𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐦 (2)

𝟹𝟹. 𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚢 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚖𝚎

☆ • ☆ • ☆

"yes, i know we're eleven minutes late, yes daniel's staying the night, and yes, we kissed," audrey said as she walked inside the apartment, looking at noah.

noah narrowed his eyes at daniel, who was behind audrey. "you're actually eleven minutes and seventeen seconds late, and i don't care about you two sucking faces," he replied.

audrey shrugged. "i have a feeling you or tony would've asked anyway. speaking of which, where is he?"

"with the kids. he was reading them a bedtime story and i think he fell asleep in the rocking chair," noah replied.

daniel chuckled. "i'll go wake him up?"

"yeah, that would be great," audrey said. "i'm gonna get some water."

the two separated, noah following audrey into the kitchen.

"so, how was it?" he asked, leaning against the counter, arms crossed.

"great. i was just really nervous," audrey said, taking a sip of water. "i missed him."

"i know," noah replied. "i'm happy you're back together again. it's a new year, a new beginning."

audrey smiled, her eyes focused on the glass in front of her. "yeah. it's just-"

she stopped talking as she heard footsteps down the hall, daniel peeking into the kitchen. "everything okay? tony's getting his stuff, said he's going back home."

noah nodded, looking at audrey. "text me, yeah? i'm gonna get going too, good night," he said, smiling at audrey and daniel as he walked out of the room.

audrey shot daniel a grin as they both walked to the front door, waving goodbye to tony and noah.

daniel closed and locked the door, turning to audrey. "what do you wanna do?" he asked, watching as she walked over to the sofa.

"let's watch something on netflix?" she asked, sitting down.

daniel nodded, joining her a few minutes later with popcorn and a blanket. "what're we watching?"

"criminal minds," she replied, "i can never watch it because the kids always want me to play peppa pig."

daniel laughed. "they always watch that at my place too," he replied.

daniel wrapped an arm around audrey, both of them leaning closer to each other.

"thank you for tonight," daniel said softly, looking away from the screen and into audrey's eyes.

"no problem, bub, i had a wonderful time," audrey said, a bright smile on her face. "now shut up so i can watch this episode."

☆

daniel woke up to the sound of hayden yelling "dada!"

another nightmare.

daniel got up from the couch, making sure he didn't wake audrey, and ran to his son, picking him up and holding him close.

"shh, hay, it's okay, bubba, i'm right here," daniel soothed, rocking hayden back and forth. "it's okay, love."

hayden's cries softened, with him taking deep breaths instead.

daniel held him for a little while longer, humming a little song under his breath and watching hayden's eyes slowly close.

he placed the toddler back in his crib and turned around, seeing audrey leaning against the doorframe of the twins' room, her eyes tired, but a wistful smile on her face.

daniel walked towards her, an apologetic smile on his face. "sorry, i didn't mean to wake you."

"no, dani, thanks for taking care of hayden," she said, sleepily leaning into daniel's arms, daniel holding her tightly. "i'm exhausted, let's go back to sleep?"

daniel nodded, the two of them heading to audrey's bedroom, where daniel made sure audrey was covered by the blankets so she wasn't cold before getting ready to head back to the couch.

"daniel?" audrey asked, her voice soft.

"yeah, rey?"

"stay with me?"

daniel's heart skipped a beat, and he couldn't stop himself from smiling, although no one else could see it.

"of course."

• ☆ •
she speaks!

no one cares but i'm back :)
ily

-n
☆ • ☆ • ☆