Ana

I wake up the next morning to the bright sun shining right in my face. I squint as I slowly open my eyes and look around the brightly-lit room. I see that Christian is not in bed with me anymore. His side of the sheets are ruffled and the spot that he was laying is still warm, so he probably just woke up not too long ago.

I sigh when I remember the events that occurred last night.

The apartment was broken into. I don't know why. We never did anything to make any enemies here. We barely lived here long enough to piss anyone off. I don't understand why these things are always happening to us.

I roll on my back and look up at the white popcorn ceiling and try to process what happened last night. I never told Christian about those two guys that I saw when I came home from grocery shopping. I don't know if they were the ones who broke in, but I have half a mind to call the police officers and tell them about those suspicious men.

I slowly sit up and climb off the bed. I walk to the bathroom and take a hot shower. I am lathering my body with my cherry blossom body wash when the bathtub curtain suddenly opens causing met to jump in surprise.

Christian slides in behind me and circles his arms around my waist and places his hand on my bump. "Morning, beautiful," he whispers in my ear making me shiver.

"Morning. When did you get up?" I say while continuing to lather my skin with the body wash.

"A little bit ago. I was just calling into work to tell them what was going on. They told me to take a few days off. With pay."

He runs his hands in a circle on top of my bump while he runs his nose along my neck and shoulder and back again. I close my eyes and melt into him. I let the loofa fall from my hands when Christian's hand reaches my sex. He bites my ear softly making me moan.

"Do you want to give me a soapy?" he says seductively in my ear.

I tense, and my eyes fly open. A what? I turn my head around to find Christian grinning at me with lust in his gray eyes.

"What the heck is a soapy?" I say with a deep frown mirroring my brow.

"It's when you give me a message with your delectable body while you're covered in your body wash," he chuckles while rubbing my body wash onto my arms and shoulders.

Huh? Where the heck did he learn about that?

"How would you know what that was anyway?" I turn around and cross my arms over my chest and glared at him. I don't know why I am annoyed at the fact that he knows what a soapy is.

He frowns. "Baby, I was just joking with you. I'm sorry," he looks guilty.

He comes to stand in front of me and places his forehead on mine and stares into my eyes. He looks lost, and I rapidly feel like crap for snapping at him over something stupid.

"I'm sorry. I don't know why I snapped at you. You didn't do anything wrong," I murmur and run my hands through his wet hair.

He purrs and closes his eyes in contentment. I smile lovingly at him as he wraps me in his arms. "Just curious. Where did you learn about what a soapy is? I never heard of it," I shake my head.

He smiles and walks me backward so we are under the torrent of water. He washes off the suds that are still on my back as he explains. "I overheard some guys at work talking about it. One of them just got back from Thailand, and apparently, it's quite a popular message over there. I'm sorry baby, I saw your lathering yourself up, and it made me think of it. Just trying to make you laugh, you know, because of last night," he gives me a weak smile.

I smile apologetically and shake my head at him. "It's okay. I'm just still on edge about what happened. I'm sorry I got emotional," I shrug and lean my head on his shoulder while he runs his hands over my back. It's very soothing.

"You have nothing to be sorry for baby. I understand," he kisses my head as we hold each other under the warm torrent.

I giggle when I feel his erection against my upper thigh. He leans down a little to nuzzle his nose into my neck. I moan and lean my head back as he runs his teeth along my jaw. A few beats later, his lips crash into mine.

He abruptly picks me up, and I wrap my legs around his waist as he reaches down and lines his erection against my sex. He slowly thrust into me causing us both to moan in ecstasy as the events of last night slowly slip away as he gently makes love to me.

After our relaxing and satisfying shower, we both step out and get dressed. The people who broke into the apartment didn't steal any of our clothes, but they did scatter them all over the room, so most of them are now wrinkled.

I put on a pair of black leggings, a long plaid maternity shirt, and comfy socks. Christian puts on a pair of jeans a long black shirt and a pair of socks before he takes my hand into his. He walks me out of the bedroom, and I sigh when I see the mess that is our living room.

