67. Under Starry Skies
Thanks for your feedback once again! Hope you enjoy the Linstead honeymoon part II :)
67. Under Starry Skies
With a delay of 18 minutes, flight AA234 from Miami landed at O'Hare a couple of minutes after midnight, bringing Erin and Jay, fresh members of the mile high club, back to the city they called home, back to reality. Returning to Chicago this late at night meant they could only meet their daughter in the morning but it had been the only possibility to avoid traveling for 25+ hours and spending lots of time hanging out at airports just like their outbound flight at 5.00 in the morning a week ago had been the only one to bring them from Chicago to Antigua within 10 hours and not wasting too much time with waiting for connection flights.
By the time they arrived at their apartment it was 1.13am and they fell into their king-sized bed deadbeat, trying to catch as much sleep as possible as they had a 6-hours car drive up north to Wisconsin ahead of them in the morning. They'd set their alarms for 7.30 but the anticipation of being reunited with their bundle of joy made them wake up almost an hour before their alarms would have interrupted their sleep and after showering together – they had to keep those honeymoon vibes alive for as long as they could after all – they loaded the car with the bags they'd packed beforehand last week, making sure they haven't forgotten anything essential. They threw some of their dirty laundry from Jumby Bay they would absolutely need at the cabin into an extra bag to wash it there and after pouring down a cup of black coffee each, they already left the place, that soon wouldn't be their home anymore, again. They made a quick stop at their favorite coffee shop on the way to Hank to buy sandwiches and the best muffins of Chicago for their drive as well as a box full of donuts as they wanted to stop by at the 21st for a second later to say hi to their favorite colleagues and bring them this very healthy breakfast.
Erin's heart was pounding in her chest in excitement when they knocked at Hank's door and Jay also felt as excited as a kid on Christmas Morning. They both couldn't wait to hold their princess in their arms again, to cuddle with her and kiss her soft cheeks, to simply spend time with this little person they couldn't live without anymore.
″Look who's there,″ Hank said when he opened the door, holding Emilia in his arms and the moment the 6-month-old saw her parents, she reached out for them and started to smile as bright and squeaked as joyfully that Erin had trouble to keep some tears of joy at bay.
″Hey sweetie, hey my favorite little girl,″ she said hoarsely and reached for her to take her from Hank's arms into her own to press her against her chest and inhale her scent, her hand moving up and down her tiny back.
″Hey princess,″ Jay said, stroking his hand over her head before leaning down to place a kiss there. ″We missed you so much, Emmy,″ he whispered and in the same moment Crispin came running around the corner, barking in joy, wagging his tail excitedly. He ran around them, not being able to decide which of his masters he wanted to greet first and jumped up and down like a bouncy ball.
″Hey buddy, how's it going?″ Jay asked and leaned down to tickle him behind his ears and stroke him extensively. ″Did you miss us, huh?″
″Hey Crisp,″ Erin smiled and handed Emilia to Jay so he could cuddle with her and she could say hi to their four-legged child. ″You excited to go to Wisconsin with us?″
As if he wanted to say yes, he tried to lick her face. ″You know I don't like those wet kisses,″ she laughed, running her hand through his soft fur. All the time, Hank was standing in the doorframe, watching this beautiful scene of a family being reunited right in front of his eyes and finding joy in their obvious joy.
″Don't you kiddos want to come in for a minute? I have coffee and I might made pancake batter,″ he smirked. He knew how much Erin loved his pancakes.
Erin turned her attention from Crispin, who by now lay on her feet to make sure she kept on tickling him, to Hank, feeling a little bad instantly because between Emilia and the dog, saying hi to the man she considered her father had gone short.
″You made pancake batter to make us the best pancakes in the world and we haven't even said hi to you yet,″ Erin smiled sheepishly and told Crispin to get up so she could walk to her father-figure to fall into his embrace and hug him tightly.
″Those two were way more important,″ Hank winked and kissed her forehead.
