Family Ties

Guess what?  This little blog is going to hit 200k views either today or tomorrow.  That means we are celebrating this week!  And you know what that means--lots of posts for you guys, my amazing readers.  If you missed Saturday's post, check it out  here because you don't want to miss it! Obviously you'll get this post, then Monday night I will post (a very long) Brody's perspective of the dinner with his dad. Tuesday night and Wednesday night will be posts from the current storyline, and Thursday night I have a Lauren post for you guys. As always, thank you all so much for making this so much fun for me! It would not be the same without all the rockstar readers and commenters.
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I woke up early the next morning to Brody's hand sliding under my shirt.  I shifted slightly to let him know I was awake.  His hand traveled up over my breast, pausing at my nipple.  I arched against him, and his hand slid back down, stopping at the waistband of my shorts.  I pushed them down, and his hand moved between my legs, stroking me gently.  Without moving his hand away, he shifted behind me, then pushed into me.  I pressed my face into the pillow to stifle my gasp.  He moved slowly, continuing to stroke between my legs.  When I came, I had to bite my lip to keep from crying out.  Brody finished soon after, and rolled out of bed.  He pulled his shorts on and slipped out of the room.

He came back in after a few minutes and climbed back into bed.  I scooted over to him and yawned as I dropped my head onto his chest.  "Go back to sleep," he said softly, trailing his fingers up and down my spine.

"What time is it?" I asked.

"Not quite 8."  I shut my eyes.  Between not sleeping well the previous night and the stress of last night's dinner, I was feeling exhausted still.  I woke briefly when Brody's phone rang.  He gently shifted me off of him and slid out of bed, grabbing the phone and moving out into the hall.  I considered getting up, but fell back to sleep.  I woke again when Brody came back in with wet hair and a towel around his waist

"Now what time is it?" I asked, groping for my phone but not finding it. 

"A little after 10.  My mom was thinking we could go out for brunch around 11 and then I thought we'd take off.  Sound okay?"

I nodded.  "Was that work stuff?  The phone call?"

"Yeah, sorry it woke you.  It's taken care of now."  I sat up and stretched, pausing to watch Brody get dressed.  I yawned again as he sat on the bed to pull on his socks.

"I don't know why I'm so tired," I complained.

"My dad has that effect on people," he replied.  He leaned over and kissed me.

I got up, showered, and dressed, and we headed out for brunch.  It was delicious, and I was seriously enjoying spending time with Brody's sister and his mom.  I was thankful that at least part of his family wasn't crazy.

After brunch, we headed back to the house and packed up our stuff.  I hugged Brody's mom and Jen and thanked them profusely for having me.  Thalia told me I was welcome any time, with or without Brody.  Brody pretended to be offended, but I'm pretty sure he was thrilled that they liked me so much.

In the car, Brody glanced at me.  "Alex texted me that they were planning on going out tonight, do you want to?"

I groaned.  I was still exhausted and just wanted to relax.  "Not really," I responded.

"Me neither.  So, do you want me to drop you off at home, or...?" he trailed off.

"I don't know, can you stand spending another night with me?" I asked with a smirk.

He laughed.  "I'd love to spend another night with you, but I wasn't sure if you wanted to spend another night with me after being subjected to my family all weekend.  My house or yours?"

"Yours, if you don't mind taking me home tomorrow.  That way we have a semi-plausible excuse to not go out tonight."

I slept most of the rest of the way.  We stopped to grab takeout to have for dinner later, and we arrived at Brody's house mid-afternoon.  I was feeling restless by this point, so we took a short walk around his neighborhood, then hung out on the couch the rest of the day.

As we laid in bed later that night, he suddenly said, "Tell me about not being Italian."

I rolled onto my back and he rolled onto his side to face me.  He propped himself up on his elbow and slid one hand across my stomach to rest on my hip.  His fingers moved absently against my skin. 

I took a deep breath, then started my story.  "My dad, the guy my mom is married to, isn't my biological father," I said.  Brody looked at me curiously, but didn't speak.  "My biological father and my mom were never truly in a relationship.  He wasn't really a good guy, and he went to prison for assault and attempted murder shortly after my mom found out she was pregnant with me.  She met Chris Saffiano about 6 months later, just before I was born.  He was there was for my mom, didn't care that she was pregnant, did everything that a father should.  He moved in with us when I was about 9 months old.  He was always my dad.

"He and my mom got married when I was 3, and he adopted me when I was 5.  It took them those two years to track down my biological father to get him to terminate his rights so Chris could adopt me.  My mom and I both kept her last name until the day I was adopted, then she changed both our last names to Saffiano."

Brody was silent for a moment, considering this.  Then he said, "Have you ever met him?  Your biological father, I mean."

I shook my head.  "I don't even know his name.  I obviously always knew that Chris wasn't my biological father, so my mom said that when I turned 16, she'd give me all the information she had if I wanted it.  That way I could decide if I wanted to seek him out.  I didn't want to though.  I had no reason to.  I had a dad, I didn't need another one.  Especially one like him."

"Wow," Brody said.  "I don't really know what to say."

I shrugged.  "There's nothing to say.  It doesn't bother me.  Like I said, I always had a dad.  And Chris was a really great dad, so I don't feel like I missed out on anything by never knowing my biological father.  In fact, I think I'm lucky that the dad I knew was Chris and not my biological father.  I had it way better than a lot of people do." 

Brody moved closer to me and wrapped his arm around my waist.  "You have a really good attitude about it.  Not everyone would."  He kissed my cheek.  "Chris sounds like a great guy.  I hope I can meet him, and your mom, soon."

"Is that a hint?  Not very subtle," I said with a laugh.  "Well, I was planning on going home for Christmas.  I don't know what you guys usually do.  Christmas is totally a big deal in our family, so I get that it's not the most ideal time to be away from your family, but you're absolutely welcome to come with me, if you wanted to."

"I would love to," he said, pressing his face against my neck.  "I wouldn't mind a holiday without Ken."

"I don't blame you for that!" I said.

"He was such an asshole, I was surprised," Brody replied.  "I mean, he's sort of unpredictable, but he's never been a flat out asshole like that before."

"Well, I guess I just bring out the best in people.  Except I think you're responsible for bringing out the best in your dad.  I saw your little angry conversation with him."

"He deserved it.  I can't believe he brought his little toy with him too.  She can't be any older than me," he guessed.  "But then after I told him to lighten up on you, I didn't expect him to go in the complete opposite direction."

We discussed the dinner for a little longer, until my yawns became frequent enough that they were interrupting my sentences.

The next morning, we had breakfast together and then Brody took me home.  I did some cleaning and some prep work for my work week, and picked up some groceries.  I was ready for bed again by 10pm.  In a move I would have gagged over 6 months ago, I called Brody just to say goodnight, even though I had said goodbye to him less than 12 hours earlier.

"Miss me already?" he asked when he answered.

"Nope, just called to tell you how much I can't stand talking to you," I said with a laugh.

"That's good, because I don't miss you either," he responded.  "Going to bed?"

"I am, your family wore me out."

"Join the club!" he said, laughing.  "I'm going to bed soon too."  We made plans to have dinner on Tuesday and said goodnight.  As I fell asleep, I was happy to be back in my own bed, but missed having Brody next to me.