Every thought that crosses my mind as I awake into consciousness involves him. His limbs wrapped around mine, that crooked smile that always reaches his eyes, the pads of his finger tips have left traces of tingles on my skin and no matter how hard I try, I can't brush this bloody feeling!

Is it not enough to be hiding a pregnancy? Must I really have to add fuel to the fire!? Come on, girl. Get it together.

Sneaking around was a fun idea at first. The challenge of getting him to fold was intriguing, of course. But that didn't take much effort. Now he's smothering me.

Like, literally, smothering.

I try to squirm from beneath his body weight as the morning sun peaking through the window shades, beams a ray of shame down on my face. His chest is half laid on top of mine, with one muscle rippling arm- I mean, one arm snuggly wrapped around my waist.

I don't really want to wake him, but as I lift his hand to move it away, his fingers contract. It's just a twitch at first, but then he's got ahold of me. In more ways than just the physical.

Because it's now that his head pops up from his warm cuddle against my shoulder. The messy curls on top of his head wave in different directions. His sleepy eyes meet mine as he props his chin on my chest to peer up at me. His eyes are such a heavy blue, I thought them green at first, but that was before I had the mind to take him in.

I have the urge to let my hands caress the sharp edges of his face. I want to run my fingers through his hair and give myself to him over and over and—what the fuck am I saying! No. This must be the hormones.

"Good morning, gorgeous," His low, husky voice is just the brink of strangulation I need to clear these thoughts from my head. He's acting like this is normal- it's not. I should've left hours ago.

When I don't answer him, he smirks at me, shaking his head. He pushes himself up, balancing his upper half as the muscles of his broad shoulders bulge, stretching his neck up to peck my cheek before rising out of bed. His bare back is a delicious sight with every stretching motion, he walks across the room, butt-ass naked to retrieve his robe.

Get up. Get up, get dressed and leave. Don't put much thought into it.

Shaking my head from the clouds, I wrap the sheet around my body as I get up to collect my clothes from where they were thrown around the hotel room last night. I wasn't planning on spending another unnecessary second with him. But he rang me, first.

Maybe I'm just a midnight booty-call. Maybe he knew he'd score with me.

"Are you leaving already? I thought we'd get some breakfast first. You know, get to know each other better- or maybe even just-,"

"That all sounds marvelous, darling, but I really better get going. My family will wonder where I ran off to..," I don't dare look at him as I cut him off. His voice sounded so hopeful, I don't know what he thinks this is.

"Oh, alright..," As I button my shirt, he comes behind me wrapping his arms around my hips, tugging my back to his front. I can't shake the feeling of fluttering nerves that rattle inside of me whenever he holds me close.

Nestling his head against mine, I look up into the mirror on the wall in front of me to see him already staring at our reflection. "You're going to break my heart, aren't you?"

I scoff at him, keeping a keen eye on his movements as he brushes my hair away from my neck and leaves a trail of sexy kisses up towards my ear. "Getting a little ahead of yourself there, Rami?," My voice is quivering, but I keep on with the facade as I walk out of his arms. "Let's leave hearts out of this, huh."

——————————————

Freddie:

Ughhh. My head is killing me! I don't know what I was thinking carrying on like that last night.

"Up and at 'em, sleeping beauty! You've got a lot of guests downstairs waiting," Phoebe comes into the room yelling for god only knows what reason!

"Fuck off," I groan and turn over to sink my face into the cool pillowcase.

The screech of the curtain rails pierce my ears and make my head want to explode as he pulls them open. The bright light covering my eyelids even hurts. How am I meant to open them?

I bury my head beneath my pillow just to have Phoebe rip the covers off of me. "What are you playing at, old man! I haven't the energy to-,"

"Get up, you bag of bones! Cherie and Mary have been back and forth all morning without you there. I can't keep up!"

Shit. I completely forgot that Mary came in yesterday. I haven't even said hello.

"I'll fire you, yet," I mutter as I sit up in bed. Letting out a quick gasp as it feels the nerves of my spine viciously twist. Phoebe places a tray of food across my lap, chuckling to himself. "Ha! You tried that already. You missed me too much, remember?"

"That wasn't me," I shrug, releasing the breath I'd been holding against my clenched teeth. I try to distract myself from the pain of my body aches by taking a bite of toast. "That was Cherie." I wink at him, contently lifting my cup of morning tea to my lips.

Ah, the warm hint of citrus hitting the back of my throat soothes my gurgling stomach. "Thank you, Phoebe," I nod to him as he leaves the room.

