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Ah smooth sailing for Chelly with Pierce and his wolf friends out of the way...yes...
The Chemistry In Darkness
Chapter Seventy-Five
Thursday 27th February 2025
Chloe sunk her head in the water on one of the beaches on the Island. She felt absolute freedom in the action, something she hadn't felt in years. She could admit to herself it was the first time she'd felt this way since she first began dating Pierce, let alone when she committed her life to him by marrying him several months later in a rush to secure her future.
But now here Chloe was, feeling more freedom than she thought possible. And more loved than she ever thought possible as she brought herself back to the surface of the water.
Chloe smiled as Elly was swimming there in the water waiting for her, "This place is perfect."
"You're perfect," Elly replied with flirtation.
"Stop it," Chloe blushed, as she reached out for Elly.
Elly wrapped her arms around Chloe's waist, bringing their bodies together in the water of the ocean they were swimming in, "I will never stop complimenting your beauty, Chlo, and everything else about you."
Chloe shivered with nerves, feeling Elly's naked body against hers in the water, "Then I'd best get used to it, shouldn't I?"
"Yes, you should," Elly agreed, then unable to resist, lifted her right hand from Chloe's waist and slid it against Chloe's stomach, trying to enjoy the connection to their baby, "Is this okay?"
Chloe nodded happily, "Absolutely, this is your baby, I want you to feel connected to him or her in whatever way you feel comfortable."
Elly blushed, "I can't believe in six months there's going to be a miniature you running around this place…or around Erinsborough. We can come back here for visits to see The Pack, right?"
"Don't forget there will be a miniature you too. A miniature us. We can come back here as often as we can. I know I've only been here half a day but I feel so at home here," Chloe admitted.
"Maybe it's how it feels when you're with the person your meant to spend your life with…any place you're with them feels like home," Elly pondered.
"It might be that," Chloe grinned, "But also the freedom that I feel been out here…I could swim out here every day and never get tired of it. Or…at least until this lovely baby of ours makes it too difficult for me to walk across the Island like we did this morning."
Elly leant her lips to Chloe's ear, "I really can't wait to see my beautiful girlfriend struggling to walk because she's so pregnant. Lucky you have a really strong girlfriend who can carry you both anywhere."
Chloe's smile widened, "You called me your 'girlfriend.'"
Elly leant back to stare deep into Chloe's eyes, "What do you want to do now, girlfriend? Head back to shore, spend the rest of the day with Aster?"
"We can do that, girlfriend," Chloe mused, then smirked as she ran her hand up and down Elly's lower back, "But first…I kind of have this desire to make love to my girlfriend and have her make love to me too."
Elly's eyes glazed over with the same level of desire as Chloe, "I better get used to this…indulging the mother of my child with anything that pleases her."
"Oh, very much so," Chloe teased, "Anything I please…and what I please right now, is you…sliding your hand between my…yes, like that."
Elly smiled wickedly as she continued kicking her feet in the water, keeping them both upright, as she did as Chloe requested, sliding two fingers deep inside Chloe as they continued holding one another in the ocean.
Later that morning, Chloe and Elly couldn't help but smile wildly at one another as they walked back together to The Pack's campsite. Chloe felt on top of the world swimming with the freedom she felt in the ocean, away from the life she'd led for years. Making love to the love of her life as they held each other in the ocean was the most incredible feeling.
"So, am I able to ask what you all do out here every day?" Chloe wondered.
Elly shrugged, "Not as much as what we could be doing living amongst the people. Out here…we do a lot less of that. Abby's still a surgeon at the local hospital but she only works three days a week. Romulus works with the Federal Bureau as a Detective…a lot more often than a few days a week. He specializes in cases that have supernatural origins but he finds ways to hide that fact from the humans he works with making sure we're kept secret. Raven is a tech wiz…don't ask me how she's done it but she's somehow connected this Island to some wifi connection and does all her work out from here. Lexa is a professional cage fighter by night, works at that café across from the shore by day to give her something to do. Clarke is Lexa's manager, pulls in all her winnings. And I…did some home schooling with Lexa and managed to get her to graduate high school honours…about a decade after she quit school at 15. My part with this family, isn't much but it's home…we all contribute what we can."
