Mr and Mrs. Hardy: A Short Sequel

7

- A . H -

I was stood outside of the bathroom waiting for (Y/N) to come out. The door finally unlocked and she stepped out with Gabe in her arms. I could tell that she had been crying.

"Hey... woah. What's happened, love?" I asked as I stood in front of her.

"It's nothing. Don't worry." She mumbled as she looked down at Gabe.

"It's not nothing if you're crying, let's go sit in my office for a bit. Come on, El." I said to Ellie so she would follow. All four of us piled into my office - I set Netflix up for Ellie again so then (Y/N) and I could talk. She sat down on the sofa, holding Gabe close.

I closed the blinds so nobody could see in then sat down beside her.

"Are you just worried about everything that happened today?" I asked her as I held her hand in mine. She nodded slightly. "Everything's gonna be okay. I'm not gonna let anyone get to you. Especially not anyone from that family."

"I was so close to losing everything..." she sighed.

"I know. And the idea of that terrified me. I don't think I could survive without you here. I don't know how I coped before meeting you."

"I know. I've heard what people said about you... shit-face the job stealer who was also the worst cop in Britain." She chuckled softly.

"Right. Job stealer - Miller was on holiday and they needed me. Worst cop in Britain that solved his case. Shit-face... yeah I'll take that. I was very grumpy back then."

"You helped Ellie solve it. And you're still Mr. Grumpy when you want to be." She smiled more.

"Okay yeah. I can be quite grumpy. But I'm not as much since I met you." I smiled to her. "Now let's see some more of that beautiful smile."

She smiled softly and nodded.

"I was just scared because I thought I'd never see the kids again. Gabe and Ellie wouldn't have a mum, I was even scared because I'd never see Daisy again. I see her as my own too."

"You see Daisy as your own?" I asked as I smiled more.

"Of course I do. She's your daughter and I know that when she's happy, you're happy which makes me happy. So we can all just be a family." She shrugged.

"Okay. That makes sense." I chuckled softly as I kissed the top of her head. "But seriously please don't worry about that family. Lee is sentenced already and Michael is in custody for carrying a firearms with intent to harm. He'll get some custodial sentence at least."

"Okay. There's no more of that family then?" She mumbled quietly.

"Nope. Lee's wife is also sentenced so no more problems. Okay?" I smiled to her.

"You've got such a beautiful smile." She said softly.

"Stop, no I don't." I chuckled and tried to turn serious again. "But you're definitely okay, yeah? I'm gonna do everything in my power to stop people from getting you. I just wanna make sure that you're not hurt?"

"I'm fine. A bit sore from the handcuffs he used but not much can be done about that."

"Well when we get home, I'll give you a massage, wrists included if you like?" I chuckled softly.

"Oh your massages are good. Okay." She nodded softly.

"Okay good. But (Y/N)? You tell me if you ever feel like shit, yeah? It's what I'm here for. I'm your husband, I'm here to listen to your stories and your complaints. Anything you tell me, it's not a burden. I can help, I promise."

"I know you can help. I just didn't think this was worth talking about." She shrugged.

"Of course it's worth talking about. It could have been life changing, love." I told her. "Let me know when you wanna go."

"Can we go now?" She mumbled softly.

"Of course. You wanna get Ellie, I'll get Gabe and his bag?" I suggested to her. She nodded and started getting Ellie ready to go.

I quickly tidied the office and got Gabe ready to go.

"Right. Let's go home then, guys." I smiled softly as I opened the office door for them both. As they left, I followed them out and to the lift. We all stepped inside and I wrapped my arm around (Y/N). I kissed her head. As we reached the ground floor, we stepped out and walked out to the car.

Within 20 minutes, we were home and in our apartment.

"Shall we go get Gabe settled?" She smiled to me.

"Yeah sure." We went into the nursery and changed Gabe ready for bed. I passed him over to his mother. "Let's have cuddles with Mummy before bedtime, shall we?"

I watched (Y/N) happily as she held Gabe close and kissed his head.

"Mummy and Daddy love you so much. We'll never let anything bad happen to you, I promise." I heard her saying quietly. I stepped closer and wrapped an arm around her waist.

"And I'll never let anything bad happen to you, I promise." I whispered as I rested my head on her shoulder. I felt her nod. I smiled and watched Gabe in her arms. She stepped forward and led Gabe down in his cot. "He's so perfect..."

"He looks just like you. You're perfect too." She smiled softly as she stepped back from the cot. I felt myself blush slightly and I smiled more.

"What time is it? Shall we get Ellie off to bed?" I mumbled quietly, being careful not to wake Gabe.

"Yeah. I think it's her bedtime." She replied as she turned on the baby monitor. We both left the room and walked down to Ellie bedroom, where she was sat playing with some of her dolls.

"Sweetheart, it's time for bed now." (Y/N) smiled softly as she crouched down beside the little girl.

"I don't wanna go to bed. I wanna cuddle with you and Alec." She pouted softly to us both.

"You've got school tomorrow. Come on, off to bed." (Y/N) said to her.

"But we've been at your work all night, I just wanna cuddle you." She replied.

"Ellie-"

"It's alright, love." I said as I placed my hand on her shoulder. "How about you get in your pyjamas, we'll get into our pyjamas and we can all cuddle in our bed?"

"Yeah! Thank you, Alec!" As we stood up to leave her room, Ellie started searching through her pyjamas.

"She can come in our bed and once she falls asleep, I'll carry her back to her bed." I shrugged as we walked into our bedroom.

We both got changed into our pyjamas and within a few minutes later, Ellie charged into the room with some teddies.

"We're having a sleepover! Are you excited, Mummy?!" She grinned as she jumped onto the bed.

"Very excited, sweetheart." (Y/N) smiled back to her. "We're gonna go straight to sleep though, it's been a long day. You have school tomorrow and Alec has work, okay?"

"Yep!" Ellie grinned as she crawled between us. I smiled to her and led down. (Y/N) led down too and held Ellie close.