My Baby, My Darling.

Dexter POV

It was one of the most beautiful sights I had ever seen. The sunlight streamed in through the window of my bedroom as she breathed lightly in her sleep. I watched as her head leaned on my chest, her body rising and falling as she continued her serene slumber. Her long brown hair messily laid on the pillow behind her. Chelsea's delicate hand rested on the blanket that sat atop my chest. I wanted desperately to push away the strands of hair in her face, the way I had always seen her do it, with such grace and delicacy. In that moment she was purely beautiful, too beautiful for words. And at that moment, I was the luckiest guy in the world to wake up next to her, to have her within my grasp. I relished in the fact that she was mine to protect, mine to hold at that moment.

She had been such a trooper last night, staying beside me through every family encounter, even after her ex showed up. I don't think I properly thanked her for that. With her by my side, everyone refrained from asking about my mother or about Monica. Occasionally, they would hint to the question or give me a knowing look of sympathy, but I swiftly averted their questioning stares and answered their questions respectfully and with fluency, as I had learned over the years. My relatives, the vultures, they stayed focused on her, trying to find out about me through her. But, she always seemed to distract them with an interesting fact about herself that would never have been predicted at first glance. I learned so much about her last  night that I otherwise would not have known. Slowly, I was solving her, piecing all of her together, figuring out more and more about her each day. I relished in every single moment of it. Everything about her was fascinating, whether she agreed with me or not.

Chelsea moved slightly in her sleep, rolling her head off of my chest and onto the pillow beside me, curling up on the other end of the bed. I took the opportunity to get up from my bed and throw a shirt over my head. I leaned over to her side and pulled the blanket up, over her shoulders. She shifted slightly before returning to her peaceful slumber. 

I quietly did my morning bathroom routine and made my way out of my apartment, passing Annie, sprawled out messily on my couch, asleep. I pulled my phone out of my pocket on my way down the stairs and checked my messages. I furrowed my eyebrows at an unknown number. I pressed voicemail and put the phone up to my ear as I made my way to the bakery around the corner in search of breakfast. As I rounded the corner, I stopped dead in my tracks as the message began, a painfully familiar voice erupting from the other end. I clenched my jaw and stood still, the hairs in the back of my neck standing up in both anger and pain. I never thought I'd hear this voice again. I never thought about what I'd do if she called. Why was she doing this to me? I wasn't going to go through that again. I angrily ended the voice mail and shoved my phone back into my pocket, clenching my jaw and breathing through my nose slowly to calm myself. I slowly made my way over to the bakery to distract myself from the voice I had just heard after three years of silence. The voice of the woman I once loved.

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I walked back into my apartment juggling two bags of pastries and three cups of coffee. I closed the door behind me using my foot and tossed my keys onto the coffee table. Laughter erupted from my side, and I turned towards me kitchen counter and saw Annie telling Chelsea some story about her job at the record store. I made my way over to the kitchen counter and placed the bags beside them. 

"Is this from the bakery around the corner?" Annie's eyes widened in excitement as Chelsea eyed the cups of coffee in the cup holder the bakery owner gave me.

I nodded as Annie snatched the bag from in front of me, already peering inside. She started naming off all of the muffins and bagels in the bag to Chelsea, who merely smiled, watching as Annie took inventory of her breakfast.

I pulled one of the mugs out of the cup older and walked over to Chelsea's side of the counter, standing behind her and placing both arms around her on the counter. I put the coffee in front of her and she turned her head slightly, grinning widely at me. "You know me so well," she raised her eyebrows in amazement before kissing my cheek and taking her first few sips. I noticed that she was still wearing my T-shirt, and she still smelled like my bed. Her hair was slightly messy, but tied so that most of it was out of her face, but a few strands still hung loose. To be completely honest, everything about her at that moment was sexy.

I smirked lightly, watching her smell the coffee and closing her eyes in gratitude. "The amount of coffee you drink scares me, you know? At this rate, you'll never reach 5 feet." I moved so that I was standing beside her and reached for a bagel, smearing cream cheese on it.

"I'm 5'4", asshole." she laughed and shoved me lightly, "and let's face it, I'm not getting any taller than this."

"Yeah! Quit doctoring her, big brother." Annie mumbled, trying to swallow a huge mouthful of blueberry muffin.

"Yeah, quit doctoring me!" she laughed, finishing the last few drops of her coffee. Chelsea turned to face me, her brown eyes meeting my own. "I'm gonna go get ready. I have to go help out at my mom's cafe for the lunch rush since she's out of town." She hopped off the stool and quickly kissed my lips, walking off to my bedroom. I watched her walk away, her hips shaking from side to side from under my T- shirt. I grinned as she gave me one last look before closing the sliding door behind her.

"Wha-chhhhh!" Annie made a whip noise from the opposite end of the counter.

I turned to face her, furrowing my eyebrows, "What?"

"You are whipped, big brother." Annie smirked.

I shook my head slowly, taking another bite out of my bagel, "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Oh, please!" Annie laughed, taking another bite out of her blueberry muffin, "I haven't seen you act that way in three years. And even then, you weren't this bad."

I let out a deep breath at the remote mention of Monica. I blinked, deciding to tell her about what happened this morning. "She called me last night, Annie."

Annie's eyes widened, "Who?"

"Monica." I breathed.

Her jaw dropped, eyes scanning mine for any hint of a joke, "Are you kidding?"

I shook my head slowly, taking another bite out of my bagel.

"Fuck." she swallowed the last bite of her bagel, before meeting my eyes, "What did she say?"

I shrugged, "It was a voicemail. I didn't listen to the whole message."

"You can't call her back, Dex." she shook her head quickly, "After three years? The way she left? Promise me you won't call that bitch back."

"I don't know what I'm going to do." I shook my head slowly.

"Well, I'll tell you one thing. If you hit that bitch up, I will personally neuter your ass like a labradoodle." she hissed, reaching for one of the coffee cups in the cup holders.

I shook my head slowly, "I think I need to call her, Annie. Monica has answers. I need to know what happened."

"No." she shook her head abruptly, "No you don't. That bitch owes you everything but answers. Look at you! Before you met Chelsea, you were hopping around like a little man-whore on crack. I would know. You're finally getting your old self back, Dexter. Don't go crawling back to her."

I opened my mouth to respond, but quickly silenced myself when I heard my bedroom door slide open, Chelsea stumbling out as she attempted to put her heels back on and muttering about three inch heels and society's materialistic view of modern women. She tripped, stumbling towards the counter and quickly stood up, looking at Annie and I like a deer caught in the headlights. 

I raised an eyebrow at her, placing an amused expression on my face. "You ready to go?"

"Darling, I'm practically in the car already." she scoffed, running towards the front door of my apartment, quickly grabbing her large sack of a purse off the coffee table on her way out.

"Choose carefully, big brother." Annie warned, gesturing towards the front door with her head as she sipped her coffee.