𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐆𝐑𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐈𝐕𝐘 𝐇𝐎𝐓𝐄𝐋 (javier peña AU)

24: diet mountain dew

It was freezing cold when Natalia stepped out of the airport in Colorado, Connie and Steve following her. A big grin spread across her face when she saw the snow.

And then Steve called out Javier's name. He waited for them across the street, two cars parked behind him.

"C'mere, let me help you," Javier told her and took the suitcase from her.

"Thank you," she whispered back as he pressed a kiss onto her cheek.

"The flight was okay?" he asked her after he put her suitcase in the trunk of the car.

"Yeah," Natalia replied and looked at his face for a moment. Javier immediately smiled.

Connie let out a groan, "Oh God, I can't with you two. Are you on good or bad terms now? You're changing your mind like every minute."

Javier sent Connie a look and handed her the car keys, "You love to judge us, huh?"

Connie grinned at him, "Nah, I love to judge you. Natalia is my baby. She can't do anything wrong."

Steve snorted and grabbed his wife's hand, "No fighting, see you later, yeah?" he told them.

Confused, Natalia watched them get into the second car, "Where are we going? Not to the hotel?" she asked Javier.

Javier opened the passenger door helped her to step in, "No, I gotta show you something first."

"Show me something?" she asked back while watching him get in the drivers seat.

But instead of starting the car, he laid his right hand on her stomach. For a couple of second, he didn't say anything. He just stroked her bump for some time.

"Javier? Show me what?" Natalia asked again.

"I bought a house," he told her, matter-of-fact.

"You—what?"

Javier sighed, "Well.. I.. I don't want you or our kid to stay at the hotel, you know? That's not a real home to grow up in. So I bought a house."

For a few seconds she just stared at him, "Wow, uhm, thank you, Javier."

"Of course. There are four bedrooms. So, like I told you, I'm not gonna expect anything from you. You can have your own bedroom. Third room's gonna be for our kid and the fourth— well I don't know yet, maybe I'm gonna set up an office or something like that."

Natalia was overwhelmed. She knew that Javier had a lot of money- but still, no one had ever done something like that for her.

Even if this is all a huge shitshow - how he got her pregnant, their fucked up power dynamics, and now their rushed kinda 'forced' marriage - she was happy right now. So happy that she didn't even notice when tears started running down her cheek.

"Hey, hey what's wrong?" Javier immediately asked, his eyes moving over to her, away from the street in front of him.

"I'm okay. Just the hormones I guess, sorry."

"Are you sure?" he asked her softly, concern written all over his face.

"Yes. I'm okay, really," she replied, wiping away her tears. She hated crying in front of Javier.

He sent her one last look before his eyes fixed on the road again.

            When they arrived at the house, Natalia was too stunned to speak. It was beautiful, and to be honest, she expected something different. She knew Javier was used to luxury and she thought he would also buy a luxurious modern house.