A/N: I don't know why it took me so long, but I should've created this a long time ago for all of my Katie and Ned stories. I hope you enjoy all of this fluff :) xx Mariah
Ned - 49
Katie - 46
Scott - 40
Mackenzie - 36
Willow - 16
Freya - 13
Therese - 12
Emily - 10
Therese - 9
David - 8
Oliver - 2
Elliot - 2
Ned came in the front door after his oldest daughter, who stomped up the stairs and yelled that he was the worst father ever, or least that he was for right now and he guessed he deserved it. He had just broken up a goodnight kiss between Willow and her newest boyfriend.
It was only their fourth date and he certainly hadn't been happy to see Levi with hands resting on his little girl's behind while they kissed. He couldn't have pulled them apart quicker in his opinion. Willow quickly rounded the banister and walked straight into her room, turning around just in time to see him reach the top of the stairs.
"I hate you," his teen daughter scoffed and shut her door hard enough to make a point.
Ned took the snide comment in stride as he walked toward his and Katie's master bedroom. There wasn't much else he could besides that. "I love you too," he called out after her and closed the bedroom door behind him, ignoring the giggle that came from his wife.
Katie was already curled up in bed, grading papers, and it looked as though she was about three-fourths the way through her stack compared to that morning. She admired him quietly as he shed his clothes and pulled on a pair of pajama pants before he sat on the bed, removing his watch and placing his wallet and keys in there as well.
"Did you manage to embarrass our daughter enough?" She quipped as she underlined something. She glanced back over and set the paper aside before moving closer to wrap her arms around him. "I heard it all, but don't worry I got that parlor act this morning too once I told her our decision against her getting her belly button pierced."
"Our decision?" He asked and she silenced him by pressing a kiss into his shoulder. "I thought you had your belly button pierced once before?"
"Yeah, well mine got infected." She sighed, rubbing her hands up and down his chest. "I also remember my reasons for wanting it and I don't want to think of her own reasons she hadn't told me about," she muttered under her breath as she shrugged. "And we said no. We can just say no to some things. We are the parents here, remember?"
Ned nodded, knowing exactly why she had gotten it. "Why did you want your belly button pierced, baby? Hmm?" He asked as he looked over his shoulder at her even though he knew the answer to his question. They had no secrets between them. "Or should I ask who?"
She looked at him in the same way she had the day he'd first kissed her. "You make me feel so young every time I look at you," she whispered.
"Well, I'm glad you feel young." He moved into bed harshly, jostling her a bit. She moved her piles of completed papers to the floor and she tossed the one in her hands down there as she finished it. "Because when I saw Willow kiss that kid as I pulled in the driveway... I felt like the oldest guy ever."
"You kissed me when I was seventeen, at twenty no less and I remember every second of that kiss..." she said, her sentence ending in the sexiest chuckle he had ever heard as her cheeks blushed a soft red. She put the stack of papers down and took off her glasses to look at him. "You certainly stuck your tongue down my throat that night, if I remember correctly."
He remembered every second of that kiss too and he certainly had used his tongue that night. "All of that is different," he muttered, smirking. "We are different. I nearly popped a blood vessel when I saw where his hands were. That is different. Especially after I had Scott follow them and he told me it looked pretty PG."
"Was it really that different?" She whispered, leaning in close. She couldn't believe him. He could just be so inconsiderate sometimes. "And you had Scott follow them? That was a bit much, don't you think?"
"No," he grumbled. "That's not what I think."
"Oh, honey." She rested her hand on his cheek and smiled at him. "You do realize that Willow is sixteen, right?"
"She'll always be my little girl," he said stubbornly, but slid his hand over hers and turned his face to kiss her palm.
Katie sighed. She didn't know what she was going to do with these two. "I know and that's how I feel about Ash too." Willow and Ned had been butting heads since she started high school. It stopped being cool to hang out with your parents, not that it had been in the first place but no one cared enough to say otherwise until now. "You've still got to let her—"
"Do her own thing. I know. I suck." He finished with a sigh. "I'm the worst father ever, remember?"
She shook her head. "Stop trying to milk this, Ned. You are a wonderful father." She said and couldn't help but laugh at her husband's antics as she leaned in to kiss him.
It was brief and he ended it when he pulled away. "At least I have Emily, she's only ten. If I'm lucky, she won't date anyone for another six years." He grinned against her and wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her onto his lap.
