you look nice, Chlo.”“Damn right I do! I’m totally hot, Caulfield!” I put up my wall of false bravado as quickly as possible. If I don’t, I know I’ll start blushing. “Anyway… You said it’s time to eat?” I need to find any excuse to change the subject.“Yeah, let’s go.” Max says, taking my hand, and she leads me back down to the kitchen.Max leads me directly to the kitchen table, and we sit down beside each other. She seems almost reluctant to let go of my hand. Ryan and Vanessa soon come over, bringing the last of the food items to sit on the table.“So Chloe, we like to go around the table and say what we’re thankful for before we dig into dinner. Would you like to do the honors and go first?” Ryan asks.Fuck! Seriously? I’ve never had to do anything like this before. If Mom or David ever asked me to do this, I’d either tell them to fuck off or say something smartass like, ‘I would be thankful if Thanksgiving was over.’ Max’s parents probably expect me to actually try to take it seriously. I take a deep breath. I kind of wish I could have prepared something. God knows whatever is about to come out of my mouth right now is going to be a fucking mess.“Well… I, uh... I'm thankful for Max! She saved my fu—I mean… She saved my life multiple times. I almost got shot by some di—jerk in the Blackwell bathroom, then I almost got hit by a freakin’ train… And it’s not even just that… Losing Mom has been so hard, but Max has been by my side supporting me ever since I found out. David was an ass— I mean, not helpful at all. But because of her, I still want to be here. I’d be totally lost without her. Hell, I was lost back in Arcadia Bay without her. I was alone. So alone. As mad as I was that she never contacted me after you all moved, I couldn’t stay mad. An entire day didn’t even pass by after we reunited before I totally forgave her because when she is in my life, living actually feels worth it. It sure as hell didn’t before.”I look over at Max and see she is tearing up. I don’t think she expected this at all. Now I feel kind of bad, but I don’t have her power; I can’t rewind it. I decide to continue.“Also, I’m thankful for you guys.” I look at Vanessa and Ryan for half of a second. “You didn’t have to take me in. I’m nineteen years old. I’m too fu—old to need parents to take care of me. But you didn’t even give it a second thought. I know I’m just a foul-mouthed punk kid who constantly fu—I mean… messes up, but maybe someday I can be worth it. I hope so anyway.”I wasn’t really making eye contact with anyone during my speech, so when I look up after I’m done, I’m greeted by nothing but misty eyes. Max reaches under the table and grabs my hand again.“Oh Chloe, that was very beautiful.” Vanessa says as she wipes her eye with her napkin. “You’re more than welcome here as long as you need. You’re not a burden to us and plenty worth it.” She then looks to Ryan. “Now Ryan, you really need to up your game. Maybe be thankful for something besides good fishing weather this year?”
~ Present Day ~
Max gulps. She knows what she’s in for, but she still smiles at me. “Well, if we’re doing this, I’m definitely going first, and Chloe is going last. I’m going to be on a puddle on the floor when she’s done.”I lean over and peck her lips. “You’re damn right you will be, baby.” I laugh and squeeze her hand. I might have to go easy on her, though. She’s been a bit of an emotion bomb the last few weeks. I’m honestly a little worried I might break her if I take it too far.“Fine by me. Go ahead, Max.” Steph leans back in her chair, placing her hands behind her head as she looks expectantly at Max.Max blushes a little and holds my hand a little tighter. “Uhh, well. I have so much to be thankful for. Having you guys move here this year was so awesome. Chloe and I have never had such good friends before. We always had each other, but other friends never really jelled with us. I feel like you two were the first to really get us.” She smiles, then looks at me. “And of course I’m thankful for my amazing wife. I know whatever I say will fall flat in comparison to whatever bomb she’s about to drop on me, but I’ll do my best. I love Chloe so damn much that sometimes I feel like my heart is gonna burst out of my chest. She’s always been my best friend. I might not have always been a good best friend, but she’s so damn loyal it didn’t even matter. When we’re together I feel like I can do anything, but when she’s not by my side I feel like I have a piece missing and that everyone can see the hole in me. They probably can. To be honest, I’m not subtle when I miss her. Uhh, yeah, that’s all I got.”“I love you, baby. That was great.” I compliment as I lean over and give her a soft and slow kiss.“Nice, Max. Okay, Alex, your turn!” Steph smiles at her fiancé and waits excitedly.“Ugh, fine.” Alex playfully grumbles a little but then smiles. “So I won’t lie; I was nervous to move here and settle down. We were on the road for so long, and before that I was in foster care. I could barely even really remember a time when I lived in a stable home. Being with Steph always felt like home, but we didn’t have a home in the traditional sense. Looking back on it going on tour with your new girlfriend is a really awful idea. I know the only reason our relationship made it was because we are meant to be. You can’t convince me otherwise. So I’m thankful she put up with me long enough to get here because this last year has been the best of my life, no contest. Not only do I have Steph; I also have you both. I agree with everything Max said about how we just get you guys. You guys just get us too. I don’t feel like I have to hide who I am in front of either of you. Trust me, I don’t normally feel that way about other people.” Alex seemed to have a hard time making eye contact during her speech, but she looks at Steph and tries to gauge a reaction.Steph smiles and gives Alex a peck on the lips. “Good job, babe.” Once she pulls back, she looks to us with a smirk. “Okay, prepare yourselves; it’s my turn now!” She cracks her knuckles and neck playfully before beginning her speech. “So it’s pretty obvious we’re all super thankful for each other, but each of you bitches is about to know how damn thankful I am. I’ll just go around the table. So Chloe! We were pretty good friends back in Arcadia Bay but nowhere near like we are now. What Max said about your loyalty couldn’t be more on the money. I swear if I called you up some random day and asked you for your kidney, you’d cut it out yourself and hand it over without a second thought. Not to mention you’re the best to run D&D for. I never know what crazy bullshit you’re gonna do. Then you, Max. I remember when we first met. You were so fucking nice, and I liked you right away. But holy shit, this year just proved how much of a good person you actually are. Alex told me all about how much work you put in to help her when she proposed to me and how much work you’ve been putting in as her maid of honor. She also told me about how you were really upset about something the day she proposed. A lot of people would have just canceled and stayed home feeling sorry for themselves, but not you. You came and supported her anyway because that’s the kind of friend you are.”I look over at Max, and she’s started tearing up, so I wrap my arm around her and kiss the top of her head. I knew it wouldn’t take much to get her going.“And Alex. Oh baby, you don’t even want to get me started. The first time I saw you, I had immediate gay panic. You are so fucking beautiful you still take my breath away. I could go on for hours, but Chloe and Max probably don’t want to hear exactly how you make me feel in that department.” She winks at Alex, and she blushes a bright red in return.“I fell so in love with you so fucking fast. When we kissed for the first time, I swear the world could have ended, and I wouldn’t have known or even cared. Then after you almost fucking died, I knew I was done for. I didn’t want to live another second without you knowing how I felt. I was more than willing to change every plan I ever made in my life just to be with you. I know we would have been just as happy if you chose to stay in Haven Springs. Fuck, you’re probably right; that would have been easier on our relationship, but I don’t regret it. Just like you said, it proved we could get through anything together. When you proposed was the happiest moment of my entire life. You put in so much work just for me… fuck, I could cry just thinking about it. Only the right girl for me would set up a D&D game and propose like that. I know I won at life. Where’s my goddamn trophy?”Steph gives us all a self-satisfied smirk. She then looks over to Alex, who had started tearing up a while ago now. Alex looks back at her, making sure she’s done before diving into her arms, and they start kissing. It almost reminds me of the proposal kiss. It goes on for a while like we’re not here. I look to Max, who just smiles back at me. When they finally pull away, Steph leaves one arm wrapped around Alex’s shoulders. “Alright, Price, beat that!”I smirk at her. “I plan on it. Though I will admit that was pretty damn good.” I unwrap my arm from around Max and take her hand instead.“So where do I even start? Like Max said, I have so damn much to be thankful for, and I could keep us here all day, but I’m fucking starving, and I know you guys are too, so I’ll try to keep it short. Alex and Steph having you guys nearby has been hella amazeballs. I could sit here for hours and say what I like about each of you, but that’s a waste of time. I don’t just fucking LIKE you guys; I LOVE you guys. You’re my family. I don’t say that lightly. I don’t have much family left, and before you guys, Max was my ONLY chosen family, but now fuck it I choose you too.”I look up and notice the shocked faces of my friends, and Max just smiles proudly as she leans over and kisses my cheek.“Max, brace yourself; it’s your turn now. I’ve said it at Thanksgivings in the distant past, and it’s not only still true but it’s somehow more true than it was then. Max, you are what makes my life worth living. Without you I’m less than half a person because you are my other half. My better half. I know that’s so generic and cheesy, but it’s true for me. You make me a better person. Steph knew the woman I was without you, and I was a fucking mess. I’m surprised she even liked being around me because most people didn’t. My own fucking mother barely enjoyed my presence. I fall more and more in love with you every day, Max, but this last year has been that ten times over. We’ve been married six years. I think we’re ‘supposed’ to be past our honeymoon phase, but fuck, it’s like it just started for me. The things we have been through this year have been insane. We’ve had so many ups and downs, and even if you take some of the bad times so hard, you’re still so strong and resilient. If one of us feels like they are going to break, the other will hold them up. That’s how our relationship works and how it will always be. Anyway, I think I might start rambling if I don’t stop, so my point is my FAMILY is everything to me, and I have the best one.”I look into Max’s eyes when I say "family", and I gently run my hand over her stomach under the table so Steph and Alex can’t see me. Max has been tearing up ever since I started talking about her, but when I do that, I know that’s when I fully got her. She dives into my lap and starts crying harder. She doesn’t want Steph and Alex to see quite how much that hit her.I lovingly rub my wife’s back as I hold her and look smugly at Steph and Alex. “So do I win?”…“Ughhh, so fucking full, dude.” I groan as I sit back down on the couch. We had just finished absolutely stuffing our faces with food. I couldn’t help but notice Max was trying to be subtle about not eating anywhere near as much as everyone else and not drinking any of the wine, but luckily I don’t think Alex or Steph picked up on it.Max sits down beside me and rests her head on my shoulder. “Everything was so good. You all did an amazing job.” She compliments sleepily as her eyes fight to stay open.“Thanks, baby! I’m glad you liked it.” I kiss the top of her head, and I begin to play with her hair. “I still say the voting earlier was totally rigged. A tie is total bullshit. I had that cheese in the bag.” I look to Alex with a playful glare.“I’m pretty sure I’d be sleeping on the couch tonight if I voted against my fiancé.” Alex reminds me.“Guess that game was doomed from the start, but oh well, it was fun to try. I’m never one to turn down a Gingrich challenge.”“Alex and I are going to buy a foosball table soon. You bitches are all going down.” Steph interjects. “There will be no debate on winners or losers then.”I chuckle at that. “You’re so on!” I can’t help the huge grin plastered on my face. This has been the best Thanksgiving I’ve ever had. What I said about Steph and Alex was 100% true. They are my family now. Not to mention I’m so happy being with Max and our baby. I can’t fucking wait for next year.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
“Hmm… Are we there yet?” Max mumbles into my shoulder as she’s slowly starting to wake up. We’re currently on a flight to Seattle to visit her parents for the holidays. I managed to get a few days off before Christmas, and I will continue to be off until January. We’re so excited for this trip. I haven’t seen her parents since last Christmas, and we’re going to tell them about the baby today.“I think we’re going to start landing pretty soon, but you can go back to sleep if you want. You’ve still got some time.” I reply as I place a gentle kiss on her head.“Nah, I think I’m good.” She yawns and stretches a little before starting to rub her eyes.I give Max a few minutes to wake up in silence before I start rubbing her thigh. “I’m so fucking excited.”She lifts her head up off of my shoulder and smiles brightly at me. “Me too, babe! They are going to be so shocked. I’m sure my mom will cry. It will probably set me off too, just to warn you.”“You’re allowed. It’s totally cool.” I lean in and capture her lips in a soft kiss. I feel her smile against my lips, and she moves her hand to my cheek to hold me in place. My intent for the kiss was pretty chaste, but Max seems to have forgotten that we’re on an airplane. She didn’t take it too far or anything, just a tiny bit of tongue, and the kiss definitely lasted long enough to catch the attention of our neighbors before she pulled back.“Mmm… Oh god, sorry about that!” She blushes bright red once she notices the staring.“Don’t you dare apologize!” I wink, and she buries her embarrassed face in my shoulder. “Don’t worry about them. They should consider themselves lucky we don’t just decide to join the mile-high club right now.” I whisper the part about the mile-high club as I know she’d kill me if I didn’t.“You perv!” She whispers back and playfully pushes my shoulder.…Only Ryan was able to pick us up at the airport today. Ma is stuck at work. I smile as I watch Max rush over to her dad and carefully fling herself at him to give him a big hug.“I missed you, Dad!”“I missed you too, Max.” Ryan says as he hugs her back. He seems a little taken aback by Max’s enthusiasm, but also very welcoming towards it. “How was your flight?”“It was good, thanks Ryan.” I answer as I place my hand on the small of Max’s back. She looks at me and then realizes she’s still hugging her dad, so she pulls back and allows me to get a hug from him as well.“It’s so good to see you, Chloe. Once a year is not enough.”“Agreed. We have to do something about that next year.” I pull back and grab Max’s hand. We give each other a knowing look. We might not be back here in Seattle a lot next year, but I’m pretty sure Max’s parents will be quite motivated to visit us instead.…“Are you sure you don’t want any wine? I got your favorite merlot for you, Max!” Ma offers for what feels like the tenth time. We’re all sitting together in the dining room eating dinner. She got home from work just in time for dinner, so Max and I didn’t get a chance to put our plan to tell them about the baby into action. I didn’t think it would be hard to get through a simple dinner, but holy shit, it seems like every time she opens her mouth, Max and I have to dodge a question or straight-up lie in order to not give away what’s going on.“We’re good. I don’t like drinking when I’m jet-lagged. It makes me pass out too soon. I’m sure Max feels the same, right, baby?” I haven’t been drinking either since we found out about the pregnancy. Max didn’t ask me not to, but I know I would hate it if the roles were reversed and she was drinking around me when I couldn’t. Plus, I definitely wouldn’t drink her favorite in front of her. That’d just be cruel.“Yeah, I appreciate it, but we’re good.” Max replies, biting her lip. I reach out and grab her hand. I can tell she’s frustrated, impatient, and just wants dinner to be over.“Okay, if you’re sure… Let me know if you change your mind, though.”“So, Ma, what have you been up to lately?” I ask, doing my best to change the subject.Once she answers me and starts going on about the book she’s reading for her book club, I feel the tenseness in Max’s hand slowly start to relax. I give her a grin and lift our hands up so I can kiss the back of her hand. Finally, it seems we can enjoy the rest of our dinner in peace.…After we finish dinner and do the dishes, Max and I slip away to the guest room. Once Max closes the door behind us, she wraps her arms around me, grabs two big fistfuls of my hair, and pulls me into a surprise passionate kiss. Holy shit, the urgency of this kiss is so fucking hot! I can’t help but let a deep groan escape me. She bites my lip a little as we separate. We pull back just enough so we’re nose to nose.“Oh fuck, Max…” My voice cracks a little. She actually made me feel weak at the knees from that.“I’m sorry. I just couldn’t stop thinking about doing that since the plane.” She blushes slightly at the admission.“What’d I say about apologizing for that?” I smirk as I begin to regain my breath. My hands slowly make their way under her shirt to rest on the bare skin of her waist.“Well, I’m mostly sorry that’s all I can offer you right now.” She loosens her grip on my hair a little as we press our foreheads together and close our eyes.“Yeah, I figured as much. We have something pretty important to do now.” I stroke her belly lovingly with my thumbs. “Though, I do hope we can pick up where we left off a little later.”“Mmm, I might be able to manage that.” We lean in for one more kiss before slowly pulling apart. Max then goes over to her suitcase and pulls out a neatly wrapped gift. “You ready?”“Fuck yeah, I’m ready!” I take her hand, and we return downstairs.We head into the living room and find Max’s parents sitting together on the couch. I notice Max take a deep breath to shake off some nervous energy as we approach them.“So, I know we don’t normally do early gifts, but I was hoping you guys would be cool with an exception this year. Chloe and I really want you to open this right now. We can’t wait anymore.” Max is trying to hold back her excitement, but it’s so obvious she’s even shaking a little. She hands the gift to her mom. “Open it together, okay?” We both stand directly in front of them so we can get a great view of their faces. I also pull out my phone and start recording a video. They both seem very confused by our behavior, and they look at each other with suspicious faces.“If you insist, Max. I hope you didn’t go overboard.” Ryan says, shaking his head.They both work together to unwrap the gift. Then they gasp at what they see. It’s a framed photo of the both of us with our latest ultrasound. Max has taken tons of photos like this for her clients, but in my totally unbiased opinion, this is by far the best one. Hell, this might be my favorite photo that she’s ever taken. She is holding the ultrasound over her stomach, and I’m holding her from behind. We’re both looking at each other with very dumb lovesick smiles on our faces.As Max predicted, her mom starts tearing up immediately. “Max?! Are you really…?”“Yeah, I am! We just hit the 12-week mark!” Max also tears up when her mom jumps up and wraps her up in a big hug.Ryan was still sitting, staring at the photo in a stunned silence. It makes me chuckle. “Cat got your tongue, Gramps?” I tease with a wink. I put my phone away and then go over to my wife and wrap my arms around both her and her mother. Ma is more than happy to make room and turn it into a group hug. “Come on, get in on this!” I say waving Ryan over as well. He finally picks his jaw off the floor and happily obliges my request.We stay in the hug in relative silence, besides sniffling, for quite a while before the shock wares off a little, and the group hug is slowly broken up. Max leans into just my arms once her parents return to the couch to look at the photo again.“I’m sorry, I’m just speechless. I’m so happy for you both!” She beams.Ryan has also started tearing up a bit. “Yeah! Congratulations!”“Congrats to you too, old man!” I tease as Max playfully slaps my arm. I just smirk and press a kiss to her head. I lead her over to sit down and get comfy with me, as I know we will soon be bombarded with a ton of questions. At least this time we’ll be more than happy to answer them. Max’s parents have always been so supportive of us. I know I’m really fucking lucky to have such great in-laws.
~ May 2014 ~
“Mmm, Chloe, you gotta stop.” Max warns even though her voice indicates she wants nothing of the sort to happen. We’ve been making out on the living room couch for about 45 minutes now. I’m lying on top of her with my face buried deep in the crook of her neck. I pout a little against her skin where I was kissing it, before slowly lifting my head back up and pressing my forehead against hers.I always love spending time alone with Max, but now it comes with the hella amazing benefit of being able to kiss her! I was Max’s first kiss, so she’s taken a little while to get comfortable kissing me, but now that she is, it’s been fucking magical whenever we make out. If you ask me, rewinding time isn’t Max’s only superpower. We’re still taking it very slow, though. She barely lets me even crop a feel over her shirt yet, but she’s more than worth the wait.“But, why are we stopping?” I playfully groan. As much as I don’t want to stop, I don’t want to pressure her or make her uncomfortable.“You should know why. My parents will be home any minute.” She starts pushing at my arm. “Now get up!”Max and I have been “girlfriends” now for a little over two weeks, and it’s been nothing short of amazing. We haven’t told anyone about our relationship just yet. We don’t really want to be secretive or anything; it’s just that Max hasn’t come out to her parents. I want her to do it when she is ready, but I think the time is coming soon. At least I really hope so.“One more kiss first? Please?” I ask, giving her my best puppy eyes.She looks at me with half-lidded eyes. She’s clearly working up the will to try to say no, but she fails. Instead she grabs my cheeks with both hands, pulling my lips back down to hers. We both smile into the kiss, and just as I feel her tongue start to enter my mouth, I hear the front door rattle. Max and I both jump apart like we’re on fire. We safely make it to opposite sides of the couch before hearing the door fully swing open and her parents enter the house.“Hey girls! We’re home!” Vanessa shouts.I look over at Max, and I can’t help but let out a small chuckle. Her cheeks are bright red, her hair is all over the place, and she’s breathing pretty hard. If I didn’t know better, I would have thought we had just been interrupted in the middle of sex and not just a little make out session. I then realize I probably don’t look much better, so I start trying to fix my hair, which prompts Max to do the same.“What are you two doing in here?” Vanessa asks, giving us both suspicious looks.Max blushes even more. I honestly didn’t think her cheeks could get any redder or cuter. “N-Nothing!”Wow, Max, way to be the worst liar ever! I have to bite back an awkward laugh. She glares at me in response.“Okay, seriously, Max, you’ve been acting really weird all week. Is everything okay?” Vanessa asks, seeming a bit concerned.Max looks to me and then back to her mom. She takes a deep breath as her gaze then fixes on the floor. “I… I don’t want to lie to you, Mom. There’s something I need to talk to you about, and Dad too, if that’s cool?”“Ryan, get your butt in here! Max is finally going to tell us why she’s been acting so weird this week!” Vanessa shouts so Ryan can hear her from the kitchen.“Oh good! Finally!” He quickly enters the room and stands next to his wife. “Go ahead.”Max surprises me by grabbing my hand before she even opens her mouth to speak. Her eyes continue to focus on the floor as the words slowly come out. “C-Chloe… and I… We’re… umm… She’s my girlfriend.”“Well, about time!” Vanessa replies with a smirk.“W-What?!” Both Max and I say in unison.“The crushes you both had were so blatantly obvious!” Vanessa laughs as she looks to Ryan.Ryan is also grinning and chuckling softly. “If it wasn’t obvious enough before, your little speech at Thanksgiving gave me some pretty big hints, Chloe.”“Not many people say, ‘You make my life worth living,’ and those who do don’t usually have strictly platonic feelings.” Vanessa adds.I feel my face blush an even darker red. Max also looks completely embarrassed but also really happy her parents seem happy with the news.“S-So you’re cool with that, right? That… I’m dating Chloe?” Max asks nervously as she finally is able to look at both of her parents.“Of course we’re cool with it Max. We just want you to be happy. I’d ask if Chloe makes you happy, but I already know the answer.” Vanessa answers as she pulls her daughter into a tight hug.
~ Present Day ~
“So, just one last question…” Ma starts hesitantly, causing Max to giggle.“It’s okay, Mom. Ask anything you want.”“Are you showing at all yet?” She asks sheepishly, looking to Max’s somewhat baggy hoodie.Max and I both share a look and laugh. “I guess that depends on who you ask. I’m pretty sure I’m just bloated and fat, but Chloe thinks I’ve been showing for weeks!”“Will you show her, baby? Maybe she can solve the argument.” I wink as my hand slides under her hoodie to stroke her stomach.“Fine.” She tries to act annoyed, but I can tell she’s secretly excited to get her mom’s opinion. She gets up off of the couch and pulls her hoodie up over her head, tossing it aside on the couch. She then lifts her shirt a little bit to expose her stomach, and we all crowd around her to take a look. “Ugh, this is kind of embarrassing.” She admits blushing.“You’re beautiful.” I whisper as I kiss her cheek softly. She blushes even deeper at that.“So, I think Chloe might be right personally. If she said it weeks ago, I doubt it was true then, though.” Ma says with a chuckle as she backs away from Max and returns to her spot on the couch.Max lowers her shirt back down and smiles at me. “I guess it is that time.” I wrap my arms around her and peck her lips softly. When I start to pull back, she cuddles into me tightly. “I love you, babe.”“I love you too, Max. So fucking much.” It doesn’t even matter that her parents are watching us. It feels as if the world is fading away around me, and all that is left is Max. I just close my eyes and take in holding my wife and our baby.
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I wake up on Christmas morning, and I can’t help the huge smile that spreads across my face. My gift is already unwrapped and snuggled into my side. Max and I fell asleep cuddling naked after we made love last night, and it feels so good to wake up still holding her. We rarely get to wake up naked together anymore, as she will always at least put a shirt on if she gets up at any point in the night. I’m so happy she got to sleep through the night last night. She’s really been struggling to get uninterrupted sleep since she’s been pregnant. I press a gentle kiss onto the top of her head, and I close my eyes again. I’m more than happy to lay here until she wakes up. I don’t care how late she sleeps; she deserves every second of it.I almost drifted back off to sleep by the time Max finally starts moving her face against my chest. I rub her back, drawing a happy hum out of my wife.“Merry Christmas, baby.”“Mmm, Merry Christmas, Chlo.” She places a soft kiss on my chest.“I love waking up with my naked hippie.” I run my hand through her hair as she lets out a little giggle.“I know you do. I don’t have any complaints either.” She flirts as she gently caresses my breast.“Ugh, Max. Don’t tease me.” I groan as she lifts her head off of my chest and we look into each other’s eyes. I roll onto my side so we are facing each other, and then our lips meet for a nice good morning kiss.…Soon, we both showered and got ready for the day. We opted to wear sweatpants and cozy Christmas sweaters. This Christmas was planned to be a pretty low-key affair with just us and Max’s parents, so we figured there was no need to dress up or anything. I’m sure they’re going to be even more chill about it given Max is pregnant. I know they will want her to be comfy just as much as I do.We can smell breakfast cooking as we reach the foot of the stairs. I take Max’s hand and we walk into the kitchen together. Ryan greets us with a smile. He is standing in front of the stove making what appears to be a very large breakfast and way more than the four of us can eat. I’m pretty sure he’s going overboard because of Max, but if anything, she’ll eat less than she normally would. She’s still been feeling quite nauseous every day. I know it’s supposed to improve soon, but it certainly hasn’t decided to give poor Max a break yet. I look to her and see she’s now turning a bit pale just at the sight and smell of all of this food.“Baby, why don’t you go get cozy in the living room? I’ll help Gramps with the food.” I haven’t stopped calling Ryan ‘Gramps’ since telling him about the baby. I had said it at first to tease him, but he really seemed to light up after, so I just kept doing it. I could never call him ‘Dad’ as the memory of my dad means too much to me. It wouldn’t feel right, but ‘Ryan’ never really felt right either. I needed something else, and this was definitely working for us so far.“You sure?” She asks with a slight frown. “I don’t mind helping too.”“I’m positive. I think it’s supposed to start snowing any minute. How about you get our snowy day traditions going? Get the fireplace going, wrap up in a blanket, and I’ll make hot chocolate and join you real soon.”She smiles and wraps her arms around me to pull me into a kiss. “You always spoil me.”“Listen, I just want you to get the couch all warm for me with your cute little hippie butt. I’m nothing if not selfish.”“Sure, whatever you say, you dork.” She kisses me one more time before leaving me on my own with Ryan.“You know, there is no way in hell we’re eating all of this, right?” I look to Ryan with a smirk as I begin searching cabinets for supplies to begin making the hot chocolate.He chuckles. “You’re probably right, Chloe. I guess I got a little overexcited.”“I get it. When Steph, Alex, and I cooked Thanksgiving dinner, we made enough for an army. We ate nothing but turkey for a week.”We chuckle at that, then cook in a comfortable silence for a while. Just as I’m about to leave to bring Max her hot chocolate, Ryan looks to me.“Sorry if this comes out weird, but I wanted to talk to you about something, Chloe. It’s just always so great to see you and Max together. She’s so damn happy whenever you’re nearby. Hell, it was the same when you were kids too. I didn’t see it then, but looking back it was clear as day. She had no friends until she met you, so I guess I assumed that she only needed to meet any friend to get to that level of happiness, but no, it was the fact that it was you. If I had been paying attention enough to see that I may never have uprooted her from her home and separated the two of you at such an important time in your lives. I never apologized for that, Chloe, but I am sorry.”A few tears escape my eyes from his admission. There had been a time in my life when I was really pissed at him and Vanessa for taking Max away, but now I know that’s how life goes sometimes, and they didn’t do it to hurt me.“I know you didn’t ask, so I won’t give you too much unsolicited advice, but after raising Max, I learned that as a parent, the most important thing you can do is put your kid first. Before yourself, and even before your wife. They come first, period. So, learn from my mistake and put your kid first no matter what.”I give Ryan a hug while I compose myself a bit. “You didn’t fuck up anything, Ryan. You’re a good dad, but I do appreciate the advice. I’m definitely going to take it. Also trust me, I’m going to be hitting you and Ma up for advice constantly; you’re gonna be so sick of my ass. I promise that much.” I pull back and sigh. “As for the putting your kid first thing, it makes sense. We’re definitely going to do that. Max and I already talked about it a little.”I already know why my kid should be put first, and I figure Ryan deserves to hear that story. “Shortly after my mom died, I felt like I was getting over it way too quickly. Sure, I missed her, and hell, I still do, but it was nothing like the pain of losing Dad. I felt guilty about it for a long time. How shitty of a daughter am I to not care nearly as much about my mom as I did my dad? I talked to my therapist about it recently, and she said it’s because I already felt abandoned by my mom. When I needed her the most, she jumped into another relationship and put herself first. It would have been one thing to have just dated David but still made me the number one priority in her life. But that wasn’t the case at all. Her needs were always slightly more important than mine. I don’t like to speak ill of her because she was a great mom otherwise, and I do love her, but I think I’ve already learned from her mistake.”Ryan gives me a sad smile and places a hand on my shoulder. “I’m glad to hear you will be properly spoiling my grandchild then.”“You’re damn right I will!”…By mid-afternoon we had exchanged gifts and made a pretty good dent in the epic brunch Ryan and I put together. Now the snowfall had really started to pick up outside, and Max and I are in full cozy snow day mode. We’re both stretched out on the couch by the fire, under a blanket, and Max is sitting between my legs, leaning back against my chest. My arms are wrapped around her waist, and my hands are resting on her belly. She has her hands on top of mine. I can feel her body slowly getting slightly heavier against me. I think she might be starting to doze off. I can’t blame her; it’s so warm and comfy I could almost do the same. Max’s parents had either gone off to clean up or just decided to leave us to our own devices for a while, so we are totally on our own. My eyes get heavy and start to close as well. Getting cozy on a cold winter's day always reminds me of when our “snow day traditions” started.
~ January 2008 ~
Max and I have been in a pretty intense snowball fight for almost an hour. We’re both all bundled up, but we’ve both definitely gotten snow shoved down our jackets at one point or another. I’m freezing cold, but I can’t let her win. I need to get her good one last time. I make another snowball before slowly looking over my shoulder to see if I can figure out where Max went off to. I don’t see her, so I drop to my hands and knees and duck behind a snowbank. Suddenly I feel a freezing cold snowball hit me right in the back of my head and fall down into the hood of my jacket.“HA! I gotcha again, Chlo!” Max shouts with a giggle. I hear her boots crunching in the snow as she runs over to me. No doubt she’s about to rub this in my face. I look over my shoulder at her to give her a glare, but something about the way she is looking at me stops me in my tracks. Has Max always been so damn adorable? Her cheeks and nose are all red from the cold, and her eyelashes have a few snowflakes stuck in them. Also, has she gotten more freckles since the last time I saw her? I swear I never thought much of them before, but they just make her even prettier. I always wished I looked more like Max, but right now I’m not sure I feel jealous so much as I feel lucky to be looking at her.“Chloe? You, okay?” Max asks, breaking me out of my reverie.“Uh, yeah! You’re a cheater!” I exclaim. Then, without even thinking about what I’m doing, I tackle Max into the nearest snow pile.“CHLOE!!! You’re the cheater!” She shrieks as she tries to push me off. I’m now on top of her, and her face is close to mine. What the hell is wrong with me? I quickly get off of her and brush the snow off of me. I was just freezing, but being that close to Max has warmed me right up. Why am I sweating now?“Am not! I got you covered in snow, did I not?”“It’s called a snowBALL fight. Not a… umm… wrestling match?” She says, clearly a bit unsure of what I was going for. I can’t say I blame her. I’m not really sure what I was thinking with that either.“Whatever! I still win! You’re way more covered in snow than me.”She rolls her eyes and sticks her tongue out at me. “You so don’t win, but I’m freezing, so let’s just go inside anyway.”“Ha! You can deny it all you want, but that sounds like a forfeit to me, Maximus!”We go back inside and hang all of our wet clothes by the front door. My parents are both still at work, so we have the place to ourselves for a few more hours. Snow days really are the best! They are especially awesome when Max is allowed to come over and spend the day with me.Max grabs a blanket that is draped over the back of the couch and wraps herself up in it before plopping herself down on the couch. “I’m freezing, Chlo. This is all your fault.” She whines as she shivers a little.“Oh please! Don’t complain just because I got you all wet.” I tease. I see her already red cheeks darken even further. There is nothing quite like a sex joke to fluster Max.“Stop it, you perv!” She hides her face under the blanket.“Fine. I’ll make it up to you. You want some hot chocolate, Max?”“That sounds awesome.”As I’m making the hot chocolate, I suddenly can’t stop thinking about Max. How cute she is, how much I like spending time with her, how jealous I am of that blanket she has… What the fuck is wrong with me? I’ve been best friends with Max since I was seven years old, but today she has somehow short-circuited my brain. I do my best to distract myself with the hot chocolate. I know what she likes, so I try to make it extra special for her. I add whipped cream and cinnamon to it before bringing it to her in the living room.“Wowsers! This looks so good, Chloe!” Her face brightens up, and she untangles her arms from the blanket so she can carefully hold the mug in her hands. I feel my cheeks blush as I eagerly wait for her to take her first sip. When I watch her lips reach the cup, my stomach does a backflip. Holy shit! I never noticed how beautiful her lips are either. They look so soft. “This is amazing, Chlo!” She smiles up at me. “Are you gonna have some, or are you gonna stare at mine all day?”“Uh, yeah! I’ll go get mine… I’ll be right back!” I feel my voice crack a little. Shit, I must be sick. Yeah, that’s it! I probably caught something from being outside for so long.By the time I return with my hot chocolate, she’s already half finished hers. She’s also fully stretched out on the couch with the blanket now lying across her legs all the way up to her chest.“Oh no way, Maxaroni! You’re not hogging up the entire couch and blanket all by yourself!” I push on her back until she scoots forward just enough so I can slip in behind her. I feel her settle back into me and take a relaxed sigh as she takes another sip of her drink. “That’s more like it! Whose house do you think this is?”“Whatever. You make a good pillow anyway.”“I see what I’m good for, Caulfield.”I grab the remote and turn on the TV. Max and I have cuddled and watched TV since we were so little, but today seems different somehow. At least for me it seems different. I can’t focus a single bit of attention on the TV. All I can think about is how warm and soft she feels in my arms, how good she smells, how I can feel every breath she takes against my chest. Oh fuck… Do I have a CRUSH on Max?
~ Present Day ~
Our quiet time is soon interrupted by my phone going off. Normally this would annoy the shit out of me, but if this is the phone call I’m expecting, I’m willing to let it slide. Sure enough, when I pick it up, I see David’s name on the screen.“Baby, it’s David. You awake?”“Yeah. Go ahead, answer it.” She gives my hand that’s still on her belly a loving squeeze.“Merry Christmas.” I answer as I put the phone on speaker and hold it up in front of us.“Merry Christmas, Chloe.”“Merry Christmas, David.” Max interjects, wanting him to know she is there too.“Oh hi, Max. Merry Christmas to you too. So, I figure you’re both aware, but I have the strangest package in front of me right now.”“Do you really?” I tease.Max and I also sent him a copy of the photo we gave to Max’s parents the other day, but I didn’t want to risk him opening it without us on the phone, so I completely covered the package with the same message written over and over again with a big black marker. “Do NOT open until you call Chloe on Christmas.”“So, can I open it now? Or should I? Will a bomb go off when I do?”“I guess that depends on your definition of a bomb, but yeah, you should definitely open it.” I joke, causing my wife to burst out laughing.“That is highly suspicious…” There is a long pause on the line before we finally start to hear him ripping the paper. There is an even longer pause before he finally speaks again. “Holy… shit.”“Hey! Watch your language in front of the baby!” I tease as the grin on my face only grows, and Max lets out a little giggle.…The next week we spent visiting the Caulfields passed by very quickly. Max and I spent a lot of time just relaxing around the house, but she also insisted that we couldn’t just “be lazy” the entire time. We visited a few of Max’s favorite places in the city, and she took photos. We also visited her friend Kristen and Victoria and told them about the baby.Tonight is New Year’s Eve. We debated a bit on what to do, but we eventually agreed to just watch the ball drop on TV with her parents. We have to be up somewhat early for our flight home tomorrow, and I don’t want to keep her out too late. Max insisted it would be fine, but we couldn’t really think of anything we wanted to do bad enough to even bother.That turned out to be a wise choice as it started snowing around dinner time. It was once again a perfect night for snow day traditions. I made another round of hot chocolate for us, and her parents, and we even changed into our pajamas.“Time for you to scoot your booty.” I playfully poke her back as she’s taking up the entire couch by herself while she waited for me to come back.“Relax. I wouldn’t dare deprive you of your much-needed cuddles.” She winks at me as she scoots forward as I requested so I can slide in behind her.“There we go! Much better.” I pull the blanket up over us and make sure Max is all cozy and settled in before grabbing my hot chocolate from the coffee table in front of us.“You really know how to make the best hot chocolate, babe.” She compliments after taking her last sip. She then places her empty mug on the coffee table.“What can I say? I know what you like. I always have.” I switch to only using one hand to hold my drink so I can slide my other arm under the blanket. If we were alone, I would have definitely groped her boob, but her parents are sitting on the other side of the living room, so I just purposely let my hand slowly brush up against it a little on its way to rest it on her belly.The quiet little sound she makes at that is both adorable and also a complete turn-on. She’s trying so hard not to moan in front of her parents. She’s going to give me such shit later, but it’s totally worth it. Her breasts have gotten so much bigger since she’s been pregnant. It’s so hot. How am I even supposed to resist?“Chloe… stop that.” She warns under her breath.“Sorry, baby.” I whisper into her ear as I place a few little kisses on and underneath her earlobe.She makes that same noise again but doesn’t protest this time. She trusts I won’t push it too far, and she’s right; I’d never embarrass her like that. I’d be embarrassed too if I’m being honest. Sure, it’s hard for me to keep my hands off of Max, but I do have some self-control nowadays.Soon I’ve finished my hot chocolate, and the countdown is about to start. We all count down together.“10… 9… 8…” Max throws the blanket to the side and turns around in my arms. She is now sat on my lap facing me. “7… 6… 5… 4…” I smile up at her, and she strokes my cheek. “3… 2… 1…”“Happy New Ye—“ I try to finish my happy new year thought, but Max didn’t wait. We’re already kissing.
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The excited look on Max’s face as she packs up her camera bag makes my heart swell. If I were her, I’d be a lot less excited for today’s outing. In fact, I never would have agreed to it. Steph and Alex invited us skiing. I know they would have never suggested it if they knew about the baby, but we haven’t had a chance to tell them yet. We wanted to get together and tell them as soon as possible, but this has been our first opportunity to hang out since coming home from Seattle. She insists that she doesn’t care that she can’t ski, and she just wants to take photos. I know my wife’s love of photography runs deep, but I’d still be hella jealous watching everyone else getting to go without me.“Are you sure you’re cool with this, baby? I’m sure Steph and Alex would be totally fine doing literally anything else today.”She makes a bit of a frustrated grunt. “I’ve told you a million times… I’m excited about this. Just hanging out and taking photos of you guys will be fun! Even the weather is perfect for it. I know we’ll all have a great time. Please have a good time too. For me?” She pouts and bats her eyelashes at me.“Oh god, please, Max, you know I can’t take it when you do that. I’m gonna be so fucking helpless when our baby learns that shit.”She gives me the brightest smile and wraps her arms around my neck. “Now, are you going to stop worrying and enjoy yourself?”I can’t help but give her a smirk back and gently touch her nose with mine. “You’re stealing my line.”“I only need to steal your line if you steal my anxiousness first.”We both laugh and look into each other’s eyes for a few seconds before we both go in for a long kiss. My hands slowly make their way to her ass and give it a little squeeze before we pull back.“Stop that! We have to go!” She half-heartedly scolds me.…When Max and I arrive at the mountain, we find Steph and Alex waiting for us inside the ski lodge as we asked them to. We have one last copy of our pregnancy announcement photo to give out for them.“What the fuck is that, Chloe?” Steph gives me a dirty look seeing the gift in my hand. “I thought we agreed no gifts!”“Yeah, I know we did, but trust me, this isn’t a normal gift. I promise we don’t expect anything in return.” I reply with a chuckle.Max laughs as well. “I mean… Maybe someday you could give us one.” She winks at me.Steph gives us the weirdest look that just makes it even harder for me not to laugh again. “You two are acting so fucking strange. And Max, where the hell are your snow pants? You’re gonna freeze your ass off!”“Just open the damn gift, Gingrich. All of your questions will be answered.” I hand her the present and wrap my arm around Max.She rolls her eyes and then rips the paper off. Steph looks at the photo in a stunned silence. Alex just smiles when she looks at it. Alex doesn’t look very surprised, but I suppose she might just be better at hiding it than Steph.“Well, holy shit… That sure explains a lot.” Steph says as it finally hits her.“It really does.” Alex agrees with a chuckle. “Congrats, you two.”…After we celebrate, we all try to talk Max into going somewhere else for one final time before we finally go and hit the slopes. I haven’t been skiing since I was a very young kid, so I’m pretty terrible. Max must be getting a ton of shots of me wiping out. Maybe she actually is having just as much fun as the rest of us. I’m sure she’s down there laughing her ass off at me. Alex is also pretty terrible, so we’ve been sticking pretty close together and laughing when the other wipes out. Steph used to go skiing with her parents as a teenager, so she’s been up and down the mountain a few times before Alex and I even make it down once.“How’s it going down here?” I ask as I ski over to Max to check on her.She smiles brightly at me and puts down her camera. She’s always extra cute in the cold with her bright red nose and cheeks. “I’m getting great shots. Even the ones of you face-first in the snow are great.” She winks.“I knew you were gonna say that, you little shit!” I grab a handful of snow, make a snowball, and try to throw it at my wife. She giggles and dodges it.“Good try. You know I’m the snowball fight master! That’s not gonna work.” She picks her camera back up and takes a picture of my pouting face.I refuse to give up, and we end up having a little snowball fight before I decide it’s time to continue my very shitty attempt at skiing. I go over to the lift and see Steph is also about to get on, so I hop on with her.“So… How are you doing? What’s it like being Chloe Price, expectant parent?” Steph asks in a teasing tone, but I know she actually does really want to know.“It’s great! Max is absolutely crushing the whole pregnancy thing.” The grin on my face must be blinding. I’m already so fucking proud of her. “Though it does really suck for her sometimes. The side effects haven’t been kind to her so far, and she’s only just finished her first trimester.”“Oh damn, that sucks.”“Yeah, but Max is a lot tougher than she looks. It’s probably a good thing she’s doing this instead of me. I’d probably just lay around the house all day and do nothing but complain about being miserable.”Steph just laughs. “Yeah, I think I’d be in the same boat.”“You think you and Alex will ever have kids?” I ask curiously. I probably shouldn’t have brought it up, but I’m curious. Also, it would be pretty cool if our kids could be friends someday.“Not sure. Definitely not soon. We haven’t even really talked about it much. But I imagine if we ever did, Alex would want to adopt. She went through hell in the system. Saving a kid from that seems like the kind of thing she’d want to do.” Steph’s smile brightened at the thought of her fiancé.“That makes a lot of sense. I could see you guys doing that. Obviously, don’t rush it or anything. Make sure you’re both ready.”“How’d you know you were ready?” Steph asked.“To be honest, I’m not sure I can pinpoint the moment I knew I was ready, but I do know when I first realized I wanted this.”
~ September 2023 ~
Max doesn’t bring her clients by the house for shoots very often, but once in a while it will happen. We have a pretty nice-looking backyard, so it works well for basic family photos. I didn’t expect to see Max still working when I got home from work. I did have an early shift today, but she told me this shoot should only take a few hours. I’m curious if I can find out what’s going on, so I grab a random book from our bookshelf and go sit outside on the back deck to subtly spy on them.The first thing I notice is that she is clearly taking Christmas card shots for this family. There is a husband, a wife, and a toddler. The parents are wearing Christmas sweaters, and the little girl is wearing a Santa dress. Normally I don’t really notice stuff like this, but the little girl is the cutest thing I’ve ever fucking seen. She is crying and sucking her thumb. The mom seems to be trying and failing to get her to stop doing both of those things. The dad is standing off to the side, looking at his phone impatiently. God damn, what a douchebag; no wonder his kid is upset. If I were this guy's kid, I’d be upset too.Max notices when I come outside, so she politely excuses herself to come greet me.“I’m so sorry, babe. This is taking fucking forever.” She whispers in a frustrated tone as she stands on her toes and pecks my lips.I smile as I kiss her back. “No problem. I can chill. I like watching you work once in a while.”“You’re the best, babe.” She hugs me tightly. When I return the hug, I can feel the tenseness in her shoulders slowly relax as I rub her back.“No, you are! You got this! Go back in there and photograph the shit out of them!”Max laughs at that. “You’re such a weirdo. I love you, ya dork!”“Love you too, hippie.” I kiss her one more time before I sit back down with my book.She heads back over to the family. At this point the girl had stopped crying, but she is still sucking her thumb. The mom has an exasperated look on her face. Max just gives them a comforting smile.“That’s good enough. I think I can get a smile now.” Max says as she readjusts her camera to focus on the little girl.“Ugh, I doubt it. Nothing distracts her from her damn thumb.” The husband grumbled. He didn’t even look up from his phone.I rolled my eyes, and I know Max would have to work damn hard not to roll hers as well. Instead she waves the mom over and has her stand nearby to help get the girl’s attention. Once Max sees the girl is looking in her direction, she pulls the funniest face I’ve ever fucking seen. I had to bite down on my lip to prevent myself from bursting out laughing. I didn’t know anyone could move their facial features in such a way. Clearly the little girl also found it just as hilarious as me because her face lit up and her arms outstretched towards Max as she began to giggle madly. Max rapid-fire snaps a ton of photos. She then noticed the girl hadn’t put her thumb back in her mouth, so she makes a few less ridiculous faces to get even more photos taken.The mom’s jaw is on the floor, and Max just gives a satisfied smile. “Great job! That was amazing, sweetie!” She says to the girl before looking back at the mom. “We definitely got something here. Let me check just to be sure.” She takes the camera off of the tripod and starts browsing the previews. “Oh yeah. These are great!” She leans in by the mom and shows her.“Holy crap, Max. I can’t believe you did that!”“Eh, it was no big deal. You want to try the group shot again?”…Max spent another hour or so taking photos of the family. Watching her interact with the little girl who I eventually figured out is named Aurora was making my ovaries hurt. I couldn’t look away. Max had gotten Aurora so comfortable with her, and she could make her do pretty much whatever she wanted. Max even ended up holding Aurora on her hip to keep her calm while she took shots of the parents by themselves.By the time the photoshoot was done, Aurora had fallen asleep in Max’s arms. It was just so damn adorable seeing the girl completely relaxed, holding onto Max’s top with one balled-up fist while she sucks on her other thumb again. I had put my book away a long time ago and was just sitting watching. I don’t care if the parents notice. This is my house. I’ll do whatever I want. Max carefully passed Aurora back to her mother and said goodbye before she returned to me.Once they left, Max let out a sigh. “Cute kid, huh, babe?”“That girl was seriously the cutest thing I’ve ever seen. You were so amazing! I thought the mom’s jaw was going to fall off when you got that first batch of photos!”She laughs and blushes a little. “Oh, stop. I’ve been doing this long enough. I know all the tricks.”“All the tricks, huh? Like that face… How did you even do that?” I start trying to make the face she did. I’m clearly failing as she just giggles and shakes her head.“Not quite, babe. I think that face would scare most children.”“You wound me, Max! Telling me my face would scare children! Why is my wife so cruel to me?” I tease as she pulls me into a deep kiss. Normally a kiss like this would immediately shut off my brain, but today all I can see in my head is Max holding that adorable little girl. Holy shit, she’d make an amazing mother. I wonder if I would?
