:).

Prompt #17: “Stop it! It tickles!”

She is aware of three things as she is gently pulled into consciousness; soft sunlight seeping through the cracks of blinds, the steady rise and fall of the chest on which her head is resting, and warm fingers tracing lazy patterns on her exposed right shoulder. She opens her eyes slowly, blinking a few times, before lifting her head slightly to look up at him. He tucks a strand of hair that has fallen in front of her eyes behind her ear, and smiles brightly at her.

“Good morning,” she whispers, her voice still laden with sleep, as she matches his smile.

 “Morning,” he replies, placing a finger of his free hand under her chin and pulling her towards him, lowering his lips to hers in a lingering kiss.

She closes her eyes, one hand coming up to run through his dirty blonde hair, and deepens the kiss eliciting a moan from her husband. Pulling her head back suddenly, he watches intently as she pushes up on her arms, positioning herself above him, legs either side of his hips. She uses one hand to brush her hair over to one side of her head before dropping her head back down and hungrily attacking his lips.

Suddenly, they both freeze, trying to quiet their loud breathing as they listen carefully for the sound of footsteps. Sure enough, their bedroom door opens a few moments later and a small figure makes its way over to Matt’s side of the bed.

Gabby extracts her body from Matt’s, and rolls back so she’s lying on her side, eye contact never breaking with the brown orbs watching her intently.

 “Hey buddy,” Matt greets, gaining the child’s attention.

 “Hi,” Louie whispers back around the thumb that seems to be permanently in his mouth, the rest of his fingers clasping onto his favorite blue blanket. His other arm stretches out towards his father as he tilts his head to the side and asks, “up, please?”

Matt complies, and lifts the toddler up, sitting him down in the space between him and Gabby. He immediately moves to his mother, his free arm wrapping around her torso. Gabby returns the hug gently, dropping a kiss on his forehead. They break apart, and Louie settles down on his back in-between his parents. Matt and Gabby share a smile as Louie wriggles until he is comfortable, his head resting on Matt’s outstretched arm. Gabby takes a hold of his hand, her other hand resting on Louie’s stomach, and smiles to herself. In this moment, safe and warm with her two favorite men, she doesn’t think life can get any better.

Rumbling from Louie’s stomach brings her back to the present, and Gabby gently tickles him, causing him to giggle. Matt joins in too, knowing just the spot on his neck that the toddler finds particularly ticklish. Louie’s laughter is contagious, and Matt and Gabby can’t stop themselves from joining in.

Eventually Louie cries out, between bouts of giggles, “Stop it! It tickles!” 

Matt and Gabby’s hands still, and the three of them take a moment or two to regain their composure. When his breathing has returned to normal, Louie looks up at his mother right as his stomach growls again.

“What would you like for breakfast, sweetie?” she asks.

“Pancakes?” he begs sweetly.

“Maybe daddy will make you chocolate chip pancakes whilst mommy gets ready?”

 Louie turned his attention back to his father, his eyes wide as he silently pleads for his favorite breakfast.

“I think we can do that. Are you going to help me cook them, buddy?” Matt asks, disentangling himself from the bed sheets and standing up. Louie reaches his arms out, silently asking to be picked up, giving an excited, “yes,” in response to Matt’s question.

The pair move into the kitchen and quickly set about collecting all the ingredients they need for breakfast. Matt lets Louie stir the eggs, laughing at the concentration on the toddler’s face. He passes Louie the flour to pour in the bowl, watching in slow motion as the bowl falls to the floor from the boy’s grasp, a white cloud covering the pair. Louie looks up in horror at his father, expecting a scolding for dropping the item, but Matt isn’t mad; seeing his son covered in flour, Matt is unable to contain the laughter, and soon Louie’s giggles fill the space.

Stepping out of the bathroom, Gabby smiles as she hears her husband and son’s uncontrollable laughter coming from the kitchen. Pulling her damp hair up into a messy bun as she walks through the apartment, she shakes her head thinking about the trouble her boys are getting up to. Leaning against the doorway she watches Louie sitting on the kitchen counter, grinning from ear to ear as he watches Matt try to clear up the flour. Matt’s efforts are in vain as all he achieves is spreading the mess further.

“I’m no expert, but I think the flour is meant to go into the bowl, not onto the floor,” Gabby teases, startling Matt. He turns to face her, a twinkling in his eyes as he makes his way towards her.

