Chapter 1

The car ride home, April spent making funny faces for Harriet, gushing some high-pitched sounds for her. She touched her feet, played with her little fingers and bumped her nose against her daughter's. By the sounds Harriet made, April knew Harriet was just as happy to have her mother back as April was to be back with her. Reuniting with one's mother was always the best for a little kid like Harriet.

And maybe it was even happy for more grown-up kids as well, April mused when she noticed the glances Jackson shot back over his shoulder, not to check on Harriet, but to look for Catherine. April tried to make a sense out of their looks, but neither Jackson nor Catherine would meet her gaze.

When Catherine leaned forward to brush her hand over Jackson's shoulder and he held her hand there for a moment, squeezing, April figured he must have told Catherine about his encounter with his father. They usually weren't this intimate with each other, especially in the last weeks, which had put pressure upon all of them.

Most of the pressure had been released when leaving Montana, but being back in Seattle was a whole other situation. Back to reality, and maybe Montana was just a dream, a bad dream, which Jackson would want to forget about. His father had upset him quite a bit, and maybe it was best to think that it had never happened. Maybe all of Montana never happened, but April was getting ahead of herself, jumping to conclusions, which might turn out wrong.

Back home, they put all their attention on Harriet, playing with her, feeding her, bathing her. Their whole world revolved around her and they were happy to be full-time parents after the days without her in Montana. They way they avoided to have a proper conversation about the things, which had happened in those days in Montana. April had no clue what the events of Montana meant. Were they together now? Or were they over for good and was Montana just their final goodbye?

Jackson seemed occupied with his father and the case; they had no had a chance to discuss what it meant to their relationship. April gave Jackson space and time to process all of that; she would not push him and risk the chance of pushing him away, even though another shot together was something he might deep down wanted more than a break-up for good.

To her it was crystal clear; she wanted him. More than just for sex, more than just as her daughter's father, and more than just a friend. She wanted all of him. She loved him; she had never stopped, not once. He was it to her, but she was afraid if she told him that he would snap after the emotional roller coaster with his father.

He had been distracted and preoccupied with it and discussing their future together needed his undivided attention and should not be decided on a whim. If he needed more time, she would be willing to wait a little longer and give him the time he needed. Waiting was not a problem for her; she would be in his life forever anyway because they had a daughter together. Seeing each other was inevitable.

When it was time to get Harriet for bed, none of them wanted to step back. They were eager to care for Harriet, even though it was ridiculous when two people performed a task, which could be done easily by one. Most of the time they were in the other's way. April tried not to read too much into his hand brushing her wrist or his hip bumping into hers. She told herself that this touches were friendly and meant nothing more. They happened by accident and the smile on Jackson's face was because of Harriet and not because he enjoyed the easy banter with April, arguing if Harriet should wear her PJ's with the puppies or the little ducklings on it.

After taking Harriet to bed and making she was asleep, they sat in the living room; the baby monitor was sitting on the coffee table in front of the couch. The TV was on, but neither April nor Jackson was paying attention to the program that was on. They had eaten and exhaustion of the last days took over. Even though, they had traveled on a private plane they were tired from the travel from Montana.

Just like all afternoon and evening, they would not speak about what should be discussed and was sitting like a big elephant in the room, but April refrained from pushing to talk about it. She decided she could not longer take the silence anymore; she exhaled deeply and called it a night, getting up and jerking her head towards the hallway. "I will go to my room and sleep," she said, smiling warily at him.

Jackson looked up at her, his Adam's apple wobbled, but no words left his lips. So, April added quickly, "Shall I take the first Harriet shift?"

In response, Jackson shook his head, indicating that he would take care of their daughter, and April figured he needed to be there for Harriet since he had doubted he was a good father. He needed to prove it to himself that he was capable of doing so.

"OK. Good night then," April said softly, and made her way to her bedroom, glancing back at Jackson, who had his legs propped up on the couch and smacked a fist on his knee up and down. By that, April knew that something was bothering him. She could not leave him like this alone; no one should be alone if something was not right for him or her.

"Are you OK? I can stay with you a little while longer if you want," April said hesitantly. She could not bear the thought of him sitting there all alone by himself; dwelling on whatever thought was on his mind.

"No, it's fine. Go to bed." Jackson turned his head over his shoulder to meet her gaze.

The smile, which should reassure her of his words, did not convince April, who said, "Jackson, I'm worried about you. You should not be alone now."

"It's alright, April," Jackson argued, sitting a little straighter. He had stopped bumping the fist up and down.

However, April did not believe any word he was speaking, taking a step closer to the couch, adding emphasis on the words she spoke, "I'm here for you. We can talk about it."

For a few moments, Jackson did not respond anything to that, taking the words in. She could tell he was debating something, going back and forth with arguments and reasons because there was this thin line between his eyebrows when he thought about something hard. His face relaxed when he finally said, "Go to our room. I'll be there in a bit."

April's mouth dropped open to his reply. She was not sure if she understood him correctly. "Our room?"

"You think I will let you go back to your room after what happened in Montana? That would not make any sense." Jackson smiled at her, tilting his head.

"I didn't think anything," April argued, a deep frown forming on her face, shaking her head in disbelief. In a perfect world, yes, she had thought about them spending the night together in one bed, getting their relationship back on track, but she would never admit that to him.

"Stop lying," Jackson said. He knew her better than that, her attempts of keeping her thoughts a secret were useless. He further added, "Make yourself comfortable in our room and I'll clear things up here, and then we'll talk."

"OK," April answered, not sure how to make sense out of his behavior. She bit her lip, watching him as he got up to fetch the plates on the coffee table when he noticed her still standing there, he said, "April, I'm serious, go!"

April did indeed go, but not in the direction of Jackson's bedroom, which she could start calling their bedroom again, but she made her way to him, her hands reaching out to frame his face and she placed a gentle soft kiss against his lips. Jackson responded to the kiss after a second. She rested her forehead against his when she pulled away from the kiss. She whispered, "Just keep in mind that I love you. With all that is happening around you, please, remember that you've got me."

Then, they heard some sounds from the baby monitor, which made April chuckle. She added, "And Harriet. You've got us."

She let go of him and took the baby monitor in her hands, listening to the sounds Harriet was making. She tried to figure out what kind of whimper it was.

"Check on Harriet and I'll take care of the rest," Jackson told her, jerking his head in the hallway's direction.

But April shook her head, reaching for his hand to place the baby monitor in it. "No, you should check on Harriet."

"April." Jackson sighed, meeting her gaze.

"No discussion about it, " she said and patted his chest with her index finger. "Go look out for our daughter," she demanded, and Jackson obeyed her, brushing his hand over her upper arm as he passed to check on Harriet just like April instructed. He could not wait to finally be in their bedroom again, having April nestled against his side, and drifting off to a peaceful sleep. Too much had happened in the last days and he could really use the peace.


I hope you enjoyed the first chapter of this little story. I will try to update daily, since the story will only have a total of five chapters. Let me know what you think so far. (: