Chloe shot Lee a small smile as he placed a mug of tea on the dining table in front of her, before taking a seat opposite her, his gaze fixed on her. Her eyes flickered to Freyja as she sat on her lap, silently sucking her thumb. Chloe wrapped her arm around Freyja's frame, holding her gently against her abdomen, making sure that she was safe.
"So I guess we need to talk about Freyja." she started, glancing up at him as he nodded slowly.
"I would really like you to be involved in her life as much as possible, so I was thinking that as well as you coming up to see her, I could occasionally come down to London so that you can see her in the evening after work." she explained.
"I have spoken to Louise and she has a spare room in her flat, and she is happy for me to stay there when I'm in London." she continued, trying to prompt him into a response.
"I have a counter proposal." he said quietly, his stomach churning nervously as she raised her eyebrow, waiting for him to continue.
"I have been thinking about it quite a lot and I really want us to give things another go." he said nervously, not entirely sure how she was going to respond.
"So that you can spend more time with Freyja." she sighed, her eyes flickering to her baby as she fidgeted on her lap.
"I don't want to be with you just for Freyja, I know you won't stop me being a Dad regardless." he pointed out, taking deep breaths to try and steady his nerves, his stomach churning at the thought of Chloe rejecting him once again. Chloe nodded slowly, swallowing the lump that was rising in her throat as she thought about what he was suggesting. She'd never for one moment, contemplated the idea of getting back together with the man that had broken her heart and even though she still had feelings for him, she couldn't help but feel nervous at the thought of trusting him once again.
"But how do I know that you won't go back to Steph?" she said quietly, not quite able to suppress the feeling in her stomach that Lee would be tempted to go back to the person that he'd cheated on her with.
"I won't Chloe, I promise you I haven't seen her for weeks." he said quietly.
"You don't have feelings for her or anything do you?" she asked quietly, raising her eyebrow at him as she waited nervously for him to respond.
"No, of course not. It was literally just sex, I never even slept in a bed with her or anything. None of it meant anything to me, she was just a selfish distraction." he answered, sighing to himself as he thought about his actions that he desperately wished he could take back.
"And I never held her the way that I used to hold you." he added, his eyes misting with tears when he was reminded once again how much he missed having Chloe in his life. How he would have given anything to hold her as she slept.
"Steph is so beautiful and has an amazing body where as I was fat so I kind of get it." she said quietly, her eyes filling with tears as she thought back on how disgusting and worthless she had felt when the man that she loved didn't want her any longer.
"That was never the case at all Chlo." he said softly.
"The only person that thought you were undesirable was you." he added, reaching out to take her hand, squeezing it gently. Chloe glanced up at him for a moment, quickly looking away from his intense gaze as he stared at her.
"Obviously you know that I want you back and for it to be forever again." he tried, watching her closely as he waited for her to respond.
"But maybe we can just start with a trail to see if you can do it and if we can move past what has happened. Because I know I need to win your trust back." he continued.
