Dark Days

Settling In

©JRF2016

We've all seemed to settle in to our new town, to our new roles, pretty well now. The twins are getting so big and Gracie just loves being a big sister. She is sitting in the middle of the floor playing with Braylon and Sophia who are laughing hysterically at her. I've been keeping track of the days in a little notebook I found in one of the drawers upstairs. It has been 235 days since the twins were born, they are crawling and starting to pull themselves up on the furniture and walking around it. I stand in the doorway of the kitchen looking at Gracie with the babies and their playing when Reid slides his arms around my waist and kisses me on the neck. "They are fun to watch together," he whispers against my neck sending a shiver up my back. Our relationship seemed to be growing stronger everyday but I still caught myself wondering from time to time, what if I hadn't killed Lisa? Would he still be chasing after her or would he still be with me? "You seem a little distracted, are you okay?" Reid asks as he turns me around to look into his crystal clear blue eyes. I nod and smile. Being pulled into his hard chest was turning me on right now. I kiss his lips and rest my head on his chest, listening to the sound of his heartbeat as it even begins to speed up. We haven't really had any real time alone since the twins were born. Every time we seemed to get heated up the moment was interrupted. "I need you so bad right now, Chief." I whisper in his ear as I bit down on his ear lobe in a playful little nibble. Charlie and Riley burst through the door. I swing around staring at them and they star at us for a minute. Riley looks mad and Charlie look apologetic but both of them sit down, without a word, with the three youngest children and start to play. I turn back to Reid who smiles knowingly as we quietly slide upstairs to play a little game of our own.

As we lay there in each other's arms we could now hear the laughter of our family, our children playing downstairs. Reid kisses me on top of my head before sitting up on the bed and sliding to the edge. He grabs his underwear and slides them on as he stands to his feet. I grab his hand and he turns to look back at me with a big smile on his face. He leans down again this time placing a kiss on my lips. With his forehead pressed against mine and staring straight into my eyes he says, "I love you." He continues to get dressed as I slide myself off the bed and throw my clothes back on as well. Wrapped in his arms in the middle of the doorway our lips met for one more kiss before he had to leave for work. He rests his forehead against mine as we stayed in that embrace for a little longer. "Alright you two lovebirds, break it up." Darrick pushes his way inside with Mason right behind him. We both laugh a little before finally separating. "So Darrick," I say as I stare at Reid walking away, "Where's Becky? She didn't wanna come over with you guys?"

"Said she wasn't feeling well," Darrick answers as he lift Braylon into his lap. "What the hell you feedin' this kid? He's gettin' fat." I laugh as I sit down on the couch.

"All the kid does is eat," I respond as I take Braylon and he picks up Sophia. Charlie and Riley left and Gracie took Mason out to the backyard to play. I sit there with Darrick and the twins in silence before finally speaking. "So, how are things going with you and Becky? And what happened with you and Cathy, I thought you two were tight?"

"I don't know, guess me and..." Darrick was interrupted by gunfire and yelling outside in the streets. We both jump up and run out to see what was going on. The smell of gunpowder invaded my nostrils as I tried to find my family through all the gun smoke.

{Becky's POV}   I woke up with Darrick lying beside me on his back and snoring loudly. I went to bed early last night because I wasn't feeling well and it doesn't seem to have gotten better during the night. In fact it is worse; my head was throbbing and my stomach turning. That urge hit me strong and fast as I jump up out of the bed and run to the bathroom. I throw up until there was nothing left in my gut to throw up, which isn't much anyway, and I sit there resting my head on the seat of the toilet. My head was pounding even more now. I raise my head and the light from outside hitting my eyes made that pounding in my head thump even harder as I tried to stand and almost fall. I feel two arms wrap around me and lift me up. I crack open my eyes just a little so not too much of that light hit them to see Darrick's face in front of mine. He walks just a few steps and lies me down. "You okay Becks?" He whispers as he leans down, "You ain't really lookin' too hot."