The Strip

Ending/ Epilogue

Freen POV;

"And one, and two, and three, and...Come on Crystal, give me some emotion here!" you call out to your protégé. "You're a stripper for god's sake. Move those hips!"

Crystal rolls her eyes and sashays her hips a little more forcefully than before and you internally cringe. She's definitely... green. You need to stop letting Liam hold auditions on his own. You'd assume being surrounded by beautiful women would make him immune to their charms, but a pretty face can easily sway him to just give them things, and Crystal is definitely that.

"Mommy!"

You snap from your thoughts and turn just in time to catch the bundle of love that crashes into your bare leg. "Mommy, mommy!" They repeat.

"Take five," you tell the dancer, then bend down to wrap your arms around the recently turned two-year-old and lift them onto your hip. "Why hello, Madi." You pepper her face with kisses, making the toddler erupt into giggles and pull at your hair. "Now where is that mama of yours?" You ask the little girl.

She holds your face in her chubby hands and blue eyes so much like yours peer back. "Mommy pretty."

"Mommy is gorgeous ." The familiar rasp in that voice has the Pavlovian effect on your heart as always. It beats uncharacteristically fast for the calmness of the moment, like it always has for the past six years. Plump lips press against your cheek and a soft, "Freen," is whispered against your skin.

"I kiss, I kiss!" Madi chimes in, pushing away her mama's face so she can lick your cheek.

Rebecca chuckles and tickles at her daughter's stomach, brown curls bouncing as Madi squirms away from her mama's devilish fingers. "Mama, no! Mommy, help!" She pleads.

You brush Rebecca's fingers away and lean over the curly head of your daughter and press a firm kiss to Rebecca's awaiting mouth. "What are you two doing here?" You ask.

"Well, someone wouldn't stop crying when she woke up from her nap and realized that her mommy was gone."

"Oh? And what did Madi do while you sulked?" You ask.

Rebecca rolls her eyes and chuckles at your barb.

"You done work?" You ask.

"Yeah. Surprisingly easy to organize and edit the photos I took for my last client."

"Trying to finish work before she wakes up is a great motivator."

The little girl tucks her head into your neck and nods, her thumb coming up to her mouth. "Mommy no there Madi up. Sad." She emphasizes just how sad she is by pouting.

Her lips are too much like her mama's. You've accepted the fact that you're going to cave more often than not as your daughter grows.

Your face mimics her pout, and you hug her close to your chest. "I'll be home in an hour, Liam just needed me to train the new girl before her first shift tonight."

"Mommy no here stay," Madi demands.

"I'll be home soon, baby."

"Mommy come!" Blue eyes begin to water with the idea of having to leave this place without her mommy, so you scramble to soothe her.

"I'll be home so soon, Madi."

Madi looks to Rebecca for reinforcement, eyes already leaking tears. "Mama, p-ease, mommy come." The tears start to turn into tiny sobs and you look to your wife, sighing at her soft smile.

Looks like you're not the only one who's screwed.

She shrugs at you. "I tried, but she's not used to you not being home during the day."

You bite your bottom lip, fingers playing with the curly brown locks of your daughter. "Let me just go tell Bell and we can go. How about we go get some ice cream?"

"Ice cream, ice cream!" Madi cheers, alligator tears suddenly drying.

You kiss her head and chuckle at your defeat. Rebecca motions to take her so you can finish up, but Madi's hold on your shirt is strong and she shakes her head.

"It's okay, I'll take her. Do you wanna say hello to uncle Liam?"

"Unk Be-ya-ye!" Madi cheers, tears drying immediately at the sound of her favourite uncle. She claps her chubby hands together with glee.

You put her down and watch her wobble-run across the club to Liam's office, shoving the door open, stumbling, and then righting herself with a gleeful squeal.

"Princess Madi!" Liam greets, and you can hear his deep chuckle accompany Madi's excited laughter.

By the time you enter the office, he's holding your daughter, playing with a toy raccoon and using a high-pitched voice to communicate with his captivated audience.

"Hey, Bell," you interrupt, and he grins.

"Hey, Freen, I've been meaning to talk to you, do you have a minute?" He takes a seat in his chair, the babbling toddler on his lap conversing with the stuffed toy. Liam reaches to his table and shuffles some paperwork around until he finds the folder he's been looking for. "So, you've been taking over the choreography for the new hires for a while now," he starts. He glances up and you, sighs, and slides the paperwork in your direction. "And manning the bar, and coordinating the clean up crew, and basically taking on all the work an owner does."

You shrug. "Yeah, couldn't do too much stripping while pregnant," you laugh.

"Right," he says. He raises a brow and gestures to the paperwork with his chin. "Sign that."

"What is it?"

"Sign it first."

You skim through it, not recognizing a majority of the tiny words printed in the black ink.

Liam smiles at your perplexed look. "I want you to take over."

"What?!"

He grins wider and leans back in his chair. "You're going to own The Strip. I want to branch into a few more clubs and I want people I trust running them. I trust you with my life, Freen. I trust you to do a great job. And," he reaches down and tickles Madi's stomach to pull out some giggles, "It will give you more flexibility in your hours, you know, if you ever want to stop dancing. Not that you have to, but it's an option now. I think you deserve it. If you want it."

"Liam, I..." you trail off, unsure what you could possibly say at this moment.

"Say yes. You can keep stripping, hell, you can do whatever you want, it's your place. It's not some way of trying to get you to stop dancing, fuck, I'm encouraging you to continue whatever the hell you want."

Your heart is wild as it pounds against your ribs. This is insane . This can't be real. Of course it can't be real. "I need to... I need to talk to Rebecca."

He laughs. "She already knows."

"I think you should do it," her melodic voice sounds from the open door frame. You turn to see her leaning against the door jamb, smiling softly at you. "I think you deserve it, Freen, and I think you'd be great. Liam and I already discussed a boudoir shoot with the dancers, and Sophia already signed on to be a floor manager if you choose to own. and I think Madi would be so proud to know her mommy is the boss."

"Mommy boss!" Madi chants from Liam's lap. She hugs the raccoon to her chest. "Mommy boss!"

Your eyes turn frantically to your longtime best friend. "Liam, I'm just..." Your eyes well over with tears, choking on the emotion, and Rebecca hurries to kiss them away. "You've always been more than just anything. This is what you love doing. This is what you fought for. You deserve this, Freen."

Madi wriggles her way off of Liam's lap and runs full speed to join in the family hug. "Mommy boss! Madi ice cream!"

You let out a wet laugh, reaching for the paperwork, decision made.

"Where do I sign?"