As Steve walked the news crew out and thanked them for coming, he couldn't stop worrying about Laura. He had hoped she would come back down after breastfeeding, but she hadn't. She hadn't even eaten dinner. As soon as they were gone, he pulled out a jar of peanut butter and a jar of jelly. He made a couple quick sandwiches and headed upstairs. He walked into their bedroom and found her lying back on the bed, reading a book. "Hey," he said softly.
Laura didn't glance up from her book. "Hey."
"Is Quinley down?" he asked.
Laura nodded, pointing to the video baby monitor he'd invented which was sitting on the nightstand. "Yup. She's out cold."
"Good," he nodded, walking over to his side of the bed. He slipped off his shoes and propped himself up on the bed. "That'll give us some well-deserved grown-up time after a long day."
Laura still didn't look up. "I guess," she shrugged, turning the page, not that she'd actually read a single word.
Steve reached out and took her book from her. He took a bookmark out of his nightstand and set her book to his right.
"Steve!" she complained.
"We have to eat dinner, puddin' pop," he explained, handing her a paper plate with a PB . "I went through all this work to prepare you a glamorous feast, and you're gonna pretend you're not hungry?" he joked.
She stared at him blankly. "I'm not in the mood for jokes, Steve."
He frowned. "You can be mad at me all you want, my little firecracker, but you still have to eat," he pressed.
Laura took a deep breath and sighed. She took a bite of the PB . "Ew!" she exclaimed immediately, spitting it out into a tissue she grabbed from her nightstand. "This one's yours!"
"How can you tell?" he asked.
"There's Spam in it!"
"Yummy!" he grinned, trading sandwiches with her. He took a big bite and moaned. "I'm a great chef! Pack your bags, baby. We're moving to France so I can study in Paris!"
Laura took a bite of her sandwich nervously. It was normal, thankfully. She swallowed hard. "I'm not in the mood for jokes, Steve," she said again.
Steve chewed and swallowed his next bite. "I'm not gonna stop making jokes, grumpy butt. I'm trying to cheer you up. There's a part of you that's hiding under all that anger that's cracking up."
"It's hiding under anger and hurt and fear," she explained.
"Fear? Why are you still afraid? I'm home now. Safe and sound."
Laura took a small, nervous bite and set the remaining half of her sandwich down. "Because you don't understand why I'm upset. At all. You're not sorry you did it. At all! Which means you're just gonna do it again." Tears began to pool in her eyes, and she looked away from him to hide it.
He took the last bite of his sandwich, swallowed quickly, and set it aside. "Hey," he said softly, sliding closer to her and wrapping his arm around her shoulders. He stroked up and down her bare arm. "Nothing bad happened to me today. I'm not gonna let anything bad happen to me ever. You don't have to be scared."
"God, you just don't get it," she complained, wiping her tears.
He pulled her closer, and she leaned into him as she began to sob.
"I was so scared, Steve," she wailed. "I thought you were gonna die."
"But I didn't, my love. It's ok. I'm ok," he pressed, holding her closer.
"But you could've!" she complained. "Next time you do something stupid, you could actually die. I don't wanna raise Quinley alone. I don't wanna lose you. You have to take care of yourself for us. If you don't care about me, think about Quinley! She can't grow up without her daddy!"
Steve looked down at her. "You think I don't care about you?" he questioned.
Laura wiped her tears again and tried to pull herself together. "Apparently not. You don't seem to care about how I felt today. You barely seem to care about how I'm feeling now."
"Laura," he whined, "that's not fair. I care! I'm here holding you and comforting you!"
"I've been crying for an hour, Steve. Since I put the baby down. You were too busy with your news crew to check on me," she whimpered, climbing out of bed. "I can't do this anymore right now."
"Laura Lee," he said gently, hopping out of bed and grabbing her shoulders gently to hold her in place. "Baby, take a deep breath. You still have all kinds of hormones raging through your body. These emotions you're feeling just aren't real," he explained gently. Then he saw a pure rage flash through Laura's eyes. Had she had a knife, he would've expected to be stabbed in that moment. He swallowed hard.
