#chaptertwentythree

“What do we do know Jug?” Sweet Pea asked.

“I don't know...i have no fucking Idea...” Jughead murmured and raked his hand though his hair.

Jughead lit himself a cigarette to calm his nerves with no success. Then he asked: “You said she saved your ass... what exactly happened? Was she in danger and why does she have a wound on her head Tommy, Sweet Pea? How could this even happen. You were suppose to watch her god dammit. I give you one damn thing to do and it turned out into a mess” Jughead hissed and stood now in front of Tommy.

“Jughead, we didn't see it coming. It happened so quickly... at one second she was crying against Hirams chest, playing the perfect mourning wife and one moment later she stabbed him out of nowhere...” Sweet Pea tried to defend themselves.

“She wasn't even suppose to be near him. Why the hell did you let her....” Jughead yelled.

“Jughead you calm down now. Aye. Your wife is stubborn. I owe her my life, but she is fucking stubborn. It's not our fault Jug.” Tommy explained calmly.

“Don't you think I now that Tommy. That's why I told you to watch her.”  Jughead hissed again.

“Well, maybe you should watch your wife better, so she didn't get the chance to steal your your knife to stab Hiram. Maybe you should start to keep her on a short leash. Tommy.

This was Enough. Jughead mind blanked and his fist collided with Tommys jaw.

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Artwork by by @paigemariie14​

Coming soon on AO3

I shouldn’t have left you.

HA, just kidding.

But forreal, I feel left. Lonely really, like I forgot myself in a way too. Let me first start off by saying staying sober fucking sucks. It’s difficult, irritating, and just fucking sucks.

I just really need to vent about sad I am.

*SIDENOTE* I hate that I never “write” when I’m happy, or any emotion besides sad/hurt. I think I just get so caught up in how good the emotion feels I just wanna bask in it and never let it go....but at the same time, wouldn’t writing make that memory and the emotions that go with it stick around longer ? I don’t know, I just don't make any sense to myself sometimes man.

Anyway, I’m sad. I’m gonna try to make this quick because I feel like I just need to go to church and get some shit off my chest. Top things that grind my gears and make my days a little gloomy are my husband, my family, not having real friends, heightened feelings of depression/anxiety. 

1.) My husband is a 14 year old boy trapped as a married 24 year old man with children. I say that because I’ve never came across a 24 year old that is as immature and disrespectful as him. It hurts to my core how he treats me. I have regrets marrying him and I want to leave, but I always think about “who would want me?”. “We can make it work as years go on and as we get to know each other better”, “He’ll grow up, just be patient”, “Stay and pray”. But it gets so hard, I feel so broken on the inside. 

2.) My sister seems like she doesn’t want much to do with me. I know I can be a burden and my life is super complicated, but sometimes all I want is my sister. All I want is to escape the chaos and have fun with her. I miss her so much. Ever since I started being vocal to her about problems within my marriage everything slowly began to change between us. She became my only friend, I was beginning to grow a relationship with her. Something I’ve wanted for so many years, but I guess I have to keep wishing at the rate we’re going.

Then my brother doesn’t care for me like I thought he did. I wish he could be there for me. It really makes me miss Sam, (even though he was homeless and an addict, I love him). He was always there, ALWAYS. I miss him so much. I just wanna hear his voice, talk to him one more time. 

3.) I just wish I had real friends. Friends that I can count on for literally anything. Friends that don’t fake. That is definitely my fault though. I’ve burned bridges with some good people, I wish I could take it all back.

Lastly..

4.) With everything going on in my life, it’s just made my anxiety worse. And when I thought I would never deal with depression, it came creeping back. My husband gaslights me constantly and makes me feel like my feelings are invalid. I’m constantly told by him that I’m just sensitive and delusional. I wish I had the resources to properly deal with it, but with limited money and no health insurance it feels almost impossible. I just want to get out of this pit. 

So there it is just pushing and praying for better days. 

*SIDENOTE* I need to really dissect these issues later... maybe? Only if I have weed or alcohol around. Ha, so basically never ...? 

Anyway, my husband has no sense of boundaries, (I was sitting alone in the living room with music writing, crying. He doesn’t speak, just walks over me to turn his PlayStation and start playing online. I can’t speak up because he gets mad.) I just get sooo tired of being the only one who is accommodating and considerate in this relationship. 

I’m in a horrible place mentally & emotionally. I’ve been on a rollercoaster of emotions. In the past few months, I’ve felt sad, unloved, disrespected, and pushed beyond my limits. Besides sleep, music has been the only thing that makes me feel good. There hasn’t been a particular playlist I listen to, but there are particular artists that I keep on repeat because they make my heart swell. Thank God for music. 

Artists that keep me going each day ------>

#1.) SZA

#2.) Summer Walker 

#3.) Ari Lennox 

#4.) H.E.R

#5.) Snoh Aalegra

Well, it’s the beginning of 2022 and I’m still exploring the “wonderful” age of 23... yay.. 

Sarah Brady dropped by the Prideaux home for cocktails during the afternoon before New Year’s Eve. Adèle was out, visiting a friend of hers who had just had a baby, but had Charles wish Sarah a Happy New Year for her. Charles fixed the cocktails at the bar in the living room, a sidecar for him and a gin fizz for Sarah. “Here’s to prohibition finally going away,” Charles toasted. President…

Spence If anyone were to ever doubt where Spencer’s loyalties laid, it wouldn’t take but one glance at the overview of her life to figure out that it was based entirely surrounding John, River, and Rhys.  Her own parents had come to find this out the hard way, as would most anyone else in the woman’s life.  She’d choose John and those boys, hands down, every time.  She’d risk limb and life if it meant protecting them or doing what was best for them.  A long time ago, Spencer had promised John that she’d show him what happy looked like.  It took a year before she was able to make good on that promise to a certain degree, but as his birthday approached, she’d set to up the ante a bit.  She wanted him to feel true happiness, in a state where he could truly want for nothing more.  The key to this did not lay in Spencer James.  It laid in River James.  And she’d need some help.

John’s professional obligations were changing, much to Spencer’s approval.  It was one more thing that would ultimately shift the landscape of their day to day life, which seemed to be in constant disarray from what it had once been.  Spencer was still on administrative leave during the investigation on the attempted murder of her husband.  It was going to take time.  She was implicated by her father and it was expected that it would be dismissed, but she was in a holding pattern until such things came to pass.  So instead, her days were spent as a housewife and stay at home mom.  She’d see John off to work in the morning, then tend to house work and Rhys throughout the day.  Scrappy had his own set of demands there in those morning hours as well.  But in the afternoons, this was when she’d tend to errands.

Most days it included a trip to the grocery store for one or two things that she’d realized during the morning that they were out of.  Some days it would be a trip to a larger home good store in her endless endeavor to transform their still rather plain bedroom into something of a visual escape for the two, putting her touches throughout the house just as he had wished her to do in his initial design.  It may include a trip to the dry cleaners for one of her tops now stained by Rhys.  It was always something, and running errands with Rhys in tow was becoming something she would find herself quite skilled at.  She knew how to time it out, how to take care of his needs as well as the errand.  She was mostly successful, even managing to learn how to hold his bottle with the curve of her chin while swiping her debit card in the machine at check out.

Today’s errand, however, would be to the home of River’s Petrov grandparents.  Spencer and Mrs. Petrov had become quite close over the last year.  At first, it was without John’s knowledge.  In time, it was with his knowledge.  John wouldn’t see just how close the two had become until that first time Spencer had gotten River for just ten minutes at the zoo.  From there, it grew into a couple of hours.  Now, they had him every weekend for the entire summer, with the ability to grab him any time in between.  Mrs. Petrov was helping Spencer with her cooking skills, providing recipes, and at times even bringing ingredients over when she’d drop off River.  The two had something going on there, which was far more than Spencer could have ever hoped for.  But it was John and River that would reap the benefits of this relationship.

“Oh, baby Rhys,” the woman exclaimed there at the door, calling out for River to come greet his brother.  “River!  Brother is here!”  Spencer offered a smile as the woman opened the door to her and Rhys entirely.  With Rhys’ car seat cradled in her arm, she entered the home to find River running full speed towards her and the baby, calling for ‘da’ the entire time.  “No, da.  Not this time little one.  Da is working, remember?”  Mrs. Petrov spoke to River as though he was an adult, informing him not only of the fact that his father was not there, but why.  “Ma Spence and brother Rhys.”

Just inside the home, Spencer crouched down, placing the car seat on the floor of the entryway for River to inspect his brother.  “Your daddy sends his love and will see you in two days,” she promised, a phrase that was all too sweet for her to get to say.  Glancing up to Mrs. Petrov, she noticed the woman’s eyes were cut into the living space.  Someone else was there.  “Is everything alright, Mrs. Petrov?” she asked in a hushed tone, already prepared to do what needed to be done there should something not be right.  The woman’s demeanor hadn’t been off at the door at all, not giving away anything, but the cut of her eyes now said something entirely different.

“Mrs. Johnny James.  We finally meet.”  The title and name would have Spencer turning her head quickly to find the blonde standing in the doorframe of the living room, eyes cut to the car seat as she looked down at a child that looked much like her own.  “Step-mother of the fuckin’ year.”  The words cut through Spencer as River repeated his grandmother’s title for her ‘Ma Pens!’  Finally, after checking out his brother, River was there at her neck, drawing his arms tight around her, clearly displaying his grown affections for the woman as even his own mother didn’t receive such a welcome from the boy.  “Are we going to do this, or what?”

With one hand slipping beneath River’s bottom, she lived him to her hip as she rose upwards.  Keeping her other hand there on the handle of the car seat carrier as Mrs. Petrov closed the front door.  “Spencer, I spoke to Natalya and asked her to be here,” she confessed, leading Spencer and the boys into the living room where a tray sat with small sandwiches laid out for them to enjoy.  “I thought it best that she be a part of this, since River is her son.”  And there it was, the reason and explanation provided as to why Spencer was being blindsided.  

“Ma says you’re good to my boy.”  The blonde stated as she sat down on the sofa where Spencer would be expected to sit as well.  Mrs. Petrov was waiting, standing in front of her own seat, allowing Spencer to sit with Natalya first.  Spencer lowered to the sofa, resting Rhys’ car seat to the floor right in front of the sofa as River clung tight to her.  She’d make no attempt to unstrap the boy from her, letting him cling for just as long and hard as he might wish to do so.  “Says youse have a nice set up for him at your house.”

“We do,” Spencer confessed, a slight nod of her head before continuing.  “John really worked hard on both boys’ rooms.  He did a great job…”  She nearly invited the woman to come see some time, but refrained as she just wasn’t sure she could stomach the woman any longer than she already had.  She looked like shit.  As though she’d been hit by a bus coming and going.  It took everything in Spencer to see the woman as River’s mother and not as John’s ex.  Just as John couldn’t stomach the idea of someone before him, she couldn’t stomach someone before her, though there was walking, talking proof attached to her hip.

“I have what you asked for,” Mrs. Petrov interrupted, having given the women enough room to speak before it was time to get down to business.  “Johnny’s birthday gift, as you put it.”  This immediately prompted a soft smile from Spencer’s features.  One that was immediately picked up on by Natalya in a manner that could not be denied.  Her hold on River grew a little tighter as she knew that in the coming weeks, everything would be changing for that boy, though at this point, she still didn’t know just how much.  “His grandfather and I have talked it over and we think it best to do this now.  We are getting older and Natalya…”

“Natalya is a shit mother with no chance of salvation,” she stated for herself, speaking in third person, repeating that which her own parents had surely assigned to her.

“Natalya thinks it best as well,” Mrs. Petrov corrected, scolding the woman with her eyes to which Natalya offered a nod of her head.  “So much so that we have already completed the document for you and Johnny.”

The envelope was passed to Spencer from Mrs. Petrov, at which point Spencer would settle River into her lap instead so that she may draw the contents out.  Eyeing over them carefully, it seemed everything was in order.  Just as she was about to open her mouth to thank the boy’s grandmother, Natalya was offering two envelopes of her own.  Spencer’s hand reached out to them, not sure what to expect here, but accepted them anyways.  “It’s best.”  Natalya spoke with what seemed like sincerity in that moment, jutting her chin slightly for Spencer to open the envelope with no written word on the outside.  Within, Spencer glanced at the heading, then back to Natalya immediately.

The second envelope was addressed to River to be opened upon his eighteenth name day.  Spencer brought all of the envelopes together, placing them into the outside pocket of Rhys’ diaper bag and proceeded to enjoy a small lunch there with the two boys, Mrs. Petrov, and Natalya.

---

Two days later, she woke up before John and Rhys.  The alert on her phone was a text from Mrs. Petrov, letting her know they were leaving their house and on their way.  Spencer got up quietly and dressed.  Giving a brief check on Rhys there in the bassinet on John’s side of the bed, she found him still sleeping soundly with his father’s hand resting on the edge of the bassinet.  She smiled a soft smile as she exited the room to go downstairs where Scrappy was already ready to take leave into the backyard.  She opened the back door, allowing the boy to fend for himself there as she went to the coffee pot in the kitchen.  A cup already ready for her, as it had been set up the night before, she took her cup and went to the front porch where she’d wait for Mrs. Petrov to arrive with River.

Over the next ten minutes, Spencer was given time for everything to truly set in.  Things were changing for the better and she was just minutes away from potentially giving John the greatest birthday gift of his life.  When River arrived, he was still in his pajamas, sleeping in his carseat.  Spencer abandoned her cup of coffee there on the steps to go help with him and his things.  “Good morning, Mrs. Petrov,” Spencer greeted warmly in a raspy whisper as the woman opened the back door, giving her full access to the sleeping boy within.

“Good morning, Ma Spence,” she offered, flashing an honest smile as that title had now stuck with River as much as it had his grandmother.  “I will bring his things up first, if that would be alright.  Then say my goodbyes from here.”  The woman was clearly choked up, relinquishing the boy into this home on a full time basis from here on out, regardless of custody papers or court dates to come.  Spencer nodded her head respectfully, asking only that the things be left in the living room instead, as to not risk waking John or Rhys upstairs.

Over the next ten minutes, Spencer held this boy in her arms, pressing her lips to his forehead as her eyes cut up to the bedroom window upstairs.  When all things were placed in the living space, Mrs. Petrov came back outside to the side of the car where Spencer waited with River.  “Your grandmother loves you very much,” she whispered to the boy’s ear.  “You be good for Ma Spence and Da.”  The way she spoke to the boy had tears forming in Spencer’s eyes as she held the boy cradled in her arms.  Mrs. Petrov took a moment to gather herself as much as she could before she was looking to Spencer, bringing her hand to rest against the side of her face.  “You are doing a great job here, Spencer.  If you or John should need me, I’m but a call away.”

The tears in Spencer’s eyes were falling now as she nodded her head against the palm of the woman.  There were no words she could offer, nor did she need to as both women stood by that car for a long, silent moment before finally Mrs. Petrov would make her way into the car.  As the car pulled away, Spencer glanced down into the waking eyes of a little boy who was readjusting to his surroundings.  ‘Ma… Da?” he asked, forever associating Spencer’s presence with John’s as well.  Spencer nodded her head as the smile swept through her tears.  “Yes, Da is here, and he’s going to be so happy to see you.”  She assured the boy, then made her way inside as she brought him against her shoulder.  Her hand found his back, rubbing softly as they locked up the front of the house, then let Scrappy back in.  In the top drawer of the table by the door, Spencer withdrew a set of two envelopes.  “Here, you hold these for Da?” she asked, to which River’s little hand was quick to grasp them.

Slowly, she made her way up the stairs with a little boy wrapped around her, clenching papers he’d not understand.  In his room was a gift for John, up in the closet, where she knew it wouldn’t be found as this room was closed off during the week.  Retrieving the bag from the shelf, she then made her way into the bedroom where John and Rhys laid sleeping.  Climbing back into the bed herself, she brought River there between them who was giving away his presence immediately, crawling over on his dad, calling out ‘da! Da!” repeatedly in pure joy.  Envelopes pounded at John’s chest from the tiny hand clutching it.  “Da!”  He called again, this time followed by an open mouthed kiss to his father’s chin as the corner of the envelopes prodded to John’s cheek.

Within the first envelope was the court petition for John’s sole custody of River, signed already by both Mr. and Mrs. Petrov.  Inside the second, a parental rights form, signed by Natalya as she gave up any and all present and future rights to River.  The bag in Spencer’s hand contained within it both a framed photograph of the four of them together, a cell phone selfie she’d taken the weekend before, and a letter from her to John.

Dear John,     Over the last fifteen months, I have had the greatest privilege of falling in love with you.  We’ve shared ups and downs, good times and bad.  We’ve learned things about one another.  We’ve fallen in love with one another in a less than conventional way.  We’ve created a life together.  We’ve made plans for our future together.  We’ve taken steps to solidifying those plans one at a time.

