In the middle of it all, pause and look around you. Appreciate what's beautiful. Take in the love. Nod to what's good and true. And then move forward one step at a time.

Kathy Freston

I yawn, my body warm and relaxed from getting a good nights sleep. Two arms encage me and successfully hold me close to a rigid body. I look down at my own arms that's holding a very sleepy Mr.Jones Sr. He's been feeling left out lately. All because a certain someone keeps yeeting him off the bed.

My chubby fingers try to remove Dalaric's hands from around my waist but I fail twice. I turn in his hold to get my daily dose of staring, setting Mr.Jones Sr. next to his son.

He's so beautiful. And stressed out. It's been two days since his meeting with Dan and all he's been doing is consulting lawyers and asking me if I'm sure about giving a statement tomorrow. Along with force feeding me soup even though I'm perfectly fine now.

We don't really talk about the case much. There's a lot more that he's going to jail for. Including drugs. Although my boyfriend keeps me in the loop, he knows that I would rather not think about him. So we don't talk about it. I'm still scared, though. Scared of tomorrow. But I know it's what we both need.

My face automatically morphs into a smile at the sight of the love of my life. I move to kiss his cheek and his hold loosens, the crease between his brows disappearing. I kiss his forehead and his arms unwound from my waist. My legs prepare to jump off the bed but I'm pulled back, and shown a mad Dalaric who stubbornly moves his face to the left.

Oops. I forgot the right cheek. I whisper a few 'I love you's until he's satisfied then get off the bed, making sure to sneakily place Mr.Jones Sr. into Dalaric's arms. He gets all grumpy when he doesn't get cuddles. He doesn't have to know it's a penguin he's holding instead of me. Same thing either way.

My phone buzzes as I walk into the washroom, a text from Vera appearing.

🚗: Your costumes ready. The children are really excited, thank you for volunteering !

I send her a nice reply back, giddily running into the washroom. I called Vera yesterday, when I was unnecessarily bed ridden, to volunteer for the children's costume party that she had mentioned a while back. It's taking place in the nearby hospital. She was happy that I volunteered because she needed as many people to help. The children's hospital is for long term child care and even though I'm really bad with little kids, I want to make them smile. So I'm dressing like Little red riding hood.

Yay.

Spending a bit longer to freshen up, I nod at my appearance in the mirror. Yummy, I look really pretty. I take a picture and add it to Dalaric and I's shared photo album. It's how we stay connected even if we're far apart. He doesn't add much to it other than pictures of his daily tea. I have accidentally made Dalaric a tea lover. My man might just be a secret tumblr fan who loves justgirlythings and long walks on the beach...mhm, all the more reason to love him.

I make my way into the bedroom after applying some sunscreen and picking a simple hoodie and jeans. Setting his alarm so he doesn't wake up too late, I give him another kiss and then one more because he's all mine. I wanted the both of us to volunteer but he's too tired and he deserves the rest.

I can't imagine how stressful it must be. He's fighting to end his contract while building up a lawsuit against his own brother. And then there's also Emily, whom he promised. Yet, he never makes me feel like it's my fault or anything like that. My baby's the strongest person ever.

Sometimes I doubt my own strength, especially considering college is starting and I'd have to focus more than usual. Life will be stressful, Dalaric will have to go job hunting, and we'd have to recover from the trial too. Would we be able to handle that much ? It scares me. But then I look at him, just at how wholly perfect he really is and realize that yes, we will. I'm definitely never ever going to give up on us and I will try and learn to love him the way he deserves to be loved. We got through so much is just six months.

I know we won't be able to get through everything that gets in our way, but we sure will try. Dalaric's been teaching me how to do push-ups so the world's got nothing on me. Okay, maybe he's not teaching me because all I've been doing is laying on him while he does the work but I think it's a team effort. I also get to nap and have multiple chances for possible bites so win-win-win.

Small mumbles sound from the bed and I put the hairbrush down, furrowing my brows when I see a troubled Dalaric who's trying to find something on the bed. My confusion evaporates when I see Mr.Jones Jr. on the floor along with his father. How on earth did he manage to throw him off this time ?I pick him up, giving him a kissie before stuffing him in Dalaric's arms. He still doesn't seem satisfied but his searching stops. Maybe he likes Mr.Jones Sr. more ?

