Author's Note: Sorry it's taken so long for this update! I was planning on taking two weeks off from updating to deal with finals and papers and other university stuff, and then I was planning on updating every day in December until AIWMTB was finished, at which point I'd post my next story. Things didn't go to plan and writing for AIWMTB was writer's block central, so I posted the first chapter of my next story, Amnesty, earlier this week. Check it out if you want. I'd love it if you did!

There's only a few more chapters of AIWMTB left - it should be finished by New Year's.

And as usual, I don't own or have anything to do with Skins.

Chapter 32: Truth and Honesty

April 25th, 2014

I was sat on the couch with Elouise on my chest as I watched TV. It was Emily's first day back at work and it was taking me extra long to push her out the door this morning to get to work. Em was terribly worried about leaving me on my own with Elouise and Libby, worried that I wouldn't be able to "handle things". Katie was in our front entranceway, insisting that Em get a move on before they were both late since they carpooled to work together.

"Emily, do you think you can put your shoes on, like, a little fucking faster?" Katie said, worriedly glancing at her watch. I gave her a pointed look from my spot on the couch.

"Katie, no swearing in front of our daughter."

"Oh...right, sorry," Katie replied, taking a look at Elouise who was sleeping soundly in my arms. "It's just that Ellie doesn't really seem to give a fuck at the moment."

I pouted at Katie's use of our daughter's new nickname. Em had come up with the shortened name for our daughter. I wasn't sure if I was quite fond of it yet, so I continued to call Elouise by her full name. I doubted it would last long though, since Ellie was rapidly catching on and both my mum and Emily's mum, along with Effy and Katie, were already referring to our daughter by her new nickname.

"Em," I said, getting up off the couch and turning to my wife. I smiled at her and grabbed her shoulder tightly with my one free hand, as the other arm was cradling Elouise. "You're talking about our daughter and our dog as though they're ticking time bombs. Libby spends most of her time looking out the window and sleeping. Elouise spends most of her time eating, pooping, and sleeping. I've got the baby sling in case I need to move around the house to get things done with Elouise. I'll be fine, love. And if I'm not fine, I'll call you."

Emily pouted. I knew she was just trying to help and make sure I wouldn't get overwhelmed with things. So I smiled at her and kissed her quickly, handing her the packed lunch I'd made for her.

"Off you go. I'll see you later," I said. Emily smiled at me and kissed me one last time. "Love you."

I thought I heard Katie mumble "hallelujah", but I chose to ignore her for the moment.

"Love you too, Naoms," Em said before leaning down and kissing Elouise on the top of her head. "Love you, Ellie."

Katie smiled at me and kissed Elouise before she followed Emily into the car.

I watched from the front door as Emily pulled out of the driveway, and went off to work. I went to sit on the couch with Elouise right away, choosing to spend my morning watching crappy daytime television. Elouise chose to spend most of the morning sleeping and only woke up once to be fed. Libby, as predicted, spent her morning sitting in front of the window. It was actually quite useful, considering she would only ever bark when the postman came, so she would let me know when I should go to get the post. I put Elouise, who was still fast asleep, in her bouncy chair while I went to get the post quickly. It was full of all the usual – coupons, bills, more bills, promotional flyers. Except for one pink envelope that was written in Cook's handwriting.

"Shit," I cursed under my breath as I walked into the kitchen to grab the letter opener. I left the bills on the counter, which is where Emily and I always put the mail. I opened Cook's card and actually snorted at what I read.

Naomi and Emily,

Congratulations on the birth of your daughter. Hope you're all doing well.

Cook x

That was it. That was all he had to say. Part of me was angry at him. That wasn't the card you should send your old best friend to congratulate them on the birth of their daughter. And yet, another part of me was grateful to him. I was happy that he even sent a card and that the card didn't say anything more than a simple congratulatory message. Because if it did, it'd hurt me. I missed my best friend. I couldn't deny that fact. But I also couldn't deny that life without Cook was good for Emily and I. We'd moved forward in our relationship and we were at a place where we were both incredibly secure with each other. Elouise had brought us so close together and I didn't want anything to ruin that.

