The Reunion (Liv): Are They Ever Wrong?

Hey all!  Thanks for sticking around :)  Since I'm not really writing along any sort of real storyline anymore, this post takes a jump about two years into the future.  Enjoy!
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"I have good news!" Brody said cheerfully when I answered his call.

"You're bringing me back some real cheese curds?" I asked.  Brody was currently in Milwaukee, working on a new contract.  I missed Wisconsin cheese curds.

Brody laughed.  "I can do that too, so I guess I have double good news.  Everything is going really well, so I'll be back tomorrow instead of Saturday."

"That is good news!" I agreed.  "Though I can't promise the house will be clean.  I've been exhausted this week."

"I don't care even a little about the state of the house, I'm just looking forward to seeing you," he said.  "My flight gets in at 7:05, maybe we can get dinner together on the way home?"

"That sounds great!"

We talked for a few more minutes and then we hung up so we could both get to bed.  The next day, when school was done at 2:50, signaling the end of my work day, I calculated that if I went straight home, I could nap for an hour and a half before I had to shower and get ready to go pick up Brody.  I had no idea why I was so tired this week.

I let Eddie out, then brought him upstairs with me.  We fell asleep with ease and I grumbled when my alarm went off.  I hauled myself out of bed and into the shower, then re-straightened my hair and put on some light makeup.  It was an unseasonably warm February day, so I pulled on a navy polka dot dress, a gray cardigan, and tights.  It had been awhile since I'd gotten dressed up just for the hell of it, and I had a lot more energy after my nap.

I got to the airport at 6:50 and parked in the cell phone lot, waiting to hear from Brody.  I was glad he never checked bags for these short trips, because I was eager to see him.  He'd only been gone for 3 days, but we'd both had a busy week before that and hadn't gotten to spend much time together then either.  Brody's work schedule was so much more reasonable now, but we both got swamped from time to time.

I got a text from him at 7:11 saying that he was getting off the plane, so I drove over to arrivals to find him.  I only had to wait a few minutes before I spotted him.  "Hi!" I exclaimed, jumping out of the car and throwing my arms around him.  "I missed you."

"Well, hello!" he said with a laugh, hugging me with the arm that wasn't holding his carry-on.  "I missed you too, Liv."  He kissed the top of my head, then my forehead, then my lips when I tilted my head up.

I dragged myself away so we could get in the car and get out of the airport.  My stomach was rumbling and I needed some dinner soon.  "How was your flight?" I asked Brody as I pulled away from the curb.

"It was alright," he replied, rubbing the spot between his eyebrows tiredly.  "There was a screaming baby right behind me.  I felt terrible for his parents, but also for my ears."

I snorted.  "That does make for a rather miserable flight," I agreed.  "I promise I won't do any screaming tonight."

Brody opened his mouth, closed it, opened it, and closed it again, shaking his head and laughing.  "Not going to touch that one," he said.

My face turned red as I laughed with him.  "I mean, I guess that would be up to you."

Brody snorted and reached across the center console for my hand.  "I know I was only gone a few days, but I really missed you."

"I missed you too," I told him, glancing at him and smiling.  We figured out where to go for dinner and I navigated there easily, finally able to get around this city without an issue.  It taken long enough.

We got lucky and didn't even have to wait for a table.  It was nice to eat and relax with Brody after a busy week.  I yawned several times over dessert, prompting Brody to offer to drive home.  "Long day?" he asked.

"I've just been so tired this week," I said, shaking my head.

I closed my eyes and the next thing I knew, Brody was gently shaking me awake.  "We're home," he told me softly.

"Mmm, I knew that," I mumbled sleepily.  "I wasn't sleeping."

Brody laughed as he pulled his carry-on out of the back.  "Okay," he replied.  "Then we'd better get you to bed so you can sleep."

Eddie jumped around like a crazy dog when Brody and I came inside.  "Hey bud!" Brody said, crouch down to rub his ears.  Eddie licked Brody's face and wiggled excitedly.  "I missed you too, were you a good boy for Liv?"  Eddie wiggled harder and let out a sharp bark, clearly indicating he was the best boy.  "I'll let him out, go get ready for bed," Brody said to me.

"No, you just got home, and I know you want to shower.  I can let him out," I protested.

In the end, Brody won, and I trudged upstairs to wash off my makeup and brush my teeth while Brody went out on the deck with Eddie.  By the time I was done, Brody was in the bedroom, throwing some things from his suitcase into the laundry basket.  He kissed me on his way past me into the bathroom.  "I'm just going to take a quick shower, okay?"  I nodded and climbed into bed.

 I made myself stay awake while I waited for Brody to get out of the shower.  When he got into bed I rolled to face him and my lips found his in the dark.  "Hi," I said between kisses.

"I didn't think you would have any energy," he replied with a chuckle, moving his lips to my neck.  "Not that I'm complaining."

"Shut up and kiss me, or you'll miss your chance," I warned him.  He laughed and kissed me hard, rolling over until he was on top of me, between my legs.  I had just enough energy for one round of sex, and then I happily fell asleep in Brody's arms.

I didn't even wake up when Brody got up in the morning.  When I did wake up, I rolled over, confused by the emptiness of the bed next to me.  I squinted at the clock, surprised to see it was 9:30.  Brody had probably been up for hours.

"Good morning, beautiful," he greeted me with a smile when I made my way downstairs.

"Morning," I grumbled.

"Want some breakfast?  Eggs, maybe?"

My stomach turned at the thought of eggs and I shook my head.  "Just coffee," I said, frowning and sitting down at the table.  Eddie trotted over to me and laid his head in my lap.  I rubbed it briefly.  When I stopped, he nudged me and whined softly.  "Down," I commanded him.  He laid down, but he looked at me reproachfully and whined again.

Brody looked at me with concern.  "Are you feeling alright?"

"Yeah, my stomach is just a little upset," I said, rubbing my forehead.

Brody frowned.  "Well, drinking just coffee on an empty stomach isn't going to help," he pointed out.  "Toast?"

"Sure," I agreed.  I yawned.  I was so tired.  Brody, saint that he was, made me some toast and coffee and brought both to me.

When I gagged a little on my first bite of toast, Brody said, "Do you think maybe you should take a test?"

"I'm not pregnant," I replied, choking down another bite of toast.  My stomach roiled angrily and I set the uneaten toast down on the plate Brody had provided.  "I don't feel pregnant."

"Sweetheart, you don't know what 'pregnant' feels like," Brody pointed out gently.

He had a point.  I didn't.  Despite us spending the last 8 months trying to get pregnant, I still had no idea what being pregnant felt like.  I'd thought I was pregnant.  Several times, in fact.  Each time, I convinced myself that this was it, that I was absolutely, positively, without a shadow of a doubt pregnant.  And each time, I filled the bathroom garbage with First Response pregnancy tests with just one line.  Well, after the third time that happened, I'd switched to cheaper tests.

"Maybe if I still feel like this tomorrow," I said, finally.  I had felt a little sick the last couple mornings too.

Brody kissed the top of my head as I attempted another bite of toast, then said, "Sounds like a plan.  I'm going to get a little bit of work done, and then I'm all yours after lunch, okay?"

"Okay," I agreed, smiling at him.

I had been planning on going to the gym and then the grocery store this morning, but I was so tired and nauseated that I decided to just go back to bed for a little while.  The toast had settled my stomach a bit and I fell back to sleep fairly easily.  When I woke up, I felt much better.

Feeling more curious than anything, I decided to listen to Brody's suggestion and pulled a pregnancy test out of a drawer in the bathroom.  I left the test on the counter to process while I jumped in the shower.  I rushed through my shower, realizing I needed to know what the test said right now.

Still dripping water, with a towel hastily wrapped around me, I took a deep breath and looked at the test.  "Oh my god," I whispered.  Then, "Brody!"  Not sure if he'd heard me all the way down in his office, I stuck my head out of the bathroom, into our room, and yelled again.  "BRODY!" 

Turned out it wasn't necessary, and he appeared breathlessly in our room not 3 seconds later.  "Are you okay?" he asked me, looking alarmed.  "Liv?  What's wrong?"

Finding myself suddenly unable to speak, I waved him into the bathroom and motioned at the counter.  Brody looked at the pregnancy test, then at me, and then at the test again.  Then he put one hand on either side of my face.  "Two lines means...you're pregnant?"

I nodded as much as I could with Brody's hands on my face.  "I'm pregnant," I confirmed, a lump rising in my throat.

"You're pregnant," Brody repeated.

"I'm pregnant."

We stared at each other for several more seconds before Brody's face split into a huge grin and he wrapped his arms around me.  By the time he let go, I was crying, and his eyes weren't exactly dry either.  He backed out of the bathroom, tugging me with him.  Brody sat down on the edge of the bed and pulled me down onto his lap.  Wrapping one arm around me, he touched my stomach lightly with the fingers of his other hand.  "Do you think..." he started, looking up at me.  "I mean, are they ever wrong?  The tests?"

I shrugged.  "Sometimes?  Maybe?  I guess I don't really know.  I could take another one."

"Not right now," he said quickly.  He spread his hand flat across my stomach and stared at it in wonder.  "It doesn't look like you're pregnant."

I laughed.  "Well, I'm sure that will change," I told him, leaning against him and resting my cheek against the top of his head.

Brody shifted me off his lap and stood, pulling me against him.  "I love you so much, Liv," he said.  Then he crouched in front of me until he was eye level with my stomach and said, "And I love you."

I bit my lip and looked down at him, suddenly overwhelmed with emotion.  "I love you, too," I said softly, pulling him to his feet before I lost it completely.  Just then, Eddie wandered in, happily panting away.  He bounded over and nudged both of our legs before laying down and rolling onto his side, looking up at us.  I laughed.  "I love you, too, Eddie," I said, bending to rub his belly.

Brody shook his head.  "You sure know how to steal a lady's thunder, Ed," he said, sitting on the floor and rubbing behind Eddie's ear.  Eddie whined and shoved his head against Brody's hand, leaning into it.  I joined them on the floor, snuggling against Brody's side as Eddie stretched himself across our laps.  "We're going to have a baby," Brody said softly, kissing the top of my head.

"Yeah," I agreed.  "We are."  

The Reunion (Liv): Summer

Hi all!  I'm glad you enjoyed the first post.  Just wanted to let you know I'm not posting on any sort of schedule here.  I'm shooting for about one post a week, but I make no promises.  I have a handful of ideas so I'm looking at maybe 10-12 total posts?  We'll see how carried away I get :)
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I was composing an email to my boss, asking if there was anything I could do to pick up a few hours over the summer.  Groups, writing assessments, anything but sitting around being unproductive, when Brody called.  "Hey you," I said cheerfully.  "Will you be home for dinner tonight?"