The cab ride takes about twenty minutes, and I'm soon in front of the kids section of the hospital. They have a separate ward for children. I try to ignore the fact that Mama's in the same building and walk forward, smiling when I see Vera behind a counter situated at the entrance. Deans behind her with a slight pout.

"Hello ! How are you guys doing ? Oh, hi Dean !"

"Hi." He mumbles, glancing at Vera with an annoyed expression.

"Stop acting like a baby. I've already given you enough of them." Vera mutters lowly, rolling her eyes at Dean.

Did I just walk in on a couples fight ? Where's my popcorn ? Dalaric would like this, maybe I should record it.

"You're greedy, that's what it-" He tries to retort but I interrupt.

"Um-" I wave a hand, trying to get some attention. Vera subtly pushes Dean away and makes her way out of the counter, handing me a sheet.

"Thank you for volunteering, Maya. All you have to do is put this on-" She hands me a wrapped package. I make a mental note to tell her to not use plastic. "-and visit these rooms. Here's the box for the charity fund, you have to return it once you're done collecting."

I nod, grabbing the things from her hand. After talking a little more and waving goodbye to a sulking Dean and a concentrated Vera, I make my way to the washroom to get changed.

☁︎︎ ☁︎︎ ☁︎︎

Kids really don't like me.

I'm in my first round and a little child has already thrown a lollipop at my face. I thought my costume looked pretty. It's a red cape with a matching red maxi skirt, along with a fitted ruffled white and black blouse that exposes my collarbones. The bonnet is too small for my head but I made it work.

I sigh in annoyance when I make my second round, with only three dollars in the charity box. Three dollars that I put in. Sigh. My eyes catch sight of a group of teenage boys and I try to run as fast as I can in my skirt, breathing heavily when I reach the next victims of my pleading.

"Hello there! Would you like to donate a dollar to the charity fund for children care ?"

The first blonde boy, who's wearing ripped jeans and a white t-shirt, scans me with weird eyes. His friend does the same and they laugh to each other. Compared to them, my outfits much better, just saying.

"Damn, you're cute. What's your name ?" Well that's not how you answer a question. I sigh again, no chance of getting money from them. Their pants are torn too. Maybe they need a dollar.

"Um- uh, it's Ma- Stella. Yeah, my name's Stella." Fake names always work when they make you uncomfortable. Stella's a nice name, though. Mhm, feeling conflicted.

"Well, Stella. You free after this whole thing ? We can grab a bite and... uh," The boy exchanges a horrified look with his friend when he looks above me. I tap my head, feeling nothing. Maybe it was a bug and I just squashed it ? Eh, not my fault.

The blonde boy walks forward and shoves five dollars into the box, hastily walking away with his torn jeans.

My brows stay furrowed and I turn after shaking my head, only to bump into a shirt that smells an awful lot like me.

Oh my, did I accidentally give the wrong person a Maya-mark- oh, it's the love of my life with a very dark glare and a wolf costume head.

The wolf has ears. Dalaric has wolf ears. He's a wolf.

"The hell do you think you're doing ?" Dalaric questions, the wolf helmet looking so realistic that I get dazed. My boyfriend cannot be this cute if he wants me to live. I am going to internally combust. I hold back a very needed squeal and answer his question with a grin.

"Making little children smile ?"

"No, you're acting all fucking cute in front of other people." He's wearing wolf ears in front of other people. I could say the same thing to him. Oh my god, does he even realize how adorable he looks right now ? Although the rest of his outfit, which consists of black sweats, black shoes and a dark grey- almost black- tee, does not match his grey costume head, he looks adorable.

I cover my face, which feels extremely hot, and turn around. Did he, stressed and tired, really just leave a cozy bed put on a wolf costume to volunteer for kids ? I want to cry. Maybe it's all the kids that hate me that are making me emotional. Or the wolf ears. God, I love him so much.

Once I stop fangirling, I turn around to come to face with a confused Dalaric who tries to adjust the costume head. I give him a hand and he glares at me.

"You really wore that for me, babycakes ?"

