She's the Drug That I Need

Lying on her back, staring up at the ceiling, Sarah wondered how Seth would react to her request as he snored quietly next to her. It was something she had been thinking about since Halloween and something she had been putting off talking to him about. For some reason she knew that he would be none too thrilled by the idea. However in her mind, this had nothing to do with what he wanted, this was about her daughter spending time with her father during a holiday that he had missed out on over the past three years and through no fault of his own. It was time she made up for it. That’s if he’d want to that is.
With a sigh, she glanced over to the clock on her bedside table. She’d been awake for almost two hours thinking about it. With another sigh she pushed back the covers and lifted herself out of the bed.

She made her way into the bathroom, pulling open the small draw next to the sink and pulling out the small strip of pills she kept right at the back behind everything else. She popped one into her mouth and swallowed it back without water before pushing the strip back into the draw out of sight. Turning away from her reflection in the mirror, she stripped and climbed into the shower.

“You’re up early.” Seth said as he joined her in the kitchen an hour later.

“Couldn’t sleep.” she replied with a smile lifting her gaze briefly from the cookie dough she was rolling out.

“You’ve been up early every day this week. You not sleeping right?” he asked pouring himself a mug of coffee.

“No, sleeping fine, just keep on waking up early for some reason.” She replied.

“Babe, what’s on your mind? Tell me.” he said quietly, wrapping his arms around her waist and kissing her cheek.

She sighed, “There’s nothing-“

“Baby, I know you, spill.” He interrupted, turning her in his arms.

She sighed again and looked up into his eyes. “It’s about Christmas.” She began. “I was wondering, with it being Jenni’s first Christmas knowing Brian, if, well, if you’d mind him being here?”

Seth smiled, “Of course baby, it’s only fair he gets to spend some time with his daughter Christmas day.”

She smiled, taken aback by his reaction. she hadn’t expected it to be that easy. “What were you thinking? An hour or so after dinner? He could even take her back down to Huntington to spend time with his family.”

Her face fell. So it wasn’t going to be that easy. “No, I was actually thinking that he could come up and spend the day with her if he wanted to, maybe even stay over Christmas Eve so he was here to see her as soon as she woke up.”

“What?” Seth yelled pulling away from her.

“I just thought that it’d be nice for Jenni to have her father with her at Christmas for once.” She replied.

“Then send her down there to him! This is our first Christmas together as a family, as husband and wife and I don’t want it shared with him!” he yelled.

“She’s my daughter too Seth! I want to spend time with her on Christmas day too. I just thought this would be a good compromise for everyone.” She yelled back.

“But what about me huh? What do I get to do? Sit back and watch the three of you play happy families together?” he retorted.

“No! Not at all! I just want Jenni to have her father around for Christmas, like she should have had for the past couple of years. I owe her that right? I owe Brian that.” she replied, her eyes pleading.

Seth took a deep calming breath, his eyes closed. When he opened them again he nodded as he looked at her. “I’m not happy about this, but it’s for Jenni so…but he doesn’t stay over. He can come up early and he’s gone an hour after dinner.”

Sarah sighed in relief, a smile on her face as she leaned up to wrap her arms around him, kissing his lips. “Thank you.”

“Yeah, well…” he replied pulling away from him, “I’ve got to get to work.”

“I love you.” she said with a smile.

“Love you too.” he replied simply kissing her cheek before turning to leave.

~*~

A moan escaped Melissa’s lips as Brian lay a series of soft kisses over her toned stomach, kissing each of her breasts in turn, sucking gently on both of her nipples before finding the soft skin of her neck.

“You taste like heaven.” He murmured in her ear, gently nibbling her lobe, smirking as he pressed his lips to hers. She moaned as his tongue slipped between her parted lips, tasting her essence. “I wish I could stay and taste more, but I’ve really got to get going.”

She let out a small sigh as he rolled off her, standing from the bed and grabbing a pair of boxers to cover him self. “How long are you going to be?”

“A couple of hours, I should be back around six if you fancy doing something later?” he replied pulling on a pair of black jeans.

“Sounds good to me. You wanna go see the new Tarantino film?” she asked.