"Hard to see what I can contribute unless anyone wants a personal assistant who hasn't worked in nearly five years," Chloe realized sadly.
"Hey, you are creating our child, that is the best contribution anyone could possibly make…keeping the family line going with potentially another wolfie to our brood," Elly smiled proudly.
Being reminded of their baby put another smile on Chloe's face, feeling like she could never not be happy at knowing she and Elly were going to be parents together, "I guess that's something important."
"I'm glad we're back together," Elly whispered as she ran her hand against Chloe's waist.
"So am I," Chloe agreed, then chewing on her lip, "Any chance Aster can stay with Raven tonight so you and I can reunite properly and spend the night…curled up in each other's' arms? And y'know, we can do a few more things that we couldn't in the ocean…because I'm really craving your… Ugh, what am I talking about? I'm not starting out as a great parent am I…wanting to shaft Aster to the others just because I want to be alone in your bed with you."
Elly giggled gently, "I'm craving more of you too, Chlo. The struggle is real. That balance between time alone and been parents. This is our life now. I say we try to get a little bit of alone time later this evening, maybe before dinner, then Aster will sleep after. With any luck we'll get my bed to ourselves but I have a feeling for the next week or so Aster is gonna want to curl into bed with us because she's really missed you."
"As much as I'm craving you and spending endless moments wrapped up in your arms, making love to you all over again…curling up and falling asleep with you and Aster…I think that sounds just as nice," Chloe decided as they reached the camp site.
Elly was about to concur when instead Aster rushed out of their tent over to them, with Raven following close behind. Aster immediately leapt at Chloe, who scoped her up into her arms.
"Went for a dip, huh?" Raven pointed out, acknowledging the girls still had wet hair.
"Something like that," Elly answered, then smiling at Aster and Chloe whom had started up their own conversation, interrupting the pair, "Hey, Aster, why don't you come to me and we can let Chloe finally get out of her clothes…?" then when everyone stared at her, "And into a new set of clothes because she's still wearing her pajamas from two nights ago. Geez, get your minds out of the gutter."
Chloe smirked at Elly before handing Aster over to her, "Thanks, Elly. I'll be back in a moment."
"Hang out in the tent instead, we'll join you in a moment," Elly offered back.
When Chloe ducked inside the tent, Elly turned to Raven but before she could open her mouth, Raven asked, "Sort out things with Abby and spend some time with your girl to sort out things between yourselves?"
Elly nodded, "Something like that. But we still need to talk to Aster about all this so we can-"
"What do you have to talk to me about, Mama?" Aster interrupted.
"You can be patient for a moment, little one," Elly chuckled, then to Raven, "Abby suggested we all get together tomorrow evening for a big dinner when she's back. Do you reckon everyone else would be up for that?"
"Absolutely we will, gotta have the entire family welcome our newest member. Though tomorrow probably isn't the best day, we'll make it work. I'll go round everyone up and make sure we put on a feast…or attempt to with our cooking skills tomorrow," Raven replied excitedly.
"Good," Elly grinned, "Because Chloe and I have some news we might be able to share with you all and I'd really love for everyone to be there."
"Well, I for one, can't wait to hear your news when you're ready to tell us. We'll leave the three of you alone today to…enjoy your time reuniting and wait until tomorrow's feast to celebrate. I'll go tell everyone," Raven decided happily before rushing off.
"All that sound good to you, Aster?" Elly asked her daughter.
"Maybe we should get the others to collect dinner from the mainland and bring out here then you all attempt to cook tomorrow night…" Aster suggested, then tilted her head, "What's the news you and Chloe need to tell us all? Are you two getting married?"
