Abdicatin' Royalty

Where love abounds

When I woke up some time later Christian was still asleep but he was now next to me. Stealthily, I slithered out of bed and went down to the kitchen to make breakfast but -according to the wall clock- I was making early lunch. Ribbon stopped barking from outside which made the quietness of the house more intense.

After reheating the leftover Chinese then trudged back to my room -where Christian was lying awake on his back. I sat next to him lazily pecking at the noodles with my fork. "I want you to meet Adrian," I stated out of nowhere.

The atmosphere went awkward -as in single mother asking her new found boyfriend to meet her kids type awkward. I snuck a glance at him and saw a small tugging in his cheek. "What's up with you and this Adrian kid? Is he your charity case?"

Frozen from confusion I didn't know what to say but I tried, "I don't... No, he's just-" I let out an awkward chuckle "-he made everything better this past week. It may be the hormones talking but when I was with him, it didn't feel like a matter of self-preservation or... Or like my life was a post apocalyptic mess. And the joy in his eyes when I see him is just... It's warming. Unnaturally and irksomely warming and welcoming. He's a good kid and he's so humble, especially for an eight year old..."

"You're making me feel like I'm meeting your dying son." Christian moved closer to me and sat up, helping himself to the vegetables and beef strips in my bowl. With a sigh, he asked, "is he your son?"

I exhaled heavily thinking to myself 'that's the question'. I loved how I felt around Adrian and I loved how he preserved a side to I thought I'd lost. Dear stars, I sound like a pedophile! "It's hard to explain," I stuttered with a strained laugh, "he's a such a joy and I... Have a new found kryptonite."

He nodded then pulled me closer, groaning into my neck while he chuckled and purred. "Okay," he whispered. I sat with my head buried in his shoulder, fear rapidly flooding every inch of me. "What's on your mind," he asked -clearly feeling the fear.

I inhaled heavily then stopped breathing for a while before sitting up straight to look him in the eye. "Eddy hates being out of control and this baby..."

"Is out of his control?" Tears began to stream onto his shirt and his arms wrapped around me, warmly. "Jaime," he whispered, "this isn't he's situation. Regardless of who the holy Hell he is, this is our decision. Me and you. Just us."

"I know," I sighed as he cupped my cheeks in his hands and occasionally he'd wipe away tears. "But unfortunately he can get away with a lot. Even if we go public with everything and (best case scenario, the entire country is on our side) it won't matter simply because everyone has their price. Everyone is corruptible and it's just going to be a hype then it's over then people move on with their lives. All that's left is an aching aftermath and that's just assuming things go well."

He stroked my arm before I leaped out of bed to stampede towards the bathroom and vomit into the toilet. The faint sound of two pairs of footsteps on the wood brought a welcoming warmth inside me. A pair of hands retied my ponytail while another ran the tap and rinsed something underneath it.

"Six more months of this is going to ridiculous," I hissed.

The tap closed then the wet hands pulled me backwards while the other pair held me against his shoulders. "Relax Jaime," Christian's voice hummed against my ear.

Marco knelt next to us and rested a damp cloth against my forehead while Christian was faintly rocking me back and forth. "You're pale, do you feeling nauseous?" Marco's voice was hazy but I managed a weak nod. I groaned then forced myself out of Christian's grasp -which wasn't easy with his active protesting.