Christian sighs as well and looks over his shoulder at me. "You sure you feel up to cleaning this up, baby? I don't want you to overdo it," he says concerned.

I nod. "Yes, I'm sure. I need to do something."

"Okay. Don't pick up anything too big or heavy," he squints his eyes at me in warning.

I roll my eyes and then nod as he cocks his eyebrow at me.

I walk to the kitchen and bend down to get a trash bag that is stored under the sink. I open one up and start picking up the couch stuffing's and stuff them into the bag. I try to be careful in the kitchen because there are broken pieces from the plates and bowls all over the linoleum floor.

When I am done picking up all the trash in the kitchen and dining room, I move over to the front door and tie up the trash bag and set it by the window. Christian is busy picking up the furniture and some of the glass that is scattered around the kitchen floor. I maneuver around the kitchen chairs to the pantry. I lean down and start picking up the groceries that are scattered around the floor and start putting them away.

Thank God, we have more food stamp money, because we need to go back to the store for more food. They took most of our food for some godly reason. I guess they got hungry while trashing our apartment. I grit my teeth and take a deep breath. Bastards.

I put the last can of vegetables on the shelf and survey the rest of the food. We have two cans of vegetables, a bag of chips, tea, coffee, a few pieces of snack food and a bag of roman noodles.

I sigh and close the pantry door. I pick up the utensils and put them away in the drawers. Christian has finished picking up the broken shards of glass from the floor and is tying the full trash bag and placing it next to the one I put there earlier.

"We need to go back to the store. Those idiots almost took everything. We don't even have any more cereal for breakfast, but there is a little bit of milk left," I sigh as I look at the contents of our refrigerator.

"Okay. Let me take this trash out, and we can go," he says distracted by picking up the two bags.

He opens the door and immediately curses causing me to look up and shut the refrigerator. "What?"

"The streets have at least a foot of snow on the ground. I don't think we can go right now. We have to wait to see if it thaws a little before we can leave," he snaps and throws the trash bags on the ground. Great.

He puts his hands on his hips and stands there staring at the snow for a few moments before he runs his hand through his hair and picks the bags up. He comes inside and shuts the door.

"Let's just pick up the rest of the apartment and then hopefully we can leave in a few hours," he sighs and picks up the broken lamp.

"Yeah, hopefully," I murmur as I lean over to pick up some cups and silverware.

We are silent for a few minutes before Christian breaks it. "How are you-," he starts to say, but a loud impatient knock on the door interrupts him.

"Is that the cop that was stationed outside?" I frown and look towards the front door.

"I don't know. Maybe they have some information on who those fuckers are," Christian says as he walks towards the door.

Before Christian gets to the door, we hear a shrill cry. Christian stops and looks over his shoulder at me confused. I frown and shrug at him.

He swings the door open, and the couple on the other side is not who we were expecting to see.

"Mia? Ethan?" I say astounded.

My eyes widen in shock when I see the state that they are in.

Mia and Ethan are a mess. They both have thin worn out jackets on, with dirty hair and their clothes are all wrinkled. Ethan is trying to console a crying Lola who looks like she spent the night in a ditch. Her brown hair is all tangled, and her face is covered in a thin layer of dirt. Tears are streaming down her face while she tries to get out of Ethan's hold.

Mia is holding Liam's limp hand. Liam is standing there shivering with a torn white shirt, dirty jeans and dirt and grim covering his pale face. Mia is staring at me with tears in her eyes. They both look like they lost weight, and haven't slept in a few days.

I run over to them and hurriedly motion them inside. "Oh, my God, what happened?" I say in panic as I close the door.

The cold wind making me shiver as I slam the front door. Christian takes a still crying Lola from Ethan's hold and looks her over in fear.

"I'm sorry. We didn't know where else to go," Mia starts to cry as she protectively places Liam in front of her.

"It's okay. What happened? Are you guys hurt?" I say concerned as I lean down and check over Liam.

"No, not physically injured anyway. We're sorry to bombard you like this. Jason gave us your address," Ethan murmurs as a blush grows over his cheeks.

