Epilogue - Daddy's Home

Sunday, September 28th, 2014.

JC slowly and silently turned the key in the lock of the front door. He placed his suitcase by the door and crept into the living room. He pressed his finger to his lips when Ellie saw him, silently shushing her as she wiped their son's face.

"DA!" Jamie exclaimed as he recognised his father, Charley jumping in shock. She turned around to find JC behind her.

"Daddy!" She jumped out of her chair and ran to him, jumping into his arms.

"Baby!" He scooped her off the ground and hoisted her up to his chest. She wrinkled her nose after she kissed him.

"I don't like your beard."

"Why? I like my beard, and Mama likes my beard."

"It's scratchy."

He readjusted her. "I swear, you've gotten bigger. Are you still seven?"

"I'll be eight in 6 days."

"Really? I remember when you were a little baby. Learn anything new at school?"

"Yeah, we learnt how to spell 'joyful.' It means happy."

"How does that go again? J, O, Y...?"

"F, U, L."

He set her down on the floor. "Awesome." He ruffled Jamie's hair as he kissed his wife. "I've fucking missed you," he whispered.

"Well, he'll be down for a nap in a while and if we put her in front of a movie, we'll have around a hour to do whatever you want."

"Awesome."

Ellie closed the door behind her as the strains of the Little Mermaid played downstairs. "He's finally down. He’s really starting to miss you when you leave. It'll kill him when you tour next year." She tugged lightly on JC's flannel shirt. "Is there any chance we could get a little more time before you put the album out?"

He pressed her against the wall. "I mean, it won't be out until next year, but I could delay it until later." He kissed her neck. "We could have another baby; that'll give me an excuse to take awhile off."

"You could have another baby. I'm not pushing out another seven pounds of Chasez ever again."

"You never know."

"You just want an excuse to fuck me."

"Possibly."

He scooped her up into his arms and carried her into their bedroom, placing her on the bed. He pulled her t-shirt up over her head before he took his glasses and shirt off.

"Fuck..." she whispered as he took the rest of his clothes off, biting her lip as she once again saw the man she had married. "I'm going to climb you like a fucking redwood."

He chuckled as he bent down to kiss her, following her as she scooted across the bed. He took off her jeans and undid her bra. They lay for a moment just tenderly kissing, feeling each other's skin for the first time in a few weeks. She gently ran her fingers through his chest hair. "I love you."

"I love you, too." He shifted his weight and settled himself between her legs, slowly caressing her clit with his thumb.

"Mm...yeah," she murmured, arching her back. "That's it, baby, keep going."

He kissed her, watching as she came. "Is that what you wanted?"

"Yeah." She wrapped her arms around his shoulders as he positioned himself before entering her, moaning as he started to slowly thrust. He placed his arms underneath her as he kissed her.

"I don't care what she says. I fucking love your beard."

"Good." He increased the force behind his thrusts, trying his best not to make too much noise. He grunted as he came, collapsing on top of her. "How far into the film is she?"

"I think Ariel's at least mute by now...I hate that movie."

"It's the only movie she'll sit and watch long enough for us to fuck. I've started getting association erections from it."

"We could wait until later on, when she's asleep."

He shifted his weight to his elbows. "Do you really want to wait that long?"

"No."

He withdrew and repositioned them, lightly kissing the stretch marks on her stomach. "Lance asked me to sing at his and Michael's wedding."

She ran her fingers through his hair. "Nice. I heard that Jess might be pregnant."

"She is. She and Justin are really happy about it."

"I can't believe that little shit's going to be a father."

"Yeah. On the subject of little shit becoming father's, Sarah's doing good."

"Great."

He rested his head on her belly, enjoying the feeling of her touching him.

"Oh, I forgot. Happy anniversary,” she said as she curled her fingers through his hair.

He lifted his head. “Which one?"

"We met ten years ago today."

"Damn. Has it really been that long?"

"Yeah, nearly to the exact minute. Remember how we didn't talk for the first few minutes. It felt like an eternity."

"And now you won't shut up."

"You won't either. What were you thinking about back then?”

"How I wanted to die. I was just over everything. What were you thinking about?"

"How much I wanted you to eat me out."

"Seriously? Do you still want that?"

"Not right now, I don't think we have much longer."

He grumbled, "Darn kids."

"You know, I never thought in a million years you would fall for me, let alone marry me and father my children. You've done everything I wished you would have."

"When?"

"That night, when you dropped me back at the hotel. I secretly wanted you to be some kind of romantic hero and wed me and such. Thinking back on it now, I'm completely surprised you did."

"I never gave you that beach wedding, though."

"Doesn't matter. Was I everything you wanted me to be?"

"Yeah, you let me come on your tits that one time."

"Eeeewwww...really?"

"Yep, that and I really wanted to fuck you from behind. I'm surprised I got that one in fourth go."

"We were crazy back then."

"Yeah. We fucked all the fucking time. I feel tired just thinking about it."

"When did we calm down?"

"Probably after Charley was born. We used to fight all the fucking time, too. What do you think happened there?"

"I don't know."

"Do you think we just realised how fucking insignificant every little thing we fought over was?"

"No, I just think that we realised how wrong we were."

"Yeah."

"How much do you love me?"

"As much as every drop of ocean and every grain of sand on Earth. How long will you love me for?"

"Until every star burns out."

"Promise you'll stay with me forever?"

"I promise."