Something That Makes Me Whole

The moment we got through the door Orchid ordered me to go upstairs and start moving Amber's furniture out of the room whilst she went and made some coffee. I gave her an incredulous look where I was standing on the stairs and she stood there in the hall, looking up at me with her hands on her hips.

Then she just smiled, kicked off her shoes and disappeared. I let out a sigh and continued up to my daughters room. Thankfully, most of her stuff was still in boxes so it wouldn't take too long for me to move, though I don't know where I was gonna put the bed and stuff.

I contended myself with moving the boxes first because that was the easy part; I gathered up the toys scattered around the room and put them in one of the boxes before taking it to the rest where I'd put them in my room. Just then I felt a pair of arms wrap around my waist from behind, and what felt like something kissing my shoulder blade. "Hey handsome." She greeted, before moving round for me to see her.

She'd changed her top to a paint splattered wife-beater and pulled her hair up into a messy pony tail. She pointed out a mug to me and I smiled thankingly at her where she now sat on the wooden flooring, prizing open one of the paint tins with a screw driver, her tongue sticking out in concentration. Oh how god damn cute that was.

"Firstly, where is her bed and stuff going, and secondly, why am I moving it on my own?" I said crouching down in front of her and tucking a stray bit of hair back behind her ear. Her icy blues looked right up into my eyes right then.

"Brian, look at the size of your arms compared to the size of my arms." She said with a sly grin. "Besides, I never said I was gonna let you do it on your own, now did I?"

"Well I just assumed because you were opening the paint you were abandoning me with it all to do myself."

"To assume will make an ass out of you and me." She said, climbing to her feet and running her hand across my back as she went passed and began dragging the chest of drawers towards the door. If I'm being honest I was surprised she was strong enough given the fact the last five days or so since she had woken up in the hospital she had only just really started eating properly again.

I then gave her a hand to move the rest of the stuff out onto the landing until the room was bare except for the curtains and Amber's few trinkets and ornaments. Quickly I began moving them and Orchid placed them onmyour the bed before we were ready to begin.

I looked down at Orchid as she poured some pink paint into a tray. Finally she straightened up and, using a paint brush as her pointer, showed me the two walls that were being painted pink. I didn't argue with her since she was probably better at interior design than I was myself. Especially for a little girl.

I couldn't help but keep glancing at her whilst we painted, thinking about the night before when we had almost kissed. I wished I'd just gone ahead and done it, because when we were interrupted I could feel her lips brushing with the softest touch against mine and it had driven me wild. "You know," I then began and sat down on the floor beside her, not really painting anymore but watching her as she painted the careful line along the top of the skirting board "I never asked you how New York was."

Orchid glanced at me, smiling before dipping her brush in the paint and carrying on. "I didn't enjoy it like I should have done because I was too busy missing you." She said, not tearing her eyes from the wall. I set my brush down in the tray and just watched her. "I mean, I missed everyone but...I missed you most."

"How was your place?" I then asked.

"That was the good the part." She grinned, looking back at me briefly once more and the way her eyes were sparkling like pale blue diamonds in the sun that was coming into the room via the open window, it made my heart flutter stupidly. I just watched her, not really hearing what she was saying because I too entranced by her. "...oh, and it was right over the street from Central Park, like the middle and- Brian are you even listening?"

"You're so beautiful." I murmured, reaching a hand out and brushing back the same piece of hair as before.

For a moment Orchid stared at me, before looking down at her lap. Then she climbed to her feet and left the room without saying a word. I heard a door close and knew she was still upstairs. Letting out a sigh I stood up, wiped my hands on my jeans to get some of the paint off and went to find her.

The only door that was accessible and closed was the bathroom. I went over and tried to open it, but she'd locked it. "Orchid." I called out gently, my hand resting on the doorknob. "Baby, I didn't mean to upset you."

Baby? Where the hell did that come from? Just then the lock clicked but I didn't open the door straight away; instead I took my hand away and let her do it for herself. Slowly she opened it just enough for her to block entrance to the bathroom at first, before opening it a bit further and glancing up at me from under her eyelashes.

I couldn't help myself and I found my hands cupping her face gently, tilting her head back slightly so I could see her eyes better. "I love you so much Orchid, why would I lie to you?" I said in almost a whisper, not once breaking the gaze. "Hell, I'm in love with you so there's even less of a reason to lie."

Orchid began chewing on her bottom lip in a nervous manner and she looked down as I felt her small hand take hold of mine. Then she stepped up to me and hugged me exactly as she had in the hardware store, our hands tightly holding onto each other. "I love you too Brian." She whispered from my chest and my heart sped up so ridiculously fast I thought it might explode or something; I looked down at her, to find she had her eyes closed. "That was the reason I hated New York, because I realised I'm in love with you too and Manhattan was far too far away from California and-"

I cut her off by resting a finger under her chin, tilting her head back slightly and leaning down to pressing my lips against hers gently, to finish where I had been so kindly interrupted the night before. For a moment she didn't respond and I was just about to pull away when she finally moved her soft lips against mine. My heart sped up again and I could faintly feel her own as it raced. I couldn't make myself believe that her heart, as it raced, was racing because of me.

I wrapped my arms about her slender waist, finding her snake her own about my neck, and pulled her even closer to my body. I was so deeply into this kiss (that I realised was long overdue and that maybe when I said goodbye to her at Christmas was when I should have done it) that it wasn't until I heard the door opening, that reality began to come back to me.

"That was long enough coming." Matt commented and Orchid pulled away, glancing passed me towards the stairs. I loosened my grip on her and turned to see Carla down in the hall, looking anywhere but at us.

"Best go see what he wants." Orchid whispered, giving me one last soft kiss that left me already wanting more before letting herself out of my grasp and going down the stairs to the other two.

An uneasy, nervous feeling filled me, like the one I get when I'm away from Amber, and I hurriedly went after her.

The space of a only few feet already feeling like she was too far away from me for comfort.