A Beauteous Flower

Chapter 55 - The New Normal

The rest of the weekend was, in equal parts, sweet and uncomfortable. The sweet part was that the quietly, rigid separation they had lived until then was gone, replaced by gentle togetherness. The uncomfortable part was that in its place was a mess of raw emotions and loose ends. Obviously they had a lot of work to do to rebuild their relationship and in the light of a new day, Madison worried just what would happen next.  An aura of awkward anticipation settled, but ultimately it was not as bad as Madison feared.

While Friday night's exertions didn't cure the trouble between them, it did provide an open door for the two of them to get closer, and that meant some open and honest, and quite frankly, hard conversations between Madison and Daniel and those conversations forced Madison to face some difficult truths about her previous treatment of their relationship and of Daniel. With the barrier of Daniel's reticence gone, Madison got to hear about how she had previously made him feel and she was not at all comfortable with the portrait it painted.  While she had expected Daniel to be upset, hurt and angry about the night of the party, he also expressed the pain of crippling anxiety born of a feeling of inadequacy she hadn't anticipated from him, and it caused Madison to weep in abject misery with the realization that she had played a part in that.  However, no matter how painful that expression was to hear, it was for the best as it would spur Madison to change her approach to their relationship.

For his part, Daniel listened to Madison's concerns and worries about their relationship as well. Chief among them was Daniel's previous refusal to express himself, so while the conversations were difficult for them both, it felt fair. Daniel promised to be less insular and secretive, which alleviated a lot of Madison's fears and worries.

One such conversation, which Madison had not enjoyed at all, happened that very night. Daniel was finally home and in their bed with her. However, Madison anticipated that they would probably make love again, so she came clean and told Daniel she had stopped her birth control pill regimen in an attempt to get pregnant. As Cassidy had predicted, admission met with some disapproval and Friday evening's sexual activity came to an awkward halt for a bit.

Fortunately, Daniel didn't get angry, and admitted that he understood and shared her desire to start a family someday. However, he did make it clear that he thought that it was irresponsible and disrespectful of her to not talk to him first. While Madison agreed to that premises, she also pointed out that Daniel had not been at all clear with her about his thoughts on children, which wasn't very responsible or respectful either. After some quiet thought, Daniel concurred with her position and then sighed that he wished she had told him before he had pumped an immense load of himself into her. Madison giggled and asked him if that would really have stopped him and Daniel smiled and admitted that, given the circumstances, it probably wouldn't have. After a little more discussion they agreed it wouldn't be responsible to have a baby while their relationship was just getting back on the rails, and, therefore, a family was a discussion for a later date.  Since Madison's birth control pills would need time to kick in, they agreed that they would use condoms for the near future until they could discuss family planing.

While she agreed with the plan, what she viewed as a step back in their relationship made Madison melancholy. She wasn't sure what upset her more; that she would have to wait a bit longer to start a family with Daniel, or that they would use condoms again. Condoms made Madison feel like a teenager and while it was the right thing to do, it felt like a regression. She consoled herself with the thought that maybe Daniel's Friday orgasm would do the trick and she made a note to see if she still had a few pregnancy tests stashed away just in case her bill didn't come around next month.

With that issue out of the way, Madison wanted to get back to the business of sex as soon as possible and Daniel showed as much enthusiasm as she did for the project. Much to their mutual chagrin they quickly discovered that there were no condoms in the house, so intercourse was off the table. That elicited a bout of tears from Madison, which were mollified with several exchanges of orgasms induced by oral sex. Afterwards, Daniel promised he would go into town the next morning and replenish their condom supply.