50 Shades of Family

Our Perfect World

I wake from a cold, disturbing, sad nightmare about Kenneth's life before he was put in the system. When I roll over in bed, I am greeted with a cold, deserted, neatly remade half of the bed. Where is my husband? He couldn't have left without saying goodbye. He wouldn't. I sit up in bed, letting the covers fall to my lap, and just as I'm about to hop out of bed, Christian struts through the door.

"Hi." I whisper, and he looks shocked to see me awake. Christian is already dressed head-to-toe for work. He is wearing a nice dark gray suit, regular shiny black shoes, and the navy silk Cantucci tie Kenneth insisted we get his "daddy" before his big trip. It is almost identical to our favorite gray one.

"Hi." He whispers and slowly walks over to the bed, taking me in his arms. "What are you doing up?"

"I couldn't sleep and I was cold." I whine and he smirks.

"Well unfortunately it will have to be like that for a few more mornings."He sits on the bed up against the headboard and pulls me down to lay my head on his chest.

"Don't remind me." I groan, wrapping my arms around his torso and snuggling closer to him. "Are you already?"

"Yes. I called Teddy to see if he was up, he said he would head there in a few minutes." Christian's fingers trace invisible patterns on my back; it's a soothing action.

"He still doesn't know he is staying, does he?" I ask with a small smirk on my lips, and I feel my husbands chest rumble. I'll take that as a no. "So you are going to tell him he has to stay and run the office at four in the morning when he could have slept in two more hours. He won't be happy about that."

"Yes, that is exactly what I will tell him at four in the morning, and I'll make sure to give him a few stacks of papers to keep him busy for two hours."

"Best way to learn I guess." I look up to find Christian already looking back down at me. Although we have been married for what seems like forever, the breath still gets knocked out of me every time I look at this handsome man I have the pleasure of calling my husband. "Why are you up this early anyway?"

"I couldn't sleep either. Had some coffee, played a song or two," Really? I'm surprised I didn't wake up to his soulful melodies. "Then I finally got dressed, and went to say bye to all the kids."

"They were up?" No one in this house usually wakes up before seven, maybe even eight depending on the day. No one except Christian, Taylor, Gail and me.

"Phoebe woke up, we talked a bit, then she went right back to sleep. I managed to sneak into Juliet's room. She had actually been up too, but I got her back to sleep. Kenneth was asleep too so I just gave him a kiss before coming back in here to you." He brushes the back of his fingers down my cheek, and his thumb skims my bottom lip.

"I'm going to miss you." I mumble.

"I'm going to miss you too." He mumbles back, caressing my face with his warm calloused palm. I push up on my arm to be face to face with him, his minty breath fans across my lips like a warm invitation. He takes the final step in connecting our lips, fitting together perfectly like a puzzle.

I move myself to sit up next to him and his hands tug on my hips, forcing me flush to his side. I have to restrain myself from combing my fingers through his already styled hair. I let out a soft moan when I feel his warm wet tongue invade my mouth, sliding over the velvet walls, dominating my own tongue; he has full control. Every nerve in my body seems to be on edge when he is around and when he does this, I lose all recollection of anything around us. It's just me and Christian in this perfect world we created so long ago. Nothing has changed.