Her grin was his reward and he drank it in as he nipped at her lips before kissing her again, using his arm to cradle her head closer. After a few breathless moments, she reluctantly pulled away with a flushed face and despite his efforts, he could tell that she still had planned on finishing her grading for work that night.
"I have papers to grade, Ned," she reminded him in between chaste kisses. "I only have a few left and I'll be quick. I promise."
"You do that," he said, looking ahead at the television and grabbed the remote from where it was lying in bed beside her.
"Oh, stop," she groaned, playfully pinching him. "You've brought so much work home and I have never complained."
"I wouldn't say that you have never complained," he said and met her gaze as she moved back to her spot and grabbed a fresh essay.
She grabbed her red pen and smiled at him. "Please don't whine," she muttered. "I don't take it from our kids or my students, and I won't take it from you."
He leaned over and kissed her cheek, earning a small sliver of a smile from her as she began to read over the essay, circling a few things. This wasn't looking promising for her based on the way her eyebrows scrunched up together. She rubbed her forehead and licked her lips as she continued her way through the paper. She moved over to the second page and groaned out loud which made him laugh as he got out of bed.
Katie glanced over at him. "Where are you going?" She asked, her eyes looking over him. He knew she liked it when he walked around without a shirt on, even after all these years. She looked back at the paper, underlining something. "Are you going downstairs?"
"Just going to say goodnight to the kiddos and check in on them." He peeked back into the room as he stood in the hallway. "I wasn't planning on going down there, why?"
"My throat is a little scratchy that's all," she sighed and flipped to the last page.
"Do you want me to make you some tea, is that it?" He asked.
She looked over the last page and wrote a check at the top of the page before going over to her grade sheet and glancing up at him. "That would be perfect," she said. "But you don't have to. I can do it when I finish this one." She flipped the report cover closed and opened the plastic pocket for the cover page, writing a C- on it before looking back to Ned again. "Then I can go into Willow's room and damage control for you."
"No, I'll do it and make your tea. Finish grading your papers, Katie," he said, winking at her as though he needed to remind her of how much he wanted to ravish her tonight. "I'll be back in a bit."
After checking in on a sleeping Emily and David, Ned had gone to Willow's bedroom which was locked. They had a rule against that, but he decided he'd let it slide just this once. He knocked and the teen hadn't even said anything to him despite the light on underneath the door. He left it at that for now and went downstairs.
Ned set out the kettle to boil rather quickly before getting a cup for Katie along with the jar of honey they kept by the Teavana bags. When the bottom stair creaked, he looked up, and his wife was walking toward him. "Are you taking a break?" He asked.
"I'm done for tonight. I only have four left to grade anyway and I forgot tomorrow is Sunday," she said as she took her last sip of water from her glass she'd brought down and walked past him. "I guess I have my days a little messed up."
He nodded and turned around to watch her rinse out her glass and put it in the sink. "You still didn't have to come down. I said I'd make the tea for you," he reasoned.
"You didn't ask what kind I wanted," she said, teasing him.
He wondered if she'd meant to confuse him by the smile on her face when there was a moment of silence between them. He always knew she liked lemon balm tea before bed and chamomile when she was stressed. He shrugged it off the best he could. "Oh," he sighed. "I thought you liked lemon balm before bed. Was I wrong? I can get something else."
She shook her head while laughing then. "Ned, baby, I was just kidding," she said wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him. "You got it right. You always do." Katie let out a moan of surprise when his hand wiggled between her thighs and under her shorts.
His lips were at her neck then, pressing a tender kiss here and sucking a little there. She arched against him, holding back her cries and releasing them in the form of a throaty gasp to make sure that no one overheard them. His fingers worked their magic, but there was only so much he could do before he remembered they were in the kitchen. Was it the whistling kettle or the creak of the stairs as someone came down?
When he moved back she whined, but he gave her a look. "You told me no whining earlier, remember?" He teased and dodged her leg that moved to kick him as he moved the kettle off of the heat and shut the burner off. "Someone is coming."
Their daughter Willow had resurfaced at the sound of the whistling kettle but had nearly turned back around when she saw Ned in the kitchen and not just her mother.
"I am only forgiving you because you were right," Katie whispered as she nipped at his neck. When she noticed Willow trying to make an escape, she raised her voice a little. "Hey, get over here. I want to talk with you."
