Clawen • What comes next

|| CHAPTER 35 ||

           

           

Claire woke up in an instant when she felt something slap her face. Looking around, wondering what the hell happened, she found Maisie laying face down, sprawled out across the bed. She took up so much space that she somehow almost managed to push both her parents off. When Claire got to her senses, she noticed that Owen was lying on his back, head turned towards her, eyes fixated on hers. She squinted at him and whispered a 'what'. He smiled and whispered back. "She hit you, didn't she?" and Claire couldn't help the laugh that escaped her mouth. She should have tried harder, because Maisie started to stir and they both held their breath in hopes that she wouldn't wake up completely. Claire got a quick glance and her eyes opening before she was sitting up with the speed of lighting. Kind of ironic. "I'M 11" She yells but not too loud since the girl does have some control. "You sure are sweetheart" Claire says and Maisie starts giggling. "Happy birthday kid" Owen says to the still giggling girl. "Yes, happy birthday sweetie...Come here" Claire says opening her arms for the girl.

After all the hugging and giggling was over, they finally decided to leave the bed and start the day. Eating breakfast which consisted of a huge stack of pancakes that Owen had promised the girl when Claire was out of earshot. She couldn't blame Owen for saying yes to making around 40 pancakes, if the girl had looked at him with those irresistible puppy eyes of hers.

As they ate, Maisie seemed extremely restless which was both weird and understandable. Claire didn't understand how she could have so much energy after the night she had but then again, it was her birthday and she was a kid. Looking over at the overexcited girl throughout the whole breakfast without her noticing. Claire couldn't really figure out what was going