I was awoken by soft lips kissing my own.
Fluttering my eyes open I was met with Ashton's face hovering over mine as he nudged and parted my lips so he could kiss me.
I kissed him back, bringing a hand to the back of his head.
"Morning beautiful." He breathed between kisses.
"Good morning to you too." I smiled, tilting up my chin so I could kiss him better.
One of his hands came over to my hair and he began to run his fingers through the strands, the action incredibly sweet.
He was making the move to deepen our kiss when the door to his bedroom opened and we yanked apart, both looking to see Gracie walking in.
"Morning Gray." I said as Ash and I both sat up, calming our racing heartbeats.
She said nothing but climbed on his bed and crawled up between us before flopping down face first on the blanket and almost immediately going to sleep.
Ashton and I both clapped a hand over our mouth to stop our loud laughter from escaping so we didn't wake her up.
He pulled out his phone and took a picture of her while I placed a hand on Gracie's back and chuckled as he went to go post it, saying 'She just walked in and...'
Leaving Gracie to sleep, we got out of bed to start getting ready, dressing myself in a black sweater and the black skinny jeans I had borrowed from Ari.
Escaping to the bathroom I began to curl my hair and do my make up before going back to the bedroom where Ashton was trying to wake Gracie up.
"Gracie, come on sweetheart, you have to get dressed." He shook her shoulder.
"Come on love, you have to get dressed but after that you can go to sleep." I told her and she rolled over.
Ashton had to help me get the sleepy little girl into a white dress with navy blue polka dots on it and her white sandals.
Immediately after she was dressed she went back to sleep and we laid her back down on the bed for her to nap.
"Oh, I got everything situated with the school so you are now listed as Ender's other guardian." I informed Ashton as I laced up my shoes.
"Cool, I'm a guardian." He smiled and I laughed at him.
Ender had already been woken up by Ashton and was dressed and waiting in the kitchen when I went to make us breakfast.
"Where's Gracie?" He asked.
"Asleep."
"Still?" He laughed.
"She was up late last night, it took me and Ash forever to get her to sleep, she was so hyper." I sighed.
After breakfast and coffee we heard the car honking outside and Ashton carried his sleeping princess out to the car while I held her little back pack and her bunny and blanket in my hands.
He buckled her up and we all sat down and off we went to another radio station.
"Someone's tired." Luke nodded towards Gracie.
"Yeah she had a late night." I smiled.
When we pulled up to the station Michael, Calum, and Luke went first along with Ender.
We watched them through the heavily tinted window as they held fingers up to their lips and shushed the screaming girls, all of them quieting down soon.
"Gracie is asleep so let's try not to wake her up." Luke whisper shouted at them and Ashton waited a moment before opening the door and taking the passed out child in his arms.
All of the girls awed at this and I followed Ashton with Gracie's things.
We didn't really stop for photos and went straight inside the building and into a room where there was a circular desk and a bunch of microphones.
A man and woman stood behind the desk, both in their thirties. The man had brown hair and blue eyes while the woman was blonde and blue eyed.
They introduced themselves as Amy and Brad and shook hands with the boys before Ashton introduced me.
"This is my fiancé Carter." He placed a hand on my back and I shook their hands as well.
"It's nice to meet you." I smiled and they smiled back at me.
"We are so happy to have you here. Are you excited for your first time on the radio?" Amy asked me and I laughed.
"I am."
We took seats at the table and Ashton continued to hold the sleeping Gracie in his lap.
He got the little girl adjusted and I went to place the blanket over her since it was pretty chilly in the room and tucked her bunny under her arm as well.
I took a picture of her asleep on Ashton and decided to post it on my Instagram saying 'When Daddy's little girl is asleep'.
"Okay so you have to put on the headphones." Ashton told me and I took the pair in front of me and placed them on my ears.
"Like this?" I asked him and he chuckled.
"Perfect." He sent me a cheeky grin and reached over with his free hand to hold one of mine.
I helped him put his headphones on and he took up my hand again while we waited for the interview to start.
"Alright everyone, the moment you've been waiting for all morning has arrived, Five Seconds of Summer is here live in the studio, and we're going to be chatting with them, so how's it going guys?" Amy segwayed into the interview and I became a little nervous.
"It's going good." They all said into their microphones.
"We have Michael, Ashton, Calum, and Luke with us, but we also have to introduce the girl that everyone has been talking about for the past few weeks, Ashton's beautiful and lovely fiancé Carter Chase is in the studio as well." Brad said and I let out a laugh.
