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Chapter 6: Crush

~Matt~

I woke up with my wife in my arms. She was so beautiful when she slept. I kissed her forehead and she didn't even stir. I heard Aven crying and decided to get her ready before she woke Naama. Naama had been doing a lot of getting her ready in the morning. I figured it was my turn.

I quietly slipped out of bed and put a fresh pair of boxers and a T-shirt on, then headed to the nursery.

Aven smiled at me when she saw me, and I smiled back.

"Good morning! Did you sleep well?" I picked her up and brought her to the changing table, quickly changing her and getting her ready for the day.

I carried her into the kitchen and got her breakfast ready, then set her in her high chair and fed her. I enjoyed my time alone with her sometimes. It gave her and I a chance to talk.

"Are you ready to go to work with me today? It's the last day of work for both mommy and I since Christmas is coming up. That's the holiday we use the big tree for," I said to her with a smile. I pointed out to where the tree was standing proud, all decorated with lights and ornaments in the living room.

Aven smiled, and I laughed. "You like Christmas already, don't you? Because you know that most of those presents under the tree are for you!"

"Well, maybe I could keep the presents for you under there if you'd quit trying to peak!" Naama said, coming into the room in a pink night gown she had gotten as a birthday present from her best friend earlier in the year.

I smiled. "Who, me? Sneak a peak? It's Aven. She frames me."

Naama crossed her arms over her chest and rolled her eyes. "Yeah, right."

I stood up and wrapped my arms around her before kissing her sweetly. "Good morning, honey. Did you sleep well?"

She grinned. "Mm, thanks to you. You wore me out last night."

I blushed, but grinned as well. "Well, what can I say? You make me insatiable."

We kissed, and then she broke the kiss and smiled at our daughter. "We only have a short time before we can no longer talk like that in front of her."

I covered my ears. "Don't say it! She's going to be like Peter Pan and never grow up!"

Naama smirked. "Tell her that in thirteen years." She kissed me again. "Thank you for getting her ready.

I rubbed her back and kissed her yet again. "I figured it was my turn. Besides, Aven and I like our time together. Right Ave?" I asked, turning to our daughter.

She smiled again, and Naama and I both laughed.

An hour later, I was showered, dressed, and ready to go out the door with Aven in tow.

"I'm glad it's your last day before the holiday break. I can know you're Kelly free for two weeks if nothing else," Naama said with a sigh after I gave her a kiss goodbye.

A smirked at her. "Come on now. You're not still concerned about Kelly are you? I told you, you have nothing to worry about." I placed my hand overtop of her shoulder. "Don't you trust me?"

She sighed. "Of course I trust you, Matthew. It's her I don't trust. She likes you in a romantic way. I know she does."

I smirked. "She does not! Trust me—she doesn't think of me as anything more than a friend anymore than I think of her as more than a friend."

She sighed. "If you say so."

I kissed her. "Don't worry. You're the only woman for me."

She smiled at this and gently stroked my cheek. "I believe you. You're the only man for me too."

I smiled and stroked her cheek as well before kissing her again. "I better be!"

We grinned at each other, then, after she gave me one more kiss goodbye as well as Aven one, I headed off to work with my daughter in tow.

So I hadn't been completely honest with my wife. So I had some feelings for Kelly. I wasn't going to act on them. I guess I had already done more than I should have by kissing her, but that was going to end. She just had a crush on me. I was sure it was just harmless flirting. Once I stopped allowing it, she'd back off. I was sure of it.

Naama was such a wonderful wife. I didn't want her to have any worries in her mind at all about Kelly and I.

So, it was settled. Starting today I would no longer flirt with Kelly or allow her to flirt with me. I was sure it wouldn't be a problem. At least, I hoped it wouldn't be.

~Kelly~

I was so happy to see Matt, but sad at the same time, for it would be two weeks I'd have to go without him. I figured maybe we could have another play date with the kids over break. That way, I wouldn't have to go so long without him.

