Erik

Erik woke up in the break of dawn and groaned as quietly as he could, not wanting to wake his wife up. It was a rather cold day, and he had to muster up his courage to yank the blankets off of him.

His body was already used to the routine of getting up at such time every day, which meant he didn't need an alarm clock anymore. It allowed Magda to sleep in a little longer, until she had to get up and prepare their daughter Nina, to go to primary school.

He lifted himself up from bed, cracking his joints as he stretched his body on the tip of his toes. Opening his wardrobe, he grabbed his dull grey jumpsuit and went to take a quick shower.

Coming out from the steamy bathroom, he had skipped shaving and gotten dressed up. His hair was still a little wet, some droplets of water falling inside his clothes and making him shiver from the cold.

Erik made himself coffee, trying to warm up, and left some for his wife before putting his black shoes on and brushing his teeth.

He made his way towards Nina's bedroom to check up on her. Only a bundle of hazelnut hair was visible, coming from beneath the covers. It made him smile softly, and wish he could come home earlier to spend more time playing with her.

When he went back to his room to pick his yellow helmet, Magda was just sitting up in bed, her hair a mess from the pillows, a yawn forming on her lips.

"Good morning", he said to her and she opened her eyes lazily before answering "Morning", and getting up from the bed. She walked over to him and pecked Erik on the cheek before closing herself in the bathroom.

Back in the day, when they had just gotten married, they couldn't keep their hands off of each other. Erik had never been too fervent as a lover. Never driven by passion and complete despair to be close to the other person but he knew about desire, and they had it back then.

Now, after eight years of marriage, he could safely say they had fallen in a routine, being too used to each other and taking the other's presence granted. A heated makeout session in the morning, had turned to a peck on the cheek, because they simply didn't have the time anymore.

He shook his head, chasing those thoughts away and checked the time on his cellphone. He still had a few minutes to spare before having to leave for the factory where he would have to operate machines for the rest of the day, the same thing he had done for the last six years.

His work wasn't something he loved, but he also didn't hate it. It had come from a need to provide for his newborn daughter, and it brought home good money so he had been thankful for it, and done his very best every single day, earning himself respect from his coworkers and trust from the people above him, who would give Erik some privileges now and then.

He waited patiently for his wife to come out of the bathroom, and when she did, he looked at her with a somehow weird expression on his face. Erik wasn't the warmest person on the world, and he wasn't one to talk about feelings or making romantic gestures. How Magda had married him, it was something he could never answer.

"What do you have planned for today?", he asked because one of them had to.

It was now an habit, for one of them to come up with things to talk about and try to keep their marriage together through shallow conversations.

Magda

"I'm having my yoga classes after I bring Nina over to Janine. Gonna pick her up from school today", Magda answered and went to the wardrobe to get some fresh clothes. There was no time for showering anymore, but that was alright - she'd just shower before yoga classes.

"Are you gonna meet Francesca afterwards?", she heard her husband ask as she pulled her shirt over her head. She was turned away from Erik, as if ashamed to strip in front of him.

"Not sure yet. Will you pick Nina from her friend up after work? Then I will go", Magda answered and got rid of her other clothes.

For a moment, she found herself desiring to feel Erik's hands on her naked body, caressing her skin and calling her beautiful again - just like he had been doing so often back in the days.

But when Erik answered her, his voice was still coming from the same distance and she hurried to put on her daily clothes.

"I'm gonna wake Nina then before I go", she heard him saying just as she turned around to face her husband again.

He still looked the same as all those years ago - a bit more of his beard, but that was it. But Magda knew that the work at the factory had changed him. The skin on his fingers was rougher and made her shiver, when he touched her. He got small wrinkles around his eyes and his arms had grown stronger with the years. Erik was still so stunning, it sometimes stole her breath when she looked at him.

"Alright. Have fun", she answered and got closer, tugging at Erik's clothes a little and going on her tiptoes to place a small peck on his mouth. "Love you."

"Love you too", Erik answered and they parted again, before he walked into Nina's room.

Magda sighed and went into the kitchen, only noticing the coffee Erik had left her halfway through brewing her own one.

Erik might have still looked the same, but he wasn't the man she married all those years ago anymore. He was cold and closed off most of the time. Only on good days, Magda would recognize her husband underneath the stone figure that was his body. He would crack a joke then or hold her hand, making her feel loved.

Those days were rare.

"I'm going now. Goodbye", she heard him shout through the house and no two minutes later, an energy ball in form of their daughter jumped into the kitchen. Magda only heard the click of the door falling into its frame, signalising that Erik left, before Nina demanded food.

