Back with another chapter! Thanks for reading, guys.
A cry woke Kris up as she stared blankly at the ceiling. Sighing, she got out of bed and walked down the hallway halting when she heard a soft voice whisper things about stars and moons.
"...And when stars join up to each other, they're called constellations. They're pretty. I've never personally seen one but I've studied them in school."
Kris leaned against` the door jamb and watched as Rusty sat with Alyssa now sound asleep on his chest.
"Your mom was in my class. We actually didn't know each other but we got chatting when our teacher partnered us up for a project. We became really close. No wonder we got married and had you and your brother, huh?" he looked down and smiled. "You're a princess, aren't you?" he mumbled, kissing her head. "You have loads of family here for you. Your Aunt Emily has two kids and one is around your age but she's one years old. Your Uncle Ricky has three kids and his youngest, his son, is two years old. You will get along with them when you're a bit older. You also have another uncle but he's not around. Your mom says good things about him. I hope to meet him one day."
Kris had decided that she had heard enough and was about to leave for her room when she heard Rusty talk again.
"Soon, I'll go on a short trip with mommy. We need some time to ourselves, your grandfather says. I don't see a point, though..." She urged him to go on with her mind. Why didn't he see a point in this Couples Retreat Therapy thing? "Because we'll miss you and Shy so much."
Nice save, coward, Kris thought. Lie to our daughter.
"And your mom and I are not really on the same page any more. We used to be one but now we're two again. Don't worry though. Whatever happens, we both love you and your brother very much, okay?"
He kissed her head and placed her back in her cot, pulling her blanket over her. Kris quickly rushed back to her room and got into bed, closing her eyes shut. She could feel his presence there as she did every night since their confessions. She felt his lips on her head and heard him leave the room. Breathing a sigh of relief, she opened her eyes, biting her cheeks to stop herself from crying.
...
"So, what do you think of the villa?" Amanda asked two weeks later.
"It's pretty, mom." Kris said, smiling lightly as she wrapped an arm around Rusty's waist.
Amanda turned to Rusty expectantly. "Oh, yeah, it's nice." He walked over to the windows and looked through the blinds. "Secluded." he whispered.
"Sorry?"
"Nothing. Just a nice view of the beach from here." Rusty lied.
Amanda grinned. "I know right? Okay, your therapist will meet you tomorrow because we want you guys to settle in first, have some time alone." She winked. "We'll also have breakfast, lunch and dinner together tomorrow so enjoy this night. Bye guys!" she called out, leaving.
Kris watched from the window as she saw her mother head to her father in front of their own villa. Her and Rusty hadn't even expected such a holiday home as they only needed twin bed hotel room but her parents had the money and they wanted their first retreat to be special.
"We're alone now, we can drop the act." Rusty said, wheeling his suitcase to one of the rooms.
"Wait!" Kris called out, following him with her own suitcase. "We have to make an effort so... we'll both be sleeping together in the same room, same bed and we're going to make this work."
Rusty raised his eyebrow and headed for the master bedroom instead. "If you say so."
Kris smiled and followed him. "Do you want me to unpack while you search the fridge for something to eat?"
"Yeah, I'll be back in a min." He was about to leave when Kris stopped him, placing a kiss on his lips. "What was that for?" he asked, licking his lips.
"I'm sorry for everything." Kris mumbled, sneaking her arms around his waist. "I'm... I have a lot of things on my mind lately and... I'm sorry for everything. You didn't deserve the hurt I caused-"
She was cut off by a kiss as she slipped her arms around his neck, bringing him closer as they fell onto the bed.
...
"Are you awake?" Rusty whispered.
Kris leaned up, pulling the sheets around her torso tighter. "I am now."
"Sorry."
"I'm just messin' with you. I have been awake for a while now, thinking about the kids."
"So... what does this mean for us?" Rusty asked, picking at the hem of the comforter.
Kris shrugged. "Do you want there to be an us? Because I really do and at the same time, I don't want to spend forever in a loveless marriage."
"I do love you. I've grown to love you and I want to be with you, not just because of the kids but because you understand me like I understand you."
