If || rsl & r5 (SLOW UPDATES)

• 15 •

Charlotte's POV

I stared at the ceiling tiredly, feeling myself fall asleep until I heard a soft knock on my door. I opened my eyes to see Ross in the doorway.

"What's up?" I rubbed my eyes tiredly, having had a long day at work.

"Nothing. Just wanted to talk to you, and excuse my bluntness, but do you want me to stay here and sleep next to you-" he shoved his hands into his pockets as he made his way over to me.

"Keep pushing it, Ross."

"What? Have I said something wrong?" He sat next to me on the bed.

"No, but you're being ridiculous. If I didn't want you to stay, I would've kicked you out yesterday. Why are you thinking that I didn't mean what I said yesterday when I asked you to stay?" I literally couldn't believe I was actually saying this. Only a week ago, I absolutely hated his guts and wanted nothing to do with him, and now here I was, practically begging him to stay with me and our son. I was slowly adjusting to this whole thing with Ross living with us and I knew that I had to speak to Ian and Mel about it, but I didn't know how. Ian now knew that Ross was his dad, but I didn't know how he'd react when he found out that Ross would be moving in with us.

"I-"

"Ross, I'm doing this for Ian. He needs a dad and it so happens that you're his real dad so...do you get what I'm trying to say?" I arched an eyebrow at him and he nodded slowly.

"Of course." He glanced at me and I found myself staring back at him, his hand coming up to reach my face to pull me closer. I immediately pulled away and got to my feet, abandoning my bed. My comfortable and warm bed.

"I need to go and talk to Mel. Go to sleep." I shut the door behind me, going to Mel's room and knocking on the door just in case she was asleep. I didn't want to deal with a grumpy Mel.

"Hey, Char!" She smiled as she looked up from her phone.

"Hey, Mel. How's it going?" I fully entered her room, softly closing the door behind me.

"Great, actually. How are you and Ross?"

"Could be so much better. I mean, we told Ian yesterday about Ross being his dad, and he reacted better than I thought he would. Ross even went to LA to get some of his stuff so he could stay here." I explained and stared at the floor, twiddling my thumbs.

"Wow." She pulled me into a tight side hug and let me rest my head on her shoulder. "Everything's going to be okay, Hun. Look, why don't I move out so then Ross can move in, huh?"

"What? No! You can't leave me." I looked up at her, giving her puppy eyes and she rolled her eyes, laughing, making me laugh too.

"You don't need me now that you've got your lover boy." She winked at me and I swatted her arm.

"I'm always gonna need you, Mel. I just feel like it'll be even more awkward if you leave. Plus, where would you move to anyway?"

"I can move in with Cam since he asked me about that anyway. I'll be a third wheel if I don't move out and when I leave, you'll have no choice but to spend time with Rossy and then boom, you'll be in love with him and you'll never want to leave him and you'll happily ever after!" She grinned cheekily and I bursted out laughing so loud, I ended up snorting which made Mel give me an annoyed look.

"I hate you." I gave her a playful death glare and she flicked her hair.

"You love me really." She kissed my cheek. "But you love Ross more."

"Oh, shut up, for god sake. Night Mel."

"Night, babe."

I trudged back to bed, being as quiet as I could when I laid down next to him. I made myself comfortable, facing away from him and attempting to fall asleep but Ross was on my mind, messing with more than just my head.
–—–
I felt someone nudging me and I opened my eyes to realize that it wasn't me being nudged or shaken. I froze when I came to the realization that I was so close to Ross with my arm flung over his chest and my head on his arm. Just the contact of someone nudging Ross was making me shake as well.

"Daddy."

"Buddy, it's okay." He whispered as he sat up on the bed, carefully moving me off his arm.

"Baby, what's wrong?" I held out my arms for Ian to come to me but he stayed put in Ross's arms, both of them holding onto  each other.

I could instantly feel my heart sink. Ian would always come to me when he had a nightmare and I would always make him hot chocolate and hold him until he fell asleep. But he didn't even wake me up this time. He chose Ross, the guy that was his dad; the one he had only found out about yesterday. He chose him over me. I wasn't jealous though. Ross was supposed to stay with us now, and I didn't want to drive Ian away from him just because of the idiotic things he had done in the past.

Even though those idiotic things were the reason we ended in bad terms.

It made me realize though, that Ian needed Ross in his life more than anything and no matter how much I tried to prevent him from finding out who his dad was, I couldn't hide it forever. Ian deserved to grow up with a dad that could teach him how to play catch, how to use tools, how to drive.

Ian deserved a father, and I was glad Ross was stepping up.

Pretending to be asleep so I wouldn't get caught, I watched the two interact. Ian was nestled against Ross' chest, his butt firmly placed in his lap. Visible tear streaks were evident on Ian's cheeks, and rather than just get a tissue to wipe them away, Ross used his thumbs to gently erase the evidence of the nightmare.

My heart swelled.

"I love you, daddy." Ian whispered, closing his eyes as Ross maneuvered his way back down, our son still resting on his chest.

Ross kissed the top of his head. "I love you too, Prince."

I laid back down, sighing until I felt Ross's hand find mine and give it a gentle squeeze. "I love your mommy, too. So, so much."