The Nanny

Chapter 24

"Beyoncé, baby, wake up!" Onika hissed, gently pushing on Beyoncé's upper arm to rouse her.

"Ungh," the young brunette grunted before rolling over onto her side, away from Onika. "Fi' more," she mumbled.

"The children will probably be awake any minute, which means they'll be coming in here!"

The only response was another grunt.

"You're naked, Beyoncé," the older woman logically replied. "And as much as I love you that way, the children absolutely cannot find you naked in my bed."

It took a beat or two for the words to register and the moment they did, Beyoncé's eyes shot open and she scrambled out from underneath the warmth of the covers. "Shit! Duffle bag," she continued to mumble as she looked around the room frantically.

With a smile, Onika, now sitting cross-legged on her side of the bed, replied, "Here!" as she held up a tank top, shorts, and undergarments she'd already pulled from Beyoncé's bag.

Sleepily, Beyoncé mumbled a thanks and reached across the bed to grab them, quickly fastening her bra and pulling the rest of the clothes on.

"Damn. Did we even lock the door last night?" Beyoncé asked, running fingers through her untamed mane and squinting at Onika in the brightness of the room.

"I did, and we're fortunate neither of them wanted to crawl into bed with us in the middle of the night," Onika said softly. "It doesn't happen at home very often, but tends to be more frequent when they aren't sleeping in their own beds."

"Shit, okay. Definitely can't fall asleep again naked after sex." The brunette smiled lazily at her lover, whose lips had curved into a smile at the comment.

"Unfortunately, no. Welcome to my life as a mother," Onika replied. "Forgetting things like we did last night will definitely be a one-time occurrence."

Beyoncé's brow furrowed as a thought crossed her mind. "Did you used to? Sleep naked, I mean."

"Before I got married, yes."

No further elaboration was necessary. Beyoncé understood the subtext. Before Michael.

"I'm, uh, gonna brush my teeth," Beyoncé said softly, jutting a thumb toward the bathroom. "Forgot to last night."

"Okay." Onika nodded. "I already put your toiletry bag in the bathroom."

"Thanks. After I brush my teeth and all that, I'm going to come back in here and give you another taste of how much I love you." She smirked. "Just a small one. Only PG though."

Minutes later, Beyoncé emerged from the bathroom to find Onika sitting cross-legged on the bed once again, very still. Meditating, Beyoncé deduced. The young brunette softly cleared her throat and Onika opened her eyes, meeting Beyoncé's. With a smile, Onika rose from her seated position and slowly made her way over to her lover standing in the bathroom doorway.

Approaching Beyoncé, Onika pressed her body into Beyoncé's, who backed herself up into the bathroom against the counter. "While you were in there, I was thinking," she said quietly, running her index finger along the neckline of Beyoncé's white tank.

"Like you ever stop," Beyoncé interrupted, a small smile gracing her lips.

Onika flashed a quick expression of disdain at Beyoncé's words before continuing. "I was thinking about how incredibly fortunate I am to have you in my life. My children adore you and you are so good to me."

"Onika-"

"No, let me say this," the older woman interrupted, flattening her right hand against Beyoncé's sternum and avoiding Beyoncé's curious eyes. "I have fallen harder and faster for you than I ever have with someone, but being with you just feels so natural and real." Tears had started to gather in the corner of her eyes and she took a deep breath. "I just feel," she paused for just a second as more tears accumulated, "like you're the first person who's loved me and seen me for me. Not as Doctor Onika Maraj, not as a mother, not as Mrs. Michael B. Jordan. You love me and see me as Onika Maraj, the woman."

Finally, Onika's teary eyes lifted to meet Beyoncé's soft, light brown gaze and she whispered, "Thank you." With a blink, the tears fell from her eyes and slipped down her cheeks, prompting Beyoncé to lift her hands and cup Onika's face, thumbs brushing away the fallen, salty wetness.

"That's because I've fallen in love with you, not the doctor, or the mother, or-" Beyoncé hesitated, taking a deep breath. "The wife. Just you. Beautiful, sweet, caring, genius you."

The older woman gave Beyoncé a watery smile and Beyoncé pressed her forehead against Onika's before bringing her mouth in closer, lips meeting hesitantly. "I love you," Onika mumbled against Beyoncé's lips before kissing her lover fully, no hesitations at all. Their lips moved together in synchrony, in desperation, in desire. Beyoncé's hands slid along Onika's jawline, over her ears, tangling themselves in the soft locks beyond them, pulling Onika's mouth harder against hers.

Finally Onika was forced to pull away, gasping for air as her lungs screamed for oxygen. She pressed her forehead against Beyoncé's once more, trying to steady her breathing. After several quiet moments standing there, wrapped in each other's arms, foreheads together, Ny-Ny and Jr. barged through the bedroom door, the sounds of footsteps and giggles entering the bedroom, followed by happy twin cries of "Mama! Beyoncé!"

The older woman jumped back from Beyoncé as if she'd been burned, eyes wide for only a second as she then frantically smoothed her slightly mussed hair. Onika turned toward the bathroom door, just passing through it as Jr. and Ny-Ny's arms wrapped around the lower half of her body on each side.

"We go to da beach?" the three year old asked excitedly, bright eyes peering up at Onika.

Beyoncé's hand was hot against Onika's lower back, even through the thin layer of fabric of Onika's robe. Immediately Beyoncé replied, "Breakfast first, then the beach!"

Brown eyes widened as they turned back to look at the young brunette. "Beyoncé, I forgot to go to the store yesterday evening for groceries!'

Laughter bubbled up inside of Beyoncé and she mimicked Onika's expression. "Oh my god, Nicki. We're going to starve!"

"Beyoncé, I have to-"

Quickly Beyoncé interrupted. "I might have snuck in necessary ingredients for pancakes and some syrup with the little bit of food we brought with us."

The look on Onika's face was priceless, a combination of annoyance and disgust at the choice of breakfast food. "Beyoncé, I really don't like to-"

"We're on vacation. Live a little!" Beyoncé replied, interrupting.

With a heavy sigh, Onika compromised. "Fine, make pancakes. I will head to the store right now for everything else we need for breakfast and most of the rest of our meals."

Ny-Ny and Jr. cheered instantly at the final decision that they were having pancakes, an exceptionally rare treat for them.

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The rest of the time at the beach was mostly uneventful.

Stef, Lena, and their children spent their last full day at the port on the beach with Beyoncé, Onika, Jr., and Anyla, only taking a break from the beach for lunch, which Stef and Lena offered to provide. Dinner that evening was, naturally, served at Onika's beach house.

The next morning, Stef and Lena packed up their belongings, checked out of their rental, and headed home.

After lunch, Onika and Beyoncé packed everything up and drove home to Houston.

Upon their arrival home, Onika immediately told Beyoncé they could wait on unloading their bags, saying that they could do so after getting the children settled inside and properly occupied.

After Beyoncé nodded in agreement, Onika turned to unlock the side door into the kitchen and instantly realized it was already unlocked. Eyes widened in alarm, she slowly opened the door enough to poke her head through and what she saw on the other side of that door, right there in the kitchen, made her heart drop to her stomach.

"Michael?"

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LoL wYd???