Burnin' Love (1)

Darden Boys

"Good. So is your sister, by the way," Nicole gives him a sarcastic smile.

Matt takes a seat at the table, starting some paperwork when he sees Evie in the common room entrance, "Evie?"

"Mr. Casey, Mrs. Casey, I'm so sorry to bother you," She address both Nicole and Matt as Nicole moves to stand next to Matt.

"Where are Griffin and Ben?" Nicole asks, looking around for the boys.

"Outside. My daughter has a sore throat, could be strep. I need to take her to the doctor. I tried to get them to come inside but there's a problem with Griffin."

The couple follow Evie out to her car and wave as she drives off before looking at the two boys, "Griffin, come inside, we'll give you the VIP tour."

Griffin stands there with his arms cross, gesturing to his brother, "He can go in, I'm staying outside."

Nicole puts a hand on Matt's shoulder, "Take Ben inside, I'll talk to Grif."

"Okay," Matt kisses her cheek before escorting Ben into the firehouse where everyone greets him.

Guiding Griffin over to a bench so they can both sit down, letting Griffin start, "Ben's an idiot, acting like this place is so cool."

"Your dad loved it here," Nicole reminded him.

"I just wanna go home, okay?"

"I know. I get that. How about this, I'll get Matt to cancel his construction job tonight and we can spend the night watching movies," Nicole tries, grimacing when a painful jab happens in her belly.

"Are you okay? Should I get Matt?" Griffin asks, sitting up a little straighter.

"No, I'm fine. She just landed a hard jab in there. So, how about we go inside and make sure those boys don't corrupt Ben?"

Griffin sighs, laying his head down on Nicole's shoulder, "What's gonna happen if we're still with you guys when the baby comes?"

Nicole wraps an arm around him, smiling, "Then we all get to be a little sleepless together. Know this, Matt and I won't stop caring and loving you guys when she comes. She might require a little more attention-"

He nods, "I know. I remember when Ben was born. He cried a lot."

She laughs, pushing him up and standing up as well, "Let's go inside. Get something to eat or poke fun of the guys with Shay and Gabby."

♣️♣️♣️♣️

Nicole sits in the rocking chair in the recently finished nursery, folding baby clothes as Ben and Griffin do homework at the kitchen table with Matt's help.

"Hey, Nic, how do you find the area of a triangle?"

"I am not the one to ask," Nicole says, fixing the already perfect crib and tilting her head while looking around the room.

Matt stands in the doorway, watching her as she makes little adjustments to the room, "Nic, the nursery looks perfect. You had the guys and I repaint the room like ten times."

"It was only twice and that was because you got the wrong shade of white for the borders. It didn't match the crib and changing table and dresser and the closet was a horrid shade of lavender when I wanted it to be eggshell-"

"Nic, Nic, Nicole. I know. I'm sorry that we sent Cruz and Otis to get the paints. I should have went myself," Matt apologizes for the fifth time, moving forward to wrap his arms around her as they look around the room, "You know we still have some of that white left over. We could write her name on the wall over the crib?"