Not Expecting to Collide (COMPLETE) - ABP Fanfiction

Chapter 92 - Nothing

As February faded into March, Bam began to grow impatient once again. He found October folding laundry in the nursery one afternoon while Rainy played with Isabella in the library downstairs. He came up behind her and wrapped one thick arm around her waist. October giggled as she felt his warm tongue slide down the side of her neck. He buried his face in her hair and breathed in her honey scented shampoo. "I miss you."
"Babe, I'm right here. I haven't gone anywhere." She replied.
Bam gathered her hair in his hand and lifted it off her back to place a wet kiss at the base of her neck.
"No." He murmured. "I mean I miss you." He ran his arms down the sides of her rib cage, curled his hands around her hips and pulled her back against his hard body. Realization dawned on October. "Isabella is almost five weeks old. Five weeks, baby. That's a long time." Bam breathed in her ear.
October giggled again. "I forgot how impatient you can get." She arched her back against him, enjoying the sensation of his mouth against her skin. "My six week checkup is next Friday." She reminded. Bam groaned against her ear in frustration. October turned around in his arms and pushed her fingertips underneath the fabric of his tshirt. "But I can still make you feel good." Bam lowered his head to cover her mouth with his. His tongue moved across the seam of her mouth until she opened up to him, tangling her tongue with his. He deepened the kiss hungrily, exploring the inner recesses of her mouth. She broke away breathlessly and moved her hands down to the buckle on his belt. "Tell me what you want, Lover." She nibbled at the flesh on his throat. Bam covered her hands with his and pulled them away from his jeans. "Nothing." He replied with a choked whisper.
October gasped at the sharp rejection but Bam covered her mouth with his again before she could form her words. She could feel his lips stretch into a smile as he kissed her thoroughly. "I want to be over you, and under you and inside you. I want to make love to you. If you can wait, so can I."
This time it was October that groaned in frustration. She pressed her forehead into his collarbone and sighed resignedly. "One more week." She whispered.
"Damn, woman. You're going to kill me." Bam growled and took a step back from her. He kissed her one last time on the tip of her nose and made to leave the room.
"Where are you going?" She asked, picking up more laundry and trying to appear unaffected - and failing.
"For a cold shower." Bam quipped and ducked the clean socks she threw his way. She could hear him laughing all the way down the stairs. Before he got to the last step, Bam pulled out his phone and started dialling. He stepped into the den and closed the French doors before there was an answer.
"Hello?"
"August, it's Bam."
"Hey Bam, how are you?"
"I'm good, you?"
"Good. Busy. Everything okay with October? How's that niece of mine? I seriously don't know how someone so gorgeous could share your genes."
Bam grinned. "She's getting bigger and looking more like her mother everyday."
August chuckled. "Oh good, I was worried she'd have silver-streaked hair and a beard when I come for my next visit."
Bam laughed and then heard August call to someone about slicing vegetables on the bias. Realizing he'd caught August at work, Bam cut to the chase.
"Listen, August, I'd like to take your sister out next weekend for some alone time and I -"
"Say no more." August interrupted. "I get it and I don't need the visual."
Bam laughed. As he and August conspired in the den, October was on the phone upstairs, making plans of her own.
"Robert, I need you to take me shopping."
"Oh, be still my beating heart!" Robert exclaimed. "No one has ever uttered more beautiful words. What do you need?"
October frowned and sounded uncertain. "Can you make me look sexy? I want ... I want to look nice for Bam."
Robert laughed loudly. "Girl, you are already sexy and I know for a fact that Bam is crazy for you."
October smiled to herself. "What if I want to make him crazier for me? Can you help me?"
"Girl, with my help, you're going to knock his socks off!"
"It's not his socks I want to come off." October replied boldly.
Robert laughed again. She could hear him flip through his day-planner. "Wednesday?"

Downstairs in the den, Bam finished his conversation and was about to leave the room as his phone rang. It was Birdie.
"Hey, Birdie. Everything okay? You don't usually call while you're working." Bam's brow creased in concern.
"Yes, I'm good. I talked to Rainy last night. She told me about the blanket."
Bam remained silent, refusing to let his emotions about the anonymous gift rise to the surface.
"What about it?" He replied, a little more gruffly than he intended.
Birdie caught the sharpness of his tone and took a moment to respond. "What ... What do you think it means?"
Well, that was a question for the ages. Bam had lain awake several nights since the package had arrived in the mail pondering just the same thing. It could mean many things. It could be a peace offering. It could mean his father's heart had softened enough to want to see his first grandchild. It could mean his parents want to be part of his and October's and Isabella's life. It could be another act of manipulation on his dad's part, a way to get back into Bam's life to gain the upper hand, a reason for Bam to contact them after so long incommunicado. Or, it could just mean his mother sent it out of some sense of messed up obligation.
October had put the blanket away after the first evening that Rainy had spotted it on the couch. He knew she had done so so he didn't have to look at it and be reminded of the turmoil it represented. If it was from his mother - and he was pretty sure it was - he resented the fact that it had been sent at all. No note. No explanation. No apology.  No congratulations. Just a blanket. He wondered if it was big enough to assuage his mother's guilt or soothe the hurt of his father's condemnation. A part of him wanted to take it into the backyard and burn it to ashes, yet another part of him wanted to wrap it up and stuff it in the back of the closet only to bring it out when Isabella was old enough to be told about her grandparents that she had never met. And another part of him wanted to run his callused fingers over the seams and imagine the love that his mother had sewn into every stitch for the grandchild that he knew she so dearly longed to meet, only to be prevented by the allegiance she held for his father.
Bam sighed, pinched the bridge of his nose and replied quietly to his sister. "Nothing, Birdie. It doesn't mean anything."