𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐓𝐀𝐊𝐄𝐎𝐕𝐄𝐑 | ✓

𝐄𝐏𝐈𝐋𝐎𝐆𝐔𝐄

𝐓𝐇𝐑𝐄𝐄 𝐘𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐒 𝐋𝐀𝐓𝐄𝐑.

I watch from the kitchen, as Ryder plays with Reid in the living room, along with Finn, as he teases Reid, laughing as he watches him get angrier.

Reid is exactly like Ryder, but I'm not all that surprised, They're exactly the same, even down to his personality. They even share the same features, dark black curls, deep brown eyes, and the faintest dimple on his cheek; we never expected that.

He's all Ryder. He's stubborn, with a short temper, and he can be overprotective when it comes to me, even with Ryder — safe to say there has been some arguments between the two when it comes to me.

But other than that, he's an angel child, just like his dad. Not to mention they're literally best friends, they have been since he was born. Reid is always by Ryder's side, except when he's upset, then he comes running to me.

I stifle a chuckle as Reid suddenly tackles Finn, as Wren walks up beside me, in front of the counter. "I hope I have a girl" She's rubbing her hand against her massive stomach, glaring at Finn as he argues with a three year old.

Wren and Finn had followed us, moving away from home not long after their wedding, and now they're living on the same street as us, in their own beautiful, family house, waiting to bring home their own baby.

"I couldn't imagine having a mini Finn." she playfully rolls her eyes. I smile, having already known it was a girl, after they had asked me to organise their gender reveal. It's been killing me keeping this secret, I can't wait to have a niece, and I can't wait for my daughter to have a best friend to play with.

I look down at Francis, sleeping peacefully in my arms. We had named her after Ryder's mother, he's been disappointed that she never got to meet her grandchildren, so I was more than happy to name our daughter after her.

Franny seems to be more like me, though she was only born two weeks ago, she seems like a little softie. Yet, Ryder and Reid are still just as overprotective over her as they are me, she's in safe hands.

Even though I think that she looks like Ryder too, he is adamant that she resembles me in every way -- same nose and eyes -- but I think he is simply trying to make me feel better, because our children are all him, and his genes are powerful. But I don't mind all that much, as long as I had them, I really couldn't care less.

Reid suddenly starts to cry as Ryder and Finn snicker, running towards me in tears. I shoot Ryder a glare, as Franny starts to stir in my arms from the noise. He's quick to appear in front of me, gently taking her out of my hands, his face softening at the sight of her.

I won't lie and say it doesn't get chaotic around here, but chaos is what got us here in the first place, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

As I'm comforting Reid, my phone begins to ring against the kitchen counter, and I'm quick to press the phone against my ear, struggling to hear the voice on the other end over the sound of Reid's crying.

"I'm on my way over to yours dear, I want to visit my grand-babies" my mother chirps into the phone, a smile spreading across my face as the sound, "Okay, I'll see you soon!" I quickly respond into the phone before hanging up and dropping it back down on the counter to attend back to Reid.

My father had unfortunately passed away a couple of years ago, but I never failed to notice how happy my mother has been since, the happiest I've seen her in my entire life, as if she's finally free, at peace.

I had thought that, maybe after I had married a good man, she'd see how much better she deserves. Maybe after she saw how my husband would speak to me softly, instead of screaming, or maybe how he used his hands to hold me, instead of forming his fists to hurt me, she'd see that even damaged people like us deserved love.

But I was blind to see, that my mother is strong enough on her own, she always has been. Through it all, every argument that she stayed silent in, every order that she obeyed, she was actually the strongest and bravest woman I had ever come across, and she's the woman, the mother, I aspire to become.

Men like my father, like Ryder's, have a control over people that is sometimes blind to the naked eye, and even when it's not, it's almost impossible to leave such a person. They manipulate you, control you, morph and change you into something you're not, they twist your thoughts and make you believe what they're doing is right,

It just so happened that my mother was finally let free of my father, I know she loved him, and maybe he even loved her just as much, but he's better off gone, his time is over.

I'm glad I managed to leave the cycle before it was too late, and I only have my mother and Ryder to thank. The last people I would've expected to rely on, saving me from the last person I  expected to need saving from.

Wren joins Finn in the living room, giving Finn a gentle hit against the chest in disapproval as he continues to snicker about Reid crying. But he continues to pull her closer to him, her back against his chest as he rests his chin against her shoulder, his hands held against her stomach as she smiles, her skin glowing, she's so excited to be a mother.

I know they'll be good parents, they're so good with mine, I don't have a doubt it one bit. Finn had woken up to himself and stepped back from alcohol, and has been sober for the past year. It was a tough time for all of us, but he finally managed to do it. 

I swiftly pick up Reid, and he enfolds himself in my arms, his arms and legs wrapping around me, and his soft sobbing against my shoulder as I soothe him back to calm. I make sure to hold him extra tight through his tears, I never want him to feel alone when he's vulnerable, I never want him to feel alone at all.

Ryder appears beside me again, Franny back to sleeping peacefully, snuggled against his big arm. He wraps the other around me and Reid, pulling us closer, his lips pressed against my temple.

I sink further into him with a soft smile, the same way I have since the beginning, breathing in his scent, listening to the sound of his heartbeat, feeling his warmth; he's still my home, he always will be.

I love my little family.

─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───
AN/word count - 1200

i'm aware that the ending isn't all that good, but i've been struggling for months to get these out, and I don't want to keep anyone waiting any longer, so forgive me😣