It was eight in the morning when Dean woke to Lyric crying across the hall. As much as he wanted to keep sleeping with CJ, who had been sleeping like a rock, he knew that Beth and Adam were probably downstairs and he was the most convenient and alert person in the house available to get her. So he pulled away from CJ and kissed her cheek before quickly digging out pajama pants and pulling them on so he could take care of the baby.
From downstairs Beth heard Lyric cry on the baby monitor and made a move to go take care of her, but the sound of CJ's door opening and closing made her go back to cooking breakfast while listening closer to the baby monitor.
"I got ya, little one. Even though you woke me up." She heard Dean murmur, which made her smile. The expectant father was getting baby training. "You're not wet, are you? No, you're not. Weird."
"Beth, we're-" Adam started to call but Beth quickly shushed both him and his mother as she picked up the baby monitor.
"Dean's with Lyric."
"Who's Dean?" Adam's mother asked and Adam waved her off as he moved closer to the baby monitor.
"...I'm scared to be a daddy, but your aunt or older sister or whatever is convinced that I can do it. I just don't want to mess things up with her again, kid." They all tuned in and listened closely, Beth thanking the heavens that Dean forgot about the baby monitor. "She's the love of my life, y'know? I can't not have her around."
"CJ's boyfriend? I thought they just-"
"It's a weird story, but we'll fill you in." Adam informed his mother, waiting for Dean to say more words.
"She's a great woman, that Christina, and it's not because she's got a great name. She's a saint, nothing less." Dean continued his rambling to Lyric, still blissfully unaware of the listening ears downstairs. "I'd say that she's my own little angel, but don't tell her that I called her little."
"What are you guys doing?" CJ asked, entering the kitchen while scratching at the back of her head.
"You didn't hear Dean?" Adam asked and she shook her head before both were shushed by Beth.
"...and you're going to sleep again aren't ya? I didn't think me rambling about my love life would be so boring to you. But I gotta thank you for listening, because I don't know how to tell her any of that. I've already told her about being a saint, but other than that? Psh. I think it might be easier for her to feel like I've got it all figured out. I'm sure she'll be freaking out enough for the both of us in a couple months."
"I wanna tell him to just bring her down, but I don't want him to know that we just heard him spill his soul to an infant." Beth whispered, making them all nod.
"Wait a second..." CJ mumbled, pointing at each of the bodies in the kitchen in her own little silent count. "Oh.. my god. Nana? When did you get here?"
"I've been here for a few minutes, kid." Adam's mom informed as she hugged the young blonde. "You've got to tell me all about this Dean Ambrose who's heart you've stolen. I thought you were dating Seth Rollins?"
"Long story short: he cheated on me so I broke up with him."
"Is what you have with Dean intended on being long term?"
"Oh definitely." CJ assured, kissing her cheek.
"Chrissie, can you stir the eggs?" Beth requested, heading to the stairs to take Lyric from Dean as he made it down. "Thank you for getting her."
"It's no big deal. I've got to get used to doing stuff like this, anyways." Dean stated, poking Lyric's nose and making the baby giggle.
"You've got a way with kids, Ambrose. You'll do fine." Beth spoke with a smile, pinching Dean's cheek before taking Lyric to the dining room where Adam and who Dean assumed was Adam's mom were setting the table. He saw CJ stirring something in the pot and slowly walked up behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist.
"Good morning, your highness."
"Good morning, Sir Ambrose." She greeting, leaning her head back against his shoulder and smiling when he pecked her lips. "Go put a shirt on before breakfast."
"Alright. I'll be right back." She only nodded, smiling when he kissed her cheek before heading up the stairs to do as she requested.
"Where's Dean going?" Adam asked and CJ looked over at him.
"To put on a shirt."
"He didn't have to, it's nothing I haven't seen before." Adam's mom stated and CJ smiled. "Adam used to hate wearing shirts. It'd be December and blizzard like, but he'd be walking around with no shirt on. Insane boy."
"I was so hot, I didn't need a shirt." Adam joked as he took the pot off the stove and CJ playfully kicked his ass as he left the kitchen. "Watch yourself, kid."
"Hey, 'Stina, your phone was going off so I grabbed it for you." Dean informed as he came down the stairs fixing his shirt and she gratefully took it from him.
"It was just Seth." She blew it off with a smile, deleting the desperate messages and locking her phone before she pulled Dean to the table. They sat down side by side, across from Adam and Beth, while Adam's mom sat at the head of the table. Beth had Lyric in her lap and was feeding the babe while Adam fixed their plates.
