I Choose You : A New Chapter

Cool Uncle

"Bye, Jeffery! See you in a couple weeks!" Cassie waved to Jeffery as she was walking out, but he quickly got up and rushed to her before she could leave. "Hold up, you don't get to leave without these." He held up a giant bag filled with a few wrapped presents. 

Cassie gasped, "Oh, Jeffery, no." He handed it to her as he said, "Take it. From me to your family. Merry Christmas, Cass." She gave him a big hug and a kiss on the cheek before walking out with some pep to her step. Not only was Christmas in a few days, but her parents, Jordan, and her grandparents were flying out until after New Years!

"Oh, boys, I'm home," she called as she walked into the house. Ben called back, "We're in here!" She walked into the living room to see Ben trying to teach Aiden how to wrap presents. "You're going to ruin Santa for him, you know," Cassie teased. 

He shrugged, then said, "He won't remember this. How was work?" She leaned down and kissed him before saying, "Great! Jeffery gave us some presents." He peaked into the bag and raised his eyebrows. "Someone's trying to get in your pants." He gave her a wink, as it was an ongoing joke about how Jeffery has a crush on her. 

It wasn't a lie.

"Oh, shush," she giggled. "So, the family will be here in about an hour. Jordan asked if he could stay with us." Ben got up and left Aiden to play with the wrapping paper. "Yeah, that's fine. It'll give us practice for when this one turns older."

He hugged Cassie around the waist and gave her a kiss. She ran her hands through his cropped hair, then pulled back and said, "Your hair is finally coming back." He chuckled, "Slowly, but surely. Now you'll finally have something to hold on to when I'm devouring your wet, juicy..."

"Ahbahbah!" Aiden happily shouted as he held the wrapping paper up above his head. "Oh, look at you, silly boy," Cassie cooed as she pulled away from Ben. She picked him up and kissed his cheek. "Let's get you down for a nap so daddy can show me that he's more than just talk."

The wink she gave Ben as she went upstairs almost made his knees buckle. 

**

"Hello! Merry Christmas! Oh, my gosh, look at this place! Mark, isn't this place gorgeous!" Mark, who was hauling in several bags, said, "Yeah, beautiful, honey. Hey, kids!" Cassie hugged her mom and dad, as did Ben, but then helped Mark with the luggage. 

"That was the longest plane ride I've ever been on," Angelo said as he walked in with Donette next to him. "Oh, hush," she told him. "Hi, sweetie!" She brought Cassie in for a hug and kiss on the cheek; Angelo did the same. "Where's our great-grandbaby?"

Cassie laughed as all the adults went over to Aiden, who was being held by her mom. "Cassie!" Jordan shouted as he rammed her in a hug. "Oh, well, hey there," she laughed. "Someone's leg is feeling better, huh?" He hugged her tighter and nodded his head into her stomach.

"Well, look who's feeling better," Ben said as he came over to them. Jordan immediately latched on to him. "How are you doing, kiddo?" With his face practically pressed into Ben's chest, Jordan said, "Good. I missed you guys."

Ben put his hand on the back of his head and told him, "We missed you, too. Want to meet your nephew?" Jordan whipped his head up to him with a wide smile and bulging eyes. "Yeah!" He excitedly shouted. Ben put his hands on his shoulders and led him over to the adults. 

"Alright, it's the uncle's turn," he announced. Donnette slowly and carefully gave Aiden to Jordan. "Hold him like this," Ben softly instructed as he carefully shifted Aiden in Jordan's arms. "Aiden, this is your uncle Jordan." 

Jordan smiled down at his nephew and said, "Hi, Aiden. I'm going to be the really cool uncle." Cassie put her hand on his shoulder and said, "You're his only uncle." He pretended he didn't hear her and said, "I'm going to buy you cool toys, junk food and sweets, lots of pizza..."

Mark put a stop to him and said, "Alright, alright. Kids, what's the plan for tonight?" Cassie told him, "Well, we've got dinner going in the kitchen and it should be ready in a bit. In the meantime, we can give you the grand tour."

During the tour of the house, Ben and Cassie showed Jordan his room. "Are you sure you don't mind him being here?" Jenna asked. "You're already taking care of one child." Cassie hugged Jordan against her and said, "Of course we don't mind. Now we have a babysitter!"

Much to all of their surprise, he seemed very happy about that. 

"Sweetie, how's work going?" Jenna asked after they all sat down with drinks in their hands. "It's going really well, actually. I signed a contract for my second book, but they're going to wait until next year to release it since it's only been five months since the first one. I'm in the process of writing the third one, and then when that's finished I'll need to think of a whole other world to write about."

Ben rubbed her back as he said, "Which you'll have no problem doing." Mark put his glass up to her and said, "We're so proud of you, Richie. Really, we are. Ben, how's school?" Ben perked up a bit as he said, "It's going incredible! I'm learning more than I could possibly have dreamed I would. I just finished my last play, but I think that's the last one I'm going to be doing for a while."

Cassie gave him a double take, but before she could ask anything, he quickly said, "Jordan, he'll love you if you build those legos with him." Jordan was on the floor playing with Aiden. Aiden, of course, didn't know how to really build legos yet, but he loved sticking the pieces together. 

It seemed like dinner and dessert went by in a flash. Before they knew it, it was midnight and everyone was ready to go to sleep. Aiden was put in bed hours ago and Jordan was passed out on the couch. After calling her parents and grandparents a cab, Ben carried Jordan to his room and tucked him in. 

When Ben and Cassie were finally alone, they started getting ready for bed. "Ben," Cassie called as she slipped on her pajamas. Ben came out of the ensuite with only his boxers on. "What's up?" He asked. She sat on the bed and patted the space next to her. Once he sat down, she asked, "What did you mean when you said that play was going to be the last one for a while?"

Letting out a big sigh, he told her, "I want to help bring more money in. I stopped for a while because of your book, but...honey, that's not bringing much in. Aiden's bills from his check-ups are piling up, not to mention bills for this massive place we don't bloody need! I just...honey, Christ, my stress is through the roof."

He put his face in her neck and let out a shaky sigh. "I see the way your dad looks at me," he continued. "It's the look of utter disappointment because I can't take care of my family." Cassie put her fingers through her hair and cooed, "Oh, Ben, no. Babe, you take such good care of us. My dad respects you, I know he does."

He took his face out of her neck and scoffed, "Yeah, sure! Says he's proud of you, and of course he should be, but then asks me about school and says nothing. It's obvious he doesn't agree that I should even be in school right now. I don't know...maybe I shouldn't be."

"Benedict Timothy Carlton Cumberbatch, stop this," Cassie scolded. "Who cares what my dad says or thinks? This is what you love and I'll be damned if anyone tries to discourage you from that." Ben couldn't help but smile. "I fucking love you," he told her. He kissed her, but gave her a surprise when he pushed her on her back and got on top of her.