Turning The Page

106

"Oh My Gods, Daddy... Finally!" The way Addy says the words when we start pulling in the driveway makes me chuckle, both of us wiped out from the drive and more than ready to stretch our legs... And maybe... Just maybe... I'm excited to go on a late-night run with my sweet mate... I want to see him feel comfortable enough to strip down in the yard and shift with me and run until we both feel calm and at peace again from spending too long in the truck and too long on the road... And I know that as soon as I park that I'll get to see my sweet Mama smile and giggle and finally feel at ease again... 

It's hard not to speed up as we get closer and closer to the house, but I am well aware that as long as the truck is in motion that there is still potential for us to get hurt, so I take my time and pay attention even though it's familiar and I'm glad to be home too... Anything to keep them safe... My mate and our unborn child... They deserve absolute safety and I'll be damned if I don't do everything within my power to provide that for them both. 

...

Adrian

...

"Hey!  No! Princess, the seatbelt stays on until I park. Always." Daddy snaps at me when he hears the click of my seatbelt being undone, but I know that he's right, that he's only doing it out of love with his strengthened over-protectiveness and wanting to keep me and our teeny tiny nugget safe... It makes me smile more than anything, even as I click my seatbelt back in place even though we're so close to the house that he's slowing down the snail's pace that he already took on when we turned down the drive.

"I'm sorry, Daddy... I'm just excited to get out finally." Which is absolutely true... I am excited to get out... I normally don't mind being a passenger for long rides, especially not if I've got books and stuff to entertain myself with... But... "I've been so anxious being away from home, and I know you have been too... I'm just really excited to be home... I want to run... And I want to see the progress on the library... "

I don't mean to get emotional about it... But somehow I end up with tears in my eyes and I end up having to wipe them away so Daddy doesn't see them, even though I know he hears them in my voice near the end just as we pull up right next to the house that I've missed so flipping much... And it only urges him to park and turn the truck off faster, the way he pops his own seatbelt off and gets out just so he can jog over to my side of the cab in order to open my door for me such an endearing moment that it brings a few more tears to my eyes... Tears that he wipes away once he undoes my seatbelt and pulls me in for the tightest hug that I desperately need, and we just take a few seconds to absorb the smell of home as it greets us, the crisp smell of winter hanging in the air in a way that I don't think it ever really does in Florida... 

Just soon enough the moment is over, and instead of feeling sleepy like we would have if we had continued holding each other and inhaling the familiar scent of home... It doesn't take much for Daddy to help me climb out of the cab, my shoes being kicked off already from having to sit in the truck for such a long drive... 

Our clothes start coming off as soon as my feet hit the grass, both of us laughing at the way that we both have to lean on each other in order to push our socks off before clinging to each other for a kiss that leaves us both breathless as a strange giddiness starts to overtake us... The joy of being home overtaking us in such an overwhelming way... Not a bad way... Just presenting itself in a way so surreal that neither one of us can seem to stop smiling, even as we begin to feel our flesh start to bend and snap as we push ourselves to shift so that our other halves can let themselves run and play... 

So we can let go of the stress that has been riding on our shoulders for this past week and celebrate finally being home... So we can work out the tension in our shoulders and not have to worry about having to get up super early in the morning or lugging a hot water bottle everywhere... No more needing to feel everyone else's eyes on me... 

 By the time we each have four paws on the ground, it's so beyond easy to understand why Daddy always ends up in such a playful mood right before a run... I get why he always ends up wanting to just let his soul be free and run until we can't run anymore during our games of tag and keep away... I can understand a little more why this is such a great release for him... 

And why it'll be such a great release for me this time, and probably a lot more now that I can see where Silas is coming from when he says that going for runs is a form of self-care for himself... Not just for him, but for me...  It'll be alone time that we can cherish, alone time that I now know how to appreciate a bit more after not being able to indulge in it in over a week... 

At first, Daddy seems to think it's funny to try and nudge me into laying down, only so he can roll me over and start planting slippery rough kisses all over my belly with his wolf's tongue making me choke out what can almost be called a laugh through my nose before I playfully push him off of me so I can get back on my feet and dart for the treeline, Daddy hot on my tail, yipping and yapping at me so loud that if we had neighbors I'd be worried that we'd be about to wake them with his happy noises... But we don't... So instead... I join him with some of my own.