"I just don't know what to do any more, Mallory," I say looking toward the woman with tired eyes.
"It just happens sometimes, it's also not that big of a deal!" She says scolding me and I roll my eyes.
"What do you mean it's not that big of a deal? It's a huge deal!" I say and she laughs in my face.
"You're looking too much into it, Nat," She says and I leave my mouth gaping open.
"Are you kidding me? No I'm not!" I say laughing a little bit, I can't believe she's saying that it's not a big deal.
"So what! Layna said her first word, nothing is wrong with that," She says smiling at me and I rest my head in my hands.
"Her first word was 'dad', of all things it was dad." I say and Layna pops her head up from playing with some toys, she then proceeds to say it again. "Layna, it's supposed to be 'mama', not 'dad'!" I say as I pick her up from playing with her toys. Regardless of what her first word was, I'm proud of her for saying any word. She's known her father for less than a full month and she is already calling him by name, ridiculous. Especially, since I never once mentioned to her that she even had a dad, not until he showed up.
I stare in awe at the child in my lap, who is playing with her toys, and I hear a knock on the door. "I'll go get it, Mrs-"
"Natalie!" I interject, some people never learn. She smiles, knowing that it annoys me. Getting off of the bed that we were sitting on, she goes to answer the door. Praying that it's not Michael, the antichrist walks inside of the room. "Hello, Husband," I say giving him a fake smile.
"Hello, Wife!" He says giving me an even bigger smile, walking over to me. Leaning down, he kisses my forehead and Mallory smiles at us. She doesn't know of the incident between Michael and I. "Hello, Child," He says tickling Layna's cheek and she smiles while laughing like a kid maniac. He plays with her for a second and then runs his fingers down my hair, he then walks towards Mallory. "May I speak to you in private?" He asks and my face drops. She looks towards me, asking for permission, and I shake my head.
"No, you may not," I say and he gives me a small smirk. I don't know why he wants to speak with her, but I'm not risking the chances of losing my best baby sitter.
"Why is that, Natalie?" He asks me and I roll my eyes.
"Unless you are planning a surprise party for either Layna or me, then there is no reason for you to talk to her," I say not looking back into his devious eyes.
"I was actually planning on evaluating her for the Sanctuary," He says giving me an evil grin, gross. I don't know what 'evaluate' means in his book, but I don't want to have to kill Mallory just like I did to Mr. Gallant.
"There will be no evaluation for Mallory, she is Layna's caregiver," I say giving him back the same smile. "Speaking of which, I need to speak with you alone," I say smiling to him and he gives me a negative expression. "Mallory, please put Layna to bed, I don't think I will be back until tomorrow morning," I say turning my attention toward Mallory.
"Yes, of course!" She says walking towards me, grabbing the small child out of my hands. I get off of the bed and pat down my crinkled dress, Mallory winks at me. Gross, I'm not doing that. Giving her a weird look, I walk towards Michael. His arm is extended out for me to grab and I gladly accept. We walk out of the room hand in hand and do some sort of 'Couple's Power Walk' as we pass by most of the academy's occupants to our room.
Making it inside, he closes the door and locks it. He turns to me. "So, what did you want to talk about?" He asks me smirking, practically ready to jump out of his clothes. "I heard that it would last until morning," He whispers seductively and I roll my eyes.
"I'm not here for that, Michael," I say laughing and he looks completely unamused.
"Then what is going to take all night?" He asks me in a whiney tone.
I shrug my shoulders, "I don't know, I just wanted some alone time with you," I say grabbing his hand and pulling his body into a slow dance. His feet start swaying and he rests his hand on my back as I rest my face on his chest.
"What changed, Nat? Where did I go wrong?" He asks me and I furrow my eyebrows.
"Don't act like you care," I say not wanting to put up a fight.
"You're the one who doesn't care about us!" He says in a higher pitch than usual.
"You're the fuck head who cheated on me in front of my eyes," I say and he stays quiet for a few seconds.