"Alone?" Willow asked, reluctantly turning back around and into the kitchen. "Or with him?"
"Enough with the attitude to your dad," she said, taking the steaming cup of tea that he handed her. "It'll be just us. Your dad wants to watch the highlights before we go to bed anyway."
He raised an eyebrow at her suspiciously, not quite catching what she was saying to him, but he leaned in to kiss her anyway. There was a moment where he lingered when she cupped his cheek after setting the cup down. He pulled back hazily when Willow clanged the kettle on the stove after pouring the rest of the boiling water in a cup of her own to make herself tea.
"Yeah, the highlights..." he stuttered and then caught her lingering gaze. "I'll see you upstairs." When he turned to see Willow, his daughter glared at him and he sighed. "I really am sorry about tonight. I blew my cool."
Willow ignored him, despite Katie glaring at her the whole time, but Ned deserved it. He overstepped. Their daughter was nearly grown and deserved to have the same freedoms he wanted from his own mother.
"I hope you can forgive me when you're ready," he said, leaning in to press a kiss to the teen's forehead. "I love you, Wills. You're just growing up too fast for me to catch on."
Willow sighed. "I know I can be a little over the top about things, but you ruined everything. I can't forgive you just yet."
Ned plopped the last pancake onto a plate as the oven timer beeped and he turned, going to stir around the browning hashbrowns in the skillet. He pushed them onto a serving dish with scrambled eggs and bacon before going to the staircase.
"Breakfast is ready!" He yelled upstairs.
The loud pounding of two sets of feet reached his ears as they raced down the stairs and his younger two kids slid into their seats at the island in the middle of the kitchen, each of them eagerly waiting to see what their father had cooked for breakfast.
"What's for breakfast daddy?" Emily demanded lightly with a scowl that reminded him of Katie on her face. It made him chuckle, but the little girl furrowed her brow even more. "This is not funny daddy. There better not be peppers in the eggs this time."
"No peppers this time. I made regular scrambled eggs, bacon, and hashbrowns. Oh, and can't forget the strawberry pancakes." He announced as he slid out plates of food to both of them. "Who's hungry?"
"I am," ten-year-old Emily pumped her fist in the air. "My favorite kind of pancakes, daddy!"
"Me too! Did you remember to make my eggs dad?" David's voice was meager and small, but he smiled at him as his son watched him wiggle his tongue through the hole of his recently lost tooth.
"Uh... crap. I forgot, but just give me a sec," he replied, sighing while itching his neck. "I can whip them up for you, bud."
Katie came down last, just as Willow plopped in her seat. She was still in her robe and clothes from the night before. Her shorts had ridden up, well past her belly button and her legs went on for days as she walked toward him. His determination to make David's eggs had dwindled the further his eyes traveled up her legs.
Even at forty-three, she was the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen. It was so nice to think that their life had finally become so simple, that just being around each other like this each day was something they both looked forward to.
"What seems to be the problem?" His wife yawned, ruffling their youngest's hair.
She kissed Ned, smiling at him sleepily as she itched her stomach. Her tank top had ridden up and his eyes traced over the faint scar. It was barely there anymore, almost like it hadn't happened, but yet it had been such a significant time in their relationship. Their first child that was lost so long ago to them.
However, she caught his lingering gaze and pulled down on the tank top, touching his hand. It was still a touchy subject, especially for Katie.
"Dad forgot to make my eggs mommy," David answered, knowing he had such a soft spot in his mother's heart. He was her baby boy and she may coddle him too much to Ned's liking, but that would never stop her. "Will you make them for me instead?"
"Of course baby," Katie smiled and kissed his forehead. David wasn't the biggest fan of pancakes but loved every kind of eggs his mom would make. She had to make his eggs special now, he was lactose intolerant and couldn't have milk in his scrambled eggs. "How did you sleep?"
"Thank you," the boy grinned and hugged her. "Good. I won the world heavyweight championship belt in my dream! It was awesome."
David had recently found an old picture of Scott in his wrestling gear while over at his Aunt Mackenzie's house and now was obsessed with everything wrestling. He wanted to be just like his Uncle Scott, and despite Ned's efforts of trying to show him the game of football, but it didn't have the same reaction.
"That sounds like fun!" She laughed, ruffling his hair again as she walked away and she pulled out three eggs for him from the fridge. "And how about you Emily? Did you sleep as well as your brother did?"