"I won't," he said.  "In fact, I won't be home until late, that's why I'm calling."  I sighed, disappointed.  "Wait a second before you get too upset," he urged me.  "I'm staying late tonight so I can take tomorrow and Monday off to spend with you at the cabin."

"Really?"

"Of course, would I lie about that?" he asked.  "Don't wait up for me, okay?  Get some sleep, and we'll leave tomorrow morning.  I'm not even taking my phone with me."

"Okay, well, if that's the case I suppose I can manage on my own tonight," I replied, grinning.

I fell asleep around 10, but woke up when Brody came in, because he stubbed his toe on the dresser and swore.  I groaned and rolled over.  "Brody?" I croaked.

"Sorry," he said softly.

"What time is it?" I asked, my voice muffled by sleep and the pillow.

I felt the mattress sink under him.  "You don't want to know," he replied, stroking my back.  "I'm sorry I woke you."

"S'okay," I mumbled.  "Come to bed."

"Just a minute," he replied.  I felt his lips on my cheek, and then the mattress moved again as he stood up.  I heard him go into the bathroom, and I rolled over and tried to fall back to sleep.  But despite my best efforts, I was now awake.

Brody was in bed in a couple minutes and I snuggled up to him.  "How was your day?" I asked.  "Besides long."

"It was pretty good, actually," he replied.  "Everything is really coming together.  I think I'm going to be able to work some more normal hours really soon."

"Yeah?" I asked, lifting my head to look at him.  "I really hope so."

"Me too," he said.  I nestled into him, shifting a little closer.  Brody pulled me tightly against him, and I soon fell back to sleep.

Amazingly, Brody was still up before me.  He was out drinking coffee on the deck with Eddie when I made my way downstairs.  "Why are you up already?" I asked, squinting in the bright morning sunlight.  Eddie lifted his head at the sound of my voice and jumped up, trotting happily over to slobber all over my bare legs.  "Good morning, sweet boy," I said to him, scratching the top of his head.

"I get a 'why are you up already?' and he gets a 'good morning, sweet boy'?" Brody asked, smirking and raising an eyebrow.  "I see how I rank."

I laughed.  "Good morning, sweet boy," I said, kissing him on the cheek and settling into the chair next to him.

"Much better," he answered, grinning.  "And I have no idea why I'm up already.  I woke up and couldn't get back to sleep.  I was going to make breakfast in a little bit, I didn't expect you to be up quite yet."  I yawned in response, drawing a chuckle from Brody.  "I need more coffee, do you want some too?"  I nodded and leaned my head back, closing my eyes and enjoying the warm sun.  Eddie had stretched out again, this time under my chair.

Once I had woken up a little, Brody and I made breakfast together.  Then we packed for the weekend, loaded Eddie into my SUV, and got on our way.  I drove so Brody could relax.  Despite his good mood this morning, I could tell he was exhausted.  Sure enough, he fell asleep within 20 minutes.  Eddie sat happily in the backseat, nose pressed to the window.  I had it open about 4 inches for him, and he was slobbering all over the place.  "Oh Ed," I said, glancing at him in the rearview mirror.  He looked at me briefly with his goofy smile, then turned his attention back to the wind rushing into the car.

I had to wake Brody up when we got close, because I could never remember where to turn off the main road.  He yawned and stretched as much as the confines of the car allowed as we pulled up in front of the cabin.  I pulled my car under the carport.  This was Eddie's first trip here, so I snapped his leash on before I let him out.  He looked around excitedly as I let him sniff around the yard for a few minutes before we went inside.

Brody had brought most of our stuff in while I was letting Ed get acclimated.  I was hopeful we'd be spending some more time here soon, and I wasn't interested in hauling a bunch of Eddie's stuff back and forth each time, so I'd stopped at the store yesterday evening and picked up two new beds (one for the living area and one for our bedroom...no he's not spoiled at all!), food and water dishes, a long tie out, and a few of his favorite toys and chews.  "What do you think, bud?" I asked him, bringing him inside and letting him off the leash.  He sniffed around cautiously, smelling everything before moving to the next room.  He looked over his shoulder at me, whined once, and wagged his tail.  I followed him into the next room, where he happily sniffed around under my supervision.  We did this room by room for the entire cabin.

Brody was flopped on the bed in the master bedroom when we got done with our tour.  "Did he tip you, Madame Tour Guide?" he asked, smirking at me.  "He's got you wrapped around his little finger."

"It's a mutual wrapping," I retorted.  "Jealous I haven't paid as much attention to you yet?"

"A little bit," he said.

I laughed.  "Roll over," I said, tapping his hip.  He rolled onto his stomach and I straddled his hips, starting to massage his shoulders.

"That feels good," Brody groaned, his voice muffled by the bed.  I worked my way down his back, then back up, ending by massaging his scalp for several minutes.  "I'm so sleepy," he mumbled.

"Sleep for awhile," I suggested.  "I'll take Eddie for a walk and make some lunch, and if you're still sleeping when it's ready, I'll wake you up then, if you want."

"Okay," he said.  I swapped my flip flops for a pair of sneakers and by the time I had them changed, Brody was asleep in the middle of the bed in the same position he'd been in when I was rubbing his back.  I shook my head and pulled the blinds closed so it was a little darker for him, though I'm not convinced it would have made any difference.

Eddie followed me out of the room, and wiggled happily when I snapped his leash back on.  "Want to go for a walk, bud?" I asked him.  He wiggled harder, too well-behaved to do anything else.  I laughed and led him to the door.

We walked for about 40 minutes, and Eddie was thrilled with the new smells and sights.  I even jogged with him for a little while, and he ran alongside me, lips and tongue flapping happily away.  When we got back, he slurped up some water and trotted to the bedroom to keep Brody company.

I took my car into the nearest town and stopped at the store for something for lunch and for dinner.  I picked up some chicken breasts and stuff for salad for lunch, then picked out some steaks and scallops for dinner.  I found a few snacks, eggs and bread and milk for breakfast in the morning, and some juice.  At the liquor store next door I grabbed some beer and wine, and then I headed back up to the cabin.

Brody was still fast asleep when I got back, and Eddie was snoring on the floor at the foot of the bed.  He lifted his head to look at me sleepily when I peeked in, but for once he stuck by Brody, putting his head back down and huffing out a very dramatic breath.

I headed out to the grill on the deck and started it up.  While the grill was heating up and the chicken was cooking, I cut up some veggies and fruit and threw together salads.  When everything was done, I went into the bedroom to wake Brody up.  I laughed when I saw that Eddie, who was almost never allowed in our bed (I let him when Brody was out of town, but we didn't let him when we were both in bed), was stretched out next to Brody.

When I woke Brody up, he was just as surprised as I was to see Eddie next to him.  "He took advantage of my tiredness!" Brody said, but he was laughing.  Once Brody got out of bed, we went outside to eat on the deck.  It had been hot in the city for the entire week, and the slightly cooler air here was welcome.

Brody's nap had done its job, and after lunch he had a lot more energy.  When I got up to put Eddie on his tie out and let him off the deck, Brody wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me down into his lap.  I yelped in surprise, toppling onto him.  "Hi," he said, with a mischievous grin.

"Hi," I replied, laughing.  "Something I can help you with?"

"Actually, there's something I'd like to help you with," he said.  He pulled me closer and kissed me, and I shifted into a more comfortable position before losing myself in the kiss.

"Mmm, should we go inside?" I asked softly, barely pulling my lips from his.

"No," he responded, pushing his hand through my hair and then pulling my lips back to his.  His other hand roamed over my hip and down to my bare leg.  He slipped his fingertips under the edge of my shorts and pressed them into my skin.  Eventually, he tugged at my shirt, working it up and then pulling it over my head.

"Brody!" I exclaimed, laughing.  "We're outside."

He shrugged, smiling wickedly.  "Do you see any people?  Or houses?  Or anything but trees?"

"Good point," I admitted, looking around briefly.  Brody kissed along my collarbone, drawing my attention back to him.  I groaned softly as he swirled the tip of his tongue in a light circle at the base of my throat.

"So, do you want to go inside?" Brody asked, pausing.  His breath was warm against my skin and his lips brushed gently against my neck as he spoke.

"No," I whispered, digging my fingers into his arms as he lightly nipped at my shoulder.  Brody chuckled and reached behind me to unhook my bra.  I shivered as he removed it, dragging his fingertips down my arms along with the straps.  He leaned forward and flicked his tongue across one nipple, then wrapped his hands around my waist and lifted me off his lap and onto the table.  His mouth moved to the other nipple and his hands worked on the button and zipper of my shorts.

I sighed happily, shifting my weight so Brody could pull my shorts off.  He knelt in front of me and slid his hands up my thighs, pushing my legs apart as he did.  Brody kissed his way up my inner thigh and I gasped when his mouth reached its destination.  I almost slid off the table when I came, but Brody's strong grip on my hips kept me in place.  I pulled him up and yanked his shirt off.  He beat me to undoing his shorts, but not by much.  I wrapped my hand around him, stroking him until he pushed my hand away and pushed into me.

I enjoyed the thrill of being outside and completely exposed, even though the risk of actual exposure to anyone else's eyes was low.  Brody was in no hurry, and I enjoyed every second of it.  When we were finished, he yawned.

"Still tired?" I asked, laughing.

"More like tired again," he replied.  "You have a way of wearing a man out."

We decided to head inside and relax in bed for awhile.  I pulled my shorts and shirt back on and looked out into the yard.  Eddie was laying flat on his side, his legs stretched in either direction as far as they'd go.  "Eddie!" I called.  "Hey, Eddie!  Do you want to come inside?"  He lifted his head to look at me lazily, one eye still closed.  Then he shut the open eye and laid his head back down.  "Eddie!  Come inside!" I called again.  In response, he rolled lazily onto his back, rolled back and forth a couple times, and then stopped, legs still in the air.  "I guess Eddie is staying outside," I said with a laugh.  I checked his tie out and then followed Brody inside.

Once in the bedroom, I wriggled out of my clothes again and climbed under the blankets.  Brody was already there, and barely let me get all the way into bed before he pulled me against him.  We spent the rest of the afternoon in bed, alternating between talking or dozing and having lazy sex.  Brody got up once to let Eddie in, otherwise we stayed in bed until I dragged Brody out to help me make dinner.  After dinner, we took Eddie for a walk and then settled into the jetted tub in the bathroom with a bottle of wine.