″Naah, the man who's kept them happy for the last seven days is just as important,″ Erin argued, resting her head in the crook of his neck for a moment. ″Thank you.″
″It was a pleasure,″ Hank assured her. ″Come on in now.″
Jay and Hank shook their hands accompanied with a fatherly pat on the back from the older and more thank yous were exchanged before they went inside the house that once had been Erin's home, Crispin still running around them like a crazy whilst Emilia was babbling in her own language in her father's arms, her hands always reaching for his face because this was her favorite thing to do. They settled around the kitchen table and filled their mugs with coffee while Hank started to make pancakes, easy small-talk filling the air.
″When did Liv and Noah leave?″ Erin asked, Emilia being back with her now and sitting in her lap, occupied with a spoon while Crispin had his head resting on Jay's thigh so he couldn't do anything else but tickle him behind his ears which was exactly what the young dog demanded.
″On Sunday evening,″ Hank answered.
″Did you guys have a great time?″ she asked, sipping on her coffee, trying not to make it too obvious what she really wanted to know.
″Yeah,″ Hank nodded and his back faced them they couldn't see him smiling. ″We were at the zoo and the aquarium, went to that big playground in downtown, were out of the city at some beach and on Saturday, Justin, Olive and the boys were here for a barbeque. Noah and Danny really get along great and they had a lot of fun.″
″Sounds perfect,″ Erin smiled. ″I hope we'll repeat that kind of barbeque soon.″
″Sure. I heard you guys are throwing a big housewarming party soon so that's the perfect occasion for such a thing, right?″ he laughed. ″Plus, my birthday's coming up and I thought about celebrating a little bigger this year, with the whole unit around and not only you, Jay, Justin, Olive and the kids.″
″This is a great idea,″ Erin agreed. There was nothing better than the legendary Voight-BBQ's that have only made a comeback recently. ″Will Liv and Noah also come for that party?″ she asked casually but she actually knew that Hank would catch up on the keynote of that question in a heartbeat.
″Maybe,″ he shrugged, knowing that this wasn't a satisfying answer for her and so he changed the topic to something else. ″But enough about me. How was the honeymoon? What did you do except of relaxing?″
″Not much more than what we told you,″ Erin answered, taking another sip from her coffee.
″We played a lot of scrabble,″ Jay answered ever so casual and unexpected that Erin almost spilled the coffee in her mouth all over the table. However, she magically managed to gulp it down which resulted in heavy coughing.
Jay almost cracked up by her reaction, smirking mischievously when he asked: ″You good?″
″Uh-huh,″ she nodded, her cheeks flushed and her wide eyes signalised something like what the hell?!
″Scrabble?″ Hank asked and turned around to them, eyeing them skeptically.
″Yeah, it's a great game. Really...versatile,″ Jay answered and Erin, coughing once more by his answer, had no idea how he managed to keep a straight face.
″Is it?″ Hank asked, still this suspicious look on his face. The last thing he could imagine was Erin and Jay playing one round of Scrabble after the other when they were at such a paradisaic place. Definitely not what he would do during his honeymoon but whatsoever. ″Weird thing to do during your honeymoon but I guess it was fun then?″ he asked and turned around to the pancakes again.
″A lot,″ Erin said, recovered from the shock of Jay blurting their main activities out in front of her father-figure after she'd realized that Hank had no clue what Jay was talking about. Thankfully. ″It kind of became our...addiction,″ she chuckled lightly, placing her hand on Jay's thigh and squeezing it gently while she raised her eyebrow cockily as she looked at him. If he wanted to play this, she was in the game now as well.
″We could arrange some kind of game-night during fall and winter and play it here,″ Hank suggested and this time it was Jay who almost spilled his coffee through the entire kitchen and now it was him coughing hardly as some of the coffee has run down his trachea instead of his esophagus when he'd swallowed the black liquid down too quick before this accident could happen.