I knew I sounded pathetic. I always used to think women and girls were weak when they couldn't go two hours before crying that they missed their boyfriend or husband. Now, here I was complaining about having to go without a man that wasn't even mine. Yet. Though, in my defense, it was two weeks I'd have to go without him—not two hours.

When lunchtime arrived, I decided to see if Matt wanted to have lunch together. I would ask him then if he wanted to hang out.

"Hey," I said with a grin. "Do you want to get lunch? I was thinking about going to The Olive Garden."

He hesitated for a moment. "I don't think we'd have time to eat at a place like that. Sometimes they make you wait before you even get a table."

"Well, I'm up for somewhere quicker like a deli. You can pick. I'm good with anywhere. Just so long as the food's not completely fattening." I winked.

He sighed. "Well, I suppose. Let's just go to the deli down the street.

I nodded. "All right." I was a little put off. He was usually all for going out for lunch together. Now he seemed hesitant. "Just let me grab the kids."

He nodded, and followed me. Blake and Penn were watching all three kids, bless their hearts.

"Hey guys, do you want to join Kelly and me at the deli? We're going to get a quick lunch," Matt asked them once we got to them. He picked his daughter up and began bundling her up.

My heart sank. I loved Blake and Penn. They were great kids, but I hadn't exactly had other people in mind when I asked Matt to join me.

Thankfully, they politely turned him down.

"Actually, I wanted to run my lines with Taylor. We just ordered some lunch in," Penn said.

Blake nodded. "And I brought my own lunch. I don't feel like going back out into that cold anymore than I have to. But thanks for the invite!"

I smiled. "Maybe next time."

Matt looked a little disappointed, but I hoped that I was just being paranoid and reading him wrong.

Once we and the kids were all bundled up, we headed to the deli, and were there and seated with our order in under twenty minutes.

"So, are you and Naama doing anything special for Christmas?" I asked.

He shook head. "Both our families are coming up this year. They're staying at a hotel, but Naama's mother and my mother will be cooking a big Christmas dinner together in the kitchen. So I'm going to stay as far away from the kitchen as necessary. It will be good to see the family though. I feel I don't get to see them enough. How about you? Are you going back to LA for Christmas?"

"Yes. Daniel will have a cow if he doesn't get to see the kids on Christmas. I wanted to have a nice Christmas in the city, but he's being a donkey, so I have no choice. My family is in LA anyway. I just thought it might be nice to fly them out here," I said.

He raised an eyebrow. "A donkey?"

I smirked. "I can't use the other name for a donkey around my kids."

"You mean ass?" Hermés asked just then.

Matt nearly spit out his soda. He quickly covered his mouth with his hand.

My mouth dropped open. I turned to face my son. "Where did you learn that word?"

Hermés grinned. "I heard in school that an ass is what they call donkeys. It was in a Christmas song we sang."

I smiled. "Oh. Well, yes, but it's better to call then donkeys now."

"Why?" Hermés pressed.

I didn't know what to say.

Thankfully, Matthew spoke for me. "Old people call donkeys the other word because, in older times, that is what they were called. But you're young and cool, so you don't want to sound like an old fogey do you?"

Hermés crinkled his nose. "No way!"

Matt and I both chuckled.

I smiled at Matt. "Thank you."

He winked, and smiled back. "No problem."

Lunch went well after the ass incident, and I was feeling confidant again by the time we were back to the studio.

When we got to a kissing scene, I felt comfortable in kissing him properly. I always hated that we had to just 'move our mouths together' as Blake sometimes put it. I let my tongue in his mouth, and was happy when I found his in mine.

The kiss only lasted for a few seconds before the director called cut. I also hated how short the kisses were becoming.

"That's a wrap!" the director called. "Great job guys. All of you. I'm going to miss you over the holidays."

"We're going to miss you too!" Blake said, giving him a hug.

I smiled. I was going to miss them all too. It wasn't just the cast we grew close to. Our crew was like family too.