Laura pulled away from him. She grabbed the baby monitor and took it into the bathroom. She slammed the door behind her right on his big toe. He jumped back and held his foot in pain as he heard the door lock.
Laura leaned against the door in the bathroom and slid to the ground. She wrapped her arms around herself comfortingly and sobbed uncontrollably, almost completely silently. Though she knew her hormones were still very much in the picture, she knew these emotions were real. She'd felt them all before, whenever he was almost hurt or actually hurt. It felt just like it did when he went into space. The only difference is the hurt and the anger that he didn't even try to protect himself. Going to space was something she'd encouraged him to do. It was something they'd planned on, so she couldn't exactly hold it against him. When he got into the car accident, well, that was just that: an accident. This time, however, he chose to risk his life for some "heroic" stunt. He didn't confer with her. He had done something stupid, and he clearly had no regrets. This wasn't her hormones. She knew that much.
Steve sat down on the other side of the door and rested his face in his hands. He could tell she was crying. It was almost silent, but every now and then she would take a deep breath or wheeze or the door would rattle. He just didn't know how to make her feel better. Reminding her of her hormones was obviously not the way to go. After a few long minutes of listening to her fall apart, he stood and approached the small boombox they kept on the dresser. He pressed play on the CD that was always in there. It was a mix of their favorite songs to knock boots to. Steve slipped a few tracks until he found the one he was looking for, her favorite New Edition song.
Laura lifted her head away from her knees when she heard him singing along to the chorus, softly and insecurely, just outside of the door. He was usually so confident when he serenaded her, but not tonight.
"I'm still the man for you.
And I'm still the man that's true.
And I'm still the man who's lucky.
And I'm still in love with you.
It don't matter what armed robbers do.
They're just jealous of me and you.
And I'll always keep you happy,
Cuz I'm still in love with you.
I'm still in loooove."
Laura stepped back out into the bedroom and looked at him for a long moment. Then she said softly, "This song came out in the nineties, grandpa."
Steve laughed and snorted. "What happened to, 'I'm not in the mood for jokes'?" he demanded.
"I'm always in the mood for my jokes. Mine are funny," she teased.
He smiled again and almost laughed. He stepped forward and pulled her into his arms. He held her close and inhaled deeply. He relaxed as he felt her relax against him.
"I'm still mad," she said softly.
"I know," he whispered in her ear. "And I'm still in love with you," he sang softly.
"I'm still so madly, deeply in love with you, too, baby. I can't imagine my life without you."
"Let's make love," he whispered. "Please."
Laura pulled away from him and nodded. She took him by the hand and led him back over to the bed. He sat on the edge of the bed, and watched as she reached to turn off the lamp. He grabbed her wrist. "No, turtle toes. Please, leave the light on. It's just one lamp. It won't be that bright. Let me see you again like I did this afternoon. You're still so beautiful. There's nothing to hide from me anymore. You showed me everything today. You're still so, so beautiful," he promised.
Laura looked away from him in thought, but he didn't give her much time to think. He pulled her down onto his lap and buried his face in her chest.
She gasped softly as he motorboated her. "Your breasts are so sexy," he moaned, slipping the straps of her tank top down to expose them. He gripped them gently. He massaged them. "You're so sexy." He kissed all over her breasts. He licked and teased her nipples, but he moved on quickly, knowing her breasts didn't feel all that erotic to her anymore, even if they definitely still did to him. He lay her down on the bed and pulled off her tank top, exposing her soft belly. He noticed her cringe and leaned down to kiss her lips. Then he kissed down between her breasts again. He kissed lower and began to pepper her stomach with kisses.
"Steve," she complained, squirming uncomfortably.
"Laura, please," he said, looking up at her. "Laura, you don't have to hide this from me. There's nothing wrong with how you look. I see your stretch marks, and I don't care." He traced his tongue against a few marks on her side. "You're beautiful." He kissed her stomach again and again. "Thank you for making her for me. Thank you for giving up parts of yourself to make all my dreams come true. I love your stretch marks. I love your soft tummy. I love your wide hips and these thick thighs. I love your big, heavy titties. I love your big booty." He pulled her pajama pants and panties down together. He tossed them aside and spread her legs. "And I absolutely adore this part of you," he whispered, reaching out to stroke her womanhood. "This part of you that lets me in again and again. This part of you that went through so much pain for me and for our family. I don't care if you run out of time to wax it or if you skip a shower. Laura, everything that's changed about your body changed because we made a baby together. I left these marks on your body, and you let me. That's beautiful. You're beautiful. You have nothing to be ashamed of, and you certainly have nothing to hide from me of all people." He leaned down and kissed her inner thighs.