~ Present Day ~
“So yeah, I saw Max with that kid, and I couldn’t stop thinking about it for weeks. It only got worse. Every time I saw a kid, I thought about Max and I having one. So I eventually brought it up to her, and then we decided together when we wanted to start trying.”Steph chuckled. “I know this isn’t the point I should take away from that story… But what are the chances Max will show me that face?”I can’t help but laugh. I do think it’s a fair question, though. “It’s zero. I can guarantee that. It’s a secret weapon, and she’s totally embarrassed by it. I haven’t seen it since, and trust me, I’ve asked. I’ve asked so many times. She tells me she’ll work with a client for hours before finally giving in and using it. Though it does always work.”…After we skied for a few more hours, I noticed Max had finally put her camera away. She’s taken to playfully assaulting us with snowballs each time we come down the mountain now. She throws about five at me, and luckily only hitting me in the ear once.“You’re really looking for trouble today, aren’t you?” I take my skis off so I can go over and wrap my arms around her. She settles into my arms and rests her head on my shoulder.“What are you going to do about it?”“Nothing right now. I might have to have you make it up to me tonight, though.” I playfully kiss her cheek a bunch of times, and she lets out a girly giggle.“Mmm, that doesn’t sound so bad.”“Trust me, it will be anything but bad.” I reply seductively. “Anyway, are you ready to hit the lodge? I’m getting cold. I’d love it if my nice warm hippie would warm me up.”“Yeah, that sounds good.” She takes my hand and we head inside together.Once we get inside, Max and I find a little couch in the corner, and we sit down together. She snuggles up to my side right away.“So, did you have fun?” She asks, giving me a gentle smile.“Absolutely! When the baby is old enough, we should totally take them skiing! What do you think?”She giggles and kisses my cheek. “It’s going to be years before we can do that, Chlo, but I don’t see why not. In the meantime there are plenty of other things we can do. I bet I can teach our newborn baby how to beat you in a snowball fight.”“You’re such an ass, Maxine!” I try not to raise my voice too much and draw attention to us, but she’s really asking for it with that comment.“Maybe… But you love me anyway.” Max replies with a smirk. “And it’s Max, babe…” I just start tickling her in response. She does her best to fight me off as she squirms and giggles in my arms.“Tell me you love me, and I’ll stop.” I tease as I can tell she needs me to stop soon so she can breathe.“I love you… you ass.”
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Today has been going by so damn slowly. I’m at the garage doing what feels like the thousandth oil change of the day. I actually enjoy my job most of the time, but I do get bored easily when there is no variety in my day. As I’m about to let the client know I’m done with their car, my phone rings.That’s pretty odd; the only person who usually contacts me during the day is Max, and she always texts when she knows I’m working. I pull out the phone to check, and indeed it is Max calling. I really hope it’s a butt dial or something, because if not, it’s likely an emergency. My heart starts racing in my chest at that thought, but I do my best to sound calm as I answer the phone.“Uh, hello?”“Hi, babe…” Shit, she doesn’t sound good at all. Her voice is all weak and barely audible. That’s enough to freak me out further, but luckily she interrupts me before I spiral too much. “Listen, I promise I’m okay, so please don’t freak. It’s just I’ve been so sick since last night… I can’t keep anything down at all, not even water, so I called the doctor, and he said I should go to the ER just to make sure I don’t dehydrate. Can you come get me?”“Max! That doesn’t sound like you’re okay at all! Fuck! Of course, I’ll come get you! I’m leaving right now!” I know Max said not to freak, but I don’t think I can help it. I rush over to Tim. I think the look on my face gives me away immediately.“I need to go—“ Tim stops me before I can finish.“I understand. Go ahead.” I barely let Tim finish before I run out of the garage and into my truck. I do my best to drive the speed limit, but I need to get to Max as quickly as I can.When I drive in the driveway, she’s already standing outside waiting for me. I can tell just by looking at her that she doesn’t feel well. She climbs in the truck and buckles her seat belt. We both give each other nervous looks before I start driving us off towards the hospital. “It’s going to be okay, Chloe.” She rests her hand on my thigh as I drive.“I should be the one saying that to you, baby. I’m so sorry. I’m trying not to freak. I really am.”“It’s okay. I know you’re doing your best. We both are, but I’m not just saying that. The doctor really just said it’s a precaution.”“Precaution or not, I hate this. I should have known something was up when you slept through my alarm this morning.” I admit with a sigh.“Yeah. I’m surprised you slept through me getting up so many times last night. I guess we were both tired.”“Shit, Max, I had no idea. I wish you had woken me up.”“What for? There was nothing you could do besides watch me. No one wants to see that.” She wrinkles her nose a little thinking about it. “You were spared, so consider yourself lucky.” She gives me a playful wink. Fuck, Max is so amazing. She’s clearly trying to cheer me up when she is the one who is sick and being driven to the hospital. I need to be stronger for her. She needs me right now.I grab her hand and rub the back of it with my thumb. “I love you, Max. You’re going to be better real soon.”She smiles at me affectionately. I think she knows how hard I’m trying to keep my cool for her. “Love you too. Thanks, Chlo.”…After we get to the hospital, we wait in the waiting room for what feels like forever. It starts to really piss me off, but I bite back my normal angry response for Max’s sake. She doesn’t need to see me bite the head off of someone who most likely can’t even actually do anything about the situation. I just keep my arm tightly wrapped around her shoulders as she rests her head against me. It’s so fucking obvious from both her body language and the little groaning sounds she’s making every so often just how miserable she is right now. It’s absolutely killing me to see Max like this, and I’d give anything to take her place.A few hours later they finally managed to get Max settled in a room and hooked up to an IV. I’m sitting in a chair next to her bed, holding her hand in both of mine. Hospitals always freak me out, but I do my best to remain calm for Max. She seems a little more relaxed now that we’re in the room, so that calms me down a little too.A little while later the doctor comes in and greets us. “Hello, Maxine. I’m Dr. Brown.” I let go of Max’s hand so she can shake hands with the doctor.“Hi, please call me Max.” I can’t help but crack a smile at that. She just can’t help but correct everyone on her name. I’m pretty sure Max could be on her deathbed, and she would still be telling everyone to call her Max, not Maxine. “And this is my wife Chloe.” I shake hands with the doctor as well.“Nice to meet you both.” She says before taking a look at a clipboard. “So, we got your test results back, and everything seems to be looking good. You tested negative for both COVID and the flu. This is, as we guessed, pregnancy-related nausea.” I grab Max’s hand again as the doctor continues. “We’re going to give you some anti-nausea medication. You should start feeling a lot better in a few hours, but we’d still like to keep you overnight for observation just to be safe. We’ll also get you a prescription for those meds so this doesn’t happen again.”Max seems relieved. She nods. “Thank you.”“Yeah, thanks, doc!” I smile and kiss the back of my wife’s hand.Dr. Brown then goes over and starts messing with Max’s IV. I assume she’s giving her the meds she mentioned.“There you should be all set, Max. Try and get some rest.” She then looks to me and leans in a little so she can speak quietly. “Chloe? Do you mind if I have a quick word with you?”“Sure.” I try to hide the nerves in my voice as I get up and kiss Max on the forehead. “I’ll be right back, baby.” Max had already closed her eyes, and it seems like she’s starting to drift off. Despite this, I notice a little grin form on her lips when she feels me kiss her.I then reluctantly leave Max’s side and follow the doctor out into the hall.“Uh, is everything cool?” I ask worriedly.“Nothing to get too worried about, Chloe, but we are a little concerned about her weight. She’s a little underweight for how far along she is. Most likely because of the nausea, but I just want to check in with you. How have her eating habits been?”I frown. “She’s been doing her best, but yeah, she hasn’t exactly been feeling up to stuffing her face lately.”“I figured as much. Definitely make sure she starts eating more from now on. It should happen naturally with the meds, but you should gently encourage her to eat a little more. I would have told her this too, but she kind of strikes me as a worrier. Am I right?”“To put it lightly, yeah, she is.” I chuckle softly. “So, I think I get where you’re going with this, doc. Get her to eat more, but don’t make her stress out about it?”“Bingo. Like I said, it probably will happen naturally now that she’ll be feeling better, but I’d rather be safe than sorry.”“Totally makes sense. Thanks, doc.”After I say goodbye to the doctor, I return to the room, and I see Max has already fallen asleep. I sigh in a bit of relief seeing she somehow already looks better. I won’t lie; it’s a little scary to know she’s underweight, but I have tricks up my sleeve to fix that fast enough. I’m Chloe Price, cooking extraordinaire! My skinny little hippie doesn’t stand a chance.I sit at Max’s bedside for a little over two hours before her eyes start to flutter open and she slowly focuses to look at me.“Hey, beautiful.”“Mmm, hi, babe.” She says sleepily with a little yawn.I stand up so I can lean over her bed and kiss her softly.“How are you feeling?” I ask, as I run my hand carefully over her little bump. She smiles brightly at me and places her hand on mine to hold it in place.“Honestly, I haven’t felt this good in months.” She lets out a relaxed sigh.“That’s so fucking good to hear, baby!”I’m so fucking thrilled Max is feeling better. This trip to the hospital was more than worth it, but I really want nothing more than to take her home right now. I absolutely despise being in hospitals. I have ever since the first time I remember being in one.
~ July 2005 ~
“Chloe? Are you sure about this?” Max asks nervously.I’m standing on top of the largest ramp in the skate park for the first time, and I can’t wait to try it. I’ve been getting so much better at skating lately, and I’m ready to give the big ramp a try. Max and I have come to this park every day for the last week. She’s been taking a bunch of photos of me with her disposable camera, and I know this big ramp will help her get even better photos.“I’ve totally got this, Maximus! What could go wrong?” I ask, completely full of confidence.“Uhh… W-well… You are pretty high up.”I just scoff and shake my head. “You ready?” I wait for her to give me a nervous nod before I start skating down the ramp. At first it feels incredible! I’m going so fast, and I think I have my balance, but as I get closer to making my way up the other side of the ramp, I lean a little too far forward and crash down directly onto my arm.I’m pretty sure I hear a snap as the most pain I’ve ever felt in my life courses through my arm.“CHLOE!” Max screams as she runs up onto the ramp and rushes over to check on me. When she sees my arm, she gasps. “Oh my dog, that’s not good!” She actually looks a little extra pale after seeing it. I feel tears in my eyes. I’m not usually one to cry, but holy cow, I’m in so much pain right now.After Max gets over her initial round of panic, she manages to call my mom, so she can bring me to the hospital.By the time my mom finally arrives to pick us up, I’ve started full-on sobbing. The pain is overwhelming, and Max is rubbing my back trying to calm me down. I know she’s talking to me in her very sweet little, soothing voice, but I can’t even tell what she’s saying.Mom seems a little frustrated at me for getting myself in this situation, but luckily Max is here, and she always makes me feel better. She even sits with me in the back seat while Mom drives us so she can keep comforting me. She keeps me tightly wrapped in her arms as she tells me about how everything will be okay.…Time feels like it’s standing still for me, but I do eventually get in to see a doctor. It’s pretty obvious just by looking at my arm that it’s broken, but they still put me through all kinds of hell. They squeeze my arm, move it all around, and then they take me in for an x-ray. All of this takes forever, and every time my arm is moved or touched at all, it just increases the pain I’m already in.“Okay, Chloe, we’re going to have to set your arm now.” The doctor explains.“Uh, what does that mean?” I ask nervously.“It means your bones aren’t quite lined up right. So we need to adjust it. It’s going to hurt a lot. So be prepared.” He looks over at my mom. “You should probably hold her hand.”Max is currently holding my hand, but Mom nods and gently nudges Max aside. “I got it from here, darlin’.” Max nods understandingly, but I frown. I’d rather have Max’s hand back if I’m being totally honest. I love my mom and all, but Max has been here this whole time and was doing a perfectly fine job at comforting me. I didn’t fully realize it until she let go of me, but it was really helping.The doctor begins to count. “3… 2… 1” CRACK
~ Present Day ~
The next morning I get up before sunrise to return to the hospital. As much as I hate hospitals, I had fully intended to stay the entire night with Max, but she practically kicked me out. She absolutely insisted I go home and sleep in bed instead of the chair at her bedside. I hated leaving her, but she was being far too stubborn about it. So I gave in to her wishes, as I almost always do. People say I’m stubborn, but I swear I’ve got nothing on Max.It’s a little after 6 am when I find my way into Max’s room again. Just as I hoped, Max still seems very much in a deep sleep. I suppress the urge to touch or kiss her because I don’t want to risk waking her this early. She’d be hella pissed, and I wouldn’t blame her. There was no reason for me to have come back this early, but I couldn’t help it. I woke up and couldn’t go back to sleep. Now that I’m here, though, I feel my eyelids getting heavy. Seeing Max always calms me down. I lean my head against the side of her bed and let my eyes close for a few minutes.I must have drifted off because I suddenly feel Max tangling her fingers in my hair. I let out a relaxed hum, and I hear her giggle.“What are you doing here so early? You better have actually gone home last night.” She is scolding me, but still in a very sweet and loving way.“I promise I went home, Max. I just came back a little early. I couldn’t sleep. The bed was all cold and lonely.” I give her a wink as I lift my head up from the mattress.She rolls her eyes a bit at me at first but then smiles. “I see your game, babe. Now get your lonely butt over here and give me my morning kiss.”I don’t hesitate a bit; I stand right up and lean over Max so we can kiss. At first I try not to take the kiss too far because we’re in a hospital, but I almost always get carried away with her. I know she feels the same way. She seems more than happy with the fact I’ve slid my tongue into her mouth. Suddenly we’re interrupted by Dr. Brown coming in. I pull away and sit back down in my seat at her bedside.“Good morning, Max. How are you feeling?” The doctor asks as she pulls out her clipboard and grabs a pencil from her jacket pocket.“Not quite as good as last night, but not too bad.”I frown hearing that. I feel bad. That’s the first thing I should have asked Max when she woke up this morning. Instead I let her fuss over me.“Don’t worry; that’s normal. The meds are starting to wear off, so I brought you more.” Dr. Brown hands Max a small cup with a pill in it and a glass of water. “Go ahead and take that now, and get this prescription filled on your way home today.” She hands the piece of paper with the prescription info to me before she starts looking over the machines attached to Max. She seems satisfied with what she sees, so she looks to her. “I’m going to take your IV out now and sign your release paperwork. You’re all set to go.”…Max gives me a confused look when I make a turn she wasn’t expecting on our drive home. “Uh, babe? Where are we going?”I just smirk. “I can’t get anything past you, huh, Super Max?” I give her a playful wink. “I thought we should get some breakfast. You are hungry, right?”“Now that you mention it… I’m starving.”I try to hold back the huge smile forming on my face. I don’t want Max to know I was worried. “Perfect! You’re going to need your appetite. We’re going to Tony’s Diner.” Tony’s Diner is a cute little mom-and-pop place pretty close to our house. It reminds us of the Two Whales, and they make amazing pancakes that Max absolutely loves. “We’re going to get you a stack of pancakes the size of your head!”Max grins. “Mmm! That sounds amazing!” She leans over and kisses my cheek.Max will probably soon get very annoyed with my attempts to stuff her full of food, but I don’t care. I know it’s the right thing to do. I grab her hand and rest them on her lap. Yesterday scared the shit out of me, and until I have to go into work this afternoon, there is nothing that could drag me away from Max’s side.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
A few weeks have passed since I took Max to the hospital, and she’s been doing so much better! Not only has she not felt sick, but her energy levels have increased quite a bit. During her first trimester we barely watched any TV together as she’d pass out on me before we could even get through a single episode of anything, but now we can watch full movies together without her even yawning. During her last checkup, the doctor also said her weight had improved. She’s still a little underweight, but there had only been a week between the hospital visit and the checkup, so that wasn’t a surprise. They think she’ll be at a perfect weight by her next checkup as long as things keep going as they have been so far.Today is the only day off we have together this week. We didn’t really make any plans, but Max insists we go out and see where the day takes us. The second she tries to put her jacket on, we figure out what we should do with our free time.“How can I not even begin to zip this?” She seems a little frustrated by it. “I couldn’t have gotten that big overnight.”I smile as I place my hands on her little bump. “I don’t think you’re that big or that it happened overnight. I’m sure we can still get it zipped, but we should hit some thrift shops today. We’ll get you some new clothes for your fashion hole.”Max giggles. “I don’t think maternity clothes are exactly fashion.”“Maybe not normally, but you’ll make ‘em look hella good!” I move my hands from her belly and help her zip up her coat.She rolls her eyes. “Yeah, sure, babe.” She’s being pretty sarcastic about it, but I couldn’t be more fucking serious. I’ve always thought Max was beautiful, but lately, damn, the thing they say about pregnancy glow is so fucking true. If today’s plans were totally up to me, I would definitely be taking her clothes off and not getting her new ones to put on.“Or we could just stay in today…” I decide to make one last attempt at getting my wish. I wrap my arms around her waist, pulling her close to me, before leaning in to kiss her. Before she even really registers the kiss, I quickly deepen it. I think it takes her a little off guard, as she lets a pretty loud moan out right away. She meets my tongue with hers once she regains her composure. She then wraps her arms around my neck, pulling me closer. When she tries to tighten her grip on me even further, we both hear a loud ripping sound. I can’t help but laugh, and she just groans.“God damn it, Chloe! I liked this jacket!”“I don’t see how this is my fault.” I can’t help but tease her a little. “I mean sure, I was thinking about how much I want to rip your clothes off, but this isn’t exactly what I had in mind.”“You’re an ass!” She pouts at me. “You owe me a regular jacket and a maternity jacket now!”“Okay, okay. Let’s get going then.” I gently slap her ass before rushing out the door. I don’t even need to turn around to know I’m getting the biggest eye roll from her in return.…“What do you think of this one?” Max asks as she tries on another jacket. It’s similar to the one we ripped earlier, but it’s purple instead of pink. It’s also noticeably too big for her, but it needs to be. We want to get her a jacket that will work for the entire winter, and she has to account for about another 2 months worth of baby bump growth before she’ll no longer need to wear it.“I like it, baby. Is it comfy?”“Yeah, it will do. I’m sure I’ll fill it right up in another week.” Max jokes as she takes it off.I lean over and kiss her cheek.“I doubt that.” I then take the coat from her and put it in our cart. We already have picked out a bunch of new clothes for her. I insisted she get as many pairs of pants with elastic waistbands as possible. I know they’ll be comfortable for her, and that’s all I give a shit about, to be honest. “Alright, so I think we got all the obvious stuff. Anything else you think we should look at?”Max thinks for a second before she answers. “Is it too soon to look at the baby stuff?” She bites her lip and looks at me with excitement in her eyes.I was hoping she’d say that. “It doesn’t hurt to look, right? I bet we can find some good deals!”She smiles and wraps her arms around me. “Totally!” We smile at each other, and I kiss the bridge of her nose before pulling back. We then grab hands and head to the baby aisle.She goes right over to the clothes and picks up the first piece of clothing she sees. “Oh my dog! It’s so tiny!” Max says, holding up what is clearly a newborn-sized onesie.“That’s so cute. We should get it.”“We shouldn’t get too carried away until after the baby shower.” She then looks to me as I give her a playful pouting face. “Well, I guess a couple of things won’t hurt.” She winks at me.“Hell yeah!” I toss the onesie in the cart and I go back to browsing the aisle.We spend about 15 minutes separately browsing the baby aisle. We each pick out a couple of things and add them to the cart. Soon I go back over to Max and wrap my arms around her from behind. She’s browsing the toy section now.“Hey, sexy.” I whisper before giving her a little kiss on the cheek.“Hey. Did you find any—“ She stops mid-sentence, and her hands go right to her belly. I, of course, freak out immediately.“Are you okay?!” I ask in a panic as she quickly turns in my arms. I calm down when I see her face isn’t one of distress but instead is full of joy.“Babe! I felt it! The flutters the doctor told us about. They just moved!” Max is completely overjoyed, and a few tears have escaped her eyes.“Oh my god, Max, that’s so amazing!” I wrap my arms around Max and hold her close. She happily snuggles into me and lets out a happy sigh. Neither of us cares that we’re in the middle of a thrift shop right now. I feel so fucking lucky I was with Max the first time this happened. This milestone just makes me even more excited about holding our baby for the first time. I’ve only ever held a baby once in my life, and even that was pretty special because Max was with me.
~ July 2014 ~
“Come on, Chloe. It’s time to go in!” Max says happily, taking my hand. It’s so cute seeing her so excited about this.“Are you sure Kristen is cool with me coming in? I don’t mind waiting outside.” I offer once again. “I know she doesn’t really know me super well.”“She’s totally fine with it, Chlo! We’ve hung out with her quite a few times, and you even helped me plan her baby shower! Not to mention you’re my girlfriend, and I want you to be there with me.”I can’t say no to that. If Max wants me there, I’ll be there. “Okay, let’s go then.”Max leads me into the hospital room, and she excitedly waves at Kristen. Kristen is sitting up in her bed holding her baby, who is tightly wrapped in a pink blanket. There is a woman who looks to be in her late 40s sitting in a chair at her bedside. I’m assuming that’s Kristen’s mother.“Hi Max. Hi Chloe.” Kristen greets us. I give Kristen a friendly wave as well.“Hey, Kris! How are you?” Max asks as we stand on the side of the bed Kristen’s mother is not sitting at.Kristen gives Max a tired smile. “Pretty good. Emily is here, so I won’t complain.”Max leans in a little to get a better look at the baby. “Wowzers, Kris! She’s so cute!”“Thanks! I think so too.” Her smile brightens a little. She seems really proud. “You want to hold her?”“If you don’t mind.” Max seems a little shy about it, but it’s pretty obvious she wants to.Kristen’s mother smiles at Max. “I’ll help you, Max. Hold your arms like this.” She demonstrates what to do, and Max does as she’s told. Kristen’s mom carefully takes Emily from Kristen and then gently places her in Max’s arms.“Wowsers!” Max says again as she looks down at Emily.I’m pretty speechless watching Max hold the tiny baby in her arms. Something about it makes my stomach do backflips. Max would make an amazing mom someday. I never thought about anything like that before, but seeing this makes me just know it. I don’t mean to, but I find myself moving closer to Max and wrapping one arm around her waist so I can get a better look at the baby as Max holds her.“Pretty amazing, huh, Chlo?”“Yeah, so amazing!” I smile at Max and kiss her cheek. I only told Max that I love her for the first time last week, so it’s way too soon to think about babies, but damn, this is giving me some dangerous thoughts.Max holds Emily for a while before Kristen interrupts the quiet moment. “Max?” Kristen sounds a little hesitant as she gets Max’s attention.“What’s wrong, Kris?” I frown when Max gently slides out of my arms and quickly goes back over to Kristen’s bedside.“Nothing… It’s just… I was wondering… Would you want to be Emily’s godmother?” Kristen seems a little embarrassed and nervous as she asks.“Really? Wowzers… Are you sure?” Both Kristen and I laugh at Max’s third use of the word ‘wowsers’ in the last 10 minutes. My girlfriend is the cutest little nerd.“Of course I’m sure! You were the only one to give enough of a shit about me to find out what was wrong with me. If you hadn’t moved back to Seattle, I don’t know what I would have done. You also made me feel like even though I made a huge mistake, everything was going to be okay. I want Emily to have people like you in her life.”I smile and once again wrap my arm around Max’s waist. Everything Kristen just said about Max is absolutely true. She really is a great friend. Not so great at a distance, but I think she’s learned her lesson, and in the off chance that she hasn’t, I’ll help her. Even though I always get sort of jealous when Max gets close to other people, I know she needs to have other friends too. As much as I’d love to hog Max all to myself, I suppose I can share just a little bit.“That’s so sweet, Kris. I’d love to!” Max gives the top of Emily’s head a little kiss.Max holds Emily for another five minutes or so before she breaks the comfortable silence again. “Would it be okay if Chloe held her?”Kristen grins. “Of course.”“I—I don’t need to…” I feel a little nervous at the idea.“It’s really easy, babe! You gotta try it.” Max gives me the sweetest smile. I’m totally helpless for that.“Okay. If you say so.”Kristen’s mom gets up again and helps move Emily from Max’s arms into mine. I look down at her, and I’m once again rendered speechless. She really is a cute baby, and she’s looking right into my eyes. I feel Max hold onto my waist like I did when she was holding Emily. She also leans her head against my shoulder. I feel a soft sigh escape me. I feel like a giddy schoolgirl, but I’m just so madly in love with Max. Holding this baby is giving me all kinds of thoughts about what a future with Max could be like. I just hope we get there someday.
~ Present Day ~
Max and I spend almost the entire day out shopping. We hit a few more thrift stores as well as basically every department store in the area to start planning our baby registry.“You getting hungry, Maximillion?” I ask as we finally leave the last store.“I’m starving.” Max admits through a large yawn. It really has been a busy and eventful day. Even though she’s gotten a lot of her energy back, I can’t exactly blame her for running out of steam now.“Alright, baby. I’ll take you home and make you dinner.”I can tell she’s about to open her mouth to object, so I gently pull her into my arms and give her a soft kiss. “Don’t you dare fight me on it.”She laughs. “You know me too well, babe.”…When we got home, I convinced Max to change into her pjs and lay down on the couch for a bit while I started cooking our dinner. I decided to make lasagna. It’s one of Max’s favorites and seems like a nice cozy meal to have after being out and about on a cold winter's day.I’m not in the kitchen for very long before I decide to check on Max. As I expected, she fell right to sleep. I grab a blanket from the linen closet and cover her up with it. She doesn’t wake up but seems to happily snuggle right into it. I can’t help but think about how damn cute she is when she’s asleep. Especially lately she’s started having the quietest little snores that I, for whatever reason, find so fucking adorable. I suddenly realize I’m being a bit of a creep watching my wife sleep, so I lean down and gently kiss her forehead.“I love you so much, Max,” I say in barely a whisper. As I’m about to walk away, Max’s phone begins ringing. I grab it and answer as fast as possible, hoping to avoid waking her. I smile seeing I was successful in my endeavor as she’s still snoring away.I quickly make my way back into the kitchen before speaking into the phone.“Hello?” I’m not even sure who it is. I didn’t even bother checking.“Oh! Hi Chloe!” Max’s mom replied. She seems surprised but happy to hear my voice.“Hey, Ma. Sorry, Max is napping, and I didn’t want the phone to wake her, so I answered.”“No apology needed, Chloe. I’m sorry. I didn’t wake her, did I?”I put the phone on speaker so I can continue preparing the food while I chat with Ma. “Nope! I was on top of that shit!” I beam. I'm a bit too proud of my ninja-like reflexes.“Good! So, I take it Max has still been pretty exhausted then?” Ma seems a little worried when she asks that.“Actually, no. This is the first nap she’s needed all week. We had a busy day today, so I don’t blame her a bit. We just got home from shopping all day. I wouldn’t say no to a nap myself right now.”Ma laughs. “That’s great to hear… Are you cooking right now, Chloe?” She is most likely hearing all the sounds I’m making.“Yeah, I’m making lasagna. I got you on speaker. I’m glad you called. It will be nice to have someone to talk to while I cook. I mean, that is if you want to talk to me. I know you called Max.”The scoff I hear at the other end of the line actually jumps me a little. “Chloe Price, don’t you start that! Of course I want to talk to you. You are my daughter too.”“Stop that, Ma. You’re gonna make me cry. Max is supposed to be the emotional mess, not me.” I really do have to force back tears. I miss my parents, but when Max’s parents say stuff like this, it really makes me feel loved.“Has Max been an emotional mess lately?” Ma asks now seeming curious if she can get any gossip out of me.“Eh, not really? I guess she did cry at the thrift shore today, but then again, I almost did too.”Ma chuckles. “Why on Earth would you cry in a thrift shop?”I bite my lip. Shit, I probably shouldn’t tell Ma about this without Max, but I can’t help it. I’m dying to tell her. “Max felt the baby move for the first time.”There is silence at the end of the line for a few seconds. I start to wonder if she got disconnected before I finally hear her speak again. “Chloe! That’s amazing news. You both must have been so thrilled.”“Yeah, we may have stood there doing nothing but tearing up and holding each other for like a half hour after.” I admit with a giggle.“I believe it. You two are really too cute. After all these years you’re still always cuddling.”“I’ve loved holding Max since I was like eight.” I reply with a chuckle. “I just hope she never gets sick of it.”“If she hasn’t yet, I don’t think you have anything to worry about.” Ma assures me.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
“Hello again, Max. How have you been doing since we last saw you?” Max’s doctor asks as he joins us in the examination room. Max gives the doctor a gentle smile and shakes his hand. We’re at Max’s 20 week appointment and I couldn’t be more excited.“Well, not too bad. Except my back has started aching.” Max admits. I’m standing beside her where she’s sitting on the examination table, and I’m rubbing her back. Max has always loved it when I rub her back, but for the last week it’s all she wants me to do. I’m not even sure if it helps very much, but it makes her happy, so I’m more than happy to do it.“Yeah, that’s to be expected.” The doctor makes some notes in the paperwork. “How have you been sleeping?”A little yawn escapes Max, and we all can’t help but laugh.“Aww, baby.” I kiss the side of her head, and she leans against me.“It’s so frustrating. I felt like I was just starting to get my energy back. Now, I just can’t get comfortable at night. I’m up for hours at a time.”The doctor continues questioning her for a while and then does the rest of her appointment as usual.Finally we get to the point that we’ve been waiting for. The doctor starts the ultrasound, and we both get teary-eyed immediately when we see how big the baby is getting.“Did you want to know the gender?” He asks.Max and I smile at each other for a minute before I motion for her to answer.“Yes, please!” We excitedly grab hands as we wait for the news.“Well then, congrats, it’s a girl.”I wrap my arms around Max, and we both start crying. It wouldn’t have mattered if he said it was a boy. I know we would have had the same reaction, but I’m still overjoyed at the news. Max and I are going to have a daughter! Holy fucking shit, this is so amazeballs!“I love you!” I finally manage to speak and pull away from Max just enough so I can look into her eyes.“I love you too!” Max grabs my cheek and pulls me closer to her so we can kiss. It’s extremely hard not to get carried away kissing Max when we’re this excited, so I reluctantly pull back after about ten seconds and press our foreheads together instead.“You’re so fucking amazing, Max.”Max blushes a little. “Oh, stop it!”“Never!” I lean in and kiss her again. She smiles against my lips.…“You know, I don’t think I can really make any Valentine’s plans more romantic than finding out our baby’s gender. So, prepare to be underwhelmed for the rest of the day.” I joke as we leave the doctor’s office hand in hand.Max just laughs as she swings our arms back and forth. “That’s fine, Chloe. You know I’m not that into Valentine's Day. I mean, don’t get me wrong; I love when you pull out all your romantic moves, but it just means every restaurant is packed, and it even takes forever just to get takeout.”“Yeah, I’m not really feeling up to dealing with other people today either. I want today to just be about us and our daughter.”She smiles brightly at that and gives my hand a little squeeze. “Same here. It’s going to be amazing, though. I promise, there will be nothing underwhelming about it.”“Oh? Are you going to show me your romantic moves today, baby?”We just got back to the car when those words left my lips, so Max decided it was the perfect opportunity to tease me. She playfully grabs me by my waist and gently pushes me against the car. “What do you think? Should I?” She leans in and rasps into my ear as she slowly runs a hand up my chest to the back of my neck.“Oh, fuck, Max…” I groan and try to regain my breath. “Yes, please!”She giggles. She is clearly enjoying how easy it is for her to turn me into complete putty in her hands. She barely even touched me, and I’m already desperate for her. She pulls me down to her, and our lips meet in a passionate kiss. I stroke Max’s hair back with one hand while I rub her back with the other. I have to fight myself to not get a little more handsy with her. The doctor’s office parking lot is probably not the weirdest place we’ve ever made out, but I think Max is starting to outgrow allowing me to grope her in public. She pulls back from the kiss far too soon, but it still leaves me a bit breathless.“Can we go home now, babe?” Max asks as she bites her lip. I know she started this to tease me, but I think she may have gotten herself a little hot and bothered in the process as well.“Fuck yeah, we can! Get your hella sexy ass in the car!”…When we got home we wasted very little time before heading to the bedroom. There is always a part of me that wants to just rip all of Max’s clothes off as fast as possible and get to my prize, but I fight that desire away. If I gave in to that, I would miss out on taking my time slowly stripping off her clothes, and that would be a fucking shame because she always looks so damn sexy. I pull her shirt off and plant kisses all over her chest and shoulders as my hands unhook her bra. Once I toss her bra to the side, I carefully lay her down on the bed. I look down at my wife, and I swear she never fails to take my breath away. She looks as beautiful as she did the day we got married.
~ August 2018 ~
I straighten my jacket and bowtie for probably the tenth time in the last five minutes. I don’t know why I’m so nervous. I’ve been with Max for over four years now, and we’re more in love than ever. We also planned an extremely low-key and exclusive wedding. Only her parents and David were invited. I think Max would have been more than willing to have a more normal-sized wedding, but given my lack of family, I think she pushed for this to make me feel more comfortable. She’s always so fucking thoughtful like that. How did I get so damn lucky to have Max in my life and agree to marry me? I feel like I might start crying, so I pull away from the bathroom mirror and grab a pack of cigarettes out of my pocket. I’ve been trying to quit for Max, but I just can’t. Especially not right now; I’m totally freaking out!I sneak out of the bathroom and make my way outside onto our front porch. I light up and take a drag. God, that feels so much fucking better. I take a seat in a patio chair and stare across the street at nothing.I get through about four cigarettes before I’m interrupted by the front door opening.“Chloe? What are you doing out here?” Max’s mom comes over and sits in the chair next to me.“Uh... Hey, Mrs. C… Smoking?” I answer a little ashamed.She laughs softly. “Chloe… Please call me Vanessa. I’ve told you that a million times, and you’re marrying my daughter today. So please.”“Sorry, Vanessa.” I let out a soft sigh as I carefully make sure to blow smoke away from her.“Are you okay?” She inquires.“Yeah, totally cool.” I know my voice gives away my lie, but I have to try.“No offense, but you don’t seem ‘totally cool’ to me.” Vanessa gives me a smile.“Is Max okay?” My voice comes out with a lot more worry than I meant to allow.“Oh, honey! She’s doing great. She looks so beautiful. I think you’re going to lose your mind when you see her!”“Oh, I know that… I just mean… She’s not having any second thoughts about me, right?” I’m embarrassed as I ask, but I have to know.Vanessa looks at me like I’ve grown three heads. “Absolutely not! She’s done nothing but gush about you and fuss about looking good enough for you all day.”That brings a smile to my face. “She has nothing to worry about, as you know. She looks more than good enough for me on any normal day. Hell, she could have just rolled out of bed for all I care. She’d still look incredible.”“Max is right. You really are a sweet talker.” Vanessa chuckles and wraps an arm around my shoulders. “Now is there anything else bothering you? Or can we go inside now?”I put my cigarette out and take a deep breath. “I’m cool. Thanks, Vanessa.”…Our backyard is filled with wedding decorations. We hadn’t gone too overboard, but I still think it looks really nice. We have a few chairs set out in front of a small wedding arch we rented. The only people here besides our families are a lady we hired to officiate and one of Max’s photographer friends who is going to take the wedding photos. Max almost decided to do them herself, but I refused that idea. I don’t want her distracted or working at all during her own wedding.I’m standing with the officiant waiting while everyone gets ready. It seems everyone is out here and ready except for Max and her dad. We’re going to have him walk her down the aisle to me. The officiant turns on some music and waves at the house. She must be signaling to Ryan that he can bring Max out. I wipe a little sweat from my brow as I do my best not to panic.The second Max steps outside all of my panic is gone. It’s replaced with nothing but lovesick awe. She looks so fucking beautiful! I just want to run to her and scoop her into my arms and never let her go. She’s wearing a long white wedding dress. It’s not at all over the top or lacy but is no less beautiful because of that. It’s completely strapless, so I can see all the freckles that dust across her shoulders. She’s wearing a little makeup but nothing very intense. It’s just enough to bring out her eyes a little more.Our backyard isn’t that big, so it shouldn’t take them very long to get to me, but it feels like it’s taking them forever. When they finally stop in front of me, Ryan gives Max a hug and a kiss on the cheek. He then smiles at me as he takes Max’s hand and places it in mine. I can no longer hold back my tears, and I feel a few drop down my cheeks.When Max sees me tear up, she does the same. I gently wipe a tear from her cheek, hoping it doesn’t mess up her perfectly done makeup.“You look so beautiful, Max.”She blushes a little in response. “No, you do! You look so gorgeous!”I have all I can do not to kiss her. I’ve never had to practice this much restraint in my life. I didn’t even get to wake up with her this morning as everyone insisted we do the traditional wedding thing and sleep apart and not see each other until now. I fucking miss her, and she’s standing in front of me looking like a damn goddess. Luckily, my thoughts are interrupted by the officiant starting the service. I’m only half paying attention, though. I’m way too distracted by the gorgeous woman in front of me who is staring at me like I put the stars in the sky.“Do you, Maxine Caulfield, take Chloe Price to be your lawfully wedded wife, to live together in matrimony, to love her, comfort her, honor and keep her, in sickness and in health, in sorrow and in joy, to have and to hold, from this day forward, as long as you both shall live?“Max smiles brightly at me, as a single tear rolls down her cheek. “I do!”“Do you, Chloe Price, take Maxine Caulfield to be your lawfully wedded wife, to live together in matrimony, to love her, comfort her, honor and keep her, in sickness and in health, in sorrow and in joy, to have and to hold, from this day forward, as long as you both shall live?““I do!” I answer right away as I look into my soon-to-be wife’s deep blue eyes.“Max and Chloe have prepared their own vows. Max, you may go ahead when you’re ready.”Max smiles at me and takes out a little piece of paper out of her dress pocket. She then begins reading it out loud to me. “Chloe Price. I love you. Those words aren’t even strong enough to describe how I feel about you, but they are the best I’ve got. When we were kids, we always said we were best friends, but I think our bond was even stronger than that back then. We just didn’t know it yet. I vow to always be both your wife and your best friend. I’ll hold your hand through the good times and the bad. You will always be my number one priority. I’ll always be with you, and I truly mean it when I say that we’re forever.”Max’s vows got me tearing up harder, so she started lovingly wiping my tears away with a tissue she pulled from her dress. She was smart to bring tissues; I should have done the same. Once I finally gain some of my composure back, I pull out my own piece of paper to read from.“Max ‘never Maxine’ Caulfield.” I pause to allow time for her parents to laugh before I continue. “Being with you makes me beyond happy. Even during the worst times, if you are there by my side, it’s not so bad. God knows we’ve had some really rough times over the last five years, but because I was with you, they were still the best five years of my life. I love you, Max, and I always will. I vow to comfort you whenever you’re upset, support you when you’re overwhelmed, and I’ll show you how much I love you every single day. I will do whatever it takes to see you smile and laugh until the day I die.”Max also couldn’t hold back tears during my vows, so I just squeeze her hands as I hold them both in mine. She gives me a smile as I mouth, ‘I love you,’ while the officiant has begun speaking again.After we exchanged rings, I look to the officiant expectantly. Please tell me I can kiss her soon. I need to kiss Max right now!“With the power vested in me by the state of Massachusetts, I now pronounce you wife and wife. You may now kiss.”I let out a breath I didn’t even know I was holding as I wrap my arms around Max’s waist and pull her into my arms. She seems almost as eager as I am as our lips meet.
~ Present Day ~
“What’s all this?” I smile when I hear Max walking up behind me. I had just started cooking her Valentine's Day dinner. It’s not anything too special, but I know Max will love it. It’s fettuccine alfredo with a side chicken Caesar salad and garlic bread. I turn around, and my smile only grows at the sight of her. She definitely knows what I like on Valentine's Day. She’s wearing nothing but an oversized flannel shirt with most of the top buttons unbuttoned. I just spent most of the afternoon having my way with her, but it’s like it wasn’t enough. I’d be more than happy to take her right back to the bedroom again if she asked.“Babe, my eyes are up here.” She teases when she sees me gawking at her cleavage.“Yeah, I know… But, as you know, I wasn’t looking at them. Even though, yes, they are also very pretty.”“Good save, you dork.” Max giggles as she wraps her arms around me and pulls me down for a quick kiss. “Now, answer my question. What’s cookin’, good lookin’?”I laugh. “Wow, Max, did you steal that line from me?”“Maybe…” She playfully rubs her nose against mine. She then looks into my eyes expectantly.“Why won’t you let me just surprise you? It’s not that exciting anyway.”Max pushes a lock of my hair behind my ear. “You know, you keep promised to underwhelm me, and you’ve yet to deliver on that promise.”Holy shit, she’s so flirty today. I’m loving this. “I’m so sorry to disappoint, baby. What can I do to make it up to you?”She bites her lip a little as she thinks about it. “How about you rub my back?”“You don’t even have to ask.” I kiss her softly and begin rubbing her back with both of my hands. I feel her body relax immediately at my touch. She only kisses me back for a few seconds before moving her head to rest against my shoulder.I ended up cooking our entire dinner with Max still in my arms, just so I could give her frequent back rubs. It almost felt like practice for what I imagine it feels like to be a parent. Too much to do and not enough hands to do it with. This isn’t me complaining at all, though. I very much enjoyed it.“Chlo, I’m still not underwhelmed. This looks so good!” She sits down at the table and looks at me with a cute little grin.I chuckle and place Max’s plate in front of her. “You’re welcome.” I lean down and peck her lips softly.I soon sit down and eat dinner with her. We flirt, goof off, and just enjoy each other’s company. I’m really glad we stayed in for Valentine's Day. This has been my favorite one ever, even though we haven’t actually done much by normal people's standards. But I guess that’s to be expected. Max and I aren’t normal people, and I wouldn’t change a damn thing about us.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
~ Max ~
I sigh softly as I turn off the car. I have a long day ahead of me today. I am thankful for the work, as I’ve been finding it a bit hard to come by lately, but still, I know this will most likely not be a quick or easy job. I’m taking photos for a basketball league for grade school-aged kids. It will probably be extremely cute, but also there are over one hundred kids, so I’m sure it will be completely chaotic. I grab some of my equipment and head into the gym.I struggle to get the door open with my hands full of equipment, so I have to carefully use my back to push it open. When I turn around to face the gym, I can’t help but let a gulp slip out at what I see. What I was thinking earlier about the complete chaos could not be more true. I swear all one hundred of the kids have their own basketball. They are throwing them at each other, at the hoops located all over the gym, and even at the adults in the room. I instinctively move to cover my bump protectively. I don’t like this at all. My equipment isn’t going to exactly last against a direct hit with a basketball either.As I start to seriously consider leaving and never coming back, a blonde woman, probably in her mid-40s, wearing a bright blue tracksuit, runs up to me.“You must be Max! Thank you so much for coming! I’m Angela. We spoke on the phone.” She seems very sweet and full of energy.“Yeah, that’s me. Nice to meet you.” I try to get a hand completely free to shake hers, but I just end up fumbling a bit with my stuff awkwardly.“Oh, let me help you!” She carefully takes my tripod from me and leads me to a corner of the gym that seems the least crowded with kids. She does her best to shoo away those who are lingering nearby. “Is this an okay place to set up?”“Yeah, this should be just fine. Thanks, Angela. I just need them to be careful with those basketballs. If we lose a camera or a lens, we can’t take photos today.”“No problem, Max. I’ll try to keep them on the other side of the court.”I take a deep breath to try to relax as I begin setting up the lights and tripod. It seems like Angela is doing her best to keep her promise, but a lot of the kids aren’t listening. Also, some are just bad shots, and the balls keep bouncing over here by mistake. I have to keep my guard up and be alert to the projectiles being constantly fired my way.This makes setup time take double what it normally would. I haven’t even started taking photos yet, and my feet and back are already killing me. I’m sure the hard gym floor isn’t doing me any favors either, but I can definitely already feel my feet swelling.I start off by taking individual shots of each kid. Every time a cute little girl comes over to have her photo taken, I can’t help but give her a little extra smile. I wonder if our daughter will like sports? This seems like a really cute basketball league, and Angela seems really nice. I wonder if she’ll still be doing this in 6 or 7 years. I noticed all of the coaches are wearing tracksuits to match the colors of each team they are coaching. It’s so freaking adorable! I could see Chloe coaching a team like this. Angela kind of gives off older Chloe vibes.I’m knocked from my thoughts when I notice one of the coaches has shown up late. He’s wearing an all-black tracksuit and does not look at all happy to be here. When he sits down, I notice he is kind of staring at me. Ever since I’ve started showing, I have sometimes noticed people staring. I’m starting to get used to it, but I still find it extremely weird and creepy. Yeah, I’m pregnant, dude; stop fucking looking at me already.Even hours later, after I finish the individual shots, I can still feel that coach’s eyes on me. It’s really gotten past the point of just creeping me out. He’s definitely been staring at me like I’m a juicy piece of meat. It makes me feel kind of sick. Luckily, we are far from alone in here, so I’m safe enough, but it’s still bothering me. I just wish Chloe was here. She’d tell him to fuck off.Speaking of Chloe, I feel my phone vibrate with a text message.Chloe: I’m so sorry baby. Have to work late tonight. Feel free to have dinner without me. I love you and our girl so muchMax: :’( We love you tooUgh, could today get any fucking worse? Now I need to take the team shots and coach shots before I can finally go home. I want nothing more than to pass out on the couch right now.
~ Chloe - 6 hours later ~
I pull into the driveway after a brutal day at work. This was the longest, most annoying day I’ve had in a long time. I can’t wait to get inside and see Max. She always makes me feel better. I hop out of the truck and let a large yawn out as I unlock the door and enter the house. I walk into the kitchen and my face falls. I see Max sitting at the bar with tears in her eyes.“Baby? What’s wrong?”“Oh, thank God you’re home!” Max says, climbing down from her seat and clinging to me as tight as she can. “I just had the worst fucking day…” She sniffles into my neck a little, and I rub her back.“Shit, I guess that’s just in the air today.” I sigh softly. “Why are you crying? Is it something specific, or are you just overwhelmed?”She slides out of my arms and picks a letter off of the bar to hand to me. “This just was the cherry on top of my shit day. It’s not like I don’t already have a million matching ones.”I frown and only need to read the first few words of the letter to know why she’s upset. “We regret to inform you that your piece was not selected…” I toss the letter aside and wrap my arms around her again. “You know this doesn’t mean your work isn’t good enough. It just means it’s not what they are looking for, or they’re just stupid. Honestly, it’s probably the latter.” I say trying to cheer her up a bit.“It really shouldn’t be either of those things. This photo was perfect for the damn theme. I even asked Victoria for advice, and she agreed with me. She said they’d want it for sure! We really fucking needed this, Chloe. Doing long shoots has been so fucking hard lately, and it’s only going to get worse. I need more gallery showings during my third trimester, or we’re really going to start hurting financially.” She rests her head on my shoulder, and I can feel she’s started crying again as her tears started soaking through my work shirt.Poor Max. After she had her show at the Chase Space last year, it seemed like she had started getting more offers for showings, but that’s been slowing down considerably in the last few months. I’m not sure what’s going on with that trend. I can only assume it’s bad luck, but I understand why Max is concerned. Having a baby has not been cheap, and that will not improve once she’s born either.“We’ll figure it out. We always do. We’ve been in way worse situations than this. I’ll take extra hours at the garage if needed, so don’t put so much pressure on yourself, okay?”“You’re the best, Chloe. I love you so fucking much.” She mumbles into my neck. It seems I may have managed to get her to stop crying, but she’s still clinging to me like her life depends on it.“I love you too, baby. Everything is going to be okay.” I rub her back and she hums a little in response. “How about I run us a bath? I think we could use some time to relax. Today has been shit, so we deserve it.”Max moves her face from my neck to kiss my lips. “That sounds amazing… Wait, did you say you had a bad day too?” She asks, suddenly realizing what I said.“Yeah, unfortunately. I’m just glad I’m home with you now, though.”She frowns at my admission but still leans up to kiss me again. “Let’s go trade horror stories in the tub then.”…I let out a contented sigh as Max climbs in the tub. She slides herself between my legs and rests her back against my chest. I lean down and press a gentle kiss to her neck.“Mmm, this was a good idea.” Max hums as I feel her body begin to slowly relax against me. I rest my hands on her belly and she puts her hands on mine.“I suppose I have a good idea every now and then.”She chuckles at that. “Okay, you can go first, babe.”I try not to groan. I really don’t want to have to tell her about the beginning of my day. She’s already freaking out about our finances; this will just make it worse.“Well… While I was driving to work… the truck… it kinda…”“Oh, fuck me. It broke down, didn’t it? I thought I heard a weird noise in it the other day…”I can feel her starting to tense up again, so I move my hands to rub her shoulders. “Hey, it’s okay. I don’t think it’s that bad. And lucky you, you married a mechanic who gets all parts at cost.” I’m downplaying how bad the truck is a little, but I don’t want her freaking out over nothing. I’ll pull some extra hours if I need to. I just don’t want her stressing about it.She lets out a short chuckle. “I know. I am a lucky woman. Okay, keep going.”“Well, I was stuck on the side of the road with it for about an hour. Then Jason had to come get me with the tow truck. So that was a great start to the day. Once I got there, I started working on a car for this really creepy dude. He kept coming into the garage and watching me. Then he started talking to me. I think he was trying to flirt, but it mostly was just insulting. The fucker kept insinuating that I should be in his kitchen and not working on his car. Then he finally straight up asked me to get coffee with him after, so I was like, ‘Hell no, I’m happily married to an amazing woman.’”Max starts rubbing my arms lovingly to try to comfort me. This isn’t the first time I’ve been hit on or insulted by some creep at the garage, but it still always sucks.I sigh softly, knowing the story only gets worse from here. “The asshole did not take that well at all. He started going off on a homophobic rant. Normally by this point one of the guys would’ve stepped in for me, but the only one in the garage with me at the time was Roger, and I’m pretty sure he is also a homophobic piece of trash. Maybe I should have left the part about you out, but I love you, and I’ll always be so proud I’m married to you…”“Fuck that guy, Chloe! He was just an asshole! I’m sure he would have stirred up trouble no matter what you said.” Max has now grabbed both of my hands and is squeezing them tightly.“Ugh, anyway… I was hoping he’d cool off a bit over time, but he only seemed to get more fired up. So, I eventually just took off and found Tim working the desk. I told him what was going on, and he agreed to finish that prick’s car for me.”“Please tell me that’s it?” Max interrupts. She is clearly not enjoying hearing about my misery. I know I’m going to hate hearing about her shitty day as well.“That’s the worst of it, but no, there is more. The storm last night had a ton of people off the road. It was so bad we were getting requests for our tow truck. I’m not great with it, so I don’t know why Tim sent me. Maybe he figured I’d appreciate getting out of the garage while that creep was still there… But yeah, anyway, I was sent to pick up a car that went off the road. It took fucking forever to get that damn car towed. It was pretty embarrassing; I barely know how to work that stupid thing. By the time I got back, it was pretty late. That’s when I texted you and told you I’d be late. I had to work on a few more cars, and then I had to get our truck started again. It’s not fixed, but I got it running just well enough to get me home. I’ll probably spend our entire day off tomorrow fixing it. I’m sorry, baby.”She pulls our hands up out of the water so she can kiss my knuckle. “It’s not your fault. I understand. I’m sorry your day was so fucking shitty. And then on top of that, you had to come home and deal with my breakdown.”“Don’t even worry about that. I’m way more worried about making sure you’re okay. I’m always here to comfort you… Speaking of which, I think that makes it your turn now.”Max seems extremely hesitant to tell me about her day, but she eventually does. The more she goes on about it, the angrier I get. When Max finishes telling me about the fucker that was staring at her for hours, I am beyond pissed off. I want nothing more than to find that guy and beat the fucking shit out of him. He made my pregnant wife extremely uncomfortable for hours. I feel sick just thinking about it.“Are you okay, babe?” Max asks worriedly. I think she knows I’m pretty far from okay.“Max, I’m really upset for you. You shouldn’t have to put up with that shit. No one should have to, but especially not you.”Max sits up and turns around in my arms so we can look at each other. “I know, but I promise I’m okay now.” She straddles my lap and gives me a deep kiss. I know she’s doing it just to calm me down, but she knows me so well, it works. It will always work.“Are you sure you’re okay?” I ask as I begin to rub her lower back.“Mmm, I’m better now that you’re doing that.” She admits with a bit of relief in her voice.I’ll do whatever it takes to make Max feel better, but I wish I had been able to be there for her earlier today. The only thing I miss about my old job at the coffee shop in LA was that I got to work with Max and be there for her if she was having a bad day.