Erik

Erik made his way to the closest bus stop and waited until the right one had arrived. They owned an old car, but he liked Magda to use it so she could drive Nina around, and go to her appointments without having to worry about anything else.

He got inside the public transport and found somewhere to sit - which wasn't a normal occurrence.

The bus quickly started to fill up, until in one stop an old woman came in, and there was no place for her. Erik quickly scrambled to his feet and offered her to take his sit. She had a sweet smile and called him a gentleman, before sitting down.

It was a forty minutes ride to get to the factory that was divided between two buses, and when Erik got to his destination he was always already a little worn out.

This day was no different, but he put on the same facade he used every time and walked inside the right establishment. The whole place was a huge industrial site, with a bunch of different buildings that had each its own purpose.

Erik's was particularly the most boring one, where they would make concrete the whole freaking day. It was his job to pull and push heavy machines around, and supervise if the others were doing things right - which always ended in him having to do it himself.

Each day he went back home with sore muscles and headaches, and that was one of the main reasons he and Magda had grown a little apart. It was his fault, really, but he wanted to get home and lay down, when she wanted to talk or ask him to do some chores. Marriages were difficult, but he loved his wife, so he stuck around and tried to the best of his abilities to not let it all fall apart.

Hours later, he found himself walking once again to the bus stop alone. He had just enough time to go home and take yet another shower, before walking to Janine's place where he would pick Nina up. The walk wasn't a long one, and he honestly didn't mind a little physical activity. His daughter did though, which was why he always ended up carrying her and listening to her adorable chatter. Erik smiled warmingly, excited to go and pick her up already.

After his shower he got dressed up on dark jeans, a grey converse, his favorite red plaid shirt and a black jacket before he left his house, frictioning his hands together to fight the cold.

He ringed the doorbell and was greeted politely by... he honestly couldn't remember the man's name, before his daughter came running towards him, tackling his legs.

"Daddy!", she exclaimed and Erik bent down to pick her up, with a sunny smile on his face. Not everyone saw that smile, but she deserved it the most.

"How was your day, cupcake?", he asked and she giggled at the silly nickname. "It was great! I had lots of fun" - "Good. Did you say goodbye to your friend and thanked her parents?", he asked and she nodded.

"Great, let's go home then", he placed her on the ground so she could walk the first half, and they held hands while Nina told him all about her day; what she had done at school and her friend's house. Erik listened closely and commented on every little bit he could, making his little princess smile.

Once they got to their home, he started cooking dinner, - one of his chores when Magda was out - asking for Nina's assistance in picking up the right condiments and throwing pinches of salt on their soup. He loved his moments with his daughter because they always reminded him of how good it was to have a family, and what the whole purpose of his life was.

When Magda came back home, he was just setting the table, and in one of his good moods.

Magda

Yoga had been relaxing and the coffee with Francesca afterwards was pleasant. Magda talked about everything with her best friend, getting the same information from her back. She was the only person, Magda could talk free about her marriage and all the problems with Erik. Francesca always reassured her that marriages get like that and they should have more fun in bed to spice things up. Well, easier said than done. She'd had to get her husband into bed first.

It was only once - a very long night full of margaritas - that Francesca had told her to leave Erik. But she couldn't do that. She still loved her husband, not even talking about Nina. It was alright though, couples always went through phases like this and, somehow, Erik and her would sort it out eventually.

When she came back, the smell of dinner filled her nose, so she quickly put her shoes and jacket off before going into the living room.

"I'm home", she smiled and saw Erik setting the table. Nina jumped up on her, until she carried her on her arms and kissed her cheek.

"Mama! I cooked dinner with papa", her daughter beamed at her and looked at Erik then. He just turned around and walked towards them, a smile on his lips.

He leaned in and pecked Magda's lips, before taking Nina out of her hands.

"That's right. But let's wash our hands first, before we eat dinner, alright?", he said, walking into the kitchen.

Dinner was normal. They all talked about their days, Nina mostly asking them lots of questions about phrases or words she didn't understand. Erik usually explained them in a calm voice, while Magda watched her husband interacting with their daughter.

After dinner, it was time to shower for Nina and Magda helped her with that, before Erik took her and went on with the daily routine of getting her to bed. Magda watched them, leaning against the frame of the door, as Erik sang a gentle lullaby to Nina.

She had noticed that Erik was in a good mood and made plans to act on it later.

It took Nina ten minutes to fall asleep and they closed the door behind themselves, when they left the room.

"Do you want to watch some TV in bed?", Magda suggested to which Erik agreed.

They settled into bed after changing into more comfortable clothes and turned on the TV. It was a small one, so they usually preferred to watch in the living room, but Magda had plans. When the news where over and a cheap movie started playing, she got closer to her husband and started kissing his jawline. Her hand caressed his chest and wandering underneath the hem of his shirt afterwards.

