All characters mentioned at in the ages:
Jim - 66
Melinda - 62
Ned - 40
Katie - 37
Scott - 32
Mackenzie - 27
Freya - 3 1/2
"Daddy! Daddy!"
Scott shrugged his laptop bag down from his shoulder to his elbow as he closed the apartment door behind him, a bouquet of mixed flowers in his other hand. Mackenzie's mother Melinda was sitting at the kitchen table, just pushing herself up, and Freya was charging toward him.
The little girl's arms were open wide with a grin on her face. Her blue eyes were alight and shining with happiness and love. He couldn't help grinning too. "Hey princess," he said, putting his laptop bag down beside the couch and sweeping up his daughter. Freya was very nearly three and a half, and she wrapped her arms around his neck and nestled against him for a hug. "Been good for your grandma?"
"Uh-huh," she replied.
Now that Mackenzie had gone back to school to finish her degree and get her RN license, Freya had started daycare, and she was starting to pick up on a lot of things. Her half-days at preschool meant Mack or Scott could drop her off, and then Melinda or even sometimes Katie would pick her up for lunch and watch him until either one of them came home.
Today, Mackenzie was on campus for exams, and Scott wasn't sure when she would be home.
Melinda took the bouquet of flowers out of his hand and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "Hey, Scott. Good day?"
Scott chuckled. "Not as good as Freya's," he commented, carrying her to the small kitchen. He saw sheets of construction paper laid out, with Freya's first name and last spelled in wobbly crayon on a few. "You do this, kiddo?"
Freya nodded, then squirmed to be let down. She picked up the sheet closest to her and waved it around. "Me and Nana did it! She's teaching me how to write my name!" She crowed, grinning, and Scott ruffled her blonde hair. She was dressed in blue overalls with a white shirt underneath, her feet bare.
"Just the first few," Melinda said with a smile. "After that, she pretty much had the hang of it. She really is a very smart little girl. She reminds me a lot of when Mackenzie was little."
"Oh, and I called on the way home," Scott told her as Freya was looking back and forth between the two of them, clearly interested. "I managed to get the reservations for L-a B-e-n-n-e."
"That's good," Melinda said, keeping her voice even, and winked at him. "I'm sure Mack will be excited when you tell her. You know me and Jim can babysit whenever. Just give us a call."
Once they had bid Melinda a goodnight and she had departed for home, Scott quickly scooped Freya up and brought her with him, tickling her before giving her a soft toss onto his and Mackenzie's bed. He quickly changed his clothes and came back to find Freya was hiding under the covers, giggling quietly.
"Hmm…. I wonder where my little princess went," he said, playing along and ducking to look under the bed. "Hmmm not there... " He went to the closet next. "Not there… I wonder where she could be?"
Freya was impatient and stood up from under the blanket. "I'm right here, daddy!" She squealed.
"There you are!" He turned around quickly and scooped her up into his arms. "What do you think about hot dogs for dinner?"
"Nope," Freya was a picky eater.
"Grilled cheese?" He asked.
"Yeah!" She giggled.
Scott chuckled. "All right, princess. Grilled cheese it is."
Mackenzie sent him a text to let him know when she was on the way home. By then, Freya had completed yet another careful crayon signature so she could proudly show it to her mother.
Scott put together a plate for her, with a little dollop of ranch dressing (for some reason she loved it with everything), a sandwich cut into six pieces, and a cup of applesauce. He was just flipping a grilled cheese for himself with bacon when Mackenzie unlocked the front door of their apartment.
"Mama?" Freya's head popped up at the sound and stopped coloring, her body bouncing with excitement as she climbed down. "It's mama! You're home!"
"Hi, baby," Mackenzie said, and Scott turned in time to see her shoulder her own bag down so she could put it on the floor. She saw the flowers, and her tired expression softened. "Oh, Scott. Flowers?"
"For completing your last final today, honey." He said while keeping an eye on his sandwich.
She released a quiet groan when Freya, having climbed down from her chair and raced toward her, threw her arms around her legs and hugged her. "I missed you too, baby. Is that grease on your hands?" Scott winced. At least she was in jeans and it might wash out. "Grilled cheese? Mmm. I'll try it," she told him as she came over with Freya perched on her hip. "Ooh, that looks good."
