The Future Of Us

We're here

"Catie, sweetie, wake up." I whisper to her

She slowly wakes up "We here?"

"Yeah." I get her out of her seat and put her at the door "Stay here until I get Ally, okay?"

"Okay." she stands there trying to look out the window "There beach!!"

I hold her hand and we walk out "That's right! Let's go to our hotel room and find daddy." we walk into the condo we're all sharing "This is our house for the week."

Catie walks towards the door "I go outside?"

"You have to wait for an adult." I put Ally down "We can go outside later."

"Pweeeease!!" she looks at me "I be good."

I pick her up "You're so cute, but no. In a little you can."

"Fine." she gets down "I play with Ally?"

"Just be careful." I put Ally on her play mat "Be nice to her, no yelling."

Shannon walks out from their room "Are Brad and John back yet?"

"Nope." I start unpacking some food "Maybe they're lost."

Shannon laughs "Should we be worried?"

"No, they're probably fine. If they aren't back in an hour all we have to do is find a 30 year old woman and tell her Brad Pitt is lost somewhere around here." I watch El and Cat play with Ally "There's only 3 of them, we can handle it."

Shannon helps me unpack "We're women, we can handle anything. Do you think we should take them to the beach? El wanted to go."

"Yeah, Cat was asking to go earlier." i finish unpacking the food and go get myself and the girls ready then meet Shannon and El "Are you guys ready?"

Shannon grabs her bag "Yeah, let's go."

Once we get to the beach I put a blanket out with an umbrella for Ally to lay and I watch Shannon play in the ocean with Cat and El.

"So, this is where you are." Brad sits next to me "Where's Cat?"

"In the ocean with Shannon, and El."

"Are you going in?" he asks

"Probably, I don't know." I pick up Ally "I'm kinda having more fun watching them."

"I think you should go in the water." he takes Ally "I mean, you have to be hot right now, and you have a bathing suit on."

"Nice try, asshole. I'm not getting in the water just so you can stare at me. There's kids around, that's weird."

"Please?" he begs "They're young, they won't notice."

"Nope." I start to unbutton my cover-up teasing him "I might take this off and tan a little though." I see him smile "Over there, though." I point to the far end of the beach.

"Why do you hate me?" he asks "Why can't I watch my sexy wife tan?"

"Because, your 'sexy' wife had a baby 2 months ago, and doesn't want people looking at her while she tans."

"Okay, first." he points to my stomach "That does not look anything like you just had a baby, and second, your boobs are huge and it's because of something I helped create, so I think I deserve to look at them."

I look to see if he's actually serious and when I notice he is I sit up and take my cover-up off "Happy now?"

He starts grinning like a child "Very! I knew you love me."

"You're very lucky I love you." I laugh and look at Cat "She's having so much fun."

"This is going to be a great trip." he smiles "We should do things like this more, I love seeing her having fun and happy."

"Me too." I lean up against him "Seeing her happy makes me happy."

We watch them for a while before they're done swimming and give Cat a bath.

"Close your eyes, I want to get the sand off your face." I wipe some of the sand off

She tries to stop me "That hurt!"

"Sorry, sweetie, but I need to clean your face. I'm almost done." I finish and give her a few toys to play with while I wash her body "Did you have fun today?"

She nods "We go back tomorrow?"

"Probably." I wash her off and get her dressed "Are you ready for dinner?"

"Yeah!"

We walk out to the table and sit with the others.

"This is really good, Shannon."

"Yeah, it really is. You should make it more at home."~John

"I will, and thanks, Jen. So, what are we doing tomorrow? " ~Shannon

"What about the boardwalk? We could do some shopping and take them to the arcade then go to the beach later?"~Brad

"That sounds like fun. Should we do the amusement park the next day, then?"~John

"I think so. Then the day after that we can go to the beach and watch movies or something to relax a little."

"I like that were spending a lot of time at the actual beach, I think that's my favorite part."~Shannon

"Mine too. I love the sunrise and sunset."

A few hours later after the girls are asleep I'm sitting out on the deck looking at the ocean.

Shannon walks out and hands me a wine cooler "Mind if I join you?"

"Of course, companies nice."

"it's so beautiful here." she sits next to me "It reminds me of when I went to the beach as a kid."

"I really only remember New York and it was nice, but really crowded. Did you go a lot?"

"Once a year." she looks at the sunset "I started going more once I got older."

"That's how I was too. I would love to go more in LA but they're so crowded and the paparazzi always find us."

"They must really be a pain in the ass." she laughs "I don't know how I'd be if I couldn't even go to the store without being followed."

"it's freaking crazy. I'm fine if they want a picture of Brad or I, but I hate it when they want a picture of the girls. If it's Cat and I'm holding her and they take it from a distance I'm okay with that, but they've almost thrown blankets off of Ally's stroller to get pictures of her."

"That would not go over well with me at all." she opens a second drink and offers me one "There's a good chance more than one of them would be punched. Not that I want to, but I need to protect her."

"I've almost punched them more than once. I actually have had to hold Brad back before when I was pregnant with Cat and they pushed him away from me."

She gasps "They bothered you like that while you were pregnant?"

"Yep. Both times, it was hard to leave the house, especially when we first announced it. They just don't care." I try to change the topic "Brad and I were talking before we left and we wanted to tell you and John to go out some night, and we'll watch El."

"Really?" she asks surprised "We were going to say the same to you and Brad. Maybe we can take turns and each go one night?"

"That sounds good! We all deserve a break every once in a while."

She walks up to the end of the deck looking over the side "That's so true. Life is crazy with kids."

"It really is. I wouldn't change it for anything though."