"Dean said it would go with whatever the hell you're wearing. What is that-" He holds my waist as he skims the outfit with dark eyes before mumbling something that makes me giggle. "-Cinderella or some shit ?"

"It's little red riding hood. She goes into a forest to take care of her grandmother but then meets a wolf, a big bad wolf, who gobbles her up!" I say, with too much enthusiasm that scares some of the passerbys. Some of them nod with a knowing look. I'm pretty sure little red riding hood does not fall madly in love with the wolf, but what happened, happened.

Dalaric smirks, backing me into some type of janitor closet, away from the innocent eyes of the kids. When did we get here ? He's going to do some naughty naughty, isn't he ?!

"Fitting." He looks at my costume and mumbles, as a reply to my story. Oh my, did he just-yes, he did. I should stop questioning his shameless nature.

"Tsk, have you no shame, babycakes ? We're in a kids hospital."

"Even more fitting." I scrunch my nose, silently telling him that I'm confused. Dalaric inches closer to me in the tightly packed closet. Oo, they have dino floor-brushes. He puts both large hands on either side of my face before picking up some lint from my red cloak. How is his wolf head so realistic ? It's super soft too.

"You should already know what I'm thinking, Mayella, but I'll say it again cus' I really am fucking shameless." He whispers the last part and I nod, finding myself to be speechless when he's got that look in his eyes. The look that says he wants to gobble me up.

Very indecent thoughts are being thunk and I think I just might be shameless too.

"First, I'm going to kiss you." Oh, that's fine. His lips meet mine in a way too chaste kiss and he smirks, setting down some of my baby hairs.

"Next, after you're done with college," He licks his lips and I nod eagerly. More kissies ? Dear God, please let it be more kissies. Very inappropriate timing for prayer, Maya.

",I'm going to marry you." Oh.

That escalated quickly.

I gulp when my heart starts beating irregularly and my palms get all sweaty. Why- why is he bringing this up right now. This should be three-am-talks-while-I-hug-him-and-our-penguins-simultaneously talk.

"After, we're going to have kids." Oh, woah. He's thinking long-term, isn't he. Oh my. My hearts doing that thing again. Dalaric picks up one of my fiddling hands and grabs hold of my left ring finger.

Oh okay. Yeah. That doesn't mean anything. Nope, nothing at all.

"A-and th-then ?" I stutter more than usual as Dalaric's eyes skim my face.

"More kids."

"W-what ? How many are we thinkin', like two ? Or three ? Or um...more ?!" The door clicks open and he smirks, letting himself out.

"Dunno'." Dalaric shrugs and rearranges his costume before walking over to Dean who sends him a questioning look. I hide back in the closet.

Dunno ? He's the one that brought this up !

I am so going to bite him for this. After I get a picture of him as a wolf.

☁︎︎ ☁︎︎ ☁︎︎

"I love orange too ! What about you, Khadijah, what's your favorite color ?" I ask, sitting on one of the beanbags along with two girls. They both have attached oxygen tanks and even though my hearts breaking at the sight of it, it makes me happy to see them smiling just like they should be. The only reason I'm here is because the nurse had to run an emergency errand for a minute.

"Blue. I like blue very much." She mutters, as her friend Pati adds flowers to her hijab. Fatima loves little girls in hijabs and I once caught her crying over a picture of one. She threatened to kill Mr.Jones- both of them- if I told anyone. I secretly coo at the little girls in front of me. They've been best friends for two years now, and they're only eight. Goals.

"Blue is very pretty. Just like you girls. Which is why I..." I fiddle with my bag, taking out the roses I bought at the hospital gift shop.

"...got you roses ! Beautiful flowers for beautiful girls." They blush at my comment and I grin. "Remember that, okay ?" They nod and giggle at the sight of the flowers before squealing very loudly, shoving their noses into it. So adorable.

"You can keep them, or give them to someone you really care for. Flowers symbolize lots of things, especially love." Their eyes glitter when I tell them that, and they immediately shove their roses into each other's arms. I hope they can be best friends forever.

I get up from my crouching position and smile at the adorable kids, turning around when I hear a knock.

Dalaric stands at the doorway with his arms crossed, a smile on his lips. I walk forward to my beautiful man and hand him the rose, which he takes apprehensively.

