All That I Am

Fighting for the Kids

Michael's POV

"So daddy, mom is coming home today? Is that why you're cooking instead of Ruby?" Camille asks, standing in the kitchen while I prepared dinner.

"Not for good, just dinner. We both want to talk to you." I reply.

Camille's head drops slowly, her eyes to the floor as she walks out. "Millie where are you going? I thought you wanted to help with dinner?"

"Not anymore, I'll just watch TV with Mikey.." she says sitting on the sofa and placing a pillow over her face.

I had to admit, I missed having Rayne around. I wanted this dinner to not only help us with Camille, but help us with each other as well. That might've been why I wanted to cook dinner myself instead of having the chef cook as usual. I wanted it to be perfect.

"Dad someone's at the door." Camille calls.

I open it to see Rayne, her eyes meeting mine. "Hey.." I say stepping aside to let her in. "Why didn't you use your key?"

"Out of respect I guess." She shrugs quietly. her mood lifts as she sees the kids, "hi babies." She smiles hugging them.

"Dinner is running a little late. So you can relax for a minute.." I stammer, heading back in the kitchen. She gives me a small nod while continuing to talk to the kids.

I don't know why I was so nervous for Rayne to be home. She hadn't been here in a month; but it's not like anything changed, It's the same way it was when she left.

Slowly but surely, it felt like our family was back to normal. We were cracking jokes at the dinner table and making each other laugh, everything felt right. Camille had smiled more than she had the entire month Rayne had been gone and I was so happy to see her happy. To see Rayne's smile was very special to me, especially when it was directed at me. It made me fall in love with her all over again. "Mom can you stay to tuck me in?" Camille asked. "Me too!" Mikey followed.

Rayne smirked, "of course."

After Rayne tucked in Mikey, we both head in Camille's room to talk to her. We had been so distracted with all the jokes at the table, we never got the chance.

"Hey, So.. we need to talk to you... about school" Rayne says sitting on her bed as I stand at the door. "Is everything ok? Ms Sterling says you've been a little distracted... what's distracting you?" She starts softly.

Camille tucks into her blanket a little, "I don't know" she says, fiddling her fingers.

"Is it this whole thing going on between me and daddy?" She asks.

"I want you to come back home." Camille admits, "daddy says we'll always be family but it doesn't feel like  family when you don't live here with us."

"But we are family Millie'. Just because mom and dad aren't getting along with each other doesn't mean you have to worry about anything. Mommy and I still love each other very much. It will all be ok, I promise you that!" I assure her.

"Don't worry about us Camille, it's our job to worry about you. Ok? We don't want this to mess up your schooling..." Rayne continues.

Camille nods before we both kiss her goodnight and shut her door with "I love you" and head back downstairs

Rayne lets out a sigh, "I'm gonna get going, we still make a good team." She chuckles.

"Yeah. We do. Tonight was great." I smile. "Ray.. why don't you just stay over, have breakfast with us." Grabbing her hand, she gives me a sigh.

"Mike, I would but I can't. I'm sorry... I don't even think I've got clothes here."

"I'm sure you left something here..."

"I can't Mike..."

"I don't understand why not? Is... is there someone else?" I frown.

She rolls her eyes, "for God's sake Michael no.."

"Are you still dealing with Andre?"

"No Michael.."

"Then why not?" I press on.

"Because I don't want to sell this lie to our kids anymore.. I'm sick of pretending like everything is ok! It's not. Nothing is ok... I mean Jesus Mike, it's affecting Camille in school. Our kids are young but they're not dumb.." she snaps with a sarcastic chuckle.

"What do you mean? We're gonna be fine.. we've just gotta get over this hump." I say loudly.

"Michael, you thought I was seeing someone else because I didn't want to come home. You're the one who kicked me out and you don't even trust me enough to live on my own. So tell me, are we really fine?" Rayne says wiping light tears.

I hug her, "I have to tell myself we're gonna be fine. I don't wanna lose you." I sniffle.

"I don't know what else to do. You've cheated on me, I've cheated on you... I mean do we really love each other?" Rayne sniffles into my chest. "Or are we just fighting the truth for our kids...." she continues calmly, pushing away from me.

"You know I love you Rayne..."

"But I'm not sure if I love you anymore Michael..." she cries. With those words, I felt my heart shatter into a thousand pieces. I couldn't even process the words coming out of her mouth.

"What are you saying to me Ray?"

She sobs, her face buried in her hands, "I don't know.. I don't know how I feel about you anymore."

"We love each other Rayne...don't do this." I sit her on the sofa grabbing her face wiping her tears with my thumbs. "Tell me you love me." I say with tears in my eyes.

She simply looks at me tearfully, I bring her lips to mine before she stands to leave. "Michael.. I can't do this...." she wipes her eyes once more before swiftly walking out the door. I started to chase her but I figured what was the point. I even started to question, "were we fighting for ourselves, or the kids?"

WHEW! Short chapter but a lot of drama right? I'm sorry it's been so long. I've been busy and now I'm sick! So it's been a lot! But as always I promise I will keep trying to get better with my updates. I wish I had a set schedule for updates but the concepts for the next chapter just pops into my head and I start writing til I simply run out. Plus nothing in my life ever goes on schedule so it wouldn't work out anyway.

Thanks for all the likes and comments as always, I love reading them and thanks for all the support! ❤️ til next time! -DD58