Driving to Wayne's apartment his eyes continuously scan around outside before looking back out the front window and glancing at Sophia as she lays her head on his shoulder. He is trying hard to act naturally but he jumps slightly when my hand reaches over and touches his shoulder. "Relax, we won't be leaving you alone until you are on that plane," reminding him the same as I have the past few days. It took him three days before he would leave my cabin and only completely attached to the both of us as we walked the nearby woods to get him fresh air. He screamed and nearly fainted when Cheyenne saw us and ran towards them both to thank them for protecting the pups. He hadn't realized until she was backing up that she was happy and thankful, not attacking him for a snack. Walking the pack with us and showing him how 'normal' we are is what helped the most. Scott had been standing with a few others as their pups played around. Seeing them snapped him back to reality that we aren't so different. We have families, friends, kids, and relationships. We joke around and hang out. It isn't always teeth and fur.

I feel Wayne's hand come up and touch mine before he rubs his cheek against it. "I just can't help feeling like I'm being watched or that I'm missing something. I'll be okay. Jax just opened a second more private spa so we will basically live there and at the clubs."

"What about work?" Sophia asks as she sits up slightly.

Wayne grins wide making him look younger than he is, "I told them my grandmother died and I need to fly out. They have other people who can teach my students until I get back and I have vacay saved up."

"Your grandmother died when you were younger," she deadpans. She is not smiling but that only makes him smile more.

"Well, they always told me I gave her a heart attack, I say I earned it." He gives a shrug and she shakes her head "you ain't right."

"I'm not wrong." He laughs loudly as we park and get out. He gets his suitcase and bag from the back cab before breathing in deeply, holding his breath and his stomach, releasing it with a deep sigh out. "It's been too long since I've travelled."

Walking him in he already knows exactly where he is going while I am caught up looking around at the inside of the building. "This is an airport? Looks almost like a Mall." Murmuring while looking at the small stores as we walk farther in before getting on a set of escalators. Wayne is giggling and laughing at me. "Well yeah, what else would you do while you wait for your flight? They have a food court too." He only laughs more at the surprise on my face. Seems he has a slight bounce and excitement now that he didn't have before. Laughing and smiling, that is how I know him to be; how I like to see him feel.

"Have you not been to the airport?" Sophia asks lifting her brow.

"I've never flown a day in my life." Now they are both looking at me. open-mouthed and I have to look away, "is that so surprising?" Grumbling it out they both glance at each other with knowing grins on their faces before looking at me.

"You know it's really not that uncommon to be afraid of flying." Wayne tries to comfort me with a pat on the back. "It's nicer driving and I don't mind it. Has nothing to do with fear." Shrugging off his arm before looking around, "where to now?" Wayne gives Sophia a wink as he smiles and leaves it at that, leading the way to a counter where a woman stands waiting to ring people through. He bounces more on his feet as he stands at it waiting and she checks him in. He is getting more excited about this the closer he gets. Maybe this is good for him in more ways than one. He stretches up wide as he walks back towards us, "it's a half hour before my flight boards for takeoff, I am going to go ahead and sit there and wait. Give me time to scroll my medias before I fly, I love to sleep on the plane." He tells us before hugging Sophia tight. "Text me when you get to Texas and I'll text you to let you know I got to Cali safe too. We will keep in touch. Love you Puddin." He tells her as their cheeks press hard and Sophia grips her fingers in tightly to his back. "I'll miss you Monster, try to behave."

"I make no promises," he grins at her before he kisses her cheek hard. Then he turns on me with a sultry gaze and he almost makes a purring sound when he says, "your turn."

"You kiss me I might have to slap ya," I tell him firmly but he laughs as his eyes start to crinkle in the corners and he throws his arms around me and I put mine around him. "You know I have kinks, right?" He whispers loudly in my ear.

"She makes a great point when she says you are not right," I shoot back and I can feel the smile as his cheek touches mine.

"Try and get out more and do fun couples things, Houston is a beautiful city. Make Luca take you guys around." Wayne says as he pats my back, "I'll miss you guys." I pat his back before letting him go. "We will make plans to meet up when everything is settled. You have our numbers."

He beams at us both before it turns into a sharp grin as he walks away. "Now don't go making babies or anything without me, I want to know every detail. I have a great list of names to choose from."

"You know my family names after people Wayne." Sophia shakes her head.