~ December 2015 ~
I open up my work locker and start digging through it. I swear I had thrown my spare apron in here. My thoughts of annoyance at myself for losing yet another thing are interrupted by a pair of arms wrapping around my waist from behind. I then feel my girlfriend press her lips between my shoulder blades.“Mmm, hi baby.” I carefully spin in her arms and smile down at her.“Hey, Chlo.” She looks up at me with half-lidded eyes and then stands on her toes to peck my lips.“You okay, Super Max?” I ask, noticing the tiredness in her eyes.“Yeah, I’m just kind of exhausted. Finals have been so brutal, but at least I just finished my last one.”I pull Max into a tight hug. “Great job, baby! I’m so fucking proud of you.” I kiss the top of her head.“Thanks, babe.”If we didn’t have to pull away to start our shifts, I swear Max would have fallen asleep standing up in my arms. I feel bad for her, because I’m pretty sure she pulled an all-nighter studying last night. I really wish she hadn’t had to take this shift, but it’s too late now, and I can’t exactly take her place since I’m already here working my own shift.I let Max make the drinks today, and I dealt with the customers. I figured that would be the easiest on her sleep-deprived brain. She did keep messing up a lot of orders, though. I did my best to watch her and check each order, but when we started getting lines, there wasn’t much I could do.I almost made it through what is most likely going to be the last rush of the day when I hear yelling on the other side of the counter.“Hey dumbass! This is not a mocha latte! It’s just a black coffee! How stupid can you possibly be?!” This hipster asshole is screaming at Max because clearly he has nothing better to do with his life.I angrily make this fucker his mocha and hand it over to him. “Here’s your damn mocha, asshole. I’m sorry your dick is so small you can’t even see it, but I don’t think there are enough mocha lattes in the world to fix that for you, so maybe you should calm your tits.”Everyone in the line laughs at the guy, and Max just hides her face in my shoulder a little. She’s clearly super embarrassed about screwing up again and getting yelled at for it.“I’m sorry, baby. You didn’t deserve to get treated like that.” I whisper as I give the side of her head a little kiss. “Go take your break. I got it from here.”Max gives me a shy smile. “My hero.” She jokes. “Thank you, babe. I love you.” She kisses my cheek before heading to the back. I’ve stood up for her against bullies since we were kids, but every time it happens, it only pisses me off more to see anyone trying to hurt my Max. As long as I’m around, no one fucks with her and gets away with it.
~ Present Day ~
When we got out of the bathtub, Max just seemed completely exhausted, so I took her right to bed. I lay down on my back, and I let her snuggle into my side and lay her head on my chest. We didn’t bother changing into pajamas. Even though we aren’t going to have sex tonight, we both are just enjoying the intimacy of holding each other naked. I expect Max to fall right to sleep, so I remain quiet and just rub her back as I wait.“Chloe?” Her voice is extremely quiet and sleepy.“Yeah, Max?”“You’re the best wife.”“No, you are.”“I guess that means we’re both the best then.” She replies with a giggle.“Damn right, baby.”
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
“Wowsers! It’s so beautiful here!” Max exclaims as she takes yet another photo. We’ve been walking around Haven Springs for about a few hours now. We’re going to be meeting up with Alex, Steph, and the rest of the wedding party soon for their bachelorette party, but in the meantime, Max really wanted to explore the town and get some photos. I can’t stop watching her. She’s always so cute when she gets really into taking photos, but seeing her with her six month pregnant baby bump just makes her all the more beautiful.“I’m glad you’re enjoying it, hippie.”She stops me when we start crossing a small bridge covered in flowers. “Let me take a photo of you here!” I can’t help but grin as I comply and let her pose me however she wants. Soon she backs off and holds up the camera. She takes a few shots of me just smiling at her before moving the camera away from her face so she can look at me. “Now look off in the distance like you’re contemplating the meaning of life.”“Yes, dear.” I tease, as I try to do as she asks.She takes a photo, but then laughs. “You don’t look like you’re thinking about life at all. You look more like you’re holding back a fart. Calm your cute face down a little.”“How exactly am I supposed to do that when you keep saying funny shit and being all adorable? I’m just trying not to laugh over here!”“Oh, fuck off!” She blurts out mid-laugh. She carefully lets go of the camera, letting it hang from the strap around her neck as she comes over to me and gives me a little peck on the lips. I don’t want it to end there, so I pull her back in for a couple more.“So, how about we take one of your famous selfies?” I suggest as I run my hand gently up and down her waist.“Great idea, babe!” She pulls the camera strap off of her neck and holds the camera out in front of us. I wrap my arm around her and kiss her cheek as she takes a photo.We take a few different selfies on the bridge before Max finally puts her camera back in her bag. She then leans against the railing of the bridge to take in the view. I wrap my arm around her and do the same.“I can see why Steph and Alex decided to get married here.” She happily leans into me a little as I place a kiss on the side of her head.“I’m sure the view was part of it, but it’s where they met. They also have a lot of friends here. Alex has no living family members, so they needed to be close if they actually wanted guests to be able to come.”“Our wedding was great with only three guests. But, I guess that’s not for everyone." Max muses.“Fair enough. But you know I was thinking…" I begin acting a bit awkward as I’m not sure how Max will feel about what I’m about to suggest. “We have a lot more friends now than we did back when we got married. Maybe when our little girl is old enough to participate… we could… like, I dunno, renew our vows?”“Oh! Chloe… That’s such an amazing idea.” Max’s eyes look glassy. I think she might be holding back tears.“So, you think you’d ever want to do that?”“Of course, I do!” She wraps her arms around me tightly and we kiss. The kiss starts soft and tender, but I can’t help but let it get a little heated. Max wasn’t kidding about this place being beautiful and romantic.“Ahem!?” I suddenly hear, interrupting what was very close to becoming a bit of a make out session. Max and I slowly pull away from each other and turn to see Steph and Alex standing there looking very amused. They are holding hands while trying not to laugh.“I thought we were the ones who came here to get married this weekend.” Steph jokes as she looks at Alex.“I’m kinda jealous. We should have thought of doing this. I could totally get into making out here.” Alex winks at Steph.Steph’s smile brightens up at that, and she grabs her fiancé by the hips. “It’s not too late, baby.” Steph’s voice comes out a little husky, and it draws out a little excited giggle and shiver from Alex.“Oh come on! Don’t interrupt us and then make out in front of us!” I whine.Steph gives me a smirk. “It’s my wedding. I’ll make out with her if I want to!”“As nice as that sounds, we really need to get going. The others are already waiting.” Alex reminds her. She then still leans in and gives her a little kiss.“Alright, fine.” Steph playfully grumbles. She’s obviously excited about the party even if she’d rather pretend she’s being put out by not getting to make out with Alex.…We planned the bachelorette party to be a single party rather than two separate ones. It’s not very traditional, but we know they’d prefer it this way. We all do, so fuck tradition! Max and Mikey are the maid of honor and best man, so they worked together to plan most of it. First we are going to an arcade/bar a few towns over, and then we’re just going to hang out at the Black Lantern for the rest of the evening. Max was worried it might be too boring, but I assured her she was wrong. It is a perfect party for them, and I know they’ll love it.Alex and Steph only picked two people each for their wedding parties. Max is Alex’s maid of honor, and the other person she chose is Ryan, who was their friend from back when they met in Haven Springs. Steph picked Mikey as her best man and me as her bridesmaid. The party today is the six of us plus Mikey’s girlfriend Emma and Ryan’s girlfriend Riley.“Having fun, babe?” Max asks as she comes up behind me while I’m playing a pinball machine. We had all just kind of wandered off in random directions when we first arrived at the arcade, so I’ve only been running into random people every so often over the last few hours. I’m very happy that Max has finally found her way back over to me. I try not to be too clingy, but I do prefer being by her side.“Hell yeah! Are you?” I don’t look away from the machine because I know I’ll lose if I do.“I am!” She leans over and kisses my cheek. She lets her hand gently rub my hip before pulling away.“Damn, baby, you’re distracting me, but I’m not complaining. By all means distract me as much as you want.” I give her a little wink as I still manage to pay attention to what I’m doing.“You’re ridiculous.” Max chuckles as she watches me finish up my game of pinball.About five minutes later I lose my last ball, and I turn to Max. I immediately notice she is rubbing her back with both of her hands. “Hey, you okay?” I quickly wrap my arms around her and replace her hands with mine.“Yeah, I’m okay. Just a little sore.” She rests her head on my shoulder and closes her eyes.I sigh as I continue to rub her back. I knew we shouldn’t have gone on such a long walk before this. Max always has a tendency to push herself too far and to not know or probably just not care about her own limitations.“How about we go to the bar area and sit for a little while?” I give her head a little kiss, and she just smiles up at me.“You’re so overprotective. It’s cute, though, so I won’t complain.” She seems pretty content in my arms, so she hasn’t bothered moving away from me at all. We give it a few minutes before she does finally pull away. “God, I have to pee so bad. Meet me at the bar in 5 minutes?”I chuckle. “Sounds good, baby.” I then lean in and give her a peck on the lips. “I love you.”She giggles when we pull back. “I love you too.”I smile as I can’t help but stare a little as she walks away from me. I’m soon interrupted from checking out my wife by Mikey’s girlfriend Emma coming up to me. “Hey, Chloe.”I just met Emma for the first time today, but I like her. She’s a very quiet, shy, and nerdy type. Very much perfect for a guy like Mikey. I think she might be Mikey’s first girlfriend ever. They are pretty adorable together, especially with their height difference. Mikey is so tall, and Emma is even shorter than Max.“Hey. What’s up?” I ask as I turn away from Max to look at her. She seems a little extra shy as she can’t quite make eye contact with me.“I know we don’t know each other… like at all, but would you mind if I asked you something?”I raise my eyebrow curiously. “Uh, sure?”Her face is bright red as she’s clearly embarrassed but continues anyway. “You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to… It’s just you and Max are so cute together and obviously in love… Mikey told me he loved me the other day… but I don’t know if I’m in love or not. Ugh, fuck, this is so stupid and embarrassing… Just forget I said anything…”Holy shit! Poor Emma. She clearly has no one else to talk to about this. I’m definitely going to help her. “No, wait!” I stop her as she tries to bolt away from me. “I get what you’re saying. There was a moment when I realized I loved Max, but looking back, I did love her before that. I just didn’t realize it yet.”
~ June 2014 ~
Max even looks beautiful wearing what can best be described as a tarp and an incredibly stupid hat. Why the hell do they make you wear such weird shit when you graduate anyway? But seriously, I mean it, though; she still looks breathtakingly beautiful. I also know she’s dressed up underneath the gown, and I haven’t seen what she’s wearing yet. The anticipation is fucking killing me, but I do my best to be patient. I have to use every bit of self-control I have not to rush the stage and tackle Max in a hug as she gets her diploma from her principal.The rest of the ceremony seems like it drags on forever. When she finally gets off the stage and comes over to us, she hugs her parents first. I hold out my arms to her expecting a quick little hug like her parents got, but instead I’m met with Max diving into my arms. I can’t fight back the dumb grin on my face as I catch her midair and hold her up by her thighs. She’s wrapped her legs around my waist and her arms around my neck.“I’m proud of you, baby.” I look up at her, and she captures my lips in a soft and slow kiss.“We did it! We’re high school graduates!” She bounces a little excitedly in my arms.I chuckle as I carefully place her back on her feet. “No. You’re a high school graduate, and I’m a dropout with a GED.”“Stop that! Having a GED is the same thing as having a high school diploma. So you shut your cute face!”“Make me!” I tease.Max knows exactly what I mean by that and seems very happy to comply. She pulls me close to her again and gives me one more kiss. I can tell she is tempted to slip me some tongue, but her parents are right next to us, so she holds back.“Come with me while I say goodbye to a few people, okay?” She asks, taking my hand. I nod and squeeze her hand. I’m more than happy to go wherever Max wants. Today is her day, after all.…By the time we get back to the Caulfield house, it’s pretty late. Her parents took us out to dinner, and we even hung out with her friends Kristen and Fernando for a while after that. I haven’t been able to keep my eyes off of Max all day. The dress she was hiding under her graduation gown was even more beautiful than I expected. It is a salmon pink color and a little more low-cut than the black one she wore for Thanksgiving. Also, it hugs her ass just the right way. She has a tiny little ass, but I still think it’s incredibly hot.“You ready for bed, babe?” Max asks with a bit of a yawn.I’m a bit disappointed when she says she’s ready for bed already. I was hoping we could watch a movie and maybe make out a little. Though she is right, it has been a long day. “Yeah, let’s get you out of that dress.” I tease with a wink.Max blushes a little but gives me a little smile as she grabs my hand and leads me upstairs. She quickly pulls me into her room and closes and locks the door behind me. I see the blush on her cheeks get brighter as she looks up at me hesitantly. “Could you unzip me?” She mumbles out in barely a whisper. I’m surprised I heard her at all with how quiet and shy she’s being about it, but goddamn, she just made my whole fucking week!“Hell yeah, I can!” Max hasn’t let me see her naked yet. This will be my first time even seeing her in her bra and panties since we started dating. I have a feeling this is as far as she is going to let me take it, but I’m still excited. I remember checking her out when we went swimming at the Blackwell pool, and I know she’s so fucking beautiful. This time will be even better as I’ll get to hold her and touch her soft skin.I take my time and wrap my arms around her waist. I give her a slow and deep kiss as I let my hands slowly run up her back to find the zipper of her dress. I hear her moan into my mouth as I begin to slowly slide the zipper down. Once the zipper is all the way down, I pull back from her to see what she does next. She can’t seem to look up at me but still manages to remove her arms from the dress and then lets it fall to the floor.“You’re so beautiful, Max.” I proclaim as my eyes greedily take in her body. I don’t think it’s possible for her to be blushing any more than she already is, but I do also see a small smile form on her lips.“Thanks, Chlo.” She steps closer to me and starts playing with the collar of my button-up dress shirt. “Can I?”“F-fuck yeah!” I fumble with my words a little bit. I wasn’t expecting this, but I’m so in for whatever she wants! Seeing her half-naked has already turned me on so much, but once she starts unbuttoning my shirt, I have to hold back a groan. I want her so bad, but I have to take this slow and at her pace. I might die from arousal, but I guess if that’s how I go, I won’t complain. I certainly can’t think of a better way to go.Max unbuttons each button painfully slowly. She’s gotten a little less shy and now is able to look at me. I smile down as I watch her. That’s the moment it hits me. I’m in love with Max. Holy shit, I’m SO fucking in love with Max.“Chloe! Stop looking at me like that!” Max starts blushing again, and it makes me laugh.“Sorry, baby.” I’m tempted to tell her how I feel and why I’m looking at her like such a dope, but I don’t want to ruin this intimate moment. Instead I take her face into my hands and give her the most loving kiss I’ve ever given. I don’t think I’ve ever kissed Max or anyone else like this before. I think the kiss takes Max a bit by surprise as she stops unbuttoning my shirt and starts making some very sexy little hums and moans instead. Her hands slide under my shirt, run up my stomach, and then around my back.“Oooh… fuck… Max…” I can’t help the extremely aroused noises I’m making once Max gets her hands on my bare skin. She’s driving me completely crazy, but it’s worth it. She is so beyond worth it. I’m so fucking in love with her, and I’m going to show her how much I love her by giving her whatever she wants tonight.
~ Present Day ~
I give Emma a bit of a pep talk. Her and Mikey seem both pretty new to relationships, so it makes sense Emma is struggling a little. I hope it works out for them, as I want them both to be happy. They do really seem like a good match.By the time I excuse myself and head to the bar to meet Max, she’s already sat at a booth waiting for me. She is drinking a lemonade and has one waiting for me as well.“Sorry I’m late, Maximus.” I slide into the booth next to her, and she just smirks at me.“How did I know you’d sit on my side of the booth?” She teases.“Well, I can’t rub your back from the other side! Duh!” I wink, and she happily leans into my touch as I give her a one-handed back rub.“You’re spoiling me.” She grins at me and lets out a little sigh.“Nah. Not hardly.”Max smiles at me and leans over and kisses me softly. She then points to Steph and Alex, who are at the bar laughing and flirting with each other.“They’re going to go crazy getting separated tonight. I remember our wedding day. I had all I could do not to kiss you the second your dad put your hand in mine.” I slide my hand under her shirt as I continue to rub her back.Max hums a little in response as she grins at me. “Yeah, I was definitely having similar struggles. I’m sure they will be just as bad as we were.” She starts running her fingers through my hair as she continues to watch Alex and Steph.“Oh, they will be for sure.” I agree with a chuckle.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
When my alarm goes off this morning, Max doesn’t even budge. We have to get up a little early, so we can get her dress refitted. One of the many joys Max gets to deal with while being six months pregnant during this wedding. She has made herself a bit of a pillow fort around her to help her sleep, so I have to carefully lean over it in order to kiss her forehead.“Time to wake up, baby.” I gently stroke her hair back behind her ear.“No… go away…” She grumbles as she pulls the blankets up over her face. She’s been a lot more cranky in the morning lately. I can’t say I blame her. Neither of us is a morning person, but I know she hasn’t been sleeping well, and we stayed out pretty late at the bachelorette party last night.“Come on, Maxi. You have maid of honor duties to attend to.” I remind her. I know if Max knows other people are counting on her, it will motivate her.“Chloe, no… You do it…”I can’t help but chuckle. “I’m pretty sure if I go to your dress refitting for you, that will only end in disaster.”“Go fuck yourself…”Yeah, that’s fair. I probably shouldn’t have said that. “I didn’t mean it like that, baby. Fine, you can have a few more minutes. I’m getting in the shower, but you need to get right up when I’m done.”When she doesn’t respond, I assume I’m getting a bit of a silent treatment. I’m sure she’ll forgive me soon enough. I get in the shower and get myself cleaned up as quickly as possible. When I get out, I just wrap myself in a towel to go check on Max again. “Ugh, great…” I sigh when I see Max has fallen back to sleep. She’s peacefully snoring away, with the blankets still over her face.I sit down on the edge of her side of the bed and stroke her hair gently. I hate having to wake her up when she’s so tired. As I’m working up the will to do so, I hear my phone start to ring.“Hello?”“Morning, Price! You guys almost ready?” Steph sounds extremely wide awake and excited.“Uhhh… About that… Max has been kind of impossible to wake up this morning.”“I had a feeling you were gonna say that. I’m just going to go ahead and cancel her appointment. I can just make the adjustments to the dress myself. You think you can get her up and ready in about an hour and a half?”“You can make dress adjustments?” I ask rather skeptically.“Well, duh. I think you underestimate just how many LARPs, conventions, and ren-fairs I’ve dressed up for.”I cover my mouth to stifle my laugh. Steph really is the biggest nerd. “I’d really appreciate that. I do feel kinda bad, though; it’s your wedding day.”“It’s cool. I need something to do to distract myself. I’m kinda freaking out.”I know exactly how she feels. I was pretty freaked out on my wedding day. I probably would have chain-smoked four packs of cigarettes if Max’s mom hadn’t come out to check on me. I later found out Max sent her after me. She knew leaving me alone to stew in my own self-doubt right before our wedding was not a good idea.“You know what? Maybe come a little sooner. Give us like a half hour to get ready, okay?” I’m going to support Steph like Max’s mom did for me. Even though Max will be cranky about it at first, I know she’ll be glad she got up for it too.“Really? Awesome!” Steph sounds really relieved.“No problem. I’ll see you soon.” We hang up, and I look back at my slumbering wife. This won’t be easy or fun, but she has to get up now.…As requested, about a half hour later there is a knock on our hotel room door. I’m dressed, but nowhere close to actually being ready. I’m only wearing the suit pants and a white undershirt. I pulled my hair up in a messy ponytail. Max finally got up and is currently in the shower.When I open up the door, I see that Steph is similarly dressed. She’s also holding a bag that I assume is full of threads and needles and things she’ll need to adjust Max’s dress.“Thanks for having me over so early.”“No problem. You’re the one doing us a favor! Come on in.”Steph lets out a little chuckle when she looks around the hotel room. “Why does it look like your bed exploded in here?” She jokingly asks as she notices there are pillows tossed all over the floor.“I may have had to break down Max’s pillow fort one pillow at a time to convince her to get up.” I explain with a chuckle. I start picking the pillows up and throwing them back on the bed as Steph sits down at the desk. We sit and chat together until I notice the shower has stopped and I hear Max quietly swearing to herself as she fumbles around the bathroom.“Hey, babe?!” Max shouts to me.I look at Steph, and we both smirk. “What’s up?” I shout back.“I uhh, kinda forgot to bring the dress and my underwear in…”Steph and I both get a good chuckle in before I respond to her. “No problem, baby. I’ll bring them to you.”I dig through Max’s suitcase and grab her strapless bra and a pair of panties before I grab her dress that was hanging in the closet. I then carefully open up the bathroom door and slip inside. I give my naked wife a grin as I hang up the dress on the back of the bathroom door. “You know I’m usually strongly against dressing you, and I’m only here to undress you, but if you want a hand…”“Actually, yeah, I’d love it if you could zip me up.” She gives me a sheepish smile. “Sorry if I was bitchy earlier.”I shake my head. “You weren’t bitchy. A little cranky, sure, but not bitchy.” I lean over and peck her lips.She smiles as she kisses me back. She then puts on her panties and works on her bra. I walk behind her and help her clasp it. We then work together to get her dress out of the protective plastic covering. The dress is bright gold. I don’t know why they chose white and gold as their wedding colors, but Max looks so damn sexy in this dress, so I’m hella glad they did. I’ve only seen pictures, and I’ve been really looking forward to seeing it in person. I help Max into the dress, and I zip up the back easily.“Looks like it only needs to be taken in a little bit.” Max smiles as she looks in the mirror.“Yeah, I’m sure Steph will fix it up no problem. You look amazing.” I kiss her cheek.“Oh stop it, Chlo.” She double-checks herself in the mirror before opening the bathroom door, and we both rejoin Steph.Max smiles shyly at Steph when they lock eyes with each other. “Thanks for doing this. Sorry I was being such a pain in the ass this morning.”Steph laughs and shakes her head. “You’re good. After everything you’ve done for us, it’s the least I can do. Not to mention, I was kinda going crazy on my own. Being with you guys is helping.”“Everything is going to be awesome. You have nothing to worry about.” Max assures her.“I hope you’re right, Max. I just want this to be everything Alex wants it to be.” Steph stands up in front of Max and begins working on her dress.“I know Alex feels the same way. Whenever I helped her plan anything, all she cared about was if you would like it.”Steph’s smile brightens at that. “Thanks. I just can’t wait to see Alex.”“Your mind will be blown when you do. Trust me, her dress is gorgeous.” Max winks.“I bet. I can’t fucking wait!”…Max couldn’t have been more right about the wedding going awesomely. Before we knew it, the ceremony was over, and we all walked over to the little field in the middle of town for the reception. The place is beautifully decorated with flowers everywhere. They even supplied roses for guests to give out to each other, so I grab one and present it to Max.“Aww, thanks, babe.” She has to stand on her toes and pull my head down a little to kiss me, as I’m wearing heels and she isn’t. “Those heels are so sexy, but I can barely reach you now, ya giant!”I chuckle. “I can count the number of people I’d wear heels for on one hand, but I’m glad you like them.” Max has complimented the heels multiple times, so I guess it’s worth it. I do have to admit heels with a suit is a pretty good look. I honestly don’t even remember how Steph talked me into wearing them in the first place, but I’m glad I did. I’m excited to get the pictures back after this. Max looks so fucking beautiful in her dress, and I’m wearing a black suit with a gold bowtie that perfectly matches the dress. I think we look amazing, if I do say so myself.After we eat, it’s time for the first dance. I hold Max from behind while we watch them. I rest my hands on her bump, and she places her hands on mine. I can’t help but grin when I notice how Steph and Alex both look beyond happy and in love as they dance. We didn’t get to do this at our wedding, but I think I like what we did even better.
~ August 2018 ~
Max takes out a keycard and unlocks our hotel room door. We’re both still fully dressed in our wedding attire as we stand out in the hall in front of our hotel room. As Max is about to walk in, I scoop her into my arms, and she lets out a little surprised yelp.“Don’t act so surprised. You should have known I was going to do it!” I tease, as I carefully carry her into the room and toss her onto the bed.“You dork!” She jumps off the bed and dives back into my embrace to kiss me. I sigh into the kiss as she deepens it. It feels so good to finally be able to kiss her without holding back. The wedding had been amazing, and I enjoyed being with our families, but I’ve been dying to get her alone all day. We couldn’t exactly sneak off to make out when only her parents and David were there.Our hotel room is very nice. It’s a honeymoon suite. Her parents bought it for us as a wedding gift. I know I can’t wait to enjoy this room to the fullest all night long. I’m especially looking forward to the large jacuzzi tub in the bathroom.Max eventually pulls back from the kiss to breathe, so we press our foreheads together and continue holding each other in a comfortable silence. We don’t have to say anything. The looks we are giving each other say more than we ever could.“So… I was thinking…” Max looks away a bit awkwardly. “We didn’t get to have our first dance… So, maybe we could now?” She pulls out her phone and starts playing a slow love song.“I’d love to, baby.” I pull her close and run my hands up her back. She lets out a happy hum as she wraps her arms around my neck tightly and rests her head on my shoulder. We then begin slowly swaying back and forth together to the music.“I love you, Mrs. Price.” Max says as she stares deep into my eyes. This isn’t the first time Max has said that to me today or that I’ve said it to her, but being alone with her, holding her as we dance, just makes the blissful feeling I’ve had since the moment I saw her this afternoon bubble up in my stomach. It feels like it could burst right out of me.“Mrs. Price, you’ve made me the happiest woman alive. I love you so much.” I stroke her hair back, and she smiles brightly at me. This beautiful woman is my wife. I haven’t been able to get my head around it all day. I’m married to Max. Holy shit, that’s amazeballs!“Today was so perfect.” Max lets out a contented sigh.“It really was. I’m so glad you’re happy with it, baby. I can’t believe we’re wives now!”“You’re already such an amazing wife Chloe. I’m so lucky!”“You’re lucky? Nah. I’m the lucky one.”I don’t give her a chance to object before I pull her closer to me and give her a passionate kiss. Kissing Max will never get old. I can’t get enough of it. When we finally pull away to breathe, we stare deeply into each other’s eyes.We let the same song loop over multiple times as we continue dancing. As much as I want to rip off her wedding dress and have my way with her right now, I plan on taking my time. I’m going to romance the pants, or well, the dress off of my wife tonight.
~ Present Day ~
Once Alex and Steph finished their dance, another slow song was played so others could join in. Max and I are the first over, and we start dancing next to them so we can talk. They have been pretty busy most of the evening, so we’ve barely gotten a chance to speak with either of them.“So, how does it feel, Mrs. Gingrich?” I ask with a smirk.“Who are you talking to?” Alex teases as she only seems to press herself closer against Steph.“Both of you. Now spill.”“Really fucking awesome!” Steph answers enthusiastically.“Yeah, same, to be honest.” Alex looks up at Steph and is met with a kiss.Max grins up at me. “They’re so cute.”“They have to work hard to compete with us.” I give my wife a little wink.“Yeah, they do.” Max leans in closer to rest her head on my shoulder. “But it’s their wedding; we don’t need to show them up right now.”I laugh as I press a kiss to her forehead. “I suppose I can hold myself back. Just this once, of course.”
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
When my alarm goes off this morning, I feel my stomach turn as I try to get up. I’m also freezing cold even though I’m also sweating.“Ugh... Baby?”Max stirs a little when she notices that my voice comes out weak and quiet. “Hmm… You okay?”“I don’t feel good…” I admit with a sigh.Max hasn’t been getting out of bed easily lately, but hearing how bad I sound gets her up and moving a lot faster than usual. She turns over and places her hand over the top of my head. “Oh shit… You’re really burning up.” She frowns and puts her hand on my shoulder to get me to lay back down. “You rest. I’ll go get a thermometer and a COVID test.”“Hmm… okay…” I lay back down and close my eyes. I feel Max press her lips to my forehead before she leaves the bed.A few minutes later, Max returns. She swabs me for a COVID test and then takes my temperature.When Max pulls the thermometer from my mouth and checks it, she grimaces. “Oh god! Your temperature is 102 degrees! I’ll call Tim and tell him there is no way in hell you can work today.”“Yeah… please.” I groan as I pull the blankets around me tighter. “Fuck, it’s so cold.” I shiver a little.Max frowns as she dials her phone and then begins to rummage through our closet. “Hey Tim. It’s Max. Chloe has a high fever. She can’t come in today… Yeah… Thanks. Take care. Bye.” As she talks to my boss, I see she’s grabbing some spare blankets for me.“Thanks, baby. You’re the best.”She gives me a smile as she begins covering me in the extra blankets she found. “Better?”“Yeah, much better.”“Good. Maybe you should go back to sleep for a bit?” She suggests as she strokes my hair back from my face. “I’m going to run to the store and pick you up some ginger ale and crackers.”“I’m okay, you don’t have to.”“No way. I’m definitely going. I’m an expert now at feeling like crap, and I know you need supplies.” Max jokes as she kisses my forehead again. “Now rest. I’ll be back in like an hour.”“Hmm, fine.” I don’t have the will to fight her on it. She’s very determined, and there is no way I’m going to win anyway.I watch Max for a bit as she quickly gets dressed and then checks my COVID test. “So, at least you don’t have COVID. It’s probably the flu.”As Max is about to leave the room, she comes back over to the bed and strokes my hair back again. “I love you, Chlo.”“Love you too, Maxi.”“Go back to sleep, and I’ll be back before you know it.”“Okay, baby. Drive safe.” I yawn as I let my eyes close. I feel my wife kiss my head one more time before leaving.…I dozed off for a little bit while Max was gone, but I woke up again when I heard our front door open, and she came back in our room.I give her a weak smile, and she gives me one back. We always take care of each other when we’re sick, but I can tell Max is being extra sweet and attentive with me today. I think she wants to try to “pay me back” for how I’ve been taking care of her since she’s gotten pregnant. I’ve told her a million times that I enjoy doing it and it’s no trouble, but I still think she sees this as an opportunity to return the favor.“Hey, babe. Do you want me to get you anything else?” Max asks as she hands me a glass of ginger ale. “I could try making some of that soup you always make me. I doubt it will come out as good as when you do it, but I’ll do my best.”“Thanks, baby.” I take a few sips of the ginger ale before setting it down on my bedside table. “I don’t think I’m up to eating anything just yet. I’d ask you to come back to bed, but I don’t want to get you sick.”She just shakes her head. “I think we’re too late for that. If I’m going to get it, I’ll get it at this point.” She happily climbs back into the bed and sits up in the bed. She gets me to lay my head on her lap, and she starts running her hands through my hair. I can tell she’s trying to soothe me to sleep again, and it’s definitely working. I can feel my eyelids starting to get heavy. I wrap my arm around her leg as I snuggle in as close as I can get to her. I feel her adjusting the blankets around me, making sure I’m tucked in tightly.“Mmm, Max?” I mumble, already half asleep.“Yeah?”“You’re gonna be such an amazing mom.”“You are too. You’re always taking the best care of me.” I open my eyes and look up at her. Max’s eyes look a little glassy as she looks back at me.“I really hope you’re right.” I lean up and place a kiss on Max’s belly. “I love her so much already.”Max nods. “Yeah, me too.” She continues stroking my hair. “Now stop fighting it and go back to sleep.”“Is that how you’re going to put our baby to sleep? Just tell her to sleep. I’m sure that will work.” I tease.“Asshole.” Max tries to be stern, but I can see her fighting back a smile.“I’m sick, Maxaroni. Aren’t you supposed to be nice to me?”“I was being nice. You started it.” She now has a full grin.“Hmm, I guess if you say so.” I still feel like total shit, but bantering with Max always makes me feel better. I fight to keep my eyes open a little longer, but Max’s ability to soothe me with a scalp massage is extremely effective.
~ Max ~
I feel Chloe’s body fully relax as she falls back to sleep. I really hadn’t meant to wake her up when I returned home from the store, but I will admit I’m happy she asked me to come to bed with her. She is always holding me when I sleep, so it’s nice to have a chance to do the same for her. I hate that she’s sick, but selfishly I’m enjoying having her home today. She’s been picking up a lot of extra hours at the garage to try to help with my drop in photography income, so I haven’t gotten to spend as much time with her lately.I stay in bed with Chloe for about two hours before I have to get up and use the bathroom. I get up extremely slowly and replace my thigh with a pillow. She stirs a little bit when I move, but I think I mostly manage to get up without waking her.Once I’m done in the bathroom, I head into the kitchen. I’m going to make Chloe some soup. I’m nowhere close to being the cook she is, but I want to try. I know she’ll appreciate it even if it doesn’t come out perfectly amazing.When I’m almost done cooking, Chloe comes out from the bedroom and wanders into the kitchen. She has a blanket over her and still looks like she’s sweating and shivering a little.“Hey, babe. How are you feeling?” I ask as I wrap my arms around her and kiss her cheek.“Still not great, but maybe a little better?” She yawns and hugs me back. I put my hand on her forehead. She’s still really warm, but I think she might be a bit cooler than this morning.“You think you can try to eat something yet? I’m almost done with the soup.”She smiles at me. “Yeah. I can try. Thanks so much, baby.”“You’re very welcome. Go rest in the living room and I’ll bring you a bowl.”“Make it a small one.” She kisses my cheek. “Love you.”“I love you too.” I reluctantly let her go, and she disappears into the living room.Once the soup is ready, I prepare her a small bowl and carefully carry it out to her. I find her sitting on the couch with her blanket over her legs. I hand her the bowl, and she smiles at me.“Thanks.” She begins eating the soup slowly, and I sit down next to her and turn the TV on. I put on some old reruns of The Office and move her blanket up so I can slide under it with her. I settle in beside her and lean my head on her shoulder.“How is it? Is it okay?”“It’s great! I don’t know why you always say you can’t cook. If you just prefer when I do it, you can just say so.” She gives me a wink.“You know, that’s why I married you. For your domestic labor.”Chloe chuckles. “In that case, I married you for your cute ass.”“Flattery will get you everywhere.” I smirk and kiss her shoulder.“This will be like the one time I ever ask for a rain check.” She sets the empty bowl down on the coffee table and then wraps her arm around me, pulling me into her chest.“Don’t worry. You’ll be better and cashing in on that rain check before we know it.” I pull the blanket up over her a little more so we're both fully covered up to our necks. “I know you can’t keep your hands off of me for too long.”“You’re damn right I can’t, baby.”She’s not kidding. I find it very flattering how much my wife always wants me, but when she loses her inhibitions, it can get a little out of hand.
~ October 2017 ~
I let out a frustrated sigh, and my knee starts bouncing up and down nervously. I know I’m being silly for worrying. Having wisdom teeth removed only barely counts as surgery, but it’s still making me nervous. I just want to take my fiancé home already.Eventually I see the doctor come out with Chloe following behind him. She’s not walking super straight; she’s definitely still pretty drugged up.“Where’s my sexy fiancé?” She slurs out. She would have trouble talking anyway with all the gauze in her mouth, but it’s even more clear just how drugged up she is. I have a bad feeling this is going to get embarrassing real quick. I’m already blushing as I go over to her and take her hand.“How are you feeling?”“Pretty good now that you’re here, baby!” She pulls me into her arms and hums a little. “You smell so fucking good.”I can’t help my smile even though I’m beyond embarrassed. She’s not being at all quiet or subtle about this. I won’t deny her a hug, though. I’m just thrilled to see that she’s okay. Once her hands start moving towards my ass, I quickly slip out of her embrace and head over to the desk.“Is she all set to go, doctor?” I ask shyly.The doctor starts going over instructions on how to take care of her with me, but I’m extremely distracted by Chloe. She has come over to me and wrapped her arms around me from behind. She nuzzled her face in my neck. I think she’s trying to kiss my neck, but she can’t. Her hands are wandering my body with reckless abandon.“Chloe, stop.” I warn. I grab her hands and hold them tightly in mine to keep them from heading anywhere else inappropriate.After I get all the instructions and Chloe’s pain pill prescription, we are finally allowed to leave. I hesitantly let go of her hands so I can once again slide free of her arms. I then grab her by the arm so I can lead her to the car.“Are you taking me to bed now, Maxi?” She asks loudly as we exit the doctor’s office.“Yes, but not in the way you mean.” I can’t help but giggle.“Aww, but why not?” Chloe does her best to pout at me. “Have I been a bad girl?”“Come on, bad girl, time to get in the truck.” My face hurts a bit from holding back a smile. I carefully help her into the truck. When I hop in my side, I help her buckle her seat belt, and she keeps trying to reach over to grope my breast. “You are SO BAD!” At least we’re not in front of a bunch of people anymore, so I can kind of find the humor in my fiancé’s antics.“What can I do to make it up to you, sexy?” She runs her hand up my thigh.“You can let me take you home and take a nap.” I take her hand and kiss the back of it. Even completely drugged up and bleeding from the mouth, she still somehow manages to be cute.She pouts again but seems satisfied for the most part with playing with my hand as I drive her home. I can see her fighting harder and harder to keep her eyes open the longer we’re driving.When we arrive home, I have to unbuckle her, and she leans on me as I lead her into the house. It gets more and more difficult to get her to the bed as she seems to be quickly running out of energy. Once we arrive in the bedroom, I carefully lay her down in the bed. She tries really hard to pull me on top of her, but she just ends up holding onto my shirt loosely.She yawns loudly. “I want you, Max.”“I never would have guessed.” I tease as I remove her hand from holding my shirt so I can move to the other side of the bed and crawl in with her. “Let me hold you. It’s nap time.”“Mmm, okay.” She finally gives in and lets her eyes close. I move to spoon her. Normally I’m the little spoon, but it’s a nice change of pace to hold her tightly in my arms.“I love you, Chloe.” I whisper into her hair.“Mmmmm… Love you.” She mumbles as she falls asleep.
~ Present Day ~
Chloe and I spend the rest of the afternoon watching TV and taking turns dozing off. I’ve been taking afternoon naps quite often lately to supplement my lack of sleep at night, so it wasn’t surprising to either of us when I drifted off.When I wake up, I feel Chloe kissing the side of my head.“Mmm, hey babe.”“Hey, Maximillion.” She sounds quite a bit better than this morning. I run my hand over her forehead. It once again feels warm, but cooler than the last time I checked. “I think I’m doing better. No need to fuss over me.” Chloe runs her finger across my jaw.“What if I want to?” I lift my head from her shoulder to look into her eyes.“I suppose I won’t stop you.” She replies as she presses her nose gently into mine. We normally don’t kiss on the lips when one of us is sick, but I can’t help myself from leaning in and pecking her lips softly. She happily returns the kiss and strokes my hair back, and I lay my head back down on her shoulder.She rests her head against mine and then rests her hand on my belly. “How’s our little girl doing today?”I smile and place a hand on hers. “She’s good. She’s been making her presence known pretty often today. Keep your hand right here; you might feel her.” I adjust where her hand is a little and close my eyes again.Chloe kisses my head again, and I let out a contented sigh. There is nothing more relaxing and comforting for me than being held by Chloe. I can never get enough of cuddling with her.We sit like this for quite a while before we finally both feel a tiny kick. I look up at Chloe, and she looks overjoyed.“There’s our girl!” Chloe leans in and kisses my cheek.“I think she’s enjoying the cuddles too.”“Yeah? I’m more than happy to supply all the cuddles you or our girl could ever want.”“That’s a lot of cuddles for just me. So I hope you are prepared to deliver on that promise.” I give her a wink.“Always, baby.”
