Don't Need Them - John Laurens x Reader {DISCONTINUED}

- 56 -

~ a couple of days later ~

Your POV

I was grateful John was finally home. He was too; I could tell sitting in a hospital bed all day, save for when he needed to clean up or use the bathroom, was really starting to drive him crazy. It would drive anyone crazy, let's be honest.

Things felt complete again. It was no longer just Frances and me in the house. Not to forget Bowie, who was very happy his other owner was back home. We had to scold him a bit though when his paws kept pressing against John's bruises the day he came home.

The last few nights had been rough though. John's bruises made it hard for him to be really comfortable sleeping, and honestly it just seemed like he didn't want to. Even though we both knew the trio was in police custody, he was still tense and on-edge, frequently watching.

I had a feeling he'd only really sleep once the trial happened and the trio's verdict was in, which we learned was around two weeks away. Until then, I just had to keep reassuring him.

~

I walked into John's art room, himself with his back to me as he focused on the easel in front of him. Art was one of his main distractions from everything that had happened, the other being taking care of Frances and Bowie.

Despite me having already opened the door, I knocked on it with my free hand, my other arm holding Frances. "Knock, knock."

John turned his head, smiling amusedly. "Hey, princesa. What's up?"

"If you're not too preoccupied at the moment," I answered, "this lil' bugger wanted to see you."

He laughed, setting down his paintbrush to walk over to us. "Ain't ever too preoccupied to see my baby girl."

Taking Frances carefully from me, John lifted her up slightly, pressing kisses to both her cheeks to make her giggle. "Ain't that right, birdie? You wanna watch Dada paint?"

"Paint!" she babbled, pointing to her father's cheek where blue had smeared. He must've tried to rub his face.

John laughed more, bouncing her a bit. "Yeah! Dada's a messy painter, ain't he?"

Frances giggled, nodding after a moment.

Her nod made me laugh. "Good to know she's already forming opinions."

"God help us in another year or so," John responded, looking at me before back to the one-year-old in his arm. "Somethin' tells me she's gonna be rather opinionated and sassy."

"As long as she doesn't start backtalkin' us, we'll be fine, right?"

"Let's hope for the best." John chuckled.

He ended up walking back over to the easel with Frances, talking to her and letting her babble nonsense or things that only made minimal sense. Despite most of it being nonsense, the smile on his face was probably the brightest one I'd seen in days.

I ended watching them for a little bit before deciding to silently make my way out, going back to the living room and pulling out my phone.

Going to Twitter, I started to make a new post. Now that John was home, we really had to consider making a video soon so the fans would actually know what was going on.

song writing princesa @hey(y/n)laurens
Hi my stars - sorry I've been absent for a while. If you've seen the articles and things, you'll probably know what's going on, but I'll be posting a video with John soon covering everything so stay tuned. Love you guys🌟💕

John's POV

Frances's attention stayed on the half-finished painting on the easel for a while after (Y/N) left, but I ended up setting it to the side and getting a blank canvas so our daughter could mess with the paint and not ruin my other painting.

Frances was pretty distracted by the paints for a while, at least until something caught her attention and she pointed to it. "Mama!"

I followed where she was pointing despite already know exactly what she saw. Leaning against the wall was a half-painted picture of (Y/N). I'd been working on it for weeks already, wanting every little detail to be perfect.

I wondered how she didn't notice it, as it was relatively out in the open. Unless she did and didn't say anything. But I had a feeling she would've if she did. At least it continued to remain a surprise.

"Yeah, that is Mama!" I answered, bouncing her a bit. "You wanna see it up close?"

Setting Frances down, I let her toddle over to the nearly-finished painting, kneeling beside her as she reached forward to touch it.

She looked at it a few moments before looking back to me. "Mama pwe-pwetty!"

"Ain't she?" I responded, chuckling a bit. "Dada's been tryin' real hard to make it as beautiful as she is. But between you and him, birdie, he still doesn't think it does Mama justice."

Honest to God, I really didn't think so. I didn't think any painting could do (Y/N) justice, honestly. It wasn't truly her.

Frances only continued to silently look at it and occasionally touch it, and I let myself look between her and the painting, letting my thoughts wander.

Even after the years we'd been together, married or not, I still didn't fully understand how. How someone like her ended up with someone like me (or people, in terms of when we were still with the trio. Not that I was like them now though).

I didn't understand, but I couldn't express how lucky I felt. When the storm had cleared, I still had the love of my life. And the more I thought about it, the more I knew I wouldn't anything.

If things had gone differently, we wouldn't be married (probably. None of us had ever understood marriage with polyamory). We wouldn't have found Bowie, we wouldn't have had a daughter. We wouldn't be a true family.

Even with what was still ahead, I wasn't worried - we'd made it this far together. We'd be alright.

after what the last few chapters have been, i decided fluff was in order l m a o. don't worry, the drama will be back sooner or later.

hope you enjoyed tho~ and sorry for no update last week oop-

~ Galaxy