One-Shots ✧ COLIFER

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Jen's POV

"Are you freaking kidding me? Do you consider this to be 'of the uttermost value'?"

Colin came racing through the hallway two seconds later, sliding the last bit because the hardwood floors were slippery enough to skate on. He stopped himself right before he crashed into the coffee table and stroked his hair out of his face.

"What are you talking about?"

"This." I pointed at the box I was sitting next to, the one that had 'of the uttermost value' written on it. I'd ripped the tape off it, thinking it were the picture frames to go on the mantel of the fireplace, but...

Colin took one look at the content of the box and started grinning. "Eh, yes, Morrison. That is of the uttermost value. Don't mock my guitars."

I sighed, rolled my eyes and looked up at the ceiling. "Okay, you can take these... four boxes to your office."

"Right." He picked up the first box, but he kept me fixed with his eyes, and eventually he leaned down again.

"The pictures are in that one over there," he whispered in my ear.

I smiled, but I shivered when he kissed my neck. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." He darted out of the room, almost skipping, and I watched him with a smile on my face until he'd disappeared into the hallway.

Then I fell back onto the carpet.

This was it. This was our new place in New York, our own place, and it felt surreal to be here after weeks and weeks of searching and debating about it.

When Colin said things wouldn't be easy, he was right; we'd spent the last three weeks apart, discussing houses over the phone, since he went back to Ireland to see his kids. He and Helen split up as friends, but it hadn't been easy, and his biggest worry was still that he wanted to spend time with Evan and Millie.

I completely understood. There wasn't anything in this world that was more important to me than Asher, so it was obvious that we had to sort those things out. For now, he was flying back to Ireland as often as he could, and Asher and I went with him whenever my schedule allowed it.

It meant I spent more time away from him than with him the last two months, which had been excruciating in the beginning. But it made the time we did spent together even more valuable.

Every minute with him was like refueling with energy, until my heart was so full that it felt like it was going to burst.

I'd finally found the box with our record player, the one he brought with him from Ireland, and I'd just installed it when he came back from his office. The first thing I saw was the giant giraffe he was carrying, and then his head that poked out.

"Where do you think we should put this?"

I let out a snort of laughter. "Right, the giant stuffed giraffe you just had to get him."

"He likes stuffed animals," he protested, setting the giraffe down in the corner of the living room. "It's the only thing he asked for for his birthday."

I smiled at him and gently lowered the tonearm onto the outer grooves of the vinyl record. We'd been unpacking the entire day and Asher had been asleep upstairs for a few hours now, so we were both pretty exhausted.

"I could get used to this," Colin muttered in my ear as he wrapped his arms around me from behind.

I turned my head towards him and leaned back against his chest. "You should."

He lowered his head until his cheek was against mine. Then he softly started swaying us from the left to the right, grinning in my ear, and eventually I turned around in his arms.

"He's going to be ecstatic when he sees the giant stuffed giraffe," I said, wrapping my arms around his neck.

"I know," Colin said, keeping a serious face, but the corners of his mouth were trembling. "It's really hard not to give him everything he wants, you know."

I looked up at him, still swaying back and forth in his arms, and I noticed the sudden seriousness in his eyes. I knew he was still trying to make up for the three years he missed of Asher's life. I knew how guilty he felt about leaving, about waiting so long to get back to me, and I knew he was still trying to make up for it every day that he was with me.

But it hadn't been easy for him either. Initially I'd been angry at him for waiting, but I'd started to realize that the timing wasn't right after Rio. His kids were still so young, which they still were, but he used the time he was away to figure things out— for real this time.

And now it felt right. Every single second with him felt right.

"Jen?"

"Hm?" I mumbled, trailing kisses down his neck.

The music was still playing but we'd stopped moving, and I could feel it in every fiber of my body when he slowly untied the knot of my bathrobe.

"You do realize it's three in the morning, right?" he said. He lifted my chin with one finger and smiled.

My bathrobe fell open. The only thing I was wearing was one of his shirts, since our clothes were still stuffed away in one of the boxes upstairs.

I smiled at him, a lazy, content smile. "Three in the morning is just our thing."

"You're my thing," he mumbled against my hair.

His hands found their way under my shirt, and I leaned against his shoulder when he reached my waist. My breathing was getting heavier, but so was his; I moaned and grabbed his face.

"This is our first night in the new house," I said, looking right into his eyes.

He grinned back at me, slowly moving his hand up and making me shiver at his touch. "I can think of some enjoyable activities we could do. But... I lied. You're not my thing."

"Oh, really?" I said, looking from one eye to the other. I slipped my own hands under his shirt. "What am I?"

His hands reached my chest, and he pulled the shirt of in one smooth move. When his gaze found mine again, I saw everything I wanted to see in his eyes.

"Home."