"So how are you, Carter?" Amy asked me.
"I'm doing good." I laughed lightly, this being so strange for me.
"And you also have your brother Ender with you, and then your daughter Gracie who's actually asleep on her Dads lap." She said.
"Yes, she had a very long night last night." I chuckled.
"Yeah, Carter came here to surprise us yesterday and Gracie was very excited, so we laid in front of the television with her because she wanted to cuddle and watch movies, and normally she's asleep by the end of the first movie but we seriously went through about three movies before me and Carter had to like make her go to sleep." Ashton explained.
"It was sweet though. But this morning Ash and I were sitting in bed and she just walked in the room and climbed in the bed and just like flopped down and fell asleep, it was hilarious." I added.
"She's adorable." Amy smiled. "So you guys have been engaged for a few weeks and I think almost every girl in the world wants to know what it's like to be engaged to Ashton Irwin."
I busted out in laughter.
"Hmm...lets see." I said smirking and Ashton rolled his eyes.
"This is not going to end well." He chuckled.
"Well he's very dorky." I started.
"Dorky?!" Ashton exclaimed.
"Yes, dorky."
"I'm dorky? Have you met you? You're the dorkiest person I know." He laughed.
"How am I dorky?" I giggled.
"Okay so this girl," He turned back to look at everyone else besides me. "We're laying on the sofa the other night watching Mamma Mia and she seriously sang like every single word to every song, and not only that but her favourite movie is Peter Pan and we watched that one night and she knew every line and was saying them along with the movie."
Everyone started to laugh.
"Says the guy who before we were dating came over to watch Frozen with me and Ender and I open the door and he's standing there and goes 'do you wanna build a snowman'." I threw back sassily and he cracked up.
"Okay what is it like to be engaged to you...you're dorky, you're sweet, you're romantic, very funny, you love me a lot-"
"Yes I do." He smiled.
"You're a good dad, handsome, caring, warm."
"He's warm?" Michael asked?
"Like warm-hearted?" Luke raised his eye brows.
"No she means like heat warm." Ashton said.
"He's like my own personal heating lamp." I laughed.
"Well you have to have someone to keep you warm at night. Every girl needs a guy that's their personal heating lamp." Amy added.
"Exactly." I laughed. "And you love it." I looked at Ashton.
"I do love it. Falling asleep and waking up with the prettiest girl in the world as close to me as she physically can be, it's great."
"That was sweet." Amy smiled at us.
"Just so everyone knows, Carter is literally the sweetest girl in the world." Ashton said and I couldn't help but smile at him. "Except-"
"Except?" I guffawed.
"Except for when it's three in the morning and she decides to shove her ice cold feet against my legs." He said and I started to laugh alongside everyone else.
"I get cold! You're my fiancé you should be like 'don't worry babe I'll keep you warm, even if you have to shove your ice cold feet against my legs'. That, my love, is how this relationship works."
"Yeah okay, dork." He squeezed my hand.
Gracie made a whimpering noise and Ash and I both looked at her to see her moving around in Ashton's lap, lifting her head up and opening her eyes.
"Hey, look who's awake." Ashton grinned, everyone else awing.
"Good morning sleeping beauty." I smiled and reached over to touch her cheek. "Did you have a nice nap?"
She nodded.
"Do you remember coming in our room this morning and falling asleep?" Ashton asked her and she shook her head no causing us to laugh.
"Mommy." She held out her hands and Ashton passed her over to me where she proceeded to wrap her arms around my neck in a hug.
I kissed her forehead before she sat down, resting her head on my chest and looking at the hosts.
"Hello Gracie." Amy waved at her and Gracie waved back.
"Can you say hello?" I asked Gracie who had her thumb in her mouth.
"Hi." Gracie said and I smiled.
She laid her head back down on me and I kissed her head.
"So Carter, it was a pretty big story in the news a couple of weeks ago, you had a health scare and there were some reports saying you had a seizure, so is everything good?" Brad went onto the next topic.
"Yeah, everything's all better now." I smiled politely, Ashton reaching over to take my hand and I nodded, giving him permission to talk about it.
"What happened was, a while back when we were on the UK tour, Carter hit her head on the boat while she was diving alone, and so for like a week they were looking for her and finally found her and took her to the hospital, so that's why Michael and I came back. And the doctors said she had just bruised her skull and it was healing and everything was fine. But a couple weeks ago I had spent the day at the house with the guys and then Ender called me saying Carter wasn't waking up, so we went over there and she was laying on the floor and literally just started seizing. So the ambulance came and in the ambulance her heart rate started to go down and they did CPR and she went into another seizure. So ultimately we got to the hospital and she had seven more seizures and had a concussion, and we found out that when she hit her head the first time she damaged a pressure point which caused her to black out, and then Carter was diagnosed with dissociative seizures." Ashton explained.