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Max seems to be getting more and more tense the longer we spend in this birth class. I hold her hand and rub the back of it with my thumb. I can totally understand why she’s nervous. We’re getting fed so much information in a very short amount of time. It’s hella overwhelming. Not to mention they have been going into a lot of detail about what we should expect during childbirth, and it’s more than reasonable to be scared. I would be shocked if she wasn’t, but at the same time I hate seeing her like this. I start to feel like holding her hand isn’t enough to keep her calm, so I wrap my arm around her shoulders instead. Max takes a deep breath and leans into me.“You okay, baby?” I whisper into her ear.She gives me a nervous smile and nods. I have a bad feeling that she might be lying, but I kiss the top of her head anyway. I squeeze her shoulder a little as she snuggles in closer to me.I do my best to comfort her for the rest of the class. Towards the end of the class I notice a few couples are giving us odd glances, which I think only adds to Max’s anxiety. I really hope it’s not because we are the only lesbian couple here, but I have a bad feeling that is why. I personally don’t give a single fuck about what anyone thinks, but I know Max gets a little more bothered by the judgments of others.Once the class is over, and we stand up to leave, Max pulls me into a tight hug and buries her face in my neck. I rub my wife’s back to soothe her. I don’t really know what to say to calm her down, so I just stay quiet and hold her.“Chloe… What if I can’t do it?” Max asks through some sniffles. I can feel her tears start to fall onto my shirt.“Oh, baby. You can totally do it. You don’t even have to begin to worry about that. I’m sure it won’t be easy, but I have no doubts in my mind that you can do it. You’ve been nothing but a badass this entire pregnancy. You one hundred percent got this.”She pulls back a little to look at me, and I move my hands to her face and brush away her tears with my thumbs.“Really? You’re not just saying that?” She sniffles again but seems to have mostly stopped crying now.“Of course I mean it! You’ve already been through so much, and you’ve taken it all in stride. I’m so fucking proud of you!”Max finally gives me a genuine smile and pulls me into a kiss. I keep my hands holding her cheeks and happily kiss my wife back. I can tell she has no intention of letting me go soon, and I’m more than okay with that. She hums into the kiss, and I smile against her lips. I’m so happy she seems to be calming down.As I’m just about to pull back for air, we’re interrupted by a loud scoffing sound coming from behind me.“Could you two dykes not make out in front of everyone? That’s disgusting. No one wants to see that!” I turn around and see a woman who is the very definition of a “Karen” standing there. She’s pregnant as well. Probably about as far along as Max is.I feel the biggest ball of anger form in my chest. I don’t think I’ve been this pissed off since I was a teenager. Max grabs my right arm as I ball both of my hands into tight fists.“Please don’t, Chloe. She’s not worth it.” Max warns. She knows that I want nothing more than to punch this bitch in the face. I look at Max, and she has once again started tearing up. It breaks my damn heart, and it only fuels my anger.“Mind your own fucking business, you bitch!” I shout as I grab Max’s hand. It takes every bit of willpower I have, but I manage to turn my back on the fucking bitch and lead Max out of the room.I do my best to walk slowly so Max can keep up with me, even though I cannot get out of there fast enough. Once we are both safely in the car, I grip the steering wheel so hard my knuckles turn white. I’m still so angry that I’m shaking. I’m worried I’ll blow up at any moment, but I do my best to keep my cool because Max does not need to deal with my temper on top of everything else.We sit in the car for about five minutes in relative silence. We’re both trying to calm down before daring to approach the other. Max finally breaks the silence first and places her hand on my thigh.“I’m proud of you. I know that wasn’t easy to hold back like that. I’m so sorry I put you in that situation.” Max lets out a sad sigh.“Don’t you dare blame yourself. That was so fucking far from your fault!”“B-but if I hadn’t gotten so upset… or if I didn’t kiss you—"“No, Max!” I cut her off. I’m still so fired up, and I’m trying my hardest to speak calmly, but it’s killing me that she’s not only still upset but also blaming herself for it. “Stop it. You didn’t do a fucking thing wrong. It’s that bitch’s fault. She was a homophobic piece of shit and had no right to treat us like that!”“I know… I just want to go home.” Max sighs softly as she looks out the window away from me.“Yeah… Me too.” I take a deep breath and loosen my grip on the steering wheel a little. I try to focus on Max’s hand on my thigh to try to ground myself as I put the car in gear and start driving us home.When we arrive home, I take Max right to bed, and I pull her into my arms. She lets out a sigh and rests her head on my chest. She runs her hand up my chest and starts playing with my shirt collar.We lay in silence for quite a while. I can tell she’s not asleep because she hasn’t stopped playing with the collar of my shirt. Once in a while she lets her fingers gently graze the skin near my collarbone. I run one hand through her hair and rub her back with the other. “Baby? Are you okay?”Max sighs softly again. “Yeah… It’s just… I know our daughter is going to have to deal with people like her because of us. It just sucks.”I frown and shift our bodies so Max and I are both lying on our sides facing each other. I want to look at her while we talk. “Fuck those people. But, yeah, I agree I don’t want our daughter to have to deal with that bullshit either. But, you know what else she gets to deal with?”I think Max already knows what I’m about to say because she gives me a soft smile and pushes a lock of my hair behind my ear. “What’s that?”“Having two parents who love the fuck out of her and each other.” I move closer and pull her into a deep kiss. She moans into my mouth as my tongue explores hers. She grabs a fistful of my hair and holds me in place as my hand moves under her top to rub her back unobstructed by the fabric of her shirt. When I slowly pull back, I look into her eyes with conviction. “I love you so much, Max.”“I’m so sorry I’ve been a bit of an emotional wreck lately. I hope you know I don’t give a fuck about what anyone thinks of us. I love you, Chloe Price. That’s all that matters.”I smile brightly at that and lean in to kiss Max again. It is shorter than last time, but with no less love or passion. “Max… We have what that bitch will never have. We truly love each other, and not to mention we have the most amazeballs sex. I bet she’s never even had an orgasm in her entire life.”Max looks at me through half-lidded eyes as she lets out a gentle laugh. “Yeah, you’re right… You’re so fucking right, Chlo. How about you remind me just how incredible it is when you make love to me?”We exchange bright smiles as I carefully roll her onto her back. I press my lips into her neck and let my hands roam her body. She moans at my touch. I’m going to take this painfully slowly, but I know it will be so worth it. She’s already squirming a little bit, and I haven’t even begun to undress her. It’s driving me absolutely wild, and I know she feels the same.“Chloe… Please take my shirt off.” She groans once she finally gets impatient enough to ask for me to move a little faster.“Anything you want, baby.” I mumble as I take another minute kissing, licking, and sucking on just the right spot on her neck. I finally oblige her request and slowly move her shirt up, and she sits up a little so I can easily slide it up over her head. I move my lips to her newly exposed skin as I slide my hands around her back and begin to unhook her bra. I feel Max move her chest up in response to me, and I smile against her soft skin. Once her bra is successfully unhooked, I waste little time pulling it off and unceremoniously tossing it onto the floor. I take a few seconds to look down at my wife’s breasts. God, she’s so fucking beautiful.As I’m about to dive back in, she stops me by pulling on my shirt. I happily let her pull my top off, and then I remove my bra as well. She rolls onto her side so we’re once again face to face. She moves her hand to my breast and begins to squeeze and tease my nipple with her thumb. I let out a loud moan and then pull her closer to kiss her again.When we pull away from the kiss, I start kissing down her neck to her chest. I then take one of her nipples into my mouth and start squeezing her other breast with my hand. She runs both of her hands into my hair, holding me in place as well as lovingly massaging my scalp.I spend as much time as I possibly can running my mouth and hands all over Max’s beautiful body. The longer I take, the louder the sounds she’s making get, and it only encourages me to continue my assault. Finally, Max grabs me by the chin and lifts my head up. “Babe, please! I can’t take any more. I need you.” I can’t help the smirk that forms across my face at those words. I’m not one to deny my lady what she wants, so I once again gently roll her onto her back. I then slowly kiss down her body and slide my hands around the waistband of her pants and underwear. She lifts her hips a little so I can pull them down. I toss her clothes off of the side of the bed with the rest of the pile before moving to kneel between her legs.She sighs dreamily in anticipation of what I’m about to do. I look up at her lovingly and give her bump a soft kiss before moving my head down and disappearing behind it. I lift her legs up and drape them over my shoulders as I begin kissing up her inner thigh to my destination. Her hands once again tangle in my hair and pull me closer. Her hips buckle against me, craving for me to get impossibly closer. I run my tongue into her and feel just how wet she is. I can’t help but groan in response. Knowing I got her so turned on just turns me on more.It doesn’t take long with me using my mouth and my hands to pleasure her for Max to get her release. She breathlessly moans my name before her body falls exhausted back onto the bed. As she pants trying to catch her breath, I untangle myself from her legs and lay down beside her. I carefully roll her onto her side and pull her head onto my chest. I stroke back her sweat-covered hair behind her ear as I rub her back.“I love you.” I whisper as I kiss the top of her head.“Holy… Fuck, Chloe! I love you too!” Max continues to breathe hard. I can tell she’s trying to lift her head from my chest, but is struggling.“It’s okay. Take your time. Hell, sleep if you want to.” I urge, as I continue focusing on rubbing her back. She smiles against my chest and plants a few kisses on it as we wait for her to come down from her high. It takes Max a few minutes to finally settle down, but once she does, she moves her head from my chest and kisses me passionately. I’m so glad we’re clearly very far from done.…I hold Max in a spooning position for quite a while as she naps. I have my hand gently resting on her belly, and I feel our daughter moving every so often. As much as I want to do nothing but lay here forever, I start to get restless. Seeing Max so upset this morning really bothered me. I’ve been pushing away my anger the best I can for Max’s sake, but lying here with nothing but my own thoughts is starting to bring that fire back. I try taking a deep breath, but it does nothing to calm me down.I eventually realize I need to get up or I’m going to accidentally wake up Max. I leave one last kiss on her head as I carefully slip out of the bed. I make sure Max is tucked in and still asleep before I grab my clothes from the floor. I only bother putting on my shirt and panties. I’d probably just go completely naked if Max wouldn’t tell me off for it.Once I get in the living room, I start pacing back and forth. I need to figure out a way to calm down before Max gets up. Eventually I pull out my phone and start scrolling through my contacts. I pick the person I feel I can most trust with this and hope with everything I have she’s free to talk to me.“What’s up, Price?” Steph asks. She seems like she’s in a good mood.“Hey… Do you have a few minutes?” I ask hesitantly.“Yeah, of course. Is everything okay?”“Yeah, we’re okay… We just kind of had a shit day.” I go on and tell Steph everything about what happened at the birth class.“Fuck… What a fucking bitch! Poor Max. Is she okay?”“Yeah, she’s calmed down now. She’s taking a nap.”“So, I’m guessing you called because you’re not okay?” Steph seems surprised, but also more than willing to listen to find out why.“Sort of, yeah. It’s just that I’m so goddamn pissed off!” I grumble. “I haven’t been this pissed since high school. I held myself back for Max’s sake, but now she’s asleep, and the rage just won’t die down. I want to kill that bitch.” I admit with a sigh. “I really don’t give a fuck about what she thinks, but seeing how much it bothered Max really set me off. She was already fucking upset and vulnerable. She didn’t need that shit on top of it.”“That’s understandable. I know I’d be furious if someone upset Alex that much. I’ve almost punched a bunch of people in the face when we were on tour. Drunk people do and say some real dumb shit.”“How’d you stop yourself?” I ask, as I still feel myself making a fist at the thought.“The same way you did. I knew Alex wouldn’t have wanted that. She’s worth pushing down that anger. It’s normal to feel it, but you don’t need to hold onto it. Try your best to let it go, but don’t bottle it up either. I beat the shit out of my drum kit when I’m pissed. Find a healthy outlet. Or just call me again. I’ll always listen.”“Fuck… Thanks for talking to me about this. I already feel a little better.”“No problem. See you both for D&D Saturday, yeah?”“Definitely! Say hi to Alex for me.” We say our goodbyes, and I hang up.Steph made me feel a bit better, but I do think she’s right. I should find an outlet for anger, because I refuse to risk taking it out on my wife or our baby girl. I’ve been doing well since Max came back into my life, but something about this incident really triggered me. I’m hoping it’s a one-time thing, but what if it’s not? This is definitely not the first time I’ve been driven to uncontrollable rage because I wanted to protect Max.
~ September 2007 ~
Max is so excited to be at the skatepark today. We come here all the time, but she just got a new instant camera for her birthday, and she’s been itching to use it all day at school.“Chloe! Do you think you can do that neat trick when you jump up really high and grab your board?” Max asks as she bounces on her heels. She’s looking at me with a bright sparkle in her eyes.“Sure!” I grab my board and get prepared at the top of the ramp. I wait for Max to get in position before taking off down the ramp. I try not to get distracted by paying too much attention to what Max is doing, but it’s hard not to when she gets so excited. I do manage to take my eyes off of her just long enough to perform the trick successfully and skate back down the other side of the ramp. When I turn to see if Max got her shot, I frown at what I see.Max is on the ground holding her camera protectively as an older boy, probably around 15, is getting up from the ground in front of her. He clearly ran right into her. I rush over to check on her, but I don’t get there in time to prevent this asshole from starting to yell at her.“Why the hell would you walk in front of me like that? What are you even doing here? You don’t belong here, little girl!”Max frowns and stammers a little nervously. “I’m sorry. I didn’t see you… I’m just here with my friend…"I quickly head over and get between Max and the boy. “Yeah, she’s here with me, so fuck off!”“With you, huh? Well, that changes everything.” The guy says sarcastically as he rolls his eyes. “Little girls don’t belong at the skatepark. Why don’t you go home and play with your dollies!”I furrow my eyebrows at this douchebag. “You don’t own the park, dude. Now leave us alone before I make you!”“I’d like to see you try! Why don’t you take your DUMB little girlfriend and go home to your mommy.”The second this asshole called Max dumb, I saw nothing but red. A fiery anger built up in my chest, and my fists clenched instantly. I take a step closer to the cocky little shit before I swing my right fist as hard as I can directly into his nose.
~ Present Day ~
I let Max take an extra long nap today. I figure she could use the rest after such a rough morning. I spend my free time smoking a joint and then taking a long shower to calm down. I also cook a few different meals and freeze some leftovers for the week.I set out our dinner for the evening on the dining room table and then head back into our bedroom to wake Max. She’s still sleeping very peacefully, and I feel bad about having to wake her. But, I know I have no choice. If I don’t, she won’t sleep all night, and her sleep schedule will be completely fucked up. I climb back in the bed with her and wrap my arm around her, spooning her again.“I’m sorry, baby, but you gotta wake up.” I keep my voice soothing and quiet to give her a slow and gentle awakening. I place kisses across her jawline as she groans and stretches her arms out.“No… Five more minutes..." She yawns and holds my hand that is wrapped around her in place, lacing her fingers with mine.“Okay, five minutes, but no more. Otherwise our dinner will get cold.” I continue kissing her down her jaw and down her neck.“Mmm, you can never get enough, can you?” She teases. “I thought I was supposed to be the horny hormonal one?”I wasn’t actually trying anything, and I think she knows that, but it’s still fun to banter about it. “Aww, you caught me, baby. It’s not my fault you’re so sexy and naked in my bed.”She slowly rolls over in my arms to face me. “You said you made dinner?” She asks, giving me a sleepy but excited grin.I chuckle. I’m so fucking glad to see Max is back to her normal self. “I did. Macaroni and cheese for my Maxaroni!”She gives me a bright smile, and we lean in for a soft kiss. When we pull back, we rub noses gently. I feel any bit of lingering anger I had left completely leave me. I’m not going to dwell on what happened anymore. Max is doing just fine, and that’s all that matters to me.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Today is going to be such a hella amazing day. We’re having our baby shower, and a bunch of us have been working together on a huge surprise for Max.She’s been really stressed about being able to afford all the furniture we need for the nursery. We picked out everything we wanted before we knew we were going to be taking such a hit with her income, so she told me we should pick out cheaper stuff. I told her we should wait and not worry about it after the baby shower. I didn’t want to flat-out give away the surprise, but I also hate the idea that she is stressing for no reason. I already know she has absolutely nothing to worry about. Between her parents, David, Steph, and Alex, all the big items for the nursery have already been bought.We’ve also been working together to assemble everything without her finding out about it. It’s mostly been me sneaking off when she takes naps to secretly build things in the nursery, but today we have a big group of us finishing the job at the last minute. Alex and Ma took Max out to pick up some last-minute things for the party, while Max’s dad, David, Steph, and I are working our asses off to finish before they get back.“Chloe, the chair is done. You want to do the honors?” Max’s dad asks me as he proudly steps back and shows the fully assembled rocking chair sitting in the corner of the room.“Hell yeah! Thanks, Gramps!” I put down the piece of the crib I was working on and quickly make my way over to the chair. I inspect the work he did and push down a bit on it to make sure it feels sturdy before plopping my butt in the seat. “Oh, yeah, that’s awesome!” I rock back and forth a little and give Max’s dad a big thumbs up.“Okay, you get your lazy ass up now. We don’t have all day.” David shakes his head at me.“Oh, shut up, old man. I’ve been lugging and assembling this shit by myself for over a week, and this is your first day. No bitching allowed from you.” I playfully roll my eyes as I get up and get back to working on the crib.I keep working with a smile on my face the entire time. I can’t stop thinking about how lucky Max and I are to have people who are willing to help us out with this. I know Max is going to lose her fucking mind when she sees this. I just can’t wait.…Luckily, the four of us work quickly enough to finish assembling everything just as Steph got a text from Alex warning us they’d be home in less than 20 minutes. We all leave the nursery and close the door so Max doesn’t see what we did until we’re damn ready. I head right into the kitchen and start making a pasta salad. I don’t want Max to start asking questions about what I’ve been up to all morning. I figure if it looks like I’ve been cooking, she won’t feel the need to ask.Soon I hear the car pull into the driveway, so I ditch my task of cutting vegetables to go outside to help bring things in from the car. When I lock eyes with my wife, she gives me a bright smile. I head over as she opens the car door and hold my hand out to her. She takes my hand, and I help pull her to her feet. She then wraps her arms around me and we share a quick kiss.“Hey, baby! How’d it go?” I ask, as I gently rub my nose against hers.“Good! I think we got everything we need now.”“Perfect. You go ahead in. I’ll bring the stuff in.” I reluctantly let go of her, but she pulls me in for one more kiss before heading into the house.“Did you guys finish?” Alex asks quietly, once Max disappears into the house.“Yeah, we did. It was close, but we got it done. Everything looks great! Thanks for distracting her.”“No problem. I can’t wait to see her face.”“Me neither.” I do my best to tone down my smile as we bring in the bags.Once back inside, I notice Max has already found some of the snacks we started preparing, and she started digging into the bowl of chips.“I see you’re getting the party started already.” I tease, as I wrap my arms around her from behind.“Shut up! I worked up an appetite.” She leans back a little against me.I kiss her cheek as I happily hold her close. “If I could get you alone right now, we could really work up an appetite.” I whisper in her ear, and she playfully slaps my arm.“Stop it, you perv.”“Never!” I kiss her neck softly, and she giggles.…Soon the party gets fully started. The party is pretty small as we don’t have a ton of friends, but we did manage to get a small crowd. I invited a few of the wives of the guys I work with at the garage, and Max invited a few people she met through her photography work.Alex and Steph had done most of the work planning and running the party, so Max and I just kind of got to chill and enjoy it. I spend most of my time just hanging around Max while she socializes with everyone. I can tell she’s already having a good time, and that just makes me even more excited to see her reaction to all of the gifts.When it’s finally time to start opening gifts, I sit down on the couch next to Max. I lean over and give my wife a soft and slow kiss. I can’t even begin to hide how excited I am.“You’re like a kid on Christmas, babe.” She teases.“Does it not feel like Christmas to you?” I ask, as I look at the pile of presents and then back at Max.“I guess you have a point.” She starts to go in for another kiss, but then notices everyone staring at us. She blushes a little and pulls back. “I guess we should get started.”Max and I open all the gifts together. Everyone had gotten us such great and useful gifts. I can tell Max is already starting to get pretty emotional about it. She’s been getting pretty hormonal about everything lately, so controlling her emotions during this isn’t an easy task for her. She gets especially choked up after opening an adorable pirate-themed baby blanket from Steph and Alex.“Dude! This is hella awesome! Thanks, you guys!” I beam excitedly.“When I saw that, I knew there was no way in hell we were leaving the store without it!” Steph replies with a chuckle. “It’s very perfect for you guys.”“It really is. Thank you both so much.” Max says as she gives both Alex and Steph a bright smile even as a few tears escape her eyes. I take the blanket from Max, fold it and put it to the side.“Well, I think that’s it. That just leaves the big gift.” Alex comments as she winks at me.“What!? Big gift? You guys didn’t have to do anything like that. We’ve already gotten so much!” Max gulps at the idea of anyone going too overboard for us. I rub her back knowing she’s about to be absolutely blown away.“Don’t be silly, Max.” Ma comments. “A bunch of us went in on it together. So it’s no big deal.”“If you say so…” She still seems a little unsure.“Everyone follow me!” Steph instructs as we all get up from our seats in the living room and head over to the nursery door.“Okay, close your eyes, baby.” I stand behind her and hold my hands over her eyes.“Chloe? What the hell? Are you in on this too?”“Maybe. I may have helped out with the surprise factor.” I kiss her cheek and lean in closer. I feel her eyelashes slowly brush against my palms as she closes her eyes. Everyone who contributed to the gift goes in the room so they can see her reaction. I slowly coax her to walk forward into the room before I remove my hands from her eyes. “Go ahead and open them.”When Max opens her eyes, I hear her gasp loudly. All the items for the nursery are now perfectly assembled. All of the items match. They are beautiful dark wood with a forest green accent color. The set includes the rocking chair, crib, changing table, a dresser, and a large shelf. She rushes over to her parents first and gives them a big hug.“I can’t believe you guys did all this. It’s too much.” Max now has even more tears running down her cheeks.“We told you, it’s not a big deal. Enjoy it.” Max’s dad reminds her as he gives her a kiss on the cheek. “Our granddaughter deserves the best.”She hugs David, Steph, and Alex as well before coming over to me again. “You knew about this?”“Yeah, I’ve been secretly sneaking everything in here and assembling stuff for a week now.” I lean in and kiss her forehead.“You sneaky little asshole!” She has a bright smile and is clearly not at all upset about it. Very much the opposite, in fact. She then wraps her arms around my neck and kisses me softly. “I love you.”I run my hand through her hair and push it behind her ear. “I love you too, Maximus.”“I love all of you. Thank you all so much.” Max does her best to look at everyone in the room, but she then blushes as she starts tearing up again. She cuddles into me tighter and buries her face against my neck so she can cry without feeling watched. I rub her back and hold her close. I can tell she’s embarrassed that she is getting so emotional about this, but I knew it would happen. I think everyone else did too.…The party soon wraps up, and most of the guests leave. David and Max’s parents obviously stay since they are visiting us from the west coast. We’re all hanging out in the living room just chatting and reflecting on the amazing day we just had.I can tell Max is completely exhausted. She’s very quiet and has her head resting on my shoulder. I grab a blanket we have draped over the back of the couch and I cover Max up with it.“Mmm. That’s nice, thanks babe.” She closes her eyes and pulls the blanket around her even tighter.“You’re welcome.” I kiss the top of her head softly before I rest my head against hers. I rub her back and she kisses my shoulder. She then takes my hand and rests it on her belly.“Holy shit! Is she still partying in there?” I joke as I feel the baby kicking Max’s ribs.“She most definitely is. I may have eaten too much cake.” She admits with a giggle.“Ah, so she’s having a sugar rush. She’s taking after me already!”
~ May 2015 ~
“Babe… What the hell? Did you eat all of the chocolates already?” She opened up the box of chocolates that she only gave me about 15 minutes ago, and it’s completely empty. We’re still hanging out in the apartment, but we’re about to go out to celebrate our first anniversary. Even though it’s been a year, I still sometimes can’t believe I’m actually dating Max. I crushed on her as a kid so long ago, then we got separated for 5 years, and then we went through hell together. I know I’m lucky to have her in general, but after everything we’ve been through, it just makes it feel even more surreal that we’re a couple.I laugh and wrap my arms around my girlfriend. “Mmm. Maybe? They were delicious! Not unlike the sexy lady who gave them to me!” I start playfully kissing and licking at her neck.“Ahh! Babe! Stop!” She playfully pushes me away.“Aww, come on! You know you love it!” I grab her by the hips and pull her back to me. We lock eyes and give each other goofy grins.“Will you punish me if I say I don’t?” Max asks, biting her lip as she looks at me mischievously.“You’re damn right I will!” I growl as I lean down and give her a hard, passionate kiss.She moans and wraps her arms around my neck tightly, pulling me in closer to her. I grab her ass with both of my hands, and she tangles her fingers in my hair. The kiss gets more intense, and I slide my thigh between her legs, drawing another moan from her.“Ohh, Chloe… Aren’t we… going…?"I start sucking on her neck again as she continues to struggle to form a coherent sentence. I give her a little hickey right on the side of her neck before I finally pull back.I suddenly feel the energy from all the chocolates I just consumed race through my body, so I grab Max by the hand. “Okay! Let’s go!”She lets out a little yelp as I drag her out of the apartment, and I start racing down the street. I feel like I could run for miles, but Max is slowly dragging behind me. We jog for a good ten minutes before Max finally starts begging me to stop.“Chloe… what… the… hell…” She gasps for air in between each word, and I just laugh.“You act like you’re the one who is always smoking!” I tease. “If you’re so tired, why don’t you just hop on my back?” I lean down a little as I try to offer her a piggyback ride.“You’ve gotta be joking?”“Nope, not at all. Climb on up, Super Max!”She gives me a skeptical look, but still playfully smacks my ass before climbing on my back and wrapping her limbs around me. I hold her up by her thighs as I begin jogging once again. I take us all the way to the boardwalk before I finally stop and let her down.“Holy shit, Chloe! Is your sugar high done yet?”I chuckle. “Yeah, I think it’s wearing off finally. I’m glad we made it this far, though. I did plan to take you for a walk here tonight.”“Ooo! I approve. I do enjoy a nice walk on the beach.” She wraps her arms around my neck and we press our foreheads together.“I’ve known you forever, and we’ve been together for a year. If I don’t know how to romance you yet, there is something wrong with me.” She giggles, and we move to kiss again. When our lips meet this time, we take it a lot more seriously. Before I had just been trying to rile her up and tease her, but now I just want to show her I love her. The kiss is slow, soft, and tender. I feel her melt into my embrace. She holds my face in her soft hand and strokes my cheek with her thumb. She makes me feel so fucking incredible. I want nothing more than to live in this moment forever.
~ Present Day ~
At around 2 am I wake up to an empty bed. It’s pretty common lately for Max to get up often in the night to use the bathroom, so I lay awake for a few minutes while I wait for her to come back. After a good five minutes passes, I start to worry about her. I roll out of bed and check the bathroom. When I find the bathroom is empty, I start getting confused. Where the fuck would she go at 2 am? Then I have a thought, so I find my way into the nursery, and I finally find Max. She’s rocking in the rocking chair, holding her belly.“Are you okay?” I ask quietly. I don’t want to wake anyone currently sleeping in our spare room or jump Max as she has her eyes closed.It’s dark in here, but I can still see her well enough to see when she opens her eyes. She then gives me a little smile and motions for me to come over. I quickly and quietly make my way over to her. She takes my hand and pulls me down to kiss her softly.“Sorry if I worried you. I just figured I’d try rocking her to sleep. Maybe it’s too early for that, but it’s worth a shot.”I frown and squeeze her hand. “She’s still partying it up in there?”“Yeah, I guess you could call it that.” She lets out a big yawn.I let go of her hand and stand behind the rocking chair. “I’ll help. You just relax.” I grab the back of the chair and gently rock Max back and forth.I rock her for about 20 minutes before she stops me. “I think it worked, babe.” She whispers. “Thank you.”“Happy to help. Come on, let’s go back to bed.” I take her hand and we head back to our room. Max settles into the bed quickly, and I wrap my arm around her. “Better now?”“Mmmhmm.” She replies sleepily.I smile and kiss the back of her head. “Goodnight, baby. I love you.”Max mumbles something unintelligible, which I can only assume was her trying to say goodnight back, as she falls asleep in my arms.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
I excitedly grab the large pizza I’m bringing home from the passenger seat as I jump out of my truck. I decided to surprise Max with some of her favorite pizza. I’ve been working a ton of overtime lately, and we’ve both been really missing each other. It’s a fucking relief to finally be home. I’m extra excited to be home tonight since tomorrow is my day off. I’m really looking forward to it, and I know Max is too.When I enter the house, I put the pizza in the kitchen and then check the living room for Max. Most evenings when I get home, she is usually asleep on the couch. When I find the living room empty, I’m pretty surprised. I almost go to our room next, thinking she might have gone to bed for a nap instead, but then I remember she had planned to work in the nursery today.I open the door to the nursery and smile seeing Max is sitting in the rocking chair waiting for me. The walls are completely painted, and everything looks totally put together and organized. This morning it was a total disaster zone in here. Max must have really worked her ass off today.“Holy shit, baby! You finished it! It looks hella amazing!”She smiles brightly and holds her arms out to me. I know the signs well now. She wants me to help her up from the chair. She’s nine months pregnant, so it’s not surprising she appreciates a hand getting up. I happily go over to her and pull her up to her feet and then into my arms. We both lean in and kiss softly.“Yeah, it’s mostly done. We just need to hang the shelf there.” She points to the empty wall behind me. “I needed your help for that. Plus, it will be nice to put the finishing touches on it together.”“Totally! We’ll do it right after dinner. I bought us pizza!”“Ooo! Really? What’s the occasion?” She looks at me and raises an eyebrow. We haven’t been ordering out much to save money, so of course she would expect I would only do it for a special occasion or something.“There isn’t really one. I just wanted to surprise you. I just thought you deserved it.” I admit as I lovingly rub her back. I can tell the pregnancy has been really tough on her for the last few weeks, and it’s only going to get worse. Her back always hurts, she gets up constantly in the night to pee, she’s been having desperate cravings for wild flavors of ice cream, and her emotions have been all over the place.As if to prove my point, she tears up a little. “I love you so much, Chloe!” She tries to pull me closer in her arms but struggles due to her large bump in the way. I give her a little grin and stroke her cheek to remove a few tears before leaning in and giving her a soft and slow kiss.“I love you too, baby. It’s just pizza, though. It’s no big deal.” I say playfully, looking to calm her down a little.She blushes a little and runs a hand through my hair. “Sure, but it’s more than that! You’re being so thoughtful, and you’ve been working so hard to take care of me and our baby. I know I’m hormonal and everything, but you’re amazing. You need to know that. You don’t give yourself enough credit.”“You’ve been working hard too. It seems to me like our daughter has been giving you a bit of a hard time lately. You don’t give yourself enough credit either.” I remind her as we gently rest our foreheads against each other.“I guess I can’t argue with that.” She admits with a chuckle. We both sigh softly as we begin to settle into each other’s embrace. I have no interest in moving, and it doesn’t seem as though she does either.“Chlo?” She finally breaks the silence after a little while, so I slowly pull back to look at her.“Yeah, baby?”“I’ve really been missing you lately.” She admits, as she plays with my shirt collar.“I missed you too. But I have tomorrow off so you can get totally sick of my ass.” I give her a smirk and a wink.“I doubt it. If anything, you’ll get sick of my hormonal pregnant ass first.”“I like your ass way too much for that.” I playfully move my hands down and give her ass a good squeeze.She rolls her eyes. “Ugh, I seriously walked right into that one.” She releases her hold on me but grabs my hand instead. “Now, how about you show me that pizza you promised?”I chuckle. “You got it, baby. Let’s go eat.” I lean in and steal one more kiss from her before leading her into the kitchen.…After Max and I get our fill of pizza, we head back into the nursery. I help her hang up the shelf, and we fill it with books, toys, and various baby supplies.“I’m so glad it’s finally done. I’ve been worried. I didn’t want her to come before her room was completely ready.” Max admits as she stands back and takes another look around the room.I wrap my arms around her from behind and kiss her shoulder before resting my chin on it. “Well, you definitely have nothing to worry about now. This place looks fucking awesome! Totally baby ready!”“It is… I just hope I’m ready.” She takes a deep breath.“You are ready. I’m nervous too, but we’ve totally got this!” I start massaging her shoulders.“You’re nervous?” She asks, turning in my arms and wrapping her arms around my neck.“Well, yeah. I’m only human.” I slide my hands under her shirt to rub her back. “But even so, I know we got this. You’re going to be an amazing mom, Max. We’re also not alone. The baby shower just proves how much support we have.”Max smiles at me, and we press our foreheads together again. “You’re right, babe. Our girl is so loved.”“You’re damn right she is!” I give her a bright smile as I look into her eyes.“You always know how to calm me down.”“I try.” I shift my face downwards a little so I can kiss the bridge of her nose. “So… Have you put any more thought into my baby name idea?” I move one hand to rest on her belly as I look down at her with a smirk.“Babe… We are definitely not naming our daughter Xena.” She can’t help but laugh even though she’s rolling her eyes at the same time. She rests her hand on mine and moves it to where I can best feel the baby.“Aww, but why not? Xena Warrior Princess is a gay icon!” I continue to smirk at my wife, and she just shakes her head at me.“You’re so ridiculous! Be serious for once, Chlo. Do you have any new ideas?” She runs her fingers through my hair as I lean in closer to kiss her again.“I may have a few other ideas.” I begin kissing across her jaw and slowly make my way to her ear. I playfully nibble her earlobe, and then I whisper seductively into her ear. “But first I’d like to show you how much I’ve been missing you.” I feel goosebumps form on her back at my words as I continue to rub it lovingly.“Oh… Fuck, Chloe…. You can’t just tease me like that right now.” Max groans.I laugh as I pull away and take her hand so I can lead her to the bedroom. “I’m not teasing you, baby. I promise.”…The next morning I wake up to Max climbing back in the bed. I wrap an arm around her and run my hand down her back and smile, noticing she hasn’t bothered putting on any clothes when she got up for her bathroom break. Since it’s my day off, I don’t bother opening my eyes to check the time. If I have my way, both of us are going to sleep in super late. I slide down a bit in the bed so I can rub my face against her chest. I hear her hum happily as she runs her fingers through my hair.Cuddling with her always feels so good. Maybe on second thought, I won’t go back to sleep. I’d be happy just lying here all day if I’m being perfectly honest. I run my hand all over the soft skin of her back, and she continues to massage my scalp. I expect her to stop eventually and fall back to sleep, but we don’t stop. We keep giving each other loving massages and caresses for a long while. I finally lean in a little closer to her and begin pressing gentle kisses on her chest.“Mmm, morning, babe.” She holds my head tighter against her chest, and my kisses stop as I can’t fight the grin that forms on my face.“Hey, baby. You sleep okay?”“Eh, not too bad, I guess.” She kisses the top of my head.“You can go back to sleep if you want. We have all day to do whatever we want. That includes sleeping.” I remind her as I continue to run my fingers up and down her back.“I know. I was trying to, but I don’t think I can.”“Well, that sucks. I’m sorry, baby.”“Mmm, that’s okay. I’m pretty content right now.”“Yeah. I have to agree. This is really nice.” I start kissing her chest again. “I do want to take you out later, though.” I pause to move my kisses further down her chest in between her breasts. “I’m not going to have you all to myself much longer.”“Oh? Where are we going?”“I’m open to suggestions. I haven’t thought it out that much yet.”“Hmm, it doesn’t matter to me.”Max and I eventually fall back into another comfortable silence. I spend the time brainstorming ideas of what we can do today, but I do agree with Max. It doesn’t matter where we go or what we do. Hell, we don’t even have to go anywhere at all. Maybe that’s the play. A lazy pajama day might be just what we both need.I eventually let my thoughts be known. “How about we stay in and have a movie marathon instead? Like when we were kids at our sleepovers. We don’t even have to get dressed.”“That sounds incredible, actually.” Max lets out another contented sigh.
~ September 2008 ~
“Stop hogging all the popcorn!” Max complains as she swats my hand away from the bag I have sitting in my lap.“You snooze, you lose, Maxi-pad!” I tease as we playfully fight over the bag.She is leaning into me more now that we started doing this, so I won’t complain. She smells so good and feels so nice and warm when she presses her shoulder against me. Normally I’d get lost in those feelings, but I can’t enjoy it the way I normally would. I overheard my mom on the phone with her mom a few days ago, and I know Max is moving away and hasn’t told me yet. There is a small part of me that is pissed at her for not telling me, but I know Max, and I know how nervous she gets about things like this. I know it’s killing her. She probably even feels worse about it than I do. I decided when I invited her over for a sleepover tonight that I have to try to enjoy it. If she decides to tell me, I’ll deal with it then, and if not, I’m just going to enjoy my time with her while I still have it.Max finally wrestles the bag of popcorn out of my hands and puts it in her own lap. She then begins stuffing her face with it. I decide not to fight her on it, but it gives me an excuse to wrap my arm around her and lean in so I can easily shove my other hand in the bag to get more popcorn for myself. I expect Max to continue teasing me and push me away, but instead she rests her head on my shoulder and returns her attention back to the movie.I have to bite back a girly sigh. It’s been so hard not telling her how I’ve been feeling over the last six months. Just as I finally felt like I had the balls to say something about my crush, I found out about the move. It’s so fucking unfair. How could her parents do this? She’s a teenager now; she shouldn’t have to move away from everything she knows. Her anxiety is bad enough as it is. Now she’ll have to go to a brand new school all by herself. I’ll do my best to support her over the phone, but I know it’s not the same.“Chloe?” Max finally breaks our long silence.“Yeah?”“I… I… umm… Sorry. I was just making sure you didn’t fall asleep on me again.” It’s so damn obvious she’s lying to me. Plus, it’s crazy early. We haven’t even finished one movie yet. Even I wouldn’t fall asleep that soon. I think she was going to tell me about the move, but chickened out. There’s a huge part of me that starts preparing a big speech about how she can trust me with anything and that everything will be okay, but I push that away. I’m enjoying ignoring the problem. I just want one more night to pretend that we aren’t about to be separated for God only knows how long.“Definitely awake, Maximus. Even I won’t pass out on you at only 8 o’clock.”“Oh… Well, I still wouldn’t put it past you. You take naps like an old lady!” She teases.“You did not just call me an old lady! I’ll show you an old lady!” I tackle her to the other side of the couch and climb on top of her so I can begin to mercilessly tickle her.“CHLOE, NOOOO!!!” She shrieks as she squirms about trying to get free of my grasp.“Who is the old lady? Tell me, Max, or I won’t stop!”“It’s you!” She has tears rolling down her cheeks, but she’s still refusing to give up.“That’s incorrect, Mad Max! Try again!”She fights me as long as she can, but I’m on top and quite a bit stronger than her.“It’s… me.” She takes a deep breath in when I finally stop tickling her.“There we go! That’s what I thought.”“Whatever, dork.” She crosses her arms and pouts as I reluctantly climb off of her and settle back into my seat. I give her a smirk, and I see her face soften as she can’t seem to help but smile back at me.
~ Present Day ~
“Mmm, Chloe, this was a good idea.” Max says with a breathy sigh as she cuddles back into my arms on the living room couch. We’re both wearing nothing but tank tops and sleep shorts. It’s early June, so we’re not using our normal blanket, but luckily it’s not too hot just yet for cuddling.“I’m glad you’re enjoying it. I am too.” I kiss the top of her head as she rests it on my shoulder. “This is just like old times. Except instead of just wishing I could kiss you, I actually can.”“You can, huh? Then why don’t you?” She lifts her head from my shoulder. She turns to look into my eyes and bites her lip in the sexiest way. She really knows how to get what she wants. Not that she has to work hard for that. All she really needs to do is ask.I lean in slowly, and she caresses my cheek with her fingertips as our lips meet. The kiss starts soft and chaste, but I soon feel Max’s tongue slide against my lip. I happily allow her entry, and we both let out low moans. The movie is quickly forgotten as we get lost in each other. Making out during our movie marathons is very common for us, but something about it always makes me feel like a lovesick teenager again. Even though Max and I are about to become parents, and we’ve been together for so many years, our love still feels fresh. I will do everything in my power to keep it that way. Max deserves nothing less.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
I’ve been having the hardest damn time concentrating at work lately. Max’s due date is rapidly approaching, and it’s obvious she’s beyond ready to give birth. She’s been so uncomfortable, moody, and anxious lately. I honestly hate seeing it, but I hate being away from her even more. I want nothing more than to be by her side, taking care of her.Luckily, the last few days have been a little easier on me since Max’s parents have come to stay with us. They’re staying to help take care of Max now and will help us take care of the baby while Max recovers from giving birth. I keep checking my phone constantly. Realistically, I know I’ll hear it if I get a call. I always do. But I’m feeling extra paranoid about it. I’m not missing the birth of my kid for anything.Just as I’m about to take my lunch break, my phone rings. I barely let it ring for a second before I answer.“Hello!?” I answer with both nerves and excitement in my tone.I hear the quiet chuckle of Max’s mom on the other end. “Yes, Chloe. It’s time. Come home and we’ll all drive to the hospital together.”“Holy shit! I’ll be right there! Tell Max, I’m coming as fast as I can!” I barely even tell anyone I’m leaving as I practically knock the door off its hinges to exit the garage. I hear random shouts of “good luck” from a bunch of the guys, but I’m not even registering it. I just need to be back at my wife’s side as soon as humanly possible.When I arrive, they have already packed the car, and everyone is standing by the car waiting to go. Max is standing next to the backseat door holding her stomach, seemingly mid-contraction. I rush over and hold her until it passes.“I’m here, baby. I got you.” I kiss her forehead gently.Once her contraction stops, she wraps her arms around me tightly. “Thanks, Chlo.”“No need to thank me. Now, come on. It’s time to go meet our baby girl.”Max looks up at me with a smile hearing that. She may be scared and in pain, but I know she’s also just as excited as I am. She leans up and gives me a quick kiss. I climb in the car first, as I need to sit in the middle between the car seat that we already installed and Max. I hold her hand for the entire ride and do my best to comfort her while her dad drives us to the hospital.…Max is in labor for countless hours. It goes by painfully slowly for both of us. It breaks my heart seeing Max in so much pain. I hold her hand tightly in mine and give her frequent back massages. I’d do anything to make her feel even just the tiniest bit better.Eventually the doctor finally checks her again and instructs that she can begin pushing during her next contraction. Max already looks so tired, but she seems both relieved and terrified by the news.“You can do this, baby.” I take her hand and kiss her knuckles. “I’m already so fucking proud of you.”Max looks at me and squeezes my hand harder than I realized she could. She opens her mouth to say something, but she’s interrupted by a contraction. She begins pushing and squeezes my hand even harder.“Very good, Max! Keep going!” The doctor encourages her enthusiastically.“See! You’re already kicking ass!” I also cheer her on as she continues to push.Max pushes through many contractions for a very long time before collapsing in exhaustion on the mattress. “I can’t… Not anymore.”A nurse gives me a cool, wet cloth, and I begin wiping sweat off of my wife’s forehead with it. “You can. You’re doing amazing! I love you so much, baby.”“Just a couple more big pushes. You’re almost done!” The doctor adds.I can tell just how exhausted Max is during her last few pushes. She’s running on adrenaline alone as she lets out one last big scream of pain. The doctor and nurses crowd further in, and we suddenly hear the cries of our newborn daughter. I can’t help the loud sob that escapes me and the tears that flow down my cheeks when I hear it. Max does the same, and I quickly lean in and kiss her.“You’re so fucking amazing! I knew you could do it!”“We did it…” She cries as she tries to catch her breath. “Is she okay?” She asks worriedly through her gasps for air. I don’t hesitate for a second as I quickly look over to the nurses and doctor as they are checking over our daughter.“Amazeballs… She’s beautiful!” I tear up harder at the sight of my baby girl.“She’s doing great.” The doctor assures us. “You want to cut the cord?”“Sure!” I’m excited and a little nervous as the doctor hands me the scissors. I cut where I’m instructed, and they then take her away to be washed and fully examined.I go back over to Max and take her hand again. “I love you so fucking much.”She has finally regained a somewhat normal breathing pattern. She looks up at me with exhausted eyes. “I love you too.”I have never been more excited in my life, and I can’t help but place kisses all over my wife’s face in celebration. She lets out a little giggle, and she playfully tries to push me away.Soon the doctor comes back and is holding our daughter. She’s wrapped up tightly in the pirate baby blanket Alex and Steph gave us. “You ready to meet her?”“Hella ready!” I answer as Max nods enthusiastically. She seems at a loss for words at first when our daughter is gently placed in her arms. The tiny baby slowly opens her eyes and looks up at Max. She has Max’s deep blue eyes, her nose, and a tiny tuft of strawberry blonde hair. We made sure the donor we picked had blonde hair and a few other features that are similar to mine. I know a baby’s hair and eye color can change as they age, but for now, it’s amazing to see her already looking like a blonde baby Max.Max looks lost in our daughter’s eyes for a minute, but she finally looks back up at me. We smile at each other, and we can’t help but say it in unison. “Wowser!” We both let out a giggle before we lean in and kiss softly.“Hi there. I’m your mama.” Max finally says to our daughter as tears start escaping her eyes again.“She’s going to be the best mom in the world. Just so you know, you’re damn lucky. But, then again, so are we.” I lean down and gently place a kiss on the top of our daughter’s head.“Only if I can live up to you, babe.” Max adds with a bright smile.“Have you decided yet?” I ask, as I gently rest my head against Max’s shoulder. I know she’ll know what I’m asking.“Yeah. She’s Lilly. Lillian Joyce Price.” She answers confidently.Max and I had picked out three different options we liked for names, but we couldn’t fully decide. I told Max she should pick once she was born. Turns out I was right that she’d just know. Max no longer seems to have any doubts. Our daughter Lilly Price is here, and I couldn’t be more thrilled.“I love you so much, Lilly.” I stroke her cheek with my finger, and Max lets out a happy sigh.“She’s perfect, Chloe. I can’t believe it.”We watch Lilly for a long time. She looks back up at both of us with her big blue eyes, and I feel myself falling more and more in love with her by the second. Eventually her little eyelids start slowly blinking as though she’s fighting sleep. She also lets out a cute little yawn.“You want to rock her to sleep?” Max asks as she lets a yawn escape her as well.“Absolutely! You rest, baby. We should probably let your parents meet her too.”“Shit… I totally forgot they were even waiting.” Max admits with a giggle. “Go ahead and let them in. I can stay up for a few more minutes.”“Do what you need to do. They’ll understand if you fall asleep. I love you.” I kiss Max softly before I reluctantly move away from her and Lilly to go fetch Max’s parents from the waiting room.Once I return to Max’s bedside, I pick up Lilly in my arms for the first time. Max watches me, seeming a bit rejuvenated by the sight. I kiss Lilly’s forehead again and then gaze into her big, beautiful eyes. I’m so totally lost in them that Max has to speak to break me from my reverie.“Mom, Dad, meet Lillian Joyce Price.”I look up a bit embarrassed. “Yeah! Lilly wants to meet her grandparents too.” I look to Ma and carefully shift her into her arms. I feel a little empty now that neither Max nor I is holding her, so I sit back down at Max’s bedside. Max’s eyes have now closed, and I know she’ll be fully asleep in minutes. The temptation to hold her hand or kiss her head is high, but I push it back. I don’t want to risk disturbing her.I watch Max’s parents with Lilly for a little while, but it doesn’t take long before Lilly starts to fuss. It makes sense we already knew she was tired. I get up quickly and offer my arms out to take her back. Ma passes her back to me, and I immediately try rocking her. I’m surprised, but Lilly calms down almost instantly. She didn’t even fuss long enough to wake up Max.“That’s my girl. Time to sleep. It’s okay. I got you.” I whisper as I give my daughter another forehead kiss. Her eyes close, and she is soon fast asleep in my arms.…This whole day has felt like a wild dream. Even though we’re both totally sleep deprived and we can barely keep our eyes open, we can’t stop smiling at each other. I didn’t think it was possible to be more in love, but I know both Max and I are completely smitten with Lilly. Max is breastfeeding her for the first time, and I carefully cover Lilly’s side and feet with her baby blanket to keep her warm. We were told to unwrap her to let Max have some skin-to-skin contact with her, but I worry her exposed skin will get cold from the harsh hospital air conditioning.“This is… incredible.” Max seems at a loss for words. I can’t say I blame her. I feel very much the same way.“Yeah… You both are incredible.”“Chloe! Stop it. You’re not allowed to compliment me anymore today.”“Why the hell not? You just gave birth to the most amazing baby in the world! I know you won’t deny that part at least. You deserve hella praise!” I stroke Max’s hair back behind her ear as I gaze into her eyes.She blushes a little and shrugs. “I guess you have a point. She is amazing.” We lean in closer, and I give her a soft and slow kiss. This has been the first time since the birth we’ve been alone and awake together, so I can’t help but take the opportunity to deepen the kiss a little. She is very receptive to it until we are interrupted by my phone going off with a text.I groan softly at the interruption and check the message. “It’s Steph. She wants to know if she and Alex can visit. Are you up for that?”Max considers it for a moment before answering. “I’m fine with it. I can’t guarantee I’ll be awake by the time they arrive, but they’re more than welcome to come meet her.”“I think that’s more than fair. I’ll let her know.” I start texting back and forth with Steph while I continue to watch Max and Lilly. I truly believe I could watch them forever and be happy as fuck.…“Damn! That’s the cutest shit I’ve ever seen.” I hear Steph’s voice in my half-asleep state.I hadn’t meant to fall asleep, as I knew they were coming, but I had decided to rest my eyes when both Max and Lilly had fallen asleep again. I’m not exactly in a comfortable position. I’m hunched over, leaning into the side of Max’s hospital bed near her lap, but I can feel Max’s hand is resting on the top of my head with her fingers threaded through my hair. She must have woken up at some point and started playing with my hair and then fell asleep again. I consider moving to greet Steph and Alex, but I can’t be bothered. I’m too tired, so I continue listening in.“Chloe was trying to stay up, but it looks like she didn’t quite make it.” Ma explains with a chuckle.“I don’t blame her. She was pushing being up for…” Max’s dad pauses, clearly trying to do math. “About 30 hours, I think?”“True. Well, lucky for you, the person you came to see seems to be mostly awake again.” I hear everyone walking around the room and over to the little bassinet we have for Lilly.“Oh my god. She’s so tiny!” Alex says, clearly trying to be quiet but failing a little.“Is it just me, or does she already look just like Max?” Steph adds.“Not just you. We all agreed she looks like a blonde Max.” Ma answers.I can’t help but grin as I listen to everyone coo over my daughter. I’m so fucking proud of her and Max. I’ve never been so proud of anyone before. The closest I came was when Max and I went to New York, and that doesn’t even begin to compare to this. Even though thinking about that day still sends shivers up my spine.
~ July 2017 ~
I’m wandering around this fancy art gallery by myself while I wait for Max. She’s been having meeting after meeting with a bunch of artsy dickheads. I’m not saying that just because they look like stuck-up assholes either. They’ve all been nothing but complete dicks to her. The whole thing is really starting to piss me off. Max has been strong so far, but I have a bad feeling that if she gets another harsh rejection, she will break. I’ll always be there to pick up the pieces, but that doesn’t mean it won’t hurt me as well. It kills me to see her hurting. Also, Max is so fucking talented and deserves a chance to show her art to the world. I’ll do anything to help her get there. I know it’s her ultimate dream.When I finally see her coming over to me from the back room, I don’t see a face I’m expecting. I expected her to either be completely devastated or totally overcome with joy, but what I see is a look I’m not sure I’ve ever seen on Max’s face. It’s a look of pure anger. She is completely livid.“M-Max? Is everything cool?” I ask stupidly. Obviously nothing remotely close to cool has happened, but I don’t know how else to respond. I’m too shocked at what I’m seeing.When Max looks into my eyes, her anger calms slightly. It’s obvious she’s in no way mad at me and is able to turn her anger into a fiery passion instead as she speaks to me. “Chlo. This place sucks!” She balls her hands into fists before speaking again. “Actually no, it’s not even just this place. It’s this entire fucking city, LA, my school, my professors, critics, ‘elite rich donors.’ All of it! It’s all such bullshit!”I move towards her to hug her as I normally would to try to calm her down, but she stops me. Not in a way that makes me feel bad, though. She just simply puts a single hand on my shoulder.“Please don’t hold me yet. I don’t want to calm down. I need to get this off of my chest.”I nod in understanding. I’m more than happy to listen to everything she has to say, and so far I’m very much enjoying it. It’s very punk rock.“These pretentious douchebags don’t actually give a fuck about art. You know what the number one question I’ve gotten at all of these places is? ‘Who are your parents?’ Seriously? Since my parents aren’t either stupid rich or well-known artists, they don’t seem to give a flying fuck. So, what exactly am I supposed to do? It’s not like that’s something I can change. I could be the best damn photographer in the world, and it’s going to change nothing with these people.” Max takes only a quick breath that comes out as a bit of a huff before continuing. “And, it’s not just this place. Back in LA is just as bad. I came here because I needed to know what it’s actually like. I’ve been in school for photography for three fucking years, and I think I’ve taken the least amount of photos during that time than I have in my entire life. I definitely don’t feel like I’ve improved at all as a photographer during that time. I spend all my goddamn time on classes that have nothing to do with what I’m actually supposed to be studying. Not to mention the related classes I do have are completely useless to me. I already know all the history. I know how to frame a shot. I know how to develop photos. I know how to edit photos. I need what can’t be taught. I need opportunity. I need dumb fucking luck.”She grabs my hand, and I can feel her calming down slightly, but she’s still full of a fiery passion that I can’t help but find extremely sexy. I’ve never seen Max quite like this before, but I always knew she had it in her.“Chloe… I don’t want to waste my time… No, OUR time on this bullshit anymore. I know we’ve been working our asses off in LA for this, but I know doing this for another year isn’t going to improve anything. I’m so sorry. I don’t need a useless piece of paper to be an artist. I need to be somewhere that inspires me… I need to be with you… You inspire me, Chloe! The best shots I’ve ever taken are of you or were taken when we were out doing something together.”Max and I move as one, and we meet in the most passionate kiss we’ve ever had. We make out in the middle of the gallery floor for a good five minutes before she finally pulls her lips away from mine. Luckily, it’s been empty in here besides us, so we were uninterrupted.“So… I’m sorry. I know this is a lot to take in at once…”“Don’t apologize! Max, I’m fucking proud of you. Fuck, I’m so fucking proud of you! I was really worried getting rejections out here would break apart your self-esteem… I was hella wrong. I always knew you were strong, but damn, this is something else!”She gives me a sad smile. “I just feel bad, though. I put you through so much bullshit in LA, and now I’m just like, fuck it. Are you sure you’re cool with this?”“Of course I am! Everything you said couldn’t be more right. You don’t need some bullshit piece of paper to be an artist. We went to LA to achieve your dream, and now we know that’s not working. So we’re going to move on. No big deal.”Max smiles brightly and pulls me into another kiss. “How’d I get so lucky to have the best damn girlfriend I could ever ask for?”“I got you, Max. I’m luckier.”Then she gives me a mischievous grin. “You know what? We need to give this place one big FUCK YOU.”“Oh?” I can’t seem to say much else besides that. That look she is giving me is too damn sexy. Whatever Max is about to suggest, I’m totally down for. We’re definitely about to break the law, and I couldn’t be more in.She wraps her arms around me tighter and whispers into my ear. “Take me right here, Chloe. Fuck me right against that wall.” She then pulls away to point to a wall that’s the least covered in art pieces.I don’t even give it a second thought. Unfortunately, I barely am able to get started before we are chased out by security, but in that moment it didn’t matter. It was about the principle of the matter more than anything. Fuck the art world. Max is a total badass no matter what anyone else thinks. Together we really will make the world bow.