Hank turned around to them again, watching them even more skeptically than before. ″What's going on with you guys today?″
″Air conditioners,″ Erin answered quickly, making up a story in no time. ″In the plane,″ she added seriously. ″They kinda screwed up our throats.″
″Uh-huh,″ Hank nodded and for a moment it looked like he contemplated whether this was a believeable explanation. ″Don't get sick then,″ he said and dedicated his attention back to the pancakes before they would get burnt.
″We won't, no worries,″ Erin assured him and only now she turned her gaze to Jay, giving him the most innocent smirk accompanied by a sassy wink.
″This was the greatest white lie of the century,″ he murmured into her ear as quietly that only she could hear him.
″Well, someone had to save your ass and get us out of the mess you maneuvered us in, right?″ she whispered just as quiet, a winning smile rushing over her lips because whether he wanted to admit it or not, she had saved the situation he'd started by coming up with an explanation quicker than he'd been able to think about one. He would only have stammered something in response and Hank had most probably figured out that Scrabble in their vocabulary hadn't the same meaning as Scrabble in his vocabulary.
XxXxXxXxXxXxXxX
They survived the breakfast without any further incidents as Jay didn't try to be sassy for a second time and it seemed like he's learned his lesson for now. Afterwards they loaded the stroller and the bags with Emilia's toys and clothes and Crispin's bed and toys in the car, the trunk not providing enough space as it was already half full only with Crispin's folding transport box and together with the stroller, the travel bed, the dog bed and two of their bags it was as full that the use of the rearview mirror would be impossible. In the end everything found a spot in the car anyway but one could say that it was going to be a cozy drive.
Hank followed them with his Escalade when they drove to the 21st as his furlough was over and the surprise was huge when he walked up the stairs to the bullpen with Jay, Erin and Emilia in tow.
″What are you guys doing here?″ Antonio asked laughingly.
″We thought we bring you breakfast and pity you for having to work without us for another week,″ Jay grinned and embraced his friend brotherly.
″Aren't they generous, our Mr and Mrs Halstead?″ Adam joked and gathered around them, and the donut box in particular, as well.
″How was the honeymoon?″ Kevin asked and pulled Erin into one of his famous teddy-bear hugs.
″All sorts of amazing,″ Erin smiled.
″Yeah, those photos you sent were mean,″ Antonio half-complained. ″Was it as beautiful as it looked?″
″It was even more beautiful,″ Erin answered, thinking back to their little paradise. ″It's one of those places its beauty can't be reflected or captured by photos.″
″I might have to go there one day,″ Antonio winked.
″You should, bro,″ Jay agreed.
″Okay, now that we cleared that, on to the important questions,″ Adam said, his dorky grin revealing his intention where this was probably headed.
″Yeah?″ Erin frowned, raising her eyebrow at her younger colleague and preparing herself for another verbal fight that she would of course win in the end. Because when had she ever not beat Adam Ruzek when he'd tried to be a sassy little shit? ″What could that be?″
″How many times did you have sex?″ he asked without batting an eye and for a moment it was dead silent.
″Yo, bro-″ Antonio stepped in, trying to make clear that this was not what they wanted to know, that this was not something he should've asked as it was none of anyone's business and quite inappropriate. But Erin interrupted Antonio before he could lecture him. Sometimes it amazed her that even after more than four years of working together, Adam still thought he could mess with her.
″Probably more often than you've had in your life so far,″ she said casually, dryly but still with a hint of sass and as laughters errupted it seemed like the others were breathing again as well.
″I doubt that,″ Adam answered flippantly but Erin knew she's got him thinking and was in the better position now.
″You sure?″ Erin asked. ″Because men who ask something like that are either sexually unsatisfied...or just simply have a really small one,″ she winked, emphasizing her statement by showing the size with two of her fingers.
″Woooooh, that hurt,″ Kevin laughed, giving his best friend a pat on the back.
″Naaaah. Erin, you're barking up the wrong tree here,″ Adam said.
″See, that's something I doubt,″ Erin sassed. ″And the more you try to defend yourself, the more you make us believe that I'm right,″ she shrugged.
