Shattered Glass

[jenpen08]

I said I got the message, not that I was going to actually pay any attention to it

Boo Hiss You know you want to!!! Maybe?! Ahh I'm sure whatever you decide to do it'll be good as per usual!!

[leah1234]

Do you know if there will be an update tonight

xxxxxx

ps no pressure

[Louise_2983]

No update tonight sorry

[leah1234]

Thats fine. I was just wondering

Update whenever you can

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

[leah1234]

update tonight???

xxxx

[Louise_2983]

I've only managed to write a page so far and given that my updates are usually at least 8 I can't see it being finished tonight sorry

[Louise_2983]

Chapter 25

Her hand moved delicately as she cautiously moved the brush over the stencil, her tongue slightly hovering over her lips as she concentrated. As she stepped back to examine her handiwork, the downy hairs on the back on her neck stood on end and a sharp shiver zipped down her spine as if to alert her to the eyes watching her. Sure enough she turned to find him gazing at her, his toned body leant casually against the door frame as a grin danced on his bee stung lips.

“How long have you been there?” she questioned, her heart fluttering at the sight of him. His eyes were piercing, aquamarine gems shining against the dark hue of his black shirt.

“Long enough” he smirked, the black shades he was clutching hung in his grasp next to his jean clad thigh.

“I forgot you stick your tongue out when you concentrate”

“Shut up! I do not!” She told him, folding her arms across the front of her body defensively.

“It’s cute” he grinned mischievously.

“I don’t do it!”

“And you’re even cuter when you’re angry”

“I am not cute! I don’t want to be cute!” She argued, now no longer caring whether she stuck her tongue out or not.

“Kittens are cute, newborn babies are cute. I don’t want to be cute!”

“Then what do you want to be?” he chuckled.

“I don’t know” she shrugged with a slight grin.

“Beautiful? Mysterious? Sexy?”

“Belle, look at yourself” he chuckled gleefully, nodding towards her current attire of dark blue painting overalls and a bandana to hold her hair back. She was splattered in various different shades of

paint and looked anything but alluring.

“Ok” she laughed quietly.

“So maybe my painting clothes aren’t beautiful or mysterious or sexy”

“No they’re not” he told her, shaking his head in almost slow motion, a casual flick of the face from side to side.

“They’re cute”

“Aden, if you say the word cute one more time I will not be responsible for where I stick this paintbrush!” she threatened menacingly, waving the thin paintbrush she was clutching in the air between

them.

“No need for violence” he grinned holding up his hands in mock surrender.

“I was just trying to pay you a compliment but if you don’t want it...”

“Oh I always want compliments” she told him playfully.

“Just not ones meant for a six year old girl with pigtails!”

“I bet you were cute as a six year old” he teased, his pale pink lips curving into a grin.

“Aden!” She warned, aiming the paintbrush at him as though it was sharper than her own wit.

“Ok! Ok!” he chuckled, his eyes sparkling in amusement.

“What are you doing anyway?”

“I would have thought that was obvious”

“Geoff’s moving back in?” he questioned mischievously as he examined her paintwork and glanced at the brand new bedroom furniture currently cluttering up the lounge.

“I would have thought Noah’s ark would have been more his style” he smirked as he glanced at the Disney decor Belle stood in the centre of.

“Although there would definitely not be any two on two action with Geoff around”

“Aden, it's two by two you idiot! So you're not so clever little joke doesn't work! Leave Geoff alone!” she scolded before continuing.

“This” she exclaimed gesturing to the room around her.

“Is blatantly for Jamie!”

“Blatantly” he nodded his head in agreement as his eyes fell on the bed shaped like Mickey Mouse’s head which sat a few metres behind him.

“You’re giving him his own room”

“He’s spending more time here now, I want him to feel like this is his home too”

“He’s going to want to move in when he sees all this” Aden sighed, his tone slightly serious.

“Aden” she whispered as the reason for his sudden change in tone hit her like a ton of heavy bricks.

“I’m not trying to take him away from you. Not that I ever could, he adores you! I just want him to feel welcome”

“Welcome? Belle, it’s like Disney World in here! Have you arranged a ticker tape parade instead of a bedtime story at night too?”

“Well, I considered ticker tape but I thought that might be a little extravagant so in the end I just went for a bog standard parade instead” she grinned sarcastically.

“He’s going to love it” he told her softly, his eyes smiling where his lips weren’t.

“I’m not so sure” she told him, screwing up her face as she gazed at the wall.

“My stencilling isn’t the best, it’s a bit wonky”

His gaze followed hers to the Mickey Mouse face she had painted on the bright blue border cutting the wall in two. Its ears were slightly askew and the paint a little streaky.