"Mama, come look!"
Scott lifted the corner of the sandwich, checking the color, as he heard Mackenzie praise their daughter's efforts. When he glanced at the table she had settled into a chair and had her fist propping up her jaw, and she was gazing fondly at Freya.
Their daughter's smile was dimpled and broad just like Mackenzie's, and he knew his girlfriend had been more than appreciative that she had taken after her. It could've equally gone the other way. And even though Scott technically wasn't her biological father, she knew no one else as daddy besides him.
When Freya had a nightmare, she crawled into their bed and sought their comfort, and when she was sick, he would make her favorite soup while Mackenzie laid in bed with her, reading books and singing songs. They were an almost perfect family, but no one was perfect no matter how hard they tried.
She smoothed her blond curls out of her eyes and smiled at her. "It's beautiful, sweetheart," Mackenzie said, leaning in to press a kiss to her cheek.
"Mama," Freya stage-whispered. "Nana and Daddy said something about a-t-l-n-b-n-e."
"Oooh," Mackenzie said. "That sounds very intriguing. Something involving letters, huh?"
Scott shook his head. "You're getting to be more and more like your mom every day," he said. "You are going to be a very good spy."
She giggled, then started humming her "spy song," from a song she had heard watching one of his cartoons with her Grandpa Jim.
Mackenzie patted her head again and went to the refrigerator to pull out the pitcher of lemonade.
Scott slid the last sandwich onto the plate and dusted off his hands, then wrapped his arm around his girlfriend's waist and kissed her temple. "Feeling okay?"
"Yeah." She put an empty cup beside the pitcher, on the counter, and then leaned against him for a moment. "I walked out of the exam so excited to finally have finished... and now I'm just exhausted. Ugh. I'm sure I'll feel better in the morning."
He kissed her cheek. "I'm sure," he murmured reassuringly. "We should call Katie and Ned and go out. Your parents said they'd always watch Freya."
"Yeah, that's just my mom though. She literally can't say no sometimes, even when she should," she smiled and kissed his jaw, and he released her. "Remember any other letters, Freya?" she asked, a smile still in her voice. "Maybe La Benne?"
"Your mom told you," he said, raising his eyebrows, surprisingly.
"She can't keep secrets, you should know this." She said, smiling at him. "It was an accident though. I promise."
"Mmhmm. Of course, it was," he teased her as he leaned down to kiss her on the lips this time.
After dinner, the three of them relax on the couch. Scott had a few emails to answer, and so Freya stayed on Mack's lap for a few minutes. Then she went to her room and brought back a stuffed fairy doll and unicorn.
"Well, that definitely looks like trouble," Mackenzie chuckled.
Scott didn't mind it.
Freya made voices for both toys, and inevitably more stuffed animals came into the mix. "Here, Daddy," the little girl said, walking over to him to hand him a blue fairy. "Hold, please."
"All right," He agreed.
After a while, he moved off the couch to play with her while Mackenzie laid down to get some rest. She quickly fell asleep on the couch, and Freya noticed, going over to her.
"Mama..." Freya's soft plea for her attention caught Scott's attention.
"Hey, sweetheart," he called softly. "Mama needs her rest. C'mere. I'll play with you some more, okay?"
Freya poked her lower lip out a little, then gently patted Mackenzie's cheek. "Okay," she whispered softly to him. "Sleep, mama. Go back to sleep."
Then she clambered up onto the couch and giggled when Scott wrapped her in a hug. "You know Mama's graduating soon, right?"
Freya looked up at him. "Uh-huh."
"I think we should do something nice for her." He said. "What do you think? Maybe a nice trip to the moon?"
Freya let out a loud laugh then quieted herself as she remembered her mother was sleeping, and that it might be a secret between her and her daddy. "Silly Daddy," she said. "We can't go to the moon."
"Mars, then?" He suggested as Freya muffled her laughter against his shirt. "Just remember it's a secret."
Freya's eyes rounded, and she touched her finger to her lips. "Shh," she repeated.
