Fated (A Chris Evans Series)

Back to Work

Before the sun rose on Monday morning, Chris rolled over to find Denise's side of their bed empty. He looked to the clock blearily, rubbing his tired eyes. It was only 4:37AM. He couldn't imagine she'd want to be anywhere else at such at early hour when she had work at 9:00AM, she should've been wanting to catch up on as much sleep as she could possibly catch up on. He looked over her side of their bed, then his for Dodger who must have followed his wife.

Chris stretched, appreciating the relief his actions were giving his bones and muscles. He was thirty-nine now, meaning age was slowly but surely catching up with him. Denise would always argue when he called himself an "old man," calling him a "dramatic baby" instead. She assured him he was like a "fine wine" because he was "better with age." He knew he was when it came to his appearance, but physically- his body was losing its ability to bounce back as quickly as it did when he was her age.

Chris pushed the covers off him and onto Denise's side of the bed, yawning when he sat up. He stuffed his feet into his slippers and ran a hand through his hair as he exited the room to look for her. "Babe?" He called out, padding down the hallway to Jack's room where he'd usually find her first. The room was empty, and so was Jack's baby cot. He found himself increase the speed of his pace as he headed downstairs. He knew Denise was with Dodger and she had Jack and the three of them were fine, but it didn't stop him from irrationally worrying.

"Hey," he let out a sigh of relief when he saw his little family in the living room; 'The Adventures of Winnie the Pooh was playing on the TV, but no one was watching. Dodger was watching Denise and Jack, and Denise's gaze was locked on Jack whose back was towards the TV. "Was he crying?" He asked as he walked over, eyeing his giggly son. It didn't look as though Jack had been crying, Denise, on the other hand...did.

Chris sat down next to her, smoothing Jack's tiny amount of hair with his hand. "Do you want me to take him so you can go get some sleep?" He asked and she shook her head, gently bouncing Jack on her lap. "What's wrong, baby?" He asked, kissing the side of her head. "What are you doing up?" He wrapped his arm around her, gently rubbing her arm.

"I'm just spending some time with my son before I don't have time for him," she whispered then sniffled. Chris sighed with a sympathetic smile, pressing his lips to her hair once more. "You know I had a dream- well, it was more of a nightmare now that I think of it." Chris drew back so he could look at Denise while she spoke. "I was on the set of the movie and Jack came to look for me and I ignored him." She said and Chris chuckled. "It's not funny, Chris." She scolded with narrowed eyes. "I ignored our son. I clearly can't handle two big jobs at once, I should just- I should just sell the script, let them do what they want with it and focus on this. On Jack, on being a mom."

"Okay, let's analyze this-" Chris was trying not to find too much amusement in Denise's irrationality, "nightmare of yours. My first question is how did our four month old get on your set? Not only do you not have a location yet, Jack can't even walk let alone drive a motorized vehicle to get to you." Denise shot him a deadpan expression and he smiled. "If he were going to your set, I would've had to take him and like you'd be able to ignore your celebrity crush."

"Will you stop making a joke out of everything?"

"I will if you will," he retorted with a nonchalant shrug. "'Cause clearly this is a joke. You can't possibly be considering giving up your dream job to be a stay-at-home mom. You are going to get creative say, Denise. You're not just writing the script, the director is going to turn to you for your point of view. You are going to be able to tell a story, touch people with your writing. That's- that's the dream, I'm not going to let you give it up over a stupid nightmare which would never happen in the first place."

"Maybe I've changed my mind, maybe Jack's-"

"Baby-" he huffed then let out a weary laugh. "You and I both know this has nothing to do with Jack. You're worried about the job because that is what you do, you worry. You've been worried about it since you got it, you've just been distracted enough to not deal with it. But now you have to which is why you had that nightmare, your subconscious knows and is coming up with an excuse for you not to do it."

"You're wrong," she bit as her eyes welled with tears.

"The tears in your eyes say otherwise," he cupped her face in his hands, thumbs brushed her tears away before they could roll down her cheek. "I know you're scared, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't do it. Jack, Dodger, and I- we want you to do this. This is a dream come true for you, I don't care how scared you are- you have to do it because I can't have you regret this for the rest of your life."

Denise sighed, bringing Jack towards her for a hug; one that was more for her than him. Chris managed a small smile as his arms enfolded the both of them. Chris was right. Denise may have been worried about not having time for Jack, but it was also an excuse for her not to chase after her dreams. It was an unbelievable excuse anyway, she may have loved being a mom now but it was never something she strived for. Those who knew her knew that, and while they would've respected her decision, they would've also berated her for being an idiot. And she was being an idiot, she could do both jobs at once because she had Chris. It would've been insulting to not just herself, but him too if she gave up her dream job to be a stay-at-home mom. It would've also driven her insane, perhaps even to post-partum which she'd successfully avoided so far. Chris was right, she had to do this even if she was terrified of screwing up. After all, the biggest screw up would've been to not do it at all.

"You're going to nail it," Chris assured her as he pulled away. "You were made for this, Denise. This was what you were destined to do, we both know that. All those times where you'd talk my ear off, painting a picture for me with your words and your visions- you have the capacity to do this. This is just the beginning for you, you are going to go on to do amazing things. I told you that when I took you to Dolby and I meant it. So if I believe in you, can you please believe in yourself?"

"Myself, no. But you," she swallowed then nodded. "You, I'll believe. If you say I can do this, I can do this. I can do this," she nodded along with Chris. The breath she'd been holding in was slowly exhaled as she released Jack from her hug, sitting him back down on her lap. He grinned toothlessly at his parents, tiny hands grabbing at Denise's grey t-shirt. Looking at Jack reminded her of how badly she'd freaked out when she was pregnant, and again when she was in labor. Thinking about those times reminded her of all the other times her overthinking freaked herself out. She looked up at Chris and managed a smile when she saw him smiling at her. "You must be sick of this by now," she chuckled with limited humor.

"Sick of what?"

"How often I do this," she answered. "Overthink, freak out, and doubt everything."

"If you didn't do that once in a while, you wouldn't be the girl I fell in-love with. And I couldn't possibly judge you when I'm the same." He reminded her, nudging her playfully and pulling a smile onto her face. "And no, I'm not sick of this nor will I ever be. When you overthink and freak out and doubt everything, it reminds me of the kind of person you are. You're caring and humble and well-prepared and..." He trailed off, his eyes narrowed slightly as he thought back to her other freak outs. "And I'm really sorry I said this isn't about Jack, I know not having time for him is something you're genuinely worried about." She nodded, letting Jack wrapped his hand around her finger. "You are going to have time for him, Denise. I promise you're not going to miss out on anything, not his first word or his first step- nothing, because I am going to make sure of it."

"I don't think I tell you I love you enough."

"You had a human for me," he leaned over and kissed the top of Jack's head, smiling at her. She smiled back, placing one hand on his knee. "Message received, sweetheart. Now come on," he took Jack from her and rose to his feet. With Jack secured in one arm, he grabbed her hand with the other and pulled her to her feet. "You need your sleep. It's your first day, you want to be bright eyed and bushy tailed when you go in."

"Will you text me photo updates while I'm at work?"

"Of course I will," he smiled. "I'll send you photos of us with our half a heart best friend necklaces, waiting to join our halves with yours." Denise rolled her eyes, trying hard not to laugh. "We should get one of those four piece necklaces so you don't have to have three halves to wear." When he said that, she couldn't contain her laughter anymore; the necklaces didn't even exist. "What," he chuckled, "I'm just being considerate."

"I think you need your sleep too, Evans."