Settling in Seattle

Chapter 23- There's One Thing We Missed

"Okay, so in light of your good night's sleep, and my, eventful night, naturally I thought we could do something special today." Mike walked into the bedroom with his pyjamas still on and drank in the beautiful view of his wife and daughter.

"Oh no, what?!" Rachel questioned, forming any type of idea Mike would've had in her head, staring at his figure leaning on the dresser.

"I thought, we could stay here all day, maybe make some time for us today." Mike smiled at the us part.

"Hmmm, sounds intriguing. What does time for us mean?" Rachel looked at Mike lovingly whilst lifting Rosalie onto her shoulder and patting her back softly.

"I'll have to think about that. I've got some things up my sleeve." He winked at her and pulled the wardrobe doors open, in search of some jeans and a top.

"How sneaky. I'd hope it fits in with the time schedule of this little one." Rachel looked to the bundle on her shoulder and moved her into the crook of her arm, moving her thumb over Rosalie's tiny ears.

"Oh, it sure will. I was thinking about that, and she sleeps so much, as long as she doesn't wake up, we're all good. I don't know what you think I'm planning, but I can assure you it's not what you think. You'll see." Mike smiled and changed into the jeans swiftly, before taking Rosalie downstairs from his wife and rocking her around the kitchen whilst Rachel got changed. Not a lot could be done whilst bearing a new born, but Mike made it work.

"Okayy, so I have her play blanket here, I was going to put her in that for a bit whilst we get some other stuff done?" Rachel walked into the office with a multi-coloured floor mat.

"Yep, okay, or I could just get the swing in here?" Mike quickly closed the window from his laptop, so Rachel didn't notice what he had been looking at.

"Oh, yeah, that thing is a life saver." Rachel laughed, laying the mat onto the floor.

Once the swing was in place, Mike took Rachel's hands and sat her down in the office chair he had situated next to his.

"Right, we are going to sit here, on this laptop and find somewhere to go on holiday." Mike's eyes glistened as he spoke, and Rachel's face formed a confused grimace. He opened the lid to reveal his research.

"What?" She looked fairly uncertain, but Mike expected a reaction of that sort.

"Okay, don't shoot me down. I was contemplating my life since we got married, and the move, then the pregnancy, then Rosalie..."

"Technically the pregnancy came before both those things." Rachel interrupted matter-of-factly, smiling at the thought of not being pregnant anymore.

"Alright, so I got the timings wrong, but they all definitely happened..."

"Nope, you dreamt the wedding. We're not actually married Mike!" She was being sarcastic, Mike couldn't decide if that was a good thing or bad.

"Okay. All that aside, there's one thing we missed off that list. One things we never did."

"Ohhh, a honeymoon. Well it's a bit late now isn't it." She was trying to play this idea off.

"But what if it's not. We can still go somewhere, even if it wasn't drastic. We haven't been on a proper holiday together yet."

"Oh come on, we went to California, and Washington DC. Remember that?"

"Oh god, yep, I remember. That was a long time ago. I thought it would be nice to get away somewhere, reconnect, and connect with Rosalie."

"Mike, it sounds lovely, there's just one slight problem."

"What?"

"You have to work."

"Ah, yes, that problem. It's not one. If we go for a week, Hayley said she would cover. This is a special time in our lives, I don't want to waste it."

"Right, okay, well, we're not going to a small island in Greece, so where the hell were you planning on going?"

"Oooh, Greece."

"Okay, no." Rachel laughed as they both knew what that meant.

"I was just looking, and we can rent a little house up in Toronto by the lakes?" Rachel almost fell off her seat.

"Seven hours on a plane, no thanks Mike. Not with a three-week-old child."

"Alright then, we'll save that for a later date. Portland?"

"Portland? Oregon, Portland?" Rachel questioned, slightly interested.

"Look, there we go, there it is. Yeah, we could stay in a small cottage by the river."

"Sounds interesting."

"Yes, do you want to have a look?" Mike's sudden excitement slightly scared Rachel. He turned to his keyboard.

"I mean sure. But one thing, we're not going for a week. I've just had a baby, I don't want to be away from home for more than four nights."

"Okay, I understand. We could do a long weekend? Three days?"

"Hmm, maybe. It's only around an hour on a plane."

"Exactly. Now I need your suggestions for places to stay." Rachel laughed.

"Ha, I knew it would come to this. Let's have a look." Rachel pulled the laptop towards her and started scrolling, rolling her eyes at a bubbly Mike sat next to her.

"I can't believe you agreed to this," Mike grinned, "I love you!"

"I hate you too." Rachel murmured placing her chin into her hand that was leant on the desk. They both turned to each other and let out a small chuckle.