I sighed to myself and displayed Cook's card among the other "congratulations" cards we'd gotten over the past few days. I knew I'd have to explain its presence to Emily when she got home from work tonight, but I wasn't worried about it. I knew I had to come clean – I had to tell her the real reason why Cook left, and I had to tell her about the initial doubts I'd had when I found out about his feelings for me. I didn't keep secrets from my wife anymore.

One card that was noticeably absent from the display of congratulatory cards was Natalie's card, since she hadn't sent me one. She hadn't even called. I knew she would have seen our announcement message that we sent out to all family and friends. Even though I still held a massive grudge against her for what happened on New Year's, I decided to give her another chance and put her on the mailing list for that announcement message, and she hadn't even texted me to congratulate me.

So... fuck her. My daughter was too perfect to be tainted by Natalie's crap anyway.

Elouise woke up a few minutes later, demanding to be fed and changed. My stomach was demanding to be fed lunch, but sadly that would have to wait until Elouise was settled again. Luckily for me, Effy and Owen came over as soon as I'd finished feeding Elouise. Effy was carrying a carrier bag full of sandwiches and salads and had Owen strapped to her chest.

"We were at Tesco's and decided to pick up some lunch in hopes that you might want some company this afternoon," Effy announced. Owen gurgled his approval. I smiled and let them in right away.

I strapped Elouise into her baby swing, which she was completely in love with. I put it on the lowest setting since she'd just eaten and I didn't want her to get an upset stomach. Effy set out all the sandwiches and salads on the table in the kitchen while she still had Owen strapped to her chest.

"Do you want me to grab the bouncy chair for Owen?" I asked as I unstrapped Owen and cradled him against me. I moved his long brown hair out of his eyes. Effy nodded at me and smiled at her son. Owen was absolutely adorable, with his long brown hair and chubby cheeks. Effy had started to spike Owen's hair up into a faux hawk to keep it out of his face, but she hadn't done that today. Katie had bought him a pair of baby Converse shoes, which were the most adorable things ever, but Owen hardly ever wore them. Effy argued that shoes were pointless for babies anyway, and expensive shoes were even more pointless, but she did smile when she first saw Katie put those Converse on Owen.

I strapped Owen into the bouncy chair, which was next to Elouise's baby swing. Elouise was about to fall asleep, and Owen was watching us intently and sucking on his hand. Effy and I finally sat down at the small kitchen table and started to eat.

"I spoke to Cook the other day," Effy said, taking a bite of salad. "I told him about Elouise."

I nodded. "I figured you'd told him. I got a congratulations card from him today."

Effy squirmed a bit in her seat. "Katie doesn't know I still speak to him, so please don't tell Emily that it was me who told Cook."

I nodded and took a bite of my sandwich. "I'm telling Emily everything tonight."

Effy looked shocked for a moment, but recovered quite quickly. "You sure?"

I nodded. "She needs to know."

Effy nodded and we ate the rest of our lunch quietly. Owen and Elouise eventually fell asleep, and that gave Effy a chance to go home and get some laundry done in peace.

"You sure you'll be okay with both of them for the time being?" Effy asked. I nodded and practically pushed her out of the house. "Promise you'll call me as soon as he wakes up!"

I laughed. "I promise, Eff!"

Two hours later, I'd finished cooking dinner and started a quick load of laundry. Effy had come to pick Owen up about fifteen minutes ago and Elouise was still fast asleep for the time being. Emily was due home any minute now, and Libby was patiently waiting for Emily by the front door. Sure enough, Emily was home a few seconds later. Elouise woke up when she heard the commotion in the front hallway. Emily walked into the kitchen and kissed me swiftly before picking Elouise up out of her baby swing.

