I Choose You : A New Chapter

Haircut

"Oh my God, what did you do!" Cassie had her hands over her mouth, groceries dropped to the floor and eyes gaping at her husband...who now had a shaved head. "Benedict Timothy Carlton Cumberbatch, you better have one hell of an explanation!" Ben looked at her wide eyed while holding Aiden in one arm and making dinner with the other.

He opened his mouth to say something, but she quickly charged up to him and ran her fingers over his sparse hair. "It's real," she said. He let out a light chuckle and said, "Of course it's real. What else would it be?" Just then, Jake started barking to grab Cassie's attention, but she was to focused on her husband.

"A joke! It could be a joke, Ben!" He sucked in a sharp breath, then sheepishly asked, "So, I'm guessing you don't like it?" Her answer was putting her hands up in surrender and picking the dropped groceries up from the floor. She set them down on the counter, next to where Ben now set Aiden in his high chair.

"Hi, baby," she cooed as she covered Aiden's face in kisses. He gurgled a laugh and tried squeezing her cheeks and nose with his tiny hands. "Do you like daddy's hair?" She asked him. Once again, he gurgled a laugh, which she responded with, "I don't either."

Ben sighed, then chuckled, "Alright, if you must know, I auditioned for a play this morning and got the lead role. It required me to shave my head as soon as possible." Cassie sighed, then went up to him and put her hand on his head.

"It couldn't wait until after our anniversary?" She asked. He smirked, then told her, "Actually, it probably could have. To be honest, I didn't really think about it, I was just so excited about getting the part."

Sighing, Cassie wrapped her arms around his neck and said, "Well, nevertheless...I'm proud of you for getting the part. Come here, I'm sorry." She brought him down for a kiss and he wrapped his arms completely around her and held her close.

He started to tease his tongue against her lips, but then Aiden started fussing. He pulled back from the kiss and looked to his son. "What?" He asked. Aiden's face scrunched up and he started flailing his arms. "Are you jealous?" Ben asked.

Cassie whacked his chest with a small smile, then went to her son. "Come here, sweetie," she cooed as she picked him up. "Are you hungry? Hm?" He started tugging at her shirt, meaning he was definitely hungry. With a small sigh, she sat down at the table and pulled down her shirt and bra. Aiden immediately latched on.

"Okay, now I'm jealous," Ben said with a wink. "Finish dinner," Cassie told him with a small smile. He chuckled, then went back to dinner. When he was done, he plated it and set it in front of Cassie. "So, what am I supposed to hold on to tonight?"

Ben nearly choked on his food, but then playfully scolded, "That's no way to talk in front of your son!" Cassie giggled, then he continued, "Seriously, though, I don't think I'm going to be in the mood tonight. Rehearsals start early tomorrow morning and I've got to get some rest. Sorry, love."

She shrugged and said, "It's fine. Guess I have you all to myself tomorrow, baby," she cooed at Aiden. "We'll do some shopping, go out to lunch, call your grandparents and your uncle, and then be lazy until daddy gets home." She pressed a small kiss to her son's head as to not interrupt him from dinner.

"Sounds like you'll be busy, then," Ben said with a smile. He then looked to his watch and frowned. "I'm sorry, darling, I've got a ton of homework that I've got to get done." He quickly finished eating, but then started doing the dishes. "I will worry about dishes," Cassie told him, "you worry about homework. Go."

She gave his butt a smack, so he hustled upstairs. Aiden was finished eating by the time Cassie was, so she let him burp, then set him in his high chair as she did the dishes. When she was done, she looked to Aiden to see him asleep.

Very carefully, she picked him up and carried him to the nursery. Thankfully, Ben had the idea of already putting him in his pajamas, so she just set him in his crib, put his blanket over him and kissed him goodnight. When she got into the bedroom, Ben was on the bed with his glasses on and doing his homework.

She didn't want to disrupt him, so she just got into her pajamas and into bed. "I'll turn the light off in a minute, love," he mumbled as he wrote stuff down. "It's fine," she mumbled back. "Don't stay up too late." He snickered, "I won't. Night, Cass."

**

The next day, Cassie was actually glad to have Aiden to herself. She hasn't had much mommy-son time so she was looking forward to it. First thing's first...it's October. That means, Halloween was coming up, one of her favorite holidays. Jeffery was going to throw a Halloween party at his place and he invited Ben and Aiden.

It was Aiden's first Halloween, so she had to go all out.

"Oh my god, you can be a little pumpkin!" She excitedly said as she looked at the baby pumpkin costume. She snagged up the bag, then went looking for a costume for her and Ben. "Hm...how about daddy as a killer surgeon and me as one of his patients?" She asked her infant.

Aiden only gurgled and she took that as a yes. "Honestly, I only want an excuse for your daddy to be dressed up as a doctor," she whispered to him as she grabbed the costumes. Once everything was paid for, she walked them over to another store to get Aiden some winter clothes, since they were cheap at the moment.

"Oh, you are my cute little man, aren't you?" She cooed. "Should we get this? We're getting this." She bought him his clothes and even got Ben a couple of jackets and shirts. By the time they left, it was around that time to feed Aiden. She went home to do that and opted to just stay there for the remainder of the day.

She hasn't spoken to her parents or Jordan in quite some time, so she was anxious to get on the phone with them. They all spoke for hours. Six to be exact. They all had so much catching up to do and they didn't even finish by the time they hung up! Cassie promised to try and go back to the old routine of calling every night.

"You have a kid, kid," her dad rightfully pointed out. "You won't remember to call us, trust me. Just do it when you can and we'll be here, Richie." Ben got home around the time she finally hung up. "Hey," he greeted with a smile, "good day, then?"

She smiled a bit and said, "Yeah, got a few things done. I got Aiden's costume, along with ours for Jeffery's party. Aiden is going to be so fucking adorable! You, are going to be super hot as my sexy killer doctor." She ran her finger down his chest as he gave her a guilty look.

"Erm...don't be mad, but...I kind of made plans for Halloween." She looked at him in slight shock because...why would he do that? "Why would you do that?" She asked. "You've known about this party for months. I told you I had a surprise for you there."

Ben chuckled, "Come on, it's just a Halloween party. Besides, you'll have Aiden. It's just that I haven't seen the boys in a while and we were thinking of hitting up a pub." Cassie crossed her arms and huffed. "You're going to miss your son's first Halloween to drink? And my big surprise?"

"Jesus, Cass," Ben sighed, "what's the big bloody surprise?" She scoffed and shook her head. She angrily went to her purse and pulled out a piece of paper, then shoved it at his chest before storming upstairs and slamming the door. Ben looked at the paper...then felt like a complete asshole.

"Cassie, wait!" He picked up Aiden and ran upstairs. "Cassie, sweetheart, I am so sorry!" He went to open the bedroom door, but found it locked. "Oh, come on, baby," he begged, "let me in. I'm sorry, love, I...I'll cancel with the guys, I'll go with you to the party and dress up as a sexy killer doctor. Please, darling, let me in."

At this point, Jake came up to the door and started whining. For that, Cassie opened the door. Ben gave her a small apologetic smile and said, "Hey, look, I..." He trailed off when she picked up Jake, then took Aiden from his arms. "Um...what about--."

She slammed the door in his face. In her defense, he did deserve this. That party wasn't just a Halloween party...it was a party for her to celebrate the publishing of her second book.