″Ruz, by now you should know that you can't win against her,″ Antonio smirked.
″I will. One day. Be prepared,″ Adam grinned. ″And anyway, I just wanted to know whether the rumors about newlyweds on honeymoon are true.″
″Why would you want to know that? Because after three times only popping the question and showing the white feather this would be the reason for you to finally make it to the altar?″ Erin asked, not having any compassion for him. He'd started this, thinking he was cheekier than her, and now he had to deal with the aftermath, with her showing him that he still had so much to learn until their little fights would be on an equal footing.
″I guess that would be your time to surrender,″ Kevin said, trying not to laugh while Antonio bumped his fist with Erin's. Until the day Adam really learned his lesson they would all be on her side and no one could deny that they didn't enjoy those verbal fights and seeing Adam lose every damn time.
″Yeah, that's not such a bad idea,″ Adam agreed.
″Wise decision, buddy,″ Erin chuckled and walked past him, murmuring into his ear to mess with him a little more and leave this pictures in his head: ″And just so you know, the rumors are true.″
XxXxXxXxXxXxXxX
Driving for six hours with a six-month-old baby was a challenge to say the least. Emilia, who'd unfortunately taken her forenoon nap while they'd been in the bullpen, was not happy that she had to lie in her car-seat all the time, the hanging toys on the handle bar not providing enough entertainment for her liking. Erin spent only the first thirty minutes with riding shotgun before Emmy started to show her dissatisfaction loudly. She changed to the back to sit next to her – they'd especially left that seat free of any bags in wise foreknowledge - so she could entertain her with rattles and stuffies and give her her bottle with cold fennel tea.
Around noon and after only one-and-a-half hours of driving, they made a short break at a highway rest stop to stretch their legs, take Crispin for a walk, feed Emilia her pulp and let her stand on her own feet on their thighs before they settled her into the car seat again for the next couple of hours. They changed positions, Erin now driving and Jay taking care of Emmy staying satisfied and when she was finally asleep again, he sneaked back into the passenger's seat on the next occasion.
″I thought a six-hours drive nine months pregnant is hard to top but this...,″ she chuckled slightly.
″It's maybe not the best age for such a trip as she's too agile for just lying in her car seat for hours. If she was younger, she would sleep most of the time and if she was like a year old we could let her watch something on the iPad,″ he said. ″I know that we want to raise her with as less iPad and TV and all the other stuff as possible but on such an occasion it would be a good thing to keep all of us happy and in a good mood,″ he laughed.
″Yeah, there are always exceptions,″ Erin agreed. ″I just don't want her to grow up getting used to it and I don't want to be that kind of parent that places their child in front of the TV or the iPad constantly just that she keeps her mouth shut. Maybe I'm old-fashioned here but I rather sit in the sandbox with my child and keep her entertained myself than place her in front of the TV so I can clean the bathroom or the kitchen. Cleaning can always wait,″ she chuckled.
″Especially when your name's Erin Halstead, huh?″ Jay teased her.
″Probably,″ she smirked. ″But seriously, I just want her to learn to occupy herself with her toys, to be mesmerized by puzzles and stacking toys and lego bricks and sorting cubes and balls and xylophones and not some cartoon on TV.″
″That's how I want her to grow up as well,″ Jay said, placing his hand atop of hers. ″But as much as we imagine and want it to be like this, I know that there'll be days full of meltdowns when we're so done that placing her in front of the TV is the only way to restore the domestic peace. And it wouldn't mean we failed,″ he said quite emphatically. He never wanted her to think that she was a bad mother ever again because she was the very best mother by all measures, so he'd needed to providently tell her that they, not she, would not be bad parents in case the TV was the only option left to avoid further drama.
″I know,″ she nodded in response. ″Maybe we're lucky and our daughter is the most perfect angel,″ she chuckled, not believing it herself.
″She's your daughter...″ Jay only said meaningfully, teasingly.