"I only did that because you were distancing yourself," He says trying to salvage what he can.
"I haven't seen you for years, Michael. Then when I do finally see you, you come as a completely changed person. I forgot what it was like to function with you," I say looking up to him as he looks down at me.
"Why are you trying to distance yourself from me?" He asks me and I roll my eyes.
'Are you being serious?' I ask him in my mind and he sighs out loud.
"I get it, I'm a bad husband. You're the one who killed him!" He says smirking at me and I pick my head up from off of his chest, way to ruin the mood. I back up away from him, not wanting to talk about it.
"I'm sure it turns you on at night," I say turning around, I don't want to face him right now. All I've felt is guilty for the past few days after killing Gallant, it wasn't his fault. Except the stupid smirk that he had on his face, that was his fault, but I shouldn't have killed him for it.
"Oh, it turns me on every second of the day, but you're obviously not as proud of yourself as I am," He says and I turn back to him, I feel weak in front of him.
"Why are you proud of me? You make no sense, Michael," I say and he shrugs his shoulders.
"Well, it makes me wonder if you will fall for any of my other traps," He says smirking at me as my eyes widen, a trap?
"I don't believe it, not for a second," I hiss at him and he keeps the same expression on his face.
"If I wanted to do it in private, don't you think I'd take precautions? I definitely wouldn't have left the door open, and I probably would have even locked it," He says clicking his tongue with his last word. He starts getting closer to me, wrapping his hands around my waist. I push him off and walk towards the chair in front of the fire place.
"I'm not ready and you know it, Michael," I say not looking toward him, but I can feel his disappointment.
"You've given birth, how are you not ready?" He asks me, and continues to speak. "I'm not forcing you to do what you do not want to do, that's not what lovers do,"
"I'm just not into it," I say shrugging my shoulders.
"You would be if I were Mallory!" He says raising his voice a little bit, and I turn to him.
"What?" I ask him furrowing my eyebrows.
"You love to drive me crazy, Natalie, don't you?" He says walking toward me. "I'm not an idiot, for Satan's sake," He says rubbing his forehead and then flailing his arms out.
"I don't even know what you're talking about, Mr. Langdon," I say, looking down unamused, cleaning the dirt from under my nails.
"Don't lie to me!" He says making the fire roar loudly, what a baby. "I see the way you look at her, it's the way you used to look at me," He says in a calmer, but angry, tone.
"You're fucking delusional, Michael," I say rolling my eyes. Where does he come up with this stuff? "I hope you know that," I say raising my tone a pitch higher.
"You think I would fuck that Gallant guy for pleasure? You're my soulmate, I'm not attracted to anyone but you!" He screams in my face.
"Oh, you're really funny, Michael, but I'm not falling for your mind games this time!" I scream back in his face and he growls at me. I take a second and back up from him, "Did you just growl at me?" I ask him laughing a tiny bit, it kind of ruined my fighting mood.
"Don't speak to me like I am nothing but a child!" He says so angry tears could form in his eyes at any second.
"I mean you're literally like ten years old, Michael," I say laughing a little bit harder, it's true. He doesn't think it's funny.
He looks at me, wide eyes, and slaps me with the back of his hand. I don't flinch and I smirk back at him, I don't want to fight anymore. "Don't talk to me that way," He says getting closer to my face whilst grabbing ahold of my neck.
"I don't know, I kind of like this," I say getting in what breaths of air that I could.
"What?" He says releasing his hand, confused. "You're so confusing, why aren't you fighting back?" He asks me and I roll my eyes. "You're always up for a fight,"
I reach down to grab his arm, he lets me move it freely. Bringing it up to my neck he grasps my skin again and I smile at him, "Just a little bit harder," I say and he gives me a weird look.
"I don't want to hurt you," He says, giving me the same, innocent look that he gave me when he was younger.
"That didn't stop you a few seconds ago," I whisper to him, he begins to squeeze harder.
"What is happening, Natalie?" He says to me, confused per usual.
"Choke me harder before you ruin your one chance,"