"Well, it's not over yet. It's time to party!" Penn said.

Blake Taylor, and Leighton all cheered. We were having a Christmas party in the studio complete with gift exchange. To save our budgets, we had all picked a name. It would be too much to get everyone something.

I had gotten Ed's name, so I chose a new bright blue dress shirt that I thought would bring out the brown of his eyes. I also got him monogramed, silver cuff links. One had the initials E.W. for his real name and the other one had C.B. for Chuck Bass. He loved both the shirt and cuff links, and I got the biggest hug from him. We always joked how he was my son since Lily had adopted him on the show, so I signed the card, "Love Your second mom." He got a kick of out that.

Blake had gotten my name, and she got me the cutest pair of black and red Christian Louboutin pumps. I absolutely adored them, and gave her one of those big hugs like the one Ed had given me.

"I'm so glad you like them!" Blake said.

"Are you kidding me? They're the best!" I said.

She grinned.

Penn called Blake over, and she politely excused herself.

I then went looking for Matthew. Even though I hadn't picked his name, I had still bought him something that I wanted to give him. Besides, I had forgotten to ask him about getting together before I left for LA, and I definitely had to do that!

I smiled at the wrapped gift in my hand. I knew Matthew was going to love it. I could hardly wait to see him open it!

~Matthew~

I had gotten Kelly a gift, but now was thinking twice about giving it to her. I didn't want her to get the wrong idea. Maybe Naama had been right. Maybe Kelly's crush on me was bigger than I had originally thought.

The thing that was getting me was, why did I kiss her back when she kissed me during our scene? That hadn't been a normal scene kiss. She was practically making out with me on set. I was surprised nobody else seemed to pick up on it. I was so surprised I guess I just kissed her back out of not knowing what else to do. At least, that is what I told myself.

I sighed. Naama's face instantly appeared in my mind, and I felt horrible. How dare I kiss Kelly back! Did I not just vow this morning to stop allowing this flirtation to continue?

"Hey you."

I nearly jumped at Kelly's voice. I hadn't seen her come over.

"Merry Christmas early. I know we didn't have each other's name, but I couldn't help but buy you something anyway." She handed me a small wrapped package.

I smiled, and instantly handed her her gift. "I couldn't go without buying you something either."

She grinned, and I wanted to kick myself. Of course she was going to take this the wrong way.

"It's from Naama and Aven too," I quickly added to try to make it seem less romantic. I instantly felt guilty after adding on their names. Since when did I feel uncomfortable with Kelly? Kelly was my friend. I didn't need to feel weird around her. She didn't mean anything by the kiss. We all agreed the way they have you kiss on the show is lame. She is an actress. She was probably just perfecting her art.

"Let's open them at the same time," she said with a grin.

I grinned too. "All right."

"Go!" She said.

We both unwrapped our gifts at the same time, and I was shocked when I saw she had gotten me a black and silver bracelet from Tiffany & Co.. It had my name engraved on it. I looked up at her and blushed. "Woah, Kel, thanks, but this is too much."

"Don't you like it?" she asked, looking a little hurt.

I instantly felt bad for hurting her. "No! I mean Yes! I love it! It's just a lot of money, Kel. I feel bad now. I didn't spend nearly as much on you."

"Well, it's monogramed, so you cant take it back," she said with a smirk. She took it from me, then took my right wrist and latched the bracelet onto it. "Besides, I absolutely love what you gave me! I don't care if you didn't spend as much on me as I spent on you. This is perfect! Thank you so much!" She hugged me tightly, and kissed my lips quickly.

I winced. At least there was no tongue involved this time. I quickly recovered, and put on a smile. "Well, I'm glad you like it!" I had gotten her a white cashmere sweater. Macy's had a sale on them. It was buy one get one half off so I got one for my wife and one for Kelly. "I love mine too. Thank you." I kissed her cheek and pulled her in for a tight hug. She had spent so much on me, I figured she at least deserved that.