"And we're just as messed up as each other." Kris added, entwining their fingers.
A silence fell upon them but it was wanted.
It was cut when Rusty checked the time. "We never got 'round to unpacking and checking for food, did we?"
Kris smirked. "Sorry that I'm so desirable."
"Well," Rusty placed a kiss on her lips. "I'm going to actually check for something to eat because I'm starving and it's past seven."
"I hadn't realised." Kris said, watching the darkening sky.
Rusty smiled anyway and threw on his boxers, leaving the room.
There was a yell and Kris quickly threw on her robe and rushed out to see her father laughing and her mother covering her eyes.
"Mom, dad?!" Kris yelled.
"Sorry for dropping by unexpected. We just figured that you'd want to follow us to this restaurant across the road." her dad replied.
"That is my queue to get dressed." Rusty said, blushing as he left the room quickly.
Amanda opened her eyes. "No guessing to what you guys did."
"We have two kids and you're still iffy about that? We're twenty-five!"
"You're technically still twenty-four but that's not the case. It's just... I wish I knew whether your brother was like you. Family man, getting along with his kids and his wife..." Amanda mumbled.
"I'm going to get dressed." Kris said shortly, leaving the room.
Rusty stood beside the door, dressed. "I heard your conversation. What's wrong with them mentioning your brother?"
"That's the issue," Kris said, putting her bra on. "They never do. It's probably the first time in fourteen years since they mentioned him."
"Doesn't that mean that they're trying?"
"They gave up looking for him after the first five months of him running away. They even spent money on a PI. Nothing worked."
Rusty wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her neck. "Maybe it will do your family good if you looked again. You'll never know what you may find. "
"What does that mean?" Kris asked, turning to face him.
"Nothing. Just that you could find him." Rusty saved himself. "Now hurry up, we don't want your mother getting any ideas."
Kris watched as he left the bedroom, confusion still written on her features. What the heck does he mean?
"Kris! Hurry up!" Amanda called out.
"Give me a minute!" Kris called back, throwing a dress on. "This will do."
...
"I was thinking that after the therapy, everyday, we could visit landmarks and tourist attractions..." Amanda said, digging into her Hawaiian salad.
Kris nodded, smiling. "I would love to learn how to surf again. I'm a bit rusty since my last wave."
"You surfed? When was this?" Rusty asked.
"When I was ten. I was pretty decent but stuff happened." Kris replied, ending the conversation.
Michael started a new one. "I was always scared to go to Hawaii because of the storms and the volcano but it actually is beautiful. Especially at night where you can see the still, dark blue ocean."
Everyone turned to face the ocean from their view on the porch. They had a requested a secluded table and had managed to get a sweet view along with it.
"It's a dope view." Kris smiled, turning to face Rusty who smiled back at her.
"'Dope'? No, honey, I think the word you're looking for is 'majestic'." Amanda corrected.
Kris just giggled, shaking her head as her hand found Rusty's under the table. "So, how does this therapy thing work?"
"Well, your therapist will ask you questions about your relationship, try and solve problems by offering advice then she will provide you with homework-"
"Homework? We're not kids." Rusty cut in.
"I know and she knows but they're just like, tell your partner that you love them five times a day or something." Amanda shrugged.
Kris turned to face Rusty. "So it's like an ego booster, huh?" she smirked. "I love you, honey."
"And I love you, too, honey." Rusty replied, trying to stop himself from laughing.
"You guys are young so you won't take this seriously." Michael stated, laughing. "Well, I'm stuffed. How about you guys?"
Everyone nodded and Michael called for the waiter to come with their bill. "We must go out for a walk on the beach. It's only nine."
"Okay, but we must get back to the villa in time for us to say goodnight to the kids. Emily goes to bed at half past and Shy, quarter past so we better get in touch with Ems before she sleeps." Kris said, as they all stood up.
Michael quickly paid the bill and the four left the restaurant, crossing the road to get to the beach.