"And if I tell you, then you will tell Mama and it won't be a surprise anymore." He told her.
Freya shook her head with such a solemn expression on her face that he almost crumbled. "S'prise."
He kissed his daughter's forehead. "Here. I think it's bath time for you, baby-bear."
He told Freya to pick out some pajamas and went to the bathroom to start filling the tub with water. He couldn't remember being so young that a bath was a treat and involved half a tub full of toys, but the little danced mermaids over the surface of the water, alternating from singing songs, making other ocean noises, and laughter
After she was clean and Scott had given her long hair a brisk rub with the towel, Freya reluctantly agreed to brush her teeth and prepare for bed. Mackenzie shuffled down the hallway and appeared in the bathroom doorway, rubbing a fist against her eye and stifling a yawn. Freya's stuffed unicorn toy was tucked in the crook of one arm.
"Mama," the little girl said through a mouthful of toothpaste lather.
Mackenzie chuckled. "I guess someone thought I might need a unicorn to protect me when my two favorite people weren't around," she murmured. "But I wanted to tuck Rainbow Dash in with my baby girl. All squeaky-clean?"
Freya wasn't generally insecure or clingy, but that unicorn had been her security blanket for over a year now, and her world came to a crashing halt when it went missing. She had been so upset when the toy had accidentally been left at his grandparents' house and they hadn't been able to find it, that Scott had been thirty seconds from ordering an exactly identical toy off eBay.
Even now he didn't think it would be a bad idea, but he knew that Freya would somehow know. A cleaner, newer Rainbow Dash wouldn't be the same to her. And yet, Freya had taken her unicorn and tucked it into her sleeping mother's arms, trusting it to keep her safe.
They tucked their little girl into her toddler bed, and Mackenzie returned the toy to her and leaned down to kiss her cheek. "You're such a sweet little girl," Mackenzie whispered. "I love you, sweet girl."
"Love you, mama," the little girl said, her dimpled smile back on her face. "Love you, Daddy."
"Love you too," Scott said. "Now get some rest."
"And maybe grandma and I can take you on a little trip tomorrow," Mackenzie said. "If you go to sleep right now. Maybe the aquarium."
Freya's eyes lit up. "Yes! Yes, Mama!"
She assured them that she would go to sleep, even though Scott could tell Freya would be keyed up for at least another half-hour, and he chuckled as he closed her door behind them and took Mackenzie's hand.
"Good way to make sure he won't be able to sleep tonight," he teased her softly.
She shrugged. "I guess I just wanted to see that look on her face," she admitted. "She just gets so excited. I'm happy just watching her."
"I know what you mean," he said as he wrapped his arms around her from behind and gently embraced her, and she relaxed into him.
"I love you, sweetheart," he whispered against her neck as she hung her head. "I love you so much."
"I love you too," she whispered, and he felt the small hitch in her breathing before she guided his palm up to cup her breast through her clothes.
He knew she was tired, so when she stripped her shirt off and turned to face him, raising her chin in a silent plea for a kiss, only then did he let himself imagine taking things further. Her lips were warm and tasted faintly of the chicken salad she had for dinner and her skin was so warm, and smooth under his palms as he stroked her back.
He kissed and caressed his way over her body. He nuzzled against her hip, lavished kisses over her belly, and smiled when she bent her knees and opened her legs in silent welcome. His girlfriend. He could still remember the anxiety that he had seen in her eyes when they had first begun to learn from each other this way, the times she had panicked and his heart had broken for her and her pain. He never let himself forget it.
He still took things slow, looking for any sign in her that she was uncomfortable. He never wanted to make her uncomfortable. Tonight, though—she had been working so hard, and he was proud of her and all she had accomplished.
He adored her, he loved her, with his lips and fingertips, with the nuzzle of his cheek against her skin. He whispered it against her breastbone, against her hip. When he traced his tongue against the curve of her inner thigh, she released a quiet, breathy moan that almost made his toes curl.
By the time he moved over her, the taste of her arousal on his tongue and her thighs spread wide in welcome, she was glowing faintly, panting as she tried to catch her breath. Her lashes were low over her blue eyes and she was the most beautiful woman in the entire world, in the stillness and warmth of their bedroom. She reached up to him so she could stroke her palm over his shoulder blades and run her fingers through his hair, so she could draw him closer.
