collaborate - ber.

031.

After making hot chocolate and drinking said hot chocolate, Blossom put Aurora to bed for a nap. Partly because Aurora was really tired, partly because she wanted some quality time with Blake.

When she entered the living room, he was standing in front of the wall with pictures. Luckily, there were no pictures of her when she was a kid, she was in just one photo on that wall.  A family photo, taken two years ago. She followed Blakes glance. He was, (surprise!) looking at that photo. At her in that photo, to be specific.

'That's you, right?' he asked, pointing at her. Blossom nodded. 'You were cute,' 'Thanks, I guess,' the girl laughed. She looked at her two years younger self. She was standing next to a smiling Grace, who was holding one-year-old Aurora. Next to Grace was Austin, of course, and next to him her parents.

'Are those your parents?' 'Yep,' Blossom felt her throat getting dry. 'Are they,' Blake paused and looked at her like he was examining her emotions, 'you know, dead?' Blake's voice sounded soft, understanding, and Blossom felt bad, but she started laughing.

'No, no. They're alive. Texted my mother this morning.' 'Oh.' 'Yeah, it's kind of complicated,' Blossom explained, 'when Austin moved out, they decided to stop working as surgeons and started a bed & breakfast.' Blake nodded, 'why are you living with your brother, then?' 'Well, all those strangers in your home isn't fun. I initially wanted to, you know, move to Manchester, but when that did not happen, I did not want to go back, so my brother offered that I could live here, and since they needed a babysitter for Aurora, that became my way to pay them back, if that makes sense.'

Blakes mouth curled into a smile. 'Yes, it does.' Their eyes met and Blossom could not turn away from him anymore. Well, technically, she could, but she did not want to. Was it going to happen? Were they going to kiss?

A sound from Aurora's room interrupted the moment. 'I should take a look at what's going on,' Blossom stammered. 'Yeah, you should.' Blake sat down on the couch.

After a quick inspection of Aurora's room, Blossom noticed that the sound had come from her own phone, that she accidentally left there when bringing her little niece to bed. She grabbed her phone from the shelf that she'd left it on, and went back to the living room.

One missed call from Grace.

'If it's important, she'll call again,' Blossom stated, throwing her phone on the couch and sitting down next to Blake. 'I'm tired.' She sighed.

'I'm pretty tired too,' Blake exaggerated. Blossom noticed the flirty undertone in his voice. 'I'm not letting you sleep in my bed, Blakey,' she raised an eyebrow. 'Shit,' Blake smirked. Blossom shrugged.

'Well, I'll just lay down here then,' Blake lied down, but since the sofa was pretty small, he had to lay down his head on Blossom's lap. 'Hey!' she chuckled, 'don't use my legs as a pillow, use a pillow as a pillow!'

She took one of the blue, fluffy pillows Grace had bought and pushed it into his hands. 'I have an idea,' He laid down the pillow on Blossom's thighs, resting his head on it. 'Better?' He asked. The girl jokingly rolled her eyes and nodded.

Blossom liked it, for some reason. Being close to Blake made her feel confused, but overall, happy. But, somewhere deep down she knew the fun would not last that long. She knew that Grace would be coming home from work soon, and Blake had to be gone by then. The brunette also felt bad because she knew she was kind of sneaking around, inviting this guy from the internet to the house of her family.

'Hey, what are you thinking about?' Blake asked, looking up at her face. 'I just realised, we're kind of sneaking around. My brother or his wife obviously don't know you're here.' Blake nodded, and at that moment Blossom's phone started ringing again.

Blake grabbed it from somewhere under him and Blossom quickly picked up. 'Hey, Blossom,' Grace's voice said. 'Hi, are you coming home already?' Blossom asked, suddenly stressed. Her palms began to feel a bit sweaty. If Grace was on her way home now, which she probably was, because Blossom could hear she was in a car, Blake would have to leave immediately.

'No, no. Quite the opposite, actually. I have to do a night shift,' Grace was silent for a second as if she was hesitating, 'I'm covering for someone.' 'Oh, okay,' the girl answered. 'So, can you take care of Aurora?' 'Yeah, of course.' Blossom heard a muffled laugh in the background. 'Okay, bye!' Grace had hung up.

Suddenly, Blossom understood. The laugh in the background definitely had been her brother, and they were in the car to somewhere, both saying they had a night shift at the hospital. That's why her brother took that big bag with him, in the morning!

'Well,' Blossom told Blake, 'I guess we're not the only one sneaking around today.'

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sorry for another late update, i was travelling all day yesterday.
-ro.