Don't let go: Joel Miller x OC

That Woman Would Be the Death of Him

End of March 2027...

The sun had been shining for a fair few hours now, long had gone the usual dimly lit wake up call at five am and the temperature of the room had him estimating that it was likely closer to ten. The trickle of light that had crept into the master bedroom in the early hours of the morning had before long turned into a strong beam that illuminated the space with daylight.

Ava groaned as Joel gently shook her shoulder to awake her. The gentle morning kisses and caring squeezes vanished the moment they had gotten married... unless he was after something else.

She laid out on her front, face sunken into her pillow, hair a disheveled mess, the duvet pulled down to her mid back and exposing her bare shoulders.

"Five more minutes..." She whined in response to his persistent nudges.

It had been Tommys birthday the previous day and so naturally celebrations took place in the evening. It wasn't a big party or anything. Just a few familiar friends that went around to Tommy's place for couple of drinks and a few games- at least that's what it was supposed to be.

With Maria's announcement at the end of February, breaking the news that baby number two was on its way in August, she ended up becoming the designated baby sitter whilst the other adults pretty much drank as much as their bodies would allow.

It had started off sensibly with exactly that, a few drinks and a version of beer pong... which turned into a game of 'Ring of Fire'... which then somehow evolved into strip poker.

Maria had headed up to bed with the kids part of the way through Ring of Fire. With the only person of reason out of the way, there was absolutely no one in the room to talk down the suggestion of strip poker... That was until it became apparent that Ava was absolutely abysmal at the game. Joel had let it get to a certain point... a point where most of the intoxicated adults still wore the majority of their clothes on their backs besides perhaps their shoes or socks but then their was Ava who by that moment, had lost the majority of the rounds and was now perched on the couch in just her T-shirt and knickers and of course she lost the next round which would have resulted in her removing said T-Shirt. It was a rather unwelcome notion, to picture her sat topless in front of a room full of ogling eyes - a mental image that had Joel taking it upon himself to very abruptly stop the game from progressing any further.

Needless to say that by the end of the night a grand total of five bottles of wine and two bottles of whiskey had been decimated between the seven adults. Ava had made an attempt to get Lily from Maria before leaving but that only resulted in her falling into a drunken heap on the landing floor as she stumbled on the top step. The commotion of her inebriated state had swiftly woken a now slightly disgruntled Maria, who strongly advised that it would perhaps be best if Lily remained there for the night and would be dropped back home in the morning...

Joel couldn't help the smug smirk that crept across his lips at the sorry sight of his wife the next morning. He couldn't lie, after all the shit that had happened with Ellie, he needed to let loose for a night and blow off some steam and Tommy's birthday bash had provided him with just that very opportunity. His light grasp of her shoulder released as he moved his palm to the spot between her shoulder blades, rubbing gentle circles in hope that it would get her to properly stir, "Darlin', Maria'll be here soon..."

"You deal with her then. She's dropping of your daughter." The blonde groaned into the pillow.

A low chuckle escaping from his chest as he swiped the mess of tangled hair away from the nape of her neck. Unlike Ava, he had actually woken up in an uncharacteristically good mood...although that probably had less to do with the drinking and more to do with the fact that the pretty blonde beside him had him up two- no, three times during the night demanding his 'attention' to which of course he happily obliged. Who the hell was he not to?