She shivered when he entered her; she was still so, so slick from the teasing of his tongue and lips, and his breath came out in a sigh as he slowly worked his full length inside her, in gentle strokes. "Oh God," she breathed. "Ohhhh..."
He moaned softly as he lowered himself fully to her, being careful to partially support his weight so he didn't press down on her too much, and relished the feel of her smooth legs twined around him, the comb of her fingers through his hair, the slick hot yield of her tender inner flesh.
Then he reached down and rubbed his thumb against her; he had suckled and teased her earlier, but at the sensation his girlfriend seemed to constrict, pulsing once against his erection, drawing in a startled half-gasped breath.
"Scott... mmmm..." She panted.
He smiled as he kept working his thumb against her, and he felt her tense just before she began to rock and angle her hips, greedy for the sensation, still deep inside her. Her thrusts were shallow and erratic, sometimes fast, sometimes slow, and her nipples brushed his chest as she arched her back.
"Mmm, more," she begged him, pressing her heels down to thrust her hips more urgently. "More. oh my God... please..."
"Like this?" He shifted his weight, then reached for her hand and licked her fingertips.
When he guided her hand between them, a rosy glow bloomed in her cheeks, but she followed his lead and a shudder went down both their spines in answer.
He slid out of her, almost fully, then back inside her in one agonizingly long, slow thrust, all the way to the hilt. She was rapidly stroking her hand against herself, and he licked one of her nipples before he pulled out of her for a more rapid thrust. She groaned in answer, her blue eyes hazed with desire.
Bringing her to the cusp of climax and then watching her shatter with it, in a paroxysm of joy and sheer need... he never, never tired of it. She clung to him, muffling her hoarse cries against his shoulder, her legs spread wide and their skin slick with sweat as he moved in her with one last thrust. She strained under him, almost sobbing, and when they came, their lips were touching and they were both trembling.
Making love to her—every time they were together this way, fast or slow, rough or sweet, it always felt like love. With a quiet groan, he relaxed onto her and felt her legs fall open as she relaxed too, sliding her hand from between them as she ran the fingers of the other through his hair again.
"I love you," she sighed. "Oh God, I love you so much."
"I love you too." He nuzzled against her cheek, marveling as he always did at the softness of her skin and the wonder of being so close to another person. He trailed lazy kisses against her jaw and neck before slowly parting from her.
They returned to their bed after they had cleaned up, brushed their teeth and put on pajamas, and Mackenzie laid with her head cradled by his shoulder, her palm resting over his heart. He kissed her forehead and then closed his eyes, his arm wrapped around her waist.
"You think we can do it again?" She asked.
"Hmm?" He hummed, opening one eye to look over at her.
"Change diapers, wake up every two hours for feedings? Try to get him or her to go to sleep for three solid hours?" She asked.
"You mean have another baby?" He smiled as he rubbed her back again. "I think we could manage it. Are you thinking about it?"
"Sometimes… but I don't know. Maybe in a year or so we can revisit it," she sighed and cuddled against him. "I do want Freya to have siblings. I love mine and I want her to have that too."
"I want her to have that too," he said. "I know I wish I had, but I didn't have a normal family life."
She held him closer. "I know," she whispered. "That's another reason. I want that for you now."
On the day of her graduation, Mackenzie dressed in a sleeveless polka-dotted cotton dress light enough to keep her cool under her robe. She pulled her hair back and secured it with a clip, and put on a pair of teardrop diamond earrings her mother had given her.
One of her favorite photos had been taken on the day Scott made detective two years. Freya, a bright-eyed baby and almost a year-old, had been seated on her hip, and she had been holding her hand up like she was waving. Her face was bright with a toothless grin. Today, Freya wore a green dress with a white cover-up, and Mackenzie had to laugh when she saw that her hair was in two messy braids that Scott must have just done last-minute.
Scott was taking his turn getting ready, while Mackenzie watched their daughter finish her breakfast. She quickly redid the little girl's hair and she made a face at her until the little girl smiled at her. That's when it came flashing back to her. She wanted another one; another baby. A baby with Scott.
