Peyton Ackley - The Beginning of Change

Chapter 27 - A Family

After falling asleep multiple times while watching a movie with Leah she eventually gave up and let me rest. I woke up the next morning in my bed with a familiar blonde lying beside me, a heavy arm draped across my waist. She must have carried me into bed because I have zero recollection of how I magically teleported from the couch to my bedroom.

I forgot to tell Leah that Gabe was coming home early this morning so neither of us had gotten the chance to set an alarm before falling asleep. This resulted in us being rudely woken by a screaming child as he ran into our room. I never should have given Noah that key, my mistake.

"Gabe, shush," I said trying to calm him down but he was really excited.

"Mumma! Mumma!" he chanted as he bounced on the bed. At this point, the boy must've trodden on Leah multiple times so it was no surprise when she was woken up too. At first, she didn't look impressed but then she saw the smiling six-year-old and mirrored his expression.

I forced myself up in bed to lean against my headboard with Leah doing the same as she carefully leaned her back into my chest.

"How are you going, Buddy?" Leah asked.

"Good," he replied with a smile taking a seat on the foot of the bed. "I missed you guys," he said in a whisper as he crawled over to cuddle us. He happily snuggled into both of us and started to hold onto Leah's shirt.

"We missed you too Bubba," I replied while kissing the top of his head. The blonde turned to me and placed a gentle kiss on my lips as she watched my son snuggle into her chest.

"Ugh," he gagged as he heard us kiss. "Mums stop," he said before gagging a second time.

Shit. Maybe she didn't hear? Leah turned her attention back to me and I could tell from her face that she definitely heard. Shit. I obviously can't blame Gabe because he doesn't know, and when he first said it I didn't get the chance to correct him, so if anyone is to blame, that's me.

"Hey Bubba, is Noah still here?" I asked him.

"Yeah, he said he was getting a coffee," the young boy replied.

"Can you go ask him to get you some breakfast, please?" I asked. Gabe was still snuggled into Leah's chest but reluctantly peeled himself off and ran out of the room. "Ask nicely," I called after him but I have no idea if he heard.

There was a rather awkward silence hanging in the air between Leah and myself. She was still snuggling into my side and my arm was wrapped around her waist, but neither of us had spoken. I kissed her head to try and break the silence which caused her to turn her attention towards me.

"Based on your reaction I assume you heard what he said," I began. She nodded but didn't speak. "Um, I don't know how to go about this." Leah still hadn't spoken and I could tell that she definitely wasn't going to be the first to talk. "I'm just going to start talking and you can butt in if you want, or not. You don't have to speak if you don't want to," I said and I could immediately tell I was rambling. Was it smart to have this conversation when I was rambling and in a panicked state, probably not. But it was now or never because I knew I wouldn't be able to bring this up again.

"Leah, I need you to look at me when I talk to you about this. Please." She turned her attention to me and placed her hand on my chest with her fingers grazing across my collarbone. It hadn't taken Leah long to figure out that this calmed me, so the fact that she was doing it now indicated that she did care. "I'm going to start by saying that this is my fault. I should have explained this to him," I said gesturing between us. "I should have explained that just because you and I are something, you aren't his mum. I'll be honest in saying I don't know why he did it. He has never called Noah 'Dad' and he hasn't called any of my past partners 'Mum', so I can't really explain what he was thinking." I take a break and a few deep breaths to try and calm myself before continuing what was becoming a rant. "I will tell him that he can't do that, and I will explain that you aren't his mum just because you and I are something."