They made relative small talk over breakfast; intentionally avoiding the topics of CJ's pregnancy, when she was leaving Syracuse, where she was going, and the nature of her relationship with Dean. Of course, Judith knew this. She knew exactly how CJ and Adam went about dodging topics, and the way Dean made sure that CJ ate every bite only sold the grandmother on the fact that CJ was pregnant and she was done dodging the topic.
"So, Chrissie, how far along are you?" Judith asked, not failing to see her choke on her juice. Dean instantly started patting her back while Beth looked on in concern.
"Mom-"
"I'm not asking you, Adam Joseph."
"Ten weeks." CJ breathed out, taking a slow drink of her juice while Dean watched carefully. "I'm having twins."
"I'm assuming they're yours, Dean, are you two living together?"
"We- ah- we didn't want to rush things just because she's pregnant. We will be in the future, but we really don't want to rush anything." Dean explained, rubbing CJ's back comfortingly. Judging by the looks Adam, Beth, and CJ were exchanging, he could tell that this situation needed to be handled delicately.
"I was actually planning on moving to Vegas so that I was close to Dean and he could go to appointments and such on his off days." CJ mentioned, noticing the shocked yet approving look on Adam's face. They were definitely having a one-on-one conversation later. She could feel it in her bones.
"As long as you don't abandon her, everything will be fine." Judith stated, pointing her fork between Dean and CJ.
"Abandoning her isn't on my agenda." Dean assured, looking around the Copeland family. "She's all I've got, really."
"Hey Dean?" CJ spoke quietly while they laid in the hammock in the backyard together. He looked to be asleep, but she knew that he wasn't asleep just yet.
"Yeah, 'Stina?" Dean asked, opening one eye to look down at her while pulling her closer to him.
"Can we name our baby something off the wall like teal?"
"Hell no. Our baby can have a unique name, but nothing too off the wall. I'm not naming my child after a color. Especially a color that you hate."
"What about Olive?"
"What about Oliver for a boy and Olivia for a girl, and we can call them Olive as a little nickname?" Dean suggested, not wanting to legally name their child Olive, but wanting her to get what she wanted. He really couldn't deny her.
"Oliver Dean has a really nice ring to it." CJ agreed, nodding into his chest while he rubbed her stomach.
"Olivia Addison, maybe? Adam kind of has his namesake in there." Dean suggested and she nodded.
"Do you want to be a babe and get me my laptop? I want to look at places in Vegas."
"Not right now, honeybee. Later today, but I want to cuddle with you right now." Dean requested, kissing her head. "I'm pretty sure the complex a couple blocks away from mine has some open. It's a nice part of town, so I'd feel comfortable with you there."
"Will you look at places with me? You know the city better so you know where I'd be safest, and-"
"Of course." Dean cut her off, smiling down at her. "Do you want to come stay with me while we look around?"
"I'd like that." CJ yawned, snuggling more into Dean. He rubbed her back, burying his nose in her hair.
"Get some sleep, honeybee. I'm not going anywhere."
"I just want to spend time with you."
"I'll go to sleep, too, so that you don't miss out on anything interesting that I do."
"Even while you're asleep, you're interesting, Ambrose." She teased, reaching up and poking his nose. He surprised her by catching her finger between his teeth gently and licked her fingertip. "I wish that was a different part of my anatomy."
"Adam threatened my dick, otherwise it would be."
"Damn him." CJ sighed, pouting up at him. "How's your shoulder, anyways? You hit it pretty hard on Monday."
"It's fine. Achey at times and it was kind of stiff when I woke up this morning, but it's fine. I'll be fine."
"You sure?"
"Positive, darlin'." Dean assured, smiling down at her in an attempt to assure her. He knew that when she sighed that his queen was far from convinced. "If I wasn't fine you'd be laying on my other side, Christina."
"I suppose you're right."
"It just kills you to say that, doesn't it?" He chuckled, making her smile as she draped her arm across his torso.
"A little."
"What do you think they're talking about?" Adam asked Beth, watching the younger couple from the kitchen window while Beth washed dishes.
"Probably something that's none of your business. They're twenty eight, papa bear doesn't need to eavesdrop if they're not arguing." Beth scolded, looking out the window in time to see Dean kiss CJ. "See? They're happy. Can you just be happy that she's happy?"
"Nobody said that I wasn't happy that she was happy." Adam defended himself, looking between the matching looks on Beth and his mother's face. "Don't look at me like that."