~ Present Day ~
I hadn’t meant to fall back to sleep, but my exhaustion had gotten the better of me. When I open my eyes again, the room is quiet, and it seems Max, Lilly, and I have once again been left alone. Max smiles down at me as her hand lovingly runs through my hair.“Mmm. Hi, Maxi. You okay?”She gives me a soft smile. “I’m okay. I’d be better with cuddles, though.”“Well, say no more!” I smirk as I quickly get up. I carefully perch my butt on the edge of her bed so I can wrap my arm around her shoulders. “Better?”“Much better. Thanks, babe.” She sighs and rests her head against my chest.Max and I fall into a comfortable silence. We both watch Lilly as she sleeps in the bassinet near the other side of Max’s bed. We don’t need to exchange words to know what the other is thinking. We communicate just fine through gentle touches and content sighs. When I eventually feel Max once again doze off, I feel a swell of pride. This is my family. I finally have a family again after losing my dad, and fuck, I could not be happier.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Max and I both groan in unison when we hear Lilly’s cries over the baby monitor. I look at the clock and sigh, seeing it’s 6 am. We’re probably going to be up for the day now. “I’ll get her.”Max yawns and rolls over onto her back. “Thanks, babe.” I lean over and give her a quick kiss. She smiles as she kisses me back. “Happy anniversary.”I smile brightly at her. “Happy anniversary, Maximus. Hold that thought! I’ll be right back.” I make my way out of our room quickly. I’m looking forward to a morning cuddle with my girls even more than usual to celebrate.I open the door to the nursery slowly, and I look down at my two-month-old daughter. She’s crying, but not too hard just yet. We’ve started to understand what her cries mean, and I’m 99% sure she’s just hungry. “Good morning, Lil. It’s okay; Mummy is here.” I pick her up, and she keeps on crying just the same as before. “Yeah, I know. You need Mama. Come on, I’ll bring you to her.”When I return to our room, Max is already sitting up in the bed waiting for us. I carefully pass Lilly to her before climbing back onto my side of the bed. Max starts getting Lilly settled in feeding position as I wrap my arm around her shoulders. “Hi, Lilly. You hungry, sweetie?” Max asks as Lilly quickly latches onto her. “Yeah, thought so.” She chuckles softly.We settle into a comfortable silence as we all slowly wake up. Even Lilly’s eyes look heavy, and she keeps blinking slowly, trying not to fall back to sleep. We are so not morning people.“Chlo?” Max finally breaks the silence as she looks at me with a bit of hesitation. “Do you have any plans for today? I feel bad, but I didn’t plan anything.”“You didn’t need to plan anything, Maxaroni. I don’t care what we do today.” I kiss her cheek. “Is there something you wanted to do?” I start gently stroking her hair back from her face.“I… I don’t know. Just want to spend quality time with you and Lilly.” She looks away shyly. “I just feel bad that today just kind of came out of nowhere for me.”“Honestly, same. The last two months have passed by too damn fast. I don’t know where the time went. But we could just lay here all day for all I care.” I mean it. Sure we haven’t done much except hang around the house and take care of Lilly for the last two months, but I’m not sick of it. I’m actually getting very attached to our newfound routine, and I hate that I have to go back to work next week and disrupt it. It’s going to really suck. I wonder if that’s why Max seems upset about not getting to do something that feels a bit more substantial today. “You’re not normally super enthusiastic about going out, but be honest: do you want me to take you somewhere? We can make it happen. Maybe we could even get Alex and Steph to babysit?”Max sighs. “No, Lilly should get all the time with you while she can. Anything we do, I want the three of us to be together.”That’s enough of a clue for me to confirm my suspicions. She’s definitely worried about next week. “Max… Don’t worry about next week. She’ll barely even know I’m gone. Though, I will definitely miss you both.”She tears up a little. “I’ll miss you too.” I wrap my arm around her tighter and kiss the tear off of her cheek. “I’m so sorry. I feel like I’m ruining our anniversary.”“You’re not. You never could, but I get it. Next week will suck, but guess what? It’s not next week. You’re stuck with me all day today.” I gently lift her jaw with my hand and give her a passionate kiss. Max smiles against my lips and kisses me back enthusiastically.We get lost in each other until we’re interrupted by Lilly, who has now stopped feeding to happily coo at us. We both pull away and smile down at Lilly. “What a cute little kiss blocker you are!” I stroke my daughter’s cheek, and she looks up at me with a tiny hint of a smile. I give her a big smile in return and lean in closer. “You think you’re pretty funny, don’t you?” When she gives me a full smile back, both Max and I start laughing.…Max and I eventually decide to take a trip to the park for a picnic. I lay a blanket on the grass near the small pond. Max sits right down on it and puts Lilly’s carrier down beside her. Lilly had fallen asleep during the drive and is still completely conked out.We’ve taken Lilly here for walks a few times, but whenever we come I’m always reminded of the first time I visited this park. It was the day I asked Max if she wanted a baby. Now here we are almost two years later with our daughter. That thought always brings a smile to my face.I plop myself down next to my wife and wrap an arm around her waist. “We really lucked out that it is so nice out today.”“Yeah! Not a bad date for our unprepared asses. If I do say so myself.” Max grins as she leans into my side.“I may have exaggerated a tiny bit on how unprepared for today I was.” I admit as I bite my lip. “I really didn’t have any plans for today, but I did get you this.” I reach into the diaper bag to pull out a tiny wrapped gift and hand it to Max.“Ugh, now I feel really bad.”“Please don’t. It’s no big deal. Consider it an early birthday gift if you want.” I wink trying to cheer her up.She gives me a bit of a pout but still unwraps the gift and opens the tiny box. Inside is a simple silver charm bracelet. It has three charms on it. Each charm has one of our birthstones on it.“Wowser! It’s so beautiful, Chlo.” She leans in and kisses me slowly and softly.“I wanted to give it to you when she was born, but I didn’t dare to get her charm until I knew what month she’d be born in.”“Fair enough. Well, thank you, babe. I love it.”“You’re very welcome.” I take the bracelet and help her put it on her wrist.She admires it for a few minutes as she rests her head on my shoulder. She eventually breaks the silence as she begins running her finger up and down the ribbons on my tattoo sleeve. “You know, I’ve been thinking… Your tattoo is so beautiful. It’s so cool you designed it yourself. Would you ever consider designing something for me?”I practically choke on my own spit at her words. That might be the hottest thing she’s ever said to me. “…Holy shit… For real?”She chuckles softly at my reaction. “Don’t get too excited. I don’t want a sleeve or anything crazy.”“Doesn’t matter… You getting a tattoo I designed is seriously the hottest thing I’ve ever heard. Do you know what you want? Or where you want it?”“Well, I’m not 100% sure where. I thought you could help me decide, but… I want a lily.”“Baby, that’s such an amazing idea! I can’t believe I didn’t think of it. Would it be cheesy as fuck if we got matching ones?”Max laughs at that. “Probably… But, I’m cool with it if you are.”I lean in and give her a quick but passionate kiss. “You hella don’t have to feel like you didn’t get me anything for our anniversary anymore. This idea alone is an amazing gift!”“You’re such a dork!” She settles into me a little more and closes her eyes. “I’m surprised you haven’t gotten more tattoos before now.”“Well, I would have, but we’ve not really been in a place financially where I wanted to ask. All of my ideas are pretty big. This should be pretty affordable even with both of us getting one.”“Let’s do it then.” She starts absentmindedly playing with my hair.
~ Max ~
Chloe, Lilly, and I spend a good amount of the afternoon together at the park. We mostly spent our time chatting and cuddling on the blanket by the lake, but we also took a few walks with Lilly as well as spending a little time playing with her when she wasn’t napping. Even though it might not seem like we did much, it felt like a full day to me, and I had a great time.“I don’t think she’s ever made it through a drive without passing out.” Chloe says with a chuckle as we open up the backseat door to find our peacefully sleeping baby.“I think you’re right, babe.” I smile as I carefully unbuckle her from her seat, and then I scoop her up into my arms.“Go ahead and take your time putting her down. I’ll start on dinner.” She unlocks the door to the house and waits for me to meet her at the door. Once I enter the house, she leans over and kisses my cheek as she runs her hand up under my shirt and over my back. A shiver runs up my spine when she touches me like that. Normally it wouldn’t affect me that much, but we still haven’t made love since before Lilly was born, and I want her so bad. I was only cleared medically less than a week ago, but I’m both surprised and disappointed she hasn’t initiated anything yet. I thought the second we got home from my doctor’s appointment she’d be on top of me, but I guess I was wrong. I do my best to push away my own insecure thoughts by focusing on my daughter instead.I let out a soft sigh as I put Lilly in her crib. “I love you so much, baby girl.” I lean against the crib and watch her for a few minutes before I leave the nursery.The second I’m alone, all my previous worries come rushing back. It’s our anniversary; something should happen tonight. Maybe she’s planning a romantic surprise? That would be something she would do, but I really don’t want to wait and be disappointed again. I head into our room and steal one of her flannel shirts from our closet. I know she can’t resist it when I wear nothing but one of her shirts. Luckily, it still fits. It’s a bit tighter than before I got pregnant, but hopefully she still thinks I look okay.I take a deep breath before I leave the bedroom, and I quickly notice that we might be on the same page after all. Chloe has turned all the lights off and has lit a few candles on the dining room table. Fuck, I love when she gets all romantic on me like this! I do my best to sneak into the kitchen without her noticing me. I slowly snake my arms around her from behind and kiss her neck.“Mmm hey, baby.” She runs her hands across my arms and lets me hold her for a minute before she turns in my arms. When she looks down and sees what I’m wearing, she lets out a groan. “Oh, fuck, Max.”“You like?” I ask in my best seductive tone.“You don’t even know how much.” She groans as she grabs my ass with both of her hands and squeezes as she pulls me into a passionate kiss. “I want you…” She suddenly pulls back a little. She’s clearly working really hard to hold herself back. “Only if you’re feeling up to it, of course.”“Why would you think I’m not feeling up to it?” I ask with a frown.She sighs softly and strokes my hair back lovingly. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to kill the mood. I guess I’ve just been afraid I might hurt you or you might not want to have to deal with my horny ass on top of taking care of a newborn.”“We probably should have talked about this a while ago.” I admit with a chuckle. “I was afraid you just didn’t want me for some reason. I was worried you weren’t as attracted to me since having Lilly.”“That couldn’t be any further from the truth! I’ve been going crazy for the last two months!” Chloe chuckles and kisses the top of my head before pressing her forehead into mine. “Max, we’re fucking idiots. Even after seven years of marriage. We’re complete dumbasses.”“I guess we are, huh?” I close my eyes and enjoy the intimacy of how we’re holding each other. “You won’t hurt me, Chloe. I’m all healed up, I feel great, and the doctors said I’m good to go. Plus I’ll always tell you if I’m not feeling up to it. You don’t have to try to guess. Please don’t hold back from me. I know I like to tease you, but I love it when you can’t keep your hands off me. You make me feel so wanted. It’s awesome.”Chloe pulls me in for another kiss, and we both smile into it. “I love you, baby. As bad as I want you right now, I think I’d like to finish cooking you this romantic dinner first. What do you think?”“I guess I can wait for that.” I give her a little wink. “No, but seriously, that sounds amazing. Thanks, babe.”…A few days later I’m living in the day I’ve been dreading since Lilly was born. Chloe had to return to work today. She got up for an early shift, so I didn’t even get my morning cuddles. I fucking miss her already. I know it’s a bit clingy of me, but I can’t help it. I can’t expect the two of us to be able to spend all of our time with each other and Lilly, but the last two months have definitely spoiled me in seeing what that would be like.The day passes really slowly, especially when Lilly is sleeping. During her third nap of the day, I decide to lay down on the couch. I am pretty tired, and there is nothing better to do.I wake up to the nicest awakening I’ve had since before Lilly was born as I feel Chloe stroking my hair back and placing a gentle kiss on my forehead.“Mmm. Hi, babe.” I reach out without opening my eyes, and I pull her down onto the couch on top of me. She giggles as she happily stretches her body across mine and rests her chin on my chest.“Hey, Maximus. I didn’t mean to wake you. Sorry about that.”“You’re fine. This is a really nice way to wake up.” I finally let my eyes open as I run my hand through her hair.She smiles at me and pulls her body forward so she can peck my lips softly. “How was Lilly today?” She asks. It’s very obvious she missed her.“She was good, very sleepy, though. I think she’s becoming a bit of a night owl.”“Yeah, I’ve been noticing that lately too. She’s probably going to be a pain tonight.” Chloe settles back down and lays her head on my chest.“I really missed you today, babe.” I admit with a sigh. I feel her smile against my chest.“I missed you too, baby. Both you and Lilly so fucking much.” She lifts her head back up and looks into my eyes. “I actually have some pretty amazeballs news. I was waiting until you were a bit more awake to tell you, though.”“Oh?” I ask as my eyes open a bit wider.“Tim promoted me today.” Her eyes sparkle with excitement.I’m rendered speechless for a minute, but I manage to pull Chloe closer to give her a celebratory kiss.“Babe! I’m so fucking proud of you!” I finally find my words when we eventually pull away a little.“I’m a senior mechanic now. It comes with a pretty sick raise too! I’m probably not going to have to do so much overtime anymore.”The idea of Chloe not having to pull long hours anymore brings the biggest smile to my face, and even a tear escapes my eye. “You have no idea how fucking happy I am right now!”“Me too, baby! I had the hardest time not calling you the second I knew, but I just had to tell you in person.”I grab her face again to begin kissing her again. I don’t have the words to express how goddamn proud of her I am. Chloe is so smart, and she never gives herself enough credit for that. I know if her dad hadn’t passed away, she probably would have ended up being a scientist or an engineer, but I like her as a mechanic. It really suits her, and she seems to still enjoy it most of the time. I think that’s what matters most.
~ August 2017 ~
I lay in the bed of our old, shitty truck while I wait for Chloe. I’m still amazed we successfully drove it all the way from Seattle. Sure, we broke down multiple times along the way, but Chloe was always able to fix it without having to get towed each time. Her resume is hot garbage, but I think that story alone should be enough to get her any mechanic job she wants, in my opinion.We’re currently parked in the parking lot of a little locally owned garage. Chloe is inside inquiring about a job opening with the owner. This isn’t the first place we’ve tried, and I know it’s a long shot, but this little town is so cute and not too far outside of Boston. If she can get steady work here, that would be so huge for both of our career prospects.She is gone a lot longer than I expected, and I feel like that has to be a good sign. When she does eventually come out, she sprints over to me, and I hop out of the truck bed to meet her.“MAXIMUS!” She grabs me and spins me in her arms like we didn’t just see each other an hour ago.“Hey! How’d it go?” I hope this means it went well, but Chloe gets excited pretty easily sometimes, so I don’t dare get my hopes up just yet.“It was hella amazeballs! The owner interviewed me and then had me do an oil change. He said I did awesome!”“I’m so proud of you, Chloe!” I grab her cheeks and give her a big kiss. “Do you think he’ll give you the job?”Chloe gives me a huge smirk. “You didn’t let me finish, Maximillion! He offered me the job on the spot. It pays super well and even comes with benefits and shit! I’m like a real adult now!”I’m completely shocked at the news, so I barely even move. I think my jaw drops to the floor as I soon feel Chloe gently lifting my chin up with her finger.“You okay, baby?”“YES! You’re so fucking amazing!” I finally find my words, and I wrap my arms around her tightly in a celebratory hug.She just laughs softly. “And don’t you forget it.”
~ Present Day ~
I sigh softly as I stand in the nursery doorway. I’m watching Chloe as she sits in the rocking chair, rocking a fussing Lilly. “You want to switch off? It’s getting late, and you have work tomorrow.”“I know, but I don’t want to give up time with her. Even when she’s fussy.” Chloe admits with a chuckle.I can’t help but grin as I enter the room to get a little closer to them. “I get it. I’m sure she’ll settle soon. I’ll stay up with you.” I pick up a book from the bookshelf, and I grab a chair from the other side of the room and drag it closer to Chloe and Lilly. “I’ll try reading to her.”“That’s a good idea, baby.” Chloe closes her eyes as she continues gently rocking Lilly and rubbing her back. Her cries slowly become whimpers the longer I read the story. Once she fully stops crying, Chloe gets up and puts her down in the crib. The second she takes her hands away, Lilly starts crying again.“Aww, babe, she misses you.”Chloe sighs and picks her up again. “I think someone is acting like their mama. Can’t sleep without me.” Lilly coos, seeming happy again in her arms, and we both chuckle softly.“I mean… I get it. I could totally get into falling asleep in your arms right now.” I grin at my wife as I pick the book back up to start reading again.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
“Okay, baby girl, it’s time to wish Mama a happy birthday. You ready? Yeah, of course you are!” I hear Chloe say to Lilly as they enter our bedroom, I try my best not to smile and pretend I’m still asleep. I feel the bed move as Chloe climbs up. I then feel her brush my hair out of my face, and she places soft kisses along my jawline. “Happy birthday, Maximus. I have a little cutie here who wants her morning cuddles.”“Mmmmm” is all I bother saying in response.She chuckles. “Wakey wakey, Maxaroni.”I slowly open my eyes and smile at Chloe who has Lilly attached to her in a baby sling. She begins carefully removing the sling so she can pass her off to me. I rub my eyes and look at the clock. I do a double take at what I see.“What the fuck? Is it actually 10 am?”“Yeah! We let you sleep in for your birthday, duh!”“That’s really sweet of you, babe.” I yawn and sit up in the bed. Once I hold out my arms, Chloe carefully passes Lilly to me. “Good morning, Lilly.” I smile at her, and she gives me an adorable smile back.“I wuv you, Mama. Happy birthday!” Chloe says in a baby voice as she takes Lilly’s hand and waves it about like she’s talking to me.“You are such a dork.” My tone is full of affection as I make eye contact with my wife. I give her a little wink before looking back at Lilly. “Aww, and you are such a sweetie. I love you too. I can’t believe your first words were to wish me a happy birthday.” She coos at me before sticking her hand into her mouth. I lean down and kiss her forehead gently.Chloe wraps an arm around me, and I settle into her embrace. I let my eyes close again and I rest my head on her chest. I could stay like this all day and be perfectly happy, but I have a funny feeling Chloe has made some big plans for us. We did a lot for her 30th, and if I know Chloe, I know she’ll want to return the favor. She’s not one to be shown up.“Don’t go back to sleep on me, baby.” She says with a chuckle as she kisses the top of my head.“Why not?”“Because! We have plans today!”“Oh? What are we doing?” I slowly open my eyes again just to make sure I don’t accidentally fall asleep on her.“It’s a surprise. You’re gonna have to wait!”“Oh, c’mon. At least give me a hint!” I look up at my wife and give her a playful pout.“Actually, I can! Hold on a sec.” She slowly gets out of bed and grabs a sketchbook she was hiding in her dresser drawer. She flips through it for a minute before holding it out in front of me.“Wowser! Babe! It’s perfect!” I look at a beautiful drawing she did of a single lily. There is a small red ribbon that looks similar to the one on her tattoo wrapped around the stem in the shape of a heart.“You think? I have other ones too. This one is my favorite, but I wanted to give you options.”“I’d love to see them, but I’m already so attached to this one. You did such an incredible job!” Chloe smiles brightly as I lean over and kiss her softly. “Thank you, babe. I love you.”Chloe steals a few more kisses from me before pulling back. “I love you too. I want to get mine right here.” She holds out her untattooed arm and flips it over so her wrist is pointing up. She then makes a circle with her finger about an inch away from her wrist across her forearm. “This is an optional part of today, but I did make an appointment. So, if you want to get the outline done, we can. But, no pressure! Only if you’re totally ready.”“I’m ready. I want mine on the same spot, but the opposite arm.”“You’re 100% sure?” Chloe asks as she caresses my cheek and looks into my eyes to search for any kind of doubt in them.“I promise. I’m totally sure.” I smile against Chloe’s lips as she peppers me with more kisses.“I’m so fucking excited, Maxi! I’ll go make you breakfast now. We gotta get moving!” Chloe’s excitement is so damn contagious. She’s absolutely adorable. I think she’s almost as excited as she was on her own birthday, when I was the one giving her a bunch of surprises.…After we had breakfast and got ready for the day, we set off on a bit of a drive. She refused to tell me where she was taking me, but I figured it out when we got off the highway on a very familiar exit.We soon pull into Steph and Alex’s driveway. They excitedly meet us as we get out of the car. We haven’t been here to visit them since Lilly was born, but they have come to our house a few times to visit us. I miss seeing them more often, though. Before I got pregnant, we’d have D&D sessions every Saturday and sometimes even hang out other times during the week. Since then the visits have only decreased in frequency. We’re lucky if we see them once or twice a month now.“Happy birthday, Max!” Steph says as I give her a big hug.“Yeah, happy 30th!” Alex chimes in as well as she playfully pushes her wife out of the way to hug me as well.“Thanks, you guys. I see Chloe roped you into helping her with these surprise plans she’ll tell me nothing about.” I say with a smirk.“Indeed! But I wouldn’t call it rope in… More like she had to deal with us insisting on butting in.” Alex teases as she looks over at Chloe. Chloe is carefully picking Lilly up from her car seat. Lilly once again fell into a deep sleep during the drive and is easily picked up without being at all disturbed.“Aww, look at the sleepy little munchkin!” Alex says with a bright smile. “Though, I think she looks bigger since the last time we saw her.”“Yeah. She’s been doing this annoying thing where she keeps trying to grow up on me. I keep telling her to stop, but she refuses to listen.” Chloe jokes. “I guess she wouldn’t be my daughter if she were anything but stubborn.”I smirk as I start unloading some of Lilly’s stuff from the trunk of the car. “C’mon, let’s get her inside. She’ll start getting cold soon.”We go inside and set up Lilly’s pack and play. Once she’s all settled and sleeping peacefully in the spare room, we all head into the living room to hang out. We end up playing a few card games and ordering Chinese takeout. I’m glad Chloe hasn’t planned anything too crazy for today. She knows I prefer a low-key setting, and this has been great so far. I’m a little nervous about getting our tattoos, but mostly excited. I know it’s cheesy as hell that we’re getting matching ones that will touch when we hold hands, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. I love our sappy asses just the way we are.Eventually we are interrupted by Lilly’s cries coming through the baby monitor. I begin to jump to my feet, and Chloe stops me. “Not today, baby. I’ll get her and change her if she needs it.” She leans over and kisses me softly before darting out of the room.“I could get used to that.” I joke as I relax back in my chair.…“I don’t know about this…” I say hesitantly as we stand by the door. Steph is holding Lilly, who seems very content and relaxed as she grabs ahold of Alex’s finger.“I know you don’t want to leave her, baby, but you’ll be doing her a huge favor. She’ll be far more comfortable here than waiting for us to get tattoos for hours. Plus, don’t you think Auntie Alex and Auntie Steph want some time with her?”“Ugh… You’re right. I just… I haven’t left her for this long yet.” I bite my lip to fight back a flood of emotions. I know I’m being silly. She’ll be totally fine with Steph and Alex. If I’m being honest, I’m more concerned about if I will be okay. Chloe pulls me into a tight hug.“I understand how you feel. I felt the same when I started going back to work. This will be fun, though. I promise.”“Okay, we can go… Just let me say goodbye first.” I take a deep breath and slowly step out of Chloe’s arms. Steph holds Lilly out to me so I can give her a kiss on the head. “Mama loves you, Lil.” I gently run my hand through her short blonde hair. “I’ll miss you so much. Be good.”Chloe smiles and rubs my back. When I finally step away, she takes my place to also give Lilly a kiss. “Love you, baby girl. See you soon.”“Call us immediately if you need anything. We’ll come right back. I don’t care if I end up with half a tattoo.” I demand.Alex laughs. “Don’t worry, Max. You left us enough milk for a daycare. We’ll be totally fine for a few hours.”I take a deep breath as I try not to cry. Chloe takes my hand and leads me out of the house and over to the car. Once I’m inside the car, I stop holding back and let my tears fall freely. “I’m sorry, Chloe.”“Don’t be! I cried on my way to work the first day. I totally get it. Thanks for doing this, baby.” She leans over and places a quick kiss on my lips. She then squeezes my thigh lovingly before starting up the car.“No, thank you, babe. This will be worth it.” I already miss Lilly, but Chloe is absolutely right. She would not enjoy being stuck with us while we get tattoos. She’ll probably go right to sleep and barely even know we’re gone.
~ Chloe ~
By the time we arrive at the tattoo shop, Max has calmed down, and she no longer looks like she’s been crying. I feel a little bad for dragging her away from Lilly on her birthday, but I think this is a better way to do it for the first time than if we had to leave her for something unpleasant like work. I know well from experience how much that sucks. “You ready?” I ask as I grab her hand and squeeze it.“As ready as I’m gonna be.” She admits with a chuckle.I lean over and give her a long and loving kiss. “I love you.”Max smiles into the kiss as she returns it. “I love you too, babe. Are you okay?” She asks sweetly as she rubs the back of my hand with her thumb.It’s so sweet that Max remembered to ask if I’m okay even though she was the one who was just crying. When I got my last tattoo, it was with Rachel. I don’t think about Rachel nearly as much as I used to, but I still miss her. She wasn’t just my ex-girlfriend. (Not that she’d ever call us that. She hated labels.) She was an extremely close friend who saved my life when Max wasn’t there.
~ December 2013 ~
I take a deep drag of my cigarette as I stare off at nothing. I’m sitting on the porch by myself while I smoke. Normally I have one as fast as possible and head right back inside to Max. Ever since the storm, the only time we separate is when she goes to school. We’ve become a bit attached at the hip. We spend most of our time seeking comfort in each other. I’m mourning Rachel and my mom, and Max is trying to deal with her choice to save me. Honestly, I’m still dealing with that as well. I don’t understand why she chose me over so many people. Sure, we’re best friends, and we’ve only gotten closer over the last couple of months, but I certainly don’t feel like I’m worth any of what she’s been through, never mind all of the lives that were lost because of me.Today my mind won’t stop thinking about Rachel. I keep looking at my tattoo, and it keeps reminding me of the times we had together. Both the good and the bad.“Hey, Chloe.” Max comes out and sits down beside me, interrupting my thoughts.“Hey.” I mutter solemnly.Max can tell I’m extra down today, so she quickly grabs my hand. My heartbeat picks up instantly. I know it’s stupid to be swooning over one girl while still mourning another, but what can I say? Feelings are complicated.“Do you want to talk about it?” Max asks sweetly.“It’s just… I’ve been thinking. I might cover up my tattoo.”“Seriously? But why? It’s so awesome!”“Thanks… I designed it myself… But… It’s just that I got it with Rachel. Every time I look at it, I think of her.”Max squeezes my hand to try to comfort me. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know.” We sit in silence for a minute before she speaks up again. “You know… Tattoos are kind of like photos. They paint a clear picture of memories, but if you change them or destroy them, you can’t take it back. It will never be the same again.”“So you’re saying I shouldn’t?”“No. I think you should do whatever you want. It’s your memory, and your body.” Max sighs softly. “But, don’t do it unless you’re totally sure. I actually have some old photos of Joyce and William. I want you to have them. I know it’ll be hard to see them at first, but I think you’ll be especially happy to see the ones of William. That wound isn’t as fresh, you know? Maybe someday when you look at your tattoo, you’ll see the good stuff and not just the bad. I hate to see you lose that and regret it.”“When did you get so smart, Super Max?” I joke, finally feeling a small smile cross my lips.“When William died, I didn’t want the photos around. They were too painful to look at. My mom put them in an album for me, and she said basically the same thing. She told me that someday I’d want them on display again. Turned out she was right. Even though I was still too much of a chickenshit to contact you, a few years later I went through the album she made and put a few of the photos back in my room.”I tighten my grip on Max’s hand and then put out my cigarette. “Thanks, Max. I couldn’t get through all this shit without you.”Max gives me a sad smile. “Me neither.”
~ Present Day - Max ~
I hold Chloe’s hand the entire time we get our tattoos outlined. It hurts, but not nearly as much as I expected. Chloe keeps bragging about how much of a ‘badass’ I am to the tattoo artists. Even though it’s kind of embarrassing, I don’t mind. She’s being so cute it takes my mind off the pain of the tattoo and the pain of being away from my baby.“Okay, we’re all done.” My artist says as he pulls the gun away. Chloe insisted I have the more experienced artist, so I’m not surprised that I’m done first. I’m finally able to get a good look, and I’m so happy at what I see. It’s not even colored yet, and I’m already so in love with it. It’s fucking perfect.“It looks so amazing! Thank you so much! Can I show Chloe?!”The artist chuckles. “You’re welcome. Go right ahead.” He steps aside so I can get up, and I hold out my arm so my wife can see.“Oh fuck yeah!” She has the brightest smile as she is clearly doing her best not to move. “I can’t wait to see them side by side.”“Don’t worry. I’m almost done. He’s not that much faster than me.” Chloe’s artist sticks his tongue out at my artist. I can’t help but giggle at that.“Take your time, dude. It’s definitely not a contest. I’m just excited. It’s not every day your wife lets you design a tattoo for her.”A few minutes later, Chloe’s tattoo is completed, and we put our arms side by side to compare. As we hoped, they both look perfect. Chloe takes a photo with her phone, and we finally let them wrap our arms up to protect them while they heal.Once we’re heading out the door, Chloe leans over and gives me a big kiss. “So? What are you thinking about?”I smile and lean against her as she wraps her arm around me, leading me towards the car. “I’m thinking that today has been so awesome. Thank you, babe.”“No need to thank me. I’ve not done that much. I honestly feel a little bit like I cheated you. This feels more like a gift for me.”“It’s for US. I promise, I’m very happy. This was my idea. Remember?”“I know! God, it’s just so fucking hot you have my design tattooed on you.” She playfully slides her hand into the back pocket of my jeans.“You know, there’s only one thing we could do to make today better.”“What’s that?” She asks, full of curiosity.“Each other.” I wink at her as she groans.“God damn it, Max! We’re going to get there. Don’t you worry. But, fuck, don’t tease me in the meantime like that!”I smirk. “Sorry. I’ll make it up to you later. Now… Can we go see our baby?”Chloe opens up the passenger’s side door for me. “Of course! Your chariot awaits, m’lady.”“Come here, you dork.” I can’t resist giving her a kiss when she’s being so damn adorable.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
The three of us have been enjoying a lazy afternoon of hanging around the house. I’m lying on the couch with a blanket draped over me. Chloe insisted that I take a nap since I got up to feed Lilly a lot more often than usual last night. I know I should listen to her because I’m exhausted, but I’m too distracted by watching them. Chloe has been playing with Lilly on the living room floor for about a half hour now. She did tummy time with her for a bit, and now she’s playing peek-a-boo with her. Lilly always seems to enjoy it. She will smile and wiggle her arms and legs excitedly every time Chloe reveals her face to her.As much as I’m enjoying watching them, I’m so relaxed I slowly begin losing the battle with my heavy eyelids. I eventually give in and allow myself to close my eyes while I just listen to Chloe as she quietly whispers, “Peek-a-boo!” I sigh happily and snuggle in the blanket again. Just as I start to feel myself dozing off, I hear the most beautiful sound. My eyes open instantly, and I jolt up, now fully awake again. Lilly just laughed for the first time.“Holy shit! You heard that too, right, Max?” Chloe asks with both surprise and joy all over her face.“I sure did!” I toss the blanket aside and kneel down on the floor next to Chloe. I lean over Lilly, and she smiles up at me. “Did my amazing little girl just laugh for the first time?” I place a kiss on her cheek. I then look to my wife. “Maybe do what you just did again? I really want to hear that again.” I then pull out my phone to take a video of them.Chloe plays a few more rounds of peek-a-boo with her before deciding to stick her tongue out at her. That causes Lilly to let out the same adorable laugh as last time. The three of us then all laugh together.“Mummy is so silly, isn’t she?” I giggle and give my wife a kiss on the cheek.“Please, tell me you got that?” Chloe asks, pointing to my phone.“Hell yeah, I did!”She pulls me into her arms, and we kiss softly. “Oh God, I just realized something. We’re turning into the annoying parents who won’t stop sharing photos and videos of their kid with anyone and everyone, aren’t we?”I can’t help but laugh as I nod in agreement. “We’re totally the worst.”“I’ve become something I once hated. What ever will I do, Maximus?”I pick up Lilly and give her a big kiss on the cheek. “Nothing, babe. Lilly and I love you just the way you are.” I let Lilly’s head rest on my shoulder, and I feel her little hand grab my shirt and hold it in her tiny fist. She then yawns loudly.Chloe just laughs in response and runs her hand through Lilly’s hair. “She’s getting tired, and you still didn’t get your nap. Should we go lay down for a bit?”I open my mouth to protest, and a yawn comes out instead. Chloe laughs and gets up from the floor before holding her arms out for Lilly. I reluctantly pass her over so I can get up as well.“I really don’t want to waste your day off sleeping.” I complain.“It doesn’t have to be a long nap. I want you to be able to enjoy our time together. Plus, you know me. I’m always looking for an excuse to get you into bed.” She gives me a playful wink.I playfully roll my eyes before I lean in and kiss her softly. “Fine, but I’m holding you to that. Don’t let me sleep more than a half hour. Otherwise, I will be mad at you.”“Fine, I promise. Now let’s go.” She says as she takes off down the hall.…Chloe lets me nap for about 30 minutes as I asked before waking me up. When I fell asleep, she had been lying beside me with Lilly on her chest. She must have gotten up at some point and brought Lilly to the nursery as she is pulling me into her arms to spoon me.“Time to wake up, Maxers.” She says as she kisses my neck gently.I don’t bother opening my eyes, but I let out a contented sigh. I grab her hand and lace my fingers with hers. “Is Lilly asleep?” I ask, still sounding half asleep myself.“Yeah, she just went down a few minutes ago.”“Mmm, good.” I turn in my wife’s arms and wrap myself around her tightly.Chloe chuckles softly. “I love you, baby.”“Mmm, love you.” I move my face to hers and start giving her a few lazy kisses. Chloe happily returns them as she slides her hand up my shirt to rub my back. I stroke her cheek with one hand and run my other hand through her hair. As our kisses get a bit more intense, I roll us over so I’m lying on top of Chloe. I eventually pull back from kissing her, and I rest my forehead against hers. “You really did just want me to nap so you could get me in bed, huh?” I tease.She laughs as she brushes my hair back behind my ear. “I never tried to hide it.” She jokes back as we move to kiss again softly. “But no, seriously, you needed it. I would have let you sleep longer if you hadn’t insisted I wake you.”“I know. You’re sweet like that, but I’m glad I didn’t go to sleep when you told me to the first time. I would have missed Lilly’s laugh otherwise.”Chloe and I both smile brightly as we look into each other’s eyes. “I still can’t believe she’s laughing already. I can’t fucking wait until she wakes up, so I can try to make her laugh again.”“I could watch you play with her all day. You both are so cute.”“You’re cute.” Chloe takes my face into her hands and strokes my cheeks.I let out a happy sigh as we start kissing again. We’re taking our time to the point where I’m not even sure if we’re going to get past the point of just kissing. I don’t mind either way, though. I just enjoy being in my wife’s arms regardless of how far we take it.“So… I’m thinking we should celebrate. It’s not every day our daughter laughs for the first time.” Chloe muses as she gazes up at me.“Oh? What do you have in mind?” I ask as I gently run my hand through her hair.“I want to take my girls out on a date. You, me, Lilly, and two huge ass plates of diner food. What do you think?”I move down her body a little to rest my cheek on her sternum and listen to her heartbeat. “That does sound nice, but do you think she’s ready for that?”“She’s totally ready! Worst case scenario, if she won’t stop screaming or something, we just leave and get our food to go.” Chloe answers as she begins to massage my scalp and play with my hair.“Mmm, babe, you’re spoiling me again.”“And you’re complaining because?” Chloe teases.“Not complaining at all. Just pointing it out.” I close my eyes and enjoy the attention my wife gives me. “Oh, and yes, by the way. A family dinner outing sounds amazing.”…Chloe gingerly puts Lilly’s carrier down on top of the table of our booth. We then each slide in to sit on opposite sides. Once we’re settled, I immediately check on Lilly, who seems to be slowly waking up again. She hadn’t been up for very long, but she still managed to fall asleep during the short drive here.“Good morning again, cutie.” I coo as I lean in and kiss her chubby little cheek.Chloe smiles at me and then offers Lilly her finger. She happily grabs onto it and pulls it into her mouth as she begins to look around the restaurant. Lilly seems to be enjoying it for all its bright colors. I enjoy it because it reminds me so much of the Two Whales. It even has an old-school jukebox against the back wall. I grab Chloe’s free hand with mine and give it a little supportive squeeze. I know she feels as nostalgic in this place as I do.
~ April 2002 ~
“Chloe, are you done with the blue yet?” I ask somewhat impatiently. We’re both sitting side by side coloring on our placemats while we wait for our food at the Two Whales. On the other side of the booth, William sits watching us with his usual gentle smile.“Yeah, you can have it now.” Chloe replies as she’s far too focused on what she’s doing to look up or bother passing the crayon over. She has her tongue sticking out a little, and her brows are furrowed as she colors.I excitedly reach over and try to grab it. I move without too much thought about what’s around me. When I pull my arm back, I accidentally spill my milkshake all over the table. The second I realize what I did, a few tears start to flow down my cheeks. “I’m sorry… I didn’t mean to.”William quickly grabs a bunch of napkins and begins cleaning up the mess. Chloe pulls her drawing away and saves it from the spill before looking to me. When she sees my tears, she immediately wraps her arms around me. “It’s okay! Don’t cry.”“B-but, I made a mess… And that milkshake was so good.” I admit through my sniffles. Chloe guides my head to rest on her shoulder as she continues holding me.“Daddy is cleaning it all up. No problem!” Soon I begin to calm down, and William offers me a comforting smile.“Chloe is right, sweetheart. No harm done.” William says as he also gives Chloe a smile. He doesn’t move from his spot in the booth, seeing his daughter clearly has calming me down completely under control.“Do you want some of mine?” Chloe asks, carefully sliding her milkshake over to me.I smile brightly before I shyly nod. “Yes, please.” I take a small sip from her straw and grin at her. “This is so good!”“Well, duh! It’s strawberry! It’s my favorite, and it’s the best!” Chloe explains as though it’s the most obvious thing in the world.“I think it’s my favorite now too.” I take another sip, and Chloe just smiles proudly. She still has her arm wrapped around me. I’m completely calm again, but she doesn’t seem interested in moving, and neither am I.A few more minutes pass with us cuddling and sharing her milkshake before Chloe finally lets go of me. “Look at my drawing, Max! I made it for you!”I look over and smile seeing she drew the two of us holding hands. Chloe drew herself wearing a pirate captain's hat, and I have a camera in my free hand. Above us in big letters she wrote, “Best Friends Forever”. I can’t help the toothy grin that crosses my face when I see it. “You’re so good at drawing! This is awesome!”“Nah, I’m not that good, but I’m glad you like it.” Chloe is about to hand it to me when Joyce comes over holding our plates of food.“You girls hungry?” She asks even though she already knows the answer.“YES!” Chloe exclaims excitedly as Joyce puts a plate with a burger and fries in front of her. She then puts down my pancakes in front of me.“Thank you, Joyce.” I shyly reply.“You’re welcome, darlin’.” Joyce smiles at me and then notices the drawing Chloe made. “Aww, this is so cute, Chloe. Did you make this for Max?”Chloe smiles even though her mouth is already filled with food. “Yep! Max is my best friend forever!”“Best friends forever!” I parrot back sweetly.“Yup! Forever!” Chloe repeats one more time before once again shoving her burger into her face.
~ Present Day ~
We were able to get through the entire meal without Lilly fussing at all. I’m a little surprised, but also super happy all three of us were able to enjoy the evening out.“This is going really well. I could probably take you both somewhere nicer next time. Not that I don’t enjoy diner food, but I’m always looking for an excuse to see you in a dress.” Chloe admits with a wink.“Yeah, we could do that. You know I love it when you dress up too. But to be honest, I’m not sure why we bother. We can’t wait to get each other out of the fancy clothes the second we get home.” I remind her as I give her a flirtatious smile.“Mmm, you know I feel that way no matter if we dress up or not.” She takes my hand and kisses my knuckles.“You are the biggest flirt!” I can’t help but laugh at my wife, who just keeps looking at me like she wants to devour me. “And a huge flatterer.” I add as I watch her move her gaze down to my breasts.“What? I like what I see. Sue me.”…“I think our outing wore her out a little too much, babe.” I giggle softly as I watch Lilly while she tries to breastfeed. She keeps dozing off in the middle of feeding. “Come on, sweetie. You gotta finish eating. I know you’re hungry.” I stroke her cheek to wake her up, and she whines for a few seconds before latching on to begin drinking again.Chloe smiles as she sits down beside us on our living room couch. She leans in and kisses Lilly on the top of the head. “Our girl really loves her sleep.”“That’s not surprising. We both love sleep too.” I reply with a smirk.“Touche.” She agrees as she starts gently stroking Lilly’s hair. “You ever wonder what else she’ll get from us? You know, like personality-wise?”“Well, I think today we learned she has your sense of humor.” I lean my head against Chloe, and she places a kiss in my hair.“Maybe so, but I hope she ends up more like you.”“Don’t you start that. We’ll be so lucky if she’s like you. Even if she becomes a huge troublemaker like you, it would be worth it. I’d be proud as hell if someday Lilly saves some shy little girl from being bullied on the playground like you did countless times for me.”Chloe nuzzles her head against mine. “I guess you have a point. Obviously I’ll love her no matter what, but you’re right; that would make me really damn proud.”Chloe and I turn to look at each other, and we kiss softly. We then turn our attention back to our daughter. She is once again barely fighting off sleep as she drinks. As excited as I am to see my daughter grow up and learn more about her, I don’t want to lose how things are now. Even though taking care of an infant is totally exhausting, I also know I’m going to miss the hell out of moments like this one. All I can do now is just enjoy it while it lasts.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
~ November 1, 2025 ~
Max: [ Photo of Max, Chloe, and Lilly dressed as pirates on Halloween ]Chloe: Fuck yes! Thanks Super Max! Changing my phone wallpaper right nowMax: Yw babe 😘Chloe: You got any other pictures for me?Max: I thought you just wanted that one?Chloe: From last night that one is good. I was thinking more like that photo you gave me for my birthday when you were in collegeMax: LOL are you really asking me for nudes right now? You’re at work you pervChloe: Just sayin’ I’ll always take them. Any time any where baby!
~ November 14, 2025 ~
Alex: We still on for Thanksgiving?Max: Definitely! Do you guys want to host this time?Alex: Absolutely! Are you excited to actually get to eat this year?Max: Hell yeah. Even though I wanted to puke the whole time the food was still so good last year. This year you better make extra!Alex: You can count on it!
~ November 28, 2025 ~
Steph: Hope you all had as much fun as I did last night!Chloe: Barb the Barbarian 11th of her name will avenge the 10th!Alex: I didn’t expect to get murdered by a giant turkey monster. But otherwise I guess I had fun 😉 Max: Sorry Lilly kept crying during the big battle 😞 But I had so much fun! Thanks again for everything Steph!Steph: I didn’t expect her to sleep through all of dinner AND a 5 hour D&D session. No apology needed.Chloe: She might not have gotten so upset if Barb the 10th livedSteph: 🙄 Max how do you put up with having TWO babies in the house?Max: The struggle is real
~ December 17, 2025 ~
Chloe: Happy Birthday Grandma!Steph: Oh fuck off with that. I’m barely older than you!Chloe: But you’re the oldest out of the four of usSteph: Yeah but my girl is by far the youngest. We’ll all be old and gray and yet I’ll still have the hottest wifeChloe: Don’t get me started on debates about how hot our wives are. I’ll always have the hottest wife. Max will still be hot at 80 I’m sureSteph: Maybe, maybe not, but Alex will only be 78 and we will be like 82Chloe: Cradle robber
~ December 26, 2025 ~
Steph: So what did Chloe think of her custom minis?Max: OMG she totally freaked out! Thanks so much for helping me with them. I seriously thought she was going to cry in front of everyone!Steph: LOL npMax: Barb 1-11 will now live on forever now according to her. I probably shouldn’t have spent so much. Who knew 11 minis could cost so much. But the look on her face was so worth it!Steph: At least we saved you quite a bit by painting them ourselves. I think they came out awesome!Max: Chloe didn’t seem at all upset by my shitty attempt at painting so I’ll take it as a win
~ January 3, 2026 ~
Max: I think Lilly misses you guys. She keeps looking around like she’s looking for you 😢 Mom: Don’t say that you’ll make me cry!Max: Well I’m crying! I didn’t want to be the only one. But anyway it was great seeing you. I’m sorry we live so far away. We didn’t really think about the whole having a baby thing when we moved here.Mom: We understand. Maybe someday we’ll move closer to you. I’m going to be at retirement age next year!Max: Ooo must be nice!Mom: There are some perks to being an old lady
~ January 18, 2026 ~
Max: Guess what your daughter just did?Chloe: Did she burp the alphabet?Max: LOL that would make her a genius baby. She’s smart but not quite that smart. NO she PEED on me while I was changing her and then laughed about it!Chloe: LMAOOOOOMax: I thought only boys did thatChloe: Our girl got mad skillz!
~ February 14, 2026 ~
Max: I got your card. Why didn’t you wait and give it to me when you got home! Now I’m crying and you’re not even here!Chloe: Just trying to build some Valentine’s Day anticipation baby!Max: I just miss you more now you romantic asshole 😢 Chloe: Love you too! No emoji!
~ March 11, 2026 ~
Max: [ Selfie of Max standing naked in front of a full length mirror but turned facing away from it ]Chloe: OMG YOU FUCKING TEASE!Max: That’s what you get for having to work on your birthday 😉 Chloe: Hella rude! Although I do love me that booty of yours!Max: Love you too, dork
~ March 22, 2026 ~
Chloe: Happy Anniversary!Steph: Thanks! I can’t believe it’s been a year already!Chloe: You got any fun plans? Besides the hot sex, obviously?Steph: lol How the fuck does Max put up with you?Chloe: I ask myself that question every day
~ April 9, 2026 ~
Max: BABEMax: BABEMax: BAAAAABBBEEEEEMax: [ Video of Lilly babbling “mama” ]Chloe: OMFGGGGG!!!Max: 😭Chloe: Shit I need to try to get out early—Max: [ Video of Lilly babbling “mama” ]Mom: OMG!!!!!!!Max: I know!Mom: 😭😭😭😭😭 Max: Seriously. Help. I can’t stop crying
~ May 10, 2026 ~
Chloe: You know how we’re both moms now?Max: Lol I definitely noticed that yesChloe: That makes us both MILFsMax: OMG babe noChloe: Also we’re both motherfuckers!Max: I hate youChloe: No you love me. Happy Mother’s Day nerd!