We spent the rest of the weekend enjoying each other's company, cooking together (which was something I loved but we hardly ever got a chance to do anymore), hiking, and being lazy.  On the drive home Monday afternoon, Brody said, very seriously, "I think we should do this monthly.  At least monthly, maybe more.  I needed this.  We needed this."

I agreed.  I'd had a good idea what I was getting into when I gave Brody my blessing to buy his new office building, but it was now getting old really fast.  It probably didn't help that the worst of it had come when I was off work for the summer and actually had time to go and do fun things, but couldn't do them with my husband.  Of course, that didn't stop me.  I had spent quite a bit of time with Lauren and Kinsley so far, but I missed doing things like this weekend with Brody.  I supported him 100%, and I knew there was a light at the end of the tunnel, but I was counting down the days.

We'd also started to get a lot of questions from people about when we were going to have kids.  And since "When my husband works fewer than 90 hours a week and our child will actually recognize him," wasn't a socially appropriate answer, I'd done a lot of smiling, shrugging, and saying, "We're not quite ready," or "when things settle down a little."  Those answers resulted in lectures on how if we waited to be completely ready, we'd never have kids, or that things will never truly settle down, what's a baby on top of it?  But I knew better.  I was in full support of Brody right now, but I knew if we added a baby to the mix now, I'd grow to resent him really quickly.  And I didn't ever want to resent him.

"What are you thinking about?" Brody asked me, breaking into my thoughts on babies and support and resentment.

"Babies," I said honestly.

Brody didn't say anything for several seconds and then said, "Okay, you're going to have to give me more than that."

"Sorry, I was just thinking about having a baby someday.   We haven't talked about it in awhile."  I glanced at Brody's anxious face and realized why he was nervous.  "Oh!  No, I don't mean I want to have a baby now," I said, laughing.  The relief on Brody's face was almost comical.  "Sorry, you saying we needed this made me think about how tough the last several weeks have been, which made me think about missing doing fun things with you, which made me think about the absurd number of people who think the contents of my uterus are any of their business, and then I was about to start thinking about all the things I want to do before we start having kids, but you interrupted my completely logical train of thought."

"Completely logical," Brody said with a smile.  "So continue your thoughts out loud.  What are the things you want to do before we start having kids?"

"Well, I don't know.  I hadn't gotten there yet, remember?"  I smirked at him, and he laughed.  "But I know I want to travel more.  I want to do more with my career.  I need to finish the licensure process.  I have a little bit of supervision left to get before I can do that."

"And I want to be able to be around more," he said.

I nodded.  "Trust me, I want that too," I assured him.  "In fact, I require it."

"Well, I'm hoping that will start happening really soon," he said.  "Once we finish filling the open positions and have everyone trained, I should be able to decrease my hours fairly significantly."

"How many open positions are left?" I asked.

"Three," Brody said.  "Considering we started with 16 to fill with the expansion, I'm hoping we can have them filled within a month."  

I considered this.  "So with training and everything...?"

"My goal is by the end of the summer.  But I can do a little cutting already, I think.  Everything is going so smoothly right now.  I probably shouldn't have said that out loud, I guess.  But it is, and I think it's about time to start cutting down and seeing what happens.  We've got a couple departments that are fully staffed now.  There's no reason for me to still be involved so heavily with them."

"Sounds like you have a plan," I said, smiling.

He chuckled.  "I do," he replied.  "We'll see if it happens the way I want it to, but having a plan is good in any case."

"I'll take it," I said, grinning.  Brody reached for my hand across the center console, and we finished the drive in easy silence.

Brody: Christmas Eve

Hello, friends!  I know you're all waiting patiently for more on Lauren and Alex.  I'm working on the next one but it's not ready to go today.  So here is a short mini-bonus Brody post!  I'll have the next Lauren post up tomorrow, and a Kinsley post either on Thursday or this coming weekend sometime.
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I trusted I would wake up before Liv's alarm, and I did.  I almost always did.  I shifted carefully and snuck out of bed, grabbing a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt off the floor so I wouldn't have to open drawers and risk waking Liv.  Eddie (luckily) stayed quiet, padding gracefully out of the room after me.  I was surprised he even came with me, usually he stays put wherever Liv is.

It was Christmas Eve morning, and we were flying out to Wisconsin a bit later to spend the holiday with Liv's family.  We'd both been so busy lately, though, that we'd hardly had any time together.  She was busy getting ready for her transition at work, and I was busy getting things moved and starting to make some changes to the way my company was structured.  Throw my weekend away and Alex's accident on top of everything, and it had been a really wild month.  We were both exhausted, and I'm not sure Liv was even looking forward to going home today.

So that's why I'd waited until she fell asleep and reset her alarm for an hour earlier.  She already had it set earlier than it needed to be, probably so she could micromanage me and make sure I had my shit together.  Our travel styles don't mesh at all.  I'm so sick of the inside of DIA that I prefer to spend as little time there as possible, but that makes Liv crabby.  We manage, somehow.  This morning she'd be pleasantly surprised because I was actually all packed already.

Anyway, I'd set her alarm a bit earlier and hoped I'd still wake up earlier than that.  I did, of course.  Once I was downstairs, I turned on the fireplace and headed into the kitchen.  I let Eddie out and put some food in his bowl for when he came back in, then turned my attention to breakfast.

I went all out.  Omelets, french toast, sausage, fruit, and even freshly squeezed orange juice.  Why not?  I turned the Keurig on when I heard Liv stirring upstairs, and I had a cup of coffee ready when she came clomping down the stairs.  For being so small, she sure makes a lot of noise when she walks around this house.

"Did you change my alarm?" she grumbled, coming into the kitchen.  She looked ridiculously cute with her hair still messy and the sleepy, irritated look on her face.

I grinned at her, which made her narrow her eyes more.  She was definitely not a morning person.  "I sure did," I answered.  I handed her the cup of coffee I'd made and said, "Here.  Go sit.  I'm making breakfast."  She took it silently, let Eddie in, then turned towards the living room.  Eddie looked seriously torn between his breakfast and Liv, but decided to wolf down his food before trotting out to join her.

By the time I was done with breakfast, Liv had woken up a little.  She was curled up on the couch under a blanket with Eddie (yes, Eddie was under the blanket too...spoiled as hell).  "Seriously?" I asked, looking at Eddie.  He blinked up at me, then laid his head on Liv's arm, not breaking eye contact with me.  That dog's heart belonged to her.

"What?" Liv asked with mock innocence, trying to keep the smirk off her face.  I just shook my head and chuckled, setting down plates on the coffee table.  "Did you reset my alarm so you could make breakfast?"

"Yes," I replied, turning to go back into the kitchen for the rest of the food.  "I wanted to spend a little time with you before we had to go to the airport.  We've hardly gotten to see each other lately, and this weekend will be crazy."  We were flying out today and back on Sunday, and I knew it would be a busy weekend.  "Then it's back to work right away."

"It's true," she agreed.  She yawned, then said, "I'm not even mad that you made me get up early."  I laughed and sat down next to her.  "Merry Christmas," she said, smiling.

I leaned forward and kissed her.  "Merry Christmas, Liv."  We ate our breakfast and caught up on each other's lives.  I wasn't kidding when I said we'd barely seen each other.  Liv started to take the dishes out to the kitchen when we were done, but I stopped her.  "I've got it.  You just enjoy your coffee and your spoiled dog."  Eddie opened one eye and looked at me disdainfully.  "Seriously," I muttered, chuckling.  She didn't protest, and I gathered our dishes.  Then I grabbed her Christmas gift (part of it, anyway) off the counter and went back into the living room.

I sat back down and smiled as I handed her the envelope.  "What's this?" she asked curiously.

"Part of your Christmas gift," I replied.  "Open it."  She grinned and slid her finger under the flap of the envelope, loosening the glue.  She pulled out the card and opened it, taking out the travel vouchers I'd stuck inside.  "It's been so crazy lately that I thought we could use a vacation together," I said.  "I know things will be nuts for you in your new position, and you won't be able to take any time off for awhile.  And neither will I.  Things should be better for me by the end of March, so over your school's spring break, we can go wherever you want."

She looked up at me and started laughing.  "What?" I asked, confused.

"Hold on," she said.  She shifted Eddie, who grumbled in irritation.  When she stood and headed upstairs, he jumped down off the couch and bounded up the stairs after her.  I just shook my head.  Eddie liked me just fine, but when given the choice, he always chose Liv.  I was grateful for that, since it really did help me worry less about her when I was gone.  I knew he'd take good care of her.

After a minute, Liv reappeared, coming back down the stairs.  Eddie walked behind her at her pace, looking comical as he tried to keep himself from succumbing to his forward momentum and knocking them both down the stairs.  Liv grinned at me and handed me an envelope.  Then she turned to Eddie and commanded him to "go lay down" while pointing at his bed.  He cocked his head and seemed to consider this, then begrudgingly went over to his bed next to the fireplace and curled up.

"Part of your gift," she said to me, motioning to the envelope that was now in my hand.  I tugged her down into my lap and she curled up against my chest while I opened the envelope.  I flipped open the card and read what she had written, then I started laughing too.  Inside the card she had written a promise for a long weekend trip anywhere I wanted to go, once both our schedules allowed.

I set the card to the side and wrapped my arms around her, kissing her temple.  "I guess we both want the same thing for Christmas, huh?" I asked.

"I guess so," she replied, and I knew she was smiling.  She wiggled loose from my grip and shifted so she could kiss me.  After a long kiss, she said, "Well, thank you.  Now we have a couple things to look forward to."

"You're welcome, and thank you," I said in response.  I kissed her again, and we enjoyed our last 15 minutes before we had to start getting ready to leave for the airport just snuggled up on the couch together.

Liv: Thanksgiving

"Something smells good," Brody said, coming into the kitchen.  He'd been holed up in his office trying to take care of a poorly-timed emergency of some sort before the holiday tomorrow.  "I'm starving."

"Unfortunately, this isn't dinner," I said with an apologetic smile.  "I'm just getting some stuff ready for tomorrow."  Tomorrow was Thanksgiving, and we were hosting.  Brody's mom and her boyfriend Tim were coming, along with Ken, Brody's employee Pete and his wife Serena, and Jen.  This was my first time ever hosting a holiday meal, and I was a little nervous.  I wanted to get at least a few things made ahead of time so I wouldn't have to be quite as stressed tomorrow.  It wasn't going to be a huge gathering by any means, but I was sure I'd have plenty to manage.

