Chapter Twenty-Eight

Wednesday 25th December – 12.30pm

Still standing behind Chloe with her arms around the blonde's waist, Elly pulled back from kissing Chloe's cheek, unable to resist licking her lips, "Is this breaking your rules...me holding you like this and kissing your cheek? Is that a...more than friends kinda thing that...I shouldn't be doing until you're all mine?"

Chloe blushed deeply as she found herself staring at Elly's lips momentarily, "Friends cuddle all the time...but you are so close to breaking the rules...if you keep looking at me like that and licking your lips then I'm going to want to kiss you and that would most definitely be something I don't want to do as it would mean cheating on Pierce."

Elly pouted at the blonde, "Waiting a few weeks to kiss you will be pure torture but holding you in my arms and kissing your cheek," Elly broke off her words to press her lips against Chloe's cheek again, "Will just have to do...or maybe I'm just a rule breaker..."

Chloe closed her eyes as she felt Elly softly trail kisses up her neck.

This is exactly what Chloe did to me in my dream earlier this year that finally woke up my feelings for her. That dream changed everything and now here I am with Chloe kissing her like I dreamt she was kissing me.

Chloe soon snapped her eyes open, giggling playfully, "Alright that's enough. No more kisses. You're breaking the rules and it's just not fair. We have all the time in the world for this as soon as I've broken up with Pierce. But until then...cuddling is fine, saying you love me when we're alone or in a text message is fine...but no more kissing...even if it is innocent not kissing my lips kissing."

Elly shifted until she rested her chin on Chloe's shoulder, "Okay...no more kissing...just lots of holding you in my arms when my arms aren't already full with this little guy in them. Y'know...I don't think it's going to take my family long at all to know just how in love with you I am."

"Are you attracted to me?" Chloe suddenly blurted out without thinking then paused as she felt Elly loosen her grip on her waist, "Sorry...I didn't mean to...say it like that. It's just feelings are one thing but if you aren't attracted to me...physically..."

Elly took a breath before squeezing Chloe's waist once more, "I am attracted to you, Chlo. I know I messed things up after we slept together that one time and I ignored wanting to deal with why it happened. But like I did tell you on our date, I'm attracted to you. You're the only woman that I am attracted to and it took me a really long time to come to terms with that but now that I have accepted it, I won't be scared of it ever again. I want you, Chloe."

Chloe nodded gently, "Right…I know you are…I just get scared thinking…this isn't what you want."

Elly nuzzled her lips against Chloe's neck once more, "If it wasn't for the fact that we're not together until you can break things off with Pierce…and okay mostly the part where I gave birth to Elliot three days ago…then I'd want to be with you right now. You know we're probably going to have to wait awhile before we can...be together...it's just giving birth...my body is a complete and utter mess right now. I don't even feel like I'm me, right now. I don't think I'm going to be…feeling confident in my body to not feel like my insides are going to fall out for at least a couple of months…and I just killed any romance…"

Chloe squeezed Elly's hands, "Elly, there is no rush for us to get to romance. I would never pressure you in any way to. I know having a baby is a massive change to your body and you'll need time before feeling like you can be you again. You're not killing any romance mood by being honest about how your body is making you feel. In fact, I like how open and honest you are being. I want you to feel like you can tell me anything. I'm happy to wait until you are ready for us to be together physically…I'll wait however long it takes for you to feel confident in your body again."

Elly blushed at Chloe, "You're amazing. I just needed you to know so we're on the same page. I know after the way I reacted to the first time we slept together made you think that I…didn't want you. I do want you, Chloe, I was just scared because of how I thought everyone would judge me that I never stopped to realize how much I want you. If it takes me a couple months before I can…get back in the groove so to speak I don't want you feeling like I don't want you like that when it's all about my issues with my body."

"I get it, I promise," Chloe decided.

Elly raised her eyebrow at the blonde, "My issues with waiting for my body to feel like it's back to normal doesn't mean that I can't with you…once you're officially mine I can show you just how much I love you…" then Elly sighed as she glanced down at her son, "What am I even saying? I'm not going to have the energy or probably the time to focus on you at all for like…months. Last thing I'd want is to embarrass myself by falling asleep during the middle of showing you that love."

Chloe couldn't resist giggling at the thought, "Elly, you could never embarrass yourself with me. I love you and I get it, that us being together is going to take some time to work out how it all works. With the lack of sleep, needing to settle into being a mum, learning everything you need to about your son so you can be the best mum to Elliot that you can be. You and I need to take things slow. You're a mum, Elly, and you need to put your son ahead of me…and probably ahead of yourself as you'll soon find out too."

Elly entangled her fingers with Chloe's, finding herself pressing her body further against Chloe's back, "I know, I will have to do that. I need to focus on being a mum instead of my love life with you…that I will have with you. Things with us…once we are an us…will just have wait to take their time before we can be together completely. Will you wait for me?"

