no savior.

no fathers

Layne's POV

"Baby wake up!" I attempt to shake my wife awake and she groans, rolling away from me, "Kaylie Jaaaaaaane~~~~"

"What time is it, baby?" she questions, her sleepy voice even lower than usual.

"It's ten o'clock," I tell her, "Baby you promised we'd go shopping together."

Sayings this sentence made me feel old. I hadn't considered twenty three young until I stood in front of our friends and family and vowed to spend my life with some one for forever.

In the short time we'd been together, so much had already changed. So many adjustments. So many compromises. A few months into our marriage Kaylie Jane had returned to school for her master's and a few months after that I'd enrolled in a program for kitchen management. It was going great for us, but little time was left for us to just be... us. One of the things we'd worked out was that there needed to be a non-sexual activity shared between us every week. And shopping was it. If only she'd actually get up for it.

"Can we do this next week?" She mumbles, rolling away from me, "I'm tired."

"You said that last week," I shake her again, "KJJJJJJJJJJ."

She groans again, but doesn't move. I lean in, whispering in her ear, "If you get up now, I'll let you take a shower with me..."

She snorts in response.

"Don't you want to take a shower with me?"

"Did we really shower though if we're in there being dirty?" she smirks, telling me that she's not really sleep.

I hit her, "KJ! You have ten minutes to get up before I get angry."

"Fine," she sits up, "Can I have a kiss to get me started?"

"Come and get it," I slide off the bed and she whines like a child before getting up too.

I head out to the living room and wait for her to appear. As I wait, I twirl my ring around my finger. It's been a year and I'm still not totally accustomed to it being there. I slide it off, revealing the tan lines solidifying it's presence.

"I'm ready, my eager wife," Kaylie Jane heads to the door, pulling on her coat, "Let's go."

I stand and as I reach for my coat. "Wait," she grabs me, pulling me in by the small of my back. I brace myself against her and she steals a kiss.

I pull away and smile, "You ready now?"

"Yes ma'am," she kisses me one more time and then we head to the store.

Inside the store I wander the aisles, KJ behind me with the shopping basket.

"Babe---" I turn to tell her something and see she's not there. I hear her familiar laugh an aisle over and follow it to where she's talking to an unfamiliar woman. I observe them for a few seconds, only moving in when she brushes her hand on my wife's shoulder.

"There you are," I instinctively wrap my arms around her waist, "Who's this?"

"I'm Jamie," the woman offers me her hand and I don't take it.

"This is my wife, Layne," she attempts to remove my arms, but I only hold her tighter, "Layne, Jamie is an old friend from college."

"Next to meet you," I force a smile, still holding onto Kaylie Jane.

"Likewise," she snipes warmly, before turning back to KJ, "Maybe we can grab coffee sometime?"

"I'd love that," she nods, "I'll see you around."