Chapter Thirty
Wednesday 25th December – 1.00pm
Elly felt like she was holding her breath as she was waiting to hear from Chloe on how the blonde wanted to help her with her son, praying it would lead them to be a family.
"I don't think I'd be anywhere near ready to be a co-parent to the peanut...not yet. I know we can't just be a couple and not be a family at some stage in the near future. Maybe in a few months when I've wrapped my head around...us being a family. But 'til then I want to help you with him," Chloe finally decided.
We can make that work, Chlo!
Elly leant her head against the top of Chloe's, "There is no rush for you to be a co-parent or the three of us to be a family. I just need to know it's not a future you don't want and one day we will be a family. If you want to help, then I'd more than love you too. Maybe when you've ended things with Pierce and it wouldn't be too much you could stay here with us for a night. See if the sleepless night, endless baby needing one thing after another...that hopefully won't scare you away from us forever. It'd just be nice to have you here for a night to hold you in my arms for all of an hour or two that I might manage to get to sleep for."
"That'd be nice," Chloe whispered, "I know this is confusing and we shouldn't before I end things with Pierce but I...I want to be here for the both of you as much as I can be...I don't want to wait a week or so for Pierce to get back before I start helping you with him."
"So…you want to help by…?" Elly wasn't sure what Chloe meant.
"I've got time off work for the next few weeks so I could be here for you both. Help during the day look after Elliot…and you, help look after you as you adjust to being a mum," Chloe suggested before biting her lip, "And maybe…would it be wrong…if I…was to stay here with you overnight to help you out with him with everything you need to do for him?"
"Overnight…here?" Elly repeated with uncertainty.
Chloe widened her eyes, "Oh I didn't mean…me staying here in your bed overnight here to help you with Elliot because…if we share a bed then that is definitely cheating territory…even though nothing between us could even happen because exhaustion and body issues…the temptation would be there to hold you in my arms and that's…not something we should be doing. But what about if I was to…stay here at the Kennedy's…on their couch for a few nights?"
"You'd do that for me…I mean for us?" Elly asked in surprise.
"I want to be that person that will be there for the both of you. Help you to adjust to this change of being a mum and help with Elliot...settling him when he won't fall asleep, changing him, bathing him...pretty much everything aside from feeding him cause that I can't do," Chloe decided.
"You really want to do this for us?" Elly was still shocked.
Chloe nodded, "I'm not saying I'll be any good at it and won't make a million and one mistakes but yeah I don't want to let you do all this on your own. I don't want to just...date you on the side and not be involved in helping with your son. Me being here under the same roof, on the couch until things have been ended with Pierce, if you're having trouble settling Elliot then you can bring him to me and we can try together. Is it too much? If you want to do everything on your own please just tell me and I'll back off-"
"No, no, it's not too much at all. I want you to help as much as you want to. I'd love you too. I want us to work and for that we need this to work for the three of us. If you are all-in on helping me with my son and don't want to wait for Pierce to return to do this then I honestly didn't think I could love you anymore but this proves that I really can fall even more in love with you," Elly confessed, "Though...you do know if you stay here at Susan and Karl's on their couch...we're going to have to tell them about us...that we will be together as soon as Pierce returns? Bea will need to know too."
"I know. I did want to keep it between the pair of us until Pierce does come home and I can end it because I hate the idea of other people knowing more about my relationships with both you and him before he does. It feels cruel...them knowing he'll be dumped when he gets back. I'll likely have to tell Aaron and David too since I'll be here during the nights...Aaron might need some time to come to terms with my decision. How do you think Susan and Karl will take it? Would they even want me sleeping on their couch? Would they even want us to be together?" Chloe asked.
"Susan and Karl will be fine with it. They only want to see me happy and besides my son you are the only person in the world who can do that for me. Susan and Bea both know I'm in love with you. Karl didn't have any issues when we were dating earlier this year. They love me and want what's best for me. That's you and I being together and taking our time to work on...the three of us one day being a family," Elly reassured.
"Then it's decided...I'll stay here with you to do what I can to help you and...take those first steps to us being...a family. As long as Susan and Karl...and Bea are comfortable with me staying here. When I come back over later tonight for dessert...we can talk to them then about it. If they are happy for us to do this...I'll tell Aaron and David after that," Chloe decided.
"You are so incredible to want to take these steps and that you want us to be a family," Elly whispered, before finding herself yawning.
Chloe looked up at Elly as she heard her yawn, "I think it's time you have that rest the doctors told you to when they agreed you could be discharged this morning."
Elly squeezed her eyes shut for a moment before re-opening them, "Okay…I'll nap. I don't want to move Elliot as I think he's deeply sleeping…for the first time ever…and I'm pretty much setting myself up for being up all night long now if he's sleeping like this during the day. I'm too tired to try and change that now and I don't want to ask my family to keep him awake if I can't be to feed him and change him for the next few hours. Note to self, work on a better routine to settle Elliot into so he's not sleeping more in the day than at night or we're going to have a hell of a time with him."
"You said 'we're'," Chloe smiled, "And that feels so right. We're going to do this together…all of this. You, me and Elliot…we're going to do all of this together…hell of a time…to the most amazing experience in our lives. All of it…and I'm going to shut up and let you nap already."
"Stay with us 'til I fall asleep," Elly whispered.
"I'll stay with you," Chloe promised.
Elly leant down and pressed her lips to Chloe's forehead before settling back on the pillow.
"Rule breaker," Chloe whispered as she rolled her eyes at Elly.
"You wouldn't have me any other way," Elly teased, before closing her eyes and falling asleep within minutes.