    During this time, not only have I had the privilege of falling in love with you, becoming Rhys’ mother, and looking out on a future with you, but I’ve also fallen in love with another.  River John James has become every bit a part of my heart as you and Rhys have.  I don’t go a single day without thinking of him.  There is no part of me that finds a division between he and Rhys.  They are both my sons in my eyes eternally.  

    I want to be there for all of his successes and help him through his failures.  I want to be there when he learns to ride his bike and to hold him when he falls.  I want to celebrate every milestone he passes and console him through his heartbreaks.  I want him to forever feel as though he has not one parent that loves him, but an endless community of family that want to help him throughout his life.  

    I have had the greatest honor of my entire life to fall in love with the both of you, jointly and separately, and today I ask you, on your birthday, to give me a gift.  I would love nothing more in this world than to be River’s mother.  To be his mother in spirit, in name, in title, in actions.  To help you raise him and to learn from him along the way.  To bring him into this family we have begun, not as an addition, but as a vital piece of the puzzle that we are.  To give him a life in which he is nourished and loved through and through.  To be given the honor of being his mother for the rest of my days.

Forever Yours, Spence

John Work had been kicking the absolute hell out of the man. With good reason. Construction was not an easy task. Not learning it, not managing it. Not being out in the heat in the dust. It wouldn’t have been easy then but it certainly wasn’t now with the limits put on him by a formerly deflated lung. While he’d never return to full capacity, he’d never been one to be stopped. Thus, this would stand as no exception. Yet, to say he wasn’t tired would be a lie. Still, he was attempting to learn all he could from an outsourced company who was coming in and teaching him and the guys as they went how to work all this shiny new equipment. He was learning quickly. Just as he had intended to do. He wanted to learn all he could before Spence went back to work so they could adjust their schedules. Leaving her the day shift where they’d tag out and he’d take the 2nd shift. Somewhere at the end of the night, they’d return to one another. Yet, for now, the stakes were too high to lose holding.

Still. Most nights he was too tired to shower and he had ruined more sets of sheets than she’d ever forgive him for from how dirty he was when he came in. But it was a real job and it was different for not only him but the guys as they were literally paving a better road for themselves. He was beat though. Constantly. It would come as no surprise that when he was home he was usually asleep and lounging out in the air conditioner and this day would be no exception as the world turned around him. He had actually managed a shower the night before thankfully for River as he crawled over him. The boy’s distinctive call from his father earning a furrow of his brows as it stirred him. Feeling a wet kiss and the imploring of a piece of paper against him, it was one hell of a way to wake up. Yet, his arms slipped around the boy as he pulled him further onto his chest. Still not having opened his eyes or needing to in order to know who this was. The scent of him was all too giving as he pressed his lips to his cheek as his eyes finally opened. Still not quite with it as it was just another day.

“What do you got, bud?” he asked, voice grittier than even normal standards.

Spence Watching John pull River into a full hold, she couldn’t help the smile that swept her features.  Little did this man know that everything the boy owned was downstairs in their living room.  Little did he know that the envelopes the boy was prodding at his father would change their lives entirely.  They weren’t supposed to have River until the next day, so the child in itself could have served as his birthday present, just to be there, nothing else needed.  But the boy came with gifts of hope and promise, of the end of a very long road, of a future with this scene starting every morning off for the man.  ‘Da!’ the boy continued as his father’s voice finally came to life.  “He wouldn’t tell me what it was,” she teased, as though this one was all River, just as it should be.  

Finding her place to lay beside those boys, she remained to her side, just simply watching it all unfold.  A part of her wanting to grab a camera, the other part of her wanting to live this moment in live action instead of behind a lens.  There was time for that later.  But for now, she’d simply enjoy it all as it unfolded before her.  The envelopes were numbered.  Number one and number two.  Giving direction to the order they should be opened in, should he be able to take them from the child, that is.

Small shifts in the bassinet could be heard as the little one there came to life as well, slowly responding to both his father and his brother’s voices, waking slowly and peacefully as he so often did within their room.  They’d have a few minutes at least before his demands would make themselves known, but for now he cooed softly there in the bassinet, waking up to a day that would alter his entire youth as well, assuring he never knew a life that didn’t include River in it constantly.  Whether this would be to his happiness or dismay was yet to be determined as the boys would have to figure that one out on their own.

John Hearing Spence speak as John finally began to come to and realize what all was going on there. It wasn’t their day, was it? He couldn’t be quite sure of anything in that moment yet River seemed quick to shove off those envelopes. Dutiful in what he was doing. As if he knew what he was presenting to his father. The biggest game changer. What he had been hoping for for a long period of time. Something that might have literally meant the word to him right there before him when he least expected it. As his eyes found the numbered envelopes, he took up the first one as he managed to sit up. Keeping River on his lap as his thumb nail slid underneath of it. Back to the wood of the headboard as a free hand rubbed at his eyes. Still on autopilot as he glanced over the contents of what was within. John was not great at reading. Most words did not make sense of him. Yet, he could detect a few every now and again. The bold letters of ‘Custody’ screamed. River’s name and his own somewhere upon it, distinct signatures which drew a smile from a man who was not known to smile. Understanding now he was there as he looked over his son who was his by right again. Just as he always should have been. Hand finding the back of his head, he guided him to his lips where he pressed a lingering kiss to his forehead. “My Riv.” he stated in familiarity as the boy was coming to recognize the implications of such a nickname. Eyes glancing over towards Spence as he reached his free hand out for her.

Spence “No parties will contest.  We appear in court to do nothing more than smile and nod, and he’s yours,” she promised as that was how it would go.  With the first envelope containing the child’s custodial parent’s consent, there was literally nothing to stop him from becoming sole guardian of the child.  Him being placed in the home now was entirely by the hands of Mr. and Mrs. Petrov, whom were voluntarily relinquishing temporary guardianship of the boy to his father while they waited out the official court’s ruling, though there was no reason to believe it would go in any other way after John found the second envelope where Natalya had relinquished all rights to the child.  As John pressed a kiss to River’s forehead, she found his hand with her own at his prompting.  Lacing her fingers through his, she leaned down to press a kiss to the back of his hand.  He still had the second envelope to get to, as well as the gift bag that sat at her own side.  Each adding just that much more to the initial shock the man was surely experiencing in that moment.  “Cakes, da! Cakes!” River exclaimed as he knew where he was and he knew pancakes were a part of this equation most every morning he woke in this house.  Spencer laughed as she nodded her head, answering already for John that there would be pancakes as soon as they vacated that room.  “He was asleep when he got here,” she confessed, hence the reason he was still in his pajamas, and thus ready to start his morning routine.  “Let’s let daddy read the other envelope and then we’ll get brother changed and we’ll see about those ‘cakes, alright?”  She offered, to which River seemed content enough with, whispering ‘cakes’ over and over again.

John “Okay, okay. Cakes.” giving in and allowing him that much as the little guy was on the clock. He believed Spence’s statement about his state on arrival. His attire spoke to that but the little guy was quick to awaken. It must have been nice to wake so quickly as John was still a bit shaken from the early morning call based on just how tired he always was. Yet, already, without envelopes, he knew this would be the best birthday of his life. Just because of where he was in his life now. With the presence of Rhys and River both. Knowing he had everything he could ever wish for within that room alone. Pulling the little boy in closer where he stole another kiss as Spence negotiated with the little guy. He put that first envelope on the side table before he was going for the second. Opening it where his eyes scanned over it. Finding it to be a bit more complex which had his eyes shifting over to Spence. Thinking he knew what it was but he wasn’t quite so sure initially. “Is this?…can you read some of this for me?”

Spence As John passed the papers over to her, she nodded her head in response.  She could just tell him what it was, but instead, she’d read it to him word for word as these were words he deserved to hear and understand to the fullest extent.  “It says, ‘Affidavit of consent to termination of parental rights.  I, Natalya Camila Petrov, the mother of River John James, who was born on January 8, 2015, agree and consent to the termination of my parental rights in said child and furthermore consent to the guardianship of said child by his father, John William James.  Further, I understand the importance of my decision and fully realize the effects of the termination of parental rights and the guardianship of said child.  I have read and have had read to me the statements on the reverse side of this form and fully understand and agree with each statement.  I have signed this consent voluntarily and of my own free will.’  Then she’s signed and dated this as of two days ago.”  She offered the paper back to John, a certified copy as the original document had already been filed with the courts, effective the date there on the bottom of the legal document.  “I met with her,” she confessed, though it hadn’t been of Spencer’s design.  “She said it was for the best,” she stated honestly, leaving out the bit of the two women actually sitting and having lunch together afterwards.  “He’s yours, John,” she whispered, her hand tightening in his as her smile spoke for itself.  “And no one’s ever taking him from you again.”

John There were a lot of words here. A lot of big words that stood for a lot of little words. Yet, his eyes found River as she spoke. Pulling him into his lap as he pressed his lips to the top of his blond head. As she offered the paper back, he was beginning to understand. Fully relinquished rights. He took the paper with his free hand, eyes passing over the authenticity before back down to River. Eyes reddening, trying not to let it happen yet he was a complete sap for these boys and everyone knew it. Those last words would do it for him as he turned River towards him. Pulling him to stand between his legs as he pulled him into a hug. Kissing his temple as he savored the boy for a moment. Still blissfully unaware but able to feel something as he pulled back. Eyeing the look in the man's eyes and clearly quite confused by it. Worrying him. "I'm sorry, Riv." He apologized, wiping his eyes before he looked over to Spence. "I don't know what to say...thank you doesn't cover it."

Spence Watching the emotion well up in the man was not something she’d ever truly witnessed before.  She’d seen John mad.  She’d seen John love.  She’d seen him hate.  She’d seen him concerned.  She’d seen John come face to face with emotion in ways she thought remarkable, but not one of those would hold a candle to watching the man’s love for his son and just what those papers in his hand meant.  She released his hand to allow him this with River, but she was quick to his side there on the bed, her lips finding his shoulder as he dried his eyes.  Her eyes met his as he attempted to thank her for this, but she’d simply offer a smile as her own emotion threatened to come through.  “His things are downstairs in the living room… he’s not going back there.  We’ll have to go to court to finalize everything, but as of this morning, this is his permanent home.”  Her words would assure that every single morning, he would be waking up to both of his boys, starting now.  Every night, he would be putting those boys to bed, starting now.  There would be no more goodbyes on Sundays.  They would all be together, as a family, and this house would be filled with the tiniest of feet that John had surely imagined when putting it all together for them.  With the gift bag still there against her thigh, she’d give him a few minutes to process all of this before she hit him with the contents of his other gift.

John Exhaling a cooling breath as she explained, he was wiping his eyes once again. River helping himself to a seat on his lap as John felt a tiny hand at his face attempting to help him. "I'm good..." he promised, kissing that tiny hand to reassure him, rubbing his back gently. It was losing this little boy that had him wondering what the point was. Why he didn't just end it there. Yet, Spence had brought him back. Bringing him another. Giving him a home. Having to reel it all in for River's sake. "Thank you." He stated simply to her though it would never be good enough as he stole a quick kiss from her.

Spence Watching this boy try to help his father with his tears had Spencer biting at her lower lip.  It was moments like this that she’d commit to her memory forever, never wanting to forget what it looked like, what it felt like, and just how insanely lucky she was to be the one there in that bed, beside these boys, having any little part in any of it.  “You’re welcome,” she whispered as his lips found hers, no longer pushing off his gratitude, but accepting it with all that it included.  Her hand came to the side of John’s face for that brief moment of the kiss before it was drawn back and her eyes were down at River on his lap.  ‘Cakes?’ he asked, instantly prompting a laugh from Spencer’s lips.  “One more thing for daddy and then I’m on cake duty,” she assured, bringing the bag there before him.  A small framed image of the four of them within, and a letter she had written to him.  “Actually,” she decided, pressing a quick kiss to John’s cheek before she was pushing herself up off the bed.  “How about I leave this one with you two while Rhys and I get him changed and get those cakes started?” she asked, offering John a bit of privacy with his son, should he want it, yet if River wanted to come with her and give John a moment of solitude with everything, she’d be more than alright with that as well.  ‘Cakes!’ the boy exclaimed, already scaling his father’s chest to stand up and find the morning tradition he loved so much.

John "Whatever you'd like to do, Spence." Holding River so he could find his balance, not wanting to overwhelm the woman as two kids in diapers were not an easy feat but she pulled it off with ease as he was looking down towards River. To never have to give this boy back again and wait until Friday. It wouldn't be easy but god would it be worth it. It had been entirely too long since he could see his son anytime of the day or night. Now he had two he could raise alongside of one another. Yet, he could only imagine what would be in that bag of hers. "Did you know that I was thinkin' about asking Nat for that?" He asked curiously as he up towards her.

Spence On her feet, she was making her way around the bed to find the gently waking Rhys there in his bassinet within John’s reach, but wasn’t he always?  Picking him up, she brought him to her shoulder, one hand lightly rubbing at his back.  “That was actually not my doing… that was Mrs. Petrov’s idea entirely,” she confessed as she eyed River attempting to climb off the bed to a song about cakes containing only the word ‘cakes’.  “I went to pick up the custody forms to be filed between the guardians and petitioning parent, and she was there.  It started off rocky, but by the end of it, she was handing me that envelope, already sealed and completed.  I never asked for her to do it, but her mother said it was for the best and she seems to agree,” she stated honestly, never knowing that John had thought of talking to her about it in the first place. Only able to figure things sometimes turned out the way they were supposed to.  Helping River down, she maintained one of his hands as she looked to John there on the bed.  “Take your time with that and come down when you’re ready?” she asked, knowing the man was already facing a whirlwind of emotions only an hour into his birthday and wanting him to take careful consideration over the letter she’d written him.

John Hearing her statement, it didn't make her any less amazing. She had gained the woman's trust in ways that he could not. He had bridged the divide that seemed an ocean. Hearing her statement about taking his time. He nodded slowly. Watching River take to her as she balanced both of them. "I'll be down in a few minutes to help you." He assured, unable to keep her waiting too long with her arms full though he still wasn't sure what she had for him. Eyes following her all the while.

Spence A nod of her head later and she was heading out of the room with the boys.  Leaving the door to the bedroom open, only because she couldn’t manage to close it with her hands full.  Down the hall, she led River with her into Rhys’ room.  “Let’s get brother’s diaper changed and then we’ll get to the cake making,” she promised, though she couldn’t help but think of what John would think of that letter of hers.  A few minutes later, the task was complete and a song of cakes was making its way down the staircase one slow step at a time towards the lower level of the home where pancake mix and a griddle were already sitting on the countertop, knowing the boy would be demanding them as soon as he arrived.  

John Waiting until he heard the three slip downstairs to get started, pulling the bag onto his lap where he was opening it. Slipping his hand in where his hand first found the frame. Withdrawing it where he eyed the picture. A gentle smile as he placed it on the side table sitting up. Needing to find a new home for it. A permanent home. His hand slipped back in the bag where he found the envelope, drawing it open where her writing would.be easier for him. Shutting down the world to focus. His heart swelling as just what he had struggled to ask her materializing before him. The conclusion already having a nod. A million times yes. Before she had ever asked or suggested it. Folding the letter back into the envelope, there was nothing to think about here. She had been his mother and would continue to be. This time, legally.

Spence Downstairs, River had let go of Spencer’s hand the moment they were at the bottom of the stairs, running to the glass door to look at Scrappy in the back yard where Spencer had abandoned him earlier.  “Oh, let’s leave him out for just a little bit longer,” she urged, knowing she couldn’t handle both kids and the dog, while trying to make breakfast.  Locating Rhys’ bouncy seat in the living room, she brought it into the kitchen, placing him within, strapping him there for safety as she brought the toy bar around in front of it.  Pressing the button that would begin both music and vibrations, which River thought was for his own personal dancing, she caught a glimpse of the boy shaking his tiny hiney, much to her own amusement.  Grabbing those things she’d need to make his beloved cakes, she wouldn’t hesitate to let a little dance out in her, only for the fact that the only ones to tell on her weren’t able to quite do it.  When she heard heavy steps, she’d stop right away, but for the moment, it was silly songs and dance moves that her husband would never get the great privilege of seeing first hand, though in truth… she was sparing him.

John As promised, the man was getting up not long after. Pulling himself together, getting a pair of pajama bottoms on before he'd head down stairs. Heavy footsteps all the way to alert her to the man’s movement as he slipped down the steps one by one. Arriving to the bottom steps where he heard Rhys' music. The smell of food flushing his nostrils as he seemed to interrupt something as he entered the kitchen. Not sure what but something as he looked towards River still continuing his dance. "What are you being taught, young man?" He playfully demanded.

