Surrender To Love

11. Aftermath

[Astrid's POV]
After the concert, I woke up in the middle of the night with a sore throat. Which only means one thing. I'm getting sick. I hate being sick not because of the sick part but the way I act. When I run a fever, I get all loopy and a little emotional. I act like those people who get their wisdom teeth pulled out. This should be fun.

I get up to gargle hot water and salt when I hear a cry from my girl's room. I make my way over there to find June sitting up in her bed. I see her tear-filled eyes and make my way over. "What's wrong baby?"

"I don't feel good my neck hurts," she says while rubbing her throat. I feel her face and she feels hot. I rush to my bathroom grab the thermometer and go back. I place it in her mouth and wait for the beep. After I take it out I check the temperature. 100 on the dot. She has a fever and I sigh looking at it.

I go and get water then come back and make her drink it despite her sore throat. I lay with her in the bed until she fell asleep. When she does I make my way back to my bed and sleep as far as I can from Dylan so she doesn't get sick.

When we woke in the morning I got sicker during the night. It turns out Aniyah is sick too with a fever. Dylan was still sleeping so I got up to make breakfast but quickly sat down after finding out I couldn't walk in a straight line. Soon Dylan wakes up from my daughter's constant complaining.

"Morning," she says through a yawn. I say it back and she notices my raspy voice. "Are you ok?"

"The girl and I are sick. They both have fevers and I think I'm getting one too,"

"Damn ok. I have uhh something to do today, but I promise that after I will come back and take care of you girls," she says disappointedly.

"There's something more important? It's Saturday?" I say back.

"Yeah I have some stuff to do but I should be back like at 1 or 2,"

"Ok, whatever," I say clearly upset. Maybe I shouldn't expect so much. She leaned in for a kiss. "Sick," I say as I turn my head away.
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[Dylan's POV]

I keep thinking about her disappointed look and rejecting my kiss as I make it to the car. I have reading buddies today and therapy right after. Usually, I don't have therapy on Saturday but I asked for an extra session last night. I wanted to talk about my unwillingness to become a girlfriend to Astrid. I really want to but I'm scared.

When I made it to the library I signed in and greeted the lady at the front desk, Mrs. Smith. She hates when I call her that and says I should call her by her first name but I can't bring myself to do so. She's an elder so I prefer to be respectful. I make my way to the kid's table and wait for Aaron to come.

About ten minutes later Aaron makes his way through the door and immediately runs up to me. When he's in my arms, his mom points to the study area and I nod. We go and look for some books to read.

"¿Listo?" I ask after he picks up a fourth book. He takes another look around before nodding his head and we make our way to the tables. We sit down and I read the first book as usual. (Translation: Ready?)

After reading buddies I head to therapy where I will discuss what happened with Astrid. I wait for my name to be called into the office and decide to check on Astrid.

How are you guys? Do you need anything
before I come back?
Read at 9:31 am

Is she really that mad? I sigh and put my phone away, she usually answers fast. Now she's leaving me on read. My name was called a little while later and I walked in. "Hi, Dr. Reign,"

"Hello Dylan," she says as she sits in her chair. I make my way over and sit on the couch across from her.

"So what was the reason for the extra session?"

"Astrid asked if she could be my girlfriend. I got so scared I had a panic attack and almost crashed the car,"

Dr. Reign nods. "I want you to think about her. Is she there with you or completely alone?"

"When I think about her I usually see her with me,"

"You see her with you. Even if you're not ready to put a label, it doesn't change how you feel about her. Erase those thoughts telling you otherwise. If she's the one, she's the one. Feel it out, take your time. There's no rush."

"But what if she gets impatient because I'm going too slow," I asked.

"I know that can be hard. Thinking that they may leave or get mad because of you taking your time. That's why you let them know. Which you did, now there is nothing that you can do. It's up to her. She knows you will take some time, she needs to be patient."

We talk for the rest of the hour and I go back home, feeling a lot better. I stop at the drugstore to get some medicine for Astrid. Then some kid medicine for the girls. I also got Gatorades and a fruit bowl.

I walk up the stairs and knock on the door. I waited a while and there was no answer so I knocked again. "Okay! I'm coming!" A tiny voice yells and immediately know it's one of the twins. I shake my head because if it was anyone else something could have happened. When she opens the door I see it's Aniyah.

"Hey, crazy. How are you feeling?" I ask looking at her clearly sick face. She shakes her head and turns around when I look up I see Astrid on the couch pretending to drive a car.

"Hey I'm just driving my airplane," she says not taking one look at me. I give her a weird look but she doesn't look away.

"What are you talking about?" I say and she starts to make airplane noises. I walk up to her and feel her forehead. Her face is hot.

"Sometimes Mommy be weird when she's sick," Junes says walking out of the room, who is also visibly sick.

"Did your mommy give you guys medicine," she shakes her head. I sigh and grab the medicine but I realize they may be allergic. Astrid doesn't seem to be in the right of mind. So I look in the cabinet for any kid's medicine. When I find some I pour out the recommended amount and give it to each of them. I give them Gatorade and fruit then tell them to lie down. They get on Astrid's bed and I walk over to her.

"Baby? Come lay down,"

"Nah I'm good plus flying!" She says back and I laugh. I grab her hand and she freaks out.

"Hey! I'm flying!" She says with both hands trying to force me away. "Dammit, we're going down! Prepare for impact!"

She sits back down on the couch and starts to click imaginary buttons and pull on the wheel or whatever it's called. She then grabs something from above and speaks into it. "This is Captain Crunch on flight 307 we're going down!" I look at her with the most confused "Are you serious" look. What is this girl on?

"Come on Ass," I say but she's still flying that stupid airplane. I decided to wait it out.

"This is flight 307, and it's your captain speaking, everyone remain calm while we land." She says as she lifts the steering wheel up and bites her bottom lip. Why is she so serious?

Soon I see her smile and put the mic to her mouth. "We made it guys with only a few fatalities and lots of injuries." Then she smiles again and gets up. "Oh were you on the plane too?!" She loudly asked before giving me a hug. "I'm so happy you survived." And starts crying.

"Yeah and why don't we go and take a nice nap?" I suggest and she nods her head in my neck. I guide her to the bed and she lays down. The girls are lying together and have fallen asleep. Astrid lays down next to them and I lay on the edge of the bed.

She falls asleep pretty quickly and I get up to go home. I needed to shower and grab my stuff. I know she wants me to spend the night again which I will gladly do.