″You mean that precludes it?″ she grinned, raising an eyebrow at him.
″Noooo,″ he laughed and shook his head. ″It just means chances are high that she is some kind of rascal-whirlwind-angel with too much energy and a strong mind of her own.″ He leaned to her and placed a kiss on her cheek, whispering into her ear: ″That means she would be all like you. And given the fact that you're the strongest, most nimble-witted woman I know, this wouldn't be such a bad thing.″
XxXxXxXxXxXxXxX
The decision that they would drive back home overnight the following week so Emilia would sleep all the way along was made quickly and after what seemed like endless hours of driving, another stop at a service plaza to change Emmy's diaper, Erin afterwards sitting in the back again to read her stories, tickle her belly and keep her smiling by bringing her favorite toys up in front of her face, and a stop at the last big supermarket before the wilderness of Northern Wisconsin - only all these very small towns with even smaller mom-and-pop-stores following afterwards - to buy all the things, mostly nurishments, they needed for the next few days, they finally arrived at the Halstead family cabin in the early evening.
Setting feet on the ground and inhaling this fresh air up here in the middle of nowhere, the birds welcoming them with crazy chirping, felt like coming home, the lake already waiting for them swimming in it, the garden with all the colorful flowers and big trees waiting for them to relax in the sun and the cabin with this unbelievably cozy bed under the roof slopes waiting for family cuddling in the mornings.
″Welcome to daddy's cabin,″ Erin sang after she'd picked Emilia up into her arms. ″It's one of the most beautiful places in the world.″ And it wasn't only that, the beauty of this perfect place mesmerizing her, it was also that they'd created quite a lot of memories here, that quite a lot of things had happened her. Like Jay opening up to her like he's never done before over a year ago, telling her about his father, his mother, his time in Afghanistan and all the demons he's been battling silently until this point. Like drinking lime juice and eating chocolate ice cream and dancing in the moonlight, relieving some of Jay's childhood memories by doing so and creating new ones at the same time. This was the place where she'd recognized that she could be pregnant, what back then had freaked her out, had turned her world upside down and was now the best thing that could ever have happened to her. This was the place where Jay'd proposed to her on New Year's Eve, where they'd a couple days later freaked out for a minute when she thought she was in labor at 36 weeks while being snowed in and cut off from the outside world. And now they were here with their daughter, who'd been with them all three times they were here before, but only in Erin's belly when she'd been around 8 weeks, 21 weeks and 36 weeks pregnant. Now they could show Emilia this peaceful piece of nature and make many more memories that also included this blue-eyed, brown-blonde-haired girl that was half her and half Jay, at least genetic-wise.
″It is the most beautiful place in the world,″ Jay murmured into her ear from behind, wrapping his arms around his two girls. ″Because the two most beautiful girls are here as well.″
″Yeah, I guess this incredibly hot, Adonic man I call mine kinda upgrades it to the most beautiful place with the most amazing views,″ she smirked and turned around to him, looking at him with literal heart-eyes, and brushed her lips against his.
Unloading the car took quite some time and there were moments when Jay wondered how they'd managed to load all of their stuff into their car because one could seriously think they wanted to stay here for a month given all the things that found their way into the cabin. He brought all their things inside, Erin meanwhile throwing some of Crispin's toys through the garden so the young dog could finally stretch his legs by running around and chasing after balls and all the other things that were his.
XxXxXxXxXxXxXxX
Jay, the master chef how Erin occasionally called him, was in charge for dinner on their first evening and probably for the remainder of the week as well and while he prepared grilled steaks with potatoes and corn, Erin was upstairs to build up the travel bed in the nursery they'd started to decorate and equip back in December. She filled the drawers with diapers and Emilia's clothes and found spots for all the various toys they'd brought and when she was done arranging and rearranging stuff, she had to admit that this was a pretty perfect nursery, charming on all ends and she wished they could be here more often than once or twice a year.