Spence John’s heavy steps would immediately prompt the end of Spencer’s part of the dancing spree occurring in the kitchen.  As he rounded the bottom of those steps, Spencer was already pulling the first pancake from the pan.  River’s pancake.  River’s cakes.  Placing it onto a plate, she looked over her shoulder to hear John questioning those dance moves.  “Hey,” she quickly offered, a sharpness to her tongue, lifting her spatula in his direction.  “Those moves are trademarked and he nails them.”  In all seriousness, she made a small jerk of the spatula to say she meant business before all at once she was busting into laughter as she went back to the griddle to ladle out two more pancakes against the surface while River’s cooled down a bit.

John "Yeah? So that is acceptable to you?" A glance back towards River and at her. Watching her working on those pancakes and knowing River's just had to cool now though he'd whine for them. "I'll put them in the fridge so they cool off quicker." He offered the little guy before he was back at Spence. "Those are the kind of things you teach your son?" He asked, showing her his decision with ease as his eyes locked on her.

Spence “Oh, it’s harmless,” she began, only glancing back a moment as she flipped the pancakes over, buying herself a couple of minutes.  Turning around against the counter, she watched as he was offering to put them in the fridge to cool them off, almost not catching his meaning there as he spoke.  “Yeah, I mean, I didn’t /tell/ him t…” pausing halfway through her next word, her eyes met his, suddenly understanding what he meant there.  Dragging her lower lip through her teeth, her eyes were hopeful as she slowly nodded her head.  “Yeah?” she asked, a word with more meaning than it should have held, excitement lacing it as she was already placing the spatula against the countertop.  

John Slipping the plate into the fridge to cool it down, he heard her taking a minute to figure it out. He knew why. Because she already felt like his mother. Just putting the word behind the action was what caught her. Eventually. Hearing her figure it out though, he smirked at her question and nodded as he reached down to watch River going to see Rhys. “Yeah, Spence…you are already his mother. You already play the role like you had him yourself. You don’t treat him any different. I can tell you love him…and I knew a love for you that scared me that time you brought him to me at the zoo…” he recalled, remembering welling up at seeing River just as he just had upon receiving him truly. A nod of his head in conclusion.

Spence Though she had written such things herself, spelled out the way she felt for the boy on paper, it was different hearing John stating it before her from his perspective as he had seen it all unfold.  She’d step over to him, taking the side of his face into the palm of one of her hands.  Her eyes finding his as she lifted her chin to maintain that contact.  “I love you,” she stated honestly with no hesitation about her in the slightest.  Lifting to her toes, she used her hand there at the side of his face to guide his lips to hers for a brief exchange.  River and Rhys there just a few feet away, their family was finally one singular working unit in which all parties were present and accounted for and this woman could not have been any happier than she was in that very moment.  Drawing back just beyond the short kiss, she found his eyes again, but only for a moment before she was tending back to those pancakes on the griddle again, making sure not to burn them as the last thing she’d want was to ruin this morning with a burnt pancake or two, though really all she wanted right now was to hold onto him, having him holding on to her, and truly embrace the moment a little better than she could do right now.  “Two seconds and I’m picking up where I left off there,” she assured as she pulled two pancakes off the surface of the griddle, then reached for the ladle to pour out two more.

John “I love you too.” he returned before he returned her gentle yet brief kiss, knowing her dedication to the task of breakfast in that moment as previously there was nothing able to pull her from his lips. Yet, he understood. Eyes glancing back down towards River who was playing with Rhys’ toys. Showing him how to press the buttons while previously intrigued himself. “Okay…” he stated simply as he leaned his back onto the counter, hands finding it as he allowed himself to take in the sight of those two together. While a bit more of an age difference, he could see himself and Judas in the two. Knowing that due to their age difference, that one may sometimes seem older than the other. They could rely on one another. Exchange roles. That in itself was the strongest blessing.

Spence As promised, it would only take another minute or so before she had fresh batter against the heated surface, affording her the mobility to come towards him once again.  It would only be a few more minutes until they could all sit down and eat, but in the meantime, she was enjoying having everyone that mattered to her under one roof, in one room, in a home that would never know emptiness again.  While he watched those boys, enjoying what every day would look like from this day forth, both of her hands rested to his sides as she drew herself there between his feet, leaning into him.  “Tell me again?” she requested, drawing her lower lip between her teeth as she hadn’t been able to fully appreciate his first proclamation of affections to her in the way they deserved to be enjoyed.  Bringing one hand back to the side of his face, almost as though she had never parted from the man at all.  

John His arms slipped around her as his hands settled at her midback as he heard her statement. Meeting her eyes as it would take a minute to calculate exactly what she wanted to hear but thinking he’d figure it out. “I knew I loved you so deep it scared the fuck out of me when you got him to the zoo to see me?” he asked, not quite as poetic as the time before but thinking that might have been what she wanted to hear. “and that he’s always been your son, since you two met. You’ve been the only mother he’s ever known with the exception of his grandmother…” he reminded her simply, gently rubbing over the small of her back.

Spence As his hands met there at the small of her back, her body was forming against him, finding herself quite comfortable there within his hold as she always would.  As he spoke, it wasn’t what she’d been shooting for there, but it was so much better actually.  A soft smile stole her features as she drew in a deep breath.  Perhaps not realizing it herself in that time, only leading her to now question a thing or two that she thought she knew.  “You knew you loved me that day at the zoo?”  Her question would potentially give away the inner workings of her mind there, having always thought that she had been the one to fall in love with this man first, and yet if what he was saying was the actual moment that he had fallen for her on Father’s Day their previous year… then he had fallen for her before she had fallen for him, and thus he had loved her first.  She’d come back to the rest of this, but first she was fixated on the confession he had just given her there.  Something she’d never known before.  Something that was clearly shocking the hell out of the woman based purely on her reaction in that moment, having to hear it twice to put it all together.

John “I think so.” he stated honestly, as when he thought back on it, he /knew/ so. Yet, the look in her eyes suggesting something about that. Her feelings. He could only imagine. Eyes exchanging to check on the little boys where he found them safe. Not quite able to meet that look and wonder for that moment as he leaned in. Nudging his nose to hers before he accessed her lips. Hand finding her side as he retained that kiss for as long as he could manage.

Spence Her lips taken by his as her soul was captured as well.  John had loved her first.  It was going to take some time for this one to set in as she quite literally found things she had known to be true to be untrue.  Though it didn’t much matter in the grand scheme of things, considering they were still where they were and this bit of insight didn’t actually change anything, but she couldn’t help but wonder if John knew he had loved her first.  Her hand eased from the side of his face to the back of his neck as she allowed herself to press firmly into that kiss with this man, somehow even loving him more in that moment than she had in the one before.  For months on end, she’d fought a battle with herself, when he had already come face to face with those feelings and she hadn’t even been aware.  Against his lips, she’d whisper, “you loved me first.”  Her surprise still there in her words as her lips were quickly refusing to his.

John Hearing her whisper to his lips, the suggestion of it was straight up terrifying. Making him wonder whether he should confess it in the first place. He wasn’t that man. To be falling for women he barely knew. How could he have been first? Saying nothing and not letting it ruin that moment despite his own fears running rampant through him, he pressed his lips back to hers before he was feeling a pressure to his legs. Glancing down to see where River was attempting to wedge between them drawing a light laugh of him. “C’mere, buddy.” he stated, reaching down to hook underneath of his arms to get him into the swing of things.

Spence When John had nothing to say in response to her revelation there, she’d take it as nothing more than River’s attempts to join them for the moment, though it may not take long before her head would start working somewhere else entirely.  As John lifted the boy up, Spencer turned to find the pancakes against the griddle, giving them each a flip before leaning against the countertop to watch John enjoying that boy of his… theirs.  This thought alone would bring a smile to the woman’s features once more, though there was something a bit unsettled in the pit of her stomach.  “Someone’s cakes should be about cool in the fridge,” she suggested, giving John the dad of the year spot there if he should provide this boy with that which he loved so much.

John “Ah, that’s right.” teasing as if he had forgot, he carried River with him to the fridge. Pulling out the plate where he checked the temperature. “I think you are in luck, bud…” he added, drawing up his nearby high chair though John had made no secret of the fact that he was in the business of getting him into a booster seat at the actual table. For now though, it would do as he slid him within. “Alright. Gimme’ one minute.” he requested, buckling him in as he took to finding the correct utensils and syrup to cut it up for him before he had a fit. On the clock. Leaving him only to wonder how Spence pulled this off with both boys in tow.

Spence Shifting between checking on the cooking pancakes on the griddle, glancing over to Rhys, then to John and River, it was no wonder that the woman stole a nap whenever she had the chance and both boys were sleeping.  Keeping silent tabs on everything going on around her as the last of the pancakes were finished.  Lifting them off the griddle, she’d place them on another plate before turning off the griddle and carrying two plates to the table.  One for John and one for herself.  Once they were placed on the table, she was back to the kitchen again to warm Rhys’ bottle, honestly surprised the littlest James wasn’t screaming for his food already.  While it warmed in the microwave, it was now that she’d revisit what had happened with John a moment before.  She’d confessed to him that he’d fallen in love with her before she recalled truly falling for him, and he’d shut down.  Yet it was his birthday and with so many other good things falling into line that morning, she wasn’t quite sure if she wanted to strike upon this or not.  “After breakfast, we can get all of River’s things up in his room,” she stated instead, gesturing to the heap of things that had come from his grandmother’s house.  “She said she kept a few pairs of clothes and a couple of blankets and toys for anytime she might have him,” she offered, though a part of her knew that would more than likely not be for some time as getting that boy away from John would be harder than drawing water from a stone.

John Managing to get the cut up and syrup soaked pancakes onto his dish before him before the kid could lose his head was a complete victory and he was still enjoying it by the time it was time for Rhys’ bottle knowing he’d be next to scream. He took a seat as he heard her statement about River’s things. A nod of his head. “Yeah…I think maybe having some of those familiar things around him might help if he even notices…” he remarked, as River seemed as at home here as ever and he wondered if the little boy even noticed the adjustment. Regardless, he wouldn’t take the chance as the Russian grandmother had done her fair share and then some. “We should make it a point to keep an open door policy with her though, you know?” he asked as he glanced back towards Spence. “Weekends, nights…if we ever need a sitter. I know how hard it is to go without this little guy.” he remarked as River was wedging a piece of pancake into his mouth from his hand, his other hand already filled with the follow up.

Spence Spence nodded as he suggested keeping things open.  She agreed, to a degree, though there was even a part of her that didn’t want him out of this home either.  “She said if we were to have any questions, not to hesitate to call,” she added, offering that to John as well should he find himself needing something of the sort.  Once the bottle was ready, she tested it to her wrist before bringing it to the table as well, shielding it from Rhys’ view as she sought to avoid the cry that would come when he made visual connection with that suggestion.  Lifting the littlest one out of his bouncy seat, she drew him up against her chest as she walked over to the table, thinking they were about ready to eat now, finally.  Taking her seat, she managed Rhys there against her lap as she supported him with one arm, bringing that bottle to gaping lips the second he’d seen it.  “Maybe in about six months I’ll be ready for a sitter,” she teased, knowing it would be long before then that she’d require some time with her husband uninterrupted, though she would forever feel the safest place for both of those boys was with them.

John Watching her shielding it from his eyes as they both knew what that was for before he finally got his bottle, he heard her statement which drew a light smirk out of him. “Give it a few days and we’ll see about that.” he challenged, half thinking that they’d be ready for a vacation in about 2 days yet the experience would be rewarding if nothing else as he watched River quickly working at his pancakes where the other half of the serving still sat on the plate for when he was ready for it. “But if nothing else, at least they are cute.”

Spence “That, they are,” she could easily agree, for if nothing else was true, John made very cute little boys.  Once the bottle was fully in Rhys’ control, she’d use the side of her face to prop it against as she reached for her fork, turning it sideways and cutting against the pancake there to steal a bite or two every few minutes while feeding the little guy at the same time.  “So this birthday off to a good start?” she offered, a knowing smile there to her lips, though she had nothing more in store for him.  Anything else that might come their way that day would be of its own doing as she had no further plans aside from simply letting John soak in all that had already taken place that morning in such a short period of time.  “Thought maybe we’d see if Judas and Jade might want to come for dinner, but other than that, the day is totally yours to do with as you wish,” she confessed, giving him the indication that she had nothing more up her sleeve.

John “A good start?” he asked, cocking a brow as it was an understatement. Would the woman truly ever understand what this had meant to him? Where he had been when River was taken from him and right before she left? He had been so close to taking his own life that he would have had the note written should he have been able to write a sufficient note. Feeling himself that pathetic to not even be able to get that right. “Best birthday of my life.” he stated honestly as he never went into these expecting anything as he’d never get anything before. He was lucky when someone remembered. When he remembered. Hearing her follow up, he shrugged. “Don’t bother ‘em.” he stated simply, “It’s not that big of a deal. ‘Sides, I have everything I could want right here.”

Spence “It is that big of a deal,” she argued instantly as she would forever argue.  Birthdays meant something to her and always would.  His would be celebrated just as heavily as both of these boys would be.  As her own parents had hers.  Although it didn’t amount to much in the end, but she’d still make sure that those that meant something to her felt it at full force on their day of birth.  As she chewed another bite of her pancake, a little cough from the little one in her arms would have her withdrawing the bottle and elevating him slightly as he’d gone a little too hard at the bottle.  “Alright now, gotta take it easy Mister James,” she offered as he cleared his own airway and was quick to scream that the bottle was gone, although it was his fault, prompting a laugh from the boy’s mother.  “What was I saying?  Oh, right… if you want to just do the us thing, then we’ll do the us thing.  At home, at the park, the day is literally yours to do with what you wish,” she assured, as she’d do just about anything in her power to make sure he felt every ounce of love she and those boys held for him throughout every turn of the day.

John “It’s not.” he returned, as it was just another day for him. The boys would without a doubt have different birthdays but for him? It was of less and less importance every year. Not to mention she had just topped herself. Nothing would never be as great as the gift he received that day. Watching her with the baby before he was letting that voice of his lose, his eyes returning to hers as he heard her suggestion leaving him the full realm of options. “Sounds good to me.” he stated simply as he guided the rest of the pancake onto River’s tray where he was quick to receive them as he stood up to grab his own, knowing it was a good time to start as half of his food was already promised to the house. AKA, River.

Spence “It is,” she’d continue to argue, as she would forever and a day.  It didn’t matter if no one else put any importance on this day, but she and the boys would and it was just the way it was.  Often times, she’d back down pretty easily, but only when she continued to argue would John know she’d dug her heels in.  Here, she’d done just that.  As he stood up and went to the countertop where she’d left his food, she instantly felt like an ass for forgetting, but had been entirely too focused on Rhys’ hunger and her own to remember something for John.  “I’m sorry,” she offered, realizing she’d fucked up there and made him bring his own meal to the table, swearing to herself that she’d be tightening up on such things as they all adjusted to life with two children under the age of two.  She’d never confess how difficult it could be, but little things like this would show the weight of it all.  

John “For?” not quite sure why she was apologizing as it had never registered to him that people normally brought the food to the table, he was just happy for her to have cooked in the first place. Not caring much as he was more than happy to share the weight with her if not take more on his shoulders. He had lived in a house much more complex than this. He had been a kid that needed to be taken care of needing to take care of himself not to mention his other siblings. This was nothing by ways of comparison as he took a seat. “But if you insist on it bein’ my day…I got an idea…” he began as he drew a piece of food to his mouth, glancing over towards River to assure that he was managing okay before back to Rhys living up to his Superchunk potential.

Spence There again, Rhys was choking on his bottle, sucking so hard at it that he couldn’t possibly swallow down what he’d drawn within that tiny mouth.  Again, Spencer would lift the bottle free of his mouth to help him, drawing him up on her shoulder until he’d found his way through, the screaming following just as before.  A downright filthy thought flooded her mind as she lowered the infant back against her to bring the bottle back to her mouth.  For the sake of John’s birthday, she’d keep this thought to herself, drawing her eyes back to his as he mentioned having an idea.  This was far more than she’d expected honestly, but was more than eager to hear it.  “I do insist that it’s your day, so let’s have it,” she offered, all ears to hear what it was he’d have them do for his day since she’d already given him his gift and he had the rest of the day to do with as he wished.

John Smirking at the sight of him fighting with his mother and the bottle, his eyes drew back to her as he heard her offering. Eyes passing back down towards the baby and towards River who had never been much to anywhere making the idea seem that much better if they could swing it. “The shore is an hour and a half from here. Two hours…at most…River’s never been. Rhys has obviously never been. I don’t know thing /you’ve/ ever been…” he paused, a cock of his brow. “We could grab a hotel for a few nights close to the beach. Get out of the city just once before the end of the season.”

