"Lost, lost in the moment, Lost in the moment, lost in the moment. And get lost, lost in the moment, Lost in the moment, lost in the moment. Yeah, they told us that time flies, didn't know what it means. Now I feel like we just running around tryna, Catch it and hoping to cut up its wings. But that ain't gon' happen..."
- Nf
( Lost In The Moment )
KAI COACHMAN
[June 1st, 2023]
"Ew," Archer shrieks aloud as she throws the Mac and cheese that was on her orange plate at Chris who was making ugly faces at her.
The creamy yellow substance lands on his face, the noodles sticking to his forehead while the cheese sauce dripped down his face. Chris scowls immediately as he backs away and lifts his hand up to wipe away the food but he was prevented from doing so because Aiden took it upon himself to latch onto Chris's arm purposely. Grunting, Chris tries to shake the toddler off him but Aiden was strong for his age.
I'm laughing hysterically, watching as my children torment Chris and cause him so much pain and discomfort. Of course, Chris's anger was now directed at me as he glares at me and tries his hardest to get Aiden off him without accidentally seriously hurting him but Aiden was persistent as hell.
Hazel stuck her hand into the ketchup she was using to eat her tater tots with and she began to paint Chris's shirt. Mind you, his shirt was Calvin Klein and very much white so with my eyes watering from how much I was laughing, I began to imagine how his shirt would come out pink when he went to wash it.
"Kai!" Chris screams out angrily which causes Easton to jolt in his seat from surprise. Tears fill his adorable eyes and I watch his bottom lip quiver and his hand begin to shake slightly.
Frowning, I instantly stand up from where I sat, any humor dissipated from me as I watch my little baby begin to cry profusely over being startled by Chris.
As soon as Easton sees me approaching him his crying slows and his hands stop shaking. Adorably, he peers up at me and I hear him slowly sniffling as his cries begin to die down just from me coming close to him. Smiling down at him, I'm right in front of his high chair when he lifts both his arms in the motion that he wants to be lifted.
Obliging to his wishes, I scoop him up and he instantly attaches himself to me like a parasite to its host.
I shoot a look at Chris who now has food all over him thanks to Archer and Aiden who are laughing at Chris who wears irritation all over his face. The toddlers stop laughing when Chris grabs a fist full of mash potatoes and launches it at their faces. It lands onto their faces and wincing, I brace myself for their wailing cries but it never came and that's when I remember it was Asher and Aiden. They were literally unbothered and instead of crying, they retaliate and threw food right back at Chris who screams out in annoyance and stands up.
"How is it possible for them to literally be just like Declan," Chris forcefully wipes off the food.
Shrugging, I respond with, "Declan's genetics are stronger than metal itself."
"It's no wonder these two are monsters," Chris narrows his eyes down at Asher and Aiden who are shaking with laughter as they attack each other.
Hazel peacefully eats her food while ignoring the chaos going on beside her and Easton continues to lay in my arms. I softly hear his breathing begin to slow and that's when I know he's fallen asleep despite the noise around us. When he fell asleep, he fell into a deep one. It scared Declan and I at first because we couldn't wake him up so we freaked out and with tears threatening to spill from my eyes, I rushed down to the hospital floor with Declan beside me who held an unconscious Easton.
Bursting into Zyah's office, Declan exploded telling her how Easton wasn't waking up. Zyah leaped up from her chair and rushed over to us, placing two fingers gently onto Easton's wrist. She sighs and shakes her head at the two of us and that's when we realized that he was asleep but just difficult to wake up and it didn't help that our way of waking him up was gently tapping his arm.
Moral of the story is that Declan and I are helicopter parents who are severely ignorant on child care but we try the best we can. Vera helps a lot and my mom comes over occasionally and makes sure that we're doing things right. I'm grateful to have such fantastic women in our life.
Blinking back to what was going on at the moment, I scowl at Chris as what he said finally reached my ears.
"Have you seen Xavier," I retort.
"Xavier is well behaved," Chris defenses instantly.
"Ignorance really is bliss," I roll my eyes at him.
"What's that supposed to mean?" He raises a brow.
"It means Xavier throwing flour all over Bryn and spilling oil all over the floor is not 'well behaved,' or are we living in different worlds?" I quip and Chris gaps, unable to find words to respond.
Xavier is the son of Chris and May and he was born the same month and year that Xander, Killian and Finnicks second child, was born. He was truly an adorable baby and he looked much like May with his eyes that were slanted, his lips that were small and nose that was structured like May but he got Chris's eyes and his hair pattern.
