His Saviour ✔️

Lions And Tigers And Bears, Oh My!

Narrator's POV

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The moment they all stepped into the cages centre that held the bigger animals in the zoo, Chase was almost shitting his pants.

Whilst Payton, Liam and Skylar were standing a few footsteps away from the Lions and Cubs, receiving friendly licks and purrs, Chase was a nervous wreck.

"Daddy! Come sees the big Lion!" Skylar shouted excitedly and squealed when the Lion had licked her little finger.

"Daddy can see from here, baby." Payton stiffled a chuckle at his reaction and Liam turned to face his father. With confiedence in his voice, he smirked and said,

"You're scared of the Lion, aren't you Dad?"

Payton could no longer withold her laugh this time.

Chase gave Payton a very unfriendly glare, which made her bite her lip to stiffle her laughter.

"That is a very unlikely reason, son. I just like seeing things.. from a very large distance."

He watched as Liam stepped closer to Payton, whispering into her ear, which brought out more laughter, and a nod sigalling she had agreed with him.

"How about we show Daddy the Panda's instead?" Payton giggled and picked Skylar up, placing her on her hip.

"Are those the ones that eat bambo?!" Liam asked as he skipped to catch up with Payton grabbing onto her hand as she lead the two to the Panda's.

Chase couldn't help but stare in thought. He still couldn't believe how well his children had acustomed theirselves to Payton.

It was something he would've never thought was possible.

He snapped out of his train of thought and walked behind them, inwardly aweing at Skylar's excitement.

"Daddy! Can we get a Panda?!" She sqeauled causing Chase to chuckle.

"I don't think we have space for a Panda, baby girl."

A small pout appeared on Skylar's face but was quickly covered by a smile when she saw the Aquarium sign.

"Oo! Can we see the fishies?!"

Payton put Skylar onto her feet and watched as Liam grabbed her hand before the both ran off towards the Aquarium.

"What's the chances of them being asleep by 8:30 tonight?" Chase asked.

"Puh-lease. They'll be asleep by 7:30...7:45 max." Chase rubbed his chin in thought then reached out his hand to Payton, in which she grabbed and shook firmly.

"You're on. And if I win, you need to watch a whole movie of The Lord Of The Rings with me." Chase said with a pleased expression on his face.

"Okay, but if I win, you have to watch the whole movie of Mean Girls with me." Chase debated in his mind for a moment before he shook her hand again.

"You're on."

9 hours later....

Neither of them had checked the time that they left but by the time both hand one sleeping child each in their arms and outside into Chase's car, it was 7:37.

Which Payton was the first to notice on the dashboard. "I win." She whispered and fist pumped the air. "You're watching Mean Girls tonight, buddy."

Chase groaned and safely secured Liam into is car seat as Payton did the same with Skylar. They both quickly but as quietly as possible the closed the car doors at the same time, hoping it wouldn't wake the kids up.

Payton and Chase both peered into the windows, watching for any sudden movements. With a stir from Skylar but nothing from Liam, the both silently celebrated with a high five given over the hood of the car.

"Well, well, well, look at the happy family." A clap was heard from behind Payton. As soon as she had turned, she wanted the ground to swallow her whole.

"Leo.. w-what, what are you doing here?" Payton stuttered and grabbed onto the car door handle for support, feeling fear fill her body.

"Thought I'd take a walk, get some fresh air. I've been looking for you Payton. Although, I didn't expect to find you whoring around with a random guy."
Leo chuckled humorly, but all it did was set off a fire in Chase.

"I think you should be careful with your next words, Leo. Payton works for me." Chase explained, making Leo laugh harder.

"Wow! Sleeping with the boos, huh? Who knew you'd follow in your Mother's footsteps?!"

The tears welded up in Payton's eyes, and as soon as Chase caught sight of them, it was his last straw. He strided over to Leo, interupting his pathetic laughter, by his fist colliding with his face.

"Didn't anyone teach you that's not a way to talk to a woman?!" The one punch seemed to do it, as Leo couldn't get back up onto his feet.

Payton stood in shock unable to move. Chase quickly peeked at the children to make sure they were still asleep, in which to his luck, they were.

"If I ever see you within 10 feet of Payton again, you'll regret it." He then turned to Payton and gently grabbed her shoulders, guiding her back to the car.

Just as Leo was lifitng himself off the ground, Chase had already reversed the car and began driving out the carpark.

"Are you okay?" Payton simply nodded, pulling her jacket around her. Chase quickly checked over the children before they all endured a silent drive home.

He pulled into the driveway, deciding to keep silent about the obvious elephant in the room. Managing to carry both children in his arms, he gave Payton the keys to let them into the house and lock up while he took the kids upstairs to bed.

He settled Liam into bed with the change of pjyamas and his stuffed bear tucked into his arms. With a kiss on his forehead, Chase turned on the nightlight and headed to Skylar's room.

He chose the pjyamas for Skylar and carefully changed her before tucking the sleeping child into bed. He kissed her forehead, turned on the nightlight and left the room to look for Payton.

When he found her in the kitchen, slowly stirring a cup of coffee with a spoon, he approached her slowly.

"Are you okay?" He asked wearily, knowing it was a stupid question but didn't want to not ask. She opened her mouth to speak, although nothing but a strangled sob escaped her throat.

Chase moved quick to wrap his arms around her in a comforting manner. Payton leaned into his embrace, tears blurring her vision.

"You are nothing of what that despiteful piece of shit said. You got that?" Chase mumbled quietly but in a firm tone, making sure Payton got his point. She sniffled and nodded her head.

"I'm sorry for not helping you take the kids to bed, I got caught up in my head-" Chase pulled back, shaking his head to stop her continuing her sentence.

"Don't dare apologise. You take whatever time or space you need, okay?" Payton simply nodded, before lowering her head.

"You should get some sleep. You've had a long day." He gave her arm a soft rub before turning off the lights, heading towards the stairs.

"Chase?" Payton called out, making him stop in his tracks. "Thank you." She mumbled.

"Anytime Sweetheart."