Playing House

The next morning, the sound of women cooing woke me up.

“Isn’t that adorable?”

“Is he the one that made a fuss in the lobby yesterday?”

“She’s only five months pregnant?”

That last one forced me to lift up my head and examine the situation. I looked up and saw a group of nurses all looking over at me with grins plastered on their faces. I felt Ben’s arms tighten around me and his face bury into the crook of my neck, earning another ‘awe’ from the women.

Ben’s eyes snapped open and he looked at the women as well, confusion etched into his features. I saw the realization set in, but he just laid his head back down and mumbled incoherently into my hair.

Eventually all but one nurse left and she made Ben get out of bed while she checked up on me.

“You get to go home today,” she mused. “Excited?”

“As excited as one can be when they live in a hotel,” I chuckled. She frowned for a moment, but before she could say anything Ben spoke.

“You’re not going back there,” he told me. “You’re coming back home-…er…coming back to my house.”

"But-"

“No buts. Sharpie, Tazer, and Kaner are already moving you back in,” he said.

“Sharpie, Tazer, and Kaner?” I asked. “Is he for like, holding doors open or something?”

“No, he’s for the big ass truck that he has because he’s clearly compensating for something else,” Ben smirked.

“Well then, it’s all settled,” the nurse beamed. She explained the bed rest situation and whatnot before leaving me alone with Ben.

“You know you don’t have to-”

“Stop, Amalia,” he ordered. “Yes I do. I’m not going to let you stay on bed rest alone in a stupid hotel room. How would you do anything for yourself let alone take care of Beau and Maddie? It’s fine, alright?”

“I know, it’s just…I feel bad,” I shrugged.

“Don’t. They’re my babies too, you know. Let me take care of you.” He looked at me, almost vulnerably, and I couldn’t stop myself from nodding.

As soon as Ben and I filled out all the paperwork, we somehow got me in a wheelchair and went downstairs to the lobby. I sat and waited as he went and got his car, and my mind went back to last night when he said we would talk today.

I was nervous for what this talk would encompass, but I knew the sooner we got it over with, the better.

Ben pulled up to the doors and got out, jogging over to me. He helped me into his tall truck, making sure I was all settled in before getting back in himself.

We drove in silence to his house, but my heart almost beat out of my chest when he intertwined his fingers with mine as his other hand remained on the steering wheel.

I didn’t want to look at him, afraid that if I did he would take his hand away. I figured the more still I was, the more likely it was that nothing would change.

Ben pulled into his driveway and pushed the button on his remote garage opener. My car, well the one he had bought me, was sitting on the right side, perfectly clean and untouched. I knew it was mine by the Chevy logo on the back as well as the fact that it was so...clean. He saw me looking at it, but neither of us said anything. As soon as his truck was safely inside, he shut the garage door. Ben parked and got out, and before I could even unbuckle my seatbelt he was immediately at my door, opening it. I started to get out, but Ben just scooped me up into his arms.

“I can get down just fine,” I smiled.

“Who says I’m putting you down?” He remarked, shutting the door with his foot and walking over to the door leading into the house.

“But-”

“But nothing. What kind of bed rest would you be on if you walked and shit?” Ben pointed out, opening the door and carefully carrying me inside.

“Ben. I weigh like, three million pounds. Please don’t break your back trying to carry me upstairs,” I whined. “And this just in,” I started, altering my voice. “Ben Eager, left winger for the Chicago Blackhawks, injured while carrying the pregnant mother of his children up the stairs because she was too lazy to climb her fat ass up them herself.”

Ben laughed but headed towards the stairs, ignoring my protests. He walked up them quickly, as if almost rubbing it in my face that I should have given him more credit. He smirked at me as he walked into my old room and set me on the bed. I kicked off my shoes as he pulled the covers back and I got under, and then he pulled the blankets back over me.

“I’m going to go call Duncs and get your kids back over here,” Ben stated. I frowned a little when he said ‘your kids,’ but I nodded nonetheless.

Ben seemed to pick up on my change in mood, because he raised an eyebrow at me.

“What?” He asked.

“Nothing,” I lied.

“Liar,” he called.

Shit.

“I’m just tired,” I said.

“Liar,” he called again, smirking.

“It’s nothing. Really. I’m probably just making a big deal out of absolutely nothing,” I told him. He kept looking at me, not moving. He waited, wanting me to answer. “You said ‘I’m going to call Duncs and get your kids back over here.’ I know it’s going to take time for you to consider them yours too, I just thought that by now-”

“Amalia, seriously?”

“I told you I didn’t want to talk about it. I knew it was just going to upset you. Please don’t take it the wrong way, I didn’t mean it like-”

“Mal,” Ben interrupted again, sighing. “Let’s just forget it, okay? I didn’t mean it like that, you didn’t mean what you said like it came out, so let’s just not worry about it.”

I nodded, and he started to walk away.

“Ben,” I called out. He turned around in the doorway. “When are we going to have this ‘talk’ you mentioned last night?”

