Oreos for Breakfast: Chapter 30

Oreos For Breakfast: Chapter 30
By the Paperbag Princess and Pumpkin Coach

How did people do this every day? I was barely 22 and I couldn't keep up with a three-year-old. Billy laughed, running across the kitchen, and I got up, following him into the living room. Somehow, I was the only responsible adult in the vicinity. I guess it was good that no one was worried that Billy was alone with me, right? Rachel was downstairs with her brothers, getting something out of the wine cellar, and her mom and sisters-in-law were working on dinner. That left me to watch Billy and Ally.

Shit. Where was Ally?

I sucked at this! I was so not ready to be a father. I half-suspected that Rachel had wanted to do dinner with her family just so we could both remember how difficult kids could be.

Billy was moving at the speed of light, heading straight for the trophy case, but my legs were longer. I caught him, swinging him up into my arms and over my shoulder. "Where are you going, Billy?"

"With Ally!"

Oh, jeez. Ally was on the other side of the trophy case, piling books on top of her little Sponge Bob chair. While I watched, she stepped up on the chair, and I grabbed her in my other arm before she went head first into the trophy case. "What are you doing, Miss Ally?"

"I want to see Aunt Rachel's new trophy!"

Of course she did. She didn't like hearing that the Grammy was too heavy for her to lift by herself. It had been delivered this afternoon, and Rachel couldn't wait to get here and put it in the trophy case. Well, it was a book case, really. But it had the boys' football trophies, and awards the wines had won, and now Rachel's AMA and Grammy. Her gold record was on the wall behind me.

It should be an actual trophy case, with a door and a lock, so that little kids couldn't get in there!

"If I get it down for you, will you promise to not try to climb up there to get it yourself?"

She considered me for a moment. "Maybe."

The doorbell rang, saving me. What do you say to 'maybe'? Still holding a kid in each arm, I walked over to the door, making them laugh. "I don't have a free hand, Ally. You get the door."

Giggling, she turned the handle. "James!" she cried.

"Ally!" he cried back. "How are you?"

"No one will let me play with Aunt Rachel's new trophy!"

"That is very mean of everyone in this house. We'll see what we can do about that."

He stepped inside, and I moved back to let him in. "That's a good look on you, Nick."

"What is?"

"Kids in each arm. I hear they're the new accessories for young Hollywood. Can I borrow one?" He took Ally from me, taking her over to the trophy case, where they started discussing Aunt Rachel's newest trophy. Billy wanted to see, too, so I put him down.

Did James know something? Why was he telling me I looked good with the kids?

Because he was James, and that was a James sort of joke. I really had to stop being so paranoid.

"James?" Rachel said, coming in from the kitchen, holding a case of soda. What was she doing? I ran over to her before she could get to James, taking the soda from her.

"Rache," I started to scold her, but she stopped me with a raised eyebrow. Right. No reason she couldn't be carrying a case of soda, besides the fact that… well, even the abortion didn't mean she couldn't handle a case of soda. "James is here," I finished, sounding like a lame-ass.

"I see that. Go take this into the kitchen, would you?"

I did, kicking myself mentally. I shouldn't have reacted like that… but I couldn't help it. I couldn't stop fussing over her. She was sorta doing the same thing back to me, and when we were alone at her place, that was just nice. I fixed her lunch, and she listened to me talk about my fucked-up family for hours. She made me waffles for breakfast, and I listened to her while she talked about the next steps in her career. It had been a really weird few days for us, but it had ended up really great.

I'd never felt this close to her. After my birthday, that closeness was all physical. It was amazing, but this was something completely different. I'd been telling her things about my family and my life that I'd never told anyone. Hell, some of it I hadn't thought about in years. But I wanted Rachel to know it all.

After a couple of days alone, now we were with other people, and I had to remind myself to talk to them, too. I was trying not to seem clingy, but I couldn't help myself. I just wanted to touch her all the time. She wasn't pulling away. When we were in the same room, and not chasing after the kids, she was sitting next to me, holding my hand or wrapping her arm around my waist. So I was pretty sure it wasn't just me.