Brody pulled open the fridge and I said, "There's still some lasagna from the other night if you want to heat that up."

"I do," he replied.  "Do you want some?"

"Sure."  Brody pulled out the lasagna and I checked my sweet potato casserole that was in the oven.  While Brody heated up the leftover lasagna and garlic bread, I threw together a salad.  Eddie hung out in the corner of the kitchen, watching us carefully just in case we dropped something.  I pulled the sweet potatoes out of the oven while Brody got plates and silverware, and I stirred my cranberry pear sauce that was simmering on the stove before I went to sit with him.

"I'm an asshole," Brody said suddenly.  "I completely forgot to ask you how your meeting went."  He looked up at me expectantly.

I'd had my meeting this morning with the school that was interested in contracting with my agency for a school-based therapist.  We'd had a little trouble coordinating schedules and today was the best day, so I'd been waiting impatiently for a couple weeks.  I grinned and said, "It went really well.  They liked me a lot and wanted to talk start dates and plans already.  We ended up being there for almost two hours."

"I'm not surprised they liked you," Brody replied, return my excited grin.  "So what are they thinking for start dates?"

"They want me in the school right after Christmas break, attending meetings and such, and hopefully starting to take referrals around the beginning of February, if not sooner."

"That's awesome, Liv," Brody said.  He glanced at his watch.  "Shit, I need to get to the airport.  Do you want to come?"  Jen was flying in from Philadelphia and Brody was picking her up.  She was staying with us and I was excited to see her again.

"I can't," I replied, frowning and looking towards the stove.  "I've got the cranberry sauce on still and I want to make my pie crust tonight still."

"I had no idea I married Martha Stewart," Brody said, chuckling and standing up.  "Done?" He motioned to my plate, and when I nodded he grabbed it and took it to the sink.  "I'll help you clean up tonight, okay?"

"Okay," I agreed.

"Do you need me to pick anything up while I'm out?"  I shook my head and we kissed goodbye, then he took off for the airport.

I decided to make the mashed potatoes tonight too, and got to work peeling and chopping them.  After I had those done, I started on my pie crust.  I normally wasn't much of a baker, but I was bound and determined to make everything from scratch as much as possible.

The kitchen was everywhere and I was up to my elbows in in flour when I heard the garage door opening, signaling that Brody and Jen were here.  When the door to the house opened, Brody called, "Liv, can you come help Jen with her bag?  I need to grab something out of the car."

"I'm covered in flour," I called back.

"I can't hear you!" Brody yelled.  "Just come grab her bag and take her to her room, please!"

I sighed in mild irritation and grabbed a towel to wipe my hands off as much as possible.  I walked out of the kitchen towards the door and stopped dead.  "Oh my god," I said in shock.  "Mom!  Dad!  What...?"  Standing just inside the door next to Jen were my parents.  Brody came back in from the garage grinning as I rushed forward and hugged them.

Since I cry at everything, I got a little teary from the surprise.  "Well don't cry," my dad said, laughing.

I looked at Brody, who said, "It didn't seem right for us to host our first holiday together and not have your family here too, so I thought I'd surprise you."  My lip quivered and I threw my arms around him.  He hugged me back tightly.

"Thank you," I said softly.  "This is amazing."

"I thought you'd like it," he replied, leaning back to kiss my forehead.

I detached myself from Brody as Jen loudly cleared her throat.  She was grinning at me though, and I quickly hugged her.  "I'm so excited to see you too!" I told her, laughing now.

We got everyone settled and their things to their rooms, and I hurried back into the kitchen to finish my pie crust so I could be done prepping for the evening and spend some time with our guests.  "Can I help with anything?" my mom asked, following me into the kitchen.

"Absolutely not," I replied, smiling.  "But you can keep me company while I finish up."

Brody came into the kitchen with two bottles of wine.  He opened one and poured a glass for each of us.  "Can I help you?" he asked me after he'd rinsed out the empty wine bottle and deposited it in the recycling bin in the garage.

"If you wanted to start on the dishes, that would be great," I replied.

Jen and my dad wandered into the kitchen next and each also offered to help.  I refused their offers and they sat down at the table with my mom, and we all chatted while I finished up my pie crust and wrapped it in plastic wrap to rest in the fridge.  I helped Brody clean up the mess and we all moved to the living room, where we spent the rest of the evening.

I was brushing my hair in our bathroom, getting ready for bed, when Brody stuck his head in the open door.  I smiled at him in the mirror and came in, wrapping his arms around my waist.  "Thank you for getting my parents here," I said, leaning back against him.  "You're amazing."

"I'm glad you're happy," he replied.

I set my brush down and turned to face him, slipping my arms around his neck.  "I am," I said, pushing my fingers through the hair at the back of his head.  "I love you."

"I love you, too," Brody replied, before he leaned his head down to kiss me.  He lifted me easily onto the counter, bringing me up to eye level.  His fingers traveled up my back and into my hair, tugging it away from my face and neck.  He lowered his head to my neck, kissing and nibbling from my jaw down to my shoulder.  I sighed and wrapped my legs around his hips, pulling him even closer to me.

"I absolutely loved how excited and surprised you looked when you saw them," he said softly, taking a break from kissing my neck.  His fingers slid beneath the hem of my shirt and danced lightly across my lower back.  "I love surprising you."

"I love your surprises," I replied.  "But can we maybe not talk about my parents right now?"

Brody laughed, dropping his head onto my shoulder.  "Good call," he agreed.  "How about we talk about what I'd like to do to you right now instead?"

"Mmm, I like the sound of that much better," I murmured.  Brody's lips were on my neck again, tracing the same path they'd taken before, but this time from my shoulder back up to my jaw.  He nipped at my earlobe before softly detailing everything he planned to do to me.  While he did that, he unhooked my bra and brushed his thumbs over my nipples, making me shiver.  Then he lifted me off the counter and took me out of the bathroom, setting me carefully on the bed.  We quickly pulled our clothes off, not wasting any time there.  Brody followed through on everything he'd said he'd do, and I found it ridiculously hard to stay relatively quiet.

When we were done, we laid tangled together diagonally across the bed, breathing hard.  "One of the reasons I never wanted to be in a relationship was I was worried about having boring sex...or not having any," Brody said randomly.  "I'm glad that hasn't happened."

"Yet," I corrected him, teasingly.  "It hasn't happened yet."  Brody laughed and we untangled ourselves so we could actually get in bed.  I was relieved for the distraction, because thinking about tomorrow was stressing me out a little, and I felt a lot more relaxed now.  We got comfortable, and for once I fell asleep quickly.

I woke up fairly early the next morning.  Brody was still in bed, but he opened his eyes when I rolled over.  "Good morning, beautiful," he said sleepily.

"Good morning," I replied, smiling.  I had slept well, and even though it was early, I was in a better mood than most mornings.

"Don't get up yet," he requested.  "Come here."  I turned onto my side and scooted closer to him, settling my back against his chest.  We cuddled for about 15 minutes before I wiggled away and got out of bed, despite Brody's protests.

"I'm hungry," I complained, which made him laugh.

I was surprised to find that I was the only one awake so far.  Brody ended up coming down while I was making myself some coffee.  "Take your coffee and go relax," he urged me.  "Let me make breakfast."  He didn't have to work hard to talk me into it, and I happily went and turned on the fireplace and curled up in the recliner next to it with my coffee.

By the time Brody finished breakfast, everyone else was up.  After we ate, I kicked everyone out of the kitchen, including Brody.  I did some more prep work and rolled out my pie crust.  Once I had my pies in the oven I had a little time to relax.  I ended up going for a walk with my mom and Jen.  We wandered around the neighborhood in the snow that was falling.  Because of the snow and cold, we only walked about 20 minutes but it was nice to get a little fresh air.

I checked on my pies when we got home and then got in the shower.  I showered quickly and got dressed, then headed downstairs and got my pies out.  Brody came in while I was getting my turkey prepped.  "What can I do?" he asked.  I thrust a knife at him and asked him to prepare the fruit and cheese plate and get the veggies out.  He did as I asked without questions, and I loved him even more.  My dad wandered in while I was getting the turkey in the oven and asked if he could help.  I refused his offer, but he decided to help anyway.

While he was helping Brody, he asked, "So, how's business?"  I rolled my eyes, not surprised that my dad would go for business talk while prepping Thanksgiving dinner.

"Business is great," Brody replied cheerfully.  "I don't know if Liv's told you, but I just bought a second building.  So I've spent the last couple weeks getting it furnished, and we start moving on Monday.  I'm moving about half my staff over and then once that happens I'm going to create more specialized departments.  I'm pretty excited about it, actually."  Brody continued to explain to my how things worked now and what his vision was.

"That sounds much more efficient, good thinking," my dad said, nodding.  He asked Brody a couple more questions and I tuned out.  Once I got the turkey in the oven, I had a little more time to relax.  We had about an hour before the rest of the guests were arriving and I headed upstairs to do my hair and makeup.

Pete and his wife Serena were the first arrive.  They didn't want to travel this year and were planning on just spending a low-key day together.  Brody had invited them over for dinner, and they'd decided to join us.  Brody took what appeared to be some sort of dessert from Serena and headed toward the kitchen with it.

Eddie greeted them cheerfully, jumping up from where he had been napping in his bed near the fireplace.   "Hey buddy!" Pete said, scratching his ears.  Eddie wasted no time in flopping on the ground and rolling over so Pete could rub his belly.  "How's he doing?" he asked me.

"He's great," I replied with a smile.  "We love him, and he settled in pretty quickly.  I've been glad to have him a couple nights when Brody's gotten home late."

"Good," Pete said.  "We're glad he went to such a good home."

I was about to respond when the doorbell rang again, so I excused myself and went to answer the door, because I had no idea where Brody was.  Ken was at the door, and he handed me two bottles of wine.  "Brody told me you had the food under control but I didn't want to come empty handed," he said with a shrug.

"Well thank you," I replied, smiling and hugging him.  "You would have been fine, but I appreciate it anyway!"  I stepped aside so he could come in, and I was shutting the door when I saw Thalia's car pulling up in front.  I handed the wine back to Ken and asked him if he'd take it into the kitchen, then waited for Thalia and Tim.

Once everyone was inside, I went into the kitchen to grab the cheese and fruit plates.  Brody and Ken were standing in the kitchen, looking worried.  "What?" I asked.  Neither of them said anything.  "What?" I demanded again.

"Liv, there's...a problem," Brody started.  I gave him a look, and he hurriedly continued.  "Well, the oven seems to have stopped working."

"What?"