Chloe stared at the pair who held her in their embrace, finding herself closing her eyes too for a minute, not realizing she'd soon be asleep.
Or that her phone was ringing once more.
Hours later, Bea knocked on Elly's bedroom door. Upon getting no answer she knocked again before opening the door enough to poke her head in, "Elly, are you...?"
Bea trailed off as soon as she found Elly sleeping soundly on her bed with her infant son resting on her chest. But it was the blonde woman curled up next to the pair that surprised her the most.
"I thought Chloe had gone home hours ago," Bea whispered to herself as she shyly smiled at the pair and the way they were curled up against one another like they were a couple.
Not wanting to wake them but knowing she needed to, Bea knocked on the opened door again to try and garner their attention.
Instead of waking the sleeping women, Elliot awoke suddenly screeching as he burst into a crying fit.
Chloe and Elly immediately awoke at the sound of the infant, both placing their hands to their foreheads in surprise at being woken. Chloe blinked wildly, "What-did I fall asleep?"
Elly immediately unwrapped her arm from around Chloe's body and went to soothe her son from crying and trying to settle him.
Chloe shifted so she was leaning over the brunette and infant before she then realized they weren't alone, "Uh...hi...Bea."
"Sorry," Bea apologized to the pair, as she opened the bedroom door further, seeing her sister glance up at her before returning her attention back to her son, "I was trying to wake you girls, not Elliot, and um...sorry Chloe I didn't even realize you were still here. Suze will have Christmas dinner on the table in 5 minutes and I know you skipped lunch, Elly, so you need to eat to keep your energy up."
Chloe's eyes widened, "Wait, dinner?! What time is it? I swear I only closed my eyes for a minute. The boys are going to kill me if I've missed Christmas dinner with them."
"It's 6pm, Chloe," Bea told the blonde.
Chloe sighed in relief, "Susan serving your Christmas dinner earlier than the boys, thank God. I was supposed to be at home by now to help them cook the final few things as they were gonna have it all ready by half past seven. I did not mean to fall asleep. Wow I'm so tired now that I have."
As Elly shifted herself until she was sitting up against the bedhead, cradling Elliot against her chest trying to settle him, she looked at Chloe, "I'm so sorry, Chloe, I didn't mean to mess up your entire Christmas."
Chloe frowned up at her, "You didn't ruin my Christmas. I've had the most amazing Christmas with the pair of you. It's just...I hadn't planned to spend all day with you...the boys are going to be asking a lot of questions when I go home. Ugh now I kind of just want to stay here with you two since they are gonna bust me for spending all day with you."
"You should head home if you want to, Chlo. I don't want to get you in trouble anymore," Elly insisted before fussing over her son, "How did you fall asleep for hours and not wake us, lil man? You need a change and a feed. Bea, do you want to tell Suze I'll be out for dinner as soon as I've got this one sorted?"
Bea found herself leaning against the doorway, "I'll let Suze know. I think my nephew fell asleep like that cause you two were...all cozy with the snuggling one another cause you two are so in love with each other. He felt safe with the pair of you to fall asleep."
Chloe cleared her throat, "We weren't...snuggling one another, Bea. We just fell asleep is all. I shouldn't have even been on the bed."
"It's fine, Chlo, we didn't do anything wrong," Elly reassured the blonde, "Bea, we'll be out in a few minutes…and would you stop putting pressure on Chloe and I?"
Bea rolled her eyes at her sister before leaving the pair alone.
Elly stood up from the bed, shifting to the change table, proceeding to change Elliot's diaper, but still focusing on Chloe, "You okay?"
Chloe chewed on her lip as she stood up, "I shouldn't have been on the bed. I shouldn't have curled up around the two of you. I need to keep a distance between us. I don't want to cheat on Pierce."
Elly sighed gently, "Are you reconsidering staying here? If you want us to keep our distance, Chlo, please say so. It's only a week or so, we'll be together after."
Chloe walked over to Elly, wrapping her arm around Elly's hip, watching her with her son for a moment, "I'm not going anywhere but this is why…I need to stay on the couch, not be on your bed for any reason because the temptation to cuddle up to you…it's too much. I'll want to kiss you and I can't do that."
Elly raised her eyes as she glanced at Chloe, "You know you're cuddling me right now, right?"
Chloe shook her head at herself, yet didn't let Elly go, "I should head home. I'm feeling rather hungry as we didn't have lunch."
"I thought you said your Christmas dinner wouldn't be for a while yet? Why don't you stay here with us for a little bit of food before you have your dinner with the boys?" Elly offered.
"You really can't let go of me, can you?" Chloe teased before deciding, "Okay, maybe I can spare another half an hour. The boys are going to kill me…may as well make it worth it by getting in as much time with you and Elliot as I can."
"Feels like you can't let go of me, either," Elly pointed out, "Okay, I promise it'll just be for a little while. I like the idea of you spending time with my family, I could get used to that."
Chloe squeezed Elly's waist, "You better get used to it. I'm always going to be there for you, both of you."
"We're always going to be there for you too," Elly assured, "I know you didn't mean to spend all day with us…but you really did make this the most amazing Christmas I've ever had. It wasn't just because it was my first Christmas with Elliot. I hope this…y'know…this is the first of many Christmas's we'll all spend together."
"There's no doubt in my mind we'll have so many more to come over the years and all the other holidays and milestones we'll get to enjoy for years to come," Chloe smiled at the thought, "Now, let's get this little guy fed and settle him in his cot so we can spend a little bit more time together before I have to go home."