Benedict Cumberbatch: Life With Ben

Chapter Seventeen: To The Cumbermobile

"Darling?" Ben asked in a soft luxurious tone, "Do you want a drink of any sorts?"

"Umm, may I have a glass of water please, as I've just brushed my teeth." I replied.

"Of course Darling! If you wait here, I'll go and get it for you!" Ben got up out if his chair and walked over to the doorway, but before he reached the door he turned around and said, "I almost forgot something!" And walked on over to me, knelt down and leaned forward and kissed me. His lips touched mine as he put his hands on my cheeks so his thumbs were on them and his fingers were just below my ears. He slowly pulled my head closer towards his kissing more passionately. His legs began to wobble but he didn't pay attention as he was too focused on me.

His legs became more jelly like by the second making it more impossible to keep his balance. I put my arms interlocking them around his neck trying to keep him from falling. It worked for a while until his legs basically said "You know what, fuck this!" And gave out leading Ben to fall backwards landing on the floor but where my arms were locked around him I also came falling down landing on top of him. I stopped kissing him as soon as I landed on top of him, "I am so sorry! Are you okay?" I asked Ben whilst lying on top of him trying to get myself up. Ben blushed and then laughed, "I am very good, thank you, even better so now!" He finished his sentence with a wink as I got to my feet. My tummy had butterflies and I felt all fuzzy. I wanted to push him to the floor again and snog the hell out of him but I restrained myself. I put my hand out to help Ben up but as he took my hand he laughed and said "This should be the other way round. I should be helping you up!" He got to his feet and thanked me. Ben looked into my eyes and I looked into his as he whispered into my ear, "You will always be my princess and I will love you forever!" I smiled and placed my head onto Ben's muscular chest and whispered, "Do you think I could get my water please?" Ben froze, "Oh how rude of me! I am so sorry, yes of course you can! Right come along, Digby!" Ben said whilst scooping me up and putting me on his back and piggybacked me down the stairs to the kitchen and he placed me on the kitchen counter. I sat with my legs dangling off the side when Ben passed me a glass of water and sat opposite me on the breakfast bar stool and looked intensely at me whilst I took a sip from the glass. "So what do you normally do on a Saturday?" Ben asked me analysing ever square inch of my body, undressing me with his eyes.

"Well, I sometimes try and teach myself a new song on guitar or I sit painting or I just simply watch back to backs of Sherlock and Doctor Who whilst writing my own little stories!"

"You play guitar?!" Ben asked surprised.

"Oui! I'm not just a pretty face!" I said laughing adding a little wink.

"Would you play me a little something?" He asked smiling, and acting like a little boy at Christmas.

"Of course, but my guitar is at Oxford" I said quite put off.

"Wait here for a second darling, please!" Ben said as he ran out of the kitchen and up the stairs.