"I walked past it and it wasn't warm, so I opened it up and it was cold and the turkey is still very much uncooked."

I pursed my lips and walked over to the oven.  I opened the oven door and confirmed what Brody had said.  I pushed all the buttons and got no response.  "But..." I said, starting to feel a little panicky.  "But...what are we going to do?"

Brody shrugged.  After a quick, slightly heated discussion (because my perfectly planned Thanksgiving was collapsing around me), I finally said that I couldn't decide and told Brody to make a decision.  Brody made the logical decision to go into town to see if he could get a fully cooked turkey anywhere at this point.  "Are you okay?" he asked me with concern.

I shrugged miserably.  "There's nothing we can do about it."

Brody hugged me and said, "I know how hard you worked to make today perfect.  We'll figure it out.  Do you want to come with me?"

"No," I replied, shaking my head.  "I'll stay here and entertain our guests."

I forced a cheerful smile while I told our guests what happened.  It took Brody almost 90 minutes to return, and when he walked in the door with pizza boxes in his hands, I could have cried.  "I'm sorry," he said softly to me.  "It was all I could get."  Inexplicably, I began to laugh.  Brody looked at me like I was crazy, and maybe I was.  But I couldn't stop laughing.

We ended up eating everything I had successfully made along with the pizza.  It wasn't even close to ideal, and I was disappointed, but at least it was kind of funny.  Everything I had made turned out great, and while they didn't exactly go with the pizza, everyone ate them anyway.  We all also had a good laugh about everything.

In the end, it ended up being one of my favorite Thanksgivings.  It was so nice to have both my family and Brody's family there (especially since my parents were a surprise!).  After Pete, Serena, Thalia, Tim, and Ken left, Brody and I cleaned up.  Once we had everything cleaned up, I leaned against the counter and sighed, then chuckled.  Brody smirked.  "I guess we need a new oven," he said.

I laughed.  "I guess we do."

Moving Up in the World

This post will wrap up Liv and Brody's story in current time.  It's ridiculously long, and I'm not sorry! Tomorrow evening I'll be posting the final post, and then you'll probably hear from me again in about a week or so.
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The rest of our time on Turtle Island was just as amazing as the first evening we spent there.  I was sad to leave, but at the same time I was looking forward to getting home.  Isn't that how the end of vacation usually goes?

While we were checking out, the manager began to tell us about their return trip package.  I wandered away, certain I didn't want to have any idea how much this trip had cost.  I looked out at the beach in front of us, watching the waves gently lap at the sand.

"Liv?" Brody called.  I turned.  "What do you think about coming back next year for our anniversary?"  I considered this.  I would love to come back, but I was still hung up on what I imagined it had cost.  "Don't overthink it," Brody said, smiling.  "Do you want to come back?"

"Yes," I said, finally.  "I do."

Brody turned his attention back to the manager and they talked quietly for a couple more minutes, then we were ready to go.

I managed to actually get a little sleep on the long, overnight flight this time.  We had a longer layover at LAX this time, and we passed the time by talking about our favorite parts of the trip.  For being a relatively small private island, there was no shortage of things to do.  We'd hiked and biked around the island, snorkeled, tried stand up paddleboarding in the lagoon (Brody's favorite and my second favorite), and went horseback riding (my favorite).  We'd also paddled sea kayaks around the lagoon and taken a couple sunset cruises around the island.  I had been pleasantly surprised by the amount of things to do right there, and we were definitely never bored.  And we still got in plenty of time just laying on the beach or in our hammock.

"I'm ready to go home," I admitted, "But I'm not ready to go back to work.  Can you run your business remotely?  Let's go live on an island."

Brody laughed.  "Maybe someday," he said.  "Because that does sound nice."

We finally got home around 10pm on Sunday.  We'd gained back the day we'd lost on the way there, thanks to the international dateline.  We'd both taken Monday and Tuesday off and I was thankful to have the time to adjust.

"Wow," Brody said, as we dragged our luggage into the house.  "I'm really glad we cleaned before we left.  It's nice to come back and have it so clean."

"Told you," I replied.  I was tired from traveling, but I was also starving.  We'd stopped to pick up pizza on the way home, and I left my suitcase just inside the door and took the pizza box from Brody.  I got plates out while Brody carried our suitcases upstairs.  Elle had washed all our clothes so we didn't have any laundry to do, which was awesome.   We ate our pizza on the couch, then showered and went to bed.  I wanted to take advantage of being tired to try to get to sleep at a normal time.

It didn't take long for us to settle back into our normal routine.  The brand newness of being married faded as our lives returned to normal, but something still felt a bit different (in a good way).  Even though Brody spent an unmanageable amount of time at work for over a week after we got back, he made sure he was always home before I went to bed.  Even if it was just a few minutes to talk about our days and say goodnight, it was nice to feel like such a priority.

A week and half after our return, we had plans to go pick up Eddie.  We wanted to do it on a Thursday evening so that someone would be home with him for 3 days while he adjusted.  Brody left work at a normal time for the first time since we got back, and we enjoyed dinner out together before going to Pete's house to pick him up.

We'd driven into the city together that morning, so I stayed at work until Brody came to pick me up.  I felt like I was still catching up on emails and paperwork from being gone for three weeks, so it was nice to have a little extra time to get some of that done.

I was surprised when I heard a knock at my door.  Nearly everyone was gone for the day already, aside from a couple people that had later family appointments.  I looked up and saw Brody standing there.  He looked good leaning casually against the doorframe, still in his suit from work, and my thoughts immediately went to a not-safe-for-work place.  I bit my lip and looked up at him.  "What are you doing here?" I asked.  "How did you get in?"

"I called you, but you didn't answer," he replied.  "So I came in.  Your admin assistant was on her way out and she recognized me and let me in."

I looked down at my phone and discovered I had two missed calls and a text from him.  It was still on silent from my work day and I'd been so absorbed in my paperwork that I hadn't even noticed it light up.  "I'm sorry," I said, frowning.  "I didn't even notice it ring."

"Don't worry about it," he said, waving my apology off.  "Do you need a few more minutes to finish up?"

"I just need to finish this email quick, and I'm ready," I replied.  He nodded and stepped into my office, making himself comfortable in one of the armchairs.  Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him tug on his tie to loosen it then unbutton the top button of his shirt.  I quickly finished up my email, hit send, then shut down my computer for the weekend.

I stood and stretched, then grabbed my purse from under my desk.  Brody looked comfortable in my chair, and also exhausted.  I hated that he had to work so hard to catch up after we took a vacation.  He'd been trying so hard to get home before I went to bed that he was leaving the house by 5am at absolute latest every day.  He'd also gone into work on Saturday and Sunday this past weekend. "Ready, handsome?" I asked holding a hand out to him.

"Ready for bed," he joked, with a flat chuckle.

"I know," I said sympathetically.  "You look worn out.  Are you working all weekend again?"

"I'm going to work from home on Saturday, I have some stuff I haven't been able to get to this week because every time I sit down to do it, I get interrupted.  But I'm taking Sunday off completely.  I need a day off."  He took my hand and stood, then impulsively pulled me into a hug.  "Thanks for being patient while I get caught up."

"I think taking Sunday off is a good idea," I replied.  "And you're welcome.  It's easier to be patient when I still feel like you're making time for me, even if it's just a couple minutes every day.  I know it's temporary."

While we walked out to the car, I took a second to marvel at how far we'd come in regards to Brody's work schedule and our relationship.  He'd taken huge steps to balance things better and to make sure I knew I was a priority, and I'd developed a much better understanding of his work schedule and the demands of his job which helped me with my patience.  But I'd be lying if I said I was always breezy about it.  I still hated when he had to travel, especially on the very short notice that he got.  I got tired of eating dinner by myself like I had for the last week.  But it was never for too long, and getting to spend more time with him in between helped.

Once we had received our drinks and placed our orders, Brody leaned forward a little and grinned.  His eyes, though tired, looked a little more lively than they had while he was sitting in my office.  "What?" I asked curiously.

"Remember when we talked awhile ago about me buying a second office building?  And housing some of the indirect departments there, like HR and marketing?"

"Yes," I replied, smirking.  "If I recall correctly, that was my idea."

"It was, and it was a great idea," he said, nodding.  "Well, I found a building I want to buy.  I stumbled upon it completely by accident.  I had a meeting with a client's attorney and the building next to his was for lease.  I called and inquired if they'd be willing to sell and it turns out that they are.  It's a really great location.  Not too far away, a bit out of downtown with some parking, but still accessible by bus."  He looked excited, and I grinned.

"So you're going to buy it, right?"

"If you're okay with it, I'd like to use some of what I got from selling my dad's company.  That's our money really, not just business money, so I want to make sure you're okay with it.  I know it was your idea, but that was awhile ago.  It's going to take about two thirds of what I got from the sale to buy the building outright and get it furnished."

I did the math in my head quickly.  "Go for it," I said.  His grin grew bigger.  "You look so excited," I said, laughing.  "What are you going to do with all your extra space?"

His eyes lit up.  It looked like he had been just waiting for me to ask that.  "We've gotten a bunch of resumes lately.  I want to hire, and I want to do a little restructuring.  Right now, everyone does a little bit of everything.  You have a client, and you take the phone calls.  You do the meetings.  You do the press releases.  You organize the appearances.  I want to specialize departments.  So if you have a client, you are their contact person.  You do the meetings, take the phone calls, do the communication--but you have a department to write press releases.  You have a department to make the phone calls chasing and organizing appearances.  You're free to spend more time keeping your client happy and making them look good.

"Each department will have a team lead that runs the show in their department--tracks workload and hands out assignments as they come in from the agents, trains new staff, manages hours and schedules.  It's going to be so much more efficient.  We'll be able to take on new clients, everyone will get to specialize in doing what they're good at, and I hope client satisfaction and our reputation will get even better."

I smiled.  His enthusiasm was contagious.  "So then how will your job change?" I asked.

"It'll change significantly.  I don't want to ever get so far removed from the day to day work that I'm out of touch with what it takes, but it's also not realistic for me to hold a full client load either.  I'll only keep 2-3, probably.  The department leads will report directly to me so I'll be supervising them and helping them problem solve and troubleshoot.  I hope that Pete will be my agent team lead.  I'm also going to handle all the contract negotiations, both the new ones and the renewals.  My main job will be bringing in new business and getting them started."

I rolled this around in my head.  "That sounds like it's perfect for you," I agreed.  I paused, then asked, "So...what does that all mean for us?"

