scandalous

twenty | reunion

A bark distracts me, I look down and I feel the tears rush out of me before I can even process it.

"Oh my god." I choke out, grabbing the leash from Aaron and bringing Cleo into the house. Her tail is wagging excitedly and she looks like she's about jump on me, but she doesn't.

Aaron comes into my house, closing and locking the door behind him before walking into my kitchen.

Cleo's so happy and goes straight for her water bowl.

I've never moved the water bottle, nor replaced it so it must be old water.

I sit on one of the chairs in my dining room as I watch Cleo in fascination.

After Cleo's done drinking water, she goes back to me and jumps on my legs. I give her pets as I cry and cry and cry.

"I've missed you so much baby." Words come out before I can acknowledge them. "So so much. I love you so much Cleo."

She licks my face, which kind of wipes the tears but I'm just so happy my dog is back.

I kiss Cleo's face so many times that you can see the light faint color of my lip gloss on her face.

And then, Cleo licks my belly.

Which makes me cry more. The only difference between these tears and the tears I've been shedding these past months are the fact that the current tears coming out are happy tears.

—

It takes me a while to stop crying. When I do stop crying, Cleo's by my side as I eat the food Aaron bought me.

He's holding the puppy. My eyes and Cleo's eyes are on Aaron.

"Who's dog is that?" I ask.

"The people who found her said they found Cleo feeding the pup." Aaron answers, making eye contact with me.

I gasp. I look down at Cleo. "Your a mama?" My baby voice has been activated once again.

Her tail wags. Oh my god. My dog is a mother while I'm pregnant.

"How did this happen?" I ask Aaron.

"I started going to different cities to look for Cleo, I put fliers up with my phone number and I went to animal shelters to look for her. The call in the car was about Cleo, not work." He explains.

"Aaron," I begin to say but I'm honestly kind of speechless. "I don't know how to thank you."

"You don't have to." He smiles lightly at me. His gaze drops down to my belly a few times which warms my heart.

Aaron walks away which makes Cleo follow him, confusing me. Cleo lays down in her overly large bed I bought for her two years ago because I thought it would look so cute for Cleo. Aaron places Cleo's pup down which Cleo automatically takes care of.

Aaron walks away from them and walks back towards me.

"Are you done with your food?" He asks and I nod. He gathers up all of my finished food and throws it away for me. "Anything on your mind?"

"So many things are on my mind." I confess.

"Like?" He questions.

"I need to take Cleo and the pup to the vet." I begin. "And we need to start thinking of names for the baby."

He nods. "We have time, Amore."

Amore.

Oh, I've missed that.

He looks down at the island and sees the stack of sonogram pictures.

"Your not going to put these up?" He asks, tilting his head towards it.

"Oh and that. I was thinking, maybe we should start looking for houses, to live in. Together." I suggest.

"Absolutely." Aaron blurts out. "I'll tell Reid to find us a safe house, gated community"

"Can it be near their house? I want to be able to see Athena without traveling so far." I smile.

"Of course. We'll look at the houses tomorrow." He states.

"Sounds good." I get up from my seat. "Do you want to stay the night tonight?"

"Of course. What do you want to do?" His eyes gleam.

"Right now, I just want to nap knowing my dog is in the same room as me now." I walk to my couch and realize Aaron isn't following me. "You can nap with me, if you want."

He follows me to the couch. He lays on the couch first before I lay next to him, on my side, my face facing his chest. I kind of wish he was shirtless.

I rest my head there after bringing my head up to look at Cleo's bed, seeing her napping with her pup.

I smile when I lay my head back on his chest. Aaron's arms are wrapped around me, his hands finding their way to my belly.

I fall asleep, happy with my current situation.