Spence There would be no time elapsed in the slightest from the time that John made his suggestion until a quick ‘yes’ came forth from the woman.  A little too eager to do what he wished.  Equally as eager to get out of town for a couple of days.  She was outside of maternity leave, but on an investigative suspension.  There was absolutely nothing holding them back.  “You think we’d be able to get a room?” she asked, not sure how busy it would be this time of year, but hoping it could all pan out that way.  She’d have to call in to the department to notify them that she was leaving town a few days so it wouldn’t look as though she were running and they’d need to let River’s grandmother know since she still had guardianship until their court date, but there wasn’t anything that was going to stand in her way of making sure John got what he wanted for his birthday.

John “Yeah…honestly, they are so many hotels down there where there is always vacancy not to mention the rates will be cheaper ‘cause we are this close to the weekend and they want to get rid of those rooms.” he stated honestly, knowing the Jersey Shore was often ass backwards in that respect but it was his only vacation spot of choice with the exception of the mountains which he took to but it was never Judas’ thing. Thus, it wasn’t a common trip. Taking another bite of food before he glanced over towards River already attempting to lean over and steal his fathers, he pressed his lips to his temple. Pulling him onto his lap as he let him attempt to work at his food that wasn’t yet cut up. “How can one little boy be completely made of pancakes?” he teased to his ear.

Spence “I can get the boys packed after they finish devouring everything we have in the house to eat and you can get the room?” she asked, actually offering to split some responsibility with him on this, especially seeing as he knew the area and she did not.  Watching as he took River from the high chair to his lap to share his plate with him, she could only shake her head.  “I don’t even know,” she confessed, only glad that she’d mastered the art of the dish or they’d have one unhappy boy on their hands.  “When he brings his first girlfriend home, we’re making ‘cakes,” she offered, with a nod of her head as River lifted his head at the sound of that word as though he didn’t have a small stack in front of him.  As Rhys’ bottle went dry, she’d place it on the table before lifting him to her shoulder, rubbing her hand softly against his back in circles, knowing he took down far more air in that single bottle than he ordinarily did.

John Laughs softly at the suggestion as his arms remained curled around River, simply taking the boy in in more ways than he’d ever realize as he glanced over towards her with Rhys who was going to be in for it. “Yeah, I’ll call and I’ll help you.” he stated, as the woman always took on far more responsibility than he liked and it was a quick way to get burned out. Trying to be superwoman all day long could be counterproductive. “Poor Rhysies Pieces…” he added, in the Philly fashion no doubt as he eyed her.

Spence With Rhys there to her shoulder, John’s nickname for him would remind her of days when Jade had called her the very same, not minding sharing it with the boy in the slightest.  “You ever been so into your food that you choked twice?” she asked, a smirk there behind her question as she was suggesting something less than appropriate to be asked in front of those boys of theirs, yet almost regretting the question the moment it left her mouth as it was an invitation to something John should know not to touch with a ten-foot pole unless her name was attached to it.  Rising from her chair, she looked over to River with a smirk.  “Help daddy and put your hands over his mouth,” she instructed, which River would do easily, a laugh to follow as he looked over his father’s face, now half covered in syrupy hands.  Spencer couldn’t help herself from laughing as she carried the empty bottle to the sink with Rhys still there against her shoulder.

John “No, not my kind of food.” he returned before she could call in her hounds and cover his face, trying not to laugh as syrup hands found his face and goatee which drew a low groan out of him as if he kept his hands there too long, he’d be bound to be ripping the hair from his chin. “Hey now…I can’t shave, it’ll show the world how ugly I really am.” the man teased of his son as he stole a kiss to his forehead, guiding down those little hands as he reached for a napkin though he knew not much would work considering they weren’t wet. “Can you get this nice and wet for me, hun?” he asked, offering it towards her as she stood up, knowing she’d like that one as he played along.

Spence Taking the napkin from him on her way by, she’d approach the sink before it would sink in with her just what he’d meant there.  Turning her head quickly to catch a glimpse of the man with knowing eyes, she reached out to turn on the sink.  “I think you know that I can,” she promised, running the paper product quickly under the faucet before bringing it back to him.  Slipping the damp napkin into his hand, she brought her hand back to Rhys’ neck, supporting him against her as she leaned into his ear.  “If that’s not wet enough for you, I know something that could be with just a little bit of help…”  Nipping at the curve of his ear before withdrawing, she’d go back to the running water to rinse the bottle out to be washed at a later time.

John Catching her eyes, he gave her a telling smirk as she brought it back to them. Taking it as he heard her against his ear drawing a playful smile. “That’s my girl.” he responded as he felt her at his ear. Never prouder of her in that moment it seemed though he wasn’t difficult to please as she went back to the bottle and he began wiping off Rhys face. A full face wash that earned a chuckle from him before he went for his hands and lifted him up in his arms. “I don’t think I got it all, we might have to take you through the car wash…” he teased, as if he knew what that was but he knew it didn’t sound fun and that was enough. Kissing his forehead, he rubbed over his back tenderly. Standing up as he was collecting a few plates in that one hand to get them into the sink and washed.

Spence Listening to John with River would never grow old to her as the man seemed to be a different beast entirely when in the presence of his boys.  She’d still long for the times that the two were alone together, as she was sure she always would, but she couldn’t deny how it was to hear him happily taking care of either of his sons either.  Returning back to the dining space, she’d offer a trade.  “I’ll trade you a kid for a kid,” she teased as she eyed River.  “I’m thinking this one and I go see about packing upstairs while that one should be about due for a diaper change and a nap.”  

John "I'll take the one not coated in syrup." He offered as he offered River to her free arm before he'd intercept Rhys. Leaving her for a moment with both kids in her arms. "Now you just gotta be barefoot." He teased once more before taking Rhys as he carefully cradled his head. Guiding him towards his chest as he glanced down into a pair of open eyes though knowing it would not be for long.

Spence “I was before River got here this morning,” she confessed, as the shoes had only been added to help get him and his pile of stuff into the house that still sat near the base of the stairs to be taken up and sorted through later.  With River transferred to her, she’d relinquish Rhys into John’s arms, almost surprised how well she faired with the two, though if either of them tried to move, she would’ve been killing herself not to drop one of them.  “This one needs to walk,” she reminded River, prompting little arms to wrap tightly around her throat not to be put down. “Alright, alright,” she agreed, a complete pushover when it came to this boy since day one.  “Think you have a date with a bathtub before you can help me pack,” she teased, though really a good baby wipe would probably do just fine.  Leaving John there with Rhys, she made her way to the stairs with River who finally seemed to have his fill of ‘cakes and could move on with their day.  “You want to go on a trip?” she asked, meeting the boy’s eyes as he had no idea what she was talking about.  Prompting him to nod his head yes, he did the same before bringing his hands over her mouth, a lovely little trick she’d taught him in reference to John that she’d now find might’ve been a mistake.  “I can’t talk like this,” she attempted behind his hands, muffled, prompting a hearty laugh from the boy as the two worked their way up the staircase.

John Smirking as River didn’t like to walk as he wasn’t in the habit of it. John carried him constantly as his little legs were so short and took so long that he got impatient. Hearing the two walk up the steps before he was taking Rhys to the couch for a changing. Letting her enjoy the little personality which was River in all of his abundance as he was changing Rhys while he was falling asleep. Knowing he was barely holding on from the movement that it took yet as soon as John was picking him back up, the little boy was out. Kissing his temple as he held him into his chest and gently rubbed his back. Feeling each gentle breath as he began to make his way gently upstairs to not disturb him too badly. Making his way to his room where he was laying him down.

Spence The constant covering of Spencer’s mouth by the tiny hands of River James had become a game; one she hadn’t meant to create.  “Nooo, we do that to daddy, not me,” she attempted, but the little one would have none of it as he found it entirely too entertaining not to take part in.  Once they were upstairs, she was helping him to his feet where the game would be ended for the moment.  Leading the boy to his bedroom where they would find a changing table that matched Rhys’ with a small dresser of his clothes, she helped him out of his pajamas he had arrived in and began with a baby wipe bath that would take care of any lasting syrup on the little monster complete with nose tickles to his tummy that would erupt into a bolt of laughter that would fill the upstairs.  “Why are you laughing?” she’d ask as she leaned in to do it again where he’d find fists full of her hair to pull upon while the laughter bellowed out.  In truth, there wasn’t much cleaning going on here as the two were enjoying one another entirely too much for all of that, assuring they’d get caught at some point or another if they didn’t tighten up.

John Laying Rhys down and keeping his eyes on him for several minutes before he heard the laughter erupting from the other room. Curiosity compelling him as he leaned up. Walking towards River’s room where he leaned to the door frame to watch the entertainment between the two. Already so much like mother and son that it had to be written in the stars. This is what he imagined for River. This kind of relationship. Someone to play with him, laugh with him, smile at him. Look at him like he was their entire world. Everything Bidelia had never done for him but he had always wanted his children to have. Briefly lost in that thought, he absently and silently remained watching them.

Spence Not realizing they had an audience of one, the two continued at their antics until finally she could deem the boy syrup-free.  River’s hands constantly either in her hair or at her mouth, combining games he’d learned in his times there with John and Spence.  “Alright, clothes,” she announced, picking him up from the changing table to turn towards the dresser to let him pick the shirt and she’d take care of shorts to match.  As she turned, she caught a glimpse of John there in the doorway, gasping dramatically as to make a big deal of his presence.  “Weee have been caught,” she whispered to the boy’s ear as his feet kicked rapidly to get down to go to his father with the ever prominent ‘da’ flowing from his lips in repetition.  “Abandoned,” she announced as she put the boy down so he could run over, latching to John’s leg as though he hadn’t seen him in hours.  Spencer laughed as she shook her head, turning towards the dresser.  “So what’s it going to be today, Mister James?  We have stripes, solids, or the always popular dinosaurs…”

John “Nothing but good things.” he assured of what he had seen as she approached his legs. Hearing her ask what he would be having as he resisted the urge to pick him up. Instead, leaning down as he glanced down towards River greeting him with a hug. Wrapping his arms around him. “What do you think, hm?” he asked the boy, finally giving and picking him up as he guided him towards Spencer to pick out his selection. Seeing where little recently cleaned hands had gone and what his choice would be that evening. Somehow, snagging a kiss to Spence’s cheek in the process if only to show how grateful he was for how good she was with him yet it would never do him justice.

Spence As John gave in and picked the boy up into his arms, she couldn’t blame him.  He’d missed far too many opportunities to hold and embrace his son that she couldn’t begin to urge him to put him down.  John was owed this and then some in her opinion, although she knew he’d never quite get his fill.  There was no such thing as making up for lost time.  Once time was gone, it was simply gone, and yet she’d do anything in her power to make the rest of the time they all got together as a family to be that which John and River could both look back on and remember fondly.  A little hand was quick to push away the solid shirt and the stripes, leaving dinosaurs, which she could have already guessed would be his selection.  “Good choice,” she offered, a knowing smirk there to her lips as she felt John’s kiss to her cheek.  Pulling out a pair of shorts that would coordinate with the top, she then retrieved a pair of socks and his shoes from the top drawer of the dresser.  “We’ll save the stripes for on the trip, huh?” she asked, which she already knew he’d be less than pleased with, yet she couldn’t help herself from teasing the boy.  

John As she chose the dinosaurs, he knew it to be an applicable and good choice that he’d applaud. Hearing her mention the rest for the trip, he nodded his head. “You know how many packs of diapers we are gonna’ need to pull this off?” the idea alone was daunting as his mind allowed itself to wander to baby wipes as well. They would have to stock up as he set him down on his changing table to allow her to take over once again. Just attempting to get a mental list of what all they’d need.

Spence With two boys in diapers, John had a very good point.  There were actually several things they’d need to make sure of, such as sleeping arrangements for the boys.  They could easily take Rhys’ bassinet for him, but putting River in a normal bed sounded terrifying to the woman, only able to figure they could co-sleep with him between them for the duration of the trip, but even that wouldn’t be entirely conventional for the all too intimate couple.  “We’re going to need to buy an SUV before this is all said and done,” she confessed as her car simply wasn’t going to be cutting it long term.  “Should we rent one for the trip or you think we can make the car work?”  Attempting to think a step ahead, though adding in a rental car had the potential of delaying the ability for them to leave that same afternoon depending on availability.  

John “I mean…do you think we need one? We’ll definitely need the bassinet and then we can bring River’s pack and play…” he suggested, gesturing towards the rarely used item to the corner of the room still folded up and in its carrying case for this such occasion. Knowing that her trunk had a lot of room in it. Enough to hide a few bodies, he could imagine though he’d have to ask Spence for the exact amount as he was still lost on the idea of how many packs of diapers would be required for all this.

Spence “Should be alright,” she offered, honestly having no idea, but willing to give it a try at least.  Taking a seat there on the floor, she gestured for River to come down to her so she could help him get dressed in the meantime.  “We’re talking what? Two? Three days?” she asked, attempting to get an idea of just how many packs of diapers, cans of formula, and what else they would need in grand supply.  “I mean, there’s a place we can grab more up there, right?” she asked, not sure how accessible the grocery store would be from where he had in mind for them to stay, only able to imagine they could grab anything they were to run low on once they were there.  

John “Yeah, there is a store right around the corner.” he stated honestly as he watched her, knowing the area well as he wasn’t thinking they’d need it all right then and there but once we got down there, a trip would be in order. “Yeah…three days, maybe? Lemme’ get a number before I go making promises…” he stated as he brought River back down towards her. Free hand already in his pocket to fish out his phone as he dragged himself out of the room. Finding the number of his usual place where he called the number, leaning against one of the walls where he held the phone to his ear and awaiting the voice of the front office.

Spence As River was passed down to her, he went willingly which was enough to prompt a smile from Spencer.  “First family trip.  That’s pretty cool, huh?” she asked the boy who simply responded with ‘da’.  “Yes, da is coming,” she promised as she brought the onesie shirt over his head, managing his arms through the holes before she was snapping it between his thighs.  Another minute and his shorts were on, though these were deemed the easy parts as the socks and shoes were another story altogether.  Standing up, she’d leave those for later, picking up the little guy in her arms as she looked over to John as he made his call.  “How about you play for a few minutes while we get things ready?” she offered, though the boy didn’t have much choice as she lowered him into his crib.  Placing a few items within the crib with him, toys for him to occupy himself with, she’d go to his dresser and begin withdrawing a small stack of tiny clothes for him now that she had a ball park figure on how long John was hoping to be gone for.

John Getting a somewhat good deal on one of the larger hotel rooms for those 3 days, he gave the woman his credit card information before she allowed him confirmation and their check-in time which would give them just enough time to get down there and make the most out of the day. As he hung up the phone, he was walking back into River’s room where he watched the little guy in his crib. “We’re good.” he confirmed to Spence as she worked at packing up River. “You want me to get started on Rhys’ stuff?” he asked, knowing that would indeed be the fun part here.

Spence All at once a completely filthy idea would flood her mind without her permission.  She couldn’t have seen it coming, as just what he had offered had been of the truest intentions, but the woman beneath would forever respond to such things as he had instilled them within her.  A slight bite to her lower lip later and she’d nod her head as she continued there with River’s things, attempting to keep her mind on the matter at hand before all at once, a toy was rocketed from within the crib to nail her in the side of the head.  Thankfully, a soft toy, but it wouldn’t stop her from jolting back just as though she’d been hit with a rock.  “Hey!” she called out, stunned for a moment before she was making her way there to the crib where River played within.  Two hands coming down towards him, tickling at his sides in retribution as he had effectively knocked the thought right out of her head; for the time being, anyway.

John Watching that look on her face as he must have said something yet he couldn’t figure out what he had said to get that. What could have been taken wrong? The furrow of the brow was there, all he need do was ask before the projectile that had to be a sheer accident as he had never seen the boy capable of such things. “Jesus Christ…” he stated as he watched her walk towards River who didn’t even seem to understand what he had done as he heard her tickling him. A shake of his head at the two. “Gonna’ tell me?”

Spence “Hmm,” she offered, shooting him a smirk there over her shoulder as she withdrew her hands from the laughing boy.  Returning her attention to River, she shook her head.  “Got a little arm on you,” she stated honestly as she turned back to John.  “Hallway?” she asked, suggesting she didn’t feel overly comfortable telling him what it had been that had taken his wife’s mind for that moment before she was startled by the potential future athlete who still needed his diapers changed and his mouth wiped for him.  Taking the lead, she’d step into the hall to wait for John to join her, her back against the wall.