By the time they finally had dinner on the patio, the sun low over the lake, it was as late that Emmy already slept in her stroller next to them and after a stroll along the road that led to the cabin, as walking along the lake with its rather small and bumby paths or meadows with the grass as high that it reached up over their thighs was a tad bit difficult with the stroller, they tucked Emmy in together, Crispin staying with her as always, and made themselves comfortable in their hammock in the garden.
Erin's eyes were already heavy with sleep, it's been a very long day with not as much sleep the night before, her head resting right above his heart, the rhythmic pounding in addition with his fingers lazily trailing up and down her arm slowly lulling her into slumber.
″You know, I've been wondering,″ he murmured into her hair. ″After joining the mile high club, is there even a more exciting place? Especially around here...″ The huskiness in his voice let her eyes flutter open in a heartbeat.
″Probably not,″ Erin giggled and thinking back to their quickie in the lavatory on their flight from Antigua to Miami let her heartbeat pick up its pace. It had for sure not been their best round of Scrabble, their most romantic and most intimate one due to the circumstances of having as less space that Jay almost couldn't stand upright. It had been hot, driven by pure passion and impatience. And fast, as fast as seldomly before, a few flaming kisses being shared before they'd shimmied down their leggins, panties, shorts and boxers and he'd pushed into her, pumping in and out fastly, his moans and her cries when their orgasms had rippled through them swallowed by kisses. But it had for sure been the most exciting one, being 10.000 feet above the ground, somewhere over the ocean, surrounded by other passengers and flight attendants who had no clue what was happening in this one square meter of space.
″It was exciting and all kinds of crazy,″ she grinned. ″But I'd still rather have sex with you here, under starry skies for example, doing it our way, than going for a second quickie on a plane.″
″Under starry skies, huh?″ he mimicked her words with a low growl. ″I think I can help you with that one.″
″Yeah, I think that, too,″ she chuckled raspily and lifted her head so their lips could meet in a firework of feelings and passion that was interrupted quickly when Emilia's crying resounded from the baby monitor they had with them.
″Didn't we say she's not allowed to do that?″ Jay sighed after he'd released her mouth reluctantly.
″Welcome to our honeymoon as parents,″ Erin laughed and got out of the hammock.
″She's usually never awake at that time,″ he called after her half-complaining when she walked inside.
″I don't think she cares about that,″ she called back laughingly before she disappeared.
A couple of minutes later she appeared in the garden again, Emmy pressed against her chest, still whimpering a bit so she whispered things against her head to soothe her, Crispin following on her heels. Jay went inside to grab the blanket from the backrest of the couch and a couple of pillows and placed them in the garden, signalising Erin to lie down. She settled on the ground, her head resting against those big fluffy pillows and Jay took the spot next to her. She handed him the baby and he placed her on his chest and stomach so they all faced the dark sky with all the stars, Crispin lying down next to Erin, his head resting on her stomach so she could scratch his favorite spot behind his ears.
″Can you see how different the sky's here compared to the city, Emmy?″ Jay asked, kissing the top of her head. ″There are so many stars here and you'll never see a sky like this in Chicago.″
″There's the Milky Way,″ Erin said and pointed up to the sky, turning her head to Jay. ″Right?″
″Right,″ Jay laughed, giving her a twinkle. ″You learned.″
″Uh-huh,″ she grinned. ″I once had that nerdy boyfriend that I now call husband and he tried to tell me everything about constellations and it seems like something's stuck with me.″
″I'm impressed. What else do you remember Mrs Halstead?″ he teased, flirt in his voice.
″Uhm...there's one called Orion. It's pretty easy to find because there are three stars next to each other building a belt or something,″ she said, searching the sky for these three stars. ″It's over there, isn't it?″ she asked excitedly once her eyes have found those famous stars.
″Look at that princess, mommy's turning all nerdy,″ Jay chuckled but he couldn't hide the pride in his voice. Before he'd first told her about constellations and the Universe in the early days of their relationship, stars had only been that for her: stars. The little bright spots that appeared on the firmament whenever it was dark. She had heard about the Milky Way before but her eyes could never find it and there'd never been someone who showed her the magic their universe was. ″Do you see it as well, Emmy? It's right there,″ he said, taking her little hand in his and guiding it into the direction of where Orion was located.