“He does look a little tipsy” he chuckled mischievously

“Not a state Walt Disney would condone at all!”

“I knew it was rubbish!” she pouted, a deep sigh escaping from her petite frame.

“It’s not rubbish, it’s easily fixable. Come here...” he told her, manoeuvring his body so he stood directly behind her and placing his hand over hers so they gripped the paintbrush together. He glided

her hand carefully, deep black paint swirling into perfect circles on the wall.

His warm breath tickled the sensitive skin at the nape of her neck and a spark of electricity shuddered through her at his closeness. His free hand rested gently on her hip, his thumb and forefinger

pressing tenderly against her. She longed to grasp his hand, to pull it further across her aching body and rest his palm flat across her tummy, where their baby lay. She fought the urge with all her might

and it eventually subsided to a sliver of desire as he lifted the tip of the paintbrush from the wall.

“There” he smiled against the tip of her ear.

“Perfect”

“I think you just got yourself a job” she grinned, nodding towards the other stencils tacked to the wall at various points along the border.

“And when you’ve finished doing that you can carry the furniture in here too, save me asking Ric”

“Yes Marm! What did your last slave die of?” he asked sarcastically.

“Oh he didn’t die” she winked cheekily as she moved away from him and busied herself with attaching the Disney drapes to the curtain rail.

“We just got divorced”

“You always did have me under the thumb” he chuckled as he set about stencilling the rest of the border without objection.

“You love it!” she grinned, a sudden contentment rushing through her as the silently worked on the room together, the only sound penetrating the air being the gentle hum of the radio flowing through

from the kitchen. Occasionally one would watch the other intently, a slight smile creeping over their lips, until their eyes would briefly meet and they would both look away in a hurry, their cheeks flushed

in embarrassment.

It was well over an hour before either spoke again, neither wanting to break the tentative truce hovering between them. It was only when Aden finished putting together the flat pack wardrobe that the

urge to communicate verbally with her finally overwhelmed him.

“Do you remember when we decorated Jamie’s nursery?” he questioned, smiling fondly at the memory.

“How could I forget? I still have a dent in my big toe where you dropped that can of paint on it!”

“I didn’t drop it!” he protested adamantly,“You let go!”

“No I didn’t and anyway I was six months pregnant you shouldn’t have let me carry it in the first place!”

“I was thinking more about the crib anyway” he chuckled.

“Ah yes” she laughed remembering the many hours they had spent trying to assemble the designer crib Amanda had bought them.

“The mysterious piece, we sat there for so long and neither of us could figure out where it went”

“I still haven’t” he laughed, “It’s in a drawer somewhere”

“Aden!” she exclaimed in shock.

“You told me you’d figured it out! Our son slept in that crib!”

“What?!” he grinned as she stared at him menacingly.

“He’s still alive isn’t he?!”

“No thanks to you obviously”

“No I’ve only fed him and kept him warm and generally safe for the past 5 years”

“And I haven’t, yeah I know” she mumbled suddenly solemn.

“Belle” he whispered.

“I didn’t mean to upset you”

“No matter what I do Aden I can’t...I wasn’t there...I can decorate a thousand bedrooms and hire a million men in Mickey Mouse suits, I can watch DVDs of him until my eyes are square...but I can

never get those five years back!”

“No you can’t” he agreed quietly.

“But that’s over Belle. You have to focus on now and right now Jamie worships the ground you walk on. He loves you and you’re doing an amazing job of being his mother”

“Do you really think so?” she asked him, genuinely wanting to be reassured rather than fishing for compliments.

“I just said so didn’t I?”

“Yeah but you have a reputation for not meaning things you say. You know things like I love you, I miss you, this is so right”

“Belle, don’t” he sighed.

“We can’t just ignore this Aden, it hurts just to look at you”

“Do you want me to go?” he asked slightly wounded.

“No” she shook her head slowly in response, “I don’t want that either”

“Then what do you want?”

“You know what I want Aden”

“Belle, don’t” he repeated again sadly.

“Why did you even come here?”

“What?” he asked perplexed by her question.

“Why are you here Aden? You didn’t come to help me decorate so what are you doing here?”

He hesitated, shuffling his feet as he looked down at a single speck of paint on his shoes as though it was the most interesting thing in the world. He shrugged defeatedly.

“I guess I thought I’d think up some excuse when I got here, but...I just wanted to see you”

“See? Aden, you have to stop this! You say one thing and you do another and then the next day you say the opposite thing and do something completely different. I can’t deal with this!”

