Where love leads us (Sequel of BWYDT)

Chapter 17

A/N: Alright dear readers. This chapter is a bit of a short, slow build and set up for the next few chapters. Things will start happening and we will get a layout of the issues everyone will be facing and how they adapt to situations life throws at them.

Thank you again for reading.

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"Mason?"

"No."

"Ethan?"

"No."

"George?"

"No."

Kim let out a long sigh from behind her phone. Adrianne noticed but didn't say anything. She had learned a great deal in their first years of marriage. The biggest was when to ask questions and when to let little things go. This was meant to be let go of. "Joseph?"

"...No."

"You hesitated."

"I'm scared." She didn't need to see her wife's face to know there was either a glare behind the screen, or she rolled her eyes.

"Okay. How about a little less traditional? How about... Bentley?"

Adrianne didn't respond right away. This didn't fit into her knowledge base of acceptable moments for clarification. It was a risk, so she waited. The two women were laying on the sofa facing one another, legs laid out the length of the couch. Slowly, Kim lowered her phone, peeking over the top to sneak a look at her clearly unamused spouse and began vibrating from her giggles. It was safe. "My childhood dog? You want to name our potential son after a dog?"

"Of course not, but you didn't just answer with 'no' either." Kim teased. Adrianne only hesitated a moment before subtly moving her fingers to tickle the younger woman's bare feet. Kim instantly snatched them away at the contact and lifted a playfully threatening index finger. The other woman could only smile lovingly in return.

Things with Kim were easy. Sure, they had their rough moments when they were still learning how to blend themselves into their relationship and marriage, but they did blend. When Adrianne ever compared her relationships, past or present, it was always against Lauren. She had felt the deepest love for the raven-haired out of all of her girlfriends so it was only natural. But with Kim... there was no push or pull as there had been with Lauren. Adrianne knew Kim. Knew her past, her fears, her hopes, her dreams, how she thought, how she loved... Kim was and always had been everything Adrianne needed in ways that she had never expected and at levels, her past relationships could never give her. Kim met her halfway on the hard things. "I love you."

"I love you, too." The answer was soft and genuine and accented with an adorable cheesy smile. When Kim used to think of herself, she was rarely ever 'Kim'. She was whatever whoever she was around needed her to be. If she needed to be quiet and out of the way, she was great at that. If she needed to be hands-on and making decisions, she could do that too with minimal stress anymore. She was good at whatever she needed to be doing, except being herself. Until that is, she met Adrianne. Adrianne... was something special. Adrianne knew exactly who she was and was unapologetic about it. She craved authentic behavior from everyone around her and Kim found herself engulfed in it. The other woman brought a sense of safety and acceptance to her life that she had never experienced before and it allowed her to blossom even if there were some large bumps along the way.

"I have one more name," Kim stated, bringing her phone up to her face again only to lower it to her lap a second later. She wanted to see Adrianne's reaction. "What about Charles? And we call him Charlie or.. CJ for Charles Junior."

That caught Adrianne off guard and her mouth bobbed for a second. "You want to name him after my dad?"

Kim shrugged and began looking at her phone again. "Why not?"