Maybe they would have another girl, sweet and mild-mannered like Freya. Maybe they would have a little boy who looked just like Scott. Mackenzie didn't mind if they had a little boy or little girl; she would be happy either way.
It wouldn't have been the same without them. Nothing would have been the same, without Scott or Freya.
"You don't remember seeing your daddy get promoted, do you?" She asked.
Freya nodded stubbornly. "I do," she protested. "Daddy wore his fancy clothes."
"Uh-huh," She replied, clearly skeptical. "You must have an excellent memory, then." Freya beamed at what she thought was a compliment. Mackenzie couldn't hide her chuckle. "All right, baby. After graduation, I bet we can talk Daddy into going for ice cream... if you're very good and quiet for grandma and grandpa during the very boring ceremony. Auntie Katie and Uncle Ned might be there too."
Freya's broad grin faded a little. "Boring? But it's a party for you?"
Mackenzie shook her head. "Later tonight, if we go out, yes. But yeah, graduation will be boring. I have to sit with everybody else graduating and you'll be sitting with daddy and the rest of the family. People will be talking for a very long time, but I bet grandma or grandpa will let you play on their phone." She said, winking at her.
Scott came in looping his tie, one of his favorite striped ones. He wrapped his arms around her waist and dropped a kiss on her head. "Almost done, Freya?" He asked.
Their daughter looked up at Scott with her big blue eyes, spoon aloft. "Can I take Rainbow Dash?"
Scott chuckled as he finished tying his tie. "Why, sweetheart? She will be waiting for you when we get home."
Freya considered, and Mackenzie leaned over to kiss her cheek. "You'll have to keep her in the car because we don't want to lose her… okay? It won't be so long. I promise."
Freya heard the words "good behavior" a lot that day. Her daddy taught her to play a game with candy on his phone. It took her a while and he had to whisper the directions and show her a few times what to do, but once she had figured it out and grinned up at her father, he had grinned back at her, and Freya just loved him.
She was excited that she was going to be able to spend the whole day with both of her parents. She missed them when they weren't at home, and she loved both of them so much that she didn't even have a word for it, not really.
She loved her Nana and Papa too, and her many aunts and two uncles. Mama had said she would be bored, but Freya wasn't bored, not with everyone there and Daddy playing with her. She wanted to go see her mother, but she was sitting down in the other place away from her. Mama had waved up at them once though, and she looked so strange in her long robe and the pointy hat, but everyone else did too.
"Here, let's write Mama a note," Scott whispered and nudged her side.
He wrote We are so proud of you. Love, Freya and Dad
Freya very carefully tried to copy what her dad had written, and then she drew a sloppy little heart. He kissed her head and gave her a little hug, and she smiled.
As soon as it was over, Freya took the little piece of paper in her hand and ran up to her mother and hugged her legs. She laughed and moved down to hug her, still wearing her funny hat. "I'm proud of you for still being awake," she told her. "Was it as boring as I told you it would be?"
"Here, Mama," Freya said, and she gave her a kiss on the cheek and handed her the note.
She opened it and then looked into his eyes and her eyes were shiny with tears. "Oh, sweetie. Thank you. That is so sweet. I love you."
"I love you," she told her.
Even though they had ice cream for dessert at lunch, they went to another room with a lot of people and more talking, and Freya fell asleep in her Papa's lap. She tried not to. She had wanted her mother to be proud of her for staying up at this one too, but she was warm and sleepy and Papa stroked her hair like he always did, and then Freya woke up when her daddy was carrying her inside the apartment from the car.
She buried her face against his neck with a sigh and he patted her back. "Sleepy, Frey?" He asked.
"Mmm," Freya said, and rubbed her face against his shoulder when mama patted her head. Then they were in her room, and Mama was helping put her pajamas on. She groaned when she said she had to brush her teeth before bed, but soon she was back in her room and happy to be tucked into bed.
"Sleep well, baby." Her daddy patted the blanket.
"I love you," her mama said.
"I love you both," she said, hugging her unicorn and closing her eyes.
