Yours, Forever

bonus #9.5

"Hold still, princess."

Carefully, and with extreme concentration, Xavier held Ayla's tiny foot in his lap, keeping his hold on her gentle. With delicate strokes and care, he began painting her tiny toes a purple color, per the princess's request.

The room was filled with complete silence as each of the boys focused on the tasks at hand. Xavier and Xander were each tasked with painting her toenails, while Elijah, Jared, and Jayden focused on her fingers.

Even the twins, who were never fond of the silence, focused intently, wanting to make their little sister happy.

With the boys all surrounding her, Ayla sat at the center of it all, sitting very still on her pink miniature stool. She glanced at her fingers, watching as her uncle and twin brothers coated her fingernails with her favorite pink and rose sparkly colored nail polish, before peering down at her dad and oldest brother as they continued to gently paint her toenails. Her long brown hair, which she had gotten from her mother, cascaded over her shoulders, having gotten loose from the scrunchie again.

"Let me get that for ya, princess," Elijah chuckled, pausing on his task to fix up her hair. He gently pushed her hair away from her face, before grabbing the fallen scrunchie and smoothly tying her hair into a low ponytail. He then readjusted the side slips on her hair that held her bangs up, keeping her baby hair away from her face. "All better."

Ayla gave her uncle a cheeky grin, immediately making Elijah's heart melt as he went back to painting her left hand a sparkly rose color.

Silence filled the room once again, but it was soon gone as soon as it came.

"Hey, it's my turn," Jayden nudged Jared, glaring at his twin.

"No, you just had your turn," retorted Jared, nudging his twin back.

They continued to go back and forth until Xavier spoke up, causing the twins to freeze.

"Boys," warned Xavier, making both boys look up at their dad. "We're sharing remember— you two wouldn't want to mess it up after your hard work, would you?"

"Bubba, no fight," pouted Ayla, looking at her brothers with her big doe-like eyes.

Sighing with defeat, Jared handed his brother the bottle of polish, and immediately a happy grin spread on Jayden's face. Xavier, noticing the sulky expression on Jared's face, gestured for his son to come closer to him.

"That was very nice of you to let your brother have a turn, bud," praised Xavier, moving Ayla's foot so that Jared could sit on his lap. "How about you help me with the purple?"

"Okay, papa!"

Immediately a wide grin took its place, clearing away any signs of sulkiness from Jared's expression. Xavier handed the bottle of purple polish to Jared, before gently holding Ayla's foot so that Jared could paint her toes.

From the corner of his eye, Elijah couldn't help but admire his older brother and how he handled the kids. Sure, Xavier was still the same brooding and ruthless man when it came to work and outsiders, but when it came to Aurora and the kids, he was putty.

It was evident that Xavier would do anything for his family, a trait that Elijah couldn't help but admire and want. One day he would have this, and he would be sure to cherish every single moment.

He just had to find his girl first.

After 30 more minutes of nonstop painting, which took way longer than what it would've taken Aurora if she had been the one to paint Ayla's nails, the boys stood up, stretching their backs and legs after crouching for a long time.