John “Yeah, I know I do.” taking that ‘little’ arm comment for himself as if she was going to play the game of dirty minds then so was he. Hearing her mention the hallway, he had a hard time believing she could have gotten something that good off of that mere phrase, watching her walk into the hallway as he joined a moment later as his eyes regarded her curiously. “Let’s hear it.”

Spence “Wasn’t talking about /your/ arm,” she offered, shaking her head, proving the man’s mind was just as gutter bound as her own was.  “River’s arm,” she reminded him as it had been that boy’s arm that had sent the stuffed toy into the side of her own head.  Leaning up off the wall, she’d close the gap between them as her arms swept around his neck.  Threatening their time table.  Threatening his plans.  Her teeth nipped at his lower lip as her eyes found his.  “How about instead of getting /started/ on Rhys’ stuff, you get started on your wife?” she asked, revealing to him that which her mind had taken hold of there within ear shot of both boys’ bedrooms.

John “Oh, come on. That sucked.” disappointed at this joke as it wasn’t very funny yet the question remained as he flashed her a quick smirk. Feeling her arms sweeping around his neck as his hands took to her sides. Gripping firmly against her as the suggestion as it had the potential to completely derail their timing but that had never stopped them before. “and how do you plan on managing this?” he asked curiously as his nose nudged the tip of hers.  

Spence “You think I have a plan?” she asked, clearly having no plan as she drew one hand down from behind his neck to pass against his chest, finding space there between them to draw within the confines of his jeans and boxers, wasting no time at all to grasp the man with a gentle, yet firm hold.  Her teeth stealing his lower lip as she showed him her cards there, with no clear way to pull this off, and yet it wouldn’t stop her from trying.  “If they need us, we can hear them from right here,” she offered, releasing his lower lip as her lips found the base of his throat.  It didn’t take much to throw her thoughts into a place such as this and though he might have thought her connection there sucked, it wouldn’t change the fact that she was now taking her thoughts and visions and putting them straight into action.

John “You always have a plan.” he reminded her before he felt her hand traveling. Not sure where it would end but finding quick enough as she took possession of him. Inhaling deeply as she’d start off what was bound to be the sequence of events she desired as it never too much to convince him. Hearing her speak as she found his lip and his throat. His own hand finding the back of hers to encourage her touch as his eyes closed briefly. “Alright…” he stated, managing to find his mind somewhere through it all. “Go get undressed for me in the room…” chin gesturing towards their own bedroom. “I’ll turn on the baby monitors.” he offered, finding this an altogether better idea then just there.

Spence “But John…” she whined there against his throat, her hand traveling up the length of his cock within the confines of his jeans, feeling the hardening matter there within her hands.  “If I go, that means I can’t feel you… I can’t taste you… I can’t…” she complained, clearly attempting to draw out sheer force from her husband that she knew resided just beneath the surface.  There were times he was met with a wife who would easily comply and then every once in a while, his wife took on a life of her own where there was no logic that came along with the woman.  She knew to comply.  She knew he was devising a plan that would surely work out for the best for them, but her own selfishness to be close to him would stop such knowledge from holding true control over her.

John Hearing her response to him, he was nearly surprised as he was expecting the kind of compliance he always got yet she always needed to keep it interesting. Feeling her at her throat as he felt the stroke of her hand. Humming low in response, her complaints for once not insulting. Yet, a showing of how much she really seemed to want him in that moment. “Give me 2 minutes…” he requested as his lips drew to her cheek and jawline. “and I’m all yours to do with what you want and most importantly, you are all /mine/ to do with what I want.” he assured her as he was all in this with her and would be standing to lose just as much.

Spence “And if I can’t wait two /whole/ minutes?” she asked, her teeth skirting the flesh of his throat, threatening, hovering.  Her hand still drawing against his length, feeling him lengthening with each pass of her hand as she felt the dampening there at the apex of her thighs from just the sound of his own reminder there to her jaw.  Lifting her chin slightly beyond this as the woman turned her head to steal his lips to her own.  The force of the kiss like nothing that she’d ever dare display in front of those boys as it would always lead somewhere when such fire existed between the two.  Stealing her kiss from him just as suddenly as it had been offered.  “I could go in the room and undress for you and if things happened to get started before you get back…” she suggested, a smirk there against his lips as she tightened her grip against him, knowing what she was getting at here, as well as his opinion on such, exposing the mission she was on here to get at the man from literally every angle she could.

John Hearing her mention not waiting, his eyes were already to hers as he knew exactly what she was suggesting. Feeling her meet his lips with a familiar fire. Not a kiss to be seen outside of walls though that rarely stopped them. Not something easily swept away. No, he knew that kiss even as it pulled back. Hearing her suggestion. “Or you could go in the room, undress for me and wait…” he told her honestly as he’d never been a man to like the suggestion of such a thing. She was his. His alone before anything or anyone else. “Besides, you’re already started…I can smell it…” reminding her of how in tune he was with her, there was nothing here that happened that he didn’t know about as she was now wasting a potential 2 minutes.

Spence The whine at her lips was compliance, or at least her best attempt at it.  His reminders had been heard, yet his mention of that which he could smell had a fresh wave behind it.  Withdrawing her hand from within his jeans, she’d take that step back, finding the wall again as she had lost her positioning within the hallway during the course of this.  A part of her feeling guilty as Rhys might’ve been knocked out, but River wasn’t.  But the desire too strong for her to resist.  Five minutes.  Ten tops.  She just needed a bit to hold her over until later, when maybe both boys would be asleep, when maybe she and John could find a way, when maybe it wouldn’t have to be this way.  Just twelve minutes.  A nod of her head set the timer for two minutes, of which he’d only hold about a minute thirty before she’d be tempted to help herself along a bit.  Turning, she lifted her shirt up and over her head without delay, throwing it back at him to land atop his head, showing she had a bit of an arm to her as well.  Disappearing there into the bedroom where she’d undress her way all the way to the bed, leaving a trail of clothing to show the exact path she’d taken to get there.  Counting it off in her head as she laid against the bed, both of her hands against the pillow, palms up as she balled up her hands to prevent herself from breaking his rules, though she couldn’t promise as the numbers she counted in her head became higher and higher.

John Dutifully, he got both baby monitors on and set up. Watching River whose tired eyes suggest he might shut down in his own right. Stealing a quick kiss from him as he returned a few lost toys to his crib and back to Rhys room where that baby monitor was shifted on along with another one in his hand. Four and all, two sets, two of which in one hand as he assured both were working before he was walking into the bedroom. Knowing the sight within would be something to behold and never disappointed as he smirked low. Hands finding the collar of his shirt which he drew up and over his head upon approach. "Minute and a half."

Spence By the time she’d laid down on her back, she was at a count of seventy-three.  It would take but seventeen more seconds for John to come through that door, the promise of relief there in his eyes as she watched him lift the shirt up over his head by a single hand behind his head to grasp the collar.  “Fuck,” she whispered a complaint, the word falling from her lips as the sight of the man was too good to resist.  Torn between laying where she was and lifting up to meet him, she’d remain just as she had been as she swallowed her desire fully to allow herself the sight that was her husband.  He didn’t think he was much, but for her, he was absolutely everything and then some, which radiated through hazel eyes with or without her consent.  She could look at the man in no other way as he was the center of the universe for her.  Drawing one leg to bed slightly at the knee, her uneasiness easy to see in her very position as her hands seemed to be invisibly pinned there against the pillow beneath her head.  A slow drag of her lower lip through her teeth as her eyes scanned down her husband’s body, so close, and yet so far.  

John Hearing her speak, that single word that he’d never understand. Knowing he wasn’t much. Especially there before her yet she thought different and he supposed it worked to his advantage with the sheer magnetism between the two. Knees meeting the edge of the bed where his hands found her calves, not pulling up to her but dragging her down to him as he watched the drag of her bottom lip through her teeth as he half thought relinquishing it. Seeming as if he would. Leaning into her lips only to detour and angle straight down the column of her throat and over her neck. His own hands finding the button and zipper of his jeans to catch up with her.

Spence As his hands took to her flesh, she thought him to join her, but as he drug her to him, she would find that he was every bit as in control as she liked him to be.  Feeding into her desire to fall victim to him, her body would easily be drawn down to him as her arms stretched higher there on the bed in the process.  As he drew close, she was ready to take his lips with all of the passion and desire that had seemed to take her over in the meantime of waiting for him, for that whole minute and a half.  When his lips did not find hers, but instead she’d find the feeling of him there at her throat, her chin would lift, giving him this canvas, the whine would radiate through her throat against his lips.  He was playing with her.  Teasing her.  Tempting her.  Torturing her.  Bringing one hand to the back of his neck, she encouraged him, knowing it best to endlessly allow this man whatever he should desire in this arena.  “You denied me your kiss,” she whispered her verbal complaint, her eyes closing to the touch of his lips as her hand gripped firmly to the back of his neck.  

John Hearing her speak of him denying her his kiss, he had. If only to give her something else as he felt her to the back of his neck. Humming his agreement as he unbuttoned his jeans and he was pulling back from her all together. Standing up as he guided down his jeans and boxers before he was returning to the bed. Only then returning his lips back to hers to give her that which he had denied her. Now just as bare as she was as he leaned over her. Lips fused back to hers to re-engaged that kind of fire that had been lit in the hallway.

Spence As he withdrew from her entirely, the sigh followed as her skin felt the coolness that took over when the warmth of his lips was gone.  Watching him, it would take but a moment for him to catch up to the woman, bare to her as she was to him, taking out the work of helping one another as they both had done the same for each other in this manner.  Her hands were drawn to him the moment he was within her reach, one to the back of his neck, one to the back of his arm, luring herself against him as his lips fused to hers once more.  A hum of her lips there pressed to his as she drew her thighs to part for him, one leg wrapping around the man’s mid-section as she sought to feel him against her.  Her bite finding his lower lip mid-kiss before it was gone and she was stealing his lower lip with her lips, her hand spanning the back of his head as she gripped to short strands of hair.

John Pressing back to hers as he felt her legs warp around him, a low growl passing him at the feeling of her teeth before it was replaced. Feeling her within his hair as he’d lure his hips forward. Hardly an inch from the heat of her core as he felt her grip. Loving it as he always did. This woman of his knew what the pull of what little hair he had did or the scratch of her nails yet he was already there with her. Hand willing down where he gripped the base of himself. Ready to guide himself to his heat but detouring as her suggestion would dictate she might. Passing his own fingers down the length of himself just to see if she’d notice at all.

Spence While her lips were completely taken by the man, it wouldn’t mean she was too far away to feel his hand shifting down between them.  As he took himself within his grasp, she knew what would follow.  The woman had been ready for him, already drawing slightly upward to meet him there, yet instead, she’d feel the shift of his hand up the length of himself as he kissed her while taking what was hers.  A groan diffused the silence between them as she brought her hand from the back of his arm, taking no detour as she brought her finger there against her own clit.  Breaking the kiss to steal his eyes, biting down against his lower lip unforgivingly.  “Johnny,” she warned, her finger threatening to move against herself as she kept her eyes cut fully to his.  

John Hearing her speak his nickname and giving up her own challenge in the form of her traveling hand. He felt her at his bottom lip and gave up a low groan. If it wasn’t evident that he liked getting her like this, there would be no evidence possible. Yet, that ‘y’ put on his name was something he’d have to get used to with her as his hand drew down to the base of his shaft where he allowed his hips forward. Seeing himself within her entrance. A ‘won’t be necessary’ gesture as his hand took to hers, pulling her back from herself as he allowed several more inches of himself to take to her in one, fluid shift.

Spence His name would only come out in this fashion from time to time as he would forever be her John, yet certain occasions called for it in her opinion and this was one of them.  As he saw his hips forward, her hand was drawn free, more than likely for the best as she would have absolutely continued her mission with or without him buried inside of her.  The gasp at her lips came like clockwork as he took her by surprise, filling her entirely, delivering more of himself to her without a second’s break.  The bite to his lower lip would surrender as her head met the bed, her body tensing around him in that instant.  One hand in his control, the other grasping short strands of hair within her grip, her eyes closed for a moment as she turned her head to the side.  Her lips parted as she drew another breath, not wanting that moment to adjust to him as her leg wrapped around him tightened to him, demanding he give her all that he had.

John Surely he would not let her forget the time she called him by his nickname. Hand still pressed around hers as he heard her gasp as he watched her head fall back knowing he had effectively gotten to her but she to him in the process. Feeling her to the top of his head as his forehead found her temple. Looming close as he felt her legs tighten around him and he lowered his hips further. Treating her to every last bit of himself as he allowed her what she was after. One hand locking over her, slipping between her fingers as he pressed the other one to the side of her thigh hooked to his waist.

Spence With his head there to the side of her face, her teeth found the shell of his ear, biting against him as he met her request.  Her slender fingers curled around his hand as his did the same.  One leg remaining tightly around his hip as the other had her foot pressing into the bed, impaling herself even from this angle below him as she ensured he had truly given all of himself to her, even if there was none more than she could take.  Heated breaths fell against his ear as she allowed not a moment to pass before she was using that hold on short strands to draw him back to meet her eyes.  “Tell me you love me, then fuck me like you don’t,” she requested, knowing they had the potential to be on a short timeline there.  To the best of her knowledge, River was awake, playing in his crib, abandoned by his parents temporarily.  Rhys was asleep, but it could change at any point in time.  The desperation in his wife’s voice spoke to that which she nearly always held for him; a deep rooted desire that could be sated in no other way.  

John Feeling her pushing herself bravely up against him from underneath, he exhaled as evenly as possible. Feeling her drawing back at him as his eyes were meeting hers. Her request a familiar one. Time was not on their side as this would be the best way to assure the two got what they were after. That breath catching, heart beating, coated in sweat release that the two could only achieve in these moments and one another. He’d always know the power of his releases with hers. It might have been contradictory considering their state as married but it was the truth. The two were fire in many fields but this one was the first they had noticed. “I love you.” he stated, more of a reminder before they went there where it would be easy to forget that he did.

Spence “I love you too,” she quickly returned, a promise that neither of them should forget as it was the absolute truth, though the near future may not look as such, but it was in that love that there was security in whatever may come to pass between the two.  They had always held an adventurous demeanor here, but it wasn’t until that love was discovered and ultimately expressed that she would truly come into her own in this regard with him.  There was no fear.  There was no inhibition in the slightest.  He was there for her pleasure as much as she was there for his, committed to one another, turning to one another for any and all things that they should need.  With the promises and reminders offered, she was ready to put it to the side to find that mutual satisfaction that would surely make moving from this bed afterwards more than difficult, but the reminder would be there for hours to come.  Lifting her hips upwards against his, using her leg wrapped around him to assist her in this task, she released the hand she held within his short strands to grip the back of his arm.  Another shift of her hips and she was pushing against him, challenging his position there overtop of her as she lured him to his side.  He could have it back any time he should wish, but she would be the first to make such a move, allowing no time for either of them to adapt to the previous position, refusing to allow anything of this to be customary or mundane in her endless attempt to keep her man entirely satisfied.  With her leg wrapped around him, she’d draw it higher up against his side, allowing this angle a little more easily as she laid there on her side before him.  A heated breath fell from her lips in the only moment of pause she’d offer before she was drawing her hips back from him, letting him nearly escape her as his length was truly seen here in the separation of their lower bodies before she was back to him, hip to hip, all at once.  Her power never lasted long, nor would she wish it to, but for the moment, she would enjoy it while he allowed her to do so.

John His hand gripped to her hip as she lured back to him, following down to grip her ass as she pushed against him as he remained to his own side. How quickly the woman could make him nearly breathless from how good she felt as he allowed his hips to unceremoniously draw back and break her stride. Drawing forward against her. A bit rougher than she had just to feel the shock of her body from accepting him. His feelings for her scared him. Hell. He was scared to admit that. He wasn't scared of much but attachment? Being reliant on this woman who he wasn't sure he'd be able to lose? That terrified him. It activated every memory of him. Childhood. Needing the first woman to betray him truly in his mother which left lasting scars yet there he was. Hand gripping and supporting her leg over his hip where he repeated his actions.

Spence Her request had been quite simple, really.  She wanted to feel thoroughly spent by the man, which his sudden shift forward of his hips would hold the promise of his word within.  The depth broke forth a scream from her lips as her eyes sought his.  His eyes would give him away here as even her own would do.  The hues couldn’t lie as to what lay beneath, engrained in them, earned over time, promising there to be no end.  The bite to her lower lip was in her effort to silence herself as there were two little boys not too far away that could easily wake to her cry, yet at the same time, those cries were John’s and so she was caught in a place of needing to give him that which he’d earned and attempting to shield this bit of time they’d stolen.  A cry from either baby monitor would surely stop them in their tracks, a threat that could easily come to pass at any time, yet she’d only hope it not from the sound of her own voice.  Tightening her hold there at the back of his arm, she’d do him one better.  Drawing into him, her teeth found his ear, biting against the man’s flesh where he’d hear the muffled whine of his wife at his doing, though not in the volume he was capable of drawing from her, but in the heated fall of the sound devised purely for him and him alone.  Her leg held there over his hip, she’d draw against the hold of his hand, seeking to bring her leg up higher, to allow herself closer, to allow him deeper as she drew her hips back the same, attempting to get that thrust forward before he could steal it from her once again.