“Meal afterwards?” he asked to which she nodded as he walked back over to the bed, leaning down to kiss her lips.

“Have fun with Jenni.” She said with a smile.

“Always do.” He replied smiling. “And listen, um, unless you think it’s too soon, I was thinking of telling Sarah about us today, maybe even talk to her about you meeting Jenni. That’s if you want to.”

“Really?” she asked sitting up and wrapping the sheets around her. “I mean, you really want me to meet her?”

Brian nodded, “Yeah, I mean I know we’ve only been dating a month and a half, but you’ve met everyone else who’s important to me, so why not my daughter as well?”

“I’d really like that.” she said with a smile.

“Cool, I’ll talk to Sarah about it.” he replied, kissing her lips once more before leaving.

Forty five minutes later Brian pulled up outside Sarah’s house with a smile on his face. For the first time in a long time he was truly happy. Since hooking up with Melissa on Halloween things had changed for him. For one thing she had taken his mind off Sarah; he was no longer in love with her.

“Sorry I’m late.” He said as Sarah opened the front door to him.

“No problem, she’s only just woken up from her nap anyway. She’s in the kitchen having a snack.” She replied with a smile.

“Hey there sleepy head, you only just got up?” he asked as he walked into the kitchen, finding Jenni sat at the table, a beaker of milk in her small hands, an empty plate on the table in front of her.

“Daddy!” she cheered as he leaned down to kiss her forehead before sitting in the chair next to her.

“You okay princess?” he asked.

“Yep. Mommy made cookies, you want one?” she asked motioning over to where a plate of cookies sat on the counter.

“Mmm, yeah.” He replied as Sarah brought the plate over to the table for him to take one. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” She replied with a smile before turning to her daughter. “You want anymore toast sweetie?”

“No thank you mommy.” she replied putting her now empty beaker down on the table.

“Okay, go upstairs and get changed so daddy can take you out.” she replied, her daughter nodding as she slipped off the chair.

They both watched their daughter walk off towards the stairs, their eyes landing on each other as they turned back.

“I wanted to talk to you about something.” Sarah said.

“Funny, I was going to say the same thing.” Brian replied with a smile as she sat down in the chair her daughter had vacated. “You first.”

“Okay, well, I was thinking about plans for Christmas.” She began. “I was wondering if you’d like to spend the day here with us; come here early to see Jenni open her presents have dinner with us.”

“Really? Oh wow, that’ll be cool, I’d love to, but um, I’ve already promised dad that I’ll have dinner with him.” he replied.

“Oh, oh well okay, that’s fine.” She said diverting her gaze to her lap.

“Sorry. You know I’d love to, but Suzy’s making a big deal out of it because Melissa’s going to be there too…” he explained.

“Melissa?” she asked raising a questioning gaze to him.

“Um yeah, she’s actually what I wanted to talk to you about.” He began.

“Who is she?” Sarah asked.

“She’s um, well she’s my girlfriend.” He said with a smile.

“Girlfriend?” Sarah repeated glaring at him.

Brian glared back for a brief second before nodding, “Yeah, my girlfriend. We’ve been dating since Halloween and I really like her. And well, considering Jenni’s coming to spend some time with me over the holidays I thought it’d be a good idea for her to meet Melissa.”

“No, no way.” Sarah yelled shaking her head.

“Why not?” he retorted.

“I don’t know her, what she’s like, what she’ll be like with Jenni. You’ve only been dating-” She replied.

“Then you meet her first.” Brian interjected.

“What?” Sarah asked.

“You meet her first, I can bring her up here, or you can come down to Huntington and meet her, spend some time with her.” he explained “Please Sarah.”

She let out a long exasperated breath and nodded. “Okay I’ll do it.” she said as Jenni came bounding down the stairs.

“Thank you.” he said with a smile before turning to face Jenni. “Ready to go princess?”

“Yep.” She replied cheerfully.

“Be good for daddy okay.” Sarah said kissing her daughters cheek as Brian stood and took hold of his daughter’s hand.

“Okay mommy.” she replied with a smile.

“We’ll be back around five okay.” Brian said with a smile watching Sarah nod before leaving with Jenni.