Best of Women

Pippa

That weekend, I watched poor Rio as he sat on the couch, watching cartoons. He had missed two and a half days of school because he was so upset by the bullying incident. I wanted to wrap him up in a hug and just hold him, but I didn't think he'd be open to that. We weren't that close yet. I knew Lin had talked to him and hoped he was at least able to talk to his dad.

The girls were still in bed, as well as Sebastian. It wasn't atypical for Sebastian to sleep until past noon if his dad let him. At around 9:30, Lin went down the hall and opened the older kids' doors, yelling at them to get up. I heard pained protests as I heard the blinds being pulled.

"Get up!" he said. "We're doing something fun today, dammit."

The family had been in a funk lately. Eva was bummed about being injured. Rio had been bullied. Sebastian was moody. He coaxed them out of bed by making chocolate chip pancakes. It worked. The three oldest children came out in their pajamas, looking adorably disheveled.

"We're going to Coney Island," Lin announced as he cleaned up the pan. Most children will celebrate, but the Miranda children were that out of it. Lin hurried them along, telling them to get dressed. It was a bit cool outside, so they were all complaining that they didn't want to be outside. Lin told them to put on more clothes.

Soon, the family was grudgingly boarding the subway to Coney Island. Lin bought a bunch of tickets and told the kids to go wild. They were a little hesitant at first, but who could be that grumpy at an amusement park? Soon, they were laughing. We rented a wheelchair for Eva for the day, and Mia was pushing her around at top speed, causing her sister to squeal. It was nice to see Eva happy for once.

All day, we pigged out on hot dogs, cotton candy, and soda until we were about to burst. Around 5:30, we left, prizes in hand. Lin had killed at the claw machine, as usual. We went out for pizza, and the conversation was actually lively and happy.

"Dad, how did you get so good at the claw machine?" Mia asked her father, grabbing another breadstick.

"Just lots of practice and good hand-eye coordination," he boasted. Afterwards, we walked around a little, digesting our food. We stopped for ice cream and then went home for family movie night. Everyone hung out in the living room, except for Sebastian. But hey, we'd gotten him to hang out with us for an entire day, so that was a big step.

The kids all passed out around 10:00, exhausted from their day. Lin picked up Eva and carried her to her bed, then went back for the other two. As he tucked them in, I got out a couple wine glasses and poured us some. I set the two glasses on the coffee table and began to sip as I waited for Lin. He changed into some sweats and a t-shirt, then joined me on the couch.

"God, I need this," he said as he picked up his wine. It had been a long day. A long, but good day.

"It was great to see Eva and Rio smiling," I commented. He nodded and put his hand on my leg, gently stroking with his thumb.

"It was," he agreed. "I wish they were this happy every day."

"Me too," I said softly as I looked at him. Lin took the wine glass from my hand and set both on the coffee table. He scooted a little closer to me.

"I totally creamed you on the bumper cars," he bragged, smirking. I rolled my eyes.

"I let you win," I countered. "I let all of you win."

"Bullshit," he told me. "Your bumper skills need improvement."

I feigned that I was insulted. "Not all of us are children."

"Oh please," he said. "My bumper and claw machine skills turn you on."

"Don't flatter yourself, Miranda," I told him. He grinned at me, then leaned forward to kiss me gently. His right hand cupped the back of my head as he pulled me closer. I felt him change the angle as he tilted his head to the right. He let out a tiny moan as we kissed deeply. His scent filled my nose and I wanted more.

I pushed forward with my body, forcing him to lean back. He laid down as I settled my body onto his. His hands roamed my back, dipping under my shirt as our passion increased. After a few minutes, he pulled away, his eyes searching mine. His pupils were dilated, his eyes hungry.

"Come to the bedroom with me?" he requested, letting his fingers dip under my panty line. My bandage was now gone, leaving my skin open. I bit my lip and nodded. Lin sat up quickly, kissing me again, and helped me stand up. He held my hand as he walked me back to his bedroom.

The door closed and he locked it. He turned on the stereo so it would drown out our passionate noises.

___

The next morning, I was a little nervous to make an appearance. I'd thought about sneaking out before the kids got up, but waking up next to Lin was just too wonderful. I turned onto my side and ran my hand over Lin's bare chest. We kissed a couple times and just snuggled.

"I'm glad you stayed," he said in his gravelly morning voice. "I've always wanted to wake up next to you."

I smiled and settled my head onto his shoulder. I felt safe in his arms. Protected. Sooner or later, we heard noise outside the door. Rio was probably up first. Lin headed out to the kitchen and I hopped in the shower.

We decided to ask the kids if they were okay with us dating. I wondered if they'd started to suspect it. Sebastian already knew, of course. I was here now all the time, of course. I practically lived here. As I made my way into the kitchen, wearing the same clothes as yesterday, the kids started looking at me suspiciously.

The kids made themselves bowls of cereal as Lin made coffee. As they were finishing, Lin asked the kids to all sit at the kitchen table. We sat next to each other.

"Kids, I wanted to bring something up to you," he began, looking at his four children. Lin reached over, putting his hand on my leg. "Recently, Pippa and I have started having feelings for each other. We've realized we like each other a lot. We'd like to date, but we want to check with you first."

"You want to check with us?" Mia asked.

Lin nodded. "I want to make sure you're okay with it. You all know Pippa well. She's here all the time and she's helped out this family a lot. But, I know feelings are complicated. So, if you want to talk to me in private about this, come to me."

"Are you guys getting married?" Rio asked us.

"No," I told him. "We're just dating right now. We want to see if we're compatible as a couple."

"But you might get married?"

I looked at Lin. "Maybe eventually. We'll have to wait and see how it goes."

Rio bit his lip. I could tell he had lots of questions.

"Same goes for me too," I told the kids. "If you need to talk to me; ask me any questions, I'm an open book."

"Have you slept together?" Sebastian blurted.

"Sebastian, that's not an appropriate question," Lin told his son. He shrugged and crossed his arms. The kids were all silent. It felt uncomfortable.

"Alright," I said, pushing myself to standing. "I need to head out, so you guys have a good rest of your weekend."

"Bye, Pip," Lin told me. I grabbed my stuff and headed out. I felt a pang in my stomach as I walked quickly. What if one of the kids decided they were uncomfortable with the arrangement? I knew Lin cared for me, but his kids came first, no question about it.

A little later, I got a text from Lin.

No protests so far.

Good. Miss you.

Miss you too.

I arrived home, somewhere I didn't seem to spend a lot of time nowadays. I mostly just slept here. I busied myself cleaning up a bit and doing laundry. Next week was a full week as far as shooting went for The Code. I needed to do some grocery shopping so I had some healthy food to take to set. Most of the catered food was crap.

For the rest of the day, I felt lonely. It wasn't long ago Lin and I were just friends. I hadn't had these feelings. It had changed so quickly. We'd slept together last night; this was getting serious. It felt hard to imagine being without Lin now. And I was crazy about his kids.

As I slipped into my own bed last night, I felt myself longing for Lin. I wanted to fall asleep in his arms and wake up with him every day. Would the universe let it happen? Or would it treat me like usual - chewing me up and spitting me out?