The Elaborate Parent Trap

Chapter Twenty - Five

"Auntieeee!" Jade cried jumping out of Chris's truck, River close behind her. "Can we go play with Zeke? Please? Please?" She asks as Chris climbs out.

"Sure, go on ahead." Echo grins at them. "And how are you Tink?" She asks her friend who looked gone in her head.

"I'm okay. Just... Remember how I picked Matt up at the dentist yesterday?" She asks and Echo nodded. "He... He thought I was Johnny and said he thinks he's in love with me..." Chris blurts looking insanely conflicted. "What do I do?"

"Did you tell him you love him back?" Echo asks.

"NO! He thought I was Johnny! I couldn't exactly just blurt it out." Chris groans.

"Cook for him, invite him over, leave the kiddo's here and talk to him." Echo assures her. "Now just breathe, lets grab a tea and let the kids play with Zeke."

Meanwhile, the guys were hammering out the final details of the upcoming tour and the adjustments for Chris and the kids to join when Matt spoke, "Oh and thanks for grabbing me yesterday, man, and for letting me vent." Matt explains.

"Huh? I didn't pick you up." Johnny says confused.

Matt looked over at him confused. "Yeah, you did. We talked about Chris, and you dropped me at home... Chris took over so you could come back to the studio." Matt states.

"No man, I didn't. I had to finish up here and they wouldn't let me leave." Johnny explains.

"He's right. Chris picked you up and I met you at your place to get your sleeping ass into bed. I called her to get you." Bri explains.

"Oh god..." He groans. "Please tell me you're joking."

"I'm not, why man? What's the big deal?" He asks.

"She never said anything after everything I said, didn't act weird or anything." Matt groans.

"She was crying when she got to your place, shit Matt, what did you say thinking it was Christ?" Brian asks scared.

"I said she makes the music in my head make sense, and I'm pretty sure I'm in love with her." Matt mumbles out.

"Then what happened?" Johnny asks.

"I don't know. I passed out and next thing I remember she was cleaning around my bedroom." Matt explains.

"Seems like she feels the same way, but maybe doesn't know how to say it?" Zacky finally pipes in.

"What do I do? She hasn't said a word, hasn't been acting weird or anything." Matt asks for advice.

"I don't know bro, but she's calling you." Johnny points out when a photo of her, Jade and River appear on his screen.

Matt sighs softly and takes a deep breath before answering and stepping into the hall. "Hey Baby girl." He greets.

"Hey! I'm over at Echo's with the kids and they're asking for a sleep over so I figured if you're okay with that, maybe you and I can have a date night? I'll make us some dinner and we can watch a movie and relax a bit before the tour begins?" Chris asks him, the whole time pacing nervously.

"Yeah, that sounds good, we need to talk anyways. Want me to meet you at Echo's you're your place?" He asks.

Chris froze in fear, the words 'we need to talk' echoing around in her head, her nerves spiking. "Oh uhm, yeah. Okay. Maybe meet me at home? I'll head there soon to start dinner." Chris says.

"Okay, give me an hour, give the kids hugs for me." He says before hanging up.

When the dial tone hit, Chris felt like she wanted to bawl. "Fuck, fuck, fuck. Oh god." Chris whined under her breath.

"Tink? What's wrong? What happened?" Echo asks worried.

"He said those awful four words. 'We need to talk'." Chris whimpers to her friend.

"Babe. He said he thinks he's in love with you, there's no way it's bad." Echo tries to reassure.

"But he's pulled away before!" Chris cries softly and buries her face in her hands.

"Breathe Tink. Breathe. You got this. Just hear him out first. If he does, I'll make it look like an accident." She grins.

Chris lets out a laugh and nods with a sniffle. "Thanks Gecko. I love ya. I guess I should head home and get dinner going." She says softly.

Echo wished her luck and Chris gave the kids both hugs and kissed their heads before heading out and home. She arrived home and headed upstairs to change before going to start dinner, playing some old country loves songs and singing along while she cooked to keep herself distracted.

Meanwhile, Matt had changed six times before finally settling on what to wear and headed out for Chris's house. When he arrived, he sat in his truck a little while and tried to calm his nerves, but it wasn't working at all. He swallowed it down and headed up to the door, seeing her dancing around in the kitchen. Instantly his nerves seemed to disappear, and he slipped inside silently, sliding up behind her to hold her close. "Hey." She greets softly as Matt sways with her to the gentle beat of the songs.

"Hi." He greets softly, leaning to kiss her cheeks softly. "I could really get used to coming home to this." He hums softly into her ear.

"Yeah?" She asks softly and wraps her arms over his.

"Definitely." He replies. "It smells delicious." He grins.

"Well, I'm making my chicken alfredo for us." She smiles softly.

"It sounds delicious." He assures kissing her temple, "So... About this talk... You're the one who picked me up from the dentist?" He asks. That caused Chris to freeze up, her stomach dropped but Matt held her tighter as she began to shake. "Baby, I-"

"I'm sorry! I, I, I just, you assumed I as Johnny and you went on about how I make the music in your head make sense and I just I started crying and you were so blissfully unaware that you just told me you were in love with me, and, and, I didn't want to say anything cause you were high on the meds, and probably weren't ready to actually say it and-"

Matt cut off her ramble and turned her toward him pressing his lips to hers. "Shhh." He whispers. "I love you. So much. You and that little girl stole my heart. I meant every word I said." He says softly against the top of her head.

"You did?" She asks softly, sniffling away the tears that threatened.

"I do." He clarifies, tipping her chin up to kiss her softly, full of emotion and love. "We had an interesting and rocky start but I really can't see mine or River's life without you and Jade in it."

"I... I love you Matt." She says softly, blinking away unshed tears.

"Say it again." He says lifting his hand to cup her jaw in his palm.

"I. Love. You. Matt. And I love River like he's my own." She says kissing him deeply.

Matt reciprocated that kiss, leaning to shut the stove off before lifting her up to wrap her legs around him and headed straight for the bedroom. She didn't even protest as he carried her to the bedroom, slowly stripping her and himself of their clothes. It was the gentlest and most romantic love making she'd ever experienced.

The two of them curled up together in bed afterward, simply talking. Dinner long forgotten as Matt and Chris discussed the future and the upcoming tour before falling fast asleep together.