a/n: it would make my day if you guys could check out my newest story, His Honeybee!
please enjoy this epilogue, and thank you for joining me on Lottie and Ben's (very badly planned on my part) love story :) (also, Amity's name has nothing to do with Divergent. i chose it because it means friendly, which is something Lottie would choose if ya think about it)
p.s. the ending of this is a bit dirty lmao just warning you
p.p.s. epilogue title creds to SnickleMyFrickle! thanks babe :)
Epilogue: Bittersweet
"Where's Daddy?" Amity asked me with her adorable lisp, peeking over the counter at where I was icing some mint chocolate cupcakes.
I smiled at the little cutie pie and passed her the spoon. "He's hiding," I told her. "He knows Mummy will beat him up if I find him." Unlucky Ben, he couldn't escape from me today because we both had a day off - him from his software development job and me from my bakery. Plus, our car was in service, so he couldn't drive away and hide in the safety of Clark's, or Ginny and Zach's house.
She giggled, her pigtails bobbing. "Silly Daddy," she said fondly, smearing chocolate all over her face.
"Yes," I said, moving around the counter to ruffle her hair. I licked my thumb and wiped away a smear of chocolate that she'd somehow gotten on her nose. "Want to help me find him?"
"Can I help beat him up?" she asked eagerly. Maybe that was bad parenting on my part, but she was only three years old, so I figured Ben could handle a little beating from his pint-sized daughter.
"Of course," I agreed warmly, reaching out my hand to her. She grabbed it, and again I marvelled that Ben and I were able to create such a wonderful little girl with half of his knucklehead genes. "Where shall we look first?"
"My room!" She tugged me upstairs.
"We need to make a plan," I whispered.
Amity clapped her hands. "Plan!" she repeated, and I chuckled when I realised she had no clue what I was going on about.
"I'm going to wait outside, and if you find your dad, don't tell him I'm waiting, okay?" She nodded furiously, her pigtails going wild. She had my hair, but Ben's beautiful dark eyes. "And then we attack!"
She giggled, but then clasped her hands to her mouth in horror. "Sh!" she said. "We need to shhh!"
"Right," I said. "We do need to be quiet, we need to be sneaky! Can you tiptoe, angel?" She proudly showed me that she couldn't in fact tiptoe and didn't know what I meant by tiptoe, but she was such a tiny little thing that it didn't even matter. "Perfect," I exclaimed, and we high-fived. "Okay, now check your room."
I leant against the doorframe and watched in amusement as she checked under all her toys for her enormous father. "He's not here, Mummy!" she whispered loudly, disappointed.
"It's okay, angel, we'll check somewhere else." She ran up to take my hand, but then I noticed something out of the corner of my eye. "Wait," I whispered. "Amity, look under your bed." How the heck did he fit under there?
Amity ran over to her bed and dropped to her hands and knees. I shook my head when a hand shot out from under the bed and grabbed her, pulling her underneath. She screamed happily. "Daddy!"
"Give up the chase, my love!" Ben yelled, his voice muffled. "I've got your precious daughter in my grasp and there's nothing you can do about it!"
Amity laughed, and I knelt down, seeing her tucked comfortably under her dad's arm. "She's your daughter, too," I reminded him, just in case he forgot. Even from back here I could see his eyes twinkling challengingly, a smirk plastered on his face. His handsome face looked just as it had back when we were in uni, except more rugged, with his dark beard and sharp features.
"Come and get her," he taunted.
I rolled my eyes and crawled over to my little family. I dropped down to my stomach. "Want to come to Mummy, angel?" I asked, holding out my arms.
Amity beamed at me, her round face softening even further, and carefully wriggled out of Ben's grasp to hug me. I smiled smugly at Ben, who returned it with a grumpy look. "Look at Daddy's face!" Amity said with a cheeky smile.
"Hardy hardy har," Ben said, slightly amused. "What's wrong with my face, Amity?"
"You look silly!"
"Go play with your toys, angel," I said. She scrambled up immediately and ran to the newest doll her doting father had bought for her for absolutely no reason other than the fact that she had him wrapped around her chubby little finger. I lay on my stomach, propped up on my elbows. "Hello, hubby," I said slowly. "What are you doing, hiding under our daughter's bed?"
"Trying not to be killed by my little wife," he said sheepishly.
"And why is that?" I asked in a sing-song voice.
"Oh," he drew out, twiddling his fingers. "No reason."
I pointed at him. I was more amused than annoyed now, but he didn't have to know that. "Out. Now." It took him awhile to scoot his body out from under there, and I watched, a slight smile on my face. By the time he was all the way out, he rolled onto his back, gasping for breath.