"Wow, that's very scary." Amy said with wide eyes. "I'm glad you're okay."
"Yeah it was pretty scary, but everything is okay now." I smiled.
"So what are dissociative seizures?" Brad asked.
"They are seizures that occur when you get too stressed."
"So is there anything you can do for it?" He asked.
"Yeah well the doctors gave her anxiety medicine, but now if she gets too stressed we give her a pill and I just do my best to make sure she's all good and safe." Ashton said.
"He's been great throughout all of it and very supportive and a good shoulder to cry on. I'm very lucky to have him." I smiled, squeezing Ashton's hand.
"You guys are seriously adorable. Okay, well we are going to take a quick break and when we come back, we are going to play a game to see how well the guys know Carter and Ashton." Amy said and then we were off the air.
"Mommy I'm hungry." Gracie looked up at me.
"Well you slept through breakfast." I chuckled as I smoothed a hand across her cheek. "I brought you a granola bar so let's go out in the hallway so you can eat it." I told her and took off my headphones, standing up and taking her into the hall.
I unwrapped it for her and stood there while she ate and then made it back in the room before we went back on air, putting my headphones back on.
The red light that said we were live turned on and I sent a smile to Ashton.
"Alright so we have made two teams, Ashton and Carter and then Luke, Michael, and Calum. We've given them each white boards and we are going to ask a question about Carter and Ashton, and if Michael, Calum and Luke get it right then they get a point, but if they get it wrong then Carter and Ashton get a point." Amy introduced the game.
"You're going down." I warned the guys.
"Oh would you like to make another bet?" Luke smirked.
"You're on." I grinned and shook his hand.
"Oh God not again." Ashton laughed.
"Alright then $100 dollars, like last time." Luke said and I agreed.
"Okay we've got ourselves a little bet going on." Brad laughed.
"First question, teams get ready. Okay where did Carter and Ashton have their first kiss?" Amy asked and we all went to scribble the answer on our boards.
"Does everyone have an answer? Yes? Okay hold up you boards." She said and we flipped our boards around.
"So Carter and Ashton wrote in the kitchen and the boys did too, looks like the guys got a point." Brad said.
"I thought you guys wouldn't know that one." I laughed.
"Really? He came back to our house and was like 'Oh my God I kissed her, I can't believe it, it was so amazing, blab blah blah blah blah'." Calum said and I cracked up.
"So one point for the boys, next question, who said I love you first?" Brad asked the next question and we wrote down our answers. "And hold up your boards. And it looks like the guys got it right, the answer is Ashton."
"Aw." Michael cooed and I laughed again.
"Okay, next question, who cusses the most?"
I thought hard before scribbling a question mark on my board.
"I don't know that one." I said with a little laugh.
"You don't really cuss. I've only heard you say a curse word like three times maybe?" Ashton shrugged.
"I've only heard Carter curse once when that guy punched her in the nose." Calum said.
"A guy punched you in the nose?" Brad asked.
"Oh yeah!" Ender exclaimed. "At footie practice."
"Yeah, Calum was helping me assistant coach the footie team at Ender's school and one of the varsity guys punched me in the nose because I made him mad." I explained.
"I have never seen Ashton run faster than when he did to get over to Carter, because she was about ready to fight that kid." Luke said.
"She would've won too, she's freaking strong." Calum added and I laughed.
"We'll leave that question a draw. Alright our next question is, where was the happy couple when Ashton first said I love you?"
The guys froze.
"Ha!" I pointed at them with my marker.
"Wait I know this, I know this." Michael was hitting his marker against his leg. "Oh!" He wrote down the place on the board and the guys copied it.
"Okay, so Ashton and Carter wrote hotel rooftop in downtown Sydney, and Michael wrote -uh oh- rooftop at Carters house. Looks like Ashton and Carter get a point." Brad narrated.
"Yes!" Ashton and I high-fived.
"Just to let everyone know their scores, Ashton and Carter currently have one point, and the boys have two." Brad updated us.
"Okay teams, your next question is, what was the first movie they ever saw together?" Amy asked and we wrote down our answers. "Uh-oh, looks like Carter and Ashton get another point, they wrote Ninja Turtles while the boys wrote Frozen."