A few moments had passed when Ben came back into the kitchen with the guitar strapped to his back! If this didn't make you go all fuzzy on the inside you are most probably a Cyberman! He came up to me and slowly took the guitar off of his back and put it over me so the strap was around me and over one shoulder and the guitar laid neatly in my hands. I took a few deep breathes and thought. I thought about what song. "Okay, so this is probably one of the cutest and romantic songs I've heard. This is Love Story by Taylor Swift" I said about to play. I played the intro all to the right note when out of nowhere I found myself singing. "We were both young when I first saw you; I close my eyes and the flashbacks starts. I'm standing there in summer air.." I carried on playing and singing whilst Ben sat smiling. He slowly went in to his trouser pocket and pulled out his phone. I tried not to pay attention but I just sang these love lyrics to him whilst looking into his eyes. He noticed I was looking into his eyes and he looked into mine and winked. "Marry me Juliet; you'll never have to be alone. I love you and that's all I really know. I talked to your dad, go pick out a white dress. It's a love story baby just say yes!" I finished off and slowly played the guitar out. I rested the guitar under my arm and glanced at Ben, who still was on his phone. "Wow. Just wow!" Ben said smiling, "You never told me you could play guitar let alone sing?! You are amazing!" Ben stood up, held my hand and helped me off of the side and led me over to the stool alongside his, swirling me to face him. "Thank you! I've never played this song in front of people before so it means a lot that you liked it!" I said blushing and looking into his eyes. "Well Darling, I feel honoured to be the first to hear your cover of it. It was beautiful!" I smiled, whilst Ben added on, "Do you think I could possibly be able to return the favour, please?" "Of course!" Ben helped me take the guitar off of me and he slowly slid it on to himself. "I'm not that good at playing guitar but I'll give it my best shot!" Ben said whilst tuning his guitar. He started to play the intro of the song and he started to sing, "Heart beats fast, colours and promised, how to be brave, how can I love when I'm afraid to fall. But watching you stand alone all of my doubt suddenly goes away somehow. One step closer." I looked at him and froze. He strummed the guitar strings gently and sang so softly and smiling at the same time. He was playing A Thousand Years by Christina Perri. The very same song he sang to me last night to get me to sleep. "Time stands still. Beauty in all she is. I will be brave; I will not let anything take away what's standing in front of me. Every breath, every hour has come to this. One step closer!" He looked deep into my eyes and sang more. It felt like time had froze and the world had stopped spinning, just to hear Ben sing. I sat gazing to his eyes. I could feel my heart beat faster and faster. I felt my eyes watering but I tried not to let a tear flow. "... One step closer!" Ben finished and saw my eyes were watering. "That was truly beautiful." I said smiling wiping my tears trying not to smudge my makeup. He looked at me and sighed, "It wasn't as good as yours! You are amazing on guitar! Did I mention how you have a voice of an angel! No need for live music at our wedding when we have you!" He started to laugh. I looked puzzled, "Wedding?!" I said rather confused. I know I was really tired and said very little with yes & no answers, but did he propose to me without me remembering? Ben laughed and shoved me playfully, "Well, you know one day, we might, get married!" I wanted to fangirl. My idol is willingly contemplating marriage! Marriage with me! Sorry but how does a normal person get over this as it would have really helped to know. My face dropped but then burst out laughing. "Ben, on my wedding day I want to be able to watch everyone have fun and enjoy music. I don't want them to have to be sat through a whole day of my singing! I wouldn't inflict that on people!" Ben laughed, "Claudia, stop! I love your voice and so will everyone else when they hear your voice! By day you'll be a Computer Programming student and by night you'll be a music sensation!" I looked at him and laughed, "Ben, please! By day I'll be the Computer Geek and by night I'll be a fangirl!" "Give it a few weeks. You'll be in your dormitory playing your guitar when your room mates walk in on you and they'll talk you round to performing in the university cafe where all the artists play! You'll make the computer team look cool & groovy... Not that it wasn't already cool!" Ben said laughing. "We will see!" I said winking.

Ben checked his phone for the time when his phone got a text. "Do you fancy going out for lunch?" Ben asked me whilst replying to the text. "Yeah okay! Where are we going?" I replied, "Simon's if that's okay with you? He's having a barbecue & has invited us and few others. We don't have to go if you don't want to!" "Simon? As in Pegg?" Ben nodded and smiled. "As in Scottie to your Khan?!" He sighed then nodded. "You can count me in!" I said getting excited. "Oh god, I'll need to change won't I? I feel too informal! My hair needs to be redone. If I'm going to be in the presence of a comedy genius-" "Claud calm down! You're fine as you are! All you need to do is put some sun cream on and have a good time!" I nodded and smiled. Breathe in! Breathe out! I kept thinking. "So, what time are we due over Simon's?" "In half an hour. It's okay as he lives ten minutes away, but we've got to swing by Martin & Amanda's house to pick them up and the kids, if that's okay?" I smiled and nodded, "Yeah that's fine. Do you need a hand putting the seats up in the car?" "What do you mean?" "Well, you have 5 seats up and there is six of us so unless, Amanda is sitting on Martin, we will probably need the back seats up?" "Oh yes!" Ben realised. He took my hand and said, "To the Cumbermobile!" I stopped in the mist of things and said, "Umm, Ben I need to put my shoes on?" "To the spare Slumberpatch!" He said as he ran up the stairs still holding my hand as he pretended to be Batman! I pulled my clothes out of my bag and put my shoes on. I put my clothes in the corner of the room and put my purse, phone, iPod and baby wipes (because of my messy eating habits) into my bag and slung the rucksack over my shoulder. "Now to the Cumbermobile!" I said winking. "Not yet! Does anyone need the toilet?" "No, do you need the toilet?" I said whilst adding, "I don't remember Batman asking Robin this!" "No I don't! And of course he did! They just didn't film those bits! Right to the Cumbermobile!" He grasped my hand as we ran down to the car, opened the boot and raised the two leather back seats and clambered into the front seats.