After a few bites of food, I hurriedly try my best to get ready. And by getting ready, I mean brushing my teeth and washing my face, running a comb through my hair and securing my warm robe on top of my pajamas.

Slowly making my way to top of the stairs heading into the kitchen, I can already hear the polite bickering going on from below.

"He doesn't need anymore publicity. We're trying to live a private life"

"Bullshit! He's bored cooped up at home all day long-,"

"And what do you know?! You haven't even bothered to call him in months!"

"That's just the way we work. That's how we've always worked, dear"

"Yes, that May be true, love. But he's my husband and I'm pretty sure I know what's best for-,"

"Freddie!!," As soon as my cane touches ground from the last step of the staircase, I feel her embrace. "I've missed you, you look well," She whispers into my ear as her hair tickles my nose. "Lovely to see you again, Mary. It's been so long," Her arms tightly hug me, a quick squeeze before she backs away to someone clearing their throat.

"Good morning, my love," Cherie pecks my lips before I can sit down. I haven't to admit my head is still slightly dizzy and pounding with a hangover headache, but a taste of her lips calms me for the moment.

I simply smile at the both of them as I move to have a seat at the table. I can already sense the tension in the air, but Cherie and Mary have come a long way over the years of reconciliation. We owe Mary a great deal of gratitude— we're family now and most of the time we get along.

"Thank god you're finally awake," Anita says in a hushed tone. "They left me to referee these two"

Before I can answer her there's a rush of commotion stampeding into the kitchen. I really regret getting out of bed for all of this.

"I've got the bouquets, but where can we keep them?!," Ronnie's panicked voice shouts as she places two buckets near my feet.

"Should I put the the boutineers in the freezer?," Lily asks before putting down several boxes she carries in with her.

"Nevermind about all of that! What about the dress!," Rose strolls in and all the uproar of clapping and squeals makes me sick to my stomach.

"Omg! Let me see!"

"Why is it here? Shouldn't it be at your house for Laura?"

"Couldn't! Richie's there. He'd see!"

"Richie's where? At your house?"

"I'll put in my closet"

"Excuse me," I mumble, but it seems no one is paying much attention to me as I leave the room.

Finally back in the quiet calm of my bedroom, I take steady breaths, slowly rubbing my stomach as I sit down. The doorbell rings and yet again the sound of more voices make me nauseous. Overriding all of them is of course the loud, unmistakeable voice of my sister, Kash.

"Aw Papi, I'm sorry to spring this all on you so early," The old door hinges squeak as Cherie comes into the room. "You don't look so good. Are you feeling alright?," She asks. Her cold hands swipe across my forehead, cheeks, and neck.

I grab onto her hand, stopping her from fussing. "Darling, I always look goo-," I try to stop it. I try to swallow the burning acid back down my throat, but I fear I've only made it worse!

"Freddie? What is it..."

I can't even answer her. I quickly get to my feet, dropping my cane to the ground to move around Cherie in time to hobble into the bathroom. I kneel, painfully onto my knees and vomit into the toilet. Seconds afterward, I'm left dry heaving, clinging onto the rim for support. This is not how I remembered it.

Hands are on my back. Hushed coos ring in my ear as circle strokes in between my shoulder blades soothe me from distress. "I told ya to take it easy last night. Come on. Let's get you to bed"

Cherie hands me a wad of tissue to clean my mouth and wipe away my tears. "I don't think I have the strength...," I internally cringe to have to admit this out loud. "I can't get up"

"Just settle here for a sec. I'll go get Phoebe-,"

"No- don't. I can...I can do it, just give me a minute," I must look like a poor shlub, using the toilet and tub for assistance to get to my feet. All the energy I barely had is washed out of me. But I hate for her to see me this way.

"Ughh," I grunt against the quivering of my limbs trying to persuade my body to cooperate. "Don't push yourself—you'll fall"

Ignoring Cherie's request, I tighten my grip to push myself. Gritting my teeth doesn't even help the agony, but I slide to my feet as fast as I can. "See," I take the hand that she offers me as we shuffle out of the bathroom. "I'm not as helpless as I look"

"No one ever said that," She says softly, pushing me down onto the bed. "You have to stop pretending that you're not ever in pain. This is why he came back. Phoebe's here to-,"

"Phoebes here because I missed him," I wave her off as she tries to tuck me in bed. I'm not a child. I'd like very much for everyone to stop treating me like one just because some days these awful injuries get the better of me.

