With Me Tonight

Chapter 23

The next morning I was woken up by Norman rolling and shifting off the bed. I let one of my eyes crack open and watched him sit sideways off the bed, rubbing his eyes. He sat there for a moment, his shoulders protruding out of his short-sleeves and his back muscles shifting with every movement.

The bed lifted up when he stood and silently shuffled over to the bathroom, leaving me alone in the cold sheets. I sighed and sat up myself, stretching my arms above my head. The sun wasn't fully up yet, so I reached over to my phone to check the time. 7:00.

I groaned to myself, it was so early. Ugh.

After I got up, changed back into my clothes from yesterday, and grabbed my phone, I went to sit with Sean in the kitchen while Norman showered. He looked just as tired as I felt.

"Morning, princess," Sean smiled lazily at me and I smiled back, sliding into the seat next to him at the kitchen's island.

"Morning," I mumbled.

"I made some coffee," Sean pointed over to the kitchen counter and at the mention of coffee I was instantly up to go pour myself a cup.

I had already figured out where Norman kept most of his dishes, so I helped myself to one of his mugs and filled it with the hot coffee before taking my seat back next to Sean.

"Sleep well?" I asked him, glancing over while taking a sip from my mug.

He shrugged. "Yeah, probably would have been better if I had Reedus to cuddle up next to." He teased and elbowed me lightly.

I snorted a laugh, smiling at his playfulness. "Sounds like someone's jealous," I teased back.

"Oh you know it."

We laughed quietly together for a bit, but both of us were too sleepy to continue much longer. I even found myself struggling to keep my eyes open as we sat in comfortable silence. "Remind me to never wake up before 9am ever again," I groaned, leaning my head down sideways onto Sean's shoulder.

"I'm with ya there, Darlin'," he agreed, resting his head down on top of mine.

We stayed like this for a while, my eyes closed as I felt the steam from my coffee roll over my hand. I was close to falling asleep again until I felt a hand on my back. I peaked my eyes open, sitting up slowly as I saw Norman next to me.

I smiled sleepily, leaning into his hand. He was warm and still damp from his shower, but he smelled even better than he felt. "You can go back to bed, babe," he smiled softly in amusement at my sleepiness. "We've got a bit until we leave."

"Mmmm," was all I could sleepily push out, agreeing as I slid out of the chair. I stumbled back towards Norman's bedroom and only remember falling into bed before I was asleep again.

--

(3rd p.o.v.)

Norman closed the door behind Belle as he watched her curl back up into bed. He sighed as he shuffled back into the kitchen to join Sean.

Grabbing Belle's full cup of coffee she never drank and bringing it over to the other side of the kitchen, he added some sugar. Norman turned to lean against the counter, facing Sean as he started to sip on the coffee.

"Ready to hit the road?" Sean asked, leaning back as he drank his own coffee.

Norman nodded, but found he was gazing off down at the floor. Although he was only leaving for the weekend, it was always a hard thing to do. He knew his travels separated him from Mingus a lot. Sometimes he would bring Ming, but felt bad taking his son's time away from school and friends on the weekends. He now had Belle in his life, too.

Norman was a confident guy, normally didn't find his life very dramatic. But for some reason he was concerned about last night. In a comfortable moment, he said love you to Belle. And he did love her, the girl fit right into him and his life perfectly, but also knew how Belle had a tendency to react to things. That he was concerned about, especially when she didn't say it back. It was the wrong moment, but Norman found himself saying it like he already had a million times. It just felt right. And he was a pretty open guy. But, Norman knows it is best not to rush Belle into anything. What they had going on right now was amazing.

He just didn't want to jeopardize it.

"What's up?" Sean asked, noticing his edgy gaze.

Norman huffed and went to pour himself a bowl of Lucky Charms. Belle's favorite food was rubbing off on him.

"Told her I loved her," Norman sighed as he grabbed the milk from the fridge.

Sean had to stop himself from smirking. "Ah, the big L word."

Norman shot him a look as he poured the milk.

Sean chuckled and rubbed his chin. "I'm guessing she didn't say it back?"

Norman nodded. "I shouldn't have pushed it."

Sean waved his hand to dismiss Norman's comment. "Man, that girl is madly in love with you. She is just afraid of her own shadow sometimes."

"That's what I'm worried about," Norman said through a mouthful of cereal as he came to sit down at the counter next to Sean. He was afraid to push Belle away, afraid that maybe she would never come out of her shadow. Maybe it was too soon to say that?

"She'll come to it in her own time," Sean patted Norman on the shoulder. "Don't worry about it, she's not going anywhere. Just give her some time."

Norman nodded, hearing what he said. He knows people are different. Norman always was soft, but he knows some people take longer to open up. Belle had a lot different experiences than he did. He would wait for her.

--

(Belle p.o.v.)

After an hour or so, Norman came to wake up Mingus and I to head out. They dropped Mingus off at Helena's on the way to the airport, and then took me to my apartment.

Norman walked me up to my door, holding onto my hand the whole way up. When we arrived, I turned to give him a hug goodbye. He squeezed my frame tighter to him and placed a kiss on my nape. I sighed in content at the feeling.

"Be safe?" I pulled back and looked at Norman.

"Always am," he gave a small smile, his eyes tired from the early morning. "I'll be back on Monday."

I nodded and watched as his face contorted a bit. It looked like there was something on his mind. Usually Norman is relaxed and more or less stress free, but maybe he is just tired. I met his baby blue eyes and could see something in them. He opened his mouth as if he was going to speak, like there was something he wanted to say, but instead closed his lips and just leaned down to me.

I met him halfway and connected our lips for a sweet kiss.

When we pulled away, we said one more goodbye before Norman was headed back down to the car to go catch his plane. I huffed after he left my sight and then turned to head into my apartment and get ready for work.