~ June 1, 2026 ~
Max: Is Lilly okay?Alex: She’s totally fine. You’ve been gone for less than an hour lolMax: I really appreciate you guys watching her. Sorry but this probably won’t be my last text for awhileAlex: LOLMax: How is she doing?Alex: OMG MAX ITS BEEN 20 MINUTES. Enjoy your date and night off!Max: How about now?Alex: Still good. I promise we’ve got this 😂Max: I know I’m sorry 😞Max: This is Chloe. I have successfully stolen Max’s phone. You should get a few hours of peace nowAlex: LOL thank god!
~ June 28, 2026 ~
Max: You sure you won’t let us send you some money for the flight?Mom: Absolutely not!Max: Please?Mom: No way. I’ll see you tomorrow!
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
“Mom! Dad!” I excitedly call out as I hold my arms out to hug them. I don’t care that I’m drawing a ton of attention to myself in the middle of the airport. I’m way too happy they are here to care. Tomorrow is Lilly’s first birthday, and they’ve flown over to visit us to celebrate and come for the small party we are having.When they go to hug me, it is a little awkward as I have Lilly strapped to me in a wearable carrier, but I can tell they are far more excited to see her than me anyway. I can’t say I blame them. It’s been over five months since they’ve last seen her, so I imagine seeing how much she has grown in person must be totally shocking.“Max, I can’t believe how big she is! The pictures just don’t do it justice.” Mom exclaims as she almost tears up over it.“Happy almost birthday, pumpkin!” Dad says as he gives Lilly a big kiss on the cheek.Lilly is getting a bit shy as she gets older, so she hides her face in my chest and whimpers a little. “Aww, sweetie, it’s okay.” I kiss the top of her head softly and gently stroke her soft blonde hair. “Sorry, I think she’s a bit overwhelmed. She’s not used to crowds and loud noises like this.” I sigh softly. I really hope that’s the reason and not because she’s going to end up with a fear of crowds like I have.“No need to apologize, Max. She hasn’t seen us in person for a long time. It’s not surprising she’s a little shy.” Dad pulls back and takes Mom’s hand. “Let’s get our bags so we can get out of here.”“Mama!” Lilly whines as she holds onto my top tightly.“I think she agrees. Let’s get out of here.”…When we arrive home, I carefully pick Lilly up from her car seat. She’s fast asleep and doesn’t even stir when picked up. I can’t help but give her a kiss on the side of her head as I guide her head to rest on my shoulder. She instinctively holds onto my top as she settles into my arms.“Would you mind opening the door for me?” I ask as I hand my keys to my dad.“Of course not, honey.” Dad runs ahead and opens the door as I asked.I give him a smile in thanks before I head into the nursery and put Lilly down in her crib. “Sleep tight, baby girl. Mama loves you.” I whisper as I give her one more kiss. I set up her baby monitor and then double-check she’s settled one last time before I leave the room and close the door behind me.“I know I said this to you last time I saw you, but you are such a natural with her. I’m very proud of you.” Mom says going in for another hug.I blush deeply at that. “Mom… Stop saying stuff like that! Lilly is the best baby ever. I’m just super lucky.” Mom hugs me very tightly and kisses my cheek before pulling away.“Oh, you are definitely lucky. Based on everything you’ve told me, she’s a really calm baby. But that doesn’t take away the fact you’re doing a great job.”I smile and shrug. “Thanks, I guess.” I’ve never been good at taking a compliment. Especially not one as sweet as that.Dad laughs at our exchange and gives me another hug as well. “We really missed you, Max. Is Chloe going to be home soon?”I take a look at the clock and pout a little. “She did take an early shift today, but she still has a few more hours left, unfortunately.”“I’m sure she’ll be here before we know it.” Mom says with a chuckle, seeing the disappointment on my face.The three of us then sit down to have lunch together. We catch up a little even though we do talk on the phone a lot. More info always seems to come out in person.“So how has the photography been going?” My dad asks.“Actually, really well lately!” I can’t help the bright smile that crosses my lips at the topic. I’ve been hoping someone would bring it up. “I keep calling Lilly my little assistant and lucky charm. I told you about how I’ve been taking her with me for shoots, and it’s been going really well. She usually just falls asleep in her carrier, but on days when I’m not doing freelance work, I’ve been taking her out to random parks and into the city to get shots for gallery submissions. I think I’ve gotten some of my best photos ever lately. I even got a few gallery shows booked now. I haven’t had one since I was like four months pregnant.”“Wow! That’s amazing news!” Dad replies, clearly surprised. “Why didn’t you say anything before?”“Honestly, I wanted to do it in person. I only found out about the gallery shows last week. It was worth the wait.”…I spend another hour or so visiting with my parents and cleaning up after lunch before I hear Lilly’s cries coming from the baby monitor. I quickly leap into action and go into the nursery to check on my baby. I quickly discover she needs a diaper change, so I change her before bringing her into the living room while my parents wait for us.“I gotta feed her, but then she might be open to cuddles if you want.” I sit down on the couch and get Lilly nice and comfy. I cover us both with her baby blanket before lifting my shirt for her. Lilly is crying, but she calms down instantly once she begins nursing.“You know I’m dying for baby cuddles, Max.” Mom admits with a chuckle.“I don’t blame you. She gives the best cuddles.” I wink as I keep checking on her under the blanket every so often. I used to be really shy about breastfeeding even with a blanket in front of anyone besides Chloe, but after a year I’m pretty much over that. I discovered that I care way more about the comfort of Lilly than I do about accidentally flashing someone.As promised, when Lilly is done breastfeeding, I pass her off to my mom. “Hi there, sweetie! Do you remember Grammy?” She asks as she looks into Lilly’s eyes. Lilly seems like she’s still waking up, so she willingly settles into my mom’s arms and continues fighting with her eyes. “Oh my God, she’s so sleepy.” Mom points out with a chuckle.“Yeah, she wakes up really slowly. Especially after she nurses, but it’s a good time for cuddles. Once she wakes up, she’ll want to play instead.” I smile and relax back on the couch as I watch my parents with my daughter.As I expected, Lilly slowly wakes up and begins to fuss once she starts getting bored. My dad puts her on the floor and begins playing with her for a little while. Soon we are interrupted by Chloe coming home. When the front door closes, Lilly hears it and turns her head. When she sees Chloe walking down the hall, she gets a huge smile on her face. “MAH-ME!” She shouts as she starts crawling towards Chloe.The look of total shock on my parents’ faces makes me laugh. They had no idea Lilly could say that as it only happened for the first time a few days ago, and we wanted to surprise them.“That’s right, Lil! Mummy is home!” Chloe says happily, picking her up and kissing her all over her face. Lilly giggles and wiggles her arms and legs about like she’s trying to get Chloe to stop. She then blows a raspberry on her belly, getting her to laugh even harder. “I missed you, cutie.” She then smiles at my parents as she adjusts Lilly to rest against her hip. “Hey! Good to see you guys! How was your flight?”My mom struggles to shake off her shock so she can answer. “Don’t change the subject! Since when is she saying Mummy?!”Chloe smiles proudly and gives Lilly one last kiss on the cheek before sitting her back down with my dad. “Two days ago. I came home from work, and Max was holding her. I think she just woke up from a nap, so she seemed kind of tired, but she looked right up at me and then said it clear as day.” She then walks over to the couch and leans down to give me a kiss. I run a hand over her jaw to keep her in place to make sure the kiss lasts for a little longer than a few seconds.“Miss me?” Chloe asks me with a little wink.“Always, babe. Get your butt over here.” I playfully pat the space beside me on the couch.Chloe happily plops herself down on the couch and pulls me into her arms. “Hi, Maximus. How was your day?”“We had a good day so far. I’m glad you’re home, though.” I move my face close to Chloe’s and touch noses with her.Chloe smiles and gives me one more slow kiss. “I missed you too.”I let out a happy hum as I snuggle into my wife’s arms. “I love you.” I whisper as I close my eyes and begin playing with her hair.“I love you too, Maxi.” She whispers back. I can feel Chloe turn her attention back to my parents as she begins to lovingly caress my arm. “I don’t know about you guys, but I can’t fucking wait for tomorrow!”I chuckle. “Don’t get up now, but don’t forget the swear jar, babe.”“Ugh, fine.” She grumbles. I feel her reach into her pocket for her wallet. She pulls out a dollar and throws it on the coffee table. “Max doesn’t want me teaching Lilly swear words, so we have a swear jar now. I guess the good news is we’ll be able to afford a pretty badass vacation soon!”“Babe…” I warn again.“Shit! I mean… darn it.” She grabs two more dollars from her wallet and tosses them on the coffee table again.Both of my parents burst out laughing. “You’re going to be able to afford Paris by next year!” My mom jokes.…“Mama!”I’m still half-asleep in bed, but I can’t help the smile that forms across my lips. The sound of my baby girl’s voice is the best morning wake-up in the entire world. I slowly open my eyes to see Chloe is standing over the bed holding her up.“Sorry to wake you, Maximus, but she’s just been asking for you so nicely. No crying at all, but she won’t stop saying Mama. I can’t say no to that. Not on her birthday!”“Aww. Mama loves you, baby. Happy birthday!” I yawn and stretch as I sit up in the bed. Chloe passes her to me, and Lilly instantly tries to nurse right through my shirt. “Ah, now I see what I’m good for.” I joke. Chloe laughs as she rejoins me in bed and wraps an arm around me.“Sometimes I think she loves your breasts more than I do.” She winks, and I roll my eyes at her.“You’re both awful.” I tease as I pull my shirt up. “You’re lucky I love you anyway.”…We decided to keep the party a bit small. It’s just going to be my parents, Steph, and Alex. We invited David, but he’s not able to afford the trip right now. He’s hoping to visit us again sometime in the fall.“What’s cookin’, good lookin’?” Chloe asks as she wraps her arms around me from behind. I was alone in the kitchen preparing some snacks for the party, but I’m more than happy that my wife has now joined me. I lean back into her and lace my fingers with hers.“Not much. I’m just putting out some snacks. I figure we should just pick up pizzas for lunch.”“Sounds good to me. Three pizzas and a cake should be more than enough for this little party.”“My thoughts exactly, babe.” I turn in my wife’s arms and wrap my arms around her neck. She pulls me closer and gives me a kiss that makes my heart skip a beat. I don’t know how she still does that after all this time. “Mmm, careful babe, my parents could come in at any second.” I warn even though I make no moves to pull away from her.She just laughs and shakes her head. Clearly neither of us care that much as we are soon kissing again. She scoops me up by the thighs and sits me on the countertop, nearly knocking over a bowl of chips. We both laugh against each other's lips as we continue to kiss with reckless abandon. I wrap my legs around her waist, pulling her even closer. Chloe always makes me feel so incredible when we make out like this. It’s so easy for me to totally lose myself in it. It’s been like this since the start of our relationship. Even though I didn’t have any clue what the fuck I was doing back then.
~ May 2014 ~
I don’t have the slightest idea of what to do with my hands as Chloe and I finally begin to kiss. Sure, this isn’t actually our first kiss, but it feels like it. Our real first kiss was a dare back in Arcadia Bay, but that was a shy, quick peck on the lips that we both brushed off as though it meant nothing. This kiss is different. I just admitted to Chloe I wanted to kiss her, and she pulled me into this mind-numbingly deep and passionate kiss while we sat together on my bed. I’m so fucking nervous. To say I have no idea what I’m doing is a huge understatement. Our first kiss was my first ever kiss, so I have zero experience doing this. I really hope this doesn’t fuck up this incredible moment that’s happening between us right now.When Chloe finally pulls back, I’m unable to stop myself from completely embarrassing myself. “Oh… wowser!” I say breathlessly.Chloe giggles and brushes a lock of my hair behind my ear. I suddenly notice my heartbeat has doubled in speed. I feel like I might pass out. “You’re hella adorable, Max.”I know I was already blushing, but at her words, I can feel the heat radiating off of my cheeks. I probably look like a tomato. I don’t think I’ve ever been more embarrassed in my entire life, but at the same time, I feel so good. I expected her to tease me so much more than she is. Maybe she’s nervous too.“I’ve been wanting to do that for so fucking long.” Chloe admits as she bites her lip shyly. “God damn, I don’t want to fuck this up.”“You’re afraid of fucking up? I’m terrified. I’m probably a terrible kisser.” I avoid her gaze nervously.Chloe lets out a nervous chuckle. “Not at all. It was amazing! I know you’re inexperienced, but I think I might be able to fix that.” I look into her eyes, and my stomach does a backflip. I can’t believe my beautiful best friend, who I’ve been crushing on for months, wants to keep kissing me. “I’m sorry that this is cheesy as fuck, but I want to be clear about what we are. Rachel and I never talked about this shit, and it always drove me crazy. Would you like to be my girlfriend?”“Yes! Of course!” I give her a bright smile, and I notice her eyes light up. She grabs one of my hands and guides me to straddle her lap.“Is this okay?” She asks as she looks up at me with eyes full of hope and a tiny hint of concern.I always knew Chloe had a gentle side. Hiding under her false bravado and punk ‘I don’t give a fuck’ attitude, she’s still the girl I remember from before I moved away. She always was looking to protect me. Even if now she’s trying to protect me from her.“It’s more than okay. I trust you, Chlo.”She gently guides my hands to rest on the back of her neck, and she rests hers on my hips as we move to kiss again. This kiss is somehow even more incredible than the last. Being so close to her and being held like this was already enough to completely melt my brain, but when she slides her tongue into my mouth again, I can’t help but let out a moan. She’s so good at this I feel like I could die happy right now. I do my best to follow her lead and imitate what she’s doing. I want nothing more than for her to feel every bit as good as I am in this moment.When we eventually break the kiss to breathe, I lean down and press my forehead and nose against hers. We both close our eyes and let out soft sighs. I’ve never felt anything like this before, and I never want it to stop.
~ Present Day ~
Eventually we pull back a little, and I hop down from the counter. “I couldn’t resist. You look so sexy today, baby.” Chloe whispers in my ear. She places a few gentle kisses down my neck before she slowly pulls away to look into my eyes instead.I blush a little at her admission even if it seems a bit silly. I didn’t dress up or anything. “I don’t know why. I’m keeping it pretty casual.” I reply with a chuckle.“It’s the jeans. Your ass looks so fucking good in them.”“Yeah?”“Oh, yeah!” She winks and gives me a peck on the lips just as our doorbell rings. “You ready to get this party started, Maxaroni?”“Hell yeah.” I take my wife’s hand as we walk together to answer the door.…The party is a very chill affair with the six of us taking turns playing with Lilly and socializing with each other. We eventually put her in her high chair and give her a special baby-safe birthday cake.“Holy shit! She’s covered in it already!” Chloe laughs as Lilly is trying to feed herself the cake but is mostly just smearing it all over her face.“Swear jar, babe.” I kiss her cheek, and she grumbles as she digs in her pockets for her wallet again. I take a photo of Lilly before I start cleaning her face a little. I then help her get a little bit of the cake into her mouth.“I think she likes it!” Steph comments with a chuckle.“She’s at least having fun with it if nothing else.” I reply as I finish cleaning her up.“Whatever. Don’t listen to her, Lil. It’s your birthday. Wear your cake if you want to.” She ruffles her hair, causing Lilly to giggle.“Way to be a bad influence, Auntie Steph.” I tease.“That will make me her favorite aunt someday.” She winks. “Don’t worry, Lil. I know what’s up.”“Yeah, right. I’ll definitely be the favorite.” Alex interrupts as she wraps her arm around Steph.I smirk at the antics of my friends, who continue to playfully bicker about who will be Lilly’s favorite aunt. I eventually pick up Lilly from the high chair and bring her over to Chloe.Chloe is standing next to the swear jar with my parents clearly still upset over her dollar.“I know how my dad felt now. I never let him get away with sh—Oh, hi, Max!” She gives me a big guilty grin.“Close one, babe. Should I be nice and let you get away with it?”“Well, duh, I did nothing wrong!”“Mah-me!” Lilly chimes in.“See, look at that. Even Lilly says I’m totally innocent!”“She just loves you. Even she knows you’re so far from innocent, but she loves you despite that.” I playfully wink before getting on my toes to peck her lips. Chloe smiles against my lips as she kisses me back.“Just like you do.”“Exactly! Now you’re getting it.”Chloe holds out her arms, hoping for a turn with Lilly, so I pass her over. Lilly snuggles into her embrace right away. She lays her head on her shoulder and begins to suck her thumb.“Is someone getting tired?” Chloe asks, knowing the answer very well.“Can’t say I blame her. We’ve kept her up a bit past her nap time already for this party.” I lean in and kiss Lilly’s cheek. “C’mon, babe, let’s bring her to the nursery.” Chloe smiles and nods at me before giving Lilly a kiss on the forehead.When we get to the nursery, I let Chloe do the honors of trying to settle her down by humming to her quietly. I can’t help but smile as I stand off to the side and watch. Lilly is always so damn adorable when she’s falling asleep. She whines a little as though we’re committing a terrible injustice by making her take a nap. She eventually stops fighting with her eyes and keeps them closed while she continues sucking on her thumb.Once she seems sleepy enough, Chloe puts her in the crib. “Goodnight, Lilly. I love you.” She whispers as she kisses her head softly. I join my wife at the side of the crib and give her a goodnight kiss as well. Chloe grabs my hand and we smile at each other. We are so damn lucky, and we know it.
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~ July 20, 2026 ~
Max: [ Selfie of Chloe and Max each kissing one of Lilly’s cheeks on the beach ]Max: [ Photo of Chloe holding Lilly by the ocean ]Max: [ Photo of Max laying on a beach towel with Lilly asleep on her chest ]Max: Sorry to spam you. We had fun yesterday incase you couldn’t tellMom: OMG so cute! Spam me anytime. I’ll take all you got!Max: [ Loading 30 more attachments… ]
~ July 30, 2026 ~
Chloe: Is it cool with you if I cover a half shift for Jason tonight?Max: Sure. Is everything okay with him?Chloe: Yeah he’s okay. His wife and kid have the flu. Thought it was good karma to help out. I’ll probably have to ask him for the same favor at some pointMax: Good point! Lilly and I will bring you over some dinner.Chloe: You’re the best!Max: Don’t you forget it!
~ August 10, 2026 ~
Chloe: Hey Ma. Do you have a minute?Ma: Of course!Chloe: Max is kind of freaking out because she put Lilly on the bed and then she almost crawled off. She keeps saying she’s a bad mom. I keep telling her she’s not and it’s okay, but she won’t listen!Ma: It happens to everyoneChloe: That’s what I said!Ma: No I mean everyone has an “I’m a bad mom” kind of day. She’ll be okayChloe: But I want to helpMa: Sorry, but it sounds like you already have done everything you can do. Give her some time and be there for herChloe: Well fuck
~ August 26, 2026 ~
Chloe: Sorry this is kind of last minute but would you be able to watch Lilly for the night on our anniversary? It’s on the 31st.Steph: Sure! We love hanging out with the munchkin!Chloe: I really owe you guys. Thanks a ton!Steph: You want to spill on what you have planned?Chloe: Nothing major. I’m gonna rent us an AirBnB with a hot tub.Steph: Sounds hot 😉 Chloe: Dork
~ August 31, 2026 ~
Max: How’s Lilly?Alex: Oh for fucks sake!Max: Just kidding! This is Chloe again. Don’t worry. It’s our anniversary. She’ll be plenty distracted this timeAlex: I really didn’t need to hear about that!
~ September 12, 2026 ~
Chloe: Hey. You guys wouldn’t happen to be free on the 21st would you?Steph: If this is for another Max bday party we’re totally free!Alex: Last year was a blast! We’re definitely in.Steph: Or did you want us to babysit? Either way is fine. Sorry if we jumped to conclusionsChloe: No! You definitely had it right the first time. Max made it pretty clear she doesn’t want to leave Lilly overnight again so soon. She had fun on our anniversary but we also really missed her.Steph: Fuck yes! I’ll have a nice long D&D session ready!Chloe: As long as you’re sure. Fair warning there will be a lot more baby shenanigans and interruptions than last yearAlex: We love Lilly. Shenanigans and allSteph: I’ll prep a slightly shorter session then no biggieChloe: You guys are the fucking best
~ September 22, 2026 ~
Max: Thank you so much for yesterday! We had so much fun!Alex: You’re welcome. We did too!Steph: Fuck yeah we did! I miss our weekly hang outsMax: Things with Lilly have chilled out a bit. We might be able to start them up againSteph: OMG REALLY 😱
~ October 2, 2026 ~
Chloe: Is it just me or is it still weird to hear David refer to himself as Papa Davey?Max: Yeah of all the names I thought he’d want Lilly to call him that one was not on my Bingo cardChloe: lol Seriously!Max: Thanks for letting him stay for the week. I think Lilly enjoys having him aroundChloe: Don’t thank me Max. I honestly feel kinda bad about being hesitant about it at allMax: You have a history. I get itChloe: I could never risk letting anything that happened between David and me happen to her. Thanks for being cool about making sure to keep a close eye on them. It really means a lot to me. Even if I’m being paranoid AFMax: Anything for you both. You know that ❤️ Chloe: Fuck I love you babyMax: I love you too. Now get your ass back to work so you can come home to me 😉 Chloe: Ooo bossy! That’s hot!
~ October 11, 2026 ~
Chloe: Hey baby. Just wanted to say I love you so fucking much. I’m the luckiest bitch alive because I’m married to my hero Super MaxMax: Now I’m crying in the grocery store you assChloe: Oops. Sorry. But really though it’s hard to believe it’s been 13 years since the stormMax: I love you too. I’d do it all over again. No questionChloe: I know. I’d do the same for you in a heartbeat
~ October 14, 2026 ~
Max: Have you decided what we’re doing for Halloween this year? I can pick up costumes for us while I’m out today if you wantChloe: We’re gonna be pirates again. Duh!Max: We are not. Pick almost anything else. I’d say anything else but I know you. I don’t dare give you that much power. Anything G rated is allowedChloe: Why is my wife so cruel to me?Max: 🙄 Chloe: AND EMOJIS! REALLY?! That’s it! Time for the divorce!Max: LOL
~ November 1, 2026 ~
Max: [ Photo of Max, Chloe and Lilly all dressed up for Halloween ]Mom: Cute! Don’t take this the wrong way but what are you supposed to be?Max: LOL I saw that coming. Didn’t expect to you know. Chloe and I are dressed as our D&D characters and Lilly is a D&D monster called a Beholder. Yeah I know we’re nerdsMom: Aww that’s actually really sweetMax: I told Chloe she could pick anything G rated. I wasn’t disappointedMom: LMAO I’m scared you had to specify thatMax: You and me both—Chloe: [ Photo of Max, Chloe and Lilly all dressed up for Halloween ]Steph: OMFG!!!! That’s the greatest thing I’ve ever seen!Chloe: How cute is Lilly the Beholder?!Alex: She just one-shot me and now I’m DEAD! That’s how cute!Chloe: RIGHT?Steph: This might be a DMs greatest accomplishment. I might have to print and frame this shit. Put it on my DM resume!
~ November 12, 2026 ~
Max: So Chloe and I were wondering if Thanksgiving is just an annual tradition for us now?Alex: Most definitely! Do you want us to host again?Max: We don’t mind hosting. We could trade off every other year if that’s cool?Alex: Works for meSteph: Sounds good! We’ll bring the pies!
~ November 27, 2026 ~
Max: Hey could I get your opinion on something?David: Sure?Max: Are these any good? [Home Depot link] I want to get Chloe some nice tools for Christmas but I have NO idea what I’m doing!David: They are decent. If you want something super nice try these. They’re on sale too: [Different Home Depot link]Max: Oh! Fuck it I went big on Christmas last year too. Thanks!David: No problem! How’s everyone doing?Max: We’re good! Same old same old. How are you and everyone in Away?David: Good! Very much the same. Have Chloe give me a call sometimeMax: Definitely!—Chloe: Hey this is Chloe PriceVictoria: Hi! How’s it going?Chloe: It’s going good. Sorry to bug you, but I want to get Max some camera shit for Christmas and I could use some help.Victoria: LOL You’ve come to the right place. You might want to give me a budget though 😉Chloe: Under 500 bucks. I don’t want to be divorcedVictoria: Seriously that’s all? Fine I’ll see what I can do
~ December 3, 2026 ~
Max: Just wanted to say sorry again for last night 😢Chloe: Again you have nothing to be sorry for. I’ll stay up all night with you whenever you need meMax: I know but I still feel shitty about it. I need to get over my shit alreadyChloe: You have PTSD. You don’t just get over it. You’re doing so much better every year baby. Those nightmares are super rare nowMax: I know, but what if Lilly hears me and gets scared? How can I tell her with a straight face that nightmares don’t hurt you when I can’t handle having one?Chloe: Lilly will understand, but talk about it in your therapy appointment next week. I’m sure she’ll have better ideas than I do lol.Max: Fair. Sorry 😢Chloe: Stop apologizing. If you don’t stop I’m coming home early and shutting you up myselfMax: Don’t I’m fine. Lilly and I are doing nothing but binge watching Scooby Doo todayChloe: Way to make a girl jealous
~ December 23, 2026 ~
Chloe: I didn’t think I was a snowman but you always make me melt.Max: Oh no. Don’t start this againChloe: Are you a present? Because I’d like to lay you under the tree.Max: Ugh why?Chloe: I might not be Santa, but do you want to sit on my lap and tell me what you want for Christmas?Max: 🤦♀️ They just keep getting worseChloe: I’d like to slide down your chimney and make it a not-so-silent nightMax: LMAO CHLOE NOChloe: You mean CHLOE YES! That’s what you said last night!Max: I will be saying Chloe No tonight if you don’t stop it lolChloe: Don’t be such a Grinch Maximus!
~ December 25, 2026 ~
Chloe: Hey sexyMax: Why are you texting me during Christmas dinner?Chloe: Why are you texting back? So your parents don’t know what I’m saying, duh!Max: OMGChloe: I can’t wait to get into your pants tonight. It’s my favorite Christmas present!Max: STOPChloe: I can’t help it! You look so fucking hotMax: lmao I’m wearing an ugly sweater!Chloe: It’s the jeans. Those fucking jeans baby I can’t take it! I want to get in them!Max: There is something wrong with you I swear to GodChloe: I think your parents are onto us. The looks we are getting are STRANGEMax: Then maybe stop texting me?Chloe: You’re still texting me too!Max: Fuck you’re right
~ January 9, 2027 ~
Max: The snow is really starting to get heavy are you coming home soon?Chloe: Yup! I’ll be leaving pretty soonMax: Please drive safeChloe: I will. Promise. Love youMax: Love you too!
~ January 18, 2027 ~
Alex: Hey MaxMax: Hey!Alex: Can I ask you something?Max: Of course!Alex: How did you know you were ready to have Lilly?Max: 😮 OMG WHAT?!?!?!Alex: Don’t leave me hanging!Max: I didn’t know I was ready. I just knew Chloe and I wanted her. Can I ask why you’re asking?Alex: I dunno. Just thinking I guess?Max: 😮
~ January 26, 2027 ~
Chloe: [ Selfie of Steph, Alex, and Chloe in front of a concert stage ]Max: Are you having fun?Chloe: Show hasn’t started yet. We’re having fun but I really wish you were hereMax: I wish I was there too, but someone has to watch Lilly.Chloe: We need more friendsMax: LOL it’s really okay. I know like maybe one of their songs. You have fun and take lots of pictures and some videos too!Chloe: Will do! I love you!Max: Love you too babe!
~ February 14, 2027 ~
Max: You were almost a really good bad influence on meChloe: How so??Max: I almost sent you a nude lolChloe: OMG YOU TEASE!Max: LOL Happy Valentine’s Day babeChloe: You are so damn lucky you’re cute
~ February 23, 2027 ~
Chloe: I haven’t been able to stop thinking about tacos all damn day. Do we have everything we need to make some tonight?Max: Lol I thought this was the start of a dirty joke at first. Let me checkChloe: Wow is that really what you think of me?Max: That’s what I know of you. We should be good except for salsa and shells. Pick some up on the way home. I’ll have the meat ready when you get hereChloe: FUCK YES!!! IT’S TACO TUESDAYYY!!!Max: You’re acting like I did when I was pregnantChloe: At least I’m not crying about itMax: Watch it. I might not make your tacos if you keep being mean to meChloe: Well shit I might cry about it now!
~ March 14, 2027 ~
Mom: So tomorrow is the big day?Max: Yeah 😭Mom: Lilly will be fine. Or is it you I should be worried about?Max: You’re as bad as Chloe!
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
I pout at my wife as we get ready for bed. “I really hate this. Are you one hundred percent sure this is a good idea?”“You are just too cute!” Chloe smiles at me as she comes over and wraps her arms around me. “It’s time to cut the cord, Max.” She rubs my back lovingly.“B-but… She’s still a baby. I’m not ready.” I feel tears begin to fill my eyes as I snuggle into my wife’s embrace.“She’s 21 months old, baby. She’s more than old enough for a few hours of daycare a week.”“She’s going to be so scared… She’ll miss me… What if she thinks I abandoned her?”Chloe sighs and leads me over to the bed. We sit down together, and she continues to hold me. “Max… We’ve left her with Steph and Alex a bunch of times, and she knows we’ve never abandoned her before and that we never will. This is no different.”“It’s totally different! She’s not going to know anyone there!”“That’s kind of the point of this whole thing. She needs to make friends and learn how to be around people she doesn’t know.”“She’s so shy… I love her the way she is, but it just sucks. I wanted her to be outgoing and comfortable around people like you are.”“She’s still really young. It’s not too late. This will help with that. She needs to get used to people outside of us as soon as possible. If we coddle her, she’ll just get more shy.”I sigh in defeat. “Fuck… Did I mention how much I hate this?”Chloe laughs as we finally crawl into bed. Once we pull the blankets over us, Chloe wraps her arms around me again. “You may have mentioned it once or twice.” She runs her hand through my hair trying to soothe me. “She can totally do this. I believe in her.”“Don’t say it like that! Of course I believe in her too… I just know what it’s like to be shy. It’s fucking hard, Chlo.”Chloe sighs softly. “I know, you’re right. Tomorrow is going to be hella hard, but it will be worth it. I just know it. All she needs is one good friend. We know all about that, right?”I look into my wife’s eyes and finally give her a genuine smile. “You make a good point. She deserves friends even if I think it’s too damn early.”“Now that’s the attitude I’m looking for!” Chloe leans in and kisses me softly.…“No go, Mama!” Lilly cries as she clings to my leg. Well, fuck, thanks a lot for that, Lilly. My fucking heart is completely broken now. I look around the daycare. There are a lot of kids, but it’s reasonable for the amount of caretakers. There are also quite a few toddlers, so hopefully she can meet someone her own age and play with them. I carefully pick Lilly up and put her on my hip.“I’ll only be gone for a few hours, baby. You’re going to be just fine. In fact, you’ll have fun. Look at all the fun toys for you to play with.” I speak with false confidence as I rub her back.“No!” Lilly wraps her little arms around my neck as tightly as she can and begins to cry harder.I knew I should have made Chloe do this. I’m starting to worry that I can’t do it. The temptation to say fuck it and leave is extremely high, but I know Chloe would be so pissed at me if I did that. “Shhh, you’re okay. Everything is okay.” I begin rubbing her back as I know it always calms her down.I’m soon interrupted by a familiar woman. I met her when we toured the place last month. “It’s nice to see you again. It’s Max, right?”“Yeah, hi again.” I sigh softly. “Sorry, she’s really scared. I don’t know what to do.”“That’s okay. It’s totally normal for her first day.” She gives me a friendly smile, and somehow it makes me feel a little better. She’s clearly good at her job. I’m a grown-ass woman, and she’s even calming me down. “And you must be Lilly.” She says, trying to get her attention. I shift Lilly a bit in my arms to force her to look at her. “Hi, Lilly. My name is Sam.”Lilly sniffles, and I start wiping her tears away. “Can you say hi to Sam, sweetie?” I ask as I do my best to give my daughter a comforting smile.“Hi.” Lilly finally says shyly.“Very good!” Sam says as she gives her another calming grin.Sam was very sweet with her and quickly gained her trust. She eventually instructs me to leave while she’s distracting Lilly with a coloring book. It breaks my heart not being able to give her a goodbye hug and kiss, but I know this is for the best right now.Once I get back to my car, I let my own tears fall. I know Chloe is right and I’m doing the right thing, but I’ve really gotten attached to always having Lilly with me. It’s been getting harder to do shoots with her, but things have been going extremely well with my photography. I’m actually getting close to the point where I’m not going to need to do anything besides gallery work soon if things keep going the way that they have been. This endeavor is purely so Lilly can make friends and learn social skills with other children. I’ve taken her to various other places to meet other babies, but it never seems to go well. Either the parents are a nightmare, or the kid is, or both. I’m just really hoping this will work out better.I sit alone in the car outside of the daycare for quite a while. I’m worried I’ll get a call any minute that Lilly is freaking out, and she needs me. In the meantime I decide to text Chloe to tell her how things are going.Max: I miss my baby 😭Chloe: YOU DID IT! I’m so proud of you!Max: It was fucking AWFUL. I’m still in the parking lot. I can’t leave yetChloe: You can leave Max. It’s okay.Max: What if she needs me?Chloe: She’ll be fineMax: I’m not fineChloe: Come to the garage thenMax: omwI don’t think twice before driving right to the garage. I feel a little bad about interrupting her day, but I’m totally freaking out. Chloe will be able to calm me down. I do my best to make sure I don’t look like I’ve been bawling my eyes out before getting out of the car. Chloe meets me right in the parking lot and wraps me up in a big hug.“I’m so fucking proud of you, baby.”“That sucked!” I sigh deeply. “She fucking goes, ‘No go, Mama.’ My goddamn heart broke on the spot.”“Oof… She really knows how to pull the damn heartstrings.” Chloe keeps her embrace tight while still rubbing my back to try to calm me down. “Lilly is so damn lucky to have you.”I lose another battle with my emotions, and a few more tears escape my eyes. “This was all you. If something goes wrong, I’m blaming you.” I’m not at all serious. I know we made this choice together, as much as I hate it.Chloe can’t help but let a chuckle escape her. “Fine, I’ll take responsibility. But I should warn you that it works both ways. If and when it goes awesomely, you have to tell me how much of a genius I am.”“I take it all back. It’s not worth the risk.” I giggle and pull back from the hug just enough so I can look into her eyes.Chloe smiles, clearly happy she was able to cheer me up. She leans in and kisses away the last tear from my cheek. “I love you.”“Yeah, yeah.” I tease before quickly dropping my charade. “I love you too, babe.”…I spend the rest of Chloe’s lunch break with her before I’m stuck on my own again. I try going shopping and running various errands to try to keep myself busy, but nothing is enough to distract me from worrying about Lilly. I keep my phone in my hand the entire time. I’m still extremely paranoid about missing a phone call from the daycare.After enduring what felt like the longest three hours of my life, I finally get to return to the daycare. I hop out of the car, and I have all I can do not to sprint into the building. When I get inside, I’m relieved to see Lilly is calmly playing with blocks next to a few other toddlers. I hold back my emotions the best I can, but I can’t help how proud of her I am.“Welcome back, Max!” Sam says greeting me.“Hey. Did everything go alright?” I speak pretty softly, but still loud enough that it gets Lilly’s attention. Her big blue eyes light up, and she begins running over to me as fast as her little legs can carry her.“MAMA!!!” She squeals, clearly beyond thrilled to see me.I happily pick up my daughter and give her a big hug and kiss on the cheek. “I missed you so much, baby. Did you have fun?”She seems like she’s thinking about it for a moment before she answers. “No.” She then buries her face in my chest.Sam laughs at her display. “Don’t worry. I think she’s just being a bit dramatic. I think she actually did enjoy herself, but clearly she missed you.”I chuckle. “I think she gets her dramatics from her other mom.” I pause for a minute and sigh. “Though, honestly, I may have given her a run for her money today. Be as dramatic as you want, baby. I can’t judge you right now.”“You’re not alone. Everyone says it gets better day by day. You’re past the worst part.” Sam gives me an encouraging smile.“Thanks… But please tell me what happened. How did it go, really?” I feel Lilly begin to settle in my arms as she rests her head on my shoulder and begins sucking her thumb. She seems completely exhausted.“When she discovered you were gone, she was pretty upset, but that’s totally normal. I calmed her down in about ten minutes, which is actually very good for her first time. I then introduced her to a few of the other kids her age. They seemed fine with each other, no fighting or anything. She took a thirty-minute nap about an hour ago. I think she wore herself out but was too overstimulated to actually sleep properly. So overall I’d say she did great. A very good first day.” Sam explains.I smile softly and kiss Lilly’s head. I’m so damn proud of her. “Thank you so much. You were obviously great with her. I really appreciate that.”“Of course, Max. Lilly’s great. I can’t wait to see her next time.”…By the time we arrive home, Lilly is in a deep sleep in her car seat. I take my time picking her up, doing my best not to disturb her as I bring her inside. I know I should bring her right to her room, but I’m not ready to let her go just yet. Despite my better judgment, I lay down on the couch with Lilly snuggled on top of my chest.At first I just lay there enjoying watching her sleep while I play with her hair. But the longer I do this, the heavier my own eyelids get. I haven’t taken a nap in months as Lilly has been sleeping through the night really well for a while now, but I think the stress of this day has really taken it out of me. I eventually give in to my own exhaustion and let my eyes close.
~ Chloe ~
When I get out of work, I head right to the store. Max and Lilly have had quite a stressful day, so I want to do something special for them. I know Max was mostly teasing me when she said this whole thing is my fault, but I know in a way it is. I pick out a cute little teddy bear for Lilly and a bouquet of lilies for Max. I don’t get flowers for her very often, so I figure it will be a nice little surprise to cheer her up. I’m not too worried about her, though. I haven’t heard from her at all since she left the garage, and I know if things hadn’t gone well, she’d have definitely called me. For one last treat, I also buy ingredients for homemade pizza since it’s Lilly’s favorite.Once I arrive home, I enter quietly so I can sneak into the kitchen and hide the shopping bags. When I enter the living room, I have to bite back a laugh. It’s both so cute and hilarious to see Max and Lilly completely conked out together on the living room couch. Both Max and I have taken a ton of naps on this couch. We’ve had it since we moved in. To say I’m a bit attached to it after all this time is a bit of an understatement.
~ May 2018 ~
I let myself fall backward to lie down on our brand new living room couch with a groan. It’s been a long day of moving into our new home, but I couldn’t be happier. I still can’t believe Max and I bought a house together. We had to get her parents and David to co-sign the loan, but otherwise we did it all by ourselves like real grown-ass adults.“Dramatic much?” Max teases after witnessing my display.“Not even a little. I’m so fucking done. Get your cute hippie butt over here.” I boldly request as I hold my arms out to her.She gives me an adoring smile and then bites her lip in thought. I can tell she’s trying not to let me win. Max can get very determined to finish a project all in one go without taking a break. Even if it’s as big of a project as moving all of our shit into our house. She eventually gives in and carefully climbs on top of me and rests her head on my chest. “Oh damn. This is nice!” She admits with a breathy sigh.“It’s fucking amazeballs, Maximus! We own a fucking house!”She lifts her head from my chest to give me the brightest smile. “I know, right? It’s crazy! It doesn’t even feel real. It also doesn’t feel real that we’ll be married pretty soon too.”I can’t help the lovesick grin that crosses my face when she says that. “Fuck yeah we will! As much as I enjoy calling you my fiancé, I think I’ll love calling you my wife even more.”Max wastes very little time in capturing my lips with hers, and we both let out soft moans. I wrap my legs around her waist, bringing her even closer to me. I don’t think I’ve ever felt more comfortable in my life than I do right now, sandwiched between our brand new, comfy couch, and my beautiful fiancé.“Mmm, I could get used to this.” I express breathlessly as we finally pull away.Max lets out a gentle laugh. “You act like we’ve never made out on a couch before.”“Oh, I know we’ve done that plenty, Maxi.” I give her a little wink. “But never here, in OUR house, on OUR nice new couch.”“True. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t cozy as fuck right now.” I feel Max let her body fully relax against mine, once again letting her head rest on my chest.I grin and run my fingers through her hair lovingly. “I think we deserve a bit of a break. Don’t you?”“Mmmhmm.” Max agrees sleepily. She yawns and lets her eyes close. “I love you.”“I love you too. Sleep tight, baby.” I kiss the top of her head before letting my eyes close as well.
~ Present Day ~
I leave Max and Lilly to nap while I take my time preparing the pizza. Once I get it in the oven, I check on them again. They are still fast asleep, and I can’t help but smirk as I watch them. I decide I want to wake Max up with a kiss like Sleeping Beauty. I grab the flowers I bought for her and hide them behind my back as I walk over to the couch. I gently stroke Max’s cheek with my free hand as I lean down and place a soft and slow kiss on her lips. I feel her smile against the kiss as she begins waking up.“Morning, Sleeping Beauty.”“Mmm, hi.” Her eyes slowly flutter open to look up at me. “Sorry. I guess I didn’t sleep great last night.”“All good, Super Max.” I lean down and kiss her again. This time she is more awake, so she returns the kiss. When I pull back, she looks me up and down.“Why do you have your hand behind your back?” Max asks with a smug grin. “Are you trying to woo me, Chloe Price?”I smirk as I present the flowers to my wife. “Maybe?”“You’re so cute. Thanks, babe.” She smiles at me, and I can’t help but kneel down and go in for another kiss. I put her flowers to the side when she threads her fingers in my hair to keep me in place as we deepen the kiss.“Hi…” Lilly interrupts as she yawns and rubs her eyes.I slowly pull away from Max and give my daughter a bright smile. “Hi, baby girl.” I run my hand through my daughter’s hair. It’s so damn soft. I’ll never get tired of it.“Mummy!” She holds her arm out towards me.I look at Max for permission to steal her, and she just gives me a smile and nod. I carefully pick up Lilly. I stand up and put her on my hip. “So, I heard you had quite a day today. Mummy is so proud of you.” I give her a kiss on the cheek.“Muah!” Lilly happily giggles.“Oh, are you saying I get a kiss now?” I hold her up near my cheek, and she gives me the sloppiest open-mouthed kiss on my cheek.“Muah!” She shouts again.“That’s right. Muah!” I kiss her cheek one more time in return.Max then gets up and wraps her arms around both of us. “Hey! I want in on this too.”“We wouldn’t even dream of leaving you out, baby.” I reply.“You better not!” She teases as she leans in and kisses Lilly’s cheek and then my lips again.…The rest of the evening goes by quickly, and we are soon putting Lilly to bed for the night.“She all set?” I ask as Max comes out of the nursery.“Yeah, she’s out like a light. She had quite a day.” She replies as she wraps her arms around me.I lean down and give her a soft peck on the lips. “Good. I have another surprise for you.”“Ooo! Is it sex?” She asks with a playful grin.“Yes and no. That wouldn’t be a surprise, so that’s for later.” I wink and take her hand. “Follow me.” She happily squeezes my hand, and I lead her into the bathroom. I’m filling the tub for a bubble bath, and I have a few candles lit on the sink.“I see my guess was pretty close.” Max teases.“Yeah, sorry, I guess I’m getting boring in my old age.”“Chloe Price is never boring. Predictable, maybe, but never boring.” She gives me a cute wink as she begins removing her clothes. I do the same and finish preparing the bath before hopping in the tub first.“It’s time for splish-splash! Get your cute butt in here, hippie!”“Cowabunga!” She jokes as she slides into the tub between my legs. I wrap my arms around her and she leans back against my chest.“So, how do you feel?” I ask as I let my hands run up and down her arms.Max lets her head gently knock against mine. “It always feels good bathing with you, Chlo.”“Yeah, I know that… I mean, how do you feel about today? What’s it like cutting the cord?”“I still think it sucks, but I’m glad you talked me into it anyway.” She looks over her shoulder at me, and I kiss her softly.“I’m so glad, baby.” I kiss her shoulder gently. “Now… I think I found an otter in my water.” I whisper in her ear as I start nibbling on her earlobe.Max moans softly. “Mmm, you really are predictable, but never boring, babe.”
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Tonight is a very quiet night. Max is at a small gallery opening, and I’m staying home with Lilly on my own for the evening. Lilly had daycare today, and she always goes to bed really easy on daycare days. Socialization really wears her out. She definitely takes after Max in that regard. I close the nursery door behind me and then plop myself on the couch. I’m about to turn on my PS5 when my phone rings. At first I assume it’s Max but when I check my phone I see it’s Steph. We haven’t heard much from Steph and Alex lately, so I answer quickly. I’ve been meaning to call them myself to find out if everything is okay because it’s pretty unlike them to go silent on us for so long.“Hey! What’s up, Gingrich? Long time no speaky!” I answer as I recline back on the couch.“Yeah, sorry it’s been a bit, huh?” Steph replies with a soft chuckle. She sounds kind of tired. That’s really unlike her. She’s almost always full of energy. “I’ve been meaning to call, but holy shit, life has been beyond fucking insane lately.”“Really? What’s going on?” I ask curiously. “Crazy hours at the station?” Steph got a new job about six months ago at a radio station in Boston. She used to be a DJ when she lived in Haven Springs, and she’s trying to get into that again.“Yeah, actually. They finally are putting me on the air. Unfortunately, it’s the late-night shift. It’s just kind of shit timing with everything else going on…”“What else could be going on that’s crazier than that? That’s awesome news. Congrats, dude!”“Thanks, it is awesome! Things are really great. I just have never been so busy in my life, and I’m kind of overwhelmed about it.” She admits through a deep breath.“It’s cool. I get it. Now the suspense is killing me! Tell me what’s up!”“Fuck… I feel bad telling you on the phone. We really wanted to do it in person, but we just haven’t had the time.”“Dude, it’s cool. Shit happens.” I’m really starting to worry now. Steph seems nervous. Besides her wedding, I don’t think I’ve ever seen Steph nervous before.“Well… It’s kind of a long story, but I’ll give you the short version. Alex and I took in a foster kid last month. We’re going to adopt her as soon as possible.”“WHAT?!” I cover my mouth quickly once I realize I’m having trouble controlling the volume of my voice due to the pure shock I’m in. I really hope I didn’t wake Lilly.“Yeah. I told you it was a lot.” She lets out an awkward laugh. “Her name is Melody. She’s almost four. She was saved from a really fucked-up home. We only applied to be foster parents a few months ago, but they called us and told us about her situation. There was no way we could say no.”“Steph… That’s… holy shit! Congrats!”“Thanks… Again, we’re really sorry we couldn’t get together to tell you, but we were hoping you’d come to our place for Easter, and obviously we wanted you to know before you showed up at the house.”“Oh, fuck yes, we’re coming for Easter! We gotta meet her as soon as possible! Lilly will be so excited! Do you want help with the food?”Steph laughs. “I’m glad you’re so excited. We are too.”