“Look, I’ll just go”

“No!” she grabbed out for his arm in an attempt to prevent him from leaving. She wasn’t strong enough to stop him but her touch was enough to render him motionless.

“You still have furniture to move” she ordered with a small smile. As much as his presence confused her she didn’t want him to leave, she wanted him as close as she could get.

“Nicole will be bringing Jamie from school soon and I want everything to be perfect”

“I meant what I said” he whispered, his hand covering the one she gently placed on his arm.

“You’re a great Mum and he’s going to love all of this. He’s a lucky kid, I mean who wouldn’t want us as parents?” he grinned.

“I think we’re the lucky ones” she smiled softly.

“Yeah, we are. He’s perfect”

“He sure is” she smirked cheekily.

“He takes after me obviously!”

“Because you’re just so perfect”

“I am!” she laughed, her eyes sparkling as she teased him.

“Right” he nodded, his tone filled with sarcasm.

“Belle, you’re stubborn and sarcastic and annoying and...”

“And what?” she challenged, her eyebrows arched in anticipation as his sentence trailed off.

“And...and... beautiful and mysterious and sexy” he whispered his voice low and husky.

She gulped as her lips curved into a coy smile. Her deep brown eyes met his piercing blue ones as her heart thudded rapidly against the wall of her chest.

“And cute!” he added cheekily, ruining the moment.

“Oh, you’ve had it now!” she exclaimed picking up the paintbrush next to her and flicking a blob of gloopy blue paint at him. It landed on the tip of his nose and she let out a roar of laughter at her

excellent aim.

“I don’t believe you just did that!” he yelped, brushing away only part of the perfect circle of paint splattered on his face.

“Believe it!” she laughed dipping the brush back into the paint pot and throwing another dollop at him, this time hitting him square in the chest.

“Now it’s war!”

“Fighting talk Mr Jefferies?” she mocked, “I like the sound of that!”

“Oh you won’t when I’m finished with you” he grinned picking up the small pot of red paint and tipping it carelessly in her direction.

“No!” she squealed unsuccessfully trying to dodge the stream of crimson paint that cascaded down her overalls.

“That was not fair!” she yelped.

“I only got a little bit of paint on you!”

“You’re so cute when you sulk!” he grinned.

“Aden! You’ve been warned!” she yelled as he advanced further towards her once more and she instantly pushed both hands forward sending what was left of the small tin of paint splattering all over his

crisp shirt.

“You’ve really done it now!” he exclaimed.

“This shirt’s Armani! Nicole’s going to kill you!”

“Aww still need your surrogate sister to dress you do you?” she mocked, raising the thin brush she was holding and quickly painting a black moustache over his plump lips.

“Thanks so much for that” he grimaced.

“What?” she laughed slyly.

“I think it looks quite fetching”

“So your next boyfriend’s going to sport facial hair then?”

“Yep” she nodded slowly suddenly lowering the paintbrush in surrender and taking the paint pot from his hands, returning it to the windowsill.

“I’m looking at him” she whispered softly.

“Belle” he murmured, raising a hand to gently brush her soft cheek.

All too soon she realised what she was doing and backed away, busying herself with extra bits of decoration.

“You can bring the bed in now” she ordered with a sigh as she began to arrange the photos she had organised into frames for the bedside table. There was one of the photos she had taken of Jamie with

Mickey Mouse at his birthday party and the one of the three of them just after his birth which he had pointed out in the scrapbook.

“He liked that one” he smiled, suddenly close behind her peering over her shoulder.

“I like it too” she whispered as he softly spun her around and enveloped her in his strong arms.

He pulled her close with a sigh and, her fingers curling around his his crisp collar, she held on with all her might.

[leah1234]

Aaw that was so CUTE!!!!!!!

It was perfect and so cute with them painting each other, it was just cute!!! Aden was so right!!!!

I hope she tells him

I loved the part about where she wanted to pull his hand over her stomach

Update soon

xxxxxxxxxx

[LauraPhilly!!]

brilliant!!

reali gud!!

belle shud reali tell him she's pregnant though

gr8 update!!

xxx

[Taniya_K]

She decorated a room for him!

That ending was so... aw and kinda bittersweet. The small paint fight was funny!

Loved it like always, although I have to agree with Belle. Aden has to stop being so back and forth! Poor girl's getting confused. All he has to do is tell Kirsty he wants a divorce, go back to Belle [with ikkle Jamie], confess his love once again, but this time with no 'I'm married' or whatever, she can tell him she's pregnant with HIS kid and not that Johnny dudes [ ] and they can be one BIG happy family! How does that sound? I think you should scrap all your ideas and follow this one!

Cannot wait for more either way, though!

xoxo