Christine felt like she wanted to puke the entire drive to the party, and when the car rolled to a stop, and there was an entire red carpet she wanted to scoff. It was an ego factory for rich people, but her ass looked good and her outfit was on point so she'd let her ego get a little boost. She could use it after the last six months. "You ready?" Erik put his hand out for her to take, and she nodded as the door opened. She immediately needed sunglasses for all the camera flashes. She had to remind herself that it was in fact a movie star's birthday party, and not an older business man's party like the last one they had gone to. Erik got out of the car, and he took her hand in attempt to help her out. Once she was out the flashes increased tenfold, and it worried Erik. "Don't worry, you won't be blind permanently."

"Oh that's reassuring." Erik smiled as she hooked her arm through his, and they walked up onto the curb, and onto the ego carpet. Having people take her photo was exhilarating, she almost immediately understood celebrities obsession with it. "What's the point of them taking pictures again?"

"Money."

"Oh that's right. I forgot that people got paid to stalk people." She found the process rather repetitive, smile, wait a minute, walk another ten feet and repeat. She was thankful for the lack of questions though. That was where her nerves mostly originated. "I really need a drink."

"Yeah a drink doesn't sound too bad right now." Erik moved unhooked his arm and moved his hand down to the top of her butt, and she immediately blushed. "I'm feeling generous tonight."

"I can tell." She glanced to the side and her heart dropped when there was a woman with a video camera and microphone at the end of the carpet, and there was a man she didn't recognize talking to her.

They finished the photos, and traded two hundred flashing lights for one bright light on the video camera. The woman, Christine immediately recognized as Trish from the N Network, smiled at them. Christine took the opportunity to let her cheeks rest. She wasn't used to so much smiling. "Hi there, Erik how are you doing tonight?"

"I'm doing great. Thanks for asking." Erik looked down at Christine who was rubbing her cheeks and letting them rest.

"So after kind of disappearing for almost a year, how does it feel to be back in the spotlight?"

"It's alright. Seeing that I didn't pick a profession that red carpets were a common thing, it's still a little confusing as to why I'm in it, but I try to have fun."

"Well we missed you. Obviously Maley is no longer in the picture, so who is this beautiful woman?" Christine realized she was being talked about so she stepped next to Erik and smiled. Her cheeks were sore.

"This is Christine. We just got married a couple weeks ago, so we're enjoying that."

"Well you sure did move on fast."

"I'm legally obligated not to say anything bad about my ex, but let's just say it was easy."

"Of course. So Christine, how do you like knowing you scooped up one of the most sought out business men in New York City? I mean he went from being married to being the top bachelor, to married again."

"I honestly don't know. I never thought about him being as large of a catch as you just set him up as. I don't mean that in a "he's not that good" way, but just that, he's for a lot of our relationship, just been Erik to me. He's not been the giant, powerful business owner everyone sees him as once we were together for a few weeks. So until about now, I just knew I managed to pin down this amazing, successful man. But thinking about it, I enjoy knowing I got him. It means I'm doing something right." Christine smiled at Erik, and she blushed when he leaned down and pecked her on the lips.

"I love you."

"I love you too." She tried not to get shy at Erik's PDA seeing that they were in fact being filmed.

"You two are so fricken adorable, it's ridiculous. We'll have fun, enjoy the party, and congratulations on the marriage."

"Thank you." Erik took Christine's hand as they walked away from the carpet, and towards the entrance to the building. "See? That wasn't too bad."

"Once I can see I'll comment."

"Give it five minutes." He kissed her cheek, and they walked to the back of the building to an outdoor patio that faced the Hudson. Erik smiled politely to several people while grabbing two glasses of champagne from a waiter walking by. "So, now that the bullshit is over, let's have a fun night."

"I mean a fun night is more like a hair tug and ass slap, but this works too." Christine watching Erik in his work mode turned her on for some reason, but unknown reasons or not it was happening.

"Well don't get too drunk and you know what'll happen later." He squeezed her butt and her heart started racing. She was on cloud nine.

"Don't get too drunk? You realize you're talking to an alcoholic, right?"

"Good point. Well once I know no one is looking for me there's bathrooms."

Christine looked up at Erik, and she couldn't mean what she was about to say any more than in that moment. "I love you."

"I love you too." Erik sighed and smiled, and Christine looked towards where he was looking, and a man and a woman were approaching them. "Francis, Heather, how are you?"