"I'm glad you asked that," he said.  He reached for my hand across the table and smiled again.  "My hope is once I have the restructuring done and everyone in place, my schedule will be more consistent and a bit more like a normal work schedule.  I'll never have a 9-5 job, but I'm hoping that I'll be looking at around 50 hours a week instead of 65-70+.  More free weekends.  Dinner with my wife.  And eventually, more time to spend with any kids we might have."

He pausing, giving me a chance to process all that, then continued.  "I'll still have to travel, because I feel strongly about doing contract negotiations in person whenever possible, but it will be more scheduled travel and less last minute travel.  I hope eventually to not even be on call except when we need coverage because someone is sick or out unexpectedly."

We had to pause our conversation because our food was arriving.  We thanked our server and once he was gone, I looked up at Brody.  "This sounds awesome," I said sincerely.  "I'm really excited."

"But?" Brody asked.  I blushed.  I hated his ability to read me.

"Well, is it safe to assume that it's going to be crazy until you get everything settled?  And that it will probably take quite awhile?"  I paused, then added, "That didn't come out quite right.  I love this plan, and I love the idea of you having better hours and getting to focus on the aspects of the job you really love.  I really do think it's great.  And if that means it has to be crazy for now to get better in the future, I'm okay with that.  I just want to make sure I have a good idea what to expect so I'm not surprised by it."

"I knew what you meant," Brody assured me.  "And yes, it's going to take awhile to get to that point.  I need to buy and furnish the office and decide who exactly I want to move, then get them moved.  I need to hire, train, and figure out who is going to be in which department and who the team leads will be.  It's going to be a huge restructuring and I need to make sure we're ready before we start transitioning, otherwise it's going to be a disaster.  I'd say 6 months at the absolute minimum--and that's if we get a lot of really great candidates, hire quickly, and retain them all.  9-12 months is probably a lot more realistic.  But I don't anticipate it will be too much crazier than it already is.  Moving will probably be a rough couple weeks, as will starting a bunch of new people, but I think it should be kind of how it has been--good weeks and bad weeks.  Maybe a few more bad weeks."

I smiled at him.  "Thank you.  I can handle another year if it means things will just get better after that.  And I'm really excited for you, this is huge."

Brody nodded.  "It really is.  When my dad sent me up here, I never thought I'd end up actually owning my branch.  I always wanted to own my own company, but I thought I'd work for my dad for another 10 years before I got out and started my own tiny company.  I definitely didn't anticipate needing a second office building and having as many staff as I do.  It's crazy."

"I'm really proud of you," I said.  "You've worked so hard, and you're so good at what you do."  I had to bite my lip to keep from laughing when I noticed the pink creeping up Brody's cheeks.  He didn't blush often.  It was funny to see him humble, since he was normally so cocky with everything else.

"Well, the feeling is mutual," he said, quickly directing the discussion away from himself.  "You should talk, since you were only at your job for 10 months before they started recruiting you to be a supervisor."

"We're not talking about me, we're talking about you," I said, laughing.

When we were finished with our dinner, we went directly to Pete's house.  When we rang the doorbell, one sharp bark rang out.  A couple seconds passed, then we heard a second and a third.  Then silence, followed by Pete's wife, Serena, opening the door.  "Hi, come in," she greeted us.  "Sorry, we were downstairs and didn't hear the doorbell.  We did, however, hear Eddie."

Eddie's ears perked up at his name, and he glanced quickly at Serena, then back to us.  As his ears relaxed, his tail started to wag.  "Do you remember them?" Pete asked Eddie, coming into the room.  Eddie continued to wag his tail until Serena released him and he bounded over to us, skidding to a less-than-graceful stop in front of us.  He sniffed the hand I offered him, then dropped his head and bumped it against my fingers.  I stroked his head and scratched behind his ears as he leaned his head harder against my hand.

Then he walked over to Brody and pressed his head against Brody's leg.  "I think he's ready for you to take him home," Serena said, laughing.

"We're definitely ready," Brody said, grinning and crouching down to pet Eddie.  We chatted with Pete and Serena for a couple minutes, then Pete helped us bring Eddie's stuff out to our car.  He had a big bag of food, his crate, his bed, a bunch of toys, and random other dog things.  "Thanks for keeping him for us until we got back and got settled," Brody said to Pete as we went out and got Eddie into the car.

"Not a problem, I'm just glad he's going somewhere that I know he'll be well-cared for.  And he really seems to like you guys already."  Pete turned to me and smiled.  "And I'm an idiot.  Congratulations on your wedding.  Brody showed me a couple of the pictures that people got and posted on Facebook.  It looked wonderful."

"Thank you," I said, smiling.  "It was a pretty great day."  We grabbed the last of Eddie's things and said goodbye to Pete and Serena, then headed for home.  Eddie was perfectly behaved on the drive home.

When we got there, I brought him first into the yard while Brody brought all his stuff in.  He sniffed around the entire front yard, taking his time to explore.  When he was ready, I brought him in.  He sat by the door and looked around inquisitively, and I imagined him planning his exploration before starting.  He looked up at me and I gave him the command to release him.  He stood and began wandering around, nose to ground, occasionally raising his head to look around and sniff the air.  He thoroughly smelled the floor, the furniture, and everything in between.

"Where should we put his crate?" Brody asked, motioning to it.

"Maybe up in our room?  At least for now, until he gets used to us and used to being here, and we learn his schedule?"  Brody nodded and carried it upstairs.  Eddie followed him, his tongue flopping out as he happily trotted upstairs on Brody's heels.  They stayed up there while Eddie explored, then came back down.  Eddie went to the top of the basement stairs and whined, so I walked over and he followed me downstairs.

When he finally finished exploring, I followed him back upstairs and sat down on the couch next to Brody.  Brody had put Eddie's bed in the corner of the living and he walked over and laid down.  He was only there for a couple minutes before he stood and paced around.  He spent an hour laying, then getting up and pacing.  Finally, he settled on the floor directly under where I was sitting and closed his eyes.


Eddie took a few days to settle in, and I was glad I could be home with him for a full three days. By the time he'd been with us for a week, he acted like he'd lived with us forever.  Meanwhile, Brody put his plan into motion.  He put an offer on the office building and spent nearly two weeks negotiating before they finally settled on a price and accepted his final offer.  Then he got to work on figuring out the rest.

Three weeks after our return, I was approached by Jake.  "I have a proposition for you," he said, inviting himself in, closing the door, and sitting down.

"Let's hear it," I said warily.

"You want to learn more, and become a better clinician, right?"

"Yes," I replied, having no idea where he was going with it.

He nodded.  "I have an opportunity that I think will be a little more up your alley than management is, at least at the moment."

I didn't say anything, waiting patiently for him to get to the point.  "One of the local charter high schools has approached us.  They want to contract with us to have a school-based therapist.  We tried to get a contract with Denver Public Schools when they started having school-based therapists, but we lost out to a couple of the bigger agencies, so this is a really important opportunity for us to show that we have what it takes.  I need to put someone in there that I can trust to navigate the school politics, work independently, form relationships with the school staff, and of course provide exceptional service to the students.  I feel very strongly that you're the person to do it."

I rolled this around in my head for several seconds, and it was apparently long enough to make Jake nervous.  "What do you think?  Are you interested?"

I was interested.  I was very interested.  "I'd like to get some more information," I replied carefully.  "I have a client in 5 minutes, can we talk more later?  I need to get my questions together."

Jake agreed, and we set an appointment at the end of the day.  Between clients, I wrote up a list of all my questions.  When we met, I was prepared, and so was he.  We talked about billing expectations, schedule (mostly school days and school hours, with the expectation of family work outside school hours when appropriate), pay (a pretty decent raise, even with the decrease in working days), flexibility (not as much as my current position, but not completely inflexible either), timeline (the school wanted someone to start after Christmas break), and what kind of set up the position would entail.

"We also have a couple trainings we'd like to send you to, one in December and one in the spring.  We'd pay for the trainings and your accommodations, so it's a great opportunity to do a little more learning," he said.  "The school is requiring a certain number of training and education hours, and it's more than what your board requires for continuing education, so you'll get all your CEUs plus some for free.  And aside from these two that we've already discussed, you'll get quite a bit of choice in what kind of trainings you go to."

I considered this.  I'd have to give up my three day weekends, but I'd have most of the summer off and all the other school breaks.  Seemed like a pretty sweet trade off.  What would I do with an entire summer off?  I'm sure I would think of plenty of things.  The training opportunity was huge.  CEUs could be expensive and if I built that cost into my salary, it bumped it up considerably.  More than anything, I was once again flattered that I was the one they wanted for this.  To top it off, I'd applied for several school-based positions when I'd first started applying for jobs out here, because that's what I really wanted to do.

"Well, what do you think?" Jake asked.  "What other questions can I answer for you?"

"Do I have to interview?"

"Not for us.  The position is technically a lateral move because you won't have any supervisory responsibilities, so we don't have to interview. If you want the job, it's yours.  The school wants to meet whoever we choose to make sure it will be a good fit, but it won't be a formal interview."  I nodded.  "If you want to take a couple days to think about it, you can let me know."

I shook my head and smiled.  "No, I don't think I need to.  I'd like to take the position.  When can I meet the school staff?"

Jake grinned and nodded happily.  "I'll call them and set something up.  Is your Outlook calendar up to date?"

"It is, and if you  need to schedule something on a Friday, I'll come in for it," I replied.

Jake shook my hand and I went back to my office and gathered my stuff.  I was excited enough that I barely made it to my car before fishing out my phone.  Brody answered on the second ring.  "Guess what?" I asked.

"What?" he replied, sounding confused.

"We're both moving up in the world!"

Honeymooning

After this post, there are two posts left.  One will finish up the honeymoon and their homecoming, and then the very last post will take a jump into the future (it's okay, you don't have to pretend to be surprised).  I anticipate a post on Sunday and the final post on Monday.  If you missed the post I put up late last night, make sure you scroll down to see that one.  I definitely exceeded my goal of 5 posts this week!  
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I was surprised at how many of guests had brunch with us.  It was delicious and it was nice to see everyone one last time before we all went our separate ways.

Between visiting with people after we ate and getting my parents to the airport, we didn't get home until almost 8.  For all the time we'd spent in the bed that morning, I was surprised how tired I was.  Brody and I brought our bags and gifts in from his SUV, leaving the couple boxes of random stuff from the wedding (leftover favors, etc) on the dining room table to deal with tomorrow.  Then we put our suitcases for our honeymoon in the car so we'd be ready to go the next day.  For once, Brody had packed prior to the morning we were leaving, and I was glad I wouldn't want to kill him a mere two days into our  marriage.