"Yes, mom. I totally went to bed on time," Emily replied, chuckling as she drank her orange juice.
Katie knew Emily was their child most like her in so many ways and not just for her love of reading. "How many extra chapters did you read then?" She asked.
"Maybe five," Emily shrugged, yawning as she ate her food.
"You need to get more sleep, babe, or I'm gonna lock up your books." She muttered, cracking the eggs in a bowl and whisking them together with a bit of water. "You best be going to bed by nine tonight when I come to check on you."
Katie was definitely exaggerating a bit. Ned couldn't imagine her actually doing that, but their daughter's look of worry was probably enough to scare the ten-year-old away from another night full of reading instead of sleeping as she should.
"Okay, mom, I promise," Emily sighed and then turned her attention back to food.
Katie smiled and began to make the eggs, tuning in to David as he talked to Ned about different moves he'd seen and how excited he was for the youth wrestling program at the YMCA to start. She had signed him up and he started in a few weeks. He was so excited when she'd told him.
The eggs were done rather quickly and she put them on her son's plate and quickly the kitchen was quiet again as both Emily and David dug into their food. Ned came around the corner as she washed out the skillet in the sink, and his hand snug around her waist.
He kissed her shoulder and then her cheek, whispering in her ear, "Your legs look amazing in these shorts, Katie," He told her quietly as his hands moved over her thighs and he nibbled on her earlobe. He palmed her ass and she laughed, smiling over her shoulder at him. They were thankfully hidden by the island. "But your ass is even better."
"I know that," she smiled, silently thanking her father for giving her such nice legs. She thought she would almost look weird if she were as short as her mother, but genetics had graced her differently. Her sisters hadn't been as lucky. "I've always loved these shorts, but good morning to you too, my love." She smiled and relaxed into him, enjoying the warmth he spread through her as she reached for a piece of bacon on the counter in front of her. "Breakfast looks great. I'm glad you did this."
"I'm glad I did too," he said, kissing her cheek. He moved around to make his plate and smothered peanut butter and maple syrup all over his pancakes. "Where's Willow? Is she coming down?"
"Yeah, in a bit. We stayed up late talking," she told him, grabbing the other pans and such and beginning to clean up before she ate. "Sorry for taking so long."
He shrugged. "I'm the one who should be sorry for falling asleep," he sighed, then turned back to putting a bit more peanut butter on his pancakes.
"Got enough toppings dad?" Willow caught his attention and he glanced up from his plate.
"I can never get enough," he chuckled, sitting down next to her. "But hey, I thought I was the worst dad ever and you hated me."
Their older daughter sighed. "You can be, sometimes," Willow muttered, but then Katie cleared her throat and she changed her tune. "I'm sorry about all of that nonsense. I can be a little overdramatic."
"And I can be a little overprotective, but that's only because I care about you so much," he added, scooping up a bite of eggs onto his fork. "But Wills, I was thinking that we could take a drive today. That way you can reach your practice hours before your test comes up. Do you wanna go after breakfast?"
Ever since Willow had gotten her permit four months ago she had been begging to drive every chance that she got. She smiled at her father and quickly finished her pancakes, shoving the last bite of eggs in too. "Oh dad, I would," Willow sighed. "But Levi is picking me up and we're going to see a movie."
"Another one?" He asked.
"I promise to only kiss him on the cheek in front of you from now on," Willow joked, and right on cue, her phone buzzed and pulled her attention. "We can go later after dinner and stop by that malt shop if that works?"
His daughter knew his sweet spots all too well. The chip on his shoulder was all but smoothed over when he smiled at her as she stood, kissing his cheek before she went around to hug her mom. "I think I can agree to that," he replied and he stabbed a few pieces of pancake.
"Can I come to the malt shop too, daddy?" Emily slid over onto Willow's stool and grinned at her father.
"We'll have our day another time," he winked at her and the ten-year-old sighed. "Oh Ems, I promise that we can do something fun. I just need some time alone with your sister today."
"Only if I can stay up an extra hour to read," Emily said. "Nine is just so early. I'm ten, dad."
"You bargain hard," Katie huffed and sprinkled pepper over the eggs.
Ned looked over at his wife and she shrugged, not really minding that Emily stayed up to read unless it came to her getting no sleep. She usually did anyway on Katie's old kindle that she'd gotten as a present for Christmas last month. Willow's phone buzzed again and she hugged her dad on her way out.