Xavier, much like Xander, Jaylin and Aiden was mischievous which meant that there was never a moment of peace within this pack house. There was always a mess somewhere to be found but there was also no sleep found between May, Finnick, Marcus, and I. Chris usually went out to do his warrior shit which left May having to cater to Xavier and he was truly a handful.
Vera was Head Warrior and was recently upgraded in her status which made all of us proud of her because she was setting a precedent for the females in this pack but a negative to her upgrade in status left Marcus with more time which meant he had to take care of Jaylin and Kaylee most of the time and while Kaylee was a saint, Jaylin was the opposite but he still wasn't as bad as Aiden and Xavier.
As Killian is an Alpha it was already to be expected that Finnick would spend most of his time taking care of Eros and Xander. Killian did sneak off to see the three nearly all the time but it was brief moments at a time and with Xander, Finnick was always left breathless by the end of the day.
In my case, I always had the quadruplets on my hands because Declan was a Beta and that came with a lot of work that I didn't realize was present until now since he always slacked off. Asher and Aiden made things twice as hard for me but Aiden seemed to be worse. Things were so unorganized and messy that the pack members called Xavier, Xander, Jaylin and Aiden the Fretful Four.
"Whatever," Chris rolls his eyes.
I smirk and poke his arm that's still stained with cheese, "you're still petty we didn't name one of the quadruplets after you."
"Am not," was his childish response.
"You totally are," I tease him.
"I'm just saying, Christoph would be a good first or middle name. One of them could've even had two middle names, am I seriously that insignificant in your life?" He wears a pout and I flick his forehead with a roll of my eyes, it was hard not to roll my eyes when it came to Chris.
"My children aren't going to carry the name of that ugly character from Frozen," I grab a napkin and wipe Ashers face as she was eating her food now as was Aiden, Hazel finished hers and was waiting patiently for me to take her out of the seat.
I lay Easton gently down on the couch and run over to the closet where I take out a blanket and walk back over to Easton to lay it on top of him. I come back into the kitchen and grab Hazel out of her chair and drop her onto the floor. She peers up at me and smiles, hugging my leg before running off and I smile widely. She's so damn cute.
"That felt like an insult," Chris appears in front of me.
"That's because it is, idiot," I lay my right hand onto his right shoulder as I shake my head while releasing a sigh.
"His name was Kristoff not Christoph, we don't share the same name," Chris grumbles as he shakes my hand off of him.
I chuckle slightly and begin walking into the living room with Chris following me. I didn't know why he was around me so much today, it was weird because the only time he was really around was when May was included in the equation or when it was all of us. I mean, Chris wasn't exactly a main character in my life let's be honest. I loved him and all but he's sister secondary character and no one can tell me otherwise.
"But you share the same pronunciation," I look back at him.
He tries to rebuttal against what I said but he isn't able to as Marcus bursts into the room panting with sweat dripping down his forehead. My eyes widen and I nearly jump from how startled I am while Chris doesn't really seem to be fazed by Marcus's violently loud entrance.
"What's wrong?" I ask Marcus.
He huffs for a bit before shaking his head and releasing a breath.
"There's an attack on the pack, Killian and all the others have already evacuated and moved into a safe house. We need to get out of here," Marcus says.
My heart leaps out of my chest, my hands become sweaty and memories of the last battle with Ailee comes into my mind. It was still so fresh in my mind that I stumble back slightly as anxiety begins to develop deep within me, something I began to face ever since the fight.
Chris grasps my shoulders and shakes me until I look up at him with my eyes blinking wildly.
"Get it together, your kids are still in here and we're the only ones left in the pack house," Chris says loudly.
I shake my head and push down the anxiety the best I can and replace it with adrenaline that kicks in as I rush over to Hazel who was playing in a corner silently. I scoop her in my arms without warning her of my presence so there's surprise in her eyes but only momentarily. She smiles and wraps her tiny arms around my neck and I give her a reassuring grin to ward off any feeling of fear that might make her fretful. I shake Easton awake and he opens his eyes after shaking him for five minutes straight.
Marcus approaches me and I see Vera who holds Aiden in her left arm and Asher in her right arm. Marcus takes Easton into his arms and easily takes Hazel out of my arms.
I shake my head, hesitant to part with my babies.
"I can take them," I urge.
Marcus shakes his head, "you can't, it isn't safe Kai. You're a human, Vera and I will protect them even if it means losing our life. Chris will take care of you."
I don't want his. I'm tired of this constant damn fighting, I'm tired of being petrified of enemies coming to kill everything I've built up within my life. I can't deal with this anymore but I nearly signed up for this when I accepted Declan into my life but it was all piling up and it felt so damn suffocating.