John Feeling her attempt to draw forward, he was quickly shifting once again as her attempt to get one over on him was comical at best as he heard her at his ear. His hand firmly landing at her ass. Palm to skin contact and none to gently either as the movement of her leg has forced it to him. Gripping firmly at her as his lips found her shoulder and collarbone. A fresh canvas that was his to mark as he allowed himself that freedom. Yet, allowing her anticipate the grip his hips would take with no pace or rhythm. Sheer surprise in each pass.

Spence She should have known not to mask her cries as the man would find a way to draw them from her one way or another.  Her frame jolted beneath the weight of his heavy hand against her ass, the cry falling directly into his ear.  The burn of her skin beneath his hand only intensified beneath his grip as she felt his lips finding her flesh.  The smack of his hand altering the game here as she intended on fully infuriating the man here to do his worst.  Bringing her hand from the back of his arm to find the base of his neck, she straightened her arm to create a distance there, depriving him of the taste of her skin as she cut her eyes towards him.  If he wanted to play, she would play, though somehow knowing this was what she had asked for.  Leaning into him, her teeth stole the bite at his lower tier, showing no mercy as he had shown her none.  Drawing her hips back from his, in a space she would normally return to him swiftly, she instead held her position, away from him, the head of his cock barely within the warm walls that had held him a moment before.  Tugging back at his lower lip, she slowly released it, if only to steal a full breath where before there had been none.  Despite her bravery here, her love for him resided there in hazel hues as she looked at him, her eyes cut, desire flowing forth from them, allowing a short interim here as she held back from him everything he wanted, only seeking to see just how long he could tolerate not only the overall separation, but the expressed defiance of his wife.

John The woman usually drawing him in was now pushing him off yet he'd be damned if for some reason he didn't like it as it lit a fire under him. Meeting her eyes with an edge of curiosity. Feeling her at his bottom lip before the lift of her body with no immediate drop back. Understanding what she was doing a moment later as he smirked softly at her. "Hey, have it your way." He challenged as he drew back entirely, playing into her hand as he pulled from her. A mournful o occasion but he'd allow it as he pushed up from the bed. Looking as if he was getting up but in all actuality, he was pulling himself into push up position above her where he guided her to lay onto her stomach. A hand to guide away her hair as his lips found the side and back of her neck. Prepared to make her beg it as his legs pressed between hers and he lowered against her.

Spence “John, no,” she instantly offered, backing down to the man in less than a moment’s time.  This wasn’t what she wanted, or was it?  As his hand took to her frame, drawing her over to her stomach, she knew she’d gone too far.  Now, he held the upper hand and would remain to do so for who even knew how long.  As his lips found the back of her neck, her teeth took to the fabric of the comforter beneath her.  Left in a place that forever held no power at all, the whine left her lips into the material between her teeth.  Drawing her ass up against him, attempting to lure him to want those warm walls of hers again, though she knew this was now on John’s time and only on John’s time.  “You said you’d fuck me, not tease me,” she quickly argued, turning her head to the side to attempt a stolen glance there over her own shoulder though his eyes were unavailable to her.  Drawing one hand back, she gripped against his side, her nails unforgiving as they found his flesh, doing all she could from this position to get him within her once more.  Not begging, though it wouldn’t be far off and he’d know it, as he’d taken her game and literally turned it upside down.

John "Coming from you..." the statement of not teasing was rich from the woman as he felt her at his side, inhaling deeply as it was tempting no doubt as she lured up. Knowing he had each step to make her give in drawn out in his mind as his teeth impatiently nipped at the back of her shoulder blade before applying pressure to nurse away the tension. Hands passing up her hips and underneath of her. Cupping over her breasts as he teased calloused pad over her hardened peaks.

Spence “I’d like to be cumming /for/ you,” she reminded him, her aggravation seeping past her lips as she felt his teeth to the back of her shoulder.  Biting down against her lower lip, she pressed her forehead there into the bed as she drew no reaction from the man in her hand there to his side.  Drawing her hand back into her own space, she knew how to easily steal the man’s attention, yet did she dare do it?  As both of his hands broke the space between her flesh and the bedding, his fingertips teasing over her hardened nipples, her hips lifted again, her body beginning to plead even without her willing it to do so.  His fingers here were not enough, she wanted his tongue, she wanted his teeth.  She wanted him inside of her and the space here was leaving her more and more frustrated by the moment.  She could not turn, for his hold over her was more than she could buck against, instead leaving her entirely to his mercy.  “John, please,” she whispered, only the beginning of what he might draw from her if he should continue in this game.  Vacant walls mourned the loss of him as she could feel their need for that which he could provide, but wouldn’t.  Bringing her own hand against her own stomach, pinned between flesh and fabric, seemingly innocent, yet she’d not hesitate in another moment to bring her hand against herself, to give herself what he would withhold from her.  “The boys are going to wake up,” she threatened, pulling nearly every threat she could to get him back within her while her ass constantly pressed against him, shifting, pleading her case.

John Feeling her pushing back to him as he lost sight of that other hand. Watching it as if she thought that wouldn't get her further in trouble. "Don't you do it." He threatened, another nip at her shoulder as she mentioned the boys yet not even existing in that headspace as his hands left her chest. Reaching for that hand that he pulled from her and removed the ability right from her. "Then you better hurry up and let me hear it." While she thought he was playing the game, it was her. She merely needed to tell him what he wanted to hear and it was all hers once more with the lesson in mind.

Spence His threat was met with her smirk.  The woman could not be trusted here.  She’d learned along the way what made John tick and this was one of very few things that were outside the scope of reason.  As his hand stole her wrist, she knew he was well aware that he couldn’t trust her with it, no more than she could trust him with his.  The possession running a little too deep with these two, yet the other endlessly fed into it along the way.  “Let you hear what, John?!” she cried out from beneath him, now losing the only ability to help herself as she was completely victim to him as he’d so wished.  “I want you to fucking fuck me,” she declared, as it had been no different a moment before.  There wasn’t an underlying tone of love here as he had toyed that away, even if it still resided within her eyes.  He was asking her to think here, to offer him something that she should well know, but her head was so incredibly fucked that she couldn’t possibly give him whatever it was that he wanted from her seeing as she couldn’t remember her own middle name in that moment.  She’d already asked him to fuck her.  She’d already said please.  She was losing her temper beneath him in a manner that she hadn’t in some time in regards to this.  “For fuck’s sake, John, you’re fucking killing me here,” she complained, her eyes finding their way over her own shoulder to attempt to find his eyes there, entirely too blinded by the calling of her own body to be able to properly give him what she was sure she knew to give, though it had escaped her and left her increasingly more frustrated than a moment prior.  

John Smirking at how frustrated she got so quickly. She'd be met with that smirk as she glanced back to him as she seemed to be quite done with this game. "Not quite what I was after but...in the interest of time. We'll revisit this." He seemed to promise as his hand ventured back down where he guided himself back within her. No need for delicacy as she was more than soaked for him. Assuring she felt each inch of him as he swept in. Allowing himself to release her hands. Giving her what she was after as his breath caught. Assuring she was pressed all the way down to that mattress as he sheathed himself entirely only for his hips to lift and repeat as now he'd build a pace.

Spence There was something wildly satisfying to the way he’d held out there, finally giving when her temper had gotten the best of her.  The initial sweep forward had her hands grasping to the bedding beneath them as she felt complete once again.  This thrust of his hips leaving her more taken than his first had as he had made her want it more than she thought possible.  A gasp at her lips as he slipped back, leaving the woman to wonder if he would deprive her again, yet finding the drive of his hips forward once more to be quite the answer as there was no more room for games of any sort.  She knew who was guilty there of those games and it wasn’t her.  The position depriving her of the taste of the man, yet allowing her to submit to him entirely in a manner that would stimulate her beyond the bounds of reason.  She felt small there beneath the man as he gave to her what only he could provide her with, that which he’d made her long for.  Pressed firmly to the bed, he allowed her no maneuverability here, leaving her there at his bidding.  Her hand found his, fingers prying there between his as she drew their joined hands there beneath her head.  Her lips pressing to his thick fingers, tasting of the man in the only manner she could from this space between soft cries that left her lips with each forward motion he’d offer her.

John Feeling her find his hand and his fingers subsequently, his free hand smoothing up her side as he listened to both the sound of her and the headboard finding the wall showing that he was indeed smart for putting it on the outside wall of the room. Breath hitching as he did so, pace increasing as did the heat of the push itself as the woman was sheer sexual napalm to him. Even pinned between him and the mattress. She ignited something in him just as he seemed to do to her leaving no question as to how the two had not gotten tired of one another yet.

Spence The sound of the headboard hitting the wall should have served as a reminder to her to find a way to affix it to the wall at another time, but instead it provided a smirk to her lips there against his hand as she received each thrust forward he’d offer.  The sound of the headboard was accompanied by a cry from her lips as she could remain in this position no longer.  Needing to provide him more depth, needing to feel those drives through her very core.  She drew her knees up against the bed, her body weight pushing up against him as she found her knees.  Releasing his hand as she pressed her own hands into the comforter as her eyes cut over her shoulder as her back took a full arch there before him.  She wouldn’t seek to tease him any longer if he’d just give her this much back, knowing she wasn’t far off from releasing against him, yet attempting to hold off just a little bit longer.  Shifting mid stride there as she reached her hand back, searching for the back of his neck as she attempted to lure his lips to hers to give her just a taste to take her off the edge she clung to into a space where her entire focus would shift to him and getting him to the very same place.

John Feeling her lifting for him, he leaned in. Allowing his head to turn as he pressed his lips to hers. His kiss sloppy from the fire of that pace. Hands finding both of her sides as he helped her firmly. Fingers curling to her skin as he felt her walls quaking around him. A threat yet a welcomed one as the two could not be allowed to cum together as they so often did. He'd have to pull out which would be no easy task yet he was too taken with the feeling of her to even concentrate there momentarily.

Spence A new position, yet a transitional one at best as she would push up against him again, further, her back pressed to his chest as she drew the both of them to their knees, giving her the ability to come down against him here from an altogether different point of impact.  His lips met hers there over her shoulder in a place she could not sustain, though she’d try just the same.  Her body completely reliant on his as she leaned back against him.  Finally permitted that bit of control again, though she knew he could easily put her back in a submissive state should he want to.  The tension rose in the woman as she held tightly against the back of his neck, keeping his lips to her own as she felt the rising within her that was all too familiar.  Without attempting to end that kiss, she’d speak to his lips as she asked his permission, while the tightening of her walls were easily saying she’d be cumming with or without his approval.  “May I?” she asked, her nails grasping to the back of his neck as she barely managed the words between heated breaths against his lips, a hitch in the shift of her hips there as the man struck within her a particular place that would render her weak to him even from a position that spoke to her grasping the reins of power.  

John She was a difficult one to keep down. Literally. Yet, he didn't mind. Kept things interesting as she drew towards him. Feeling the warmth of her to his chest as his hands remained to her. Slipping from her sides to her stomach. Feeling her to his neck before she spoke her question drawing a breath from him. "You may." He managed, the feeling of her there only luring him closer and closer. Hips pushed to hers as he angled slightly up to her in attempt to locate her g-spot.

Spence As his hands pressed against her stomach, he’d surely feel the tension beneath her flesh from both the draw of her muscles as well as the depths he seemed to reach within her.  She rose against him only to fall once again, a sigh passing her lips as she heard his approval to that which she requested.  The angle of his hips shifted as he took to this new position, knowing damned well what he was doing there as her inner walls tightened fully around him, clenching to his length as her thighs and stomach trembled in his hold.  Her breathing was erratic before all at once it seemed to cease under a held breath that would hold within it promise that he was there, getting at her just right to bring his regularly overly vocal wife to a place of pure silence; the calm before the storm.  Her nails embedded there against his neck as her hand remained holding him as close as she could, leaning back against him as she lost the battle willingly.  The pulses of her walls within seemed to continue for several repetitions before finally her resolve was broken and the warmth of her release coated him over tip to base.  Here, she’d lose the ability to hold her position should it not be for his arms around her.  Drawing her head slightly down in front of him, attempting to draw breath there as the orgasm seemed to take hold of her, though it was that which he’d found within that would lead her to a place where it nearly felt as though it would not end.  His name fell from her lips as it always did, her hands finding his thighs where her grip would tighten against his flesh.  Barely able to rise her hips up to come back down over him as she would now rely entirely on him in a release that still well had hold of the woman, much to her own surprise.

John Loving that scratch of nails that always accompanied this affair. The warmth of her orgasm leaking through as his arms held to her assuring they wouldn't lose their progress. Driving his hips forward in that familiar motion as he allowed that slight angle. Feeling her heat rush him with the tight constrictions of her orgasm as he continued at her. Noticing the prolonged period of this as his own orgasm rose up through him. A hitched breath as his lips found the side of her neck as his mouth lingered close by her. Pressing his teeth to the back of her shoulder as he readied for that release yet knowingly remembering what he had to do here.

Spence Perhaps it had been the delay in her own release previously that would spur it to last to this degree, or maybe it was the risk of one of the boys waking, or maybe it was John’s teasing, or even the angle they had achieved here.  She couldn’t be sure, but she knew only one thing, her inner walls were still contracting, bringing forth another wash of warmth over him as she felt any and all energy draining from her body.  The room seemed to spin as she felt her heart beating there throughout her entire body.  Leaning back into him as she felt the bite to the back of her shoulder.  The silence that had fallen over her was now exchanged for a raspy whine at her lips, attempting to shift her hips there against him, yet she’d fail as her walls tightened over him one last time.  Holding tightly against the man deep within her as his arms held her body there against him.  Weakened substantially, her hands relaxed at his thighs as her hands swept over his there against her stomach.  Fingers interlacing between his as she offered the softest squeeze of her hands to his, speaking to the level of the release he’d just taken her through.  A moment of pause there before a raspy whisper passed through her lips.  “Let me,” she whispered, requesting that he not finish this himself, knowing well how this worked in these weeks since Rhys’ birth, neither of them seeming to fully trust the birth control yet.  Drawing one hand down against the bed, she’d support her own weight as she slipped free of him, turning slowly there before him as her eyes met his.  The delay there had already taken too long, she feared, not wanting to let the man come down from that which they had achieved together, prompting her to lean into him, her hand taking to his base as her mouth wrapped around the head of his cock.  Tasting of herself there against him as she took on a worshiping position before him that seemed all too appropriate and comfortable to the woman as she exerted the reserve of energy within herself to see her husband to the same euphoric state he had brought her to.

John Watching the woman come down from such a high was the greatest gift of all as no part of him was prompted to pull off and get his even if he had believed to that moment that he would be doing his own honors. Merely assuring she had gotten all of her orgasm even if it cooled him off some. Hearing her whisper as she seemed to awaken from it. Watching her as she pulled from him and tempted to lay down for her comfort but watching as she took to him quickly and the feeling causing his eyes to instantly close. Still not too far from that orgasm as it turned as his teeth found his bottom lip, finally opening his eyes as his hand found the back of her head in silent encouragement.

Spence As his hand came there against the back of her head, she found his encouragement and then some.  Always willing to service the man in this manner, though it may mark the first time that she’d seek to finish him in this regard.  The angle wouldn’t allow for her eyes to meet his as she so often did in this place, instead she’d keep her eyes closed, entirely focused at the task at hand before her, getting him there and potentially then some after he had taken her to heights beyond her expectations.  Lowering her mouth over him, she used her hand to stimulate that which she could not take within the confines of her mouth.  Her tongue working against him as she drew up and down slowly, building a careful pace there before she’d attempt to match that which they had been able to achieve together.  The firmness in her hand at his base increased slightly as she drew against him with a firm suction as she drew up his length.  Her tongue flicking over his tip before she’d take him to the back of her throat, not yet attempting to take him further back, only allowing the threat to reside there.  

John Pressing harder into his bottom lip as she swept down him, knowing she’d take him on a ride here as she so often did. Not milking him solely for his release so the task would be over. She didn’t make him a job and he appreciated it as he felt her careful attention to detail. Fingers sweeping up to slip into her hair. Fingers winding around the thick tresses. Only tightening as he felt her getting him closer to her throat as he knew now what was to come though he could never be prepared for it and he knew he wouldn’t be.

