This Charming Life [Tig Trager] [Book Two]

IX. Domesticated

I made quick goodbyes to my brothers as I made to leave the lot at the end of my shift. It was rare for me to be here a minute longer than I needed to be these days. The boys had all laughed at how 'domesticated' I had become since Anya and I welcomed Braxton into the world, but I didn't mind. Things had slowed down for all of us, in a good way. Since the deal with the Irish had ended a peace had settled over our large family. Gemma and Jax ran Teller-Morrow Automotives, they were now in the process of changing it to simply Teller Automotives. Clay had been brought up for the Mayhem vote shortly after our relationship with the Irish was severed. Jax in a move of compassion voted no, but only on the grounds that Clay left Charming never to return. Happy had blacked out his club ink before he was sent packing and we hadn't heard from him since.

Opie and Lyla were running Red Woody Productions, the ex-pornstar had a good eye for directing and I had been shocked to find that Anya visited on several occasions intrigued by the work Lyla did. Anya had also visited Nero several times at Diosa, she was compassionate to all the women that worked there and kept in touch with several of them. Bobby became the full-time bookkeeper for all three businesses and spent any free time he had doting on Braxton. The rest of us had settled into working at Teller-Morrow on a regular and uninterrupted basis. The club still held church every Sunday but now it was to discuss the three businesses that we backed and the charity and community work that we were involved in, guns hadn't been mentioned in a very long time. Of course everyone still kept a piece handy and there was hardware in the clubhouse, but nothing like it had been in the last few years.

I rode my bike through town towards home, I was still surprised at the fact that people on the street would smile at me and my brothers as we rode past, for years we cut a 50/50 line in the town. People respected our desire to keep the town from being commercialised but they hated the violence and blood that came with it. Since we had settled into living straight we received a lot more appreciation for our work in the town, people weren't scared of us anymore, they held conversation, tried to make friends. We weren't used to the positive attention, but it was welcomed by all of us. My life had changed significantly over the last few months and I remembered back to a time when I was worried that I couldn't hack this simple life. But I found it suited me. I felt strangely younger as the stress and pressure of club life was lifted from my shoulders and I spent more time playing the loving father and husband. And I couldn't be more grateful as I pulled into the driveway of our home.

It was the sight that met me everyday when I returned from work, but it still took my breath away. Anya sat on a blanket on the lawn, Braxton playing happily beside her and Ranger playing in the grass as they enjoyed the early evening sun. The six-month old boy had recently learnt to crawl and was as curious as his mother and as fearless as his father, something that worried Anya to no end. The smile Anya sent me as she looked up to greet me made my heart beat erratically. There were times I still couldn't believe that this was real, that she was mine.

"Who's this baby?" Anya asked Braxton excitedly. Braxton gurgled happily, looking over at me as I walked towards them.

"Come on Brax" I grinned as I stopped a few feet from him and knelt down with my arms outstretched for him to crawl to me. The dark-haired little boy smiled and babbled excitedly as he began to move his little legs and arms to reach me. "Look at you go" I grinned as I picked him up into a hug when he reached me, "You been causing your mama all kinds of hell?" I laughed as I sat down next to her on the blanket with our son on my lap.

"Yup. Just like his dad" she grinned leaning over to greet me with a kiss. I smiled as she leaned her head on my shoulder to pull faces at Braxton who giggled as he stuck his tongue out at her in return.

"Gemma's planning a family dinner this weekend, wants to know if you could do some pryaniki for her" Anya had been cooking some Russian family recipes that she had learnt from her mother and the pryaniki had been everybody's favourite. They were honey spiced cookies and the kids just went nuts for them.

"Sure" she agreed not removing her eyes from our son. Braxton was the apple of Anya's eye. I had always known she would be a good mother but she had surpassed even my expectations. Braxton was a handful but she never lost it or looked tired, a feat which was impressive when the young boy suffered badly from colic for the first couple of months. The tiny boy would scream at the top of his lungs for hours on end and Anya was always there, cool and collected, attempting to soothe him gently. She'd spend hours walking around the house with him held tightly to her chest, rubbing his back and singing to him while he sobbed. I didn't handle it so well, I couldn't bear to see the young boy cry and by the time I'd spent half an hour trying unsuccessfuly to soothe him I'd be ready to tear my hair out, desperate to make it better. While I was unable to cope with his excessive crying often resulting in Anya handling him in his episodes, I made up for it in other areas. When he woke in the night Anya would breastfeed him, I would change his diaper and settle him back to sleep. In the mornings I would wake with the young boy, getting him a bottle of the breast milk that was stored in the fridge, letting Anya sleep in until I had to leave for work.

We'd settled into an easy routine, taking it in turns to cook, or to bathe Braxton and put him to bed. We worked as a unit and our little family was coming together very nicely. I hadn't brought it up to Anya yet but I wanted to continue to expand our family. I wanted a brood of dark-haired, bright-eyed children. Fawn had been dropping hints about whether we would be having anymore everytime she called and Anya would just smile and say she didn't know what we planned for the future.

"I made casserole. Should be ready in an hour" Anya smiled as my stomach grumbled.

"Is that so? Well looks like we gotta get someone into bed then" I grinned tickling Braxton's side as the young boy giggled, "You chill baby, I'll settle the monster" Anya nodded in appreciation as she leaned over to place a sloppy kiss on Braxton's cheek, causing him to screw up his face and giggle as I moved to stand.

I carried Braxton into the house and headed straight to the bathroom. Bathtime was undoubtedly one of Braxton's favourite times of day, he was a true water baby who could happily spend hours splashing and playing with the bubbles. After washing him down in the bath I wrapped him in a fluffy towel and moved towards the room that had recently become his nursery. Braxton had been staying in mine and Anya's room since he was born, only moving into his nursery two weeks ago. It had been a trying time as Braxton got used to his new room, but he had settled better the last few nights and we could only hope that this continued. Putting on his diaper and a pair of cute footed pyjamas I grabbed the warm bottle of milk from the dresser that Anya had obviously placed there for me I moved to sit in the small rocking chair we had squeezed into the corner of the room. I rocked gently as Braxton guzzled the milk, his appetite was picking up and Anya had told me this morning she was going to make up some baby purees today to try with him tomorrow. Once the bottle was finished I placed him up on my shoulder rubbing his back until he let out a burp before moving over to the crib and laying him down. Braxton immediately reached for his cuddly bunny, the grey bunny had been a gift from Bobby and the kid adored it, wouldn't sleep without it. He pulled the bunny into his chubby little arms as I wrapped the blankets around him and leant down to kiss his head.

"Goodnight little man" I whispered as I pulled away, before flicking the lamp off and heading out the room.

"He go down okay?" Anya asked as I walked into the kitchen.

"Yeah, not a peep" I smiled as I hugged her mid-section while she stirred a pan over the hob.

"I don't know if I'm happy or worried about that" she joked.

"Mmm" I agreed as I nuzzled into her neck.

Ten minutes later we settled down to eat at the kitchen island, just chatting about our days. Once we had cleared up the dishes and tidied around the house we didn't have the energy to sit and watch bad television, instead we made our way to bed early and curled up in each others arms for what would turn out to be our first night of uninterrupted sleep in six months.

A/N A little filler chapter for you to bring you up to speed as we dive back into the action :)