"It's fine, don't worry about it. Sweetheart, are you okay?" Christian says as he tries to smooth Lola's hair.

Her lip trembles and her eyes fill with tears once more. "Hungwy," she says as she holds her stomach. My eyes widen when I see her stomach inflamed.

Her expression breaks my heart. They all look they haven't eaten in two days. What the hell happened?

"Ana, can you get her something to eat?" Christian whips his head to mine and pleads with his eyes.

"Yes. Please, Mia, you guys come sit down," I take her hand and lead them to the table.

Ethan smiles at me gratefully as he takes Liam and sits him down on his lap. Mia looks around the room and frowns while tears stream down her face.

"What happened here?" her voice cracks as she sits down.

"Someone broke into the apartment. It's fine. What I am more worried about is what happened to you?" I say as I hurriedly make the kids some food.

"We don't have a lot of food left, and we don't have anything for breakfast, so I have to make the noodles," I give them an apologetic smile as I boil the water for the noodles.

"It's okay. I'm sorry just to show up all of a sudden. There was no more room at the shelter. We ran into Jason while on the streets and asked if he knew where you guys were staying," Mia explains while she wipes her eyes with her jacket.

"Mia, what happened?" I say again as I bring the noodles over to the table and set the corn chips in the middle. I wish we had more than that!

Liam and Lola lung for the food and practically shoves the food into their mouths with their fingers even before I can give them silverware. Mia puts her head in her hands after a few beats of staring at her near-starved kids. My eyes widen in shock as I stare at them. When was the last time they have eaten?

Mia starts to cry and causes Ethan to get up off the chair and holds his wife from behind.

"What are we going to do, Ana? I don't want to lose the kids," Mia says into her hands as she continues to sob.

I frown in concern and look over at Christian. He frowns in confusion as we stare at each other perplexed.

"What do you mean Mia?" I ask while I open the chip bag.

Liam lunged for the bag when he finished shoveling the noodles into his mouth causing me to jump in surprise.

Ethan kisses Mia's head quickly and takes Liam off of the table since he was trying to crawl over the table to get to the chips. My hand flies to my mouth as I look at Liam's sad expression to get more food.

"You're going to get sick, son. Come down; nobody is going to take the food away," Ethan's voice cracks as he cradles his son in his arms.

Liam's face is all smeared in noodles, and he is trying to wiggle out of his dad's hold to get back to the chips.

"When was the last time you all ate?" Christian hisses.

Ethan suddenly looks guilty as he sits down and places Liam on his lap. He gives him some chips one at a time, so he doesn't get sick. I remember the feeling of being nearly starved when I was a kid. My tummy was severely bloated, dry skin, fatigue, feeling dizzy, and I also had trouble paying attention to what Christian was saying to me at the time.

We were only three years old. No child should be nearly starved to death at that age.

I look over at the two and I can see that the kids haven't eaten in at least two days. Liam looks like he is in a food trance. He won't take his eyes off of the chips in Ethan's hand, and it breaks my heart all over again.

A tear escapes from my eye when Lola finishes her portion of the food. Her noodle filled hands fly to the chip bag, and Mia finally sits up and wipes her eyes while trying to give Lola one chip at a time.

"Slowly, honey," She murmurs as she feeds her daughter.

She slowly looks up at Christian. His jaw is tense, and he is shooting daggers at Mia and Ethan while he waits for her to answer his question. I rub my bump and leave my hand on my stomach.

"Yesterday morning," she barely whispers as she looks down ashamed.

I gasp and whip my head over to Christian. He looks as shocked as I am. Two days!

"Why? Why are you guys not at the shelter?" Christian says baffled at what she just said.

"We can't go back to the shelter. They will find us and take the kids away," Mia sniffles.

"Who? Who will take the kids away?" Christian frowns.

"CPS. Someone reported us to the agency," Ethan hissed.

What the hell? CPS?

"Who would do such a thing?" I ask dumbfounded.

