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Chapter seventeen; the only reason Luke sighed softly as he pressed his face further into the comfort of the pillow, blonde curls falling in front of his eyes and creating a shield from the Australian sun that was lighting up the room.
The only sound Luke could hear was heavy breathing and the occasional sound coming from the baby monitor that sat on the bedside table, indicating that Lexi was slowly waking up from her sleep.
He smiled to himself when he felt a pair of arms wrap around his waist and keep a tight hold of him. Ashton shoved his head into Luke's neck, his own curls messy and eyes still shut, however his breathing told Luke that he was awake.
"I gotta go get Lex." Luke whispered, attempting to struggle out of Ashton's hold, however he was stopped as the older man held him tighter, groaning when Luke attempted to move. "Ash-"
"She's smart, she'll get herself up and ready." Luke knew Ashton was joking. After all, leaving a two year old to their own devices would be a disaster and Luke didn't want to see it. "Almost three. She'll be leaving to go to college soon enough."
Luke chuckled as Ashton's curls tickled his neck, "Nope! She stays with me forever."
Ashton sighed as Lexi let out a frustrated cry over the baby monitor, finally letting the blonde go. Ashton pulled himself up out of bed and pulled on a pair of sweatpants, surprising Luke by his sudden burst of energy. "I'll go get her." And then he was gone, leaving a smiling Luke in bed as he heard Ashton's Lexi voice as he called it, on the baby monitor as he heard him enter her room.
Only moments later, the door was reopening and Ashton was returning with a half asleep Lexi in his arms. The second she saw Luke in bed she held her arms out, pacifier in her mouth as Luke mentally reminded himself to wean her off her pacifier. Although, every time he tries to take it off her she screams.
Once Lexi was secure in his hold, Ashton returned to his side of the bed and threw an arm over them both.
"Do you regret not going to London?" Luke asked, realising he hasn't asked the man that.
Ashton glanced down at him with a quirked eye before replying, "Not for one second."
Luke wouldn't deny the anxiety he felt over him and Ashton not working out, after all, they had a kid to think about now and Luke really didn't want to loose Ashton for almost a third time. So, confirming their situation, seemed like his best bet.
"So we are official then?" Luke grinned from where he placed his chin against Ashton's chest, Lexi yanking on the chain around Ashton's neck as a form of amusement. "I can tell my mom... I can tell Jack and Ben."
Ashton rolled his eyes at the excitement in the blondes tone, he couldn't wait for the thousands of texts that would rush to his phone when they found out. Calum and Michael were enough to deal with, Calum stating that he always knew this was going to happen. Ashton highly doubted it.
"Sure." Ashton pretended that he wasn't as excited as Luke, as he ran his fingers through the curls of the man he loved before doing the same action to Lexi, her blonde hair out of her usual pony tail. "I mean, we already have a baby."
Luke leaned over and pressed a kiss to Ashton's awaiting lips, groaning when he felt Lexi pushing at his face before he pulled away with a frown towards the smiling two year old.
"You've got to learn to share him, Lexi." Luke snarked, despite knowing the two year old really wasn't listening to his rant, instead she took a seat on Ashton's chest, throwing one of her dolls in his face, giving him almost no choice but to interact with it.
"C'mon, i have two arms." Ashton chuckled as he held out the arm that wasn't holding Lexi up for Luke, of course, the blonde fell into his side automatically. "For my favourite blondies."
Ashton pushed the gate open and stood aside while Luke walked passed, a half asleep Lexi in his hold. It was winter, hence why Luke had wrapped the little girl in an overwhelming amount of layers, the beanie over her blonde hair also fitted the theme of winter indicating he was anxious that she was going to pick up a cold.
Ashton stuck to his favourite winter jacket and a beanie of his own, as he followed both of his loves through the graveyard, smiling softly as they passed other visitors.
Lexi was pointing at a squirrel in one of the nearby trees, eagerly. Luke was encouraging her speaking, something they had been doing a lot lately. And once they got her started with words, she hasn't stopped since. Ashton loved their little chats around the dinner table, her favourite topic of discussion was usually animals, so much so that Ashton often went to bed and dreamt about all of Lexi's favourite farm yard animals. typical.
"You like the squirrel, baby?" Luke smiled as he walked them a little closer to the tree, however not close enough as he wouldn't want to see Lexi attempt to throw herself out of his arms to get to the animal.
"Yes! Squirrel!" she cheered, catching Ashton smiling behind them. Once she had noticed Ashton, she pointed excitedly at the squirrel again, as if she was encouraging him to also be excited by this animal.
Ashton, always happy to please his favourite toddler forced a over exaggerated grin, "Wow! Pretty cool, Lex" as he noticed Luke smiling at him, before he was reaching out and entwining their hands together, pulling Luke much closer to him as he pressed a kiss to his cheek.
"It's not weird is it?" Luke suddenly asked as they walked through the graveyard, hand in hand. "Bringing Lexi to the graveyard? I mean, it's not the best place for a toddler but i thought we should take her to see where Erica and Isaac are buried."
"Stop worrying." Ashton assured as he squeezed his hand, "We are just making sure that Erica and Isaac are always in her life. As she grows, we will be the reminder of how amazing they were and how much we loved them."
He fell silent when they stopped in front of the grave of their late friends. Of course, Lexi was too young to grasp what this meant, but it was there, and it would be there for the rest of her life.
"You think they'd be happy with how we are raising her?" Luke asked, looking up at Ashton with hopeful eyes.
"She's the coolest kid in the world." Ashton smirked, "Of course they would be..."
"Dada, look-" Luke chuckled as Lexi pointed towards the squirrel again, evidently still not over the last topic. When Lexi realised Ashton wasn't looking, she grabbed at his hand and shouted a quick "Papa!" as if to criticise him for not looking too.
"We owe a lot to this little girl." Ashton whispered as he wrapped his arms around the both of them, Luke returning his attention to Ashton. His blue eyes starred back at him, a smile threatening his lips.
"Lexi brought me back to you."
ok so that was the last chapter. but i will upload a epilogue so there is one more chapter basically. and then you can find me on my other books called 'mess is mine' and 'heartless' :)