"Just promise to be back in time for when we go to church," Katie reminded her.
"I'll be home around two. That gives me half an hour to be ready before we have to leave," Willow said, glancing at the time on her phone. It was almost eleven. A little too much ice had kept them from going to the earlier mass today like usual, but it was starting to warm up and melt away some. "Bye guys, love you!"
"Love you too," Ned and Katie said at the same time as Willow closed the front door behind her.
She finished up the last of the dishes and walked over to her husband's side. "You are the best father," she whispered, sitting in his lap. "Good idea with driving... just take the truck please, and remember your seatbelt. She can be touchy on the breaks." She kissed him then, silencing him until he pulled back and shook his head at her.
He could be such a schmoozer when he looked at her like that. With that smirk and those eyes. "Yeah, the truck is fine. She'll be fine." He reassured her as much as he could and kissed her cheek. If he was being totally honest he had no clue how good Willow was at driving. She'd only practiced with Jim, twice, because no one was as good of a driver as him. Katie had once when Willow had gotten her driving permit in September, but that hadn't ended so well for Katie's Honda. Willow had accidentally taken the mirror off when she hit a garbage can turning into the driveway. "We'll be fine and I'll bring home ice cream. Promise."
"Strawberry," she reminded him and leaned close, touching his face. The look he gave her next was everything she loved about him. His eyes, just the way he looked at her with those green eyes. She just melted every time. She kissed him and laughed as she pulled back and smiled at him. "I love you."
Emily shook her head as she spread sprinkles over her pancakes and wrinkled her nose, making a face that was classically Katie. "Boys are gross," the little girl muttered. "I don't get love."
"Oh, baby girl, one day," Katie sighed and slid off Ned's lap to hug her. "You'll know one day. I promise."
Ned grinned and swooped the small girl up into his arms, tickling her. Emily giggled and shrieked as Ned said, "That's right! Boys are gross and have cooties. Don't you forget it!"
"Come on you guys, eat your food." Katie rolled her eyes and pressed herself into Ned's back. He suddenly had a different task on his mind. He kissed Emily's cheek and sat her back on her stool. "I need to eat Ned." His hand had grasped her ass and she laughed, kissing his cheek as she leaned into him. "Later... I promise." She smiled into his back and looked over at their two younger kids.
It was hard to think she had once had all four of them in the house. Willow was gone with friends so often and Asher was at Yale until spring break that they really only had Emily and David to take care of most of the time. Asher called, sometimes, but he was playing hockey and had enough on his plate with med school and his part-time job.
She moved back around to finish making her plate of food, swatting Ned away like they were in their twenties again, and noticed Emily was reading Pride and Prejudice. Despite her mother telling her she was still a little too young. "How's the book?" She asked as she grabbed herself a plate.
Ned had half expected her to take the book and read it herself, but she didn't. Instead, she made herself a plate full of pancakes and some eggs.
"It's alright. A little dry for my taste." The girl sighed and closed it. "I liked Gatsby better."
"Stop going into the office," she sighed and aimed her fork at her. "Or I'll take your eye out next time."
"Sorry mom," Emily grimaced and looked up her mother bashfully.
"Just ask next time. I'm reasonable," she rolled her eyes, giving in a little. "I read a lot of things my mom never knew about way before I should've."
"Yeah, I know. It was just..." The little girl's cheeks blushed and her head sunk between her shoulders. "I'm sorry, but you weren't in a good mood that day and I finished all of the books Freya had given me, dad couldn't take me to the library, and no one answered when I ran over to Auntie Mack's."
"Well, I'm sorry that I wasn't in a good mood. I can take you to the library today and finish grading my papers while we find you something more age-appropriate." Katie grabbed the book and placed it on the counter in front of her. Ned chuckled. He knew it. Of course, she was going to read it with breakfast. "I have a few things buzzing in my head. Maybe Matilda, have you read that one yet?"
"I watched the movie," Emily piled another bite of food in her mouth and she shrugged.
"The book is much better," she said and set about to make her plate.
Katie set her plate at her spot next to him before she went over to the fridge, grabbing an orange and the coffee creamer. She went to the coffee pot last and poured herself a cup and added some creamer before putting it away and sitting down. Ned had put three strips of bacon on her plate and she kissed his neck, sliding her hand under his shirt and rubbing his back.