"We don't know. Mrs. Shana has been trying to help us out, but the police and CPS are trying to find us. They came to the shelter a few times. Mrs. Shana gave us an address to another shelter so we could lay low for a while, but it has been overcrowded for the last three nights. We had nowhere to go, so we had no choice but to sleep in some abandoned houses," Ethan explains while he gives Liam some more chips.

"Jesus," Christian says stunned as he runs a hand down his face. I try not to cry.

"I'm so sorry. If we knew, we would have let you guys stay here. I'm glad you came over," I say sympathetically as I take hold of Mia's hand.

"Thank you for the food. We really appreciate it," Mia gives me a sad smile.

"Of course. We need to go to the store in a while to pick up some more groceries. We haven't eaten yet, but hopefully, the weather will improve enough so we can go out and get some so we can all have a proper meal," I give Mia a warm smile.

"Could we possible stay here for a few days?" Mia asks nervously. She turns her head to look at Ethan, and he quickly looks away from her.

"Sure. Of course, you can. However long you guys need," I say immediately.

Christian looks over at me with a frown before his lips form into a thin line and nod his head after a few seconds.

"Thank you," Mia breathe a sigh of relief and her eyes turn glassy and then stares at the table.

I give her a smile and squeeze her hand, so she looks up at me, which she does and gives me a smile that doesn't reach her eyes.

"So…what does that supposed to mean?" Ethan says nervously after a few minutes of silence.

"What?" I look over at him.

"The spray paint?" he points to the graffiti on the wall.

"I have no idea. The police are looking for whoever broke in," I shrug.

"Police?" Mia looks panicked.

"Yeah, don't worry, Mia. I won't tell them you are here," I reassure her.

"Thank you," She says gratefully.

We sit there and talk for a while about what has happened over the last two months. They told us that Ethan's parents have tried to get a hold of him at the shelter, but Ethan refused to talk to them. He doesn't know why they want to speak to him since they have basically shunned him out of their lives. He doesn't want anything to do with them, and I don't blame him.

We don't mention what happened with the Grey's. I don't want to overwhelm them with our drama, so we both stay quiet about the situation. Lola and Liam stop eating after twenty minutes of us talking. They both are in their parent's arms, and their little eyes are starting to droop. I am amazed that they didn't get sick due to them shoveling the food into their mouths.

I get up and get them both a glass of water from the tap. I hand them the little cups and their eyes fly open and chug the water down.

"Do you mind if I put them down somewhere so they can rest? They didn't get much sleep last night," Mia asks nervously while wringing her hands that are placed on Liam's lap.

"Of course. You can put them down on our bed," I smile and motion for them to follow me.

Ethan and Mia stand up with the kids and come with me to the bedroom. They get them settled on the bed, and they immediately fall asleep.

"Why don't you two get some rest as well? We need to head to the grocery store so we can eat, so why don't you guys sleep while we are gone? You two look exhausted," I offer.

They both look at each other apprehensively for a few seconds before Ethan looks at me. "Thank you. I think we will," he gives me a small smile.

"Okay. We will be back in an hour or so. The bathroom is right there if you guys want to take a shower," I point to the bathroom, and they nod at me gratefully.

I leave them to it, and walk out of the bedroom and close the door quietly, so I don't wake up the kids. Christian is pacing in front of the broken coffee table. I frown, and he stops pacing when I walk towards him.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm all right," He tries to smile, but it comes out more of a grimace than anything.

"What is it, Christian?" I sigh.

He hesitates in answering my question, but after a few beats, he shakes his head. "Nothing. Let's just go to the grocery store before the weather worsens," he turns around and walks to the kitchen to get his coat.

I sigh, suddenly tired and get my coat on. I lean down to put on some shoes, and Christian does the same. My stomach rumbles while I wait by the door for Christian.

"You need to eat. Come," His lips form into a thin line as he opens the front door.

I nod and follow him out of the apartment.

It took thirty minutes to get to the grocery store due to the heavy snow on the ground, but we finally made it there safely. Christian and I go down each aisle and put various foods in our cart for the second time. Since Mia, Ethan, and the kids are staying with us, we have to double on the food for the month.