He just stared at me before running a hand over his shaved head.

“I’d like to get it over with, so I know what we’re doing here,” I added.

Ben walked back into the room, pulling a chair up next to my bed. He sat down, fidgeting a bit before settling down. He looked at me for a while, and silence consumed the room.

“So…”

“So…” he mimicked.

“So, you threw a fit in the lobby?” I recalled, smirking.

“Will you please drop that?” He groaned. “I didn’t know what was going on, and I was fucking scared, alright?”

I wiped the smile off my face, and nodded, deciding not to mention it again.

“What should we talk about first?” I asked, trying to get an another topic quickly.

“I guess scheduling stuff, like who gets the kids when and all that,” he shrugged. I nodded again, a little disappointed that he still had us separated in his mind. “And I guess we need to get you a place to live. Nearby, hopefully, so we wont have to do the weekend visit kind of thing.”

I bit my lip and nodded once more, since apparently I could think of nothing coherent to say.

“Ben?” I heard a female voice call. She poked her head into the room and smiled. It was Ben’s new housekeeper, Leah. I had totally forgotten about her. “Oh gosh! Are you okay?”

“Um, yeah,” I said. She walked over toward Ben and put her hand on the back of his chair.

“Ben called me frantically the other day, saying he was on his way to the hospital because you had collapsed when you were picking up the twins, and he wouldn’t be around,” she rambled. “I was worried when Patrick came over here to feed the dogs.”

“Don’t you feed the dogs?” I asked her. It was a random question, yes, but it came out none the less.

“Oh God no. Those things don’t let me anywhere near them or their food,” she smiled. I had to fight the pride I felt that the dogs let me go near them. “So, what happened?”

“Fatigue,” Ben answered her. “She’s got to stay on bed rest.”

“And you’re letting her stay here?” She asked in awe. “Gosh, isn’t he like, the sweetest man ever?”

“Yeah,” I smiled weakly. It was obvious that Ben didn’t tell her about our relationship, or that he had adopted Beau and Maddie, or the fact that I was pregnant with his children.

Something that wasn’t so obvious was their relationship. I couldn’t tell if they were…together or not.

“Can I get you anything? Are you hungry or thirsty…?”

“No, I’m fine, thanks,” I told her.

“Leah, can you call Duncan and have him bring Beau and Maddie here? Mal and I still need to talk,” he requested.

“Oh, of course! I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt,” she smiled apologetically. Ben waved her off, and she shut the door behind her as she left.

“She is like, so freaking nice,” I stated absentmindedly. Ben chuckled.

“Yeah. Beau and Maddie really like her too,” he mused. “So anyways-”

“Are you seeing her?” I blurted. He looked at me confused for a second.

“Leah? What makes you think that?”

“Just the fact that she’s perfect and gorgeous and nice and your eyes light up when you see her and we all know how you were with your last housekeeper and-”

“Amalia, you were my last housekeeper,” he pointed out.

“Exactly,” I replied. “And we all know how that turned out,” I sang, pointing to my belly. He shook his head, fighting a smile. “And that’s another thing…”

“What?”

“You haven’t told her. About us,” I said.

“No, I haven’t,” he confirmed.

“Why not?”

“I dunno,” he shrugged.

“Because you’re seeing her and you don’t think she’ll understand-”

“No,” he denied.

“But you’re seeing her?” I inquired.

“No, Mal, I’m not,” he stated.

“But you want to?”

He just looked up at me sadly.

“It’s crossed my mind, I’m not going to lie,” he said slowly. “But it’s not going to happen any time soon, if it does happen at all.”

“Why not?”

“Because you’re here, and as long as you’re around I can’t even think of another woman,” he answered, standing up.

I opened my mouth to respond, but nothing came out.

“I love you, Amalia, but I’m serious when I say that I can’t be with you. Not right now, anyways. And not immediately back to how things were before. If anything, I can be your friend, and things can work themselves out from there,” he laid out.

“I don’t understand what I did that makes me untrustworthy,” I argued. He stared at me pointedly. “You told me Eleanor was manipulative, and yeah I fell for it, but you knew. You knew what she was like. I don’t get why you can’t be understanding about this.”

“You think I’m not understanding? Mal, do you realize that our whole relationship has been about me fucking understanding?” He yelled. “I understood about you having two kids and needing a job without even knowing you. I understood about the twins needing a father figure and about Maddie not talking. I understood about you needing time to be with me, I understood about your jacked up relationship with Jake and how you still wanted to be with him, I understood that you needed me to be the twins’ father in order for you to keep them, I understood that you forgot to take your birth control and got pregnant again-”

“Well aren’t you Saint Fucking Benjamin,” I interrupted. He shut his mouth and clenched his jaw. “And if I recall correctly, you weren’t exactly too understanding about a lot of those things.”

“Not at first, no. But after I had time I came around. And what the fuck am I asking you for right now? Time. So back the fuck off, eh?”

With that, he walked out of the room, slamming the door behind him. I collapsed back against my pillows, feeling more exhausted than ever.