Suddenly, I heard someone clearing their throat.

I looked to see my wife standing there.

I quickly pulled away from Kelly, and kissed my wife. "Hey, honey! To what do I owe this pleasant surprise?"

Naama glanced at Kelly for just a split second, then looked at me. "I got out of work early, and decided to skip their Christmas party for my sexy husband's! She hugged me tightly, and noticed the bracelet right away. "Wow. Who gave you that? It's from Tiffany's?" She had noticed the box as well I took it.

I blushed. "Um, Kelly gave it to me. Wasn't that nice of her?" Well, I wasn't going to lie.

Naama raised an eyebrow at Kelly. "That's a pretty expensive gift!"

I shrugged. "Well, he's a pretty great friend, so I figured he deserved it. I got you and Aven something too, actually."

Naama raised an eyebrow. "But I didn't get you anything."

"Sure you did. The cashmere sweater, remember?" she asked. "I love it, by the way. Thank you so much!" She hugged Naama.

Naama smiled weakly, and hugged her back, looking at me with a "What the heck?" expression on her face.

I instantly felt my face heat up. I hadn't told Naama that I had gotten Kelly one. I didn't want her worrying anymore than she already was about Kelly and me.

Hermés came over to Kelly then, a big cookie in his hands and frosting all over his face. "Mommy, I have to go potty."

"Look at you all messy!" Kelly laughed. "I think you need to go to get cleaned off as well." She picked him up and turned to Naama and I. "We'll be right back."

"It was buy one get one half off, so I bought one to give to her from the three of us," I murmured in my wife's ear once Kelly had gone to the bathroom with her son.

"Well, at least you didn't give it to her from just you. Hey, does that mean the other one is mine?" she asked; a big grin on her face.

I grinned. "I guess you'll find out on Christmas!" I was so glad she was taking this well and not getting upset again. I guessed it wasn't so bad that I had added her and Aven's name after all.

She grinned even wider and kissed me. "You left these at home," she then said, handing me two small wrapped gifts. They were two T-shirts. One was a blue one for Hermés that said, I'm cuter than my little sister, and the other was a pink one for Helena that said I'm cuter than my older brother. I thought they were adorable.

"Thank you!" I kissed her and tightened my arm around her waist. "I can't believe I forgot them."

Naama nodded. "You're welcome! Though I would think you'd have remembered them when you brought Kelly's."

I blushed.

Kelly came back over shortly after, and had two other gifts in her hand. She handed them both to Naama. "The one on bottom is for Aven, and the one on top is for you."

Naama smiled. "Thank you!" She turned to me. "Where is Aven by the way?"

"Leighton and Sebastian are watching her," I explained. "Sebastian loves her. It's good practice for them down the road." Sebastian played Carter on the show, and is Leighton's boyfriend.

"Far down the road!" Leighton called out.

I grinned across the room at her. That girl had good ears.

Naama opened Aven's gift, and found a beautiful Christmas dress.

"I figured she could wear it for her first Christmas. Unless you already have something picked out for her that is," Kelly said politely.

Naama grinned. "It's adorable! She can wear it on Christmas Eve to the candlelight service. Thank you!"

Kelly smiled. "I'm glad you like it."

Naama then opened her gift. It was also from Tiffany's. It was a silver necklace with an aquamarine jewel in it.

"I just thought the color was pretty. I think it will look beautiful on you," Kelly said.

Naama handed it to me. "Put it on me, please?"

I nodded, and put it on her as she held her hair up for me.

"Kelly's right; it does look beautiful on you," I said.

Naama squealed. "I love it!" She hugged Kelly. "Thank you so much!"

Kelly grinned. "You're very welcome."

"I'm going to go give Aven her gift. You guys wanna see her reaction?" Naama asked, glancing from me to Kelly, then back to me.

"In a moment. I want to finish talking with Kelly first," I said. I knew that would sound bad, but I'd explain it to my wife later.

Kelly looked positively thrilled. She didn't even try to hide it.

