Affiction

1

Kiara's pov

"How is she?" Katrina asked over the phone, and it didn't even take me a second to realize who she was talking about.

"Gabs?" I asked, hearing her approving hum over the phone, "Do you want to talk to her?"

"What kind of question is that? Of course I do," Katrina laughed, and I pulled the phone away from my ear.

"Gabby!" I sang, peeking my head out of the kitchen into the living room where my one-and-a-half year old daughter was sitting on the floor, playing with stuffed animals. "You wanna talk to aunt Katrina?"

I made my way across the room to her, watching as she smiled at me, holding her bear stuffed animal to the side of her face.

I handed her the phone, and she held it to the side of her face, babbling excitedly into the phone as Katrina talked to her.

I squatted down in front of her, checking the time on my watch.

It seems like time has flown by, it felt like yesterday that Gabriella was a newborn who we had just brought home from the office.

I loved her with everything I was, and still do. I get to spend nearly every day with her while Colby is at work, and I used to believe this was as close to a normal life that I could live.

That's not the case, not at all.

I'm always afraid that we're being watched, which is part of the reason that Colby agreed to bring the two of us to one of his many secret houses for a couple of days while he was out of state.

We were leaving whenever Colby got home to go back to the Traphouse, where life was stressful.

At least, it is for everyone but Gabriella, who was the little celebrity of the place.

Colby and I have tried our best to let her have a normal childhood, which has been relatively easy since she's still so young.

Getting out was the only real problem we faced with her, but Colby had one of the old storage rooms turned into a playroom for her.

Oh yeah, Colby was obsessed with Gabby. Always has been, always will be.

It's kind of amusing, watching him switch from gang leader to father. Seeing firsthand how cruel he can be and then watching him with Gabby was like seeing two different people.

Gabriella giggled, snapping me out of my thoughts as she handed the phone back to me.

"Thank you," I cooed before taking the phone back, "Hello?"

"Hey!" She giggled, "Ugh, I miss you guys so much. When are you coming back?"

"I won't tell Colby that you admitted to missing him," I promised before continuing, "We shouldn't be too late, because you know how he gets with Gabby,"

He will forever insist that she needs her beauty sleep, and had a habit of calling me to make sure she was napping regularly a couple of months ago.

I'm happy he got over that obsessive stage. It was really weird to get a phone call and instead of a "How's your day" or "how's the baby" the conversation instantly became "did she nap at noon?" and "i'll be home soon, make sure she's in bed"

"Yeah I do," She said, "The house has been so quiet since you guys left, I feel like I'm going insane,"

"It's actually been surprisingly quiet here," I said as I heard the front door knob jiggle, "Hey I gotta go,"

"Okay, see you soon! Love you," She added as I shut the phone off, quickly getting back on the floor with Gabby.

In the case of someone breaking in, Colby showed me multiple escape routes in this house.

Ever since Gabby was born, he's done his best to keep us safe.

"You gave me a fucking heart attack," I sighed as Colby walked through the front door, causing Gabby to push herself off the floor and waddle up to him.

"Sorry baby," He said, his focus fully on the toddler running up to him as he scooped her up in his arms.

A cry of excitement came out of Gabby's mouth as Colby kissed her cheek.

"Where's mine?" I asked, getting close enough to study his facial expression without having to ask questions in front of Gabby.

Beneath his act of excitement, I could tell the stress of being here was getting to him.

We were at least two hours away from the Traphouse, and with the President still having Oakland mostly cut off from the rest of the country, traveling was a pain.

Mostly everything had to be planned months, approved by the president himself.

Since it was the Fourth of July weekend, exceptions have been made for people wanting to travel.

I kind of felt bad for being part of the reason we were here, but it was good while it lasted.

"When do you want to leave?" I asked as Colby leaned over and kissed me.

"The sooner the better," He grinned, "I miss my bed,"

"Of course," I rolled my eyes with a laugh, grabbing the couple of bags by the front door that I had packed over the course of the day, "Do you want to get her strapped in and I'll put this stuff in the car?"

"Sure," He grinned before looking at Gabby, "Come on Gabs, we're getting out of here,"

I watched him carry her to the car for a few seconds, watching the way he interacted with her.

She was a constant ball of sunshine when her daddy was around. It was honestly adorable.

Granted, Miss Gabriella was a very happy little girl, but her and Colby were like best friends.

She brought out the best in him, which is something I hope to do but she does it effortlessly.

It was an odd concept for me to grasp when she was born, that it wasn't just me who got to support Colby.

I had to figure out how to share that, how to wordlessly show Gabby how to care for her father and my husband.

Damn, I think I did a good job.