By the end of the week, I was tired of wearing the stupid sling. I'd only needed to have it for three days but I figured another day or two wouldn't hurt. When I got home from work on Friday, I pulled it off and tossed it to the floor in the hallway, leaving it there to put away later. Imogen would be home soon too, with Abby and I just wanted a few moments of peace to myself so I lay down on the sofa in the living room with the TV going. In moments I was asleep and I was woken a while later by Imogen.
"Nick. Nick. Wake up, baby." She gently shook me and I blinked up at her.
"Oh. Hey, I didn't hear you get in."
"We just got home. How are you feeling?"
"Tired. Where's Abby?" I sat up, wincing a little at the pressure I was putting on my arm; I hadn't taken my pain medication for a while.
"In her room. What's with the face?"
"Nothing. Just a little sore on my arm."
"Okay. Be careful, yeah? We don't need you back in that emergency room." She grinned at me as I stood up and I shook my head, allowing her to pull me into an embrace.
"I was thinking..." I trailed off. She looked up at me from where she was cuddled into me and raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah?"
"Do you think we could ask my mum to take Abby for the night?"
"Got something you want to do, huh?" She teased and I felt my cheeks heat up. Despite our years of marriage, I still went red whenever we talked about our sex lives. I couldn't help it and she thought it was adorable.
"Maybe."
"You can call her, if you want. I'm sure Abby would love a night with her grandmother."
"Okay, I'll call her." I said. It'd been a long week and I wanted to spend some time alone with my wife. It was hard to be alone when Abby was in the house so we occasionally sent her to either my mum's or Imogen's parents' place for the night.
"I can't wait." She kissed me before letting go and tapping my nose with her finger. "Why don't you head upstairs and get some sleep? If my parents take Abby, you won't be doing much sleeping tonight." She whispered the last part in my ear and I grinned.
"I'm looking forward to it." I promised, kissing her again and then spinning on my heel to head to our room. After a quick call to my mum, I made myself comfortable, curling up in bed, holding tightly to Imogen's pillow in her absence. I fell asleep quickly, thoughts about the past week filling my head.
--------------------
"Be a good girl for nana, yeah?" I said to Abby as I hugged her goodbye.
"Yes, papa." She kissed my cheek before giggling and letting go of me to say goodbye to Imogen.
"We'll see you tomorrow morning, okay?"
"I know. Bye mummy." Giving her a cheeky smile, Abby poked his cheek and darted out of her reach, hiding behind my mum's legs.
"Cheeky monkey." She playfully scolded, standing up and sliding an arm around my waist. As it turned out, mum had been on her way home when I called and offered to pick up Abby instead of us dropping her off.
"Okay, have fun tonight." Mum said, taking Abby's hand. "I know we will. How do you like the sound of pretty pink fingernails?"
"Ooh! Yes please, nana!" Abby started jumping up and down as she followed mum to the car. I smiled and pulled Imogen close side as we watched our daughter chatter excitedly about the possibilities of what she would do tonight. She looked adorable with her pink backpack on her back, making her seem even smaller than she really was. We waved to her as the car drove away, only closing the door when the car had disappeared around the corner.
"Finally. We're alone." Imogen said, turning to face me and sliding her hands into the back pockets of my jeans. I grinned and looped my arms around her.
"Mm. Whatever will we do with ourselves?"
"I've got a few ideas; if you're not hungry, that is."
"Well, I am hungry. But that can wait." I whispered. She stretched up on her tiptoes to press a trail of kisses along my jawline.
"Good, I want to make up for what I said at the start of the week." I tightened my arms around her, pulling her up so that her toes were just barely off the floor.
"I've already forgiven you." I promised, smiling when she giggled a little as I started walking towards our room, still holding her tightly.
"But you got hurt because of it. I can never apologise enough for it. It wasn't necessary."
"Well, if this is going where I think it is; I'm not going to complain if you want to keep apologising." In our room, I gently set her on the bed. She took hold of my injured arm and trailing kisses all the way from my fingers to my shoulder.
"Good. Get ready, baby. Because I'm going to show you that I love you more than anything else in the world."
I laughed as I lay on top of her, and she cradled my face in her hands. "Even more than Abby?"
"Hmm. That's a tough competition. I think I have to say you're in equal first."
"So what would you do if you could only save one of us from a burning building?"
"Sacrifice myself so you could both survive. But that's a depressing topic. Let's not talk about it right now. I told you what we were doing tonight."
"Mm..." I rolled us over and wrapped my arms around the back of her neck, pulling her down to kiss me. "Just be careful of my arm."
"Oh, don't worry, baby. I'll be very careful." She whispered by my ear and I couldn't help the shiver that went through me. I grinned as she gently nipped my ear, her hands roaming across my chest. "I love you."
"I love you too, Imogen, so much." I promised. She pulled back to look at me, one hand resting on my cheek. I leaned into it affectionately and smiled.
"More than anything."