Spence The feeling of his hand taking up her hair was forever promising as she drew free of him there with her mouth, her hand continuing to stroke him as she met his eyes.  Drawing in a slow breath, her commitment was there in the sheer look on her face.  “I want you to do it,” she whispered, not being entirely clear with what she meant there.  It might’ve been that she wanted his hand to finish himself off, but that would’ve been incorrect.  As she drew her lips back to the head of his cock, her lips parting to him as her tongue swept around the circumference of him, she attempted to make clear what she meant here, wanting him to control her entirely, to use her, to guide her in the way that felt best to him.  She knew she could get him there, but she was far more interested in ensuring that not only did he get that release, but that he got every quaking moment leading up to it the way he had given it to her.

John Feeling her mouth leave him, his eyes watching her as he heard her statement though already knowing what it meant. Feeling her lips back to him, he’d nod. Only wondering how they’d manage this in such a position yet he was ready to take up the task. Fingers through her hair slowly allowing her head to stay still as he’d take over. Drawing his hips back for the first time before he’d pull forward within her mouth. Stopping just short of the entrance of her throat yet it would serve as his first and last warning as to what he wanted.

Spence With her head sustained there by his hand, she felt him opt to use his hips to accomplish this.  Only able to wonder if he’d rather her lay back, though trusting he’d do what he wanted in this space.  As she felt him there to the back of her throat, pausing just shy of that domain, she knew, and in such laying back would not be an option.  Drawing a breath there as he withdrew his hips, she’d hold that breath until such a time that he would come forward once again where that breath would be released to take him into the place the both of them seemed to enjoy so much.  For her, it was knowing how he reacted to it each and every time it had been brought into play.  Both of her hands slipped there against his thighs, bruised fingerprints there from before that would only be darkened here.  

John Allowing himself forward a moment later as he met her throat, testing his boundaries and how far he could go without causing her extreme discomfort though he knew they wouldn’t get that far. Exhaling a low breath as he allowed another sweep back and forward again as he felt her to his thighs as he was never too far without scratches or bruises on his body with this one just as she was never too far from them with him. Another sweep to the back of his throat as his breath caught as one more sweep into the promised lands and that orgasm of his would hit him hard. Feeling it rise through him as it tightened his body, his breath and spread sheer heat through his veins.

Spence Taking each shift of his hips forward, allowing the head of his cock to bury deep within the confines of her throat, each draw forward affording him that much more depth where her throat would contract over him time and time again.  Feeling the tightening throughout him, she brought one hand from his thigh to the back of her own head to steal his hand as she took this from him as quickly as she had given it.  Holding his hand there in her own, she took to the man without hesitation.  Humming against him as she drew him deep within her mouth, allowing those vibrations to radiate against him.  To the back of her throat once more where she’d hold him this time, allowing her throat to contract over him several times over before she’d finally draw back enough to give her throat that moment’s break before she was doing just the same over again, making it clear she would not be pulling away until he forced her to do so.  

John Grateful as she took over for him as it was all too difficult to concentrate and overcome his body’s natural response to go still. Feeling the contractions of her throat as he gave in with all of him. Giving up a deep groan as his fingers tightened substantially though he had already been nearly pulling her hair. Hips bucking forward against her as he burrowed deep and released. Emptying himself within her mouth.

Spence As he drew forward, she held that depth allowing but a single contraction around the head of his cock before she’d withdraw slightly, enough that he might fill her mouth instead of her throat.  Swallowing against him while he remained there in her mouth, her eyes closing as she took swallow after swallow of that which he offered her until the last of his release had disappeared.  Slowly, carefully, she’d allow one last pass over him, knowing how sensitive he would be in these moments beyond, yet she couldn’t stop herself from stealing one more moment there before she’d ease off of him.  Drawing up slightly, there on her knees before him, she’d draw her mouth closed as she met his eyes.  After only a moment of pause, she was drawing into him, her arms wrapping softly around his neck as she urged him lay down for a moment there.  “I’ll be back,” she promised, pressing her kiss to the curve of his neck, not daring to kiss him until after she’d brushed her teeth.

John “Don’t you do it…” he challenged breathlessly, knowing the woman’s defiance as she drew off of him and he had been spared just this once. Watching her draw up on her knees as well before he was guiding him to lay down. Letting his back hit the sheets for the first time during the entire encounter as he felt her at his neck, pressing his lips to her temple as he nodded. Knowing what came next with this step before she’d return to him and he took just a few moments to relax before he’d collect his clothes.

Spence Leaving him in this way would forever be difficult for the woman, yet not being able to kiss him in those moments beyond was worse.  The mood would forever fail a bit in the time it took her to return, yet it was the necessary evil if she was to finish him off in that regard.  There in the bathroom, she tended to her toothbrush before coming to the doorway of the bathroom, leaning against the frame as she watched him there while she worked at her teeth.  The smirk to her lips, though tainted by the white toothpaste, said it all as she looked on to the man thoroughly spent at her own doing.  The bruising against his thighs so strong she could see it from the doorway.  After a moment there, she’d return into the bathroom to spit and rinse her mouth, giving it one more scrub over before she’d finally be able to return to him.

John Closing his eyes as she hit the bathroom. Completely unaware as to what she was doing while in the bathroom as he idly rubbed his palm over his stomach. A mechanism that most often came to be in moments when he was calm or attempting to calm himself. As a baby and a small child, he had grown used to falling asleep in his grandfather’s lap who would rub his stomach. The result being this. Associating it with comfort even when it meant his own hand as he allowed himself to come down from it all before hearing the sink and knowing she’d be returning to him shortly.

Spence Rinsing her mouth out one last time, she’d cut off the water, placing her tooth brush back in its holder before she was returning to the bedroom where she found him there with his hand against his stomach.  Drawing her knees to the bed, she made her way across the space to find his side where she’d lean over to press her lips softly to his.  After a moment there to his lips, she’d slowly draw back, finding herself in her place there at his side, her body turned into his.  “You know how hot you look laying here?” she asked, confessing in a way that she might’ve stolen a glimpse or two of the masterpiece there in their bed.

John As she returned, he was slowly opening his eyes before she found his lips. Gently kissing her back before he heard her speak. A blatant roll of his eyes and a shake of his head. “I’ll never get it.” he stated, and she knew that well. He’d never understand what she saw here yet he had a beautiful wife who thought he was attractive and that was enough for him.

Spence “It’s a good thing you don’t have to then, huh?” she asked, smirking as she settled into his side.  Knowing they couldn’t stay here for long, as plans had been made and they were supposed to be packing, but the break had been oh so worth it in her opinion.  Bringing her hand there against his chest, soft passes of her fingertips there against his flesh, she let her eyes close for a moment.  “So that put us how far behind schedule here?” she asked, only able to wonder if a quick round of birthday sex had been worth the delay of game charge he’d be able to hold her with now that the entire day just got shifted, though the soft throbbing still there between her thighs said it was worth it to her.

John Knowing he was on borrowed time yet still making the most of it as he felt her to his chest, letting up his own hand at his stomach as he tucked it behind his head. Free hand at her back. Hearing her question which drew a light smirk out of him. “Hardly a delay.” he promised. “Just means we’ll have to drive 5 miles faster.” he added again as his eyes met hers. “You know, what we got going on here is really awesome and all.” he began, eyes venturing towards the hallway where the two boys were. “and I don’t regret any of it. I have everything I could ever want but…sometimes I just miss the days where we could lay around and do this all day.”

Spence His five miles faster was met with a hum to her lips, only able to wonder if the man would be able to do that with such precious cargo on board, yet she’d let him think he’d do it just the same.  As he began speaking though, she couldn’t help but fear the ‘but’ that was sure to come.  When it did, she regretfully agreed with him, although she wouldn’t want to change it all at the same time.  She could only think that maybe the full weight of having two full time was now starting to hit him, although they had eased into it as best as they could.  In truth, it wasn’t that long ago that they could just lay around like this for as long as they might want to, but the last month had brought with it a full shift in what their lives looked like.  Seeming to understand though, her hand drifted down to his stomach where his own had been a moment before.  Lifting her eyes, she glanced up towards him, attempting to meet him halfway there.  “Think it might be about time that we learn how to let someone else help us a bit?” she asked, knowing his brother and sister might be willing, yet she hadn’t been quite so ready previously.  She couldn’t be sure she was ready now, but she knew she wouldn’t let John want for anything without attempting to rectify it.  “Maybe we start with a morning and go from there?”  she asked, already outside of her comfort zone there, but trying.

John Feeling her find his stomach, eyes closing for a moment as he listened to her suggestion. He shook his head. Neither of them were ready for that. “No, it’s not like I’m overwhelmed. Just sometimes I miss being able to fuck my wife whenever I want for how long I want.” he stated with a light smirk as he re-opened his eyes and looked over towards her. Another shake of his head. “No, we’ll be fine. It’s all worth it but I’m a pig like every other man on the face of this planet who wants it all when it doesn’t get any better than what we have right now.” he reminded her simply as he gently nudged his nose to hers.

Spence A hum of agreement easily came forth from her as she drew in closer to his side at the idea of him wanting to fuck her more often than he already did, finding the man to be speaking her language quite fluently as it seemed as though she never got enough.  As his nose was there nudging to hers, an honest smile swept her lips.  “I might be a pig then too,” she offered honestly, assuring him that he wasn’t alone in that regard as she wanted him just as badly as he wanted her, though she thought surely she wanted him more and more often.  “Maybe it wasn’t for however /long/ we might’ve wanted, but we might’ve just mastered the negligent parent middle of the morning quickie,” she offered, teasing him as she stole his lips for a brief moment.  

John “Well, at least we are pigs together.” he stated in return as his hand passed down her back. Listening to her though, he nodded as they seemed to have pulled it off pretty effectively. Pressing his lips gently back to hers. “No, not bad. Got that and to frustrate you to tears all in one fowl swoop.” quite proud of himself for it, he began to lean up gently from the bed. Knowing he needed to get himself a little closer to that shower by this point.

Spence Feeling him shifting there away from her, she knew where this was going.  She realized they were supposed to be getting ready to leave.  She knew there was a pending family vacation waiting for them, the first vacation they might /actually/ make it on, yet it didn’t stop her from gripping tightly to him as she attempted to keep him there.  “One problem,” she offered, hazel eyes finding his.  “I’m not ready,” she reminded him, wanting more time here, to just lay with him, to enjoy the man she called her husband for a little longer, though she knew it would never be for long enough.

John Feeling her grip him on his way up, he glanced back towards her and allowed himself to lay back down. Unable to not think that this was progress. Once if he had done that, she would have let him go and been mad at him. Yet, now, she knew how to tell him what she wanted as he settled back down. “Okay.” he stated simply as he could comply with that easy enough as he welcomed her back to her spot on his side.

Spence Fitting back against him as if no loss had been made there, she angled her chin slightly so she might still be able to see the man’s facial features from the comfort of her place against him.  She was on borrowed time, but it was a debt she’d gladly pay for later.  “Might not be so good at the whole middle of the morning negligent parent quickie…” she stated honestly, only moments before declaring them masters at the very same.  It didn’t offer what she wanted here, the closeness that had taken so long for the two to develop.  “You, on the other hand, a little too good at it,” she added, her hand finding the side of his face as she sought to steal his lips for her own.

John “That’s alright, you’re a cuddler.” he teased as he knew her to be though he had no issue with it. Hearing her mention him being a little too good at it, he cocked a brow. “You want to know why?” he asked, leading her to believe that he’d tell her because he’d done it before when the truth wasn’t quite that as he pressed his lips gently back to hers. Hand sweeping over hers over his face.

Spence Feeling his lips meeting her own, the hold of his hand there over her face as her own remained there to the side of his, she grumbled within the confines of that kiss as if to warn him here.  She didn’t take kindly to mentions of others within any sort of intimacy between the two, nor had she ever, nor would she ever.  Slowly drawing out of the kiss, she’d trust that he knew this as she met his eyes.  “Alright… why…?”  her hesitation speaking loudly to the discomfort residing in the depths of her in that moment as she truly feared what he might say now that the door had been pushed wide opened for him.

John Hearing her hesitation as he met her eyes knowing he had drawn exactly what he wanted out of her as his arms swept her waist. “Because I have a sexy wife who makes bustin’ early super easy.” he explained with a nod as it was what he was anticipating to say the entire time as he met her eyes. Letting her think that it would be something it wasn’t as his hand settled to the small of her back.

Spence “Nice save,” she offered, only left to wonder if that was /really/ what he had intended to say here, but she’d let herself think it to be true if only for the fact that it came from his mouth and she quite liked the way it sounded.  Drawing her leg up over his, she slipped herself over him, her lips finding the curve of his neck.  “You walk a thin line, John James of South Philly,” she accused, knowing it to be true, yet the man knew how to balance there quite well most of the time.  “A very thin line,” she reminded him, her teeth stealing a nip at his neck before she was drawing back slightly to meet his eyes.  “I don’t think I’ve ever told you before, but I’m /really/ glad we met.  Despite what happened to that girl that night and the investigation and everything else.  I’d do it all again if it meant waking up to you every day and falling asleep in your arms every night.”  It wasn’t too terribly often that the woman went for the straight up sentiment, but something about it all had her there and he’d just have to deal with it now that he was pinned to the bed beneath her.

John “Don’t I know it.” he returned at her accusation though it had been on purpose as he knew exactly how to get her thinking he’d say one thing when in reality, his intentions were innocent the entire time. Feeling her at his neck before she was over top of him. Thinking this might have been the first time he heard any such a thing from the woman. He nodded gently. “Yeah…somehow, it wound up being worth it.” he added, not expecting it to have been or that it would work yet there they were.

Spence “Still remotely enjoy fucking a cop?” she asked, a smirk there to her lips before she was stealing his kiss, recalling quite easily his goals of cuffing and fucking a cop, both of which he’d had free reign to do here.  “Or has it lost its allure?” she teased, nipping at his lower lip, completely drawn into the man in that moment.  She’d thought the sentiment a million times over, but saying it was something else entirely.  In time, she’d found a freedom about what she thought, felt, or wanted, finding it far easier to let him in on all of these things than she had in the very beginning.  This would be no different for her, though now that she’d opened up such a window to the past, there was just no telling what might slip past her lips now.

John "Just as much as the day I started." He agreed upon her initial question and as she followed up, he shook his head. "Hardly." He assured her, feeling her at his bottom lip as he'd manage a brief shake of his head. "Think it's gotten better since then actually, it's kind of funny. Thought we were supposed to stop doin' it...or at least enjoyin' it." He suggested though knowing he shouldn't have been surprised from the mere look of her.

Spence A hum crossed her lips as he confirmed he still enjoyed it just as much as he ever had.  The confirmation alone brought a smirk to her lips as she’d already seemed to know the answer to that question.  Finally pushing up off of him, she’d draw back to her side there at his side, knowing if she stayed where she’d been, they wouldn’t be going on this vacation, just like the last two they’d considered and then fallen out on.  “I think it’s coming up on time to let you handcuff a cop again,” she seemed to remind him as it had been far too long, seeking to tempt him just moments before the both of them would need to be getting on their way here.

John “Yeah, I think so too.” he stated honestly as he heard her suggestion, lying if he hadn’t been thinking about it. “Not to mention I get to introduce a few new tricks into the equation.” he reminded her, as their options had grown in this respect as they had not quite had this verbal communication to discuss these things before. Another sign of growth as he felt her drawing down at his side as his eyes found the ceiling. Passing over it in thought.

Spence A telling hum of her lips would stand as the only response he’d be getting on that topic, already quite unsure if she’d be able to handle it while restrained or not, yet it wasn’t off the table either.  Nothing was off the table with her when it came to him as long as it was the two of them together, she’d damned near try anything with him, as she’d already proven.  “You keep talking like that and this vacation is cancelled,” she reminded him, as it never took much to get her back in the mood again and he was certainly trying her in this department.  With her arm draped over his chest, she brought her hand to the side of his face as she caught him staring up to the ceiling.  Drawing his eyes to meet hers, she stole his lips momentarily.  “What are you thinking about?” she asked, pressing another kiss beyond her words, attempting to lure the man’s thoughts into words.

John Hearing her question as she lured his eyes to hers, nudging his nose to hers after her kiss before he’d press his own gently back to her. “Something that’ll definitely get this cancelled. You should be thanking me.” he offered, as verbalizing it would have definitely had her down and out for the count as his hand passed over hers at his chest, passing fingertips over the backs of her own fingers as his eyes passed over hers with the same careful study as he had the ceiling.