She closed her eyes and relaxed into it. He loved her. He worshiped her. She was safe. She could let him in.
His teeth grazed her gently.
"Now, if you were to take this hot body back out on the market," he began.
"What?" she asked, clearly surprised.
He kissed her again and again. Then he bit her thigh gently. "If you were to take this body back out on the market and shop it around a little bit, believe me, you would do just fine, but no one else would appreciate these marks the way I do." He moved back up to her soft stomach and kissed it. He kissed over to her sides and kissed her stretch marks again and again. "Anyone else would just ignore them. They'd just grab this big booty," he said, grabbing it firmly. She gasped. "They'd bury their face in these titties," he continued, demonstrating before he returned back down to between her legs. "And they'd slide into your tight, wet center." He slipped two fingers inside as she gasped loudly. "But anyone who doesn't worship these battle scars," he whispered, licking her stretch marks again, "doesn't deserve the right to enter your sacred temple." He slid lower again and hugged her thighs against his face as he started to eat her out. He pulled back too quickly and grinned when he heard her whimper in disappointment. "Now I'm going to pray to my goddess at this altar until her love rains down on me, and only then will I try to enter her church."
Laura's breath caught in her chest. He was one to overuse silly analogies and metaphors. Normally, it was when he broke through those words used to disguise his desires that she felt the spark between them grow brighter, but this one was different. The creative story he was telling took her breath away. She allowed herself to close her eyes and relax into the bed as he worshiped her. As he moaned while he pleasured her, she felt like a goddess. It was the only thing that could explain why he felt such peace and ecstasy only in pleasing her. She lifted her head to look down at him. She was finally glad for the light so she could see the look in his eye. "I love you," she whimpered as his tongue continued to flick against her clit.
He grinned brightly, kissed his way back up her body, and knocked her down flat on the bed. He kissed her lips hard. "I love you, too, beautiful."
"I want you inside of me," she whimpered, rubbing her womanhood against his hand.
Steve grinned and kissed her again. "I wanna be inside of you, but not until you come all over my face," he ordered firmly, sliding back down her body.
Laura whimpered again. "Baby."
Steve laughed and snorted. "You're so impatient. You know I love tasting you. I'm not done." He sucked gently on her clit for a moment, making her gasp, and then he pulled back to look at her again.
"I don't want you to keep staring like that," she frowned, squirming slightly. "Can we please just make love?"
Steve frowned. He climbed over her face again. "No, my love, we can't just make love. I wanna make love to you, but I wanna look at you, too, and I wanna go down on you, and I wanna have you in all of your favorite positions, and I don't want us to lose everything our sex life was just because we made a baby."
"I just don't wanna go so slowly right now."
Steve shook his head. "I just wanna take my time, baby."
"We don't have as much time as we used to," she reminded him.
"Then stop worrying about how you think you look and focus on orgasming. You're never gonna get there worrying the way you are, and I'm not gonna stop until you finish." He kissed slowly down her body again and got to work between her legs. He teased her less, worried she was going to stop him again if he didn't really start to get her going.
"Steve," she whimpered.
"Lauraaaa," he purred back, sucking gently on her clit. His tongue flicked against her button again and again. "Just relax, sexy. Let me pleasure you. All I've ever wanted to do was please you."
She wasn't sure she believed that. She knew Steve loved her more than anything. Well, anything other than Quinley. She knew he loved her more than any other husband loved his wife. She knew that she and the family she had blessed him with were the things he wanted most in this world, but that didn't mean they were the only things he wanted. Steve was ambitious. Steve had an ego, despite how much of his life people had spent trying to destroy that in him. Steve wanted to make the world a better place because he had seen how dark it can be. Steve wanted to uncover the secrets of the universe so that nothing in it could hurt him. Steve wanted notoriety because he had never gotten enough attention. Steve wanted to please her because he was absolutely terrified of being alone. Laura realized that they had both connected with their inner-child today, and what each of those children needed countered the other. For the little boy in Steve, the only way to find safety was to force change. There was no safety in standing still. Safety was not a given, so risk was expected and necessary. Safety, and love, had to be earned, and earning it was never easy. The little girl in Laura knew that people loved her unconditionally and that the only way she could lose the love of the people she loved was to lose them.
