Find your fire

Traumatic Secret Santa

They were finally doing it. The whole moving in together thing. It was about to happen. There was a lot of nervousness behind it. Ryleigh was excited for him to be here officially but she was nervous. Walking back and forth in her kitchen. Taking in her apartment before it became their apartment. She bit her cheek. Hearing Nathan at the door she walked over and unlocked it. Letting him into the apartment.

Justin was worrying about the upcoming wedding. Yazmin seemed to be doing fine but he knew deep down there was a lot of stress. They were only a week away from the wedding. Justin found her in the kitchen and smiled. Kissing her on the cheek. "Okay, what do you need from me. I know we all think I'm in capable of things. I am however raising a child and becoming a doctor. Give me things to do. I want to take some stress off of you. This day is supposed to be for us. The best day." Justin wrapped an arm around her waist giving her a kiss.

heather wasn’t proud of the choice she’d made –– knowing she was ready to try and raise a child had panicked her so much she’d run for the hills as soon as it was suggested. that didn’t mean that she didn’t admire what her ex-girlfriend was doing though, stepping up to the plate and taking on those responsibilities after such a big loss. “you’ll get there.” she said, shoulders shrugging slightly. “it looks like you’re doing a good job.” that was one thing, she supposed.

“I definitely hope that is true.” She took in a deep breathe and blew it out. “Oh, thank you.” Alyiah definitely wasn’t expecting that to come from Heather’s mouth. It threw her off a little bit. 

so it hadn’t been a perfectly easy ride since she’d fallen pregnant, but there was no way that gabriela could deny that josh hadn’t done everything he could for her and their son. even if it meant stressing about things that she hadn’t thought would stress her out, like snacks to take to school. “are you saying we’re a good team?” she asked with a smirk, taking comfort in his arms around her. “you’re right. and that’s a lot for me to say that, you know.” some things didn’t change.

“I’m definitely saying we are a good team.” Josh smiled at her. “I know it is. Wait, I should record that. Hold on.” He was pretending to grab his phone before wrapping his arms around her and squeezing again. 

maybe this was a little different to how she’d thought her happy ending might turn out (it starting with someone else’s husband not on her initial plan) but it was turning out just right by her logic. “you better. or i’ll tell my sister to give you all the worst assignments in the hospital just for punishment.” she grinned, having charlotte in charge certainly worked in her favour.

“Please, do not.” He smirked at her. “Your sister is not the person i want to mess with. I avoid her at all cost.” Dominic tried to avoid her at least when it came to work. He knew better than to mess with Charlotte King. 

“come on, you’ve gotta give me something.” nathan protested, probing to know about the nurse despite her words otherwise. “you got a secret husband out there somewhere? are you secretly rich, ryleigh lincoln?” he teased, smile dancing across his face.

“Never. My lips are sealed.” She grinned. Ryleigh loved the way he was probing her for things. She wasn’t going to admit that though. “No, I don’t actually. Wouldn’t that be a scandal. I’m very, very, very single. If only I was secretly rich.” She laughed. 

Her nose twisted in response. Being smart was not the reason his head was twice everyone’s size. Sam wanted to protest but when he moved closer, she remained still. It was like her body wanted this, wanted him. She held her breath for a second but it was pointless. “Of course it’s not serious.” That was something she wanted him to understand. The last thing she needed was him thinking she had feelings - which she didn’t. Unless it was guilt and shame. “That’s all very true-” This was harder than she anticipated. “-but we gotta be more careful.” Her speech was now changing. “Nobody can know.” She looked to his eyes, flickering to his lips for a quick second. “Larissa can’t find out. It’d be a whole mess if anyone knew and like you said, this is fun. Not serious. I’m just very busy with work and there’s no time to go out and meet real people.” That was what Sam kept telling herself.

Logan nodded at her. Watching her struggle to get the words out. He kept pushing though and getting closer to her. Running his hand down her arm. “Sam, it’s not that serious. This is okay. Larissa isn’t going to find out and we will be fine. I get it. I’m busy too. We can keep sleeping together and not get caught. Now can we continue with what we were doing?” He leaned in to kiss her. 

“well yeah, of course you are.” there was no way that alyiah wouldn’t be doing everything she could, even if heather couldn’t say the same. “i’m sure it’ll get easier.” she paused, realising her words might be taken the wrong way. “adjusting to life with a kid i mean. not that it’ll get easier without your sister. i’m just –– gonna stop talking.”

“I hope so. I have no idea how my sister was doing this.” Although, her sister was a resident as well as being a mom so that probably helped. Alyiah nodded. “It’s okay.” It was hard without her. They were twins and she constantly felt like she was missing a piece of her. Alyiah always got compliments on how cute her daughter was and how they looked just alike. She never had the heart to tell people it wasn’t her baby. 

She needed thirty minutes…thirty minutes to herself. That was the entirety of Laurel’s goal. Take a shower, maybe deep condition her hair. That’s all. Working for Feyza was not a typical 9 to 5. Neither was stealing from her. Of course, though, Laurel’s dreams of peace were dashed mid-rinse. “Thirty minutes!!” The blonde whined as she aggressively turned the shower off, wrapping herself in a towel, her hair dripping down her back and onto the floor as she made her way to the door. Her expression was far from pleasant. “One shower. That’s all I asked.” She sighed, leaving the door open so Leah could walk through. “You could have at least brought me coffee. And a danish. I should never have given up pastries.” She went further back into her apartment to grab another small towel, bringing it up to ring out her hair. “If you’re here for an update, I don’t have much of one. It’s been a…slow week.” AKA a ‘harder find ways to skim subtly off the top’ kind of week. 

Leah shrugged. “Sorry, you know I live two minutes away. I was bored.” She should’ve been sleeping but that wasn’t happening any time soon. Sleep was not her friend today. “I’ll bring you coffee next time. Didn’t think about it.” Leah followed her friend. “Damn. That sucks.” 

she was nothing if not a perfectionist, and that seeped into her being a parent too, she couldn’t help it. josh’s words helped to calm the stress that bubbled beneath the surface, though. arms wrapped around him, taking a moment to calm herself. “i’m pretty sure he only does that when you’re around.” there was a slight laugh, before arms squeezed a little tighter. “will we ever get the hang of this?” 

Josh squeezed her a little tight. He knew she needed it right now. “You are lying. He loves you. He does that when I’m around because he knows I will rough house and play with him. With you though if he’s hurt or sad he always goes to you. You make him feel comfortable.” He smiled at the thought of it. “We will.” 

Brooke laughed, vivid memories flashing back. “Pretty sure he ducked our heads in the water too.” Or maybe that had been Brooke to her siblings. Regardless, her daughter was clearly getting a special treatment when it came to the Walkers. “You can stay for dinner, if you want.” She suggested, knowing damn well he wouldn’t say no to food. She sat next to him. “Hm, I’m sure you helped.” She let out before taking a sip from her bottle. Then she remembered she had to play the big sister and comfort Justin. “Who was it? Hunt?”

“That too.” He shrugged. “I mean i’m only here for my niece so I’ll stay for dinner.” He smiled. Justin was pretty lonely lately but he wasn’t going to admit that to his sister. She would just to set him up on some dates and that was not going to happen. “Of course it was Hunt.”