Under My Care

6

Carter

I walk up the stairs from cleaning up the house. I step into my room, closing the door behind me. Rosalie sits against the headboard with tears streaming down her face. I frown, not saying a word as I walk over to her. I sit on the bed next to her, pulling her into my chest. She buries her face in my neck. I hold her tightly as she whimpers against my skin. Neither of us says a word for what seems like hours; I could have sworn she fell asleep.

I moved to lay down, but Rosie stopped me. She whimpered again and snuggled against my chest. "We have to go to sleep, sweetheart," I whisper.

"I-I... I just w-wanna sit with y-you," she stumbles over her words.

"Five minutes, then we're going to bed," I say sternly.

She silently agrees with a nod. The five minutes with her in my arms felt like five seconds. Rosie moved off of me by herself, turning her back to me and snuggling into the blanket. I move under the comforter and wrap my arm around her waist, pulling her closer to me. She moves her body moves to fit mine.

"Are you still awake?" she asks after about a half an hour. I kiss her shoulder in response. Her body shifts so our chests are pressed together. "Can you play with my hair?" I lift my hand up, tangling my fingers into her hair. She hums softly as she buries her face in my neck. "Can we talk about something?"

I nod and reply, "anything you want, Princess."

"I-I understand you're a-a man and y-y-you have needs. Can you-Can you j-just wait a little l-long-longer?" She stutters, her voice coming out muffled.

"Oh baby," I furrow my eyebrows. I hold her tighter, bringing my hand from her hair down to her back. "I can wait forever if you need me to. I'm in no rush, darling. I can't believe you asked me that. I am so sorry I'm making you feel like this," I kiss her face. "I'm so sorry," I repeat as I pull her closer, if possible. She cries into my neck. "Look at me."

Rosalie looks up, tears rushing down her face in the dark room. I reach around to wipe it off. I place a kiss where the tears were wiped from.

"I'm going to call in sick to work tomorrow," I start my statement. "I'm going to call in sick and we're going to spend the day together. Whether we go spend the day at the mall so I can spoil you, or we stay home and I treat you as if you're at a spa, I don't care. I just want to show you how much you mean to me, okay?"

She nods, leaning her head against my chest. "Thank y-you," she sniffles. "I love you, Carter."

I smile and kiss her forehead again. "I love you too, baby. So, so much," I mumble into her hair.

————

I woke up sometime between 7 and 8 A.M., the next morning. I glanced around to see that Rosie wasn't in bed with me anymore. I rubbed my eyes before I stood up. I sleepily made my way down the hall to her room, trying to open the locked door. "Rose?" I knocked lightly.

"Just a minute!" She called back. I waited for a few minutes before her door finally swung open.

I looked at her confusedly. She was dressed and her hair was damp, showing she had just gotten out of the shower. "Why're you-" I paused to yawn. "Why're you up so early?"