Reach For You [Dad!Calum Hood AU]

Chapter 16

Chapter 16

"ARE YOU SURE you want me to go? I can just cancel and—"

Aspen let out a groan, though it wasn't filled with annoyance as one would think. In fact, by the end of it, she was letting out a breathy laugh and shooting Calum a look of fond exasperation, if there was such a thing. "I'm fine, Cal," she assured him for the dozenth time. "Jodi's gonna be here soon and she said she'd pick up Luna from school and stay until you get back. Don't cancel your meetings because of me."

Calum's hands dropped from where he was buttoning his shirt, stopping at the button right beneath his collarbone as he looked at her pointedly. He didn't like that she was playing off her injuries so lightly; Aspen was lucky her injuries hadn't been worse than they were. Calum hated seeing her with a cast on her arm and hated catching her wince when she laughed a bit too much, the pain in her ribs cutting the sound off too quickly. She'd been home for a few days now, much to everyone's relief, but still had a bit to go until she was completely healed.

Going to work was the last thing on Calum's mind, but he had some meetings he had scheduled today and had completely slipped his mind to reschedule, all of his attention on Aspen and Luna for the past few days. He was basically living in New Jersey, only ever returning to his apartment in New York to bring back more clothes. Even Duke had a home in Aspen's apartment.

Of course, no one had any objections to Calum being there. Luna loved having both of her parents under one roof, and Aspen and Calum loved that their little family was together. The past few days were spent with Calum taking care of everything; of making sure Luna got up and ready for school and dropped her off before coming back to take care of Aspen in any way he could. Her number one priority was to take it easy and let her body heal, and Calum was focused on doing just that.

The thought of leaving her, even if her best friend would be here shortly after he left, left him a bit uneasy. There was this ball of fear twisting in his stomach, derived from the fact that the last time they hadn't been together, she'd gotten in a car accident. Calum knew it was irrational, that he couldn't be glued to Aspen's side all the time, but he just couldn't help it. That kind of fear, waiting for an update on her condition in the hospital, he'd never felt anything like it. Never wanted to feel anything like it again.

"Hey." Aspen's soft voice pulled him out of his jostling thoughts, raising her right hand and wiggling her fingers at him to silently motion him closer. Calum moved around the bed to her side, pressing his palm to hers and lacing their fingers together as she looked up at him, back against the headboard. "I'll be fine, hmm? I'll just watch TV or read a book or something. No unnecessary exertion of any kind. And then you'll come back and we'll continue our Umbrella Academy binge, okay?"

Calum wondered how she did that, wondered how she was able to read him so easily and know exactly what to say to put him at ease. He was the one supposed to be taking care of her, yet she was the one comforting him. His eyes softened, shoulders relaxing somewhat as he nodded. "Yeah, alright," he finally conceded with a nod. Then, with a warning raise of his eyebrows, he said, "Just don't walk around too much, yeah?"

Aspen nodded, offering him a smile as he leaned down to press his lips to hers, and she got too lost in the sweet kiss to remind Calum that she was a nurse and a mother of a five year old, that staying on her feet was all she knew. But, of course, she had to make an exception.

She walked into the living room with Calum's help, settling on the couch with a breath before bidding her boyfriend goodbye. With Calum gone, it was just Aspen with Duke on the couch, his head resting on her thigh as she flipped through the channels. There was nothing on that she was in the mood to watch, and she could easily flip onto Netflix or Amazon Prime to find something but her actions were just mindless.