"Oh we're excellent, thank you. We know how much you love talking, so we thought we'd come over and meet this beautiful woman. Knowing you you'd keep her hidden all night." Christine smiled at the compliment, especially when it was from a woman Christine couldn't even dream of looking like.

"Well you know me. I'm selfish like that. But this is my wife Christine. Christine this is Francis, an old investor of mine, and his girlfriend Heather."

"It's a pleasure." Christine shook their hands, and she held her comment in when Heather smelled like cinnamon and flawlessness. She may have been dealing with a small crush.

"Likewise. So when did you two get married?" Heather smiled, and Christine hated how straight and white her teeth were.

"A couple weeks ago. It was a small and private wedding in California. Nothing spectacular, but it was ours and that's all that mattered." Christine smiled and rubbed Erik's back, which got him back from zoning out.

"Small? Private? With Erik's last wife I didn't think he was capable of either of those." Francis, who'd yet to say anything finally chimed in.

"Well while he might be legally obligated not to say anything bad about her, I'm not. She was was only with him for his money, which I guess was good for me since it freed him up for me to swoop in." She hugged Erik's arm, and Francis smiled at the couple.

"I knew she was up to no good from day one, but Erik wouldn't listen to me."

"Listen she'd have sex with me, and at that point I figured that was all I'd be able to get in life."

Francis sighed and shook his head. "Drama queen. He's always been one."

Christine giggled as Erik scoffed in attempt to dispute the claim. "He really is! I love it though. It makes boring situations fun."

"Listen, if you guys are going to talk crap about me I'm going to go use the restroom." Erik squeezed Christine's hand before leaving the conversation, and she smiled.

"So, how long have you known Erik? Obviously quite a while."

"I was one of his first investors. I would still be one but after two thousand eight I decided to taper back the amount of money I invest, and he needed more than I could offer. Good for him though, it's amazing watching his business grow and blossom from the little two man business it started as."

"Oh wow that's amazing. So was it just him and Nadir there?"

"Yes. Nadir was primarily marketing while Erik produced the products." Francis sipped at his wine, and Christine decided it was a good time to take a drink as well. She was too sober to make small talk.

"So how did he and Maley meet? Do you know? He doesn't talk about much from that time period." She shifted on her feet since she'd hoped she'd be sitting by that point in time.

"He told me that they met at a party. Lord knows if that's true."

"What? Maley has friends that invited her to a party?" Christine wasn't being mean, she was genuinely perplexed.

"That's why I think he's lying."

Christine giggled, and she tried to keep focused when she noticed a couple celebrities across the room. "So do parties like this happen often?"

"Not really. I mean there's galas where we build each other up and stuff like this, but this is obviously a lot more public because the birthday boy is a movie star, and invited other movie stars. So when it's strictly business people, it's a lot more private."

"That's a relief. I don't think I could handle the this type of party very often."

"It's definitely overwhelming." Someone called Francis' name, and Christine sighed with relief. She was awful at conversing. "Well if you'll excuse me my friend needs me. Enjoy the evening, tell Erik I said goodbye."

"Of course. Thank you." Christine smiled at Heather, and once they were gone she downed her champagne. She was looking around for another glass when she found an open bar. Naturally, she decided to move towards it.

Just as she got to the bar, she felt someone grab her by her shoulders and turn her around. "Let's avoid the hard liquor tonight, yeah?" She frowned then smiled since Erik was back, but she was still disappointed. She wanted hard liquor.

"But-"

"There are tons of cameras here tonight, I don't think you want to get drunk. Let's just stick to champagne." He rubbed her arm, and Christine sighed since she knew he was right.

"Fine. No hard liquor." She crossed her arms and looked around the area, and she found the decorations rather beautiful. There were white Christmas lights everywhere, and sheer white fabric, then some space heaters which she appreciated. "I'm just so bad in social situations like this. What if I say something wrong? What if I embarrass you?"

"Don't worry, you've got this." He kissed her cheek, and Christine turned so she could lean against his chest. She lightly patted his shirt, then smiled before looking up at him.

"I can't tell you how much I love and appreciate you."

"You don't have to. I know." Erik rubbed her cheek, and before she could get distracted by something he bent down and kissed her. It was a lot easier on his back since she had heels on, but it was still a little way to travel.

. x .