“Don’t you dare,” she warns, taking a step backwards. She tries to be serious, but is unable to keep the smile from her face as she backs up against the wall, her husband closing in fast, his hands full of flour. He grins mischievously before flicking flour towards her, watching as it lands squarely on collarbone. She only takes a moment to recover and quickly sidesteps him, grabbing a handful of flour and throwing it, the majority of it covering his face.

Gabby convinces Louie to be on her team, and together they fight against Matt until the whole kitchen is covered with specs of flour and the three of them are in near hysterics on the floor, tired but happy. Their breakfast plans are forgotten until Louie’s stomach rumbles again, causing their laughter to begin anew.

Gabby stands, lifting Louie into her arms, and brushes some of the flour off of his face before kissing his nose. “Let’s go get you cleaned up, hmm?” Making her way towards the door, she chuckles softly as she regarded her son. “And I think this time we will leave the flour pouring to daddy.”

This is for Cassy; my sweet, funny, kind little sis. I don’t know what I would do without you angel. Thank you for always being my number one supporter. Love you to the moon and back! 

Prompt #2 :“How long have you been standing there?”

She stands at the mirror, her head tilted to one side as she regards her appearance carefully. Her hair is falling in loose waves about her shoulders, not quite dry from the shower she had taken earlier that morning. She has taken extra care with her makeup this morning, relishing in the time that feeling good for the first morning in weeks has afforded her, and she smiles, proud of herself. Her outfit has been carefully selected; a pair of grey skinny jeans and a loose off the shoulder top in deep purple that she had bought on a whim a couple of weeks ago. She tugs at the bottom of the top a few times, until she is satisfied with the way it sits, her hand absentmindedly coming up to rest on her abdomen. She twists her body slightly and stares at the small bump that has appeared over the past couple of days, a smile tugging at her lips.

She lets her mind wander back to the day her world had turned upside down again. She hadn’t allowed herself to feel anything then. She had lived in a constant state of fear, a thousand ‘what if’s’ resounding in her head. Until the eight-week scan. When she had seen her baby, right where it was meant to be, with a strong, beating heart, she had allowed herself to feel, and she had smiled for the first time since she had seen the little pink plus. That was a little over six weeks ago, and now her pregnancy is finally starting to show. A passer-by wouldn’t be able to tell, but she knows she isn’t going to be able to hide it from her colleagues much longer. She can’t keep avoiding caffeine and hiding out in the bathroom during bouts of morning sickness forever, plus she’s pretty sure that Brett and Herrmann have already figured it out, and she is grateful for them letting her tell them when she is ready. Rubbing a hand over her stomach again, her smile widens as she thinks that maybe she is ready to tell them.

Movement in her peripheral vision pulls her gaze from her abdomen and she looks up to see her husband in the reflection. He is dressed in casual jeans and a dark green jumper; a gift, she recalls, from Antonio last Christmas. He smiles warmly at her, his eyes twinkling with admiration and she smiles back, watching as he makes his way over to her.

“How long have you been standing there?” she asks.

“Not long,” he replies, coming up behind her and snaking his arms around her waist. She leans back into his embrace, closing her eyes and breathing in the familiar scent of his aftershave, relishing in the warmth of his body pressed against hers.

He is quiet a moment, watching her contented face in the mirror, his thumb absent-mindedly stroking her stomach. He chuckles and she opens her eyes, shooting him a questioning look.

“We’re actually having a baby.” he whispers, amazement evident in his voice, “This is real.”

“Yeah,” she responds, one of her hands coming up to rest on top of his on her bump, “this is real.”

They are quiet once more, both lost in their own thoughts, until Gabby murmurs his name quietly, pulling him back to the present.

“Matt, I was thinking… maybe it’s time?” she asks, somewhat nervously, watching as his brows furrow in confusion.

“Time for what?”

“For us to tell everyone,” she explains. “I know we were going to wait a few more weeks, but we’re not going to be able to hide it much longer. Besides, I think half of the guys have worked it out and-”

Matt cuts her off with a finger to her lips, and places a soft kiss behind her ear before meeting her eyes once more in the mirror, his smile wide. “I definitely think it’s time to tell them. As much as I’ve enjoyed keeping this to us, it’s been so hard not to spill these past few weeks.”

“So, we’ll tell them tonight?” she asks, all traces of nervousness melting away from her body.

“Definitely,” he agrees, placing a warm kiss on the top of her head before resting his chin on her shoulder and tightening his arms around her body.