"I swear it was Frozen!" Michael protested.
"That was the second one." Ashton corrected and Michael groaned.
"Alright so the teams are tied, now it's time for the tie breaker, this is going to be a challenging one. What was the first thing Ashton and Carter ever said to each other?" Amy asked.
"Oh God." I looked at Ashton who looked deep in thought.
The guys sat there thinking as well and I saw Ashton write something down.
"Wait let me see." I peered over at his board.
"Carter this is actually a really easy question, think back to the first day we met." He told me and I sat there for a few moments before it hit me and I wrote it down, Ashton smiling at me when he read it.
"Alright, this determines the winner so teams turn around your boards." Brad said.
"Oh! Carter and Ashton wrote good morning while the boys wrote hey, looks like Carter and Ashton win!" Amy announced with a lot of enthusiasm.
"Yes!" I threw my arms around Ashton's neck to hug him and then turned back to Luke. "I'll take my $100 please."
I gave him my most smug smirk and he sighed before taking out his wallet and slapping a few bills in my hand.
"Thank you for contributing to the Ashton and Carter wedding fund." I smiled angelically and he just laughed.
"Well guys it was so fun to have you here and Carter it was an absolute dream to meet you." Amy said and I smiled at her.
"Thank you for having me, it was fun."
"We hope you boys have a great time finishing off your first headlining tour, and Carter and Ashton we wish you both the best in your relationship, it's obvious you were made for each other." Brad complimented us next.
"Aw, thank you." I smiled as Ashton went to squeeze my fingers while grinning at me.
We ended the radio show and said our goodbyes to the hosts before leaving the station. We took photos with girls outside this time and piled into the car, heading back to Ashton's home.
"So I was thinking we should go shopping while we're here in Sydney to get stuff for when we leave." Ashton suggested since we were the last ones and had the driver take us downtown instead.
"Yeah that sounds great." I smiled.
We headed downtown and parked in a levelled garage before hitting the streets.
"So let's start with clothes for Ender." I suggested and Ashton led us to a department store and over to the boys section.
"I hate shopping." Ender mumbled as we began to look through the racks.
"Here, I'll pick stuff out for you and then you can try it on." Ashton told him and Ender nodded before walking off to sit in a chair by the dressing rooms.
"So why were we being interviewed by Disney yesterday?" I asked Ashton as we started to flip through the hangers.
"They are doing like a little short story on us to play as a commercial during their programs. We've partnered with them a few times." He explained.
"Okay." I nodded. "I was just a little confused."
"No it's fine. I didn't realise they would be filming that day, I mean I knew it was happening but I didn't know when."
"Why didn't you tell me they were doing a story on us?"
"A lot of people are doing stories on us Carter, it slipped my mind."
"Why stories on us? I mean we've been engaged for a few weeks now, I think everyone knows."
"Yes, but now they are doing angles, talking about my moms opinion on us getting engaged so early, the guys opinion, my friends opinions. They want to talk about your life since you grew up differently than most kids. They are interested in Ender and Gracie and how we work together as a family." He shrugged.
"I don't think I'll ever get used to this." I shook my head.
"You will." He smiled at me.
"Just like-why do people care about me? It's not like I've done anything but date you."
"Okay, but Carter you have to understand that ever since we announced our relationship you became a figure in the public eye. You're no longer a normal girl that lives a normal everyday life, you've been given all of these new opportunities and people know who you are."
"What opportunities?" I asked him.
"Like the interviews, the photo shoots, the articles, people want you and I to come on their radio shows and go to their parties and make appearances at different restaurants and clubs. I've even had people ask us to come on their television shows."
"Why haven't you told me about any of that?"
"Carter what do you think I'm doing when I tell you I'm working? I'm responding to reporters, answering interview questions, scheduling things. I thought it would stress you out so I've been handling it for you."
"I have no clue about anything that's going on Ashton, and that's really frustrating. We're supposed to be a team. Do you not think I can handle it?"
"Baby I know you can handle it, I just don't want you to have to handle everything. I'm trying to ease you into this new life instead of throwing you to the sharks and seeing if you sink or swim. I'm the one who brought you into the spotlight, and now it's my job to make sure you don't get bruised and battered by the media."
"Ashton you're not my manager, you're my fiancé." I looked him dead in the eyes when I spoke. "I like doing these things with you, but I want to be in on what's going on. This is my relationship and my life too, and I want to know everything that's being planned and scheduled out for me."