Speaking of Declan, where the hell was he? Did he really evacuate with the others without coming back for me? He really left and ran away to the safe house without even turning back to check up to see if our kids were okay. We could've died hanging back here while they all left and yet he didn't even consider me or the kids. I could be overreacting but Declan didn't mind-link me or anything and I still felt him there in my mind so I knew he was alive himself.
I was beyond upset and I knew instantly that he wouldn't be getting this ass for fucking months.
When I stopped my excessive thinking, I realized that Marcus, Vera and my kids were no longer within the pack house and that I wasn't in the pack house but outside and I was walking deep within the forest that surrounds the pack house with Chris's hand grasping firmly onto my wrist. I didn't pull away because I lacked the energy to continue to walk myself with the thoughts and worries of my kids being safe and even though I was pissed at Declan, I cared that he remained safe because I loved him as I did my kids.
We continue walking until we reach a large building that's completely made of metal without any windows in sight and looks to be impenetrable. Before entering, Chris looks around and his nose twitches sniffing to see if there is any suspicious scent around us. He turns to look at me with his brow furrowed and releases my hand.
"There's a weird scent," he tells me absentmindedly, "I'm going to check inside to make sure everything is okay, I'll mind link you to quickly come inside when I've confirmed nothing has gone wrong."
I nod in response with my teeth gnawing on my bottom lip nervously. He opens the door and disappears inside, leaving me outside.
It's hot with the winds brushing past me and tickling the hairs of my arms. Goosebumps stand on my arm as paranoia kicks in and I look around constantly to assure that nothing comes to grab me or kill me while I'm out here. I couldn't believe this was happening after so much has happened, it was as if I wasn't meant to be happy.
'Kai, come in quickly. There's a rogue out there!' I hear Chris say within mind link and I freak out.
My heart beat quickens as I move quickly and yank the heavy door open. I slip inside and my breathing slows with my fingers twitching as I catch the sight before me.
The interior was large but what surprised me and shocked me to my core all while leaving me breathless and speechless simultaneously was what was present in this large building.
There was rows upon rows of beautiful white chairs with chiffon material wrapped around the legs of the seats creating a bow. A total of six large chandeliers hang from the tall ceilings that light up every spot, leaving not a trace of darkness to be found. There was a wall filled with beautiful flowers and other garnishing that I didn't know the name of but it made everything shine but what was eye catching was the collage of pictures of Declan and I that filled one half of wall while the other half held beautiful moments of Killian and Finnick.
Then came the wonderfully vibrant and enchanting music that came swimming into my ears and left every nerve fleeing from my body. In each chair was a person but in the upper front row I saw people in my life turn to look at me. My mother, Blake, Elijah and Zyah turn to look at me wearing bright smiles.
There's an alter where a man who I'm not too familiar with holds a black book in his hand with a robe on. He wears glasses but what he wears brightly is a smile on his face. To the right of him Marcus, Chris and Elliot stand wearing black suits with white gloves covering their hands and they're all grinning. To the left of what I'm assuming is the pastor stands May, Vera and Bryn who wear stunning dresses that are the same gorgeous blush pink dress with thin straps and a neckline that subtly plunges in a sophisticated way.
There's a slit in the dress that exposes their legs in a tasteful way and shows that they're all wearing nude heals but each girl wore it in a different style. May had her silky black hair down in tight curls that cascades down and ends six inches from her butt, she wears a white and pink flower crown as well with makeup that's subtle.
Similar to May, Vera has simple makeup on but her her chocolate brown hair is in a bun with two curled strands left out in the front to frame her face and she wears the same crown as May. Bryn has her hair in a French braid and her make up is simple like the rest of the girls but her lips are coated in a nude purple color that shockingly compliments the dress she wears. I assume she wore the color on her lips to stand out which was typical of her.
My eyes well up with tears when I see Declan standing on the very last stair of the alter in a tuxedo that's all black but with velvet on the cuffs and dress shoes that are shined nicely. His jet black hair that's usually in a disarray is nicely slicked back with his eyes clearly shining and lips pulled up in a gentle smirk. He looked so amazing, all I wanted to do was rush over to him and press my lips against his. Killian was on the upper stair of the alter but to the right, Declan was more so to the left, and I didn't want to describe his attire because he isn't my man.
Before I could utter a word, a hand grasps my elbow and begins to turn me in the direction that leads down a hall. Blinking away my shock, I realize it's Alec, the guy who was there for me and practically saved me during the battle against Ailee.
He was dressed up snazzily in a suit as well and he turned around to give me a pleased smile.
"I'm so fucking shook," I whisper.
This will be continued. You guys really thought that was the last chapter lol.
~xoxo, Babybird.