Juniper

Fifty One

Juniper laid on her side, scrolling through Raphael's phone.

"How do you get mail if we're on an island?" She asked aloud as he got dressed. She'd slept for fourteen hours after taking her tea, Raphael didn't leave her side and now that she was feeling better he was just now starting his day.

Feeling his side eye at the random question, Juniper looked up to glare impatiently at him.

"It's a simple question-"

"I just felt like it was common sense-"

"Well if it's too difficult for you to answer I'll just go ask someone else!"

Raphael pushed her back into bed as soon as she tried to get up, her groggy body fell back into the mattress almost too easily. Juniper moaned in annoyance.

"They uh- well it's different since we have portals. The mailing system is set up in a port on the mainland then driven through a portal- you're not even listening anymore!"

Raphael patted her thigh pesteringly.

Juniper hummed, "I don't know why I asked I don't care anymore. I want to buy this thing for the baby." His phone was held obnoxiously close to his face. Raphael squinted to see she was looking at different swaddles.

"Buy it, you don't need to ask me."

"Well I wanted your opinion," Juniper narrowed her eyes at him with a huff.

Juniper was particularly snippy after waking up this morning.

"Baby," he spoke slowly while kneeling between her thighs. She wore only his
t-shirt and barely there underwear, his own button up was open and hanging from his broad chest. She hummed in acknowledgement while rubbing his hand that held her.

"Pretty girl," he kissed her knee to coax her. "Love of my life..."

Juniper's suspicious gray eyes darted up.

"Do you think you're avoiding the elephant in the room maybe?" Raphael peered at her worriedly. Her father whom was staying at a hotel at the moment in the island had not been mentioned once since last night.

Juniper pouted, dropping the phone on her chest. Immediately her bottom lip wobbled.

"I didn't want to talk about it cause I k-knew I'd cr-cry," Junioer hiccuped and as if a flip was switched she began to cry at the mention of her dad.

"I'm sorry- I'm so sorry sweetheart. Fuck-" His eyes widened as Juniper trembled, he'd seen her cry sure. He'd just gotten used to that but this chest heaving and breath stuttering as she hiccuped. Her hand wiped at her continuous tears that just never seemed to end.

Juniper quickly apologized as well, trying to get a hold of herself. Both fumbled over the others apologies, Juniper covering her eyes that wouldn't stop leaking and Raphael dutifully wiping any tears that streamed down her face.

"Juniper what can I do? I'm such a fucking idiot, god I'm sorry baby. I'll do anything to fix it," Raphael's brows were furrowed in great concern, resorting to kissing all over her face that was available to him.

"They won't stop," this only made Juniper cry harder. She laughed pitifully between her sobbing, having completely lost it.

"You're going to be fucking dehydrated at this rate-" he lifted her into his lap while bringing a cup to her mouth.

Juniper allowed Raphael to force feed the water into her mouth, glaring through her bleary tears.

After taking deep breaths to stifle her crying, Juniper could finally blink without wetting her cheeks further.