Someday? Never?

Coeur d'Alene

*A/N: There's smut in this chapter*

Coeur d'Alene, I'm coming now
Where I still belong
Safe at last in your arms

It had been three months since the shooting and the girls were still having flashbacks and nightmares every now and again. Come to find out, Victoria had been telling her boyfriend that Mark had been sleeping with Estelle long before they got together. Victoria's boyfriend had taken it upon himself to "ruin" Mark like he "ruined" Victoria and "shatter" him like she had been "shattered." Of course it all backfired, and no one was hurt, but it still haunted Estelle.

Thankfully the guy was in jail and Victoria cut all ties with him. The fact that her sons were there and could have gotten hurt was enough for her. She made sure to tell Mark that she had absolutely nothing to do with it and that he was crazy without her help.

She didn't know how obsessive he was until Mark had let her go and she lived by herself. He had become possessive and weird and the shooting was the last straw for her. Estelle believed the story, but Mark had his reservations. He was just going to play everything by ear.

Their only hurdle was that Estelle couldn't be with Mark how she wanted to because of how far away they were from each other, on top of her trying to respect Victoria's wishes on not having her boys spend the night anywhere, even though Mark would most definitely be there. As far as that went, she didn't believe that Victoria was being overprotective, she thought she was being spiteful. Estelle was nothing if not patient, and in the end, she'd come out on top.

In the midst of all that, Brielle was back in New York with Regé-Jean, and Isabelle was back and forth between Oakland and Tampa. She'd come back to Tampa when the kids were back in school and go to Oakland when they were on breaks. Sometimes, Daveed would come instead of Isabelle going and that was always fun for Bryson. He adored Daveed, calling him the older brother he'd never had.

Estelle had wanted to go to Mark's house to spend the night, but with Bryson, that would be difficult. Jenelle was very clear in her wishes with him and sleepovers were a hard no, unless the twins were hosting. Estelle hadn't had the opportunity to talk to Jenelle about it, but she had already planned her argument. She would understand if Jenelle still said no, but she would fight for it.

In the meantime, they'd just stick to Saturday play dates. The boys usually ended up at Estelle's because she had a bit more to offer than Mark did. It was just a formality to ask to come over to her place because she had a movie theater, trampoline, skateboard area and game room, and he had a basketball court and space where they could play soccer. They both had pools, but Estelle had a lazy river and grotto. Estelle was also the better chef. She had her very own pizza oven and the boys wanted to make their own pizzas when they got together.

It was a nice little arrangement, until it was time to go. Austen would beg to stay over, and Mark would reluctantly tell him no. Then Austen and Pearson would hug Estelle forever before letting Mark have his turn with her, and finally, Bryson and Austen would try to tag team them into staying over. It never failed. Every Saturday that Mark had them, it was the same thing. This time though, Estelle decided to test the waters and see what they would say.

"Pickle, where would they sleep? And what about their clothes?"

"TeTe, you can wash their clothes! Austen can come in my room and Pearson gotta stay with Uncle Mark because he's still little. Do he pee in the bed?"

"No, he doesn't pee in the bed dude," Mark laughed, "but you didn't say where I'm supposed to go. Where am I sleeping?"

"Probably with TeTe because you like kissing her, but it's another bed in my room if you gotta stay with the boys," Bryson said with confidence.