Life was so simple and Ned was thankful for it as he ate his breakfast with their family. So thankful for it.
"So are we going to do this light thing every time Willow goes on a date?" Scott asked as he helped David with a puzzle on the coffee table. "I am totally happy to do it, but I just want to know. Plus this is good practice for when Freya starts dating. You know, when she's twenty."
"Don't forget, you still have Therese to worry about too." Ned chuckled as he held a sleeping toddler. He moved to lay one of Scott and Mack's two-year-old sons in the nearby playpen Katie had set up.
Mackenzie and Scott were over for lunch with their kids after church. The girls and little Oliver were baking cookies in the kitchen while Scott and Ned watched a playoff football game with David and a tired and sick Elliot.
The toddler had an ear infection and had taken to Ned today, enjoying cuddles from him. He didn't mind and certainly liked how Katie swooned at the sight.
She definitely missed the times when the kids were younger and he didn't blame her. It was so hard to watch their kids grow up and stop needing them as they get older, and when they pull away it hurts.
"Yeah? Well, she's not dating until she's twenty, either." Scott joked because he and Mackenzie had two daughters, and had been worrying so much about Freya now that she'd begun to wear makeup to school. Mackenzie had apparently caught Willow teaching Freya how to do eyeliner the other night and he'd nearly lost his crap. He didn't like that she was growing up and that boys were looking at her. "I can't wait for the boys to be older and Mack to know how I feel a little more."
Freya was just about to turn thirteen and Therese was twelve. Scott and Mackenzie also had their two rambunctious twin boys, but they were managing. Just like Katie and Ned had.
Scott would never say anything, but Ned knew that he always had wanted to have his own child. One with Mackenzie's and his DNA, even if Freya was just as much his child as their twins were. Therese's official adoption and just gone through not too long ago and that was even more cause for celebration, even if she's been a part of their family for much longer than that.
"Well I just have to get used to Willow dating," he sighed and chuckled soon after as he looked at his friend. "You should've seen how nervous Katie had been when Asher first asked someone to that formal dance in eighth grade, but apparently this Levi kid isn't too bad. Wills met him through the newspaper at school and really likes him or at least that's what I can tell."
Then said sixteen-year-old appeared from upstairs, having changed out of her church outfit and into something more comfortable to drive around in with Ned.
Scott immediately turned and asked, "Did that boyfriend of yours fix his tail light yet?"
Willow gave her uncle a mildly amused look. "Uncle Scott, please," she said. "It's Sunday. The shop is closed."
Scott held his hands up. "I mean I know to fix them in my sleep," he said, but only in a teasing manner.
"Not everyone is as good with cars as you are," Willow rolled her eyes and walked over her dad, sitting on the arm of his chair. "You ready for that drive dad? I think it would be best to go when it's still light out."
"Just to add to what your uncle said, I think it's very important for a guy to know how to fix his own car," Ned told Willow and she shook her head at him.
"Not you too," she scoffed, rolling her eyes. "Well yeah, I guess you're probably right."
He chuckled. "I was only kidding, but thanks. Just let me go tell your mom and we're all golden. Go start up the car. Don't go anywhere." He pulled his truck keys from his pocket and gave them to her. "Don't change any stations either. Just use the Bluetooth option if you're gonna play your music."
"I won't play anything bad, promise." She laughed and took the keys excitedly. She stopped in front of Scott, bending down to look her uncle in the eye. "Lay off my boyfriend okay? He's worried enough about my dad, so don't make him scared of you too. Plus you really should not worry so much about Frey. She's not even thinking about dating yet. Make-up isn't always about men. We don't do it for you." Willow started to walk toward the door but turned back around. "Also, stop honking when you pick the girl's up from school. It's embarrassing. They are in middle school."
Scott sighed and shared a look with Ned, who was laughing. "I guess I can promise to give Derek a chance," Scott said, stretching as he stood. "Don't ever say I didn't do anything for you."
"Thanks, uncle Scotty," she smiled and turned to her dad. "No making out with mom or I'll give you a repeat of date four again, okay dad?"
Ned stopped laughing then. "No promises, and don't play with me like that," he warned her as she pulled the door closed behind her.
"You know, when she was in my face like it reminded me of someone," Scott chuckled, crossing his arms. "Just like her mother."
"Oh, yeah? Don't let her hear you say that," Ned chuckled.