Parties sober, Christine discovered, were painfully boring. She got to sit and watch other people be drunk, but she really didn't want to be known as the new, drunk wife of Erik Dessin, so she behaved. Plus she really needed to work on her drinking. It wasn't the healthiest habit to get into. She considered yoga, maybe a spinning class. Something that'd keep her ass in shape instead of killing her liver. Though, being sober didn't stop her from flirting with Erik the entire night. "Guess what." She was sitting on his lap, her arms draped around his shoulders.

"What's that?" Christine had been teasing him since they got to the party, and two hours in he wasn't sure how much more he could handle.

"I'm not wearing any underwear." She grinned, and Erik was disappointed. She definitely saved the least interesting for last.

"Since when is underwear a problem for me? I've made it relatively clear I'll rip that shit off if I have to."

"Well all you have to do now is rip my dress off when we get home." Christine kissed him, and she giggled when he pinched her butt.

"While that's amazing news, your little college story was a lot more torturous to sit through than knowing you're not wearing any underwear."

"Yeah well aren't you a party pooper." She frowned, but when Erik kissed her she was forced to smile. She just loved the tingling it gave her in the pit of her stomach. Once the kiss was over Christine blushed. "So you were forced to come to this party since you like the guy, but I've yet to see him. What's up with that?"

"He's busy talking to guests who will bitch if he doesn't talk to them at least once."

"Oh… So you're a low maintenance guest?"

"Incredibly low since I don't want to be at the party in the first place."

"Good point." She kissed his cheek, and Erik caught a glimpse of someone he didn't want to see ever again, let alone that night. He was having fun, he didn't want it to be ruined. "So how long till we can go? I mean parties are fun when I can drink, but I can't drink so I'm kinda bored besides teasing you."

"If you want to drink you can, I just figured you'd prefer not looking like an idiot in front of a bunch of cameras."

"No your assumption is correct." She combed her fingers through his hair, and when Erik's night ruiner started to walk towards Christine and him, Erik kissed her in hopes of them leaving the two of them alone. Christine was caught off guard when he proceeded to rub her cheek and deepen the kiss. She squeaked when his tongue grazed against her lips, and after the initial shock wore off she embraced the kiss. She just couldn't believe that he was doing such an intense display of PDA. Overwhelmed by the rush of having a tongue take part in a kiss in public, she was breathless once the kiss was over. Then with the adrenaline, hormones and somewhat of a buzz, she let something she'd been contemplating for a few months slip. "I want to have another baby with you."

Not absorbing what she said, he just started talking. "Yeah?" Christine nodded, and Erik froze and looked down at her when it hit him. "Wait what?"

"What?" Christine was surprised by his reaction if she were being honest.

"Hi you two."

Christine turned when she heard Raoul's voice, and Erik completely forgot about the Lawyer when Christine mentioned another kid. "Raoul? What are you doing here?" Christine didn't like seeing him, it made her uneasy.

"My boss is friends with the birthday boy. Guess you and I have that in common."

"So you're fucking your boss too? Besides him being a sixty year old man you've managed to pick a really good rebound." Erik felt a swell of pride when Christine giggled.

"Very funny. I see you're still ugly."

"Yeah but the difference between personality ugliness and vanity ugliness, is Christine doesn't see mine when she's sitting on my face."

"Erik." Christine swatted his shoulder, she wasn't sure why, she liked watching testosterone fueled battles.

"Yeah, Erik. Maybe don't treat her like she's a piece of meat. So how's the baby, Christine?" Raoul could be rude, but he had to admit he was curious. Christine looked at the table once Alexander was mentioned, and she grabbed Erik's wine glass so she could chug it down. "Pain in the butt?"

"He," Christine set the now empty wine glass down back down on the table. "didn't make it. We lost him at thirty weeks. Umbilical cord wrapped around his neck and he died." Christine picked her glass up, and drank it all, but it still wasn't enough. She needed something stronger. She eyed the glass in Raoul's hand, and when it looked like tequila she wondered if she could get it from him. "Is that tequila?"

"Christine." Erik ran his hands down her arms to her hands in attempt to bring her back, and she looked at Erik and nodded.

"You're right. I need to not drink. That's not a good way to deal with my pain." She sighed, and Raoul caught a glimpse of wedding rings.

"I'm so sorry to hear that, truly. You guys might be assholes but no one deserves that."

"I feel like your assessment of who is and isn't assholes it a bit unreliable seeing that you think mistreating, neglecting and hating your fiancée is perfectly fine in your books." Erik smiled at Raoul despite his annoyance.