I pick out a couple of boxes of kid-friendly cereal and a couple of gallons of milk. I choose some healthy snacks and juice boxes for the kids. I also get numerous boxes of frozen meals so Mia and Ethan can have something to eat for lunch every day.

Eggs, bacon, pancake mix, bananas, bread, butter, oatmeal, ground turkey, chicken breasts, herbs, extra virgin olive oil, noodles, spaghetti sauce, peanut butter, strawberry jelly, ice cream, a liter of ginger ale and coffee all get thrown into the cart.

Christian picks up some fresh vegetables and fruit before we check out. We get everything bagged and paid for before we head out of the store. We have $50 left on our card, so hopefully, the groceries will last for all six of us until Christian gets paid in a week and a half.

We get back to the apartment thirty minutes later. I shiver from the cold as Christian opens the front door of our apartment. He has most of the bags in his hand because he refuses me to help him hold some of the bags so he could give his arms a break.

We place the bags of groceries on the kitchen table, and we take our coats, scarves, and gloves off. The apartment is silent, so they must be still sleeping.

I take my time putting the groceries away while Christian tidies up the rest of the apartment. I don't know how we are going to get the graffiti off the wall, but hopefully, when we get paid, we can get some paint and cover it up. It still baffles me on what those bastards wrote. What the hell does it mean?

I walk to our bedroom door and open it slowly to try not to wake them up. I poke my head through the door and see Lola and Liam awake and laying there quietly while Mia and Ethan are still dead to the world.

I wave to them, and Lola immediately turns her eyes to me. She waves back and smiles. She gets up slowly and then climbs off the bed and runs towards me. I put my finger to my lips to let her know to be quiet. She nods her little head, and she beams at me while I try to run my hand through her hair.

I try to get Liam to come to me, but he shakes his head and cuddles back into Mia's side. I don't think he wants to leave her side. I smile and slowly squat down to Lola's level so I can talk to her without waking her mommy and daddy.

"Do you want to have a snack?" I whisper.

Lola smile widens and she frantically nods her head. I kiss her forehead and lead her out of the bedroom. I shut the door quietly as Lola runs off towards Christian.

"Snack," she says to Christian. Lola is hugging his legs and giggles up at him. He smiles down at her.

"Okay, little one," he taps her nose, and she giggles again.

I put together some celery and peanut butter for her to munch on. I place them on the table, and she nibbles on the celery stick as she looks around the room curiously. Liam emerges from the bedroom a few seconds later. He sees the food on the table and runs over to it, and immediately tries to grab one off the plate.

"Sit down, Liam, sweetheart," I croon.

He nods and sits down as I hand him a celery stick and he shoves it into this mouth. I smile and go get them a glass of milk each. Christian is at the stove, getting ready to make the adults some pancakes.

I hand the kids their milk and leave them to eat while I help Christian make the food. We both snack on the celery while we make the pancake batter. Christian cooks the bacon and sausage. I place a roll of biscuits in the oven as well.

Mia and Ethan both walk out of the room hand in hand when we are setting the table twenty minutes later. Their hair is wet, so it looks like they both decided to take a shower. I frown when I see they put the same clothes on that they had on before.

"Mia, let me get you some clean clothes, and I can put those in the washer," I offer, and she smiles gratefully.

"That would be great. Thank you, Ana," She sniffles.

I smile, and they both walk back into the bedroom after they give the kids a kiss on their foreheads. I hand them both a few robes and they get undressed in the bathroom. I pick out a T-shirt and yoga pants for Mia and place them on the bed. I open Christian's drawer and get Ethan a pair of his boxers, white T-shirt, and a pair of sweatpants.

They both walk out, and I tell them they can wear the clothes that are on the bed. They nod and hand me their dirty clothes. I walk out of the room and give them some privacy so they can change.

After I put their clothes in the washer, I walk out of the laundry room and finally sit down to eat. We all sit and eat the food and make small talk. Ethan keeps his head down most of the time. I think he is embarrassed, and I don't understand why. He shouldn't be embarrassed. We were in their shoes not too long ago, and I know how it feels like you are taking advantage of someone else's kindness.