Kris took off her sandals and held them in her hand as she looped her free arm through Rusty's. "This is nice, isn't it?" she asked, feeling the sand get in between her toes. "I know what I want to do on a beach." she whispered, suggestively into Rusty's ear.
"Isn't that illegal?" Rusty smirked as they watched the older couple dip their toes into the water, their shoes in their hands.
Kris turned to face him. "It will be a good story to tell to our 'therapist'. Exciting illegal places to have sex in."
"I'm for the legal stuff remember? My mom is a cop."
"You're no fun!" Kris giggled. "This might even improve our work-in-progress marriage!"
Rusty nudged her lightly. "Let's stick to kitchen counters and beds, please."
"That was one time! Shy wasn't there!" Kris laughed blushing.
"We were nearly caught by our neighbour! She was eighty years old! And how would we tell our daughter that she was conceived on a kitchen counter?"
"I don't know. And at least, we live in a private condo, on the top floor. The only people to watch our show would be the ones who can be bothered to be stationed in top floors of high-rise buildings."
"You make it seem like we want to be watched."
Kris shook her head. "I'd rather my private sex life, stays private." Kris grinned.
"You're so weird."
...
"How long have you been together?" Dr. Andrea Larkey asked.
"Well, technically... four years?" Kris replied. "We don't really know but I can tell you how long we've been married for."
"Go ahead."
"Three years."
Andrea nodded. "How long have you been having issues for?"
"Ever since our first child, Shiloh, was born." Rusty replied, shifting in his seat.
"And you weren't together?"
The couple shook their heads.
"There was a bit of miscommunication between us but we agreed on one thing." Rusty said, turning to face his wife.
"Which was?"
"To protect our family. We signed for the Witness Protection Programme since I had witnessed something some guy did and he escaped from prison."
Andrea raised her eyebrow. "Do continue. Feel free to miss out any key details. Cases such as this are sensitive so, take your time."
"So when our son was born, we left a month later, to Michigan. Detroit to be specific. We both finished online college and got jobs pretty quickly. Things were fine... we weren't arguing or anything but there was a little bit of avoidance between us." Kris continued.
"Then we went on our first proper date after a friend of ours offered to babysit for us. We were twenty, I was nearly twenty-one."
"Then we got married a year later after loads of dates. Then three years later, we had another child."
Andrea wrote in her notepad and looked up to face them, pushing her glasses up her nose. "Were there problems between the time you got married to the birth of your second child?"
"A few major arguments but nothing that didn't go unsorted." Kris smiled lightly.
"Tell me about these arguments."
Kris waved it off. "Just hormonal things like, leaving the toilet seat up-"
"Saying that I don't love you but some jerk I knew, calling me gay-"
"But-"
"Let's talk about this. Rusty do you know your sexuality?" Andrea asked, writing something in her pad.
"When I was growing up, in my teens, I felt that I was gay-"
"Has this been a major issue in your arguments?"
"Yes," "No,"
"Are you gay? Do you feel forced to be with Kristen?"
Kris turned to face Rusty, also expectant of an answer.
"Well, we obviously slept together so I defined myself -and felt- bisexual. There was a guy that I had something with but the spark had gone and I found myself falling hard for Kris. I never felt this way about anyone, let alone a girl. I've had boyfriends but never a girlfriend, especially one that I ended up settling down with and having two kids with." Rusty looked up to face Andrea. "So no, I don't feel forced to be with somebody I cherish so much."
Kris stayed silent as she actually thought about their relationship. She always took over and made the decisions and passes but he stayed content with the smiles and hugs she gave him. She loved him so much but she didn't want to scare him away or make him uncomfortable. She was finally glad that he felt the same way.
"I love you." Kris sniffed, kissing him.
"I love you too."
And they meant it. It was the first time they said it since their wedding day and they meant it.
"How's your sex life?"
The both of them started laughing hard as they shook their heads. "It's okay, trust me." Kris giggled.
"I see that it is..." Andrea mumbled. "Well, I have to cut this short because I hear that you're going on a tourist trip."
"We are?" Rusty asked. Kris nodded.
"Last minute, let's go!"
Thanks for reading! x