~ Max - A few days later ~
I hold onto Lilly’s hand as we knock on Steph and Alex’s front door. Chloe grabs my other hand and we smile at each other. We are so excited about this. I still can’t believe Steph and Alex have a kid now. I did my best to explain to Lilly before we left the house that she’d be meeting a special new friend, but I know she’s a bit young to really understand. I just have to pray she is good with her. We were warned ahead of time that due to everything Melody has been through, she’s extremely shy and makes Lilly look like a total social butterfly in comparison. I’m a little nervous about that part, but I also know my daughter is a total sweetheart. I just hope she can show that to people besides myself and Chloe.When the door is opened we are greeted by a very exhausted-looking Alex. She looks how I know Chloe and I did when Lilly was first born. Alex is holding Melody in her arms. She is definitely bigger than Lilly, but she’s still a lot smaller than I expected her to be. I can’t see her face because it is tightly tucked into Alex’s neck, but she has very beautiful, curly, long brown hair that reaches a little past her shoulders.Alex gives us a soft smile. “Hey. Happy Easter. Come on in.”Lilly excitedly babbles seeing Alex. She can’t say auntie or either Steph or Alex’s names just yet, so she usually just makes random excited sounds when she greets them. She then runs over and hugs her leg. Alex smiles and gently puts Melody down beside her. Melody instantly clings onto Alex’s other leg and hides her face behind her. Alex picks up Lilly and gives her a quick kiss on the cheek.“It’s good to see you, Lilly.” She then puts her down again. “I want you to meet my daughter, Melody.” She does her best to get Melody to stop hiding her face. “It’s okay, sweetie. This is Lilly. I told you about her, remember? She’s super nice, and you will have lots of fun with her today.” The shy girl finally moves her face so we can see it a little. She’s very cute and has a very noticeable scar over her left eyebrow. I cringe at the idea of how she may have gotten it, but I know Chloe is probably thinking about how she looks like a badass anime character.Lilly is usually really shy around new people, but she gives Melody a cute little grin. “Hi.” She says sweetly as she opens and closes her little hand in a wave. Melody hides her face again but gestures back with the same wave.“Aww, well that’s a start. I’ll take it.” Alex chuckles softly as she picks up Melody again, who seems happy to be snuggling back into her embrace. “It’s okay. We’ll take it slow.”“I promised to help Steph with the food. Lilly, do you want to help Mommy and Auntie Steph cook?” Chloe asks as she kneels down to her daughter's level.Lilly was pouting at the fact that Melody is hiding from her but is instantly cheered up by Chloe. “Ya!” She says excitedly, holding her arms out to her.“That’s my big girl.” Chloe praises as she picks Lilly up and kisses her cheek.I lean over and also kiss my daughter’s cheek and then my wife’s lips. “Have fun, you two. Don’t get into too much trouble.”“It’s us. We make no promises, Maximus.”“Yeah, it’s you. There’s a reason I feel the need to say that.” I wink before giving my wife one last kiss before she takes Lilly into the kitchen.“Bye-bye!” Lilly happily waves at us before she disappears around the corner.“Damn, she’s really growing up on us.” Alex comments with a chuckle. “I think she might be at the same level of speech as Melody.”I give a proud smile. “She’s been learning so fast lately. I can’t believe it sometimes.” I then look over at Melody, who still seems really frightened. “I’m sure she’ll catch up soon. You two will be amazing parents. I’ve seen you with Lilly. You’re naturals.”Alex takes a deep breath and leads me into the living room so we can sit to continue our conversation. “I hope you’re right. It’s just been a lot. She’s so traumatized and was clearly given no love or attention before. For the first few weeks we couldn’t get her to get anywhere near us. Now cuddling is all she wants, so I guess that’s an improvement.”“That’s a really big improvement. Don’t sell yourselves short. She trusts you now. That’s huge.”“Yeah… I guess that’s a good point.” She rubs Melody’s back absentmindedly.…I spend about an hour hanging out with Alex and Melody. We try to introduce me to her slowly, and eventually she manages to get comfortable enough to leave Alex’s arms and sit on the floor by herself with a coloring book.“Coloring is like her favorite thing. I think we’ve been through ten books already.” Alex admits with a chuckle. “Wowser! That’s a lot of coloring.” I reply. “You know, Lilly really likes coloring too. Maybe we can get them to do it together later on today."“I think that’s a great idea. I swear if they become friends, I’ll probably cry. That would be so incredible for her.”I chuckle. “Trust me, I get it. Lilly isn’t the best at making friends, but she is still young. She’s been a lot better about it since going to daycare. Don’t tell Chloe, but she was right to make me take her there.”“Don’t tell me, huh? I see how you are, Super Max.” Chloe teases as she comes up behind us. I notice Melody instantly tries to hide behind her coloring book once Chloe is in the room. “Whoops, sorry. Didn’t mean to scare ya. Just came to let you all know lunch is ready.”“Awesome! I’m starving.” I quickly get up and grab Chloe’s hand. “Was Lilly helpful?” I joke.“Oh, you know about as helpful as a small toddler can be in the kitchen.”We laugh at that and head into the dining room. Lilly is waiting by the table and happily squeals seeing me. “MAMA!”“Hi, baby. You hungry?”“YA!” She holds her arms up, and I pick her up. We didn’t bring a high-chair for her so I sit her down on my lap.“I’ll feed her, babe.” I volunteer, as I kiss the top of Lilly’s head. Chloe smiles and nods in thanks as she puts a small plate of food she made for Lilly in front of me. “Ooo yum. Looks like you did a great job cooking!” I offer Lilly a piece of ham, and she happily opens her mouth.…Once we finish eating, the six of us head into the living room to visit. We spend about another hour trying to get Melody comfortable around Chloe and Lilly. She hasn’t left Steph’s lap since we sat down, but she does eventually accept her coloring book and a crayon to begin coloring again.In the meantime Lilly has started getting sleepy and is starting to nod off in my arms. Whenever she cuddles with me before her afternoon nap, she always snuggles with her baby blanket. Today is no exception, but she doesn’t have a very good grip on it. As she slowly drifts off, the blanket slips out of her hand and falls to the floor.Suddenly something shocking happens. Melody puts her coloring book down and climbs off of Steph’s lap. She very slowly approaches me and picks the blanket up from the ground near my feet. She then gingerly lays the blanket over Lilly’s shoulders. We all watch in quiet shock. We’re too afraid to even move as we don’t want to risk scaring the skittish little girl. She then scurries away and dives into Alex’s lap.Alex happily wraps her arms around Melody and kisses her head. “That was so sweet of you.” Alex says softly. “You’re such a good girl!”Steph scoots closer to them and also kisses her head. “Yeah, that was incredible! We’re so proud of you.”Melody just presses her face into Alex tighter. I can’t tell if she’s embarrassed or nervous or both, but I can’t wipe the smile off my face as I watch the exchange. They are such a cute family already. I’m so fucking happy for them. I look over to Chloe, who looks like she’s damn close to tearing up herself. I give her a little grin, and she smiles back at me before kissing me softly.Alex begins rubbing Melody’s back, and Steph grabs a blanket that is draped over the couch and puts it over Melody’s shoulders. Alex smiles up at her wife. “You know, I was just wondering where she learned to do such a sweet thing from. Clearly it was from you, babe.”“I didn’t even think of that, but you might be right.” Steph admits proudly as she wraps an arm around Alex.The two of them seem to get lost staring at each other with such love in their eyes. I know Chloe and I do this same shit all the time, but it’s pretty cute seeing them do it. I always get embarrassed when someone catches me looking at Chloe like that, but I’d never make fun of them for it. If anything, I feel a little bad for intruding on the moment.
~ April 2023 ~
“So, do you get kicked off the stage often?” Chloe playfully teases Steph as the three of us stand in front of a tiny stage in a very small dive bar.Steph laughs. “As you can see, this stage won’t exactly accommodate a full-sized drum set. Whenever we actually get paid a decent amount to play a place like this, Alex will just go on by herself. It’s not ideal, but it is what it is.”“Yeah, that makes sense. I guess in this case it’s not so bad. You get to spend a little extra time with us.” I give Chloe’s hand a little squeeze and she does the same back.“True! At least I don’t have to be bored or drink alone.” Steph grins and raises her glass to clink with Chloe’s and then mine before she takes a big sip.I clink my glass against Chloe’s as well before taking a small sip. We haven’t seen Alex and Steph in person for so long. I’m so glad they finally had some shows booked here on the east coast again. COVID really messed up their touring schedule. It’s great to see things are finally starting to return to normal.Soon, Alex takes the stage. She adjusts the microphone to her height before giving us all a soft grin. I notice her give Steph a bit of an extra lingering glance before she begins.“Hi everyone. I think I’ll get things started with something chill. This one goes out to my beautiful girlfriend, Steph, who usually is on stage with me on drums. Unfortunately the stage is a tiny bit small for that, so I suppose I can let her have a day off for a change.” Alex winks at Steph before beginning to play.I can’t help but notice Steph staring at Alex with her jaw practically on the floor. It was incredibly sweet that Alex immediately dedicated a song to her, but I have a funny feeling there is more to it than just that. This song must mean something to them, because Steph looks like she’s close to tears. Chloe seems to pick up on it as well, and she lets go of my hand and moves to hold me from behind instead. We almost always watch shows like this so we can still talk over the music.“I think Steph’s really got it bad.” Chloe says into my ear.“True. As if we’re any different, though.” I remind her with a chuckle.“Fair enough. I guess I won’t tease her too much then.” Chloe kisses my cheek, and I give her an affectionate smile.When I turn my attention back to Alex, I notice she’s giving Steph the same lovesick look back, even while she plays. I don’t think anyone else in this room exists to them anymore. I know the feeling well. Even though I don’t know Alex or Steph very well, it’s so obvious how much they love each other.
~ Present Day ~
We spend the rest of the afternoon hanging out while the girls nap and then watching them play a little when they wake up. It takes most of the afternoon, but eventually Lilly manages to be able to sit next to Melody without her running away.“So I don’t know about you guys, but I had fun at Mom Club today.” Chloe teases as we begin packing up Lilly’s stuff to head home.I smirk at my wife. “More like Lesbian Mom Club. And hell yes, I did too.”Steph and Alex laugh at our antics. “We should hold at least weekly meetings. I think we might need our wise elders to help whenever possible.” Steph gives me a hopeful smile.“Absolutely!” I reply. “Lilly will love it, and we will too. I’ve missed you guys.”“Call me wise again! I don’t think anyone ever has.” Chloe jokes.“I’ve called you a wise ass plenty of times.” I give her a wink.“Now who is being a wise ass?!” She wraps her arms around my waist and begins tickling me.I do my best not to be too loud to avoid scaring Melody, but I also start tickling Chloe back. I won’t let her win this time.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
I haven’t been able to keep my eyes off of Max all day. She looks so fucking beautiful in her extra fancy dress for this huge gallery showing. She really went above and beyond for this one. I think she would fit in just fine on the red carpet, but at the same time, she does not look at all out of place. Everyone else seems to have had the same idea.This is by far the biggest gallery Max has ever shown her work in, and I’m beyond proud of her. She’s been absolutely crushing it lately. She’s been turning down a lot of freelance work and even weddings because we can actually afford to be picky about what she takes on. I’ve been thinking about throwing her a party to celebrate, but this gallery opening is a way better party than I could ever throw. It’s a little fancy for our tastes, but there is a shit ton of free food and alcohol. You can’t beat that in my opinion.I try to stay out of the way while I let Max schmooze with all the rich art collectors. She used to be glued to my side during these events, but now that most of the time I can’t be there because I have to stay home and watch Lilly, she’s gotten used to handling it on her own. Today Alex and Steph were nice enough to take Lilly for the night so I could come and support Max. I’m beyond excited to be here. Max more than deserves this, but it’s still hella cool to see one of the biggest galleries in Boston displaying her work.I spend most of my time loitering near the refreshments. They have a huge table just covered in hors d'oeuvres and desserts. I’ve sampled most of it, and everything is ridiculously good. I especially like the meatballs. I put four more of them on a plate and a few other things I think Max would want. I figure the least I can do is deliver her some food while she works.When I make my way over to her, she’s engaged in conversation with a dude who looks freakishly similar to the Monopoly man. I can’t help but linger off to the side and begin to eavesdrop.“This is such a wonderful piece, Ms. Price. I’m very impressed. For an artist so young, you seem to have the eye of a much more experienced, more classical photographer.” The Monopoly man excitedly compliments as he strokes his chin.“Oh, thank you, sir! You can call me Max.” She replies politely.I bite back a laugh. I’m sure half of Max’s time at these events is just spent telling everyone to call her Max. She uses her full name on all of her art, so the amount of people calling her Maxine or Miss Price is extremely high. The two of them continue chatting more about her photo long enough for me to get impatient, so I decide to interrupt.“Sorry to butt in, but I brought you some food, and I didn’t want it to get cold.” I give Max a grin as I hand her the small plate.“Ooo, this looks awesome. Thanks so much, babe!” She happily takes the plate from me and then pops one of the meatballs into her mouth. “Oh my dog… This is so good!”“Right? I thought they were totally amazeballs!”Max laughs. “Amazeballs meatballs. I guess you could just call them amazeballs then.”“Good one, Maximus.” I shake my head at her joke. Max is starting to become the master of dad jokes. I couldn’t be more into it, though. It’s fucking adorable.She gives me a very proud grin before realizing she totally got distracted from her earlier conversation. “I’m so sorry! That was rude of me. Mr. Jones, this is my wife, Chloe Price. Chloe, Mr. Jones owns the gallery.”“No fu—I mean, no way! That’s awesome. It’s a pleasure to meet you, sir!” I reach my hand out, and he gives me a smile as he shakes it.“The pleasure is mine.” He replies. “Your wife is very talented!”“Trust me, I know!” I brag, making my wife turn a deep shade of red.Max grumbles under her breath a little before her face softens as she looks to me again. “If you could get me a glass of wine right now, you’d be my hero.”“What happened to the hero status you bestowed upon me that time I got you a pint of peanut butter ice cream at 3 am when you were nine months pregnant?” I tease.Mr. Jones laughs at that. “You have to renew the title. Believe me. At least my wife makes me renew mine fairly regularly.”“Fair enough. I’ll be right back.” As I turn to leave, Max grabs my wrist and looks to me expectantly. I didn’t try to kiss her like I normally would just in case she wanted to keep things a little low-key while we’re here. But she doesn’t seem to care, though, which makes me very happy. I lean down and place a chaste kiss on her lips as I gently run my hand across her hip. “I love you.”“I love you too. Now go and reclaim your title.” She winks.I smirk as I slowly back away from her and make my way to the bar.…As the evening goes on, I’m three glasses of wine and four or five plates of food in when I return to Max with a third glass of merlot for her.“I don’t know if I should drink that, babe.” Max admits with a giggle. “I’m already really feeling it.”“Oh, come on. This is a celebration for you. You should enjoy it!” I gingerly place the glass of wine in her hand before I lean over and give her a kiss on the cheek. I then notice what I did and laugh. “Oops. I’m not used to wearing lipstick. I got a little on you, Mad Max.” I then lick my thumb as I move in closer to her. “Prepare to be momed!”“Chloe, no! Absolutely not!” She laughs as she playfully pushes me away. “I’ll clean it off in the bathroom like a normal person!”“Aww, you’re no fun, baby.” I tease as I slide my hand into hers and we walk towards the bathroom together. I hold her drink and purse for her while she goes to clean herself off.Once Max returns from the bathroom, she takes her drink back with one hand and grabs my hand with the other. “I guess I can only get kisses on the lips for the rest of the night.”“Mmm. Well, that’s a real bummer.” I say with my words dripping in sarcasm. I lean down and capture her lips with mine again. When I pull back, I lovingly stroke her hair back behind her ear. “Yum! You taste like wine and amazeballs.”She giggles. “You’re so ridiculous.”“So anyway, I gotta be honest, I’ve only really toured the buffet table and the bar so far. Do you want to give me a real tour of this place?”Max smiles brightly and nods enthusiastically. “I’d love to, babe! Let’s go this way first.” She drags me off in the opposite direction of her photo, and we begin looking at the other pieces. She explains each piece to me, and if she knows the artist, she tells me a bit about them as well. To be honest, I don’t really care that much about the other pieces in the gallery. I only really care about Max’s photos, but I can tell Max is excited that her work is featured with theirs, so I’m more than happy to get the long tour and explanations. Sometimes it’s hard to believe Max almost gave up photography. I’m so glad she was able to face her demons and regain her love for it.
~ December 2013 ~
Max seems to be staring at the view around us in awe. It’s late evening on New Year’s Eve, and there are Christmas lights strung up all over the park we’re taking a walk in. I can almost see her taking photos of it with her mind, but she makes no moves to actually pull out a camera or even her phone. I haven’t seen her take a single photo since the storm. She keeps saying it’s because she doesn’t want to risk letting anything happen to my dad’s camera, but I know there’s a lot more to it than that.“Hey, Max?”It takes her a few seconds too long to respond to me, but she eventually does. “Hmm?”“Let’s take a selfie.” I suggest as I give her a soft smile.“I… Uh… I didn’t bring my camera.” Max stumbles over her words. It’s so painfully obvious that she’s just making up excuses.“We can just use your phone.” I remind her.Max avoids eye contact with me as she continues to walk, now in complete silence.“I don’t want to pressure you, but honestly it’s just weird to be in such a scenic location with you without a single photo being taken.”Max sighs and eventually stops walking. She stares off into the distance and crosses her arms. “Well, get used to it. That’s just how it is now.” She says with a bit more bite than I was expecting.I head over to her and gently put a hand on her shoulder. “Is that how it is because that’s how you really want it? Because in that case I’ll drop it… But, otherwise, I’m sorry, but I can’t stand by and allow some fucked-up weirdo take away something you love.”Max’s shoulder is extremely tense as I touch her, but she doesn’t pull away. “You just don’t get it, Chlo. What he was doing was so fucked up. I don’t want to be like him. Even the sight of a camera reminds me of it. How the fuck can I be a photographer now?”“You could never be like that psycho, Super Max.” I assure her. “He took his pictures because he was nothing more than a perverted motherfucker claiming to be an artist. Your photos are actually art. You are an artist and a good one too.”Max begins to tear up a little. “That’s sweet, Chloe, but it’s not true. I’m nothing special, and even if I was, I don’t think I can take photos anymore anyway.”Once she starts crying, I can’t help myself. I have to pull her into my arms tightly and rub her back in an attempt to calm her down. “Have you tried since… you know?”It takes her a minute to answer me, but she doesn’t hesitate to wrap herself around me tightly. She hides her face in my neck to hide the fact that she’s crying from the few people also out walking in the park. “Yes. A few times. With my phone. I freaked out every time and couldn’t do it.”“Let me help you then. I want a selfie, Maximus.”Max sniffles a little against my neck. “Then take one. Leave me out of it. I’m sure I look like hell anyway.”“You could never look like hell, but I’ll wait until you calm down first. Then we’re taking a selfie. I want a selfie with my best friend on New Year’s Eve. This is my only chance to get it.”Max sighs and slowly steps out of my embrace. She wipes her eyes a little as she slowly starts calming down. “I’m going to totally freak out. Just to warn you in advance.”“We’ll take it nice and slow then.” I pull out my phone and place it in her hand before wrapping my arm around her shoulders, pulling her as close to me as I can get. “You’re the artist; you line up the shot. Take your time. It’s just us here.”She pouts about it at first, but slowly she opens the camera app on my phone and holds it out in front of us. We’re already standing in front of a bunch of trees covered in Christmas lights. It should be more than easy for her to get a very gorgeous shot.“Fuck yeah! We’re lookin’ hella fine already!”Max lets out a giggle. “If you say so.” I can feel both of her hands shaking a little, so I help steady her hand that’s holding the phone out.“It’s okay. You got this. Don’t take it until you’re ready. I’ve got nowhere else to be.”Max finally is able to give a soft smile to the camera. She then slowly begins to move her free hand towards the phone to press the button. I smile as well in anticipation. When she finally taps the button and the click sound plays, it makes her jump a tiny bit, and I tighten my grip on her.“See! You did it! I knew you could!” I give her an excited smile, and she gives me a hesitant one in return. “Let’s see what you got.” I ask, motioning to the phone.Max hands me my phone back and leans into my embrace a little tighter. I assume it’s so she can also look at the phone with me, but I honestly wish that it is because she is enjoying our closeness in this moment as much as I am. I open up my photo library and bring up the photo she just took. As I expected, it came out totally perfect. Not only is the background looking flawless behind us, but we also both look really happy. I know Max wasn’t particularly happy when taking this photo, but she still somehow managed to get the exact image I know she was looking for.“Look, it’s totally amazeballs! I knew it would be.” I give her a smug grin.“Wowser! I did it!”“Hell yeah, you did!” I gently pat her shoulder. “Now, maybe try taking a few with your phone. I’ll be right here. You hella got this!”Max chuckles. “If you say so. I guess I can try.”
~ Present Day ~
Eventually we end up in an area of the gallery I hadn’t seen yet. There is a small band playing slow classical music, and there are a few couples dancing. Max grins at me and puts down her empty wine glass. “You wouldn’t happen to want to…”“I’d love to dance, Max.” I happily head over to the dance floor and wrap my arms around her waist and hold her close to me.She looks up into my eyes and wraps her arms around my neck as we begin to sway to the music. “Thanks so much for coming tonight. These events are so much more fun when you’re here.”“Even though I always embarrass you?” I ask with a giggle.“You’re not that embarrassing. I love that you’re always yourself. I don’t give a fuck about what anyone else thinks. Though, I do appreciate you for somewhat behaving in front of people like Mr. Jones. It definitely affects our wallets.”I chuckle as I move my forehead to press against hers. I close my eyes and enjoy holding her close. “Yeah, it’s probably for the best if I don’t get you kicked out of here.”Max moves a hand to my cheek and begins stroking it. “How can I repay you?” She asks in a seductive tone.“Fuck, Max. It’s bad enough I have to try to keep my hands off of you while you walk around here looking like you’re ready for the fucking red carpet. Now you’re going to tease me on top of that?”“Yeah, but you have no one to blame but yourself. I’ve had three huge glasses of wine because of you.” She reminds me with a chuckle.“As much as I already miss Lilly, I’m really glad we have the entire night to ourselves.” I then lean down and give her a soft and slow kiss. Max lets out a quiet moan as she allows my tongue to slide into her mouth.Max and I kiss for a few minutes as we dance before finally pulling back. “Do you want to get out of here?” She asks as she looks deep into my eyes.“Fuck yeah, I do!” I answer with a huge grin.…
~ Max ~
I cradle my wife’s head in my arms and pull her against my naked chest as we both regain our breath. She rubs her face into me before she begins placing a few kisses on my skin. I let out a satisfied sigh and play with her hair while we both come down from our post-sex bliss.“Fuck, I love you so much, Chloe.” I whisper as I kiss the top of her head.She lets out a contented hum as she pulls the blanket up over us. “I love you too, baby. Today was so fucking amazing!”“You’re telling me! I still can’t believe my work was in that place!”“I believe it! It’s about fucking time if you ask me! You’ve been working your ass off for this for more than ten years. You have more than earned it.”“You’re so sweet.” I grin as Chloe moves her face up so she can look at me.“And I’m not just saying that because you looked like a freakin’ celebrity today either.” She gives me a sexy wink.“You didn’t look so bad yourself. Thanks for going to the tailor and even wearing makeup for me. I knew this would be by far the fanciest party we’ve ever been to.”“You know I’d do anything for you. Plus it’s only right I look at least half presentable next to you in that dress. I’m more than willing to go to all the fancy parties if I can get more of those amazeballs.”I chuckle. “They were pretty good. We might have to learn to make them ourselves. That would probably be a lot easier than getting invited to another fancy party.”“I mean, maybe, but you’re making it big, Maxi! I’m sure this is far from our last fancy party.”“You have far too much confidence in me, babe.” I smirk, and she moves up my body so we can make eye contact as she shakes her head.“And you don’t have enough confidence in yourself. So I will just have to pick up the slack.” She then strokes my cheek as she leans in and gives me a deep kiss. I can’t help but smile into the kiss as I pull her closer to me. She smiles back as she slowly pulls away. “I do miss Lilly, but I have to admit I really enjoy having you all to myself once in a while.”I look lovingly into her eyes as I push her hair back behind her ear. “Yeah. I can’t wait to get her in the morning, but I will also enjoy getting to sleep in beforehand.”Chloe laughs as she lays her head back down on my chest. I begin to play with her hair as we settle back down and relax again. “Yeah, I also miss sleeping in, but she’s so fucking worth it.”“Oh, most definitely. She’s more than worth it. I would have taken her to the party tonight if it weren’t so far past her bedtime.”Chloe begins running her fingertips over my chest as she lets out a happy sigh. “I think she would have enjoyed meeting the Monopoly man.”I can’t help but laugh. “Oh my dog! He really did look like the Monopoly man!”“For real. I bet she also would have enjoyed the amazeballs.”“Chloe, I think you’re addicted. Do I need to get you help?”“Yeah, probably. Just sign me up for AA. Amazeballaholics Anonymous.” Chloe can’t help but crack up a little at her own joke.“Fuck... I set you right up for that one.” I try to not give her the satisfaction of getting me to laugh, but I can’t help it. I think she’s funny as hell, and she’ll get me laughing with her ridiculousness every time.“Do you regret inviting me to the gallery opening yet?”“Absolutely not. Tell me all the ridiculous jokes you want. It’s part of your charm.”“Oh? What else do you find charming about me?” Chloe asks seductively.“Oh, I don’t know… Why don’t you remind me?”Chloe smiles brightly as she moves to straddle me. “With pleasure!”
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
The sun has just set as I near the end of my drive. Both Lilly and Chloe are fast asleep in the car. We had a busy day, so I don’t blame them a bit. Today is the first day of our two-week-long vacation. Chloe and I planned a scenic road trip to get to where we are staying on the beach in Florida. I’m so excited about this. Chloe and I haven’t taken a vacation since years before Lilly was born, and we definitely have never taken a vacation this long.This trip isn’t only for fun, though. I need new photos for gallery submissions, but getting the photos I need will only feel a little like work. Lilly and I have gone to almost every park and national landmark in a fifty-mile radius over the last year and a half to get the photos I have been submitting, and we’ve had an absolute blast doing it. Lilly is only two years old, but I can already tell she really loves being outside. Even during the colder months, she always seems happy going on walks with me wherever I need to go. The only thing I didn’t enjoy about it was the fact we usually do it while Chloe works. This trip will allow the three of us to do it together. I know Chloe has been jealous and is dying to join us on our adventures.Our first stop today was at a very gorgeous botanical garden in Connecticut. I think I have enough photos of flowers now to last me a lifetime, but it was a great first stop, and we all had fun. There was a ton of walking, and it was hotter than hell today. It’s only going to get hotter as we get closer to Florida, but by then we’ll at least be able to take things slower and spend most of our time in a pool or on the beach. I think being out in the sun all day really wore out everyone. Chloe normally wouldn’t be asleep so early, so I’m sure it was the sun that did it. I also can’t help but notice Lilly is starting to get tiny patches of freckles on her face. I’ve been putting sunscreen on her as much as possible, but I’m sure she inherited them from me, and they’re just showing up since she’s been spending more time outside.Eventually I arrive at our destination. It’s a cute little motel we’re staying in for the night before we continue our journey tomorrow. I look over at my wife, who looks really beautiful as she peacefully sleeps in the seat beside me. I gently stroke her thigh as I lean over and press a gentle kiss to her cheek.“We’re here, babe.”“Hmm, what?” She takes a minute to realize where she is and then looks to me sheepishly. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to pass out on you.”“No worries. We had a big day. Let’s go get checked in.”…The next day we arrive at our next stop around 11 am. This is probably the stop before the beach I’m looking forward to the most. We’re at a very large zoo. Lilly loves animals, and I know she’s going to really enjoy seeing so many in person. I also enjoy photographing animals. I don’t do it often, but I find it to be a very fun challenge.We load Lilly’s stroller up with all her stuff, but she fusses when I try to put her in. She prefers to walk most of the time and will only be happy in the stroller if she’s getting tired.“Alright, you can walk, but you have to hold Mommy’s hand the entire time, okay?” I look to Chloe, and she nods as she takes Lilly’s hand.“Okay!” Lilly replies as she immediately tries to take off and lead Chloe along with her.Chloe laughs. “You better move your butt, Maximus. Lilly’s clearly not afraid to leave you behind.”“I see that.” I smile and shake my head as I push the empty stroller towards the entrance.…The longer we spend in the zoo, the more enthusiastic Lilly gets. As we get to each new area, she points at the animal excitedly. Chloe will then tell her what the animal is and even reads some of the info displayed at each exhibit to her. Lilly seems pretty interested, even if a lot of it is a bit hard for her young mind to fully understand. Meanwhile, I have been snapping photos like crazy. I’ve gotten some decent shots, but I’m not super worried about that today. This stop is definitely more about having fun than for my photography.We soon arrive at the part of the zoo I’m looking forward to the most. The tiger exhibit. When Lilly sees the tigers, her eyes bug out, and she points even more frantically.“KITTY!” Lilly excitedly exclaims.“Very good, baby girl. These are tigers, and they are a type of kitty. They’re called big cats.” Chloe explains as she picks Lilly up so she can get a better look at the tigers. I turn my camera towards my family and start taking pictures of them instead. They are so cute together as they chat about the tigers. It makes me fall in love with them all over again.When Chloe notices what I’m doing, she smiles at me. “Hey, Maxi! Come take a selfie with us. I don’t want people thinking we came to the zoo all by ourselves.” She teases. I’m more than happy to oblige. I pull out my phone and take a few selfies of the three of us with the tigers.…The rest of the day passes very much the same. Lilly didn’t even nap; she was far too excited to even begin to settle down. We’re paying for that now as she’s getting extremely cranky.“No wanna go!” She pouts and begins tearing up once she sees the exit.“Aww, I know you had fun, baby girl, but it’s time to go. We need to hit the road so we can sleep, and then tomorrow we’ll have another exciting adventure.” Chloe explains.“No!” Lilly says defiantly.Chloe shakes her head and picks her up in her arms again. “We really gotta, but I’m glad you had so much fun today.”“This won’t be our last trip to the zoo. I promise. You clearly loved it. We’ll come again soon.” I promise her as I lean over and kiss her cheek. Lilly continues to fuss, but I know we’re past the point of no return. She’s just going to scream and cry until she falls asleep now, no matter what we say or do.Chloe and I end up working together to get her into her car seat and buckled in as she’s fighting it pretty hard. She calms down slightly when I hand her favorite teddy bear to her. She hugs it tightly as her screams slowly turn into whines and sniffles. When Chloe starts up the car, I put on a chill playlist that always seems to help Lilly fall asleep.“Do you want me to drive again, babe?” I ask, remembering how she fell asleep last night.“Nah, I got it. It’s your turn to relax tonight.” She rests her hand on my thigh, and I lean over and give her a soft and slow kiss.“Just pull over if you change your mind.” I look into her eyes and sigh happily. We’ve only been on this trip for two days, and it’s already been so fucking incredible. Even with my extremely cranky baby crying in the back seat, there is nowhere I’d rather be. “I love you.”Chloe smiles brightly at me. “I love you too.” We look at each other dumbly for a minute or so before Chloe finally turns back to face forwards. “Well, I don’t know about you, but I’m starving. Let’s get some fast food up in here!”“Aye aye, captain!” I reply as I happily recline back in my seat. My face hurts a little from the big dumb grin that’s plastered on my face. This is my new favorite vacation that I’ve ever been on. I didn’t think anything could be as amazing as the first time Chloe and I went on vacation together.
~ April 2016 ~
“Step-douche really hooked us up!” Chloe admits, with a bright grin as she lays back on her sleeping bag, and looks up at the stars.She’s really not kidding. David actually paid for us to fly out to Arizona to visit him during spring break and so far the trip has been nothing short of incredible. He even showed us this amazing camping spot right on the canyon. We’ve seen the most breathtaking views, and the photos I’ve gotten don’t even look real. Not to mention, he left us alone to camp out tonight. This might be the most romantic place in the entire universe. Chloe looks nothing less than like a total goddess laying out under the stars.“You’re really still calling him that?” I can’t help but laugh as I lay down next to her and grab her hand.Chloe happily squeezes my hand and scoots a little closer to me so we are shoulder to shoulder. “Duh, that’s his name!”“Even after he sent you that very sweet apology letter, and paid for this trip?”“He can’t just buy himself a new nickname, Maximus. That’s not how it works!”“I’m sure bribery would never ever work on Chloe Price.” I tease as I turn to my side and wrap an arm around her waist.Chloe can tell what I’m doing so she immediately pulls me into her arms so I can cuddle into her side and rest my head on her chest. “Damn right! But if it did… Well, I guess I’d have to come up with something pretty fucking nice. This place is hella cool.”“Yeah, it’s so beautiful here.” I let out a dreamy sigh.Chloe smiles and runs her fingers through my hair. “It is, but I think the best thing he did for me so far was leave me alone with you up here.”“Oh, yeah?” I ask, biting my lip. “What do you have planned for me?”“Mmm, well, I can definitely think of a couple things.” She gently rolls me over to my back and then lays down on top of me.My hands immediately find their way into her hair and she lets out a soft hum as she begins to kiss me passionately. My mind usually goes blank when we do this, but thanks to this amazing vacation I somehow feel even more relaxed. I feel so far away from all the stresses of real life, and all that matters in this moment is the gorgeous woman on top of me. I don’t think I’ve ever been this happy in my entire life.Chloe moves her kisses across my jawline and to my neck. I’m definitely about to end up with some very embarrassing hickeys, but I can’t be bothered to stop her. It feels far too good. “I’m so fucking in love with you, Max.” She rasps into my neck. I feel my entire body cover itself with goosebumps in response. I think this vacation is very much affecting Chloe the same way it is me.“You’re my everything, Chloe. I’m madly in love with you too.” I feel a few tears build up in my eyes.I feel Chloe smile against my neck before she moves to look into my eyes. “I want you so fucking bad.”“You have me. Always.”
~ Present Day ~
The rest of the road trip down went just as amazingly. We saw so many amazing sights, and I got all the photos I could have possibly dreamed of. Lilly enjoyed herself, but the zoo was definitely the highlight of her trip so far. I’m hoping we can top it today since this is the start of our actual vacation. We plan to spend most of our day hanging out at the hotel’s pool. Lilly loves baths and the water, but we’ve never taken her swimming in a full-size pool before. I know she’ll absolutely love it.“I still wish you got the bikini instead.” Chloe teases when she sees me all changed into my one-piece bathing suit.“Oh, come on, babe. I can’t pull that off anymore.” I playfully roll my eyes. I then get distracted as I can’t help but ogle my wife, who is wearing a very beautiful blue bikini. It matches well with the freshly blue-dyed ends of her shoulder-length hair.“Well, that’s just plain untrue. Also hella unfair. I see you lookin’ at me.” She wraps her arms around my waist and then grins when she starts sliding them up my back. “Oh, but then again… I’m really liking this backless thing you’ve got going on here.”I grin. “Well, just because I didn’t want to show off my stretch marks doesn’t mean I didn’t want to at least give you a little skin to look at.”“All of you is beautiful, Maximus.” She says, full of conviction, before giving me a loving kiss.“Mama! Mummy! Go!” Lilly interrupts as she stands by the door impatiently. Lilly looks extremely cute all ready for the pool. Her hair is pulled up in two little pigtails on either side of her head. She’s wearing a bathing suit that is bright yellow with pink flowers on it. She’s also wearing matching pink flip-flops and is holding her life jacket in one hand and a rubber ducky in the other.Chloe chuckles as she pulls back from me slowly. “Alright, twist my arm, cutie.” She jokes as she takes the life jacket from Lilly and hands it to me. I put it in a bag we prepared, full of pool toys and towels. Chloe then takes Lilly’s hand, and we start walking to the pool.It’s a nice day out, so luckily the indoor pool is pretty abandoned. We find a few lounge chairs to ditch our stuff on before Chloe picks up Lilly.“You ready to go swimming, baby girl?” Chloe asks as she playfully bounces Lilly in her arms.Lilly lets out a loud squeal, and she happily claps her hands. “Ya!”I wrap an arm around my wife’s waist as we walk into the pool together. Chloe slowly helps Lilly get used to the water. Once she’s adjusted, she happily begins splashing about.It doesn’t take long before Lilly splashes me directly in the face. “Oh, is that how it is?” I playfully splash her back gently, causing her to squeal in laughter. She splashes even harder trying to get me again. Chloe laughs and uses her free hand to join in as well.“Don’t worry, Lil. We’ll get Mama good!” Chloe winks at me as she helps Lilly continue to splash me. I let them get me multiple times before I playfully pout at them.“Oh, enough of this. I’ll get you both!” I swim away from them and pull myself out of the pool. I then yell “Cowabunga!” As I jump back in next to them again. When I resurface, they are both laughing from getting completely drenched from my cannonball. I then swim up behind my wife and wrap my arms around both of them. “Gotcha!”“Mama got us good. Didn’t she, Lil?” Chloe laughs and shakes her head like a dog, once again splashing both of us with her wet hair.After a long water fight between the three of us, we put Lilly’s life jacket on her and put her in a floating seat so she can be in the water a little more independently. We gave her the rubber ducky, which she’s happily splashing in and out of the water.I wrap my arms around my wife and hold her close while we both watch our daughter. “I think she’s having fun.” I comment knowing how obvious that fact is.“She is! I am too.” Chloe replies as she grabs me by my thighs and wraps my legs around her waist. “Mmm, now that’s even better.”I smile, and I gently touch her nose with mine. “It really is.” I then turn my head away from her so I can keep my eye on Lilly. She’s right next to me, but I can’t help but be a little paranoid.Chloe notices what I’m doing, and she just chuckles softly as she leans in and kisses my cheek. “I love you, baby.”I hold onto Lilly’s float with one hand so I feel a little more comfortable looking away for a few seconds to look into my wife’s eyes. “I love you too. This trip has been so awesome.” I let out a contented sigh.“Yeah, it really has. We should do this every year!”“A yearly road trip? That’s actually an amazing idea.”“Don’t sound so surprised! I’m not just a hot body, Max.” She winks, and I roll my eyes.“Shut up, you dork.”“Why don’t you make me?” She gives me a very sexy smirk.I wish she didn’t make me so weak sometimes, but I can’t help but stroke her cheek as I lean in and kiss her again.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
“Fuck me, this is such a fucking terrible idea!” Steph grumbles as she plops into the passenger side of my car.“Trust me, I get it. When I left Lilly here for the first time, I completely freaked the fuck out right in this very parking lot.” I put my hand on Steph’s shoulder to encourage her. “It ended up working out great for Lilly, though.”“Yeah, for Lilly this is fine. This is Melody we’re talking about! She’s not like Lilly.”I sigh softly. Deep down I know she’s right. Lilly knows nothing but safety and love being raised by us. Melody came from an abusive home and is still trying to adjust to having love and a safe home. She’s extremely skittish of strangers. Especially men. Steph told me when she first took in Melody, the sight of a man would completely shut her down. That was the reason she was offered to them. They were only allowing lesbian couples to foster her, so it moved Alex and Steph right to the top of the list. Who knows if Melody is actually ready for daycare yet, but I want to stay positive and encourage Steph.“I know, but I’m sure this will be good for her, and don’t forget that Lilly will be there with her. She’s oddly supportive for a two-year-old.” I assure her with a chuckle.“I can’t argue with that.” Steph admits finally cracking a small smile. I know she’s thinking about the same thing I am. About a week ago Lilly stayed the night with Alex and Steph, and she heard Melody screaming in the night because she was having a nightmare. She then took it upon herself to crawl into bed with her and hold her for the rest of the night.“Melody is doing so much better than when we first met her. I’m sure you’re really proud.” I remind her.“Of course I am. I just think it’s too soon. It’s only been six months!” She rubs her forehead. “I just… ugh! I dunno, Max. This just fucking sucks!”I’ve never related so much to anything in my life as I look to my upset friend. “I know I shouldn’t keep saying I get it, but I really feel like I do. How about we grab some burgers and go back to my place?”“I feel like I need a drink… Or six, but sure, I guess I can settle for a burger.”…We aren’t back at my house for very long before Steph’s phone rings. I don’t want to be nosy, but I’m sure she’s just as worried that it’s the daycare as I am. Sure enough, Steph picks it up as fast as possible.“Hello!?” She answers clearly, trying to hold back panic. I think she accidentally hit the speakerphone button, as I can hear the voice on the other end as clear as day.“Hi, Steph. This is Sam. Don’t worry; Melody is just fine, but there was a small incident. We thought you might want to come pick her up.”“Shit! I’ll be right there!” She hangs up, and we head right to the car. We barely start driving over when I also get a phone call from the daycare.“Hello?”“Hi, Max. This is Sam. Lilly is just fine, but there was a small incident. Would you be able to pick her up a little early today?”“Yeah, I’m actually on my way over anyway. Steph and I are friends, and we were hanging out.”“Oh! That actually explains a lot, actually. Thanks, Max. I’ll see you soon.”I hang up and sigh. “I really hope my kid didn’t get yours in trouble.” Steph doesn’t even react. She just nervously looks out the window in silence.When we arrive, Steph barely waits for me to park the car before she jumps out and runs inside the daycare. I follow pretty quickly behind her. I have no idea what the fuck could have happened, but I’m absolutely dying to know. I’m a little worried about Lilly and Melody, but I’m mostly just curious. I’m 100% sure Melody didn’t get up to any trouble, and how much trouble could my two-year-old cause? This is the first time I’ve ever been called to pick her up early, and she’s been coming here at least twice a week for about six months now.Once I’m inside, I find Steph already has Melody tightly wrapped in her arms.“It’s okay. Mama is here.” Steph says soothingly.“Lilly saved me.” Melody says as she cries softly in Steph’s arms.“She did? What did she save you from?” Steph asks, confused.“Meanies.” She answers as she sniffles a little as she slowly begins calming down.Sam smiles softly as she watches the exchange. “I didn’t want to freak you out over the phone, but yeah, some of the kids were teasing her, but Lilly stuck up for her. Sweet little girl barely even talks, and yet she still managed to scare off a couple of kids twice her age.”My jaw hits the floor. I can’t believe what I’m hearing. My short-circuiting brain is soon interrupted by my daughter running over to me and hugging my leg.“Hi, Mama!” She looks up at me with a bright smile. I scoop her up and kiss her cheek.“Hi, baby. Uhh, did you help Melody with something today?” I ask, wondering if I can get her to talk about it at all.“Ya!” She says, pointing over to a group of older kids who are playing in the corner.“Yeah, I heard those kids were being mean to Melody. What did you do?” I ask.“I say go!” She answers.“You told them to go away?” I ask to clarify further.“Ya!”“Did they go?”“Ya!” Lilly replies proudly. I kiss her cheek again. I’m so damn proud of her. I decide to check in with Sam again before I tell her that, though. I want to make sure I have the full story.“Hey, Sam. Could you tell me everything that happened?”“Yeah, please tell us everything.” Steph adds as she joins in with us.“To be honest, I didn’t see how everything started. I think those two boys started laughing at Melody, and she got scared because she was in a ball crying by the time I went over to check on them. Lilly was standing in between them, and she just kept yelling ‘go’ at them until the boys left. Then once they were left alone, she hugged Melody, and it calmed her down a little bit, but I was still concerned, so I called you.”“I’m so freakin’ proud of you, Lilly!” I can’t help but tear up. My little introvert was so brave and stood up for her friend. I don’t think I could have done anything like that when I was a kid.“No cry, Mama.” She says sweetly.“I’m just fine. Don’t you worry about me, sweetie.” I then look over at Steph, who is still tightly holding onto Melody. “Hey, do you want to take the girls and get some I-C-E C-R-E-A-M?”“Oh, hell yeah, I do! I think we’ve all earned it. Lilly’s is on me.” Steph enthusiastically insists.“You don’t have to do that. I got it. Come on, let’s get out of here.” I can’t help but grin as I lead everyone out to the car. Celebrating with ice cream was something Chloe and I always did with William when we were kids. We planned to continue that tradition with Lilly whenever possible.
~ June 2006 ~
Chloe and I are sitting together at a picnic table eating ice cream sundaes. We had just finished our last day of school, and William took us out to lunch and for ice cream to celebrate. I know I should be happy we’re done with school for the summer, but I don’t really feel like I deserve to get rewarded right now. My report card sucked, and Chloe always gets straight A’s easily, and she barely even does her homework.“What’s wrong?” Chloe asks, noticing that I’ve barely touched my ice cream sundae. It’s even starting to melt a little over the side of the bowl.“Nothing.” I lie as I continue to play with the ice cream with my spoon.“Doesn’t look like nothing, Maxaroni.”I pout a little before finally looking at my best friend. She genuinely looks worried about me.“It’s really nothing. I just feel stupid. My report card wasn’t very good. I don’t know why William brought me.”“Really? I’m sure it’s not that bad. You’re not stupid, Max.”“I’m not so sure.” I admit with a sigh.“Tell me what you got then?” I pull out my report card and hand it to Chloe, and she carefully looks it over. I got two A’s, one in gym and one in art, one B in English, a C in social studies, and two D’s, one in math and the other in science. “You never told me you had a hard time with science and math.” Chloe looks at me with a frown.“You always say how easy it is. I didn’t want you to think I was dumb, but I guess I am. So the secret is out, I guess.”“Stop calling yourself dumb!” Chloe grumbles. She seems a bit annoyed with me now. “You’re not dumb. You should have just asked me for help. I would have helped you, you know.”I sigh softly. “Do you really think that’s all I need?”“Yeah, duh! Now if you’re done sulking, eat your ice cream before I do.” Chloe teases as she hands me my report card back. “Plus, you passed, and you did your best. I’m sure your parents won’t be mad or anything.”I finally crack a smile. Chloe always has a way of cheering me up. “If you say so.” I reply as I finally take a bite of my sundae.