"I love yo-"

"I love you." He says it first.

"That wasn't very nice of you." I glare at him, booping the wolf's nose instead of his.

"Okay." Dalaric shrugs, wrapping an arm around my shoulders. Bite opportunity alert.

I make an attempt to act like I haven't been thinking about our closet encounter but I'm pretty sure Dalaric can see right through me, which is why he's giving me that teasing look.

"Hey! That's not allowed in here." Startled by the shouting, I look down to find a boy of around six years with curly hair and tan skin, pointing one accusing finger at Dalaric.

I turn to Dalaric to investigate what the boy is pointing at.

"No! You can't just give him a flower. It's no right." The boy stomps his feet and crosses his arms, putting on a angry face that reminds me a lot of Ale. They would be good friends. Both look like little angry birds.

The boy pouts, jumping up to snatch the rose from Dalaric, who holds it closer with a protective look. A wolfie protecting his flower.

"It's no right !" I stifle a giggle at how he misses the 't' in not. Dalaric looks at me knowingly.

"And why is it not right ?" The kid almost glares at me when I ask, choosing to point a finger at Dalaric again.

"Mama told me only girls get flowers, not boys. It's just no right." He stomps his feet again. Why would anyone say that to a little kid ? I know my Dalaric loves flowers as much as I do. He's quite picky about the roses sometimes, though.

Dalaric scoffs, crouching down to the boys eye level. He holds the rose in front of the little kid and speaks earnestly.

"Nah, little boy." Dalaric says, shaking his head. "Only strong boys get flowers. You wanna be strong?" The kid's eyes glitter at this and he nods vigorously.

"I-I wanna be a big one. Like you." He points to Dalaric's biceps. Hey, I'm strong too! Hmph.

"Hm, take this. Y'wanna give it someone you Iike ?" The boy nods slowly, inspecting the flower and sniffing it.

"Ben likes flowers." He mumbles, playing with the petals. "And he's my bestest friend. But mama said..."

Dalaric quirks a brow, giving him a stern look.

"But I'm a big boy ! A-and Ben's a big boy! " My heart flutters at their interaction, especially when the boy nods to himself and bumps fists with my man. He'd be such an amazing father.

"That's right, big man. Now run, Ben's waiting." He ruffles the kid's hair and stands up straight, scoffing when the kid zooms past us and into the hospital hallway.

"A-awright. B-ben! I'm coming !"

Dalaric grabs my hand when I get dazed. I hastily wave goodbye to the girls, promising them that I'll come visit soon. We walk towards where Dean and Vera sit in one of the waiting rooms, Opal in Vera's hold. A few kids roam around happily and the atmosphere is light, some of the lollipops almost hitting me.

"Ricky!" "It's Ricky !" "Wicky!"

I turn around when I hear his name being called out, only to find four children surrounding my man.

No fair. They all love him and he's not even wearing a costume.

"How do they know you ?" I ask, looking at Dalaric with apparent jealousy. It's just not fair.

"I spent nights here, when Emily was sick. These kids couldn't go home so I stuck around. Nothing special." He mumbles, a solemn look on his face which disappears when I give him a kiss on his cheek. He's special.

"I want kids too." I blurt.

"Wa-what ?" Dalaric's face morphs into one of confusion as I walk quickly, away from him.

"Nothing! I didn't say anything." I avoid making eye contact and sit on one of the chairs, smiling at Vera.

"Is she okay ?" I whisper, nodding to Opal who's sleeping in her arms. Vera smiles, caressing the girls hair.

"She wouldn't sit still today, she's out of energy." I furrow my brows, questioning her.

"Opal has combination ADHD, some days she won't focus and some days she'll be hyperactive and completely out of control. And it's making her sad. It's getting worse..." I gasp quietly, completely unaware of her disorder. She looked completely fine when I first met her, only now do I realize how unaware I am of what it actually is. I wonder why books and movies don't show the bad side of ADHD.

"She's a fighter, I know it. I'm sure she'll get through it, either way, she's strong with and without it. Especially with you and Dean by her side." Vera smiles at my comment and thanks me. My eyes grow wide when she nods to Opal and asks,