"Of course, I'll wait for you," Chloe answered immediately, "Elly, there is no pressure here. I'm aware of what being with you means. We need to take a lot of time to work out how a relationship between us will work. I don't want to get into this with you and then have it all fall apart because we rushed things. I'm in this with you for the long haul. When we finally will be together…when you're ready for us sleep together…it'll be amazing and well worth the wait."

"I love you," Elly whispered as she leant down and pecked Chloe on the cheek.

Chloe blushed once more as she stared into Elly's eyes, "I love you, too. Are you breaking the rules again?"

"By kissing you on the cheek even though I'd much rather kiss you on your perfect lips?" Elly gently teased the blonde.

"Yes, that, stop that! Rules! No kissing or touching more than hugging until I end things with Pierce and we can officially be together," Chloe reminded Elly.

"If Pierce is going to take a week or so to come home then you may just have to accept I am a rule breaker and my love for you is going to get me into trouble when all I want to do is kiss you," Elly smirked.

Chloe rested her forehead against Elly's, "If you keep trying to break the rules then I'm going to end up feeling bad about how us starting begins…and I don't want to feel that way about us ever."

"Okay," Elly whispered into Chloe's ear, "I can play by the rules for a week or so as it means I get to be with you forever. You're worth waiting for too."

Chloe smiled up at Elly before staring down at Elliot in his cot. Chloe gently disentangled her hands from Elly's, instead placing them on the edge of the cot. Chloe felt comforted when Elly's hands wrapped around her waist and they stood there staring at the infant.

"Do you need to go home to your family soon?" Elly asked quietly.

I couldn't think of a better way to spend Christmas day than more time with Chloe and Elliot.

Chloe ran her tongue over her upper lip, "I think I want to stay here with you two for a little longer."

Maybe one day…these two will be my family too.

Elly smiled at the blonde, "I'd really like it if you staye-"

Their conversation was cut off when Chloe's phone started ringing.

Chloe immediately pulled back a little from Elly's embrace, rushing to grab her phone out of her pocket, only to cancel the call as soon as she saw Pierce's name appear on the caller ID.

Chloe glanced back up at Elly as she slipped the phone back in her pocket, "Sorry, I didn't want the noise to unsettle Elliot and get him crying when you need some rest soon. I should learn to switch my phone on silent when I'm around Elliot. The last thing you need is unexpected noise rousing him and making it hard for you to get him to settle. And also…that was Pierce."

"You can…answer it, Chlo…or call him back. It's okay, I know he's your boyfriend…for now," Elly whispered.

Chloe turned around in Elly's embrace so she was now facing the brunette, and wrapped her arms around Elly's lower back, "Pierce is probably just calling to wish me a Merry Christmas. It's still early evening on Christmas Eve in New York…he can leave me a voicemail…I can call him back later this arvo."

"Are you sure?" Elly asked.

Chloe bit her lip, "How can I? I can't talk to Pierce when I'm standing here with you…holding you like this…trying everything I can not to kiss you…"

Elly was unable to resist leaning her forehead against Chloe's, "Resisting kissing you until you're finally mine…we can get through this."

"We have to," Chloe decided, "I won't cheat on Pierce…and we still have a lot to work out between us to know that this is going to work for us and Elliot. It's just a week…or so…"

"And if we kiss once…then we'll want to kiss again…and again…and whilst kissing would be as far as we can take things…cheating on Pierce, neither of us can do that. So, we wait…until we are in the right place with each other and we're free…to kiss each other without anyone being in our way," Elly decided.

"Exactly…we wait," Chloe agreed before resisting the urge to kiss Elly and rested her head against the crook of Elly's neck. Chloe felt comforted when Elly hugged her tighter and the pair both glanced down at the infant in the cot, feeling peace with one another.

Their moment was almost broken by a text message alert from Chloe's phone. Chloe didn't move to check it, "Probably Pierce's voicemail. I'll call him back in a few hours."

"You sure?" Elly asked softly.

Chloe squeezed Elly's waist, "You mean would I prefer to call my…boyfriend back or would I prefer to stay here with you, cuddled up in your embrace, not breaking any rules by kissing, as we stare at your gorgeous boy before you need a rest? It's an easy choice."

Elly smiled at Chloe's words.

"Besides…whatever it is…can't be that important…" Chloe decided as she stood there with Elly.

Meanwhile, in New York City, Pierce grimaced as he got Chloe's voicemail, leaving his message to get his girlfriend to call him back:

"Chloe, I know you're probably with the boys enjoying Christmas lunch but I need you to call me back as soon as possible. Lisa's called me in a panic because Hendrix didn't meet her at the gate for his flight. Hendrix isn't answering his phone and she didn't have your number. Lisa doesn't know if he managed to slip by her to play hooky with his Sydney mates before getting to Lisa and Alana's on his own or even if he made the flight. The airline won't tell Lisa if he was on board as even a 17-year-old has right to privacy unless we report it to the police. We need to know if you got him on the flight when you took Hendrix to the airport. Call me back, Chlo."

Pierce shook his head as soon as he hung up the phone, pausing for a minute before immediately dialing Chloe's number again…