Phil's POV

I struggled to balance the groceries and open the front door to the apartment that I shared with my husband, Chris Irvine. "Chris, baby? I'm home!" I called out, not seeing him when I first stumbled inside.

"That's good, baby. I'll start on dinner. Are there any more groceries?" He asked distractedly..

"Yeah." I confirmed, setting the bags on the counter in the kitchen. Chris started to rifle through the absentmindedly. "I'll go get them." I pecked him on the cheek, before heading back out to the car to retrieve the bags from the trunk.

I allowed a small smile to form, reflecting on the irony of luck. Luck is for losers, true, but I'll just go ahead and call myself a hypocrite and say that I am the luckiest man in the world. The reason? Chris Irvine. Chris, the man that treats me with the respect that I deserve, the respect that I crave, and asks for so little in return. And what he asks, well, it isn't much. But I do them, because that is what he asked of me. And respect is mutual, after all.

Carefully, I removed the rest of the grocery bags and balanced them on one arm, before I slammed the trunk closed and started back toward the apartment. When I returned, Chris was sticking a frozen pizza in the oven. He looked so cute, decked out in the fluffy cat apron that he had gotten in Adam's parody of a Pollyanna last year. It couldn't be re-gifted until this December, but I had a feeling that the neko-look was starting to grown on him. It was just a hunch.

I waited until he closed the door to the oven, before I snaked my arms around his waist and pulled him in closer. "You know, I really love it went you where this.." Phil teased, pulling on the strap playfully.

Chris smirked. He tilted his head back, looking into the raven's eyes. "You know, I really love you."

I held his gaze, allowing a half-smile to dance across my face. "Yeah. I kinda love you too."

He swiveled around in my arms, our eyes still locked. Now, I'm not the overly romantic type. I'm not into roses, or candlelight dinners, or things of that nature. Really, I'd much rather take a cue from Kane and settle it all in a down and dirty match in the middle of the squared circle. But life doesn't always conform to our pre-defined rules, now does it? And Chris, well, he brought out the long-dead romantic in me. Especially when he teasingly brushed his lips over mine. That was my undoing.

I was the first to pull back, but not without some minor protesting from Chris. "Well, let's put this shit away. We have frozen stuff and it's probably starting to melt."

The awkward, yet familiar tension hung in the air. It all circled around a conversation of ours that was, as of yet, unfinished. "Alright." Chris said with a shrug, taking off the apron.

I only had the courage to bring it up after half of the groceries were away. "Hey, Chris?"

He turned to me, his bright blue eyes shining in confusion. "Yeah?"

"I want to start a family."

Chris froze, a thousand different emotions flickering across his handsome face. Finally, he said, "Really? You want to have a baby?" I nodded, watching the smile blossom on his face. "Well then, there's something I need to tell you -,"

But I cut him off, "Tell me after dinner. I'm starved."

Grabbing the oven mitts, I pulled the pizza out of the oven and divided it into six pieces. Chris took out the Caesar salad kit and started to work all of the ingredients together into one of our frosted glass bowls. While the pizza cooled, I took down two plates and two sets of silverware, before I started to set the table. I set Chris' can of Coca-Cola at his seat, before setting my bottle of Pepsi near mine. At that moment, Chris brought in the salad and the pizza.

Dinner was rather uneventful. I could feel the excitement building within me, because I wanted to know what he had to say in regards to the 'baby situation'. We had talked about it once or twice before, but had never seriously considered starting a family. Really, all of the conversations had happened early on in our relationship. We were still testing the waters, and the questions were more 'do you want kids?' than 'do you want to start a family with me?'

Once we had finished, Chris cleared the table. Then, he turned to me. "You wanna watch some TV?"

I nodded distractedly, not really interested in watching television. I wanted to know what it was he had to tell me. Without much care for the couch's aging springs, I plopped down onto it. Chris only shook his head, taking the blanket off the back and handing it to me, curling into my side and entrusting me to keep us both warm. He made a move to turn on the television, but I stopped him, removing the remote from his hand and holding it high above his head.