Refuge

New Beginnings

When Charlie tiptoes into her parents bedroom at 6 in the morning, Archie decides that not only does Veronica look so peaceful, but she also carried the burden of doing most of the parenting for the last month, so without hesitation he crawls out of bed and carries Charlie into the living room. They cuddle and watch an episode of Paw Patrol before Charlie decides she's hungry, so they put coats and shoes on over their pajamas and head to the donut shop while Veronica sleeps soundly.

"I want the pink one with sprinkles, Daddy," Charlie grins, carefully grabbing an apple juice for herself with a little bit of help from Archie. "We need to get Mommy a coffee too." Archie even grabs an extra bag of donut holes as a treat for Charlie.

When they get home, Veronica is awake, out in the kitchen in her bathrobe, and Charlie immediately runs and jumps in her arms.

"Mommy, I missed you when you were sleeping," Charlotte frowns, holding on tightly.

"I missed you too, sweetheart," Veronica switches the little girl to her hip so she can give her husband a good morning kiss. When he turns instead to kiss her cheek, and avoids eye contact, she can sense that he's upset about something.

The three Andrews enjoy their breakfast, and Charlie helps her Dad with the dishes while Veronica slowly sips on her coffee. Archie only looks at her for brief moments and they barely talk over breakfast, mainly letting Charlotte carry the conversation, so when they're done, Veronica asks the little girl to go up and play in her room for a little bit.

"Thanks for getting the donuts," Veronica comes behind Archie, wrapping her arms around his middle. He doesn't pull away, but he doesn't make any effort to hold her back like he normally would.

"Yeah, no problem," Archie smiles, but she can see right through it.

"Archie, stop being like that," Veronica rolls her eyes.

"I'm not-" he tries, but she doesn't let him finish.

"You've barely talked to me all morning, you kissed me on the cheek, you have found every possible way to avoid me today," Veronica whines. "What did I do?"

"It's nothing," Archie shakes his head. "I just thought... I thought you would want to have a baby, but it doesn't matter, so let's just move on."

"Arch, it's not that I don't ever want to have another baby," Veronica explains. "Just not right now."

"But why not, Ronnie?" Archie throws up his hands in frustration. "We talked about this, I thought we both wanted this and then the second we can actually start trying you don't want to anymore."

"I do want to, maybe eventually, but just not right now," she argues. "Are you not happy with our life?"

"Of course I'm happy, but having a baby would add even more joy to our life," Archie frowns. "And it's not like this is a new conversation."

"We already have a beautiful little girl, and I don't want to start trying, so why isn't that enough?" Veronica questions.

"Because she's 4, Veronica. Because I didn't get to see her be born, or teach her how to walk or give her a bottle or try to get her to say "Dada" as her first word," Archie says, and she can tell how much it hurts him. "And I have tried so hard to not be mad about any of that, but now, all of the sudden you don't want to have any of those things again. So yes, I'm mad."

"Archie-" Veronica looks at him, and the way his eyes look breaks her heart. He's not looking at her like he usually does, like she hung the moon, but instead, he looks so angry.

"Please don't make me feel bad about this," Archie shakes his head. "I'm going for a run."

"Archie no," Veronica pulls his arm, pressing her nose against his. "I know we didn't make intricate vows, but we promised for better or worse. So please, be mad at me, yell at me, tell me how I'm the worst person ever, but please don't walk away."