″And isn't that the Big Dipper?″ Erin asked, gazing somewhere else already. Who had ever thought that star gazing could fascinate her that much?
″Trying to impress me much tonight, huh?″ Jay asked somehow stunned. ″Mommy indeed found the Big Dipper,″ he told his daughter. ″And since we're here in Wisconsin, you can't only see the Big Dipper but also the Great Bear.″
″What, where?″ Erin asked, her eyes roaming the sky for anything that looked like this big animal.
″You see those other quite light stars around there?″ Jay asked back, pointing to the sky. ″That's supposed to be his body, over there is the head, and down there, those two stars close together on the left and those two on the right are supposed to be his legs,″ he explained, not being able to hold back a laughter when he saw Erin's frown. For him it was easy because he could see it but for anyone else it was quite hard to figure out what he was talking about.
″Uh-huh,″ Erin nodded, looking at the stars that were supposed to be a bear. ″Astronomers have quite a different understanding of how a bear looks like than normal humans have, haven't they?″
″I guess so,″ he laughed.
″This could also be a cat. The Great Cat,″ she noticed. ″Or a racoon which would make it the Great Racoon. That one would be awesome,″ she laughed.
″Oh Emmy, mommy is creating new constellations,″ Jay chuckled and turned Emilia around so she was lying on her belly before he lifted her up over his head, her joyful giggles filling the air.
″You know the greatest constellation with the two brightest stars?″ Erin asked, her voice a bit melancholic and serious as she watched these two humans that were her whole world.
″Huh?″ he asked in confusion, his head trying to find a constellation she knew about and he didn't.
″It's the Jay-Emmy constellation,″ she smiled. ″Two of the brightest stars you would ever find. And I have the honor to call them mine.″
Jay placed Emilia back down on his chest by this sweetest love declaration, turned his head to her, his eyes slightly filled with tears. ″I love you.″ That was all he was able to say and to emphasize his statement he kissed her slowly, delicately. ″And you can bet you two are my brightest stars, the lights in my life, as well.″
″I know,″ she nodded, bringing her lips to his lips again. ″I love you more.″
They kept on lying there under starry skies, Emilia resting comfortably on Jay, Erin snuggled up to him as much as possible and Crispin snuggled up to Erin until first Emilia fell back asleep and somewhen also Erin's steady breathing signalised Jay that she was in dreamland. He told Crispin to change his position so he could let Emilia rest against him and bring Erin upstairs first as she would probably wake up as soon as his body wasn't close to her anymore. As she was only wearing a top and some soft shorts he could tuck her in just like this, covering her with a light sheet and pressing a kiss against her forehead before he went back downstairs to pick Emmy up and tuck her in as well, Crispin getting another pat for the night of course when he lay down in his bed next to Emmy's travel bed.
He turned all the lights in the cabin off, stripped his clothes until only his boxers were left and lay down next to Erin, who mumbled something that sounded like come to bed, and he pulled her closer to his own body until she was all curled up to him. When he lay there in the darkness, inhaling the familar scent of Erin's shampoo mixed with the smell of Emmy's baby lotion that was also on her, he realized that he's never been happier and more satisfied and fullfilled being here than this time. Family vacations with his grandfather, his mother, Will and the Taylor family had been great and almost the only positive childhood memory. Being here with Erin the last three times had been even better, greater. But being here with her and Emilia now, with his wife and his daughter, was something so unreal, so great, that there weren't any words in his vocabulary to express his feelings, his happiness, his gratitude. This place was already full of great and happy memories and he knew they would make so so many more great and happy memories in the days and years to come...
Thanks for reading, I hope you liked it! Please leave a review and let me know what you think :) There's a little more Halstead-family-time coming up next before other things happen... ;)