~ Present Day ~
When Chloe arrives home that evening, I happily dive into her arms as she enters the house.“Well, hello to you too, baby!” She grins, and then we share a passionate kiss. “Did you miss me or something?” She playfully teases.“Always, but that’s not what this is about. We just had a good… Well, maybe not good. I guess I should say, an interesting day.” I take her hand and lead her into the living room. Lilly is sitting on the floor happily playing with some play dough. She seems too distracted to notice the fact that Chloe has come home.“Oh! Wasn’t today Melody’s first day at daycare?” Chloe asks once she remembers that fact. “How’d that go?”“Not great, honestly, but it could have been way worse.” I lead Chloe over to the couch and we sit together. She pulls me into her arms and frowns as she waits for me to continue the story. “A few little boys started teasing Melody. It totally freaked her out, but then our amazing daughter told them to go away and successfully got them to leave.”Chloe’s jaw hit the floor not unlike mine had done earlier today. “No freakin’ way!? Really?”“Yeah! I know she was so amazing! Someone is taking after Mommy.”I finally was loud enough to get Lilly’s attention, and her face lights up seeing Chloe. “Hi, Mummy!” She excitedly gets up and dives into Chloe’s lap.Chloe laughs as she happily gives Lilly a big hug. “I heard you were a little hero today?”“Ya!” She smiles proudly as she happily settles into Chloe’s arms.“I’m so proud of you, baby girl. I love you.” Chloe says, kissing her head.“Love you.” Lilly replies sweetly.I smile and stroke my daughter’s hair back. “We went and got ice cream after to celebrate. I’m also making pizza tonight. I just want to spoil her today.” I admit with a chuckle.“I can get into that idea. But getting ice cream without me is hella rude.” She winks.“More ice cream?” Lilly asks in a hopeful tone.“Good try! But no, we can’t get more just so Mommy can have some. She can have her pick of the pizza slices instead.” I giggle and playfully ruffle my daughter’s hair.Lilly pouts a little that her trick didn’t work, but she gets over it quickly. I think she already knew she couldn’t outsmart me that easily.…Later that evening I prepare Lilly’s pajamas and a fresh diaper. I head into the bathroom to let Chloe know and I can’t help but laugh at what I see.Chloe is playfully singing to Lilly, who is sitting in the bathtub as they both throw bubbles at each other. “Splish-splash, I was taking a bath. Long about a Saturday night. Rub dub, just relaxin' in the tub—““Babe, what are you doing?” I interrupt with a giggle. “You’re gonna get soaked.”“Eh, I don’t care. We were having fun. Right, Lil?” Chloe grins at me and then looks to Lilly.“YA!” She splashes excitedly.“Alright, if you say so. Just don’t let her get too worked up. It’s almost bedtime.”“Fine, we’ll chill out, but only cuz you’re cute.” She gives me a wink before beginning to focus on actually washing Lilly. She then begins singing The Rainbow Connection, and it mellows Lilly out very quickly. I know I should leave and go clean up the kitchen, but I’m enjoying watching them too much to bother. I also want to help with story time, so I figure we can get her ready for bed together as well.Lilly yawns loudly and rubs her eyes when Chloe lifts her out of the tub. She quickly wraps her in a towel and starts drying her off before she can get too cold.“I put her pajamas and a fresh diaper for her on the changing table in her room.” I finally tell Chloe. I had completely forgotten why I had even come in and interrupted bath time in the first place.“Thanks, baby.” She picks Lilly up and kisses her cheek. “Let’s go get you ready for bed.”“No.” Lilly says softly as she yawns and lays her head on Chloe’s shoulder.“Yeah, you don’t seem tired at all.” Chloe sarcastically points out as we both walk into her bedroom. “It’s okay to be tired, baby. You had a big day today.” I smile at them before lovingly stroking back Lilly’s still damp hair, and I kiss her on the forehead.Chloe gets her changed quickly and then sits her down on her bed. It’s been months since we got her a toddler bed, but it still feels weird that the crib is gone. My baby really needs to stop growing up so fast.“I’m going to tell you a story tonight, Lilly.” I pull up a chair to sit next to her bed and sit down. She then looks at Chloe and frowns as she holds her arms out.“Do you want cuddles while we listen to Mama’s story?” Chloe asks.“Ya! Want Mummy.”Chloe seems happy to oblige and climbs onto the bed with Lilly. She wraps an arm around her and lets Lilly snuggle into her side.Once they are settled, I begin. “Once upon a time. In a faraway land called Arcadia Bay. There was a young pirate named Long Max Silver.”Chloe smiles brightly at me as she rubs Lilly’s back. Lilly is already fighting with her eyes but still seems like she’s paying attention anyway.“Long Max Silver wasn’t a very good pirate. She had no crew and was very lonely. She sailed the seven seas searching for more than just treasure. She searched for friendship, purpose, and hope. One day while at sea, her ship was boarded by evil pirates. They took control of her ship and wanted to make her walk the plank.” Chloe grabs my hand and squeezes it. I know she knows where I’m going with this, and she’s looking at me with so much love in her eyes. I’m tempted to stop and kiss her, but I ignore the urge and continue the story.“Just as Long Max Silver was about to give up hope, another pirate boarded her ship. This pirate was a strong pirate captain! Her name was Captain Bluebeard. She, unlike Long Max Silver, was a great pirate. She had been sailing the seven seas for years. She’d seen all the sights and fought lots of big battles, but she had something very important in common with Long Max Silver. She also had no crew. She too was a lonely pirate. Despite this, Captain Bluebeard knew injustice when she saw it. She knew Long Max Silver didn’t deserve to walk the plank. She had done nothing wrong, and these other pirates were being mean and picking on her for no reason.” I smile at my daughter, who is still winning the fight with her eyes. I think I might have gotten her a little too interested in the story.“So Captain Bluebeard, not unlike another sweet little pirate girl I know, stepped between Long Max Silver and the evil pirates.” I poke Lilly’s nose gently, and she giggles. “She said. ’This is now my pirate ship, and as its captain, I declare there will be no plank walking on this day!’ But the evil pirates didn’t like that at all! They responded by telling Captain Bluebeard that she couldn’t do that, and they would continue to do whatever they wanted. Captain Bluebeard didn’t let that stand. She was greatly outnumbered and out matched, but she refused to back down. Her bravery was so strong that eventually the evil pirates knew that even with their great numbers, Captain Bluebeard would never give up until she got what she wanted, so they got back on their ship and sailed away.”“Yay!” Lilly says sleepily as she finally gives in and closes her eyes.“That’s right, they won! From that day forward, Long Max Silver and Captain Bluebeard were no longer lonely pirates. They sailed the seven seas together. Long Max Silver learned how to be a brave pirate just like Captain Bluebeard, and Captain Bluebeard learned how to be a real captain with a crew. Then they fell in love and lived happily ever after.”Chloe smiles and gently tucks Lilly into bed. Lilly’s eyes remain closed. She’s not quite asleep, but sleepy enough not to protest when Chloe gets out of bed. She leans down and kisses her cheek. “Goodnight, baby girl. I love you.” She whispers.I get up from my seat and lean down to kiss her cheek as well. “Mama loves you, Lilly. Sleep tight.” I also whisper, doing my best not to disturb her. Chloe takes my hand again, and I move in closer to her as we leave Lilly’s room together quietly.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
I wipe some sweat from my brow as I finish raking all the leaves that fell in our backyard into a few large piles. I consider bagging them up, but I know Lilly would love to dive in them first. She’s currently at daycare and Chloe is at work, so I figured I’d try to get a few chores done while I have nothing better to do. I put the rake back in the shed and begin to walk towards the house when I feel my phone ring. I’m a little surprised to see an unknown number, but I decide to answer anyway.“Hello.”“Hey, Max. This is Tim from the garage.” He replies. I love Tim. I’ve known this man for over ten years, and yet he still feels the need to specify he’s from the garage whenever he calls me. Not that he calls very often. Come to think of it, I don’t think he’s ever called me while Chloe is working before.“Hi, Tim. What can I do for you?” I ask as I begin to feel a bit nervous.“I don’t want to freak you out, so I want to start by saying Chloe is okay, but she also just hit her head pretty hard. We think she probably has a mild concussion. So you might want to take her to the ER just to get her checked over?” Tim sounds extremely nervous to tell me this. I can’t say I blame him. Chloe and I are pretty protective of each other.“What?! How the fuck did that happen?!” I begin running into the house to grab my wallet and keys as I continue questioning Tim over the phone.“We had an equipment malfunction. Honestly, it could have been way worse. Please just know she’s okay. Everyone else is alright as well, luckily.” He says with a weary sigh.“If she’s so alright, why isn’t she talking to me right now?” I suddenly realize that fact is actually very frightening.“She’s a bit confused and dazed. I figured it would be easier if I called you, but if you want to talk to her—““Yes! Put her on, please!” I interrupt as I jump into the car and begin driving to the garage.“Hello?” I hear my wife’s voice, and I take in a sigh of relief. She does sound a little off, though.“Hi, babe. Are you okay?”“Hey, Super Max. I’ve got a pounding fucking headache and the guys said I hit my head, but I don’t remember doing that. That’s fucked up, right?”“Yeah, that’s really fucked up. Don’t worry. I’m coming to get you, and we’ll get you all checked out at the hospital.”She tries to talk me out of bringing her to the hospital during my entire drive to the garage. She really hates hospitals. I can’t say I blame her. I’m sure she just wants to lie down and rest. I’ve never had a concussion before, but I’ve had migraines, and I’m pretty sure concussions cause them.When I arrive at the garage, I see Chloe is sitting in a chair holding her face in her hands. She’s probably trying to block the light from her eyes. A few of the guys and Tim are watching over her. I quickly race over and wrap my arms around her tightly. I look her over for signs of her injury. It takes me a minute to figure out that she has a large bump on the back of her head.Chloe just playfully grins and returns the hug. “Well, hi there, baby.”I don’t know the full story of what happened, but I just have this horrible feeling in my stomach that I almost lost her. Tim seemed so hesitant to go into details on the phone, and he mentioned an equipment malfunction. That really didn’t sound good. I’m just so fucking happy she seems mostly okay.“Come on, Chloe. Let’s get you the doctor so I can take you home.”…We spent a few hours at urgent care getting her checked over. As expected, she has a concussion, but we were told it is pretty mild. She should rest, and her memory of the events will likely return when the swelling goes down a little. I can tell she’s tired, but she still stays awake as we drive. We’re picking Lilly up from daycare on the way home, and I’m sure she just wants to be awake to say hi to her.I keep a tight hold on Chloe’s hand as we enter the daycare together. When Lilly sees us, her face lights up. We very rarely pick her up together, so I think she’s extra excited.“Mama! Mummy!” She quickly runs over and hugs Chloe’s leg first. I know Chloe wants to pick her up, but she probably shouldn’t, so I scoop her up in my arms before she has a chance.“Hi Lilly. Did you have fun today?” I ask as I give her a big kiss on the cheek.“Yeah! Dee was here!” She answers. She can’t quite say Melody yet, so she calls her Dee. I actually think it’s a pretty cute nickname for her. Steph and Alex have only been bringing her to daycare for an hour or two at a time, and Lilly always has to be present. So far that schedule has been working, so that’s always nice to hear they had a nice day together. I wish I could say I had a nice day today.“That’s great, baby. It’s time to go home now. Mommy had a rough day, so we need to take her home to bed. Will you help me do that?”“Mummy no feel good?” She asks with a pout.“Yeah, but she’s okay, and she’ll be even more okay if we take good care of her. Which we will definitely do right?”“Yeah!” Lilly cheers up and nods her head enthusiastically to me.“Don’t let Mama worry you, Lil. I’m totally okay, but I guess she’s not wrong. I could definitely go for a nap. I got a real bad headache.” She rubs her head a little before she leans in and kisses Lilly’s cheek.“Love you, Mummy.” Lilly says sweetly.“Yeah, we love you, Chloe. Expect to be spoiled tonight.” I give her a soft smile as I put Lilly down so I can grab both of their hands.…When we arrive home, Lilly and I put Chloe right to bed. The doctor said it was perfectly safe for Chloe to sleep, and it might even be helpful to help her heal faster. I can tell she’s a bit tired, so I’m hoping a nap will help her feel a little better.“Book?” Lilly asks me. I just smile as I lovingly rub my wife’s shoulder.“I think she’s sleepy enough to fall asleep without a story, but I’m sure she’d love some goodnight kisses.” I help Lilly up onto the bed, and she leans down and plants a big wet kiss on her cheek.“Goodnight, Mummy. Love you.” Lilly says happily.Chloe smiles brightly but still keeps her eyes closed. “I love you too, Lilly.”“Good girl.” I praise as I help Lilly down from the bed before I lean down and give my wife a soft, slow, and very emotionally charged kiss. I haven’t kissed her since before she got hurt, and I can’t help but feel a little emotional about it. I don’t know what I’d do if I lost Chloe. “I love you so much, babe.” I whisper, trying not to let it show that I’m on the cusp of tears.“Mmm, love you, Maxi. Save some of that energy for later tonight.” She playfully licks her lips.I smirk and shake my head. “Easy, tiger. Keep it in your pants. I’ll wake you for dinner in a few hours.” I gently rub her temple, and she hums happily. “Sleep tight, babe.”I kiss her forehead gently before I reluctantly leave her to rest.I always worry about Chloe more than I should when she gets hurt. She’s not usually one to rest even when she needs it. She’s always very stubborn about it. Right now she’s clearly too exhausted to fight it, but I know later she’ll be running around here like nothing happened.
~ July 2005 ~
I stick my tongue out in concentration as I draw on Chloe’s cast. It’s only been a few days since she broke her arm, but if she didn’t have the cast on, I wouldn’t have known it. She’s completely back to normal. It’s like she’s in no pain at all.“How’s it going, Maxaroni?” She asks as she tries moving her head back and forth to try to see what I’m doing.“Hold still! You’re gonna make me mess up!” I complain as I continue to work.“Oh, come on! I wanna see!”“I’m not done yet!” I complain as I try to hide what I’m doing from her even more. ”I’m not good at this anyway, so don’t get excited or anything.”“I’m sure it’s gonna be totally awesome!” Chloe insists, completely full of confidence in me. I don’t get why she always thinks I can do anything. I know she’s wrong, but I do love hearing it regardless. “When you’re done, we should head to the skate park. It looks really nice out today.”I look up at Chloe like she has three heads. “Are you crazy? You just broke your arm there two days ago!”“I mean… I broke my ARM, not my leg, dude! There’s no reason I can’t skate.”I facepalm with one hand as I return to my drawing. “I guess… But what if you hurt your arm worse?”“I won’t! Plus, what about that saying… Doesn’t it go something like, If you fall off a horse, you need to get back on?”“Yeah… but do you need to get right back on? Like right after you get really hurt?” I pout a little.“Fine… I promise I’ll be careful, MOM.” She teases as she winks at me.“Shut up, jerk!” I groan as I finish off what I’m working on. “Okay, you can look now.”Chloe happily lifts her arm up and looks over my work. I’m not much of an artist, so I kept it simple. It’s just the words “Love you, Max” written in slightly misshapen bubble letters. “Wow! It’s so cool! Thanks, Max!”“You really like it?” I ask, feeling a bit embarrassed now.“Yeah, of course I do!” She gets up and pulls me into a big hug. I hug her back and happily settle into her arms. Hugging Chloe always feels like a warm blanket on a winter’s day. Even though it’s the middle of July, I’ll never say no to a hug from Chloe.“Now… Last one to the skate park is a rotten egg!” She lets go of me and starts running to the door. I grumble a bit, but I do my best to catch up with her. She has to stop and grab her board, but even so, I think she might be purposely slowing down so I can keep up. Chloe would never admit she’s doing this, but I trust she’d never leave me behind. Even during a race.
~ Present Day ~
Chloe seemed a little better after her nap, but she still had a migraine and was still a little groggy. I took charge of Lilly’s bedtime routine, and I just let her chill for the evening, even though, as I expected, she wanted to do nothing of the sort.I’m still super on edge, though. I can’t stop thinking about her accident. I still don’t know how she got hurt, and the fact that Tim didn’t want to tell me only freaked me out more. I know it doesn’t really matter what happened, and all that matters is she’s okay, but my stupid brain won’t shut up about it.When it comes time for us to go to bed, it takes me a really long time to fall asleep. I spend a good few hours enjoying the feeling of being spooned by Chloe before I finally drift off.A little while later, I suddenly feel myself being squeezed tighter in Chloe’s arms. It’s still the middle of the night, but I don’t even mind. She gently moves my hair to the side and buries her face in my neck. I move my hand and grab hers.“Max?” She asks in barely a whisper.“Yeah?” I reply sleepily.“Shit, I didn’t mean to wake you. I’m sorry.” She sighs softly as she kisses my neck.“Are you okay? Do you need more headache pills?” I begin to worry as she holds me even tighter. She’s acting like she can’t get close enough to me.“I’m okay… Well… It’s just… I remember what happened now.” She admits with a slight crack in her voice.I’m now fully awake at that news, so I carefully roll over to face her. “What happened, babe?” I look into her eyes and stroke her cheek. I see her eyes are beginning to water up.“Fuck, it was awful. I could have died.” She confesses as a single tear escapes her eye and runs down her cheek.“Oh, Chloe. I had such a bad feeling, but I thought I was just being paranoid.” I pull her closer to me and wrap my arms around her as tightly as possible as she presses her face against my chest.I can feel she’s starting to shake a little as she tells me the story. “I needed to put a car up on the big jack. The jack lifts a car up about seven feet. I was prepping my tools, and I was… about to walk under it… No, it was more like I was a few seconds away from being under it. Then I heard a loud cracking sound, so I jumped back away from the car as fast as I could. I fell backwards and slammed my head into the wall, but then the car fell down right in front of me.” She sniffles a little and hides her face as deep in my chest as she can.“Fuck… That’s so fucking scary!” I rub her back as I do my best to soothe her. “You’re okay. You’re right here with me. You’re not going anywhere.” I also start to tear up as the knowledge that my wife was nearly crushed by a car begins to sink in.“My dad said he’d never go anywhere either.” Her resolve finally breaks at that and she begins to sob. “I don’t want to do that to Lilly. Lilly can’t go through what I did!”“She won’t have to! You’re right here, and you’re safe in my arms. You’re right where you belong.” I do my best to calm her down, but I know I’m starting to break down as well.Chloe and I cry together in each other’s arms for a few minutes before we slowly start to calm down a little. She finally pulls her head away from my chest and looks up at me. “I love you so fucking much!”“I love you too. You mean everything to me, babe.” I keep my eyes locked onto hers until she gently rolls me onto my back and carefully moves to straddle me. She then leans down to kiss me deeply. I grab her cheeks to avoid accidentally touching the bump on the back of her head as we both moan into the kiss. We take our time and stay locked in the kiss as long as possible.When she finally pulls away, she rests her forehead against mine, keeping her eyes closed. “I know you said you didn’t want to make love tonight, but I really—“I press my finger against her lips gently to interrupt her. I already know what she’s going to say. “I need to be close to you too. I said no earlier because I thought you were pushing yourself too hard for no reason when you should be resting. This is different. Just let me take care of you.” I carefully grab her shirt, and she helps me pull it off of her. “Lay down and relax for me, please.”Chloe lets out a soft sigh as she rolls off of me and slowly lays on her back with her head against her pillow. I move to straddle her waist and press a gentle kiss to her forehead. “Is this okay? Is this position hurting your head?”“I’m fine, baby. I promise.” She gives me a loving smile as she strokes my hair back behind my ear. “You’re so fucking beautiful.”“Look who’s talking, gorgeous. Tell me to stop if anything hurts at all, okay?” I wait for her to give me a careful nod before I pull off my own shirt and toss it aside. I can tell by the way she’s looking at me how badly she wants to touch my breasts, but I distract her by moving my hand to one of her breasts and my mouth to the other.“Oh, fuck, Max!” She moans as she runs her fingers through my hair.I tease her breasts for a little while before I start kissing back up her chest to her neck. I press our bodies together as much as I can so we can both enjoy the feeling of each other’s breasts brushing up against our own. Chloe had been massaging my scalp earlier, but once I started moving up her body, she slowly ran her hands down my back to eventually slide over my pajama pants to squeeze my ass.“Baby… I want these off of you so bad.” She groans. I smile against her neck before biting down gently and then kissing the same spot as an apology. She lets out another loud moan, and I feel her hips buckle against me. “Oh… fuck.”“I’m getting there. I promise.” I lift my head from her neck and give her a quick kiss on the lips. I then get up to remove my pants and underwear. I then crawl back on the bed and pull hers off as well.As I toss her clothes onto the floor, she looks at me with eyes full of love as well as lust. “Get your sexy ass back over here, beautiful.”I grin and bite back a laugh at her impatience. “Anything you want, love.” I slowly move to straddle her again, and she gently pulls me down into a hug. I’m more than happy to let my naked body tangle up with hers.“Call me love again.” She whispers seductively in my ear.“Oh? You like that, love?” I move my head up and gently touch my nose with hers so we can look into each other’s eyes again.“I do! I like it a lot actually.” She admits with a smirk.I grin and give my wife a loving kiss. I’m excited to take my time making love to Chloe tonight. She deserves it. Fuck it, we both do.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
“Mama! We bake cookies!” Lilly happily exclaims.“I see that, baby.” I reply with a giggle as I watch Lilly, Chloe, and my mother as they bake Christmas cookies in our kitchen. Chloe is holding Lilly on her hip as they mostly just watch while my mom does most of the work. Once in a while, Mom will give Lilly a job while Chloe reads the recipe out loud. I’m sitting at the bar with a goofy grin on my face. I just can’t help it. They’re so damn cute. This is the first Christmas that Lilly has been old enough to appreciate the idea of presents or Santa, and we’ve already been having a lot of fun with it. We helped her write a Santa letter, we had her take photos with a mall Santa, and we’ve done various Christmas craft projects with her. “Do you like baking cookies?” I ask curiously.“Yeah! For Santa!” Lilly sticks her little tongue out and furrows her brows in concentration as she tries to stir the cookie dough.“That’s right, Lil. Santa will love them, but we get some too.” Chloe winks and kisses her cheek as she uses her free hand to help Lilly stir the now very thick cookie dough.“Yay! Cookies!” Lilly stops stirring and claps her hands instead.“That looks good to me. Now we can put the dough on the baking sheet.” Mom explains as she shows Lilly how to make the dough into a cookie shape and then places it on the baking sheet. Chloe just watches happily while holding Lilly up as she helps my mom finish preparing the cookies for baking.“All done?” Lilly asks once the dough has all been moved onto a few baking sheets.“That’s right! Now we just have to wait for them to bake.” Mom gives her a kiss on the cheek. She then puts the baking sheets in the oven and starts the timer. “You did a great job!”Chloe helps Lilly wash her hands before she finally puts her down on the kitchen floor. “How about you go in the living room and check on Gramps?”“Okay!” Lilly happily skips off and disappears into the other room, and Mom follows closely behind her.Chloe comes right over to me when she notices I’m being a bit slow to move and wraps her arms around me from behind. “You okay, Maximus?”I let out a soft sigh. “Yeah, I’m fine. Just a little tired. It’s been a busy few days, and I didn’t sleep great last night. Guess I was a bit overexcited.” I admit, with a chuckle.“That’s really cute, baby. It’s only Christmas Eve!” Chloe teases. “Are you that excited for Santa?”I playfully roll my eyes as I get up from the stool. I then snuggle into my wife’s arms a little tighter and rest my head on her shoulder. “No, love. I’m excited for Lilly to have her first real Christmas.”“Yeah, exactly! You’re excited for Santa. No shame in your game.” She playfully squeezes my ass.“You’re such an ass!” I lift my head from her shoulder so I can give her a smirk.“You love me.” Chloe reminds me as she leans in and begins kissing me. I smile into the kiss and feel myself relax. Something about being held and kissed by Chloe always makes me feel like I’m floating.When we eventually pull back, I give her a wink. “Mmm, maybe.” I give her one more peck on the lips before I slowly move away from her and head into the living room to join the rest of my family.Lilly is sitting on my dad’s lap with a coloring book, and my mom is sitting beside them watching. Chloe grabs my hand, and we sit down on the couch together and cuddle. I can’t help but let my eyes close as I feel Chloe start to play with my hair. I let out a happy hum as she kisses the top of my head. “I love you, baby.” She whispers into my hair. I let out a happy sigh in response, and I feel myself drifting off into a half-sleep.…I wake up fully when I hear the alarm for the cookies going off. I then hear my daughter happily squeal. “Cookies!”“Soon, sweetheart. We have to let them cool, and then we can decorate them.” Mom explains as she gets up to go tend to the cookies.I slowly move my head from my wife’s shoulder and rub my eyes as I yawn.“You feeling any better now?” Chloe asks, once I turn and give her a soft smile.“Yeah, that was really nice. Thanks, love.” I gently rub my nose against hers, and she kisses me softly in response. When she pulls away, I blush a little when I notice my dad is watching us. “Is she being good?” I ask him. I can’t help but feel a little guilty for passing out on them and taking up Chloe’s attention. I don’t want my parents to think I’m dumping my kid on them the second they walk in the door.“She’s been just fine. We’re having fun, right pumpkin?” Dad asks, looking at my daughter.She happily kicks her legs about as she leans back against my dad’s chest. “Yeah! We color!”“Can I see?” I ask as I settle back into my wife’s embrace. I’m a bit more at ease when I notice everyone seems to be enjoying themselves. Chloe always tells me I worry too much over nothing. Maybe she’s right.Lilly smiles and excitedly climbs down from Dad’s lap. She then scurries over, climbs into my lap, and opens her coloring book. She’s scribbled all over a picture of a cat with various different colors.“Wow, that’s really pretty, sweetie.” I give her a kiss on the top of her head as I wrap my arms around her.Chloe leans in closer so she can take a look as well. “Yeah, I think we have a little artist here, Maxi.”Lilly smiles proudly as she settles in my arms a little. We’re soon interrupted by Mom coming back in. “Speaking of artists, it’s time to decorate the cookies.” Lilly doesn’t hesitate a bit and jumps off my lap as quickly as she can. My mom happily scoops her up in her arms, letting out a little grunt. “Goodness, you’re getting so big!” She exclaims as she looks at me in disbelief.“I’ve been saying since she was born that she really needs to stop doing this whole growing-up thing. She won’t listen to me, though.” Chloe jokes. I’ve heard this joke a million times, but I still find it pretty cute, so I give her a kiss on the cheek.“Seriously, though. It feels like she was just born to me.” I get up and hold my hand out to Chloe. She smiles as she gets up and takes my hand. The five of us go into the kitchen and begin icing the cookies.…“Well, she passed right the fuck out, didn’t she?” Chloe says with an amused smirk as we close Lilly’s bedroom door behind us.“I don’t blame her. We kept her so busy today. I even needed a nap halfway through.” I wrap my arms around my wife’s neck, and we kiss softly. “This was the best Christmas Eve ever.”“It was, and hell, it’s not over yet for us. Do you want some of the cookies we left out for Santa?” Chloe asks playfully. “I know I want at least a few bites of the one Lilly decorated.” She rubs my hips lovingly.“You would! She used at least four times as much frosting as everyone else.” I giggle and shake my head.“Listen, our baby knows what’s good. I’m not gonna discourage that shit.” She runs a hand through my hair, and we share another loving kiss.“I could do this all night, but my parents are waiting.” I smile at her, and she playfully pouts at me.“Fine. At least I get cookies.” She winks as she takes my hand, and we head back into the living room.Chloe wastes no time grabbing the biggest cookie that Lilly completely coated in an inch-thick layer of frosting and taking a huge bite of it. “Oh damn, Lilly might be a genius. That’s good shit. Santa might get diabetes from this, but worth it, right?”We all laugh at my wife’s antics. “She has always had a sweet tooth. Even before she was born. Ice cream was by far my number one craving while I was pregnant.”“I always tried offering you pickles. I thought that was a thing, but our girl had zero interest.” She picks up another cookie from the plate and holds it out to me. I smile and take a little bite of it. “Oh come on, Maximus. You’re supposed to be Santa. That is the girliest bite I’ve ever seen in my life. Bite it like you mean it!” I laugh and roll my eyes before taking another bite.“Is that better, ya dork?”She puts the cookie back on the plate with the other one and gives a satisfied nod. She then drinks the glass of milk. “Perfect. Once we put out the gifts, Santa will have successfully come here!”“And you were teasing me about being too excited about Santa.” I playfully poke her in the belly.“I never said I wasn’t excited. There’s no shame in my game either.”
~ December 2017 ~
Normally Chloe is a bit down on Christmas morning. She always tries to hide it, but I know deep down she can’t help but think about her parents during the holidays. She told me Christmas was never something she looked forward to after her dad died. Now that both of her parents are gone, I figure she’ll hate it forever.This year is our first year that we’re not spending Christmas with my parents. We don’t have time for a cross-country road trip, and we definitely don’t have the cash for flights. We’re saving up to buy a house soon. Our current apartment is a studio apartment and barely bigger than the one we had in LA, but we wanted to get the cheapest place possible just to help us save up for our down payment. My parents and David are helping us with the house plans enough as it is. We want to cover as much of it ourselves as possible.As I wake up, I feel colder than I do most mornings when Chloe is home. I’m shocked when I feel around the bed and find Chloe’s side of the bed is empty and cold. She’s clearly been up for a while. I’m about to whine and ask her to come back to bed when I notice that something smells fucking amazing. My eyes slowly open, and I find myself speechless at the sight of Chloe baking what appear to be Christmas cookies.“Mmm, babe? What are you doing?” I ask still very much half-asleep.Chloe laughs as she happily jumps back onto the bed next to me. “Good morning, baby! Merry Christmas!”“Who are you and what did you do with my fiancé?”Chloe gives me a grin before giving me a soft peck on the lips. “Don’t worry, it’s me. I guess I’m just excited to have you all to myself for Christmas.”“Really? You’re excited because it’s Christmas?” I’m still half asleep and beyond confused.“I know it’s weird, but I’ve been thinking about it, and I can’t keep treating Christmas like some kind of sad reminder of the past. I have a great future to look forward to now.”“Aww, babe.” I wrap my arms around her, pulling her on top of me. “You’re so sweet.”Chloe smiles down at me and gives me another kiss. She takes her time as she lovingly runs one of her hands up and down my hip. I run my fingers through her hair and let out a contented hum as our tongues fight for dominance. “Mmm, I mean it, Max. You’re not my wife just yet, but you are my family. It’s taken me long enough to realize I still have a family even if my parents are gone. My mom wasn’t perfect, but I realized I really did take her for granted. I never want to do that to you.”“Chloe… You’ve never taken me for granted. I know you wouldn’t. You’re allowed to miss your parents during the holidays. That doesn’t mean you don’t appreciate me.”“You’re right, baby. I’ll always miss them, but still, I don’t want to dwell on it. I know they wouldn’t want that.”“You’re damn right! I love you, Chlo. We’re going to have an awesome Christmas together today.”“I love you too, Maxi. Now… How about you get your cute booty up, and you can help me bake these cookies?”“Yeah… Twist my arm!” I joke as I allow her to pull me up out of bed.
~ Present Day ~
I groan a little when I’m woken up by Lilly screaming at the foot of our bed. “SANTA CAME!!!”Chloe chuckles as she slowly sits up in bed. “Oh, yeah? I see you’re excited.”“Yeah!” Lilly excitedly runs over to Chloe’s side of the bed and then points to the door. “Go!”“Give us just a minute, baby girl.” She picks Lilly up and pulls her under the covers with us.“Yeah, it’s morning snuggle time.” I say sleepily as I cuddle into Chloe’s side. I don’t bother opening my eyes.Chloe chuckles and kisses the top of my head. “Let us wake up for a minute, but if Mama doesn’t wake up soon, we’ll have to tickle her awake. Those are the rules.”Lilly giggles at the idea. She doesn’t seem happy about having to wait, but the prospect of getting to tickle me seems inviting enough to trigger a tiny bit of patience in her.“You’re such a jerk, babe.” I tease as I look up at her with half-lidded eyes.“I don’t make the rules. I just enforce them.” She winks.“Sure you don’t.” I lean in and kiss her lips softly. “Merry Christmas, dork.”“Mmm. Merry Christmas, Maximus. Merry Christmas, Lilly.” She pulls Lilly closer to give her a kiss on the head.“Merry Christmas, Lilly.” I also lean over and kiss Lilly on the cheek.“Go?” She asks again seeing I’m now a bit more awake.“I know you’re ready for gifts. We can’t do gifts until Grammy and Grandpa are up, but how about we make some breakfast?” Chloe suggests as she slowly begins to get out of bed. I yawn and rub my eyes as I follow my family into the kitchen.…After eating breakfast with my parents, we let Lilly open her gifts. Chloe is sitting on the floor with Lilly on her lap. She’s been helping her open up all her gifts while I hand them out and take photos. The time passes quickly with Lilly clearly having a great time. Soon we’re on the last gift.“Looks like it’s time for your last gift, Lilly. It’s from Mama and Mommy.” I grab a medium-sized package from under the tree and hand it to Chloe.Chloe helps Lilly slowly tear the paper off of the box. It’s a simple cardboard box, so Chloe has to open the box and pull out the contents before Lilly can see what it is. When it registers in Lilly’s brain what she’s seeing, her eyes light up beyond bright. She’s been very excited about all of her gifts so far. Even some of the clothes she got drew a pretty excited reaction from her, but the look on her face now completely blew all of that out of the water.“Peeka!” She screams excitedly as she hugs the Pikachu plushie as tightly as possible. I can’t help but giggle as I snap a few photos.“What is she saying?” My mom asks, seeming a bit baffled at why Lilly is so excited about this bright yellow stuffed animal.“She’s saying ‘Pika’. It’s short for Pikachu. It’s a character from a show called Pokémon that Chloe got Lilly completely obsessed with.”“I didn’t GET her obsessed with it. I nearly shared a wonderful piece of culture from my childhood with my daughter, and we now appreciate it together.” Chloe defends with a smirk. “Also, since when are you a Pokémon hater, Maximus?”“I am not a Pokémon hater! Take that back! I just think she might be a bit young for it.”Lilly jumps up from my wife’s lap and starts running around the house screaming “PEEKA!!”“Whatever you say, Maxaroni! You’re never too young to catch ‘em all!”“You are when you try to do it by having your first-ever public temper tantrum.” I argue as I playfully roll my eyes.“Oh? I haven’t heard this story! Do tell!” Mom looks at me with great interest.I chuckle. “Fine. I guess it is a LITTLE funny now that it’s over.” I sit down on the couch, and Chloe jumps up from the floor to join me. “So I went out Christmas shopping with Lilly about three weeks ago. I probably should have just gone while she was at daycare, but usually she’s so chill when we shop. I let her grab any toy she wants from the toy aisle, and she plays with it while we shop. Then we put it back before we leave. She’s never given me even the tiniest bit of trouble doing that before. But not this time. She wanted to play with the Pikachu, and I didn’t think anything of it. All seemed to be going totally normally. Until I told her Pikachu needed to be put back so we could go home.”Everyone starts laughing as I sigh and shake my head. “Lilly just started SCREAMING like she was being straight-up murdered! I honestly thought something was wrong with her at first. She doesn’t normally get like that. Anyway, I eventually just tried pulling it out of her hands, and it was a STRUGGLE. She really had a GRIP! If I knew she wanted it that bad and if she hadn’t thrown such a tantrum, I probably would have just gotten it for her right then, but I didn’t want to reward that behavior. I never want to see it again! It was like something out of a damn nightmare.”Mom wipes a few tears off her cheeks from laughing so hard at my story. “Well, at least you found out what she wanted for Christmas!”“Indeed I did. Glad she’s happy now at least.” I sigh softly as Chloe wraps her arm around my shoulders.“So, I think we were pretty good moms this year. What do you think, baby? Santa shouldn’t give us any coal or anything, right?” Chloe teases as she leans in close to stroke my cheek.I blush a little knowing we’re being watched by my parents, but I don’t stop her. I enjoy it far too much for that. “Yeah, I think we did pretty well, love.”
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
“Holy fuck! We really are getting dumped on!” Chloe exclaims as she opens the curtain in our bedroom window to look outside.“Ugh, babe, it’s so early.” I whine as I pull the blankets over my head to protect my face from the light coming in. Chloe chuckles as she sits down on the edge of my side of the bed and begins lovingly rubbing my side.“Sorry, baby. I just got a text from Tim. It’s so bad out we’re actually closing for the day. So you’re stuck with me today.”I yawn and move the blankets away from my face. “Oh, really? That’s exciting! I can’t remember the last time we had a real snow day.” Chloe leans over and gives me a good morning peck on the lips. “Mmm, well, in that case, what are you waiting for? Get back in this bed, babe!”“Gladly!” Chloe quickly rushes to her side of the bed and then playfully dives on the bed next to me. I can’t help but laugh as she nearly knocks me off of the bed with the momentum of her jump.“You’re such a goof! Get in here.” I lift up the covers, and she happily slips under them and pulls me into her arms tightly. “Mmm, goodnight, babe.” I happily settle into her arms and close my eyes again.Chloe laughs. “You know Lilly will be up any minute, right?”“Shhh. Just let me have this.” I snuggle into her tighter and bury my face in her neck. I let out a contented hum as she laughs and begins rubbing my back. Her body slowly relaxes into mine, and I feel like we’re both starting to drift off again when I hear our daughter’s tiny footsteps make their way into our room.“Told ya.” Chloe whispers into my hair. I can’t help but let a little giggle out, but I remain stubbornly in place. I’m definitely going to pretend I’m still sleeping for a little while.“Mama!” Lilly calls out.Chloe kisses the top of my head before loosening her grip on me a little. “Morning, Lil. Want to come cuddle with us?”I hear Lilly come over to Chloe’s side of the bed before she answers. “No. Go play!”Chloe chuckles and picks Lilly up and pulls her into the bed with us. “We will play soon. I promise. Just give us five minutes of cuddles first.”“Good morning, sweetie.” I finally open my eyes and give Lilly a kiss on the cheek.Chloe gives me a little wink as she pulls Lilly away from me. “Hey! That’s my Lilly. She’s all mine.”“No way, babe. She’s mine.” I playfully yet gently pull Lilly’s arm so we can have a fake tug-of-war over our daughter.Lilly bursts into giggles as we play fight over her. Eventually we settle down with me holding Lilly tightly into my chest and Chloe wrapping her arms around the both of us.“Fine, she can be yours, but you’re mine, and that makes you both mine.” Chloe whispers into my ear.“Sounds fair to me. As long as you’re mine too.” I smile up at her, and she smiles back.“I’ll always be yours, baby.” She looks into my eyes, and we both lean in for a soft and slow kiss.“Mama, I hungry.” Lilly complains, interrupting us right in the middle of our kiss. We both smile against each other’s lips before we slowly pull back.“I guess I can make breakfast since I don’t have to work today.” Chloe gives me a wink as she slowly gets out of bed. She picks up Lilly and puts her on her hip to head off into the kitchen. I stretch and yawn one more time before rolling out of bed and following behind them.Once I’ve made my way into the kitchen, I sit down at the bar to watch Chloe as she begins making waffles. Lilly always wants to help when we cook or do chores, so Chloe ends up picking her up again so she can “help” make the batter. Even though Lilly is very much not helpful in the kitchen, she’s extremely cute, so neither Chloe nor I will ever complain.I let out a little happy sigh as I watch them. Lilly is always adorable to watch, but I find myself a little distracted by my wife this morning. I can’t help but find it extremely sexy when Chloe goes all mom mode. It also doesn’t hurt that she wears next to nothing for sleepwear even in the middle of the winter. I’ll never understand it, but I’ll also never complain. She’s in nothing but a pair of short sleep shorts and a paper thin tank top. I find my eyes shifting between her perfect legs and her breasts. Her tank top leaves very little to the imagination, and I can practically see her nipples through it.“You good over there, Maximum stare?” Chloe asks, with a smug look on her face. She knows damn well that she just caught me checking her out.I blush a little. Normally it’s me catching her checking me out, not the other way around. Not that I don’t do it, but I’m usually a little more subtle about it. Chloe has no shame and will check me out as obviously as possible whenever she feels like it. “Yeah, I’m good, babe. I was just wondering how you’re not freezing your butt off right now.”“I might be a little cold. Why don’t you come over here and warm me up?”I bite my lip playfully. “I don’t know if I should. I wouldn’t want to distract you from making our breakfast.”“Don’t worry, Maximus! I’d never let my girls starve.”“Well, in that case… I suppose I could act as your personal heater for just a minute.” I wink as I get up and then wrap my arms around her from behind.…The three of us finish cooking and eating breakfast together before getting dressed and ready for the day. We considered having a cozy pajama day, but the storm seemed to be calming down a little, and we figured it would be fun to take Lilly out in the backyard to play outside instead.When we head outside, it’s still snowing, but the wind has died down, so it’s less of a blizzard and has been replaced with very beautiful heavy snowfall. The snowflakes are huge and fluffy, making the scenery absolutely gorgeous. I can’t help but notice how cute both my wife and daughter look already covered in snow as well.“Let’s teach Lilly how to make a snowman!” Chloe looks at me excitedly.“Great idea, babe. She’ll love that!” I give Chloe a smile before carefully adjusting Lilly’s winter hat to make sure it’s fully covering her ears.Chloe and I take turns helping Lilly roll three large snowballs. Chloe then stacks them on top of each other. I grab some old clothes from the house, and we help Lilly dress and decorate the snowman.“I think we crushed it! This is totally the best snowman we’ve ever made. Mama and I used to make them all the time when we were kids.” Chloe explains as she picks Lilly up again so she can get a good look at her work.“Yeah! Bestest snowman ever!” Lilly claps her gloved hands excitedly.“That’s right! You did a great job!” I praise as I move in and kiss Lilly on her very cold cheek. I give my wife a bright smile before kissing her as well. “I think it’s time to go in. I think she’s getting cold.”Chloe nods in agreement. “Sounds good to me, Maximus. As cute as you look all covered in snow, I’ll be happy to get rid of all these extra clothes.” I playfully roll my eyes at her, but I still give her a smirk. She always finds a way to covertly flirt with me even around Lilly. She’s such a goofball.…After lunch the three of us get cozy on the couch, with me sitting between Chloe’s legs and Lilly sitting on my lap. Chloe made us hot chocolates and some warm milk for Lilly. Lilly has been fighting pretty hard against taking naps lately, but I think our outdoor adventure wore her out a little today. She hasn’t complained at all about how we’re not playing, and she’s quietly sitting on my lap, resting back against my chest as she drinks her warm milk out of a sippy cup. I’m playing with her hair absentmindedly as I feel my own eyelids starting to get heavy. Sitting in Chloe’s arms always relaxes me, but not usually enough to fall asleep in the middle of the day. I start to wonder if maybe I’m getting old when Chloe breaks the comfortable silence.“Is she asleep?” Chloe asks in a whisper as she gently rubs my shoulders.I take Lilly’s sippy cup from her and sit it beside us on the coffee table. “Seems like it, yeah. I’ll go put her in her bed.” As I’m about to get up, Chloe puts a hand on my shoulder to stop me.“No, I got it, baby.” She leans over and kisses my cheek before sliding out from behind me. She then leans down and carefully picks Lilly up into her arms. I blow her a kiss, and she winks at me before turning and leaving the room.While Chloe is gone, I start playing on my phone. I eventually end up getting a notification from my calendar app. I didn’t think I had anything going on today, but when I see what I forgot, I let out a sigh.“Is everything okay, baby?” Chloe asks, seeing my frown.“Yeah, it’s fine… It’s just…” I take another deep breath, and Chloe quickly sits next to me, wrapping her arm around my shoulders. “It’s time again. For another test.”Chloe presses her forehead against mine and closes her eyes. “You never know… This could be the time it’s positive. No need to get all bummed out yet.”“I know. I’m sorry, love.” I move my head to rest on her shoulder. “I’m just getting a little discouraged. I can’t believe we’ve been trying for almost a year now.”“I get that, but still there is nothing wrong with you. We’ve just had some shit luck so far. That’s all.” She rubs my thigh lovingly.“I hope you’re right. I better go face the music.” I sigh softly as I get up and head into the bathroom.…When I return, I find Chloe sitting on the couch holding out another mug of hot chocolate for me.“Aww, thanks, babe.” I sit down beside her and set the pregnancy test on the coffee table. I then set a timer on my phone before taking the mug from her. She wraps an arm around me as I get comfortable on the couch again. We stay silent, and my mind starts to wander. I was having such a great day, and now I’m pretty sure it’s about to get ruined by another negative pregnancy test. I know Chloe wants this as much as I do, but she’s been so optimistic about it. Sometimes I worry she’s just putting on a front for me. It makes me consider doing the same for her on the off chance this might not ruin her day as well.Chloe lets out a soft sigh as she sets down her empty mug on the coffee table. “You need to chillax, Max. I can feel the stress just radiating off of your body.”“Shit. I’m sorry.” I also sit my mug down on the table, and I take the opportunity to snuggle a little tighter into Chloe’s arms.“You don’t have to apologize. I just wish you wouldn’t stress so much about this.” She kisses the top of my head and rubs my back.“I’m trying not to, but it’s hard. I just hate feeling like I’m letting us down.” I admit, as I make direct eye contact with the floor.“Baby, you’re not letting us down at all. This isn’t your fault.” Chloe pulls me into a tight hug, and I bury my face in her neck. She holds me close until my phone alarm goes off, interrupting us.I slowly pull back and look into her eyes. “Alright. Here goes nothing, I guess.” I pick up the test, and the two of us stare at it in silence for what feels like at least a few minutes. I feel like my brain has shut off, and it needs to restart. “Wait… I’m not just seeing shit, am I?”I look up at Chloe, and she has the biggest dumbstruck grin on her face. “Unless we both are… I don’t think so!”I feel tears escape my eyes as I grab Chloe’s face with both hands and pull her into a deep kiss. She smiles against my lips and pulls me into her lap as she deepens the kiss even more. I feel her hands start to slowly move from my back to my stomach. I notice Chloe has also started crying, so I wipe a tear off of her cheek before moving one hand to rest on top of hers.When we finally break the kiss, we remain nose-to-nose. “I love you so fucking much.” Chloe’s voice breaks a little as she moves one hand away from my belly to wipe a tear from my cheek.“I love you too, babe! I couldn’t ask for a better wife to have this baby with. Not to mention Lilly and this baby couldn’t ask for a better mom.”“Shit, stop that! You’re going to make me cry even harder.” Chloe chuckles, and I press a soft kiss to her lips. When we pull away, she gives me a sheepish smile. “Will you let me take you to bed to celebrate?”I don’t normally like to go to bed with Chloe while Lilly naps. I’m always extremely paranoid that Lilly will walk in on us and get scarred for life, but I have to make an exception for this. “Please! Let’s just make sure we lock the door.”“Oh, fucking hell yes!” Chloe happily stands up, holding me up in a bridal carry. I can’t help but let out a girlish giggle. I know I'm about to be treated like a damn queen. Not that Chloe doesn’t always treat me exceedingly well in bed, but if how things went after we found out I was pregnant with Lilly is any indication, I know I’m in for an extra special good time. A lot of couples say make up sex is the best, but for me it’s celebration sex that will be my favorite.
~ May 2015 ~
Chloe and I keep giving each other loving glances as we walk back to the apartment hand in hand. Our walk on the beach to celebrate our anniversary was a simple date, but an amazing one. I think it proves how great of a couple we are that a long walk on the beach was more than enough entertainment for us. We just enjoy each other’s company so much it doesn’t even matter what we do as long as we’re together.The closer to the apartment we get, the quieter we get. It’s not an awkward silence, though. I can tell we’re both just really looking forward to getting each other alone. It’s only been a few months since I finally overcame my fears and Chloe and I made love for the first time, but now I can’t imagine my life without it. Sex with Chloe is about so much more than just the physical aspect.When we finally reach the apartment door, I barely get the key in the lock before Chloe wraps her arms around my waist from behind and begins kissing my neck.“Mmm, babe… You’re distracting me.” I can’t help but moan softly. She knows exactly what buttons to push to turn me into a complete mess.Chloe laughs gently against me as she moves her hand over mine and helps me turn the key. She keeps her free hand on my waist and her face in my neck as we walk inside. I pull the key from the lock and push the door closed behind us.“Fucking finally! I’ve been waiting for this all day!” Chloe groans softly as she begins carefully biting at my neck a little. Her hands slowly slide under my shirt, and her fingertips gently stroke my belly as they make their way towards my breasts. “I love you so much, Max.”“I love you too, babe.” I turn in her arms and grab her face in both of my hands as I stare into her eyes. “You’re beautiful.”Chloe gives me the biggest smile as she practically tackles me onto our bed. “I am going to make love to you all night long!”I smile back at my girlfriend. “That sounds so fucking amazing.”She gives me a smirk. “Mmm, you’re telling me.” She groans as we both begin stripping off each other’s clothes. We randomly fling clothing in various directions around the apartment. Both of us laugh when we notice Chloe’s bra landed on the lampshade beside our bed. “Nice throw, Maximus.”“What can I say? I have talent.” I joke.“That you do! You don’t even know!” She chuckles softly before capturing my lips in a deep, passionate kiss. I smile into the kiss at first before letting myself relax so I can properly return the kiss. I wrap my legs tightly around her waist, bringing her body closer to mine. Chloe thrusts her hips against me in response. “Oh, shit… Max!”“Chloe…” I rasp softly. My body is already on fire from her touch. I need her so badly, but I don’t complain. I never would. I want her to take her time and drive me absolutely crazy. I silently vow to always do the same for her. She deserves nothing less.
~ Chloe - Present Day ~
I lovingly place kisses all over Max’s stomach as I begin to slowly climb back up her naked body. She’s lying on her back, breathing heavily as she begins to come down from her last orgasm. I’m not one to keep count, but I’m definitely beginning to wonder if I’m in record-breaking territory. As my kisses make their way higher up her body and start to reach her right breast, she gently grabs my chin to stop me.“Oh… Fuck… I can’t… You have to stop.” I can’t help but laugh at that. She manages to laugh along with me even while still trying to catch her breath.“Sorry if I got a little carried away.” I give her a smug grin as I move all the way up her body to touch her nose with mine.“No… No, you’re good… So good… Fuck... So fucking good… I can’t feel my legs.” She smiles at me and pushes a lock of my hair behind my ear.I chuckle and give her a smirk. “I live to please. To please you specifically, that is.”“You’re such a dork.” She gazes at me affectionately as she bites back another laugh. Once her breathing begins to normalize, I lean in and steal multiple short pecks on the lips from her. She smiles against each kiss, barely able to kiss me back as she seems completely caught up in her post-sex bliss. She eventually regains her composure and stops me again. “We really need to put on clothes and unlock the door. Lilly will be up any minute.”“Are you sure? Do we have to be done?” I playfully whine.“Don’t think of it as being done. Think of it as we’re saving some energy for later tonight.” She winks.“I really like the way you think sometimes, Maximus.” I give her one last slow, lingering kiss before climbing out of bed and digging through my dresser. I grab two oversized t-shirts. I toss one to Max and then put the other one on. Max slowly sits up in bed to slide the t-shirt on before lying back down and pulling the covers up over her. I unlock and open the door so Lilly can come in when she gets up before rejoining my wife in bed. “You good now?”“Much better. Thanks, babe.” She rolls onto her side and rests her head on my chest.“How are you feeling?” I ask as I begin playing with her hair. “You seem a lot better than when we found out you were pregnant with Lilly.”“Yeah, but they say morning sickness can start any time. I’m sure it will be here before we know it. I will admit, though, I have been kind of tired the last few days, but I didn’t really think much of it until today. I just thought I was just getting old.”I chuckle softly and kiss the top of her head. “Feel free to take a nap. I can distract Lilly when she gets up.”“I think I’m good right now, but I’m sure I’ll take you up on that a bunch later.” She lifts her head from my chest so she can look into my eyes. “I still can’t believe it’s finally happened. Maybe it’s too early to get my hopes up, but I can’t help it.”“I feel the same way, baby.” I roll on my side towards her and pull her close to kiss her again. “Don’t worry about that right now. Tonight we celebrate. Tomorrow we can deal with real-life bullshit.”She smiles against my lips before kissing me back. “I think I can handle that.”