"Laura?" he prompted, lifting his head from her thighs. "Are you ok?"
She nodded as she refocused on him. She sat up, pulling him up with her. She climbed into his lap, lining his member up with her entrance.
"Wait. I wasn't—"
Laura kissed him, thrusting her hips forward and down, taking him deep. She rode him gently, grinding firmly against him. She broke the kiss. "Is this ok?"
He nodded. "You feel so good," he moaned. They rocked back and forth together, slowly and incessantly. Steve stared deep into her eyes as she shifted between meeting his passionate gaze, closing her eyes tightly, and burying her face in his neck.
As her breathing grew heavy, he leaned close to her ear and nibbled it softly. "Are you gonna come, baby?"
She moaned desperately in response.
"Answer me, please."
She panted heavily, struggling to get enough air in her lungs to reply. "Yes, Steve. I'm so close."
"What do I need to do to get across the finish line, Laura Lee? How do you want it?"
The confidence alone in the tone of his voice moved her closer. "Just like this," she begged. "Please. Just like this." She held onto him tighter. "Come inside me. Please."
Steve smirked. "Not yet, my love. I will, but I'm not there yet. You're gonna have to go first."
"I'm almost there," she whimpered again. She moaned softly over and over until her breath hitched, and he felt her shake all around him.
He groaned loudly in response, holding her closer until her breathing steadied and she pulled back to look him in the eye. He kissed her hard before she could say anything, knocking her back on the bed. In doing so, he slipped out of her, but he quickly thrust himself back in, moving in and out of her quickly. It was a very different feeling for her than the grinding that had sent her over the edge and she gasped loudly as he tried to continue kissing her. He pulled back but didn't stop moving with her. He knew he needed to check in, but as he pulled back and sat up, still thrusting into her, he got a good look at her again. She was so beautiful and so disheveled. Her milk had leaked and dripped from her swollen breasts, she was drenched in sweat, her hair was messy, and her entrance was practically dripping. He had ravished her, and it thrilled him to see her undone like this only for him. Eventually, his gaze returned to her eyes, and she looked shocked more than anything else. He slowed down, but he didn't stop. He wouldn't stop unless she made him. He couldn't. "Are you ok, sweetheart?" he asked breathlessly.
She hesitated. "How do I look?" she whimpered, feeling incredibly exposed at this angle.
Steve smiled softly and shook his head at her. "Perfect. You are perfect."
She closed her eyes and tried to let herself believe that. "Ok," she whispered.
As she relaxed a little, Steve allowed himself to take her harder. He stared at every inch of her, committing it to memory. He wanted to move closer to her, but he didn't want to surrender the view he had from above. Only when he was on the edge did he allow himself to collapse against her, cupping her face gently and brushing his nose against hers as he thrusted again and again. He moaned her name loudly as he came, and she opened her eyes to meet his. He didn't break eye contact as he came back down from heaven. "You're perfect," he said again.
She nodded and kissed him. "Thank you. I love you."
"I love you, too." He lay on top of her, staring at her for a long moment. Then he forced himself to pull out. He offered her a hand to help her up as they turned to resituate themselves at the correct end of the bed.
As they lay in bed, completely nude but tucked under the covers, they faced each other. Steve had taken his glasses off, but they hadn't bothered to turn off the lamp by Laura's side yet to go to sleep. Steve still wasn't done looking at her, even through blurry vision. As he stared at her lovingly, she found herself compelled to share something.
"When I was really little, my dad was working a lot more nights and walking the beat a lot more than when you met him," she began suddenly.
Steve's brow furrowed, surprised she was saying anything, let alone something that came so far out of left field.