"And I'm just saying Wayne and Elliot are both beautiful names." He laughs as he walks towards the back way and Sophia rolls her eyes as she takes my hand, walking us back out to the truck.

"Think he will be okay?" She asks when the doors are shut and I start the truck. Reaching over and taking her chin in my hand before leaning over and kissing her deeply, she sighs contently as she leans into the kiss before we slowly break apart. "He is going to a populated area and he was never a target in the first place. He is perfectly safe," I remind her and she nods her head as her fingers tug my shirt, pulling me closer to kiss me again. "You know we will arrive late if we keep this up." Telling her as I push the console between us up.

"What a shame that will be," she whispers against my lips as she shifts to sit in my lap and I can't help to chuckle, "parking lot of an airport, Sophia, I thought you better than that."

"I let HotShot assholes get the better of me sometimes," She muses to me as she pops each button of my shirt open letting her fingers skim over my skin as she reaches further down and I shift her to lay beneath me on the bench of the truck as we both tug at each other close enough to feel our skin touch and graze before my fingers slip inside her shorts, electing a soft moan as her hand grips around me, stroking slowly as our lips kiss over any exposed skin we find on one another. I feel the slight clench of her and her knees press against my hips as she tries to close her legs when my mouth finds her mark. "Cage," she moans a plead for me.

"I thought I was going by HotShot." growling in her ear, Sophia chuckles softly before her lips touch against my ear and she drags out her whispered, "HotShot," and my fingers curl rubbing her slightly making her hiss as she raises her hips for me to pull her shorts off. I can feel the rock of the truck with each thrust and I have to cover her mouth when she gets too loud as our hips meet together again and again. My canines bare and press to her mark and she tilts her head, laying it to the side on the bench to give us full access and a view as she starts to tremble beneath me and I sink them in as I feel my head throbbing. We both pant hard as the climax starts to slow and come down. "We ain't making it to Texas for two whole days?" She asks me.

"Better make it three. Wanna buy snacks and water for the drive?" I ask her and she giggles softly as her face presses into my neck, "we probably should. Can't be hungry or dehydrated." Her nose pulls away from my neck slightly as she looks up at me, running the tips of her fingers across my forehead to move the hair away while my thumb slowly starts to stroke her cheek.

"I love you," she whispers as those swirling storms of eyes met mine before our lips press softly to one another in a slow tender kiss.

Sophia fixes her shirt and pants while I try to button up my shirt as we sit taking calm breaths, glancing at one another with a glee to us that makes me think of teenagers on their first time. I have to roll down the windows to get rid of the condensation that's starting to cling to the windows from our heat before I can drive. "You're a bad influence on me you know," I tell her as a few people glance over at my truck. Sophia only smiles as she braids her hair down the side. "For all they know we could be lovers separated for too long or maybe we are having an affair and I'm the other woman you fly in on weekends."

"My truck ain't that nice, especially with dents in it" I laugh at her and she looks over it with a shrug. "Separated lovers it is."

After the grocery store, we finally make it onto the road and settle in for the long drive while she munches on some red licorice, offering me a bite. "Why don't you tell me all about these holidays you celebrate," I say and she looks over at me.

"You mean Christmas? You don't celebrate?" She lifts her brow.

"Nope never. I don't celebrate any of it," telling her truthfully and she hums as I take a bite.

"If you don't celebrate, why ask?" She questions me as she takes her bite looking back out the window. I feel her eyes on me like that first time in my truck when she asked me questions. "Because I wanna know what our family will be celebrating on the holidays. Just because I never have doesn't mean I didn't want to now. I never had a reason to before, especially when it was just me and Grams." I say and her hand squeezes mine. "But now it's us and whatever the future has in store. So I wanna know all the things about you just like I will tell you everything there is about me." Glancing over from the road Sophia is rubbing her fingers over the back of my hand. "Christmas is my favourite holiday, I love decorating but I haven't had the chance to in a while. No point in just me decorating my house for well, only me." She starts to tell me and I ask her about the decorations. Sophia talks and fills in the space of time during the trip and I ask her question after question before we get to the first stop. She moves over to the middle seat, laughing as she tells me stories about when she was little. These are the moments I've been waiting for all these years. The joy I've been searching for. It was worth that long wait for her and I understand fully why Pops spent so much time teaching me patients from the time I would walk and talk and all through my teen years. Good things are worth waiting for, even if they don't seem like it at that moment. Better things come around at the right time if we just have patients to wait.

THE END.