Not Expecting to Collide (COMPLETE) - ABP Fanfiction

Chapter 99 - Love Shack

The trapper shack looked exactly the same as they had left it. Amber must have kept it up in their absence because there wasn't a speck of dust anywhere. October reminded herself to thank Amber for that later. Bam crashed through the door behind her with several bags hanging off his body. He dumped them on the floor with a grunt. "What did you pack, Woman?"
October giggled as she laid a wriggling Isabella on the middle of the bed. "Just the essentials, Husband."
"Essentials?" Bam exclaimed while shoving a bag aside with his foot. "I think I saw the kitchen sink peeking out of one of your suitcases!" He teased.
"I made sure to pack my high-heeled shoes." She replied with a saucy smirk.
Bam's eyes darkened. "Those are essential. In fact you could have left everything else in Calgary except those shoes and I wouldn't have complained."
October laughed. "Will you set the bassinet up, please? Isabella needs a nap."
Bam nodded. "Of course. I'll go get it and bring it in."
"And could you get a fire going in the stove? I need to change Isabella's diaper and I don't want her getting cold." October shivered. There was still a deep chill in the Alaskan spring air. "Does her highness require anything else?" Bam asked, opening the door.
October shook her head. "Not right now. Hurry back." She yawned. "I might take a nap, too and I'll need you to keep me warm."
"Are you going to wear your heels?"
October rolled her eyes. "Go get the bassinet!" She could hear Bam's laughter even after he closed the door.

~*~

It didn't take long for Bam to get back into the comfortable routine of living in the bush. He had missed it but not as much as he thought he would. Living at October's, despite the close proximity of the city, wasn't that different. Although there were a few luxuries that he was no longer willing to go without. Indoor plumbing for one and a place better than a shack was the other. He was no longer just one man. He had a wife and a daughter who needed more than four rough walls around a stove and a bed to live in.
Matt and Amber had seemingly taken over the main cabin. That was just fine by Bam. He preferred to start from scratch and build from the ground up. He wanted to talk to Matt about it first and kick around a few ideas with him.
There was also the issue of the land ownership. When Discovery Network first approached them with the idea for the show, they had started the first season in Chitina. They shuffled around a bit before the producers found a landowner willing to adhere to Discovery's terms of agreement. The landowner originally wanted to sell the plot but Discovery was only interested in leasing. Somehow, Billy managed to weasel his way into the rental negotiations and had manipulated a five year term out of the deal with the agreement being put in his name rather than the network's.
Bam wasn't stupid enough to start building a new house on land that he personally hadn't secured. And he certainly wasn't stupid enough to start making improvements to something that his father could come and take over on a whim or for spite. The trapper shack would have to do until he and his brothers were able to find a new plot of dirt for a permanent Browntown settlement.
"I don't mind staying here you know." October reminded him as he brushed her hair in preparation for bed. Isabella was asleep in her bassinet for the moment and wouldn't be hungry for at least three hours.
"I know." Bam nodded. "But I want to give you something better."
"This is cosy. I've always liked this place. It's very special to me. It's where we started, where our family began." October said wistfully.
Bam rested his chin on her shoulder. "This place will always be special to us but Isabella won't be a baby forever. She's going to need her own space and so will we." He brushed his lips across her bare shoulder. "Don't you want more babies?"
October grinned. "Of course I want more babies but not until we are ready. Isabella was a wonderful surprise but I'm not ready for another one for quite a while."
Bam tightened his arms around October's waist and nodded in agreement. "Then it's settled. No more babies until we are ready."
October smiled. "So for now, this is all we need." She made a sweeping gesture around the trapper shack. "I'm here, you're here. Baby is here. Were all together in the shack. Our little love shack. This is all we need for now. We'll worry about the rest when we get there."
Bam set the hairbrush on the table beside the bed and turned down the kerosene lamp. October pulled back the covers and nestled her body in close to his. "Until then," she whispered, her fingertips tracing the hard lines of his stomach. "just copious amounts of mind-blowing sex."
Although she couldn't see him in the dark, October knew he was smiling. "You're on the pill, right?" He asked. "Yes." October replied. "Since my six-week appointment."
Bam hummed quietly. "Speaking of babies," he mentioned as she laid her cheek against his bare chest. "I thought Matt and Amber would have been expecting by now."
October shrugged remembering last fall when Amber had asked her to pick her up a pregnancy test from town. "Maybe they are waiting until after they get married."
"Maybe." Bam mused. "I just feel like there is something else." He'd noticed how Amber always had a look of longing whenever Isabella was in the same room. He also noticed that Matt hadn't once asked to hold the baby since they had arrived in Browntown. Usually Matt was the first one to steal a baby away for cuddles. Matt had always adored kids - especially babies, and Bam knew that Matt was going to make a great dad one day. His brow furrowed in the darkness. It just didn't make sense.
"Turn it off, baby." October tickled her fingertips along his beard.
"The lamp?" Bam questioned.
"No, your mind." She explained. "You never turn off. You never shut down. You're always thinking, worrying, planning, wondering. Just turn it off, baby. Relax."
October wound her body around Bam's, willing his muscles to slacken. Eventually Bam allowed the tension to seep out of his body as he drifted off to sleep wrapped in October's loving embrace.