Naama looked suspiciously at me.

"I'll be right there, Honey, I promise." I pulled Naama in for a deep and passionate kiss.

She sighed, but gave in. She smiled slightly. "All right." She kissed me again, then turned to Kelly with a meaningful look. "Thanks again Kelly."

"You're very welcome Naama," Kelly said.

Naama then went to give our daughter her gift.

I turned my attention back to Kelly. "I forgot to give you these." I handed her the gifts I bought for her kids. "They are for the kids."

Kelly smiled. "Well, that was sweet of you. Thank you!" She opened up the gifts, and laughed when she saw the shirts. "Oh my gosh, those are too funny! The kids will love them. Thank you!" She hugged me, and kissed my cheek. At least she had the decency not to kiss my lips when Naama was nearby. "Hermés is with Blake and Penn somewhere around here. I think they're sneaking him more cookies. He has them wrapped around his little finger. I'm sure he'll love the shirt when he sees it."

I smiled. "Well, we all love the gifts you got us too. Thank you. I still say they are too much though."

Kelly smiled at me, and took my hand in hers. "Nothing's too much for you."

I blushed, and gently pulled my hand away. "Thank you." I didn't know what else to say to that.

She placed her hand overtop of my shoulder. "Hey, I was thinking, would you like to get together before I leave for LA? I'm gonna miss you if I have to go two weeks without seeing you!"

A red flag was going off in my mind. "Okay, now would be a good time to halt the flirtation like I planned on earlier. "Actually, Kel, it's going to be a really busy week leading up to Christmas. I have to get ready for the families to come in and all. But two weeks will go by fast I'm sure."

Kelly looked hurt, and I felt horrible for hurting her. But sometimes, as the old cliché goes, a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do. And I had to do this before I let something happen that would ruin my marriage.

"We should probably take some time apart from each other anyway, you know? We've been spending so much time together lately that we could start to get sick of each other. We wouldn't want that to happen now, would we?" I smiled so that I didn't look like a total...donkey.

Kelly smiled weakly. "No, we wouldn't want that to happen. I better go find my son before he's no longer hungry for dinner. It's probably too late already."

I nodded. "All right." I gave a weak smile. I debated on hugging her, but decided that it probably wouldn't be a good idea since I was trying to halt any kind of flirtation. "Merry Christmas, Kel."

She smiled, but it wasn't the Kelly smile I knew and loved. She looked like she just didn't have it in her anymore. "Merry Christmas Matt."

She looked and sounded so sad. It was killing me inside. "Have a safe trip." I then turned and headed for my wife and daughter before I changed my mind.

~Kelly~

I'll admit it—my heart was breaking. I was sure that Naama had something to do with his sudden hesitation towards me. On the other hand, I knew he loved her. He was doing this for her and his daughter.

For a moment, I contemplated on what I was doing. Should I just cut my losses and give up on getting Matt? I sighed. But I loved him so much! How could I give up? I didn't know if I could.

I glanced at him and saw that he was looking at me from across the room even with his wife right beside him. He looked a little sad himself.

He quickly looked away when he saw me looking over.

I looked away as well. He wanted me. He was just feeling guilty. The fact was, though he may love Naama, he had feelings for me too, which could very possibly be stronger than the ones he had for her.

I sighed again. Who was I kidding? I couldn't just give up! I loved Matt. I had to find out if his feelings for me were stronger than his feelings for Naama.

Unfortunately, he didn't want to hang out with me much anymore—at least that is the way he made it sound. What I needed was a plan.

"All right, all right! You've been hanging out with my girl too much. I'm starting to get jealous now," Penn teased Hermés.

Hermés kissed Blake's cheek and giggled.

"Uh oh, he's moving in on you!" Blake teased too.

I smiled. I suddenly found my plan.

I headed over to get Hermés. Helena was home with the nanny, and I didn't want to keep her waiting too long. Besides, I was eager to make the call and put my plan into action.