I collected some snacks (some fruit and cheese we needed to eat or throw out before we left, crackers, and a few other random things that needed to be eaten) while Brody opened a bottle of wine, and we took our makeshift light dinner into the living room to open our gifts.  Luckily we'd received several prior to the wedding and had a lot of cards, so we didn't have many physical gifts from the wedding to open.  I made a careful list of what we received and tucked it into my purse with a box of thank you cards so we could use part of our really long flight to get them taken care of right away.

Our flight didn't leave until 5 on Monday, so after sleeping in and enjoying French toast, eggs, and hash browns for breakfast, courtesy of my amazing husband (which still feels weird to say), I did some cleaning.  "What are you doing?" Brody asked as I got the cleaning supplies out.  "We're on our honeymoon."

"We're going to be exhausted from traveling when we get home," I pointed out.  "I don't want to have to spend my last day off cleaning and doing 3 weeks worth of laundry, do you?  This way, everything will be nice and clean when we get back and we can spend the last day of our vacation relaxing and being jet lagged."

"That's actually a really good point," Brody said.  He grabbed the broom and helped me clean.  With his help, we were done by lunchtime, except for the last two loads of clothes that were in the washer and the dryer.

"Will you be mad if I make a couple of work calls?" Brody asked, glancing at the clock.  "I just thought of something I need to tell Pete before I'm unreachable for two weeks.  I'll call, not email, because if I log into my email, I'll get sucked in."

"Go ahead," I said.  "I'm just going to figure out something to throw together for lunch."  He kissed my forehead and disappeared towards his office while I scanned the meager contents of the fridge.  I'd planned very carefully so we would have as little as possible to throw out before we left for two weeks, and there were only a few random things left.

I ended up sautéing some chicken, halved cherry tomatoes, mushrooms, and garlic in some olive oil and a splash of what was left of the white wine we didn't quite finish the night before.  I was draining some pasta when Brody came back into the kitchen.  He helped me finish up and we sat to eat our last meal at home for awhile.  Not long after, we made our way out the door and headed towards the airport.  

We had a short layover at LAX, then we were on another plane for almost 12 hours.  It was seriously the longest 12 hours of my life.  It was also probably the best flight of my life.  Our Air New Zealand first class seats were self contained little cubbies with personal TV screens.  The seat felt like a leather recliner with an ottoman, and it folded completely flat to sleep.  Despite that, I barely slept on the overnight flight.

We spent the first day and a half of our trip on "mainland" Fiji at a resort that was nice but not extravagant.  Brody had figured we'd spend most of our time there sleeping at weird times, trying to adjust to the time change, so he had smartly booked a cheaper (at least by Fiji standards) room at a fairly basic resort.  We landed at 5am Fiji time (which was 18 hours ahead of Denver, so it was actually Wednesday).  I felt like we'd completely skipped Tuesday, which we essentially had.

Once we were to the resort and checked in, we went to bed.  We slept for three hours, then got up.  I was groggy and crabby and hungry and felt bad that I was so grumpy--especially that I was grumpy while on a trip to Fiji.  We showered and went to find some food, and by the time we finished eating, I was feeling a little more normal.

We spent the rest of the day relaxing on the beach, trying to stay awake as best we could.  We ended up in bed around 7:30, immediately following dinner, too tired and jet-lagged to even have sex on the first day of our honeymoon.

When I woke early up the next morning, I felt significantly better.  Still a little tired and disoriented, but much more awake and cheerful.  Brody did not agree.  He'd actually slept on the plane on the way here, so he wasn't quite as exhausted as I was the day before--which had been good for him yesterday, but bad when he tried to go to sleep.  I had been so exhausted that I had slept through the night, but he had tossed and turned all night and hadn't gotten much sleep.

I let him sleep awhile longer and got up and got dressed.  I went in search of breakfast, and was soon eating some fresh fruit and bread on a patio overlooking the ocean.  After breakfast, I wandered around the resort for awhile, then went back to our room and read on the small balcony in the sun until Brody got up.  He got up just in time to check out, so we packed up our stuff and dropped our suitcases off in the lobby before we went to eat lunch.

After lunch, we got to relax on the beach for about an hour before we took off for Turtle Island.  Brody was in a much better mood now, and I felt like we were starting to settle into our trip.

We had to take a seaplane to Turtle Island, which was equal parts really cool and absolutely terrifying.  We landed late in the afternoon with one other couple, and we were welcomed warmly by the staff.

After showing us to our "bure" (villa), Elle introduced herself as our "bure mama".  Essentially, she would be our personal concierge for our whole trip.  "Is there anything you would like right now?" she asked us.  When we looked at her blankly, she suggested we pick out a bottle of wine.  She led us back towards what seemed to be the main part of the resort and into a huge wine cellar.  We picked out a bottle of champagne and asked to have it after dinner.  Elle promised it would be chilled and delivered after dinner, and asked if we wanted to join the community dinner or have dinner in our bure.  We elected to have dinner in our bure that night, as we were both still pretty tired.

When we got back to our bure, Brody looked at me.  "What would you like to do?" It was late afternoon and we didn't have a whole lot of sunlight left.

"I want to take a nap on the beach," I said, looking out the front windows.  We had our own private beach just yards from the door.  Brody agreed and we quickly made our way down to the beach.

Even though the sun would be setting soon, I still slathered sunscreen on my pale skin.  Getting sunburned early in the trip would not be fun.  I handed the bottle to Brody and turned around so he could put some on my back.  He carefully rubbed it into my shoulders and down my back.  As he slid his down my ribs, his fingers slipped under the sides of my bikini top, just a little.  As his hands came back up they slipped under again, this time a little further.  I sighed contentedly and on their next pass down, his fingers went just a little further.  When his hands came back up, he dropped the pretense and just slid his fingers all the way beneath my top.  He massaged the sides of my breasts, inching further until he trapped each nipple between the index and middle fingers of each hand.

I leaned back against him and lifted one arm, wrapping my fingers around the back of his neck, then sliding them up into his hair.  I twisted it between my fingers and tugged, and he groaned softly, his mouth inches from my ear.  He continued to massage my breasts, tugging and rolling my nipples between his fingers until my legs started to get a little weak.

One of his hands left my breast and I exhaled in disappointment.  Brody chuckled softly at my response, then tugged at the knot of my bikini top at the back of my neck.  He quickly worked the strings loose and let them fall, the small triangles of fabric dropping off my breasts and hanging down my torso, now held in place only by the tie at the middle of my back.

I had to admit that I was not only a little nervous, but also excited at the fact that though our beach was private, someone could accidentally stumble onto it and see a lot more than they bargained for.  My nap on the beach was completely forgotten when Brody moved the hand that untied my top down to my hip, then ran his fingertip along my stomach, just under the edge of the fabric there.  I leaned more heavily against him and shut my eyes, now completely unconcerned with the slight risk of getting caught.

Brody's fingers moved further beneath my swim suit bottoms and finally made it where I desperately wanted them.  I moaned as he pressed one finger against me and started making slow circles with it.  Meanwhile, his other hand was still busy at my breast.

When my legs became unsteady, Brody quietly suggested we go back up to our bure.  We made it as far as the veranda, where we collapsed in a tangled heap on the outdoor daybed there.  My hands reached for Brody's swim trunks, but he pushed them away and tugged my bikini bottoms off before lowering his head between my thighs.  Conscious of the fact that were outside and not too far from the public beach, I clapped my hand over my mouth to help quiet my moans and gasps.

He didn't stop until I'd had two shuddering orgasms.  Then he made his way back up my body.  "What time did Elle say she'd bring dinner?" he asked quietly.

"7:30," I mumbled, still dazed. My heavy-lidded eyes slid back towards Brody, and I saw him check his watch.

"We're okay then," he replied.  He lowered his head again and I shivered as he sucked on my earlobe.  Brody gently pushed my thighs apart with his knee and settled between my hips.  "I love you, Olivia," he said softly, his gaze holding mine with a fiery intensity.

"I love--" I started to reply, but my words were cut off by a strangled moan as he thrust into me.

We took advantage of the outdoor shower to clean up and rinse off the sunscreen I no longer needed, since our little tryst had taken us well past sunset and the beach was no longer appealing.  Once we were dressed again, we curled up in the hammock outside our bure.  We stayed there, cuddling and talking until Elle arrived with our dinner and two glasses of wine, which she explained were selected by the chef to pair with our meals.  She set everything up on the small table on our veranda and we carefully extricated ourselves from the hammock and sat down to eat.  The meal was delicious and consisted mostly of fresh seafood and fresh, local fruits and root vegetables.

We had just finished when Elle returned with our champagne, two champagne flutes, and a plate of small assorted fruit tarts.  "Dessert," she said cheerfully.  "Did you enjoy your dinner?"

"It was amazing," Brody said sincerely.  "Thank you."  Elle cleared our dinner plates and instructed us to leave our dessert dishes on the veranda for her to come back and get later.

We sat and enjoyed the champagne, which was perfectly chilled and went well with our light dessert. The air had cooled slightly and the humidity had decreased, and it was heavenly to just relax in the beautiful night air together.

Over an hour later, Brody divided the last of the champagne into our glasses and left the bottle with our dessert plate and forks on the table on the veranda.  It was getting a little chilly for me in my flimsy sundress so I gladly followed him inside.  I giggled as I bumped into the doorframe on the way in.

Brody turned and lifted an eyebrow. "Are you drunk, Mrs. Adler?" he teased me.

"Far from it," I replied.  "I'm slightly tipsy.  And always clumsy."

He laughed.  "That's very true," he admitted.  "Come here, clumsy."  He set both our champagne glasses down and wrapped his arms around me.  I relaxed against him and slid my hands under the back of shirt, gently massaging the muscles of his lower back.  He sighed and rested his cheek on top of my head, and we stood like for a long time.  "I love you, Liv," he said softly.

"I love you, too," I replied.  "So much.  And I'm seriously impressed with your honeymoon planning abilities."

"To be honest, so am I," Brody said, laughing.

We finished our champagne curled up on the couch together, then got into bed.  Brody seemed about ready to sleep, but when I kissed him he quickly responded, curling one hand around the back of my neck and wrapping his other arm around me, pulling me tightly against him.  We had easy, comfortable, leisurely sex.  Neither of us was in hurry and it was far more about connecting than getting off.  Of course, that happened too, but this time it wasn't the point.  It was the first time I'd ever kept my eyes open and on his the entire time, and even in the dark room, the eye contact completely changed it for me.

