Time after time

Be together

Elle POV

Life is very busy when you work and have a child. It has been six months since I went back to work and it feels like my life is limited to going to work, cooking, cleaning the house, taking care of Nathan and sleeping. Noah has been very busy at work during the month of January with a big file on the books. We have had little time to spend together and it has started to get to us. I had stopped taking my birth control when Nathan turned one year old since Noah and I wanted to have another child. But 3 months later, I am still not pregnant. It was weird for me because Nathan's pregnancy was unplanned. I never thought it would be difficult for me to get pregnant again. But here I am, calculating my cycles. It's true that my cycles took a while to get back to normal when I stopped breastfeeding Nathan.

Plus, Noah and I got busy and tired... It's hard to be romantic when once our toddler goes to bed, we just want to go to bed ourselves. Noah has even started working overtime late at night. There have been several times when I've put Nathan to bed before his daddy got home.
- Where, daddy?" a sad little Nathan asked me as I put him to bed.
- Back to work!" I said dryly, exhausted, before giving him a kiss and turning off the light in his room.

As I walked down the stairs to the living room, I realized that Noah's absences were starting to get to me too. I feel lonely and tired! I know that long nights at work are part of a lawyer's job. But I wish that when he's home, he's really there, not just in body.

Like this morning, when I told him that his mother had offered to babysit Nathan so we could do some things together for Valentine's Day. He sighed and said,
- Shelly, I don't think I can plan anything for Valentine's Day. The office is crazy, I really need to focus on this case."
- So, work is too important for you to take an evening to spend with me when your mother has kindly offered to babysit Nathan," I told him dryly.
- Elle, don't try to make me say something I didn't say. This just isn't the right time for me. We can do this again some other time," he replied before walking out of the house to go to work, leaving me completely flabbergasted.

I thought we were past the fights. That the 9 years we've been together and the 6 years we've been married had made us mature. Not so, I thought angrily. But looking back, I realized that we've had those moments in our relationship where we needed a check-in. Like Noah's last football season in college, his first semester of law school, my first semester of physical therapy. The promise we made years ago to fight for each other needs to be renewed every day. That's when an idea came to me...

Noah POV

I lived this day on stress! I hated the way I left the house yesterday. I let the pressure of this case control my life and made it a priority over my relationship with my wife and son. I can't even remember the last time I got home early enough to put Nathan to bed. I think it's been at least a month since Elle and I had a night alone together. It's crazy how life's concerns can take over what's most important.

Luckily for me, the case I was working on got a settlement out of court. I quickly went back to the office to finalize a few urgent things and then headed home. It was too late to take Elle out to dinner but maybe we can have a little dinner alone after I put Nathan to bed.

But when I got home, it was empty. Elle and Nathan weren't there either. I called my mom to see if they were home.
- Noah, everything's fine with Nathan!" my mom said. "You and Elle can relax and enjoy your evening."

I was too embarrassed to tell my mom that I wasn't with Elle and I didn't even know where she was!

Noah : Elle, I'm so sorry! Please tell me where you are!

I felt like my breath had stopped until she answered me.

Elle : Where I promised to fight for you...