"I love you, Papi. But you're as stubborn as they come," I roll my eyes before leaning into her palm. She sits beside me, stroking my hair, cupping my cheek. It's the little things she knows I crave that relax my mind, entirely.

"I love you so much, Angel," I breathe, kissing her hand. "I just...I can't really bare to tell you that I've been struggling. I know it's hard on you. I don't want you to think you need to worry about me at all, but I-,"

"Stop it. What do you mean?," She stops her caresses, putting both of her hands on the sides of my face. "You're the most important worry. You need to tell me when you need to tap out and I'll be right there with you. Freddie...,"

I shut my eyes tightly. And open them again.

I blink for what feels like a million times a second, my eyelashes fluttering about like a nervous tic. I feel the bubbling panic start to boil over with every attempt. It doesn't work! It's useless.

"Hey, hey- what's the matter?," As quickly as they come, her fingers rub away my fallen tears. I need help. I need to open up. I can't do this alone. "Look at me, would ya? I didn't mean to upset you. Freddie, loook at me—"

"I CAN'T!!," I shout, possibly directly in her face as the shadowy darkness covers what little bit of light shines through.

"I can't look at you! I can't see you! I'll never be able to again, Cherie! I can't do this anymore- I can't live this way- I can't! I don't want to!"

"W-What do you mean, you can't see?! Freddie, how long has this been going on? Why haven't you told me...," Her own voice sounds just as desperate as mine. She sniffles her nose as she cuddles next to me, wrapping her arms around my neck, giving quick pecking kisses to my face as I can't seem to stop the water works. "You don't ever have to hide from me. This is my fault-,"

"Shut up. No it isn't," I want to put as much pressure into my eyeballs as possible as I press against them, internally pleading for them to stop cascading streams. I guess I've kept a lot pent up inside. Of course I'd pick now to have an absolute tantrum.

"Helloooooooo! Stop being rude, we're all waiting downst- oh! Sorry! I-," The door quickly slams shut as Kash exits the room.

Great. I'll definitely be met with a million questions from her later.

"You better get back out there"

"Not if you need me. I'll stay right here, thank you!," Cherie moves closer to me. Her leg wraps around my waist, her lips at my throat, tenderly kissing my neck. "Let's make an appointment, see what's going on..."

I nod my head as her hand wraps around mine, tightly interlocking our fingers. If I were to pick any given moment in this life to change, or flip, or never had happened at all— it'd be the day I ever met Cherie. If only she never met me, she'd be happily off somewhere, countries away. I love her that much. Much too much.

———————————————

Deacy:

I may be old, but I'm not stupid. Of course, I heard all the commotion last night. I roll my eyes and sigh as I watch the replay from my security cameras. There he goes, caught red-handed, sneaking over my gate, rustling near my bushes, tip-toeing. Always the dramatic entrance. Like father, like son.

"Good morning," I chirp, but to no effect.

"WAKE UP!"

His eyes snap open quickly, hand over his chest, mouth gaping as a string of stuttering excuses spill from his mouth.

"I- uh- no- it's not what you think- I- -I slept on the floor!"

"Which would explain why you're tucked in bed....right," I shouldn't need to point this out. He's just buying time.

"Daddy! What are you doing in here," Laura strolls into the room from the bathroom, fully dressed and showered. Hmmm.

Not that I've a right to judge. I mean at their age, Veronica and I— well, I'm not judging! That's the point. But this is my daughter after all. She's still my little girl for a few more days!

"I better get going...got the tux fitting to get to today..," Richie gets out of bed, hurrying to pick up his shoes from the floor. At least, he's fully dressed. If was really anything like his father, I'm sure this would be a completely traumatizing sight to have walked in on.

"Yes, why don't you do that..," I move over toward the open window, peering down at the ground, I laugh to myself thinking about the ridiculous image of my godson climbing up here.

"I'll call you later, baby"

"I have to go to your parents' house. I'll meet you there when you're through..."

I walk past the little love-birds. All of a sudden feeling intrusive. As I reach the end of the hallway, his footsteps clearly follow me down the stairs. "Uh, mind giving me a ride? I didn't bring a car..," he asks with a timid smile on his face, slightly light blush to his cheeks.

He's a good kid. He's a good kid. He's a good kid.

"Cars out front. I'll be there in a minute," he nods his head, going past me to head out the front door. "Thank you, Daddy," Laura kisses my cheek as she heads into the kitchen.

I watch her go. Skipping down the steps, a little glow to her that only comes from being deeply and happily in love. I guess this is growing up.