 "Jesus," Brody breathed, nearly an hour later, as we lay spent, foreheads pressed together and limbs tangled.

"Yeah," I replied.  I had nothing else to say, but that was enough.

Something About You Being My Wife

We had planned to take the shuttle back to the hotels and get a ride back here in the morning to get Brody's SUV, but Damien was sober and had ridden the shuttle here and offered to drive us back in Brody's car.  Brody and I climbed into the very back, and I swore as I wrestled my dress in through the door.  He sat in the middle seat and wrapped his arm around me, and I snuggled against him.

"Tired, baby?" Brody asked.  I nodded, yawning as if to prove it.  The drive back to the hotel seemed to take forever, but Damien finally parked in the parking lot.  Brody helped me climb out of the SUV, then took my hand as we walked in.  We parted from Damien, Kinsley, Jack, and Alyssa at the elevators, going to the second bank that went to the top floor.

"How tired are you?" Brody asked, once we were in the elevator.  He raised his eyebrows, his eyes sparkling.

"Not too tired," I replied, smirking.  "I do need a shower though, I feel disgusting."

"Can I help?" he asked, tugging me over to him.

"Only if you're actually helpful!"

"I promise I will be," he assured me, tilting his head down to kiss me.  We kissed until the elevator doors opened, then we made our way to our corner suite.  Once we were in our suite, I kicked my shoes off, took the combs out of my hair, then started on the bobby pins Kinsley had added to get my hair off my neck.  I watched Brody take off his shoes, his jacket, his tie, his belt, and his vest, tossing them all against the plush chair in the corner.  Then he undid his cufflinks, zipping them carefully into his bag, and unbuttoned his shirt.

"How many of those things are in there?" he asked, watching me pull pin after pin out of my hair.

"Probably close to 100," I estimated.

"We're going to be here all night just undoing your hair," he said, laughing.  He stepped over to me and moved to the side I wasn't working on, then began to help pull the pins out.  The deftness of his fingers surprised me, as he gently but quickly pulled pins out of my hair, setting them on the dresser with the pile I had created.  Within minutes we were finished and he was unbuttoning and unzipping my dress and helping me step out of it.  "You're gorgeous," he said, for probably the 50th time today.

I smirked.  "My hair is probably a disaster, I'm sweaty, and I bet my makeup is messed up too.  You, on the other hand, still look as sexy as you did when I saw you all dressed up for the first time today."

"I love your hair all messed up," he teased, winking at me.  I laughed.  He ran his fingers over my necklace, then stepped behind me to unclasp it for me.  I laid it carefully on the table and took the earrings out as he went into the bathroom to start the shower.  I gathered shampoo, conditioner, and body wash, then joined him in the bathroom.  He let me push his shirt off his shoulders and unbutton and unzip his pants, and then we stepped into the giant shower together.

Once we were both in the shower, he took the body wash from me and squeezed some into his hands.  He rubbed them together then began to slide his slippery, sudsy hands down my arm.  He did my right arm, then moved to my left arm.  I winced as he moved along my left arm, and Brody moved it away from my body.  We looked down to see part of my inner arm rubbed raw from my dress.  He carefully rinsed the soap away and leaned his head down, pressing his lips gently against the intact skin next to the angry red patch.  I shivered, despite the warmth of the water.

He continued on, being as helpful as he promised, rubbing his soapy hands all over my body.  When he knelt in front of me to do my legs, he kissed my hip, then moved his mouth inwards until his tongue was dancing across the warm, wet skin between my thighs.  I moaned, steadying myself with my hands on his shoulders.  The entire time, he continued to run his soapy hands up and down my legs, gently massaging the muscles that were sore from dancing and too much time on my feet in heels.  When he finished my legs, he stood, abruptly ending my pleasure.

I took the body wash from him and returned the favor, making sure he was just as clean (and just as turned on) as I was.  When I finished, I stuck my head under the shower spray, getting my product-covered curls wet.  Brody dumped some shampoo in his hands and turned me around so I faced away from him, then began to wash my hair.  He worked the shampoo carefully through the strands, then began to massage my scalp.  It was even better than any scalp massage and shampoo I'd ever gotten at a salon, because I was in a warm shower with my ridiculously hot husband.  I groaned as his fingers worked against my scalp.  Eventually I had to rinse the suds out, and then he worked conditioner through my hair.

While I let the conditioner sit, I turned back to Brody.  He sat on the wide ledge at the back of the shower so I could reach his head, and I began to massage shampoo into his scalp.  He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me closer.  When he was sitting and I was standing, he was eye level with my breasts, and took advantage of it, flicking his tongue across a nipple while I massaged his scalp.  He squeezed and kneaded my ass while he sucked and lightly bit at my breast and I paused, moaning softly.  "You're distracting me," I scolded him.

"Mmmm, sorry," he apologized insincerely, not moving his mouth away from my skin.  The vibration of his words made me knees weak, then I shuddered as he tugged on my nipple with his teeth.

When we finally got out of the shower and got dried off, I didn't want anything to do with any more foreplay.  Brody, however, had a different idea.  He seemed determined to kiss, lick, or suck every inch of my body.  Desperate to have him inside me, I tried to tug him back up towards me as he worked his way down my inner thigh, but he ignored me.  "Brody, please," I groaned.  He moved one hand between my legs, easing two fingers into me while his thumb moved against my clit, a satisfactory compromise for now.  He hadn't even made it to my ankle before I came, clamping my legs around his hand and gasping.

Finally, he made his way back up my other leg, then up my stomach and chest, my neck, my jaw, and then at last back to my lips.  I kissed him desperately and pulled his hips against mine, and he pushed into me.  I moaned in pleasure at finally having him inside me.  Luckily he was just eager as I was, and he didn't waste any more time with being slow or gentle.  I was so turned on from our seriously extended foreplay that I came two more times before he finished.  My skin was so sensitive that I rolled away from him, breathing hard.

Brody reached for me, stroking my back.  "No," I groaned.  "Give me a second."  He chuckled and withdrew his hand.  I felt the mattress move as he shifted and got settled.  Once I caught my breath and my skin stopping pulsating, I rolled back over and cuddled up to him.  We were both asleep within minutes, tangled together on top of the sheets.

When I woke up in the morning, the room was bright and I was covered by blankets that I hadn't been covered with the night before.  Next to me, Brody was sprawled on his stomach under the blankets with one arm flung across my torso.  I looked at the clock and saw it was a little after 9.  We had a brunch planned for 2pm with whoever wanted to come.  I was glad we'd scheduled it so late, because I didn't feel like getting up and getting ready right now.

I was starving though.  I carefully slid out from under Brody's arm.  He stirred and I saw his arm move under the blanket, reaching for me even in his sleep.  When he didn't find me, he sighed and curled onto his side, never opening his eyes.

I rooted quietly through my bag and found a pair of shorts and a tshirt to pull on, then I went out to the living area of our suite and ordered room service.  They were actually really quick, and Brody was surprisingly still asleep when they came.

I brought our breakfast into the bedroom and climbed back into bed.  Brody stirred again, then stretched and yawned.  He opened his eyes and blinked sleepily at me.  He lifted his arm and beckoned for me to come closer.  I slid under his arm and snuggled into him, letting my eyes fall closed again.

"Why do you have clothes on?" he mumbled sleepily.  "I don't like them."

I laughed softly.  "Because I ordered breakfast.  And I'll take them off again after we eat, but I'm hungry."

Brody groaned and rolled onto his back.  He stretched and then sat up.  Then he turned and smiled at me.  "Good morning," he said.

"Good morning," I replied.  He stood and found a pair of shorts in his bag, then grabbed the tray of food and brought it back to the bed.  We sat in bed together and ate, talking about the day before.  It still hadn't full sunk in that we were married.

Once we were done eating, Brody set the tray and our dishes in the living room and came back.  I was standing next to the bed, tying my disastrous hair back.  He tackled me onto the bed, causing me to erupt into a fit of laughter.   I felt his lips move into a smile against my neck, and my laughter quickly faded out as Brody kissed a path down to my collarbone, then back up to my ear.

I was glad we'd arranged for late checkout, because by 11 we were still laying bed, and now we were naked again and nowhere near ready to vacate the room.  "Do you want to know where we're going?" he asked.

I was half draped across him, my head on his chest, my arm slung across his chest and arm, and one leg flopped over his.  I looked up immediately, resting my chin on his chest.  "I've wanted to know for months," I replied.

Brody reached for his phone on the nightstand and I impatiently waited.  Finally, he handed the phone to me.  "We're going to Turtle Island," he said, as I started to scroll through the website.  "It's a private Fijian island.  There are only 14 villas on the island, so there are never more than 28 guests."  I navigated around the website, seeing that there were private beaches, pretty much any outdoor activity you could imagine on an island in the south Pacific, and that everything was included, including high end champagne by the bottle.  My kind of place.

"This place looks amazing," I said, handing the phone back.  "But don't places like that book out like a year in advance?"

"Generally," he said, and I felt him shrug.  "I called because I figured it couldn't hurt.  They were booked, of course.  So I was talking to someone that works for my dad's company who I know vacations there a lot this time of year, asking for some other suggestions of resorts to look into.  He gave me a few ideas, and I was looking into them.  Then someone from Turtle Island called and let me know that someone had canceled their reservation for their premium villa with the private beach.  It didn't line up perfectly with the days I wanted, but it was close enough.  So we're spending Wednesday and Thursday at a resort on the Fiji mainland, and then Thursday night we'll go to Turtle Island."

"You are the most ridiculously lucky person I know," I said, rolling over onto my stomach and looking at him.

Brody grinned.  "I know, I got to marry you."

I rolled my eyes, but I smiled too.  "That's not what I meant, and you know it.  Things like that don't happen to normal people."

"Then I'm glad I'm not normal," he replied.  He sat up enough to kiss me, then looked at the clock.  He grinned mischievously and cocked an eyebrow at me.

"Seriously?" I teased him.  "Save some for the honeymoon."

"I can't help it," he said back.  "Something about you being my wife is really fucking hot."  He stopped talking and cocked his head to the side slightly, then laughed and said, "If you would have told me a year and a half ago that I'd ever say something like that and mean it, I would have laughed in your face."

"Well, I certainly didn't expect to happily married now either," I said.

"Did you expect to be unhappily married?" he asked with a smirk.

I shook my head and laughed.  "Don't be a jerk.  I didn't expect anything.  A year and a half ago I didn't even know where I was going to be living at this point.  I just knew I didn't want to live in Wisconsin anymore."

"Well," he said, shifting and moving my hips to straddle his, "I'm glad you found your way here."