Elly's eyes widened, "Married? I mean, wow, one day maybe but no, Aster, we're not getting married…Chloe's still got that pesky husband of hers. She needs to organize a divorce and that can often take a year to go through the courts."
"Oh," Aster sighed in disappointment.
"C'mon, let's go check on Chloe," Elly offered, feeling Aster's disappointment in realizing herself that Chloe still shared something with Pierce that would take Chloe time to unravel before she could truly be free to be able to make the choice to marry her if they wanted.
A moment later, Elly carried Aster into their tent, leaning back to zip the tent back up behind them. Elly then smiled as she found Chloe was curled up on her bed, having changed her clothes into a pair of jeans and a t-shirt.
"Hey, you. Miss us?" Elly smiled at Chloe.
"Every moment," Chloe admitted.
Elly lowered Aster onto the bed, smiling all over again when the youngster curled up on the bed next to Chloe and Chloe wrapped her arm around Aster's shoulder, before sitting down on the bed next to them, "So, I was thinking…we should tell Aster…"
Chloe stared at Elly curiously, "Tell Aster about…?"
We're back together? My abusive husband who was poisoning me…probably not that…Aster's too young to know about that…I'm still not sure I've really dealt with it… Right, what else could Elly want to tell Aster about…? The baby? Is it too early when we still need to wait to find out if our baby has Huntington's? That I'm contemplating the cons and pros of becoming a werewolf one day…
As all the thoughts were racing through Chloe's head, Elly simply lowered her eyes to Chloe's stomach long enough for Chloe to confirm she was talking about the baby.
"Are you sure it's not too early to say anything?" Chloe worried.
Aster turned her head from Elly to Chloe then back again multiple times.
Elly cleared her throat, "I know we still have a choice to make if…but I truly believe our miracle is going to stay our miracle and we won't need to."
"What are you two talking about?" Aster asked in complete confusion.
Chloe stared at Elly silently for a moment before whispering, "Okay."
Elly found herself leaning forwards and scooping Aster up into her arms, smiling when Chloe sat up and wrapped her arms around her waist, so the three were sitting there hugging one another.
"Chloe and I have some exciting news that we want to tell you about because I'm pretty sure you're gonna be just as excited as we are, baby girl," Elly told Aster happily.
"What is it?" Aster asked nervously.
Chloe ran her hand around Aster's shoulder, "Your Mum and I are really happy about this and you're gonna be a very big part of this."
"Part of what?" Aster frowned.
Chloe looked over to Elly, tilting her head, "You should be the one to tell her."
"Okay," Elly nodded, then grinning down at her daughter, "Chloe's pregnant with my baby, Aster, you're going to be a big sister! How unbelievably incredible is that, aye?"
"Oh," Aster uttered, then wriggled out of Elly and Chloe's grasp to jump off the bed to the floor.
"Everything okay, baby girl?" Elly asked in confusion.
Aster shrugged, "Can you get me a puppy instead of a baby? I don't want to be a sister."
Elly immediately glanced at Chloe, seeing the blonde too completely flummoxed by Aster's reaction as she had always been their number one supporter, "Y'know, Aster, we can't…there's no 'instead' of the baby…because the baby is already on its way…and you are gonna love been a big sister."
"I'm going to bed," Aster blurted out, before crawling up onto her own bed, digging herself under the covers and burying her head under them too.
Chloe frowned at Elly, both women completely bewildered by Aster's reaction, before curling up to Elly, kissing her forehead and whispering, "Of all the people in the world that would be jumping for absolute joy over the news of our baby…I thought for sure Aster would be that person."
"I know, me too," Elly whispered back, staring at her daughter hiding under the bed covers, "How is Aster not happy about this? What do we do now?"
Next time - Say what? The littlest biggest Chelly shipper ain't on board for Chelly baby... Can Chelly find a way through Aster's hesitation to be a big sister?