After getting out of the bath me and Ben then changed into some lazy clothes. Ben quickly changed into some light grey sweats and dark blue t shirt and when he had finished doing this he then advised that he had arranged a surprise for me. I pulled one brow up in confusion at this; when did he have the time to do this? I asked him what it was and he stated that he wasn't going to ruin the surprise for me; before he quickly left our bedroom to allow me to go and get ready. When I stood in the room in silence I shook my head - I knew that I was going to have to be patient. Whatever he had planned he had obviously put a lot of work into it, and who was I to take this away from him.


"So husband" I teased as I walked into our living area as I had finished being changed into a dark purple vest and short combo.

"Yes wife?" he grinned back as I stepped up to him and stood in front of him.

"Do I get to find out what this surprise is?" I grinned up at him. "Even though you really didn't need to," I stated.

"Yes I did" he nodded.

"Benny" I sang sadly before I pouted at him.

"Mal please?" he pouted back at me as he wrapped his arms around me as I wrapped my arms around his neck. "I want to spoil my wife" he told me happily as we started to sway on the spot. "And the mother of my child," he added proudly. "Is that ok with you?" he questioned.

"I suppose so" I smiled. "Otherwise my Beast may get grumpy" I teased as I stood on my tip toes and I brushed my nose against his.

"Hmph!" he puffed as he pulled a funny face at me which made me giggle at him. "I love you soo much Mal" he smiled down at me.

"I love you soo much too Ben" I replied as he lifted up his right hand and he cupped the left hand side of my face. "We can get through anything" he advised as his gaze locked with mine. "As long as we do it together" he finished proudly.

"As long as we do it together" I repeated and we both smiled fondly at each other.

"My beautiful wife?" he said breaking the silence after we had been gazing into each other's eyes for a few moments.

"Yes my handsome husband?" I answered happily.

"Your surprise awaits" he advised as he stepped out of my arms and I let my arms drop back down to my sides. He then offered me his right arm, which I took eagerly and I let him start to lead me through the house, with me not knowing what to expect on what Ben had planned for the pair of us.


After walking through the cottage Ben led me to the large balcony doors that lead to the large gardens that surrounded our home; and when I stepped outside into the gardens I gasped at the sight that was before me.

There was a small and neatly arranged gravel garden path that outlined the whole garden; and it broke the garden up into four parts. On my left hand side there was a large swimming pool and on my right hand side there was a large decking area that had an assortment of chairs and tables, I even noticed a makeshift bar and BBQ in the distance. In the top left hand corner there was an assortment of different colour rose bushes, however they hadn't come into their full bloom yet. Finally on the top right of the garden was a large grassy field which held my surprise.

There was a large dark blue tent with gold stripes on it sitting in the middle of the grass, with the back of the tent facing us. There were multi coloured lanterns that were cascading from the back door, along the path until it got to the front of the tent. And there were also large lanterns omitting light from just in front of the tent that came into view as we walked up to the tent.

"What is this?" I questioned as my eyes landed on the large dark blue picnic blanket that had been placed on the floor and on top of it was large purple pillows and a straw picnic basket.

"Our evening meal," he told me happily. "I thought we could have a picnic and cuddle under the stars" he advised as we both sat down next to each other on the picnic blanket with Ben on my right hand side.

"Sound perfect" I grinned at him and I watched as he smiled back at me as he wrapped his left arm around my shoulders. I rested my head against his shoulder and I couldn't help but feel so loved and blessed. Yes I know that me and Ben had been through the ringer today, and we still had a lot to go through but this wasn't what was important. What was important is that I had my Beast and Ben had his Dragon, and this is how it was always going to stay.