"Lottie, you know I love you, right?" he tried, staring at me pleadingly.
I pushed myself up and sat on his stomach, causing him to let out a soft oof. "I love you, too," I had to say back. "But that doesn't let you off for offering up my baking for Queenie's birthday party tonight when you know I have to go see my dad at the hospital!"
"I'm sorry," he said. "I'm sorry, my love, I completely forgot!" He grabbed my hands and put them on his cheeks, closing his eyes. I watched his handsome face crease worriedly, and I felt my heart expand.
"It's okay," I said softly. "Anyways, I already finished, so it's not that big a deal."
"I didn't mean to cause more work for you," he said, opening his eyes. "Queenie just kept saying they were getting cupcakes from Safeway, but that she liked yours so much more!"
"It's okay," I repeated, shaking my head. I smiled at him, and his wrinkles smoothed so that he could send me one of his panty-dropping smiles.
Do you know what a lot of couples do after they fight?" I stared at him, not having any idea what he was saying, because we didn't even fight. "Make up sex."
"Benjamin," I gasped. "Your daughter is right here!"
"Want to give her a brother or sister?" he asked in a whisper. Then, louder, "Amity, angel, do you want a brother or sister?"
I whipped my head around to see Amity staring at us with wide eyes. "Yes!" she squealed excitedly. "I want a little sister! I want to be a big sister!" She spoke so fast that her lisp made it almost impossible for me to understand what she said.
"You heard the girl," Ben said with finality. He rolled us over and stood up with me still clutching onto him. "Mummy and Daddy have some work to do if you want that sister."
Amity squealed again, dancing around and waving her hands about, absolutely ecstatic. "I'm going to tell Vivian tomorrow that Mummy and Daddy are giving me a little sister!"
"Ben," I groaned, burying my face in his neck. "What have you done?"
"Careful, my love," he said. "If you say my name like that again, we might have to be a little...late to Queenie's party."
My face turned bright red at his words, and I gasped when he squeezed my thighs. Even after eight years of being with him, I wasn't prepared for when he'd say something suggestive. "I swear, Ben, I'm going to kill you," I muttered.
He hugged me closer to him and swiftly exited Amity's room. "Angel, just knock on Mummy and Daddy's door if you need anything!" he called.
"We can't leave our daughter alone," I said, rolling my eyes. But we could, because she was content to play by herself for hours. I thought perhaps she was more mature than her father.
"She'll be fine," he said. "I would say this'll be quick, but we both know, from my stamina, that that isn't the case." I didn't have time to tell him off, because he kicked our door closed behind him, throwing me onto our bed and climbing up on top of me.
I wrapped my arms around his neck and smiled. He leant down to kiss me, but I quickly put a finger on his lips. "Just let me give her a snack," I said.
He groaned and fell off me onto his back. "Fuck me," he muttered sullenly.
I rolled onto my side, facing him. "In a minute," I whispered cheekily and then sprang up off the bed.
"Charlotte!" he yelled, but I just laughed and skipped outside.
Once I grabbed a juice box and a packet of cheese crackers from the kitchen, I went to Amity's room, where she was innocently playing with her Ironman and Captain America figurines. I crouched down beside her and lay the snacks beside her. "Angel, if you get hungry, just have these, okay?"
She grinned at me, showing me her cute baby teeth. "Okay, Mummy."
I smiled and brushed a stray curl away from her eyes. "Love you, angel."
"Love you, too, Mummy."
I stared at her for a minute. I couldn't leave her alone, she was just too cute! I mean, Love you, too, Mummy? That was killer. "I'll be back, okay? Knock on my door if you need anything."
"Okay, Mummy," she said, starting to get annoyed that I was still there, interrupting her playtime. I shook my head and kissed her head.
Now to attend to my other baby.
I slowly opened the door to mine and Ben's room. He was still lying on his back, covering his face with his hands, but when he heard the door opening, he immediately sat up. His eagerness would've made me laugh if I wasn't feeling the same.
I wiggled my eyebrows and closed to door, locking it. "Hey, hubby," I said, smiling.
"Are you going to come here, or do I need to come get you?" he asked, aggravated.
My smile widened, and I slowly zipped down just enough of the front of my dress to make my husband's face turn a bright red. Over the past few years, I'd learnt some tricks, and I knew what to do that would make Ben want to throttle me if he didn't have other things on his mind.
"Charlotte," he warned.
I walked over him and shoved him hard onto his back. "You're so sour," I said, amused. "Sour as a lemon, you are!"
"I'll show you sour," he muttered, swiftly kicking my legs out from beneath me so that I was sprawled across him. "Nice to see you down here," he said, winking.
I smiled. "Want to make a baby with me?"