"Haven't had time for ourselves in ages, have we?", she asked, her tone aiming to seduce.

Erik

Erik closed his eyes and let the sensations run over his body, the words leaving Magda's mouth making the desire flame inside him.

They indeed hadn't had much time for each other in a long time, and he would be lying if he said he didn't miss having sex.

He turned his head to catch her lips in a kiss and soon found himself lying on top of her, their bodies pressed together as they kissed.

It was more straight to the point when compared to how they did it before, but it was still good. They both knew each other perfectly, aiming on the spots that were right to rip some moans out of their throats.

Erik wasn't talkative in bed, which was why after a while Magda had given up on dirty talking, and only the sounds of their ragged breaths, muffled moans and bodies slapping against each other filled the room as they had sex.

On the aftermath, Magda was curled on his side, her head resting on Erik's shoulder and sleeping soundly with a little smile on her lips.

Erik felt happy for their small connection there, it made him hopeful that things would go back on track anytime now. He didn't want to give his marriage up.

But he missed making love. Not just the sex they had just had. He missed worshipping someone's body and being looked at like he was more than desired.

And he also missed fucking. The raw, almost angry feeling of thrusting into someone and gripping it's hips forcefully, leaving the marks of his fingers there. Of course he hadn't done that one in years now. Magda wasn't fond of being marked or the rough stuff. In fact, Erik had only gotten that with other men.

He sighed and closed his eyes wanting to sleep and not dwell on those kind of thoughts. Magda and he would find their ways back to each other soon and he knew that, - they genuinely loved each other.

On the course of the next days, Erik's good humour didn't stick. They had a complication at work, which made them throw away tons of concrete and start all over again, getting behind on schedule and losing a lot of money.

It hadn't been Erik's fault, but he worked to fix it like it was, which meant that he went back home feeling like shit.

Magda started nagging at him about being late for dinner for a few nights, and also asking him to shave his beard off, - she didn't like the scraping feeling it gave her when they kissed, and much less the beard burns that lingered afterwards - but Erik was even too tired to shave.

He used all his free time when he got home to be with Nina before it was time for her to sleep, and then he would sink as deep as he could on his mattress and try to get some rest before he had to do it all over again.

The flicker of hope he had seen the other day when he and Magda were close again, was starting to fade away and he did promise himself to try and get it back as soon as he didn't feel so beaten.

She laid next to him in silence and Erik felt bad not for the first time. He reached over and held her hand.

'I'm so tired', he said. His eyes were closed and he heard the sound of the sheet ruffling as she moved.

'I know', came the understanding answer and Erik squeezed her hand.

He didn't know how to use his words, but Magda always found a way to get what he meant. He had told her he was tired, and hoped she understood the words hidden behind it; ' Don't give up on us yet'.

Charles

"Moira? Can you please look after Hannah? She's been crying for 3 minutes now", Charles shouted through the house, exaggerating with the time of their younger child crying. It honestly felt like three minutes.

He was drowning in work, sitting in his small office at home. Running a flower shop on his own had been a great idea, it really had been - but having to do all the financial things for his shop until very late in the night, he never liked. It always needed to be done at the end of the month, so he was sitting here now - the damped light of his desk lamp illuminating tons of papers with billions of numbers on them.

Moira knew not to disturb him, when he was in his office, they had their fare share of fights about it. She must have already put David to bed and Charles didn't get, why she would let Hannah cry for so long?

With a frustrated sigh, after pinching his nose several time, he got up and walked out of his office to look for their three-year-old. Hannah was lying in her bed, crying and screaming and sobbing.

"Hey, hey shhh. What's wrong baby girl?", he asked and picked her up. That's when he felt it, the warm wetness soaking Hannah's pants and now also his shirt.

"Jesus!", he said, not even trying to hold her away from his body anymore. Hannah was still sobbing in his arm, but the realisation that one of her parents came for help, made her calm down immediately.

Charles heard the shower turning off and quickly walked over to the drawer with Hannah's clothes in it, grabbing a new pair of underwear and pants.

"Is wet, daddy", his daughter hiccuped and her tiny fists grabbed his shirt by the collar.

"I know, baby girl. We're just waiting for mummy to go out of the bathroom, okay?", he asked and as if that was the cue for Moira, she opened the door and looked at them confused. The bathroom was right across from Hannah's room and she normally made it to the toilet in time now, but if the circumstances weren't right - like Moira showering when she needed to pee - she was still not being able to hold on for long.

