It's a Jungle, Baby

Late Night Swim

"Did you call Ruby?" Duff asks me half asleep, it's about midnight.

"Yeah." I say into my pillow.

We're quite for a while and I almost fall asleep. Duff moves to sit up and I pull the covers over my head.

"I have an idea." He says.

"Do whatever you want to me, just don't wake me up." I say in my cocoon of blankets and warmth.

"That's not what I mean." Duff laughs. "Come on, get up. Grab your swimsuit."

He pulls the blankets from my head and smiles at me. I scowl but do as he tells me. I pull on a pair of shorts and a presentable shirt. I grab my swim suit out of my drawer and walk out to the main room where Duff is.

He stands in his jeans and a Pink Floyd shirt, holding a six pack of Budweiser in his hand.

"Duff, sweetie, do you see what time it is?" I yawn and he laughs.

"Come on, it'll be fun." Duff grabs my hand and pulls me out to his car.

I fall asleep on the car ride there but Duff wakes me up when we arrive at the beach. I rub my eyes just to make sure I'm seeing things right. We get changed in the back seat before we walk out onto the sand. He throws down the towels and the beer before picking me up over his shoulder and running me to the water.

"Duff, put me down." I try to sound serious but end up laughing.

"Okay." He says once the waters up to his waist.

Duff drops me into the water. When I stand back up soaking wet, he laughs.

"What? You said put you down." Duff admits and I push him into the water. "Oh Kitten you down want to play this game." He says as he pushes me into the water again.

We shove each other into the water for a while before coming back up and sitting on the towels, looking at the stars and drinking beer.

"Isn't it weird to think about all the people that have look at the same moon we are?" I ask looking at the full moon. "Michelangelo, DaVinci, Shakespeare."

"Hitler, Stalin, and Mussolini." Duff laughs and I put my head on his shoulder.

"Not exactly what I met but same idea." I say with a laugh.

"So Taylor Jane, was this a good idea?" He wonders and I smile.

"Yeah Duff, it was." I say and he kisses my forehead. "I love you."

"I love you to, baby." Duff says quietly.

"I've got a question but I don't want you to worry about it too much." I say and Duff looks me in the eye, worried.

"What's wrong?" He asks and I smile.

"Nothings, it's a theoretical question." I say and he nods relieved.

"What's the theoretical question?" Duff asks with a smile.

"What happens if when the band gets big, I get pregnant?" I wonder and he thinks for a minute.

"I'd fly back as soon as I could, we'd go down to the court house and get married because the kid wouldn't be brought into this world while we aren't married. I'd get Queenie to make sure you went to all the baby doctor appointments when I couldn't make it. We'd get a house. By the time the kid would be born I should be back from tour and everything will go perfectly." Duff smiles.

"You think about this or something?" I wonder and he smiles.

"I think about a lot of things." He says simply.

"Like?" I hint.

"Kids, marriage, college funds, how we'd raise the children with you liking the Colts and me liking the Seahawks." Duff says and I laugh. "I think about our future, baby."

"Yeah, so do I. I've never been able to do that with anyone else." I admit and he smiles.

"Same with me." He says. "Like I picture a wedding--like if you don't get knocked up first--with like Ruby as a little flower girl and stuff."

"She'd be cute." I admit. "I didn't want to leave her."

"I know you didn't, baby. But you can't take custody unless prick and your mom are proved as unfit parents." Duff tells me taking my hand and playing with my fingers.

"Not even that part of it, what if prick is hurting her and she doesn't know any better?" I wonder and Duff kisses my forehead.

"The minute we can prove them unfit, if he is touching her, we can take custody. I love that little girl as much as you and Axl, you know." He smiles.

"I know you do, can you picture her living down here with us though?" I say with a smile.

"I think she'd find Slash's hair amusing." Duff admits.

"And her and Steven would get along great." I say.

"The more I think about it, Ruby would be the same as having a kid." He says quietly.

"One day, Duff. I'm not ready yet." I say, I know he wants kids.

"I know baby, I'm not ready yet either. First, I've got to grow enough balls to ask Axl if I could marry you." Duff says with a laugh. "If I can do that, I can do anything."

"You're the best thing that will ever happen to me." I say and kiss his lips.

"Funny, you're the best thing that will ever happen to me." He  says with a smile. "I love you, Taylor."

"I love you more." I say and he kisses my lips.

"Impossible." Duff says with a smile.