"There were a lot of nights, and I mean more than I could count, that my mom stayed up late, sitting on the couch and worrying about him. And a lot of those nights, probably not all of them, but whenever I knew she was down there, I would sit at the top of the stairs and watch her worry. I would fall asleep there, and when my dad got home, he would pick me up and carry me to bed and tuck me in and kiss me goodnight." Laura started to tear up, and as soon as Steve noticed, he did too. "I grew up with the best dad in the world. I know that. I know how lucky I was, but… it was so scary to be his daughter. Even now, it's scary, even though he's mostly behind a desk. Plus, I have to worry about Eddie now too." Laura tried hard to swallow the lump in her throat. Her voice cracked. "I don't wanna worry about you, too. Not like that. I promised myself a long, long time ago that I would never marry a police officer. I never wanted to put myself through what my mom went through, and I never wanted my babies to sit at the top of the stairs like I did. You were so brave today. You were a hero. I didn't mean to minimize what you did, but you have to promise me that you will never do anything like that again unless it's for me or our babies. You are so brave and so selfless, but I need you to be selfish, baby. I need you to swear to me that you will choose yourself next time. Please. Please do that for me." She rushed to wipe her eyes.
Steve wiped his eyes too and moved closer to her. He pulled her against his body and kissed her head. "I'm so sorry you went through that, sweetheart. You never told me any of that. I had no idea."
She sniffled. "I don't think about it a lot, but I thought about it today."
"Thank you for sharing that with me."
Laura lifted her head to look down at him. "You still haven't promised."
Steve hesitated.
Laura's face fell deeply, her facial muscles tightening as her body prepared to cry again. "Oh, my God, just forget it," she whimpered, sitting up and sliding toward the edge of their bed.
He sat up too and gripped her arm fast. "Laura, stop," he said firmly. He pulled her back toward him and back into his arms. She was crying harder. He pressed her face into his neck and rocked her gently. "Laura, please don't cry. Please, babycakes," he whispered.
"Then promise me!" she exploded.
"Ok," he answered. "Ok."
Laura pulled back to look him in the eye. "Promise me."
"I promise, Laura Lee, that the next time I'm in a situation like that, I will take the coward's way out. I won't take any risks. I will only do what is absolutely necessary to stay safe for you."
"And I know it wasn't your fault that you were in that situation today, but whenever you can avoid it, promise me you will."
"I promise," he said firmly.
Laura wrapped him tightly in her embrace. "Thank you, baby. I needed to hear that." She kissed him hard. "Thank you for being such a good daddy and husband. I'm so lucky to have you. I just want to make sure I'll have you forever."
Steve lay back and pulled her with him. "You will. You absolutely will. You don't have to be scared, sweetheart. I will always be right here."
"I can't worry about you like I worry about my daddy. I just can't. I need to be able to trust you."
"You can. I promise. I made you a promise, and I don't break promises. I came home from space, and I came home today, and I won't do anything to scare you like this again."
"Thank you," she whimpered again. "Thank you. I love you so much." She kissed him hard and then leaned over him to kiss his chest over and over again.
"What are you doing, Sweetums?" he asked as he felt his body begin to react to her again.
"Thanking you," she answered simply as she moved her lips lower on his body.
Steve couldn't suppress a grin and a giggle. He snorted. "How are you planning to do that?"
"You'll see," she purred as she slipped her head under the covers.
Steve thrusted up as he felt her lips on his member. "Oh, Lauraaaa," he moaned. "Oh, baby, that's so good." He felt her pull away as he heard a piercing cry on the baby monitor. He sighed deeply as she slipped her head above the covers.
She leaned over him and kissed his cheek. "You stay right here. I'll go take care of Quinn, and then I'll come right back here and… take care of you again."
Steve smiled. "You don't have to."
"I want to. I want to reward you for making that promise."
Steve's smile softened. "You don't have to," he said again.
"But I want to," she said with a sense of finality. She leaned in and kissed him deeply, and then she stood from the bed. She smiled at him seductively as his eyes nearly bugged out of his head as he tried to absorb every part of her body in case she ever prevented him from seeing her again. "I'll be right back," she said, turning slowly and walking toward the door. She grabbed her robe and slipped it on before she went out to the baby.