Flicker

36

After we eat dinner, and get the kids all put to bed, Levi and I are both exhausted.

"Val, we need to talk." He sighs, coming out the bathroom, towel drying his hair.

"Levi, I'm tired." I whine and he kisses my cheek, throwing the dirty towel in the hamper.

"I'm sorry for comparing you to Ava. You're not her, you never will be."

"Are you breaking up with me?" I ask, tears filling my eyes as I cut him off.

"What? Baby no. Absolutely not. I'd never. You're stuck with me for life." He reassures me, pulling me into his bare chest.

He kisses the top of my head and I take in his scent, letting the AXE body wash calm me.

"We need to talk about your attitudes."

"Levi." I pout, crossing my arms, "I didn't even have an attitude."

"Calm down, we're just laying some ground rules." He chuckles, leading me to sit down.

He sits across from me on the bed and I look at him hesitantly.

"You're allowed to have bad days, you're allowed to get upset but you need to do so in a respectful manner. I'm guilty of it too, I understand it's easier said than done. But today was a once in a blue moon thing, I don't usually loose my cool like that. You do it all the time and Ben even told me your attitude is what got you in a lot of trouble."

"What are you saying?" I ask cautiously and he takes a deep breath.

"I'm not spanking you this time because I was in the wrong way more than you were, but from now on I'm not comparing what I'll spank you for based off what Ava got it for. You're not Ava, you're Valerie. And you're a lot more headstrong instead of passive. So instead of just being dangerous and stuff we already discussed, that will be reserved for the belt. If I feel you need a quick reminder I'll only use my hand."

I take a deep breath and he smiles at me. Instead of exploding and telling him where he can go shove it, I crawl into his lap and snuggle into his chest.

He chuckles and I feel myself falling asleep in his hold. "Are we okay with this? I need to know your feelings on everything."

"Okay." I mumble, grabbing a blanket and wrapping myself in it.

"Ben said he'd watch the kids of us, my parents are coming over tomorrow for dinner so we can discuss what happened." He casually drops and I nod, not willing to break this moment for anything.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Ben comes and picks the kids up, wrapping me in a huge hug.

"Who's walking you down the aisle?" He asks and I give him a sad glance.

I let him walk me down the aisle when I married Drake, so I don't know if he's expecting that again.

"Jackson." I say quietly and he lets out a relieved sigh.

"Okay, thank Goodness."

"You don't want to?" I ask shocked and he shakes his head.

"Jackson really wants to but he said it's your decision."

"But that doesn't change the fact that you don't want to." I whisper to myself and he pulls me into his arms.

"I would love to, but I walked you down the aisle for you and Drake's wedding." He assures me, kissing the top of my head.

"It doesn't matter because at the end of the day, she's being given to me." Levi chuckles, walking over and passing Sam to Ben, "Warning, he's being fussy."

Ben smirks as he bounces my son on his hip. "I'm sure we can handle it. Gabby! Daniel! Let's go!"

I roll my eyes as the kids come down and Levi pulls Gabby into him.

"Ben and Alayna both have permission to spank you, and if either of them have to you will get it from me. Understand?" He warns darkly and Gabby nods.

"Yes sir."

He kisses her head and the four leave. Roughly 5 minutes later, Levi's parents come walking through the door, watching the both of us intently.

"Cut to the chase kid? Need money?" His dad asks and I cringe.

"I'll cut to the chase." I shrug and Levi glares at me, he moves to quiet me but I step back, "Ms Jameson, did you tell Gabby you never liked her mom? That you were glad she was dead?"

"Why I-"

"It's a yes or no." I snap and Levi grabs my arm.

"You're out of line, we said we would do this civilly."

"Screw civil, if someone told Daniel they were glad Drake was dead they'd be on the ground." I snap, jerking my hand back, "And you can answer the fucking question you bitch."

"VALERIE!" Levi screams and I jump, but hold my ground.

"You're going to allow her to speak to your mother like this?" Mr Jameson asks and I chuckle.

"You avoiding the question tells me yes. That is my daughter and you mess with her you mess with me. You ever say anything like that about Ava in her presence again and I swear to God you will not see her again until she is 18 and then it will be her decision. It's not a good thing her mother is dead and I'll be damned if you tell her so."

"While I don't agree with her form of communication, yes, if you ever tell my daughter her mother is better off dead again we will cut contact completely." Levi reinforces me, pinching the back of my leg to tell me just because he's agreeing doesn't mean he's not mad.

"Now that that's settled, would you like a meal?" I ask politely and they both stand there shocked.

"We have to be going." His mom spits and I wave with a smile.

Once the door shuts, Levi grabs my arm and leads me to the couch, yanking me over his lap.