Everlasting Love (Stauren) {Book 3: on hold}

Chapter 1

A/N: If you have not read the first to books in my "A Love Like This" Stauren series, I highly suggest you do that first :)

°•°3rd person°•°

Steven slowly shuffled his way across the wooden floor of his and Lauren's bedroom, trying not to make a sound. The weight of his feet pressing down on the wood made the floorboards let out a tiny squeak

Lauren quickly whipped around at the sound, immediately seeing the small smirk spread across her husbands face. "I thought I heard you," she mumbled, letting one arm snake around his neck. Lauren being slightly shorter than Steven, she had to gently bring his face down towards hers, connecting their lips with a small, but loving kiss. "You're not very good at keeping quiet."

"I know..." he began. "...but I still get to do this." Not leaving another moment to let Lauren speak, Steven sealed the small space between their lips once more. He then stepped back, sitting down on the edge of their bed with Lauren standing between his legs.

"Whatcha doing?" Lauren chuckled, tucking a loose strand of Steven's soft hair behind his ear.

Steven took both of her hands, running his thumbs gently over the top of Lauren's hands. "Just admiring you," he said with a smile. "And realizing that we need a new mattress."

At that, Lauren gave him a confused look. "What make you think that?"

"Because..." Steven lifted his arm up and started patting the large lumps under the covers. "...there's way too many lumps in this mattress."

Then, an eruption of giggled occurred from under the covers, and Emmie, Caiden, and Cleo all poked their heads out from under the blankets.

Lauren quickly began to tickle Caiden and Emmie, making them roll around on the bed, laughing historically. Cleo instantly knocked Steven on his back, climbing on his chest and bouncing up and down. Steven lifted his arms up and gently poked at her sides, earning an adorable smile.

"Daddy, stop!" Cleo giggled, swatting at his arms until he stopped. The little girl continued to laugh and jumped into Lauren's lap, and Steven sat up to kiss Lauren's cheek. She turned her head to look at her husband, flashing him a smile.

He leaned forward and whispered in her ear. "You're so beautiful."

Steven's head shook slowly from side to side as he slept on his back on a wooden floor. A small grin appeared in his face while he dreamed, Steven's face scrunching up for a small moment.

Suddenly, he shot up in place, quickly propping himself up with his hands at his sides. "Lauren..." he whispered as he snapped awake. Steven looked around the small office room to find Caiden and Cleo curled up together.

Steven crawled over to the two, smiling slightly at the way they were cuddled up. His fingers gently tucked a loose strand of Cleo's hair out of her face when he noticed her dirt covered shirt was pulled halfway up, revealing the large bullet wound scar on her stomach.

A sigh escaped his lips and he placed his blanket over the two before turning around to find both Lauren and Emmie gone.

"Lauren..." he asked, his voice a bit louder than a whisper. "Emmie?"

Standing up, Steven frantically looked around, trying to think of where they would have gone. He glanced back at Caiden and Cleo once more before grabbing both his knife and gun off of the small desk in the corner of the room.

Steven rushed out of the room and into the hallway of the office building the family was staying in, glancing out the front window. Outside, both Lauren and Emmie were fighting off a group walkers that was curling in on them.