We drove down a few roads and around a couple of roundabouts when we got to a nice little village near a field. The houses were small and dainty. It reminded me of home. It was beautiful. We pulled up outside the Freeman's house when I saw the cutest children running towards the car shouting, "Uncle Ben! Uncle Ben!" Ben looked at me and smiled, "Are you ready to meet everybody?" "I was born ready!" He leaned over and kissed me on the lips and then got out of the car and I got out of my side. "Uncle Ben! Look my tooth is wobbly!" The oldest child said. "So is mine!" The youngest added. "Uncle Ben, who is that lady?" The oldest said. "Joe, don't be so rude!" Amanda said as she walked out of the house followed by Martin. "What you say is, Excuse me Uncle Ben who is this lady and what is her name?" "Sorry Mum!" James said, "Excuse me Uncle Ben who is this lady and what is her name?" Ben crouched down and gathered both of the children over, "James, Georgia, this is Claud! She is staying with me for a couple of days before she goes to university!" Georgia smiled and said, "Hi Claud! I'm Georgia!" I crouched down and smiled back "Hey Georgia!" James looked at Ben and asked, "Is she the lady Mum & Dad were talking about earlier? They said that Claud is your girlfriend?" "James, yes she is! Do you like her?" James looked at me and smiled. "She has kind eyes!" Georgia looked at me and added, "She's also really pretty, just like Mummy!" Ben looked at me and smiled, "She is really pretty, isn't she!" Martin walked over to pick up Grace to help her into the car, but before he did that patted Ben and said "You've picked a good one there!" Amanda walked over and said, "Hi, I'm Amanda!" she smiled and I smiled back, "I know. I follow you on twitter. You have also tweeted me before wishing me luck for my media exam last year!" Amanda smiled and gave me a hug, "You are perfect! Just who Ben has been looking for!" Amanda let me go and I opened the car door for her and allowed her to get in, whilst Martin was talking to Ben. I got into my seat and pulled my phone out of my bag to take a selfie to put on instagram when Amanda popped her head up in the background. I didn't notice. Well not until I got a comment on the picture saying "Loving the photobomb @martanda!"

Ben & Martin got into the car and we drove off down the road and up another and then up another when we pulled up outside a house that looked similar to Amanda and Martin's house. "Mummy, are we seeing Uncle Simon now?" Georgia asked Amanda, "Yes, Darling. Are you both going to be good?" "Yes!" Both of the children said as Martin lent forward to face me and said "You'll see soon enough that you have just signed up to the most wackiest adventure going. I wish you luck, oh young one!" I smiled and said "I signed up nearly three years ago! Don't you worry! I've been waiting for this day to come for a long time!" Ben looked at me and smiled, "Martin isn't joking, as soon as you meet Pegg you will never be the same person you woke up as!" I wasn't sure whether to laugh or be scared so I sat and smiled whilst sorting my hair out. "Ready?" Ben asked me, for me to reply, "Ready." he leaned over and kissed me on the cheek and got out of the car and helped everyone out. This was such a weird feeling. I was about to sit in a garden eating ribs and burgers with my idols. How was this okay?