And that's when Christine decided it was as entertaining as it was going to get. "You two need to stop it. We're all assholes, that will never change so just move on. If you're here to talk shit just leave. Erik and I were talking, and we're personally invited guests so we have more of a right here than you. Especially since we're not trying to start anything."

"Oh personally invited guests? A few months in the lap of luxury and you turn into snob."

"Dude, I am not a snob, I just know this little back and forth will get boring after awhile. A year after I left your ass at the altar and you're still bitter and single."

"I'm not bitter. I have every right not to like you two. And yeah, I'm single? So what. I wouldn't be giving me shit, because he's going to get bored of you soon and then you'll be single too."

Christine laughed as she rubbed her forehead, and Erik was zoned out staring at her breasts. "Raoul, we're married. He and I are in it for the long haul, and if you're even paying a sliver of attention as to what he's zoned out staring at, he's not going to get bored of me anytime soon. Besides, single and rich in New York? Sign me up."

"He didn't make you sign a prenup? Damn what a moron. Good for you, stupid of him."

"What? No I wouldn't take his money. I have my own money that I didn't tell you about, because my parents lawyer thought your parents would take it from me, which I wholeheartedly agree with now."

"Again with my parents. They aren't assholes."

"Well apparently my parents lawyer thought they were because he was the one who told me to keep it hidden from you guys. Now Erik and I were having an important discussion, could you please leave us alone?" Christine tried not to smile when she felt Erik's hand move to her butt, and he started rubbing it. He was still in shock over what Christine said. He was… Nervous? Mostly nervous. It hadn't even been a year, he figured she was interested in waiting at least a year. Now, he wanted kids, but he didn't want them if it meant Christine was rushing in hopes of achieving some goal he wasn't aware of yet.

"Enjoy your life of being a bitch."

"Enjoy your life of not getting laid." She smiled and waved at him, and once Raoul was gone she sighed and looked back at Erik who was still zoned out. "Hey, you alright?" She grazed her thumb against his cheek, and that got him to refocus again thankfully.

"Yeah I'm fine. Did the asshole leave?" He looked around, and when the Lawyer wasn't in sight he decided to return to their conversation from before being interrupted. "So you want to start trying for another baby? I thought you wanted to wait a year or so before doing that."

"I mean I do but I don't. I really want kids and we're not getting younger. I mean I'm twenty eight, you're thirty two, we're getting older. I don't want to wait till I'm thirty and you're nearly forty to bring a baby into our lives."

"I know, but I feel like our ages aren't the only thing making you think this. What are you wanting to achieve? Are you hoping a baby will help with the pain of losing Alexander? Or something like that?"

"I mean that'd be nice but I'm not expecting it. I don't know, I mean we were ready for one with Alexander, I just feel like now is a good time. If you don't agree then just tell me." She watched as he continued to rub her butt, and when he sighed she held her breath.

"I mean… If you're ready I'm ready."

"You're lying." Christine could tell, there was something he was hesitant about, but he obviously wasn't going to say it.

"Will you let me explain fully before getting mad?"

"Promise." Christine was officially concerned.

"Well," he sighed as he tried to figure out the best way to put what he needed to say. "with becoming a parent comes tradeoffs. No sleep, no private time, no random trips to other countries, things like that. Now, with Alexander we were kind of shoved into accepting those tradeoffs, but now we have the chance to choose. I know you like sleep and private time, and random trips to other countries can be a regular thing if you want it to be, but with a baby those will go away. Are you ready to give those up? I know I enjoy them quite a bit. So I personally am at a roadblock, because I do want to be a father but I don't know if I'm done being selfish."

"Those are good points. Honestly, I didn't mean to say that. So let's just talk about it later, and see what happens, because I'm at that roadblock too. I like focusing on just you and I, but I know I do want a family." She pulled at the hair on the nape of his neck, and he nodded since that wasn't a conversation he wanted to have in public.

"Sounds good. So after all that, would you like to dance? This is in fact, my song." Christine giggled when it was some pop song she'd yet to hear, but she didn't really listen to much on time. She had the music she liked, and she didn't really venture out.

"I would love to." She got up, and she took his hand as he stood. She laughed when he started to bob his head.

"I'm going to be one hundred percent honest, I don't know this song."

"I am shocked." Erik pulled her into the crowd, and Christine tried to dance after he grabbed her hips. Dancing in public only happened when she was drunk. She was still in fact, not drunk.