"Stop looking at me like that." Emily said with her eyes closed as she leaned her head back on his outstretched thighs. Mick smiled widely at her and ran one of his hands through her curly hair and the other against her ribcage. "And stop touching me like that." Mick laughed at her but continued to feign innocence. "I'm just holding you. Where's the harm in that?" Emily opened her eyes and looked up at him. "The harm in that is that every time you look at me like that and touch me like that, you want something." "Oh yeah. What is it that I want?" Mick asked as he shifted Emily in his lap and pulled her to straddle his thighs. Emily craned her neck in amusement and used her thumb to point behind her. "You want me to give you another one. That's what your 'special rubs and massages' mean. We both know it."
Mick laughed and rose up a little. "It's not that bad. You know that I'm right." Emily got off his lap and walked further into the living room to pick up the now-awake toddler. Emily picked up the child and bounced her on her hip. "Is mama's little baby awake? You were supposed to be sleeping. Did you not want to take a nap? Huh? What was so interesting that my little star needed to stay awake?" The little girl smiled up at her mom and grabbed her nose. Mick smiled widely as Emily turned around and walked back towards the couch. He reached out for the little girl with sandy-brown hair and pulled her to his chest. "Hey there Sandy. Did you have a good nap?" "Stop calling her Sandy. You're going to confuse her. Call her Star." Emily scolded gently. "I'm not the one confusing her. You were the one that decided to name our girls-minus one-after constellations and stars. Last time I checked, their names are Kehlani, Alula, Cassiopeia, Alya, and Nova." Mick quipped back.
Emily gave a deep laugh, "Don't make fun. You know that constellations mean the world to mean. It was the most important bond that I had with my grandfather." "So, why did you choose Kehlani?" "At the time, she was the only reason for living. She was the reason I got up every day and fought to have a happier life. When I was trying to figure things out during my pregnancy, I would get lost staring up at the sky regardless of the weather. I knew that the skies would clear up eventually. I had that same feeling when I saw her for the first time. I felt that no matter what, just looking at her would make everything better. I was right." Mick kissed her sweetly on the lips but Emily was the first to pull away. "Don't think you get off that easily. If I seem to remember correctly, you also had a hand in creating our little galaxy."
They both turned their head to the sliding door that was now open as their daughter Cassiopeia—Cassie—came bounding in with her jet-black hair and gray eyes. "Hi. Can we ride our bikes now?" Emily immediately went to grab all necessary—and tremendously unnecessary—protection for the girls. "Em. Babe. Baby. They don't need that much just to ride a bike" Mick said with a laugh. Emily whipped around with a hand on her hip. "Excuse me! Don't you remember when Thing 1 and 2 (Cass and Lani) decided to ride their bikes downhill and crashed into a tree trunk?" Mick only laughed in response and tried to block Emily's swats. "That was awesome!" Kehlani said with a little too much enthusiasm. Emily let out a sigh and threw her hands up in the air, "I thought that I was raising daughters, not sons." "You're raising Rawsons" Mick corrected. Mick went upstairs in the nursery and picked up Alya before walking them both downstairs and out the back door. Mick bounced the little girl on his knee slowly as she sucked on a bottle. Mick looked out at Emily before speaking—more to himself than the little girl in his arms—"You know that I still find this hard to believe. After a wedding, 5 daughters, and your little brother that's almost here, I finally feel complete. Your mom is perfect and she is the only thing that matters. Then, all of you came along and each one of you filled up my heart."
"What are you mumbling about?" Emily asked as she now stood over him rubbing her swollen belly. He reached out and covered her hand with his. "How's my rugby star?" "I would prefer soccer but he is currently stretched across my pelvis…the same way the girls were when I was pregnant with them." "Did you ever imagine that we'd be here?" "No. I never thought that I would give in to you in London. I never thought that I would love you this much. I never thought that I would let you knock me up four times. I didn't think that we'd formally adopt a daughter on our wedding day. And I certainly didn't think we'd be this happy living in D.C." "I did." "And how is that?" Emily asked ignoring his cocky smirk. Mick pulled her in close and whispered against her lips, "Because you are the light of my life and you've given me an entire galaxy of constellations to prove it." Emily gave in and kissed him sweetly on the lips. "Make me a promise Em." "Which is?" "Don't name our first son-" "Only" "First born son after another constellation." Emily smiled and walked away without responding, leaving a blubbering Mick behind her.