"Hear you say what?" Katie called out as she came into the foyer.
"Oh, just that you're the best wife I could have ever hoped to find," Ned said, knowing she wouldn't buy that for a second, but she'd enjoy his schmoozing all the same.
Katie's gaze shifted to Scott, who practically ran from the room to find Mackenzie in the kitchen without another word. "Yeah, okay," she said, rolling her eyes. "Did Willow tear him apart again?"
"Yeah, something about make-up not being for men and to lay off her boyfriend," he said, shrugging. "It was rather nice to see someone else get torn apart for once." Katie laughed at that and he shared it equally before kissing her forehead. "I should get going. She's waiting in the truck for me."
"Sounds like my daughter," she said, leaning up to kiss him properly this time for a few moments. "Good luck. My dad said he hadn't been as nervous for a driving lesson since Lana."
He was really in for it.
Katie walked into the bedroom with a cup of tea later on that day and smiled at her husband who was watching tv. The driving lesson had gone okay. There had been a few sharp turns and she'd run a red light because of an ice patch, but Willow was going to get better. She just needed to practice.
"What?" He laughed and stretched as he relaxed into the bed.
"I heard about your driving lesson and that you ran into Levi at the malt shop. You were kind to let them have a few minutes alone. I'm very proud of you," she said, grinning as she sat on his side of the bed. She held his hand as she took a sip of tea and set the cup on the side table. "And I heard that you closed the Forrester case. Why didn't you tell me?"
"It didn't go the way I wanted," he muttered with a shrug. "I didn't think you'd want to know and it was pretty graphic." For the past six months, Ned had been responding to domestic abuse calls for a newly married couple. Every time the husband would get drunk with his Army buddies he would knock his wife around. And that was every single night. He'd do anything he could to hurt her. He'd push her down the stairs, through screen doors, and into mirrors. Ned had been over there more times in a week than he had to the grocery store this month. "The bastard raped her and then beat her with a fire stick. She died in the hospital last night."
"Mackenzie told me," she whispered and squeezed his hand. "She was the trauma nurse on call when she came in. There was some other stuff too, but she crossed over, in case you wanted to know." Ned nodded and sighed. Nothing stayed between those sisters. They told each other everything. "But I also heard that you told Willow that you have taken a liking to Levi."
He shrugged. "We had a few minutes to talk tonight," he said.
"Man to man?" She asked, wanting to know what they had spoken about.
"Yeah. While Willow was in the bathroom," he said, smiling as he remembered the conversation. "Considering I pressed pretty hard on a few questions, I think he's a nice kid. He respects her and that's what matters."
She nodded, agreeing with him. "I had him in one of my classes last year. He seems nice enough for a high school boyfriend," she replied. "Nicer than any of the guys I went on dates with."
"Any of them?" He asked, a little too excited about what Katie might have in store for him.
Ned had been itching to figure out if she was or wasn't wearing anything under her robe since she walked into the room.
"There was one guy," she teased him. "I can't remember his name..." She trailed off and sipped her tea, moaning slightly to make him suck in air. She stood up from his side of the bed and walked just out his reach and back around to her side. "But the things that man could do with his tongue...mmmm just gets me turned on thinking about it."
He played along, watching her. "If you can't remember his name, he isn't worth your thoughts," he countered.
"Very true, but it might come to me... it might've been Toby, but that was so long ago..." He had grabbed her, pulling Katie onto his lap before she could say another word about that guy.
"Toby?" He asked, jealousy shining through their little game. He hated that guy, but she knew that. "I thought..."
She slipped her hand between his legs to make him trail off, grasping him. "It wasn't all bad," she whispered. "Not at first. I'm just glad I saw the red flags when I did, and then... you came to your senses so diligently. Just like tonight... and I have a present for you." She stood up and reached for the tie on her robe, slowly pulling it loose. "I think you'll love it."
"Since it's my present, can I unwrap it myself?" He asked, taking the ties from her hands.
She laughed at his grin and nodded at him eagerly. "Why not?" She teased.
Ned pulled the robe from her like it was wrapping paper and grinned. "My naked wife is always the best present," he said as he pulled her to be with him again, kissing her as he kneeled before her, going to pull his shirt over his head. "The best present in fact."
"Going to prove yourself to be the nameless man?" She teased him as he settled between her thighs, making her gasp and fall silent.
This was going to be a long night for the two of them.