I take Ethan's hand in mine and squeeze it to let him know that he is not taking advantage of us. He looks up at me and blushes when I give him a warm smile. He smiles back and squeezes my hand.

Christian shakes his head and finishes eating his food. After we are all done eating, we move into the living room. The bastards didn't break the TV thankfully, so we are able to sit down and watch something.

Mia and Ethan decide they want to give the kids a bath about thirty minutes into the cartoons that we are watching. I nod and tell them they are more than welcome to use the shower again.

They brought one bag with them, and they are all the kid's clothes. I frown a little at the fact that they didn't bring their clothes with them and only the kid's things. They even brought a few toys and books for them. Why don't they have their stuff? Did they lose them?

After thirty minutes, they emerge from the bedroom. The kids are all clean and in their pajama's. Lola is wearing a Disney Princess pink nightgown and Liam is dressed in a Mickey Mouse pajama shirt and thin black and white striped pants.

"Thank you," Mia mouths at me, and I mouth your welcome back.

We sit down and continue to watch cartoons until it's time for dinner.

After a spaghetti dinner, we all get ready for bed. I walk into the laundry room and take out a thin sheet and a few blankets so I can put them on the floor. We don't have anywhere else for them to sleep, so the kids are going to take the couch and Mia, and Ethan are going to sleep on the floor.

I wanted to offer all four of them the master bed, but since I am pregnant, Christian wouldn't hear of it. Mia and Ethan said they would be more than fine on the floor since it is better than sleeping on the cold, wet concrete floor. I tried not to cry when Mia told me that they had slept on the ground the night before.

We get the kids settled on the couch, each of them is laying on each end and Christian and I kiss them goodnight. Mia hugs me hard after I lay the blankets on the kids.

"Thank you for taking us in. I will never forget you guys," she whispers in my ear, and I suddenly feel a few tears on my shoulder.

I frown a little but smile and hug her back. "Don't worry, Mia. Everything will work out," I reassure her, and she tenses for a minute before she relaxes.

She lets me go and gives me a smile before kissing my cheek. Ethan awkwardly hugs me before he steps back. I smile at him.

Christian give Mia a hug and nods at Ethan before he places a hand on my back. They both lay down on the blankets that we set out for them and a few extra pillows we had in our hallway closet.

We say goodnight and walk to our bedroom and get ready for bed. Christian and I climb into bed, and he holds me while I snuggle into his chest.

"Do you think they will be okay?" I ask fearfully.

Today has been a long day, and I am worried about Mia. She has been acting weird today, and I don't know if it's because of the CPS issue or something else. I just hope she is okay.

"They will be okay. We will figure this shit out. Just go to sleep, it's been a long day," he sighs and kisses my hair.

I nod against his chest, and we both fall into a peaceful sleep.

I wake in the morning well rested and refreshed. I roll over and see Christian staring at me lovingly. His hair is in dismay, and his eyes are still heavy from sleep. I smile at him and lean over and give him a kiss.

"Morning, baby," he says as he runs a finger down my cheek.

"Morning," I smile and run my hand down his chest.

"We better get up and make breakfast for everyone," he sighs and gives me a weak smile.

I agree, and we both climb out of bed. I look at my phone and see it is 8:23 in the morning. I wonder if the kids are awake already?

We both walk out of the bedroom and see that the kids are up and watching cartoons. They are both together snuggled on the couch. I smile at the sight of them, but immediately frown deeply when I don't see Mia or Ethan anywhere.

I walk over to their makeshift bed on the floor and find it empty. Christian whips his head to mine and looks at me in shock. Where are they?

I then spot a lone piece of paper on the coffee table. I walk over to it slowly and lean over and pick it up.

My eyes widen, and my mouth opens in surprise when I see what the paper says.

'We're so sorry. Please, take care of Lola and Liam. We know they will be safe with you.'

I look up at Christian, and he snatches the paper out of my hands and his head whips to mine, and we both stare at each other in absolute shock.

They left.

AN:Thanks for following and reviewing.