Spence His words caused an audible hitch in her breath as her lips parted softly.  Drawing her lower tier there between her teeth as his eyes fixed on hers, the intensity easily read from him there as she could only wonder what it was that man of hers had in mind.  Feeling his touch over her hand, her fingertips gripped against him as she made no further attempt to kiss him as he had her completely focused now.  “Make you a deal then.  You stand up, go to the bathroom door to take that shower, and tell me right before you close and lock the door… Vacation remains on for the weekend and I get to hear it all at the same time.  Win, win.”  She seemed to reason, not quite thinking it through, as it sounded good enough to her in the moment to satisfy her curiosity.

John Hardly thinking that would do it for her but he’d let her think she’d win as he gave up a slow nod. “Alright.” he reasoned, waiting until she got up from him to go ahead with this plan. “Am I locking the bathroom door?” he asked, knowing that that would probably be the next logical step to his confession.

Spence “You tell me,” she offered, slipping there off of his side, giving him the space to put this plan of hers into action.  “If you’re afraid that I’ll come through after you, then you might want to…” she offered, unable to believe she was actually telling him to lock her out of a room right now, but knowing her own drive in matters of the sort and doing all she could to protect the sanctity of the planned vacation here.  

John “Okay…” he stated simply, quite amused by this in his own right as ridiculous as it sounded but it might have been necessary as he began to stand up as he had before, pulling himself up where he walked to the bathroom in prep of these events as he walked into the bathroom. Door knob in hand as he glanced back towards her, unable to not smirk at how ridiculous this actually was. “Well, I was thinking…I handcuff you…and I fuck you until there’s no way of remembering how many times you came as they are all blurring together and when you finally beg for a break, I put it in your ass and we do it all over again until /both/ of us can’t take it anymore.” closing the door as part of the arrangement, he stepped towards the shower to begin running the water.

Spence He had her at ‘handcuff you’, but as he continued, she could have nearly bit through her bottom lip.  Her body instantly reacting to that which he said, feeling that sensation throughout her that would have her rising from the bed as the door fell closed.  Bringing one hand to the knob to see if he’d actually locked it or not, the woman was already begging him to open it.  “Okay, I changed my mind.  Open the door.”  She knew her words would be a lost cause over the sound of the shower, but it wouldn’t stop her from trying as she gently lifted her palm, using it to knock on the door softly.  “John, please.  Open the door.  It was a bad idea.  I take it back.  Just open the door and I promise I’ll be good.  I’ll be really good.  Like, /really/ good,” she offered, flirtation seeping through her words as she attempted to convince him to let her in.  

John "Don't lie to me." He returned as she attempted to tell him that she would be good when they both knew better. Yet, the suggestion was amusing enough as she tried, allowing him to step back and crack open the door. "You wanna go check on the boys real quick?" He asked, knowing better then to think she'd be good as he glanced back towards her before hitting the shower knob.

Spence She knew it was a lie.  It was absolutely a lie.  But with what he had just said to her, she truly could not be held accountable for her actions or lies here.  She’d do nearly anything to get him to unlock that door and let her in, or better yet to unlock that door and come out, find the cuffs, and make good on his threats.  As the door cracked there before her, she was glancing up to meet his eyes with her hand still there on the door.  An instant smile flashed across her features as she nodded her head.  “I can do that,” she promised, stepping back from the door, turning around to bend down, picking up his t-shirt from the floor.  Drawing it over her head, she’d at least attempt a bit of decency there to come into the potential view of either of their boys, all the while knowing that shirt was coming off again in the very near future.

John Watching as she slipped off, he knew she would be back soon. Never able to stay away for too long which he was both thankful and surprised for. He had never quite been wanted like she did him. She couldn’t fake it, it was all primal and he could nearly smell it on her. A departure for a man who was not used to being wanted in the long-term sense and all together as he was constantly waiting for the other shoe to drop. Approaching the sink, he’d open the medicine cabinet. Opting for the electrical shaver for his jawline while not touching what was already around his mouth as he wasn’t quite feeling up to the razor treatment thus the light shadow would have to do.

Spence Slipping off into the boys’ rooms, she checked first on River.  A sleeping boy there in his crib with toys around him just as she and John had left him, had played himself to sleep.  She carefully reached in, risking waking him to remove the toys one at a time, leaving only his favorite there behind for fear he could roll over on one and wake himself up.  Although she wanted to reach out and touch him, she wouldn’t dare risk it as she slipped out to do the same in Rhys’ room.  There, she found an equally knocked out little one, though no toys resided in his bed.  Staring down at him, she couldn’t help the wash of emotions that would hit her, even when she was supposed to be on a very defined mission.  A soft sigh from the tiny one’s lips would draw her full attention as he simply seemed to be dreaming without any knowledge of the evils the world around him contained.  Easing out of both rooms, she found Scrappy on the floor between the two doorways, offering him a gentle pass of her hand in thanks for his protection over his kids.  Making her way back to the bedroom, she closed the door behind her, but left it just open enough should one of them need to quickly get to the boys.  “Passed out, blissfully unaware of their father’s bad behavior,” she accused as she walked back into the room, already tugging his shirt back off and tossing it onto the bed as she made her way to check the status of the previously locked door.

John The door was left wide open as he heard her returned, having figured the boys would be fine but it was better to check. The two might have been ridiculous in their need for one another but at the very least they could be thorough for those boys of theirs. God knows it wouldn’t take much for someone to think they had fucked up beyond repair. They had to be amazing at this as they had everything to lose. To overcompensate given their lifestyle or at least his. It was a challenge he relished in as he knew she’d be returning to the bathroom as his eyes found the mirror reflected at the door as he shaved a safe patch of his cheek.

Spence Turning around to find the door open to her, the man there before the mirror.  Catching his eyes there through the reflection for but a brief moment, she was stepping into the bathroom, there behind him as her lips found the center of his back.  “Want to tell me again what you were thinking?” she asked, seeking to reignite that which had sent her out of the room to check on the boys in the first place, only left to wonder if she’d left him unattended for too long to get back to where they’d left off.  If nothing else, she’d be the death of him in this manner, or at least she’d try, as she quite literally always wanted more in this venue.  A nip of her teeth just behind his shoulder where the top of her head was barely seen there in the mirror behind him, her hands coming against his sides as she pressed into him fully.

John Feeling her at the back of his shoulder, he smirked softly as he finished up. Merely trying to make best use of his time as it was hardly reflective of what had done. Feeling her against him as he sighed low. "Well, I think it involved handcuffs." Turning off the shaver, he placed it down. A hum in thought. "A pair of handcuffs and a cop and a felon."

Spence As he placed the razor down against the counter, his words had her teeth there against his back, threatening as always, not hesitating to sink against his skin to tell him just what she thought of his repetition of said idea.  “Mhm… and…?” she offered, drawing her lips lower against the back of his shoulder, her teeth ready to bite against him again as her hands clenched firmly there at his sides.

John Feeling her grip tighten at his sides along with her teeth embedding hot into his flesh like a branding iron. Never minding wearing her mark as his palm found the side of the sink and the other reaching back for her own side. "Went something like fucking you until you cum so hard and so many times that you can't remember how many times you had until I put it in your ass, wasn't it?" He clarified, knowing his own promise by now.

Spence With her hands there at his sides, it would take only the first four words before her nails were embedding against his flesh, her teeth sinking in again against a fresh patch of skin.  Relentless in her assault as she bit down none too gently, entirely set on showing him just what she thought of what he was offering there.  In a place she would ordinarily have released that bite, she instead held it, clearly not giving it up any time soon as a guttural sound radiated from the back of her throat there against that purchase of flesh she claimed.

John Feeling her teeth embedding again in his flesh and held it, hearing her response as his hand tightened at her hip. Knowing it had been good enough to get her rethinking her challenge about that door. Smiling softly and nearly breathlessly at how good that bite felt. "Got any ideas for what comes next?" He asked, wanting her input in this as he prepared to turn around to face her.

Spence His question would be the only reason she’d release that bite against him, something in her wanting to inflict pain and feel it all at the same time.  A part of the woman that hadn’t been picked at for some time now, yet he had done that and then some.  Normally she’d hold a soft kiss to his flesh, but there was truly nothing soft about her in that moment as she nipped at the mark already developing against his back again, sharp and quick, before moving to yet another place against the back of his shoulder.  “What comes next is the cop gets to cuff the felon using excessive force where she then has her way with him and shows him what it is like to have zero control.”  Never before had the woman suggested taking control from him in this space as it had been his for the owning since day one between them, yet now she wanted nothing more than to do just that, if he’d give it to her.  

John “Ohhhh…” surprised by the suggestion as she had never quite seemed the type who wanted that power never had he seemed the one that wanted to relinquish it. A complete role reversal that he wasn’t sure he’d like. He was too much of a control freak. Liking everything his way. She was brave for even suggesting it letting alone wanting to take that on. “You think the cop would be able to handle all that?” he asked as he exhaled, feeling that bite as it continued as he relished in that battle mark being left upon pale skin.

Spence “Maybe the cop might be a little out of practice at taking down a criminal of your size… maybe she’d like to see if she’s still got it in her,” she offered, knowing it wasn’t within the bounds of anything they’d ever done, nor anything she’d ever done, yet a part of her wondering what it might feel like to fully take him.  Her only point of comparison being how it felt to her to be taken, though she had to realize at the same time that taking and being taken were two totally different things and there was that slim chance that once she had the power, she wouldn’t know what to do with it, and might be begging him to take it back.  Her confidence was shaken as she heard his question as she wasn’t sure she’d be able to handle it at all, yet she’d put it out there as if to find out if it was something that he might be interested in, or even lacking in their sexual relationship.  A moment of silence would follow where her lack of confidence resided, swelling in the back of her throat where he’d find the submissive he’d created in her.  “Unless you’d rather not?” she asked, knowing it didn’t hold quite the punch as every other word exchanged between the two, yet he’d get the most honest version of the woman at every turn in her endless attempts to please him.

John Hearing her ‘maybe’ was enough of a red flag as she was losing her foothold in this yet as he heard her follow up statement which might have effectively killed this little game of theirs, he still heard her question in it. “First rule of dominance. Confidence. No maybe, no questions. You know what you are going to do before you do it.” he explained to her. Helping. “You trust that if your partner wouldn’t want something, they’d tell you. You don’t ask them.” willing to help her in this the only way he knew how as if he hadn’t completely thrown out the idea then a certain part of him just might be up for it if she could play her part correctly and assure he knew who was in control here.

Spence Listening carefully as he spoke to her, she nearly couldn’t believe what she was hearing there.  Slipping out from behind him to come to his side, leaning against the counter as she faced him.  Her eyes sought his as she offered a slow nod of her head, his words sinking in.  She couldn’t be sure this was him saying he did or did not, yet she was fairly certain it was his way of telling her that he would not only go along with it, but potentially guide her through it as well.  She couldn’t say the idea didn’t interest her, yet she was also realistic with the idea that she could fail just as hard as she had the night she’d /tried/ to be sexy for him intentionally.  “And if I fail?” she asked, honesty there in her eyes as she looked up to the one person she’d never want to disappoint here, laying out her fear of taking over there before him.  With no promises, no assurances, just honest exploration of something that had been residing in the back of her mind for some time.

John “No failure to be had. You go back to bein’ my wife whose passive when it counts but a fighter when I need her to be.” he reminded her as there was literally no losing here. “But if you’d rather not, that’s cool too. I can imagine switchin’ sides can be pretty daunting.” he recalled, not even sure he’d ever be able to muster the courage should he ever decide one day that he’d like her to dominate him. Be it highly unlikely as it was, the point remained the same.

Spence Hearing his reassurances there, she felt as though there was no losing here.  Drawing her hand there against his side, she drew against him as she sought to move him there in front of her as she leaned against that bathroom counter.  A moment of truth as she had to come to terms with who and what she was now.  “You ever think you wanted something until you came face to face with it?  You could reach out and just grab it.  It would be yours.  But as you stood there in front of it, you realized you wanted nothing more than what you already have.  It’s in that moment that you know who you are and can truly appreciate what you have there.  The other sounded good for a minute, but what you really want… is home?”  She posed her question, offering to him what she thought there as she was clearly more than looking forward to her position here, a place she had learned from him, a place where she felt fully confident in herself.  There was an order about it.  Although she had stints of power that he granted her, it was within the limitation that she knew it would expire, at which point meant he still held the control, just the way she liked it.

John “I don’t think so…” he stated, as her question was far too deep for John’s typical everyday thinking but he could empathize all the same with what she wanted and his tone suggested it. He got it. Answering what was maybe a rhetorical question as he met her eyes as the woman no doubt had her own pull and power. Their dynamic extended to the bedroom and little other aspects of their life but not much. There were these couplings that existed in the outside world where only certain food items were permitted and clothing. He’d never seek to control her in that fashion nor would he respect someone who would allow it. Thus, why he had struck such gold with her as she knew when to fight her battles. If his eyes were able to reflect only a shard of how perfect he felt she was for this, she’d remember that look for the rest of her normal life.

Spence Her eyes set up to his as he denied ever being in that position.  It was the only way she knew how to say it, but there in his eyes she’d find pure understanding.  A light smile stole her lips as she looked up at him, his eyes speaking volumes to her.  Pressing her hands to the counter behind her, she lifted herself to sit there before him. “I am yours,” she whispered, her voice raspy as she stated something that had been stated time and time again, this time serving as something entirely different than she’d meant it before, allowing it to stand as her submission to him. Bringing both hands to the back of his neck, she attempted to draw him in closer.

John “I know you are.” he stated as he heard her statement as she was his in every sense of the word. Mind, body and soul. He knew it well as he felt her at the back of his neck. Drawing back into her where the man would find his spot before her as his hands found her sides. “you better get used to it.” he reminded her, as that was not just when things were good. It was when things were bad. When she wanted to give up on him or the day when she would. When all felt hopeless. He wasn’t fair weathered and neither could she. This kind of loyalty came with a dark side and she’d have to know it and hopefully never encounter how dark it could get.

Spence As his hands found her sides, she was focused in on him fully, thinking she was more than used to being his if nothing else in the world was familiar to her.  “Think I’ll be alright,” she assured, nothing but confidence in her there as she spoke what she knew to be true.  Sliding forward until her ass was there at the edge of the counter, she drew her legs to wrap around him as she tightened her hold there at the back of his neck.  Pressing a quick kiss to his lips, she drew back to meet his eyes once more.  “Anything else you know that I should be made aware of?” she asked, a tinge of flirtation there in her voice.

John As she locked her legs around him, his hand passed over the side of her leg as he heard her question. A moment of pause as he thought it over. A million things he could have said in this moment. Sentimental, not so much so. Clean, dirty. He didn’t know where to even start. “You…” he began, not sure how to phrase that next part as he knew the feeling but not the words. “are my redemption. If I ever had a chance at a decent life, it started when you walked into it.” he reminded her, as all of this was not possible without her. Not Rhys, not this house, not marriage. Not even seeing River again. He’d be going through the motions in that shitty apartment waiting for something to happen while continuing that secret countdown of his where he’d call it quits. A trip to the tracks, the blaze of glory. Yet, how he’d ever explain that he was on day 132 of a 133 day promise to himself for improvement, he wasn’t sure.

Spence She didn’t much know what to expect to hear from the man, but as he spoke to her, hearing an accusation nearly forming, turning in an instant as it became one of the most heartfelt things he’d ever said to her.  Where both of her hands had been to the back of his neck, attempting to lure him into her, she softened her touch, bringing her hands to either side of his face.  So much had changed between them since the beginning, perhaps the biggest thing of all being the discovery of what would prove to be the truest form of love two people could share for one another.  “John…” she whispered in a tone he’d recognize as it had only passed her lips in this manner a few times in their year and a half together.  Thinking herself too swept away by his words to manage anything more than that, she took a slow moment there before her own feelings on the matter would come forth verbally.  “This life is yours entirely and it isn’t going anywhere,” she reminded him, drawing her lips there to his.  Promising him that he could get comfortable within it as she’d fight to her own death to protect it if need be.  

John As she whispered his name, he could only wonder if she knew to what extent. His days scheduled between sitting outside that house to catch wind of his son going to bed or waking up so he was at least present in a roundabout way. Listening to her, he nodded softly. He trusted her and he trusted that somehow but it would take time. Pressing his lips back to hers as his hands swept her sides. If she knew the true extent of it, she might be shocked. Yet, he was grateful all the same.

Spence Feeling his hands sweep up her sides, she wrapped her arms around his neck, drawing into him completely. Her lips pressed firmly to his, one hand finding the back of his head, cradling him there against her as she sat there on the edge of their bathroom counter.  Drawing back slightly from the kiss, she turned her head to the side, guiding him to the curve of her neck.  “I love you,” she whispered honestly, the emotions attached to the words causing a hard break that stole her all too often.