"What is going on, Rachel?"

I jumped about a mile when I came out of the bathroom and James was lying in wait for me. Damnit. Why had I come upstairs? I could hear everyone else downstairs, getting ready for a game of Trivial Pursuit. But someone else had been in the downstairs bathroom, so I'd come up here. Evidently James had followed me.

I'd seen him giving me odd looks over dinner. I'd probably missed half of them, because I was so wrapped up in Nick that I kept forgetting that anyone else was around. Nick and I were really going to have to un-cling a little. But… I didn't want to. Not yet. We still had a couple of days.

"I had to pee, James. Is that okay?"

Rolling his eyes, he barred me from going downstairs. "Whatever. I meant you and Nick down there."

"What? I know it's been a while since you've seen us together, but…"

"Please, Rachel. It's me. I've been trying to call you for three days and I get no answer. Finally I come here to track you down and I find this."

"Find what, James?" I leaned against the wall across from him. Everyone else was downstairs, right?

He took my left hand, looking at my ring. "I find you and Nick unable to keep you hands off of one another and a very pretty ring on your finger."

Damnit. I was finally okay with wearing the ring Nick had gotten for me. I hadn't expected this. I'd have to wear it on my right hand. But it fit so well on my left…

"Sweetie, if this was an engagement ring, it would be a diamond. And a hell of a lot bigger. He can afford it."

"What is it, then?"

"Just a ring, James. Just something he saw and thought of me. I bought him one months ago, you know. You were with me."

Still holding my hand, James searched my eyes. Shit. I wasn't ready for James yet. That's why I hadn't been answering his calls. He knew me too well.

"Then there's something else. Come on, Rache, I was there when you first got together and you weren't like this."

"Like what?" Were we really that obvious? My family hadn't said anything. We weren't pawing at one another in public. We were just… close.

James shook his head. "He can't let you out of his sight. I don't know what it is, but something is weird."

"We spent nearly a month apart, James. We're just happy to be together."

"Did you fight about something and just make up?"

"No. We didn't fight."

"Did he do something he shouldn't have while we were in Europe?" His tone was angry, and I shook my head, pulling my hand back.

"No. He was working, and he called me ten times every day. Hell, he was staying at your place, James. That place is so freaking cold in the winter, he wouldn't be able to cheat on me."

"Maybe he went somewhere else to get warm. That little shit!"

I stopped him. "James! Nothing happened."

"Okay. Maybe he didn't cheat on you. But something happened."

I sighed. I knew that James wouldn't give up. "Don't tell anyone else, James."

Looking over his shoulder, he pulled me into the nearest room. It was the guest bedroom, and I sat down on the bed, looking up at him. "I thought I was pregnant."

A million emotions crossed James' face and I could read every one: shock, joy, fear, disappointment, and hope. Quickly he composed himself, trying to hide them all, but he couldn't hide the fear in his voice as he spoke. "Thought?"

That's what I thought it would be. This was the wrong time. Not just for me and Nick, but the band. Maybe more importantly for the band. "Thought. I'm not."

He couldn't help a little sigh of relief. But he was James, and he was still worried about me. "You're not or you never were?"

"I'm just not, James. Leave it at that. Nick and I had a couple of weird days this weekend. But I'm okay, and he's been freaking amazing, and we're good. I'm really in love with him right now, and I'm pretty sure that they're going to send a search team after us soon, so we should go back downstairs."

I stood up, but James pulled me into his arms. "He was good?" he whispered, and I nodded against him.

"He was… everything I could have ever hoped for. More."

He kissed the side of my head, but didn't let me go. "You could have called."

"No. I really couldn't have. Don't tell anyone."

"Promise."

I knew he was a little hurt that I hadn't confided in him, but he knew why. And I knew he'd never tell another soul. Not even Nick.

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