Yours, Forever

bonus #9

He missed her.

It had only been an hour since Aurora had left for work, having been called to a sudden meeting with a client, and already, he was desperately missing his wife. If he had it his way, she would be at home, spending the day with their kids, and most importantly with him.

Perhaps, they could've cuddled a bit longer in bed before the kids woke up because God knows that once the kids woke up, he basically wasn't allowed near Aurora— twins' orders. He was glad Xander grew out of that phase, but sadly, Jared and Jayden were at that exact age where they were possessive over their mother.

When Xander was younger, he was able to sneak a few touches and kisses here and there. But now, it was like having two little munchkins with impeccable radars hovering over Aurora at all times. He wondered how it was even possible that they knew he was about to show his wife some affection at times. They could be in the other room, but come running right away when he gave Aurora a hug or short kiss.

I mean, come on, Aurora was his to begin with.

And no, he wasn't jealous of his own kids.

Was h— nope, he wasn't. Swear to god.

But, of course, he loved those little monsters to death. They were just a bit of a handful, especially the twins. While Xander grew into the role of being the oldest child at 6 years old, often looking after his younger siblings, the twins, who had just turned 4, loved causing havoc around the house, often bringing innocent little Ayla along for the ride.

"Daddy, pway?"

Xavier placed the pan back onto the stove before looking down at his adorable daughter. She was staring up at him, with her big doe-like eyes that instantly made his heart melt. God, she was practically the fun-sized version of Aurora and he fucking loved it. Tucked in one of her arms was her favorite blanket, and what seemed like a few small bottles of baby-safe nail polish that Aurora had gotten from Target.

"Hi, pretty girl." Bending down, he picked Ayla up and held her close in his arms, before brushing away a few strands of her soft brunette hair that had gotten loose from her hair tie.

"How about we play after we eat lunch, princess?" He offered, gently taking the nail polish from her small hands, and placing them onto the counter. Ayla scrunched her nose up, the same way Aurora often did, before nodding hesitantly. "Then we can paint your nail the pretty pink that you like— maybe we can ask your brothers if they want to help."

"Bubba, help?" Her eyes widened before she nodded more enthusiastically.

Xavier smiled at the nickname she had picked up for her brothers. He placed a kiss on her forehead, before giving his daughter a little boop on her nose that made her giggle as she wrapped her arms around her dad.

"Alright, princess, let's go see what kind of trouble your brothers causing now," murmured Xavier, leaving the kitchen with Ayla in his arms to find his boys, who were no doubt being too quiet. There was an endless amount of possibilities as to what they were up to, and Xavier was already thinking of how he was going to scold them.

One thing that he hated doing, especially when it came to his children, was being strict. The first time one of the boys had gotten in trouble, after scolding them, he immediately felt a lot of guilt. Seeing them tear up and cry from being scolded broke his heart every time, but Aurora had reassured that this was how their kids wouldn't be spoiled as they grew up.

They had even begun to implicate timeouts as a way to teach them that bad behavior was not acceptable, and yes, at first it was difficult, but now it seemed like at least one of the boys, either Jayden or Jared, would be put in one at least once a day.