Mistakes of our past | Rhekker

Chapter 21- Pancakes

Connor woke the next morning with a crick in his neck from the sofa. He had stayed up for a good hour after Ava, thinking and watching the front door. Keeping an eye in the light under to door to make sure none was out there.

He got up when he heard Ava stirring silently before slipping into the bathroom. When Ava came into the kitchen Connor was at the stove making pancakes. "Good morning" Connor smiled to her, before noticing the redness under her eyes and the swelling.
"Good morning" Ava replied hoarsely, taking some Tylenol from the press. Ava looked the same way she had in the weeks following his accusations, and now he knew why.
"You were crying last night" Connor stated.
"And some of the morning" Ava sighed, talking the pills and chugging them down with some water.
"Avery" he placed a hand on her back as she pulled away. Ava went to the fridge to retrieve Sophia's lunch for the day, dropping it in the counter.
"Are you going to try get custody of Sophia" Ava starred blankly at him.
"What, God no Ava, I could never do that to you" Connor said in shock rushing over to her.
Ava's eyes began to water again, "I just through after last night, you might try take her away"
Pulling Ava into a tight hug, she didn't resist. Connor rested his chin on Ava's head as she clung to his shirt. "Ava, you are all Sophia knows, it would be cruel to take her away from her mother"
"I would never break up our family" he whispered to her.
Ava smiled through her tears at him calling them a family. The couple stood their for a minute, feeling safe in each others embrace. Ava pulled away slightly, "Your pancakes are burning cowboy" she smiled sweetly to him.

As Connor rushed to deal with the pancakes Ava went to get Sophia up. Ava fed Sophia breakfast while Connor went to shower. When Connor came out dressed for the day in his scrubs he found Ava carefully wiping Sophia's face with a dam cloth.
"Their was a chocolate related incident" she informs him.
Connor smiled to himself, "Motherhood really suits you"
"Your not the first person to say that strangely enough" Ava laughed.
Connor sat down to join them at the table, admiring his two girls. "Thank you for making breakfast" Ava grinned at him.
"No problem. When did you start liking sweet things?" Connor asked nodding to her plate. Ava has a pancake half cover in Nutella and strawberry's.
"It's was Sophia, when i was pregnant with her she gave me your sweet tooth" Ava laugh
"So what's your stance on my vanilla lattes, then?"
"Oh no, no, no, we're not quite there yet. It's still black coffee all the way" the pair laughed as Sophia suddenly got up from the table. "Sophia" Ava called getting up to go after her.

Sophia can flying back into the room holding some paper. "Look mama" she called jumping onto Avas lap. Showing Ava the paper Sophia began to explain "Dit is jy, dit is ek en dit is pa*"
"Oh my slim meisie**" Ava said kissing the top of Sophias head, rocking her.
Ava took the paper and showed it to Connor, it had a large blue stick man with a black shirt, and smaller green stick woman with a black shirt and a little yellow stick girl. Above it Sophia has sprawled the word "Famliy", with a love heart on the I.
Connors face lit up at the imagine, getting up he attached the photo to the fridge door, taking a step back as a proud dad to admire his kids work.
"Go get your shoes on" Ava told Sophia before coming over to Connor.
Ava wrapped her arms around his waist and hugged him. Connor turned to face her, still over the moon at Sophia's quick acceptance of him. Connor laughed looking down at Ava, giving him puzzle look Connor swiped his thumb under Ava lip, wiping a blob of Nutella from her face.

"I'm sorry about last night, it was wrong of me to assume you were at fault. It's was just that stalker trying to get under my skin and break us up again. I should have realised that when the video was sent to me, Avery your the best thing to have happened to me in years, please forgive me" Conor admitted, apologising for his actions, running the pads of this thumbs lightly against Ava's cheek bones.
"You were blindsided, but Connor I won't put up with being made a villain over something that I didn't do. Especially if it disturbs Sophia, she comes first, before everything" Ava told him sternly, her face warming to his touch.
Connor nodded in agreement, still holding Ava's face in his hands he bent down and gave a light peck on the lips.
"Thank you for giving me Sophia" he whispered to her lips.
Ava exhaled contently, feeling the warmth of his touch.
"That you for finding me and bringing me back here so we can be a family"

Ava kissed him passionately before the two finally separated. Ava began to pack Sophias lunch into her bag, Connor came over, hugging her from behind.
"Avery" Connor said resting his in the curve of her next.
"Yes"
"What language is that, that you speak with Sophia"
"Afrikaans, it's nice to have someone in Chicago that I can speak it with"
"Can you teach me some" Connor asked, wanting to know more about Ava's life in South Africa.
Ava turned to face him, "Ek is lief vir jou"
"Ek- is life vir jou" Connor replied.
Ava laughed a little, "it's close yeah, not bad for a first attempt"
"And what dose that mean"
Ava smiled at him cheakliy, "I love you"
"Oh, we'll in that case Ek is lief vir jou very much, Avery" he kissed her, squeezing her waist playfully.

————————-
*"this is you, this is me, and this is dad"
** "oh my smart girl"