"Hello, Ellie, my beauty," Emily cooed.

"Hello, darling," Emily said as she walked over to me with Elouise in her arms. "Something smells delicious, Naoms."

I smiled at her. "I decided to do something special and try that curry recipe you told me about a while ago."

Emily nodded and smiled appreciatively at me. "I noticed that new card..." she said, trailing off as she looked back towards the living room where the cards were displayed on the coffee table. "Who's it from?"

"Cook," I replied as I stirred the curry sauce and quickly checked on the rice.

"Oh."

When I looked over my shoulder at Emily, she had a worried frown on her face and was staring down at Elouise. I abandoned my work at the stovetop and walked over to Em. I grabbed her hand.

"Em, we'll talk about it after dinner, okay. Nothing to worry about, love," I said, leaning down and kissing her gently. "Can you go change Elouise's nappy, please?"

Emily relaxed a little after I told her not to worry and she went upstairs to change Elouise. I plated up dinner and set the table while Emily was gone. I wasn't worried about the conversation I was about to have with Emily. I knew I should have been a bit nervous, but I felt so secure in our relationship that I didn't feel the need. When Emily came back into the kitchen with Elouise, I knew right away that my dinner was going to have to wait. Elouise was fussy and since Emily had just changed her, that usually meant that Elouise was hungry. So I sat at the dinner table and watched Emily eat her dinner while I nursed Elouise. After Emily was finished eating, she kindly offered to feed me my dinner after watching my horrible attempts at feeding myself one-handedly without jostling or upsetting Elouise. By the time we were all finished eating, it was almost an hour later than I'd expected.

"So, you had something to say to me about Cook?" Emily asked as she was loading up the dishwasher. I was still sat at the table, holding Elouise who was about to fall asleep.

"Well...I sort of haven't told you something about why he left."

Emily nodded and continued to load the dishwasher.

"The real reason why he left was because he was still in love with me. You see, when you and I met in Paris, Cook and I were...together, I suppose...in a very unofficial way. We never really ended things because I thought there was nothing to end. Cook...when he left... he said he couldn't stand to see me happy with you and that he wanted to ask for another chance with me, but he didn't want to put me in that position. I knew I had to make a choice then and there, between him and you. Except there never really was a choice to be made, because I know you're the only one for me. So I let him go. And I'm happy I did."

Emily had stopped loading the dishwasher and leaned against the countertop, watching me intently as I spoke.

"Do you miss him?" She asked me, looking down at her hands and playing with her wedding band.

"I miss my best mate, not the guy I used to sleep with," I replied. "After I met you, everything stopped. I never slept with him after I met you. It was like you turned my world upside down, except my world wasn't upside down. It was finally right. You fixed my life without me even realizing that there was something that needed fixing."

Emily smiled at me and walked over to me. She leaned down and kissed me gently.

"I'm not mad, Naoms. I even understand why you kept that a secret from me. I wasn't very secure in our relationship while Cook was around. Especially not after I saw you kiss him, and especially not when he was our donor. But, I suppose, in a way, I'm eternally grateful to him because he helped us get to where we are today."

I smiled. "So you're not mad at me?"

Emily smiled and gently took Elouise from my arms. "Of course I'm not mad at you, love."

Emily kissed me gently and walked upstairs with Elouise. I followed and watched Em gently place Elouise into her crib. Libby padded up the stairs and laid on the bed next to Elouise's crib. It didn't worry us anymore when Libby would lay on the bed next to Elouise. Libby was very gentle and quiet around the baby, so we didn't insist that she get off the bed and lay in her own bed anymore. Emily grabbed my hand and smiled at me gently. She wrapped her arms around my now slightly fuller waist, draping them just above my slightly larger hips.

"Do you want me to run you a bath?" She asked, kissing me on the cheek. I nodded against her and smiled.

"Only if you'll join me."

Author's Note: Please let me know what you thought in a review :)

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