"You're waiting for him to screw up again, Adam." Beth stated, looking him dead in the eye. "You heard him this morning just like I did. That man needs her."
"He needed her the first time, and we both know his well that turned out."
"He was scared, Adam! Her pregnancy came out of fucking nowhere! Make yourself twenty eight and on top of the world, if you were in Dean's shoes what would you have done?" When Adam fell silent Beth nodded, holding his eye contact. "He fought to get her back and now he's cherishing her like she deserves. Cut him some fucking slack."
"How do you suggest I do that?"
"He's fucking terrified to be a dad, maybe you could give him some pointers instead of sitting around and waiting for him to fail." Beth suggested, looking to see that the two fell asleep in the hammock. Adam followed her gaze and saw that Dean looked to be holding CJ pretty close.
"I guess you're right."
"I know I'm right. Now get out of the kitchen so I can finish cleaning it."
"You got it. Dinner tonight or tomorrow night?"
"Let Dean decide." Judith spoke up, standing as she burped Lyric. "He's only here tonight and tomorrow. Why don't you ask him when they come in?"
"It's like you two love putting me in awkward positions."
"It's only awkward if you make it awkward."
It was three o'clock when Adam finally got around to asking Dean about dinner. He found him and CJ leaning against the couch, her sitting between his legs while holding Lyric in her lap. Her laptop sat on the coffee table and Dean was utilizing his long arms to scroll for her while looking at apartments.
"What about that one?" CJ mumbled and Dean shook his head.
"Looks nice, but it's in a bad part of town."
"Oh."
"If this had street parameters, this would be so much quicker." Dean complained, kissing the side of CJ's head before both looked up at Adam.
"Go out to dinner tonight or tomorrow night, Ambrose?"
"What do you think?" Dean whispered to CJ, who shrugged.
"He asked you, not me. There's no wrong answer to this question, Ambrose." She assured, adjusting Lyric in her arms.
"Can we go tomorrow night? I'm really just not feeling like putting on jeans today."
"Is it because you're sore?" CJ asked and he nodded. "You said you were fine."
"Honeybee, I am fine. Just because I'm sore doesn't mean that I'm hurting." Dean countered, and it seemed like the two had forgotten all about Adam in their small confrontation until he pulled Lyric from CJ's arms.
"We'll leave you two to your apartment shopping."
"Thanks, Adam." CJ called as he walked away and Dean cupped her chin in his hand, forcing her to look back at him.
"You're mad at me." He commented, frowning slightly when she sighed.
"I'm not mad, but if you're sore you shouldn't be-" He cut her off with a short peck on the lips, frown curving with a small smile.
"This position is good for me sweetheart. Don't worry so much."
"Alright. I'm sorry."
"Don't you ever apologize for caring about me." He spoke firmly, holding eye contact with her. "That's the best thing you could do for me."
CJ nodded slowly before he released her chin, kissing her forehead before letting her turn back around to press her back to his chest. Without Lyric in her lap, CJ decided to move her laptop into her lap and do all the scrolling while Dean kept his arms right around her waist. He rest his chin on her shoulder and mumbled his comments on every one she lingered on for longer than a couple seconds.
She was comfortable and felt herself falling asleep after a while. Dean's body heat mixed with her pregnancy fatigue and the tedious scrolling had her worn out and his mumbling in her ear wasn't helping. Dean noticed this and shut the laptop for her, moving it onto the coffee table before trying to stand up.
"What are you doing?" CJ mumbled tiredly, making him smile to himself as he separated himself from her.
"Taking you up to bed for a nap. What else could I possibly be doing?"
"Deeaann." She whined, looking up at him as he stood. She took his outstretched hand and pulled him up the stairs, ignoring Adam reminding them that they couldn't have sex. Dean was too sore and she was too tired to even try. "I hate always being so tired at the weirdest times."
"I'm sure it's natural, sweetheart." Dean tried to assure both her and himself as they got comfortable in bed. "Definitely something to ask your doctor about."
"I will definitely do that."
"Now get some rest, I'm sure the squirts will appreciate that." CJ only nodded against his chest, feeling his arm tighten around her. She had never felt safer than when she was cuddled up next to Dean, and she'd never be able to word just how much he meant to her.
Thank you to ArtisticLullaby, Kdaniels270, ChelleLew, angelsdee327, Sarcastic Nightmare, UntilNeverDawns, and MulishaMaiden for reviewing the last chapter!