He looked at me shell shocked for a moment before getting it together.
"Okay, okay I'm sorry, I never thought of it that way but I'll make sure you know what's going on."
"That's all I ask." I smiled up at him before leaning up to press a kiss to his lips.
"Are you mad at me?" He asked once my heels touched the ground.
"No baby, I'm not mad." I laughed and he nodded with a smile.
Throughout our conversation we had collected arms full of clothes for Ender to try on.
"Okay bub, time to try on." I walked towards Ender and he groaned.
"It's like you picked out the whole freaking store."
I rolled my eyes and all but shoved him into a dressing room where Ashton and I stacked the clothes before leaving him to try them on.
Ender tried on all of the clothes despite his many complaints of why we had picked out so much, and we ended up buying most of it except for a few items.
After we had paid, Ashton called the driver to take the bags back to the car while sending me, Ender, and Gracie down the block a little ways to a children's boutique to begin shopping for Gracie.
When Ashton joined us he took over picking out dresses, skirts, pants and leggings, and plenty of shirts while I had her in the dressing room making sure everything fit.
I about pitched a fit when I saw how expensive everything was so Ashton made me go stand outside so I wouldn't see the total price, but through the window I could see him go back to get a few more of the dresses we had already picked out but in different colours.
My four year old had a better wardrobe than me.
"Don't even ask, I already hid the receipt." Ashton said as he walked out of the store with Gracie.
The driver came by to pick those up as well and we continued on our way.
I was apparently next and internally whined as Ashton led me into the Urban Outfitters he had taken me to last time.
"You go sit. I'll pick things out." Ashton smirked and I shrugged before Ender and I sat on the sofa by the dressing rooms. Gracie wanted to help Ashton find clothes for me so she stayed with him.
"Mommy look!" Gracie ran into the dressing area with a light blue skirt.
"Very pretty." I smiled as Ashton came up behind her, arms full of clothes which made me want to cry. Ender and I were both in agreement that we didn't like shopping.
He sent me into the dressing room and I began to try on the different outfits.
Some were very cute but nothing like I had worn before. Others that I tried on we're very provocative and showed a lot of my skin.
I vetoed all of the excessive skin baring outfits and Ashton went back to find other things.
"Oh my god did you get the entire girls section?" I asked him.
"Uh yes actually. And some of the boys." He responded as I took another handful of clothes, giving him a glare.
After we had purchased everything at that store we moved on to another where I honestly just let Ashton go for it, giving up.
He went into several more shops to buy things for me and himself and then we had the driver collect the bags before setting out again.
We purchased portable DVD players for the kids so they had entertainment on the plane, colouring and sticker books for Gracie, and headphones for both children since Ashton wanted to protect their ears because we would be in loud situations.
Once the kids were taken care of for the most part, we had dinner after dropping off our bags again and were on our way back to the car when I saw a Victoria's Secret ahead of us.
"Hey, I actually need to stop in there." I said to Ashton who gave me a smirk before leading us into the store.
He followed me around as I picked out panties and a few bras and headed to a dressing room.
Gracie wanted to go with me, and Ashton and Ender waited outside against the wall.
'What is your bra size?' Ashton texted me after I had tried on two of the bras.
I texted him back the size, slightly confused until there was a knock at the dressing room door.
"It's me." Ashton said and I opened the door slightly since I was only in my undergarments. "Try these on." He handed me three bras with matching underwear.
I took them and was about to close the door when he stopped me.
"By the way," He placed a hand on my bare side, "That one's a keeper."
His eyes glanced down to the grey lacy bra I was wearing.
I blushed before pushing him out of the room so I could try the ones he had brought me on.
"I want to see them too!" He called out and I shook my head.
He "approved" all of the bra and panty sets I tried on and finally we checked out.
As we walked back to the car I was scrolling through our Twitter when I saw photos of Ashton inside the Victoria's Secret.
'Ashton picking out bras for Carter.' The captions said and below were pictures of him looking at bras and then standing at my dressing room door, alongside ones of us paying at the counter.
"Everywhere we go." I laughed as I showed Ashton the pictures and he giggled, slinging an arm around my shoulder and kissing my forehead as we walked along the city sidewalks.
--
I wanted to post another chapter because I felt bad for not posting in so long!
Plus I want to finish this book so I can start the second book.
I'll be publishing the new book with the prologue soon so you can make sure to add it to your libraries!
Anyways, as always, comment and vote if you'd like and I'll have the next part up quickly!
Much love xx -M