"Did she?" - "Yeah", Charles answered and went into the bathroom to sit Hannah on the counter. He quickly removed her pants and took a washing cloth to wet it and clean her up.

"That's alright, Princess. You're gonna be dry and clean in no time", he talked to her while drying her up with a towel. The tears had stopped for now and Charles wanted to dress her up again, but Hannah grabbed her clothes.

"I want!", she said determined and Charles lifted her from the counter, so she could dress herself again.

When she was done, he let her walk to Moira who was standing in the doorframe and watched them.

Then he went to have a quick shower, before walking out of the room with just a towel around his hips, not having any clothes to change into in the bathroom.

He found Moira in their bedroom.

Moira

Moira smiled when her husband walked inside their room wearing nothing but a towel. Her breath caught in her throat and she unconsciously licked her lips.

'Come to bed, baby', she said, her voice sounding honey-like, as she let one strap of her top fall from her shoulder and looked at him through her eyelashes.

Charles looked at her with an apologetic expression and said 'I can't, I need to finish the finances' walking towards their wardrobe and putting sweatpants.

Moira sighed and laid down in bed. Charles was a hard, methodic worker who barely postponed any of his tasks, which was something she always loved and admired about him.

She laid down on her side and watched him dry his hair with the white towel, her mouth watering in the process.

'At least kiss your wife goodnight then', she said understanding and won a dashing smile.

'Of course', Charles said warmly and walked over to bed, crouching down next to Moira, and pecking her sweetly on the lips. When she opened her eyes, Charles' blue ones pierced through her soul, like they always did, and she pulled him for another kiss, deepening it this time.

'I can't tonight, sweetie', he said getting up from the floor and caressing her hair making her roll her eyes.

After Charles left she fell asleep quickly, being worn out from their two children.

Since she had to take David to primary school and drop Hannah at the daycare, Moira woke up early, and to her surprise, alone.

Before starting her daily bathroom routine or cooking breakfast, she went straight to Charles' office, ready to scold him if he had spent the night awake working, but she found him with his head fallen on top of a paper pile, soundly asleep.

'Baby?', she called getting closer and messing his hair with her hand.

He jerked awake and looked around confused for a second, before rubbing his eyes.

'You fell asleep. C'mon, go take a shower while I make you some coffee', she said kissing his cheek and helping him to his feet.

'Thanks. And I'm sorry I fell asleep over here, sweetie', he said honestly, making Moira smile and nod before leaving the office she rarely entered.

Charles

Charles walked into the bathroom, scratching his beard. He felt tired and drained, his bones aching from the uncomfortable position overnight. Stepping into the shower, he put it hotter than usual, wanting to relax his muscles a bit, before he had to go to the flower shop and stand almost the whole day.

When he stepped out of the shower, his wet hair was dripping on his shoulders, but he dried his body first, wrapping it around his head afterwards. He looked into the mirror and saw dark circles underneath his eyes, as he brushed his teeth. His beard needed a bit of trimming too, but he didn't have time for that now.

In the kitchen, David was already eating his cereals, babbling about his new soccer friend. Moira was just putting Hannah into her chair, when Charles entered the room.

"Good morning", he said, walking towards the coffee machine to get him some useful energy for the day. Moira came closer and kissed his cheek.

"Your hair is still wet", she commented, reaching over him to get a mug for Hannah.

"Don't have time for that", he answered, taking a sip of his coffee and kissing David on his head, getting a "why dad?" out of his son. He chuckled a little at that.
"Can you drive David to school? I have a meeting early", his wife asked and Charles looked at the watch around his wrist to check the time.

"Okay, David hurry up then. I need to open in half an hour", he said and his son jumped off the chair to run into his room.

Charles decided it was too cold to just walk around in jeans and a grey shirt, so he got a cardigan from the bedroom, before he put on his shoes. He put a sandwich, Moira had made him, into his little bag and called for his son, needing to leave now.

David came running towards him, with his little school bag, exclaiming that he was ready. Moira walked up to them, giving Charles a lingering kiss on his lips, while messing up David's hair.
"See you later", she smiled and Charles nodded.

When they arrived at David's school, Charles got out of the car and went to the trunk, getting his son's school bag. He put it on David's shoulders, when somebody almost ran into him from behind.

"Whoa, watch out there, pal!", Charles called loudly after the slightly taller man with a little girl on his left hand. He turned around briefly and made an apologising gesture, but Charles was already turning back to his son.

"Your aunt will pick you up after school, so don't go with anybody else except for her, okay?" - "Yes, dad." - "Have fun, I love you." Charles smiled and messed David's hair up a little more, before he let his son walk into the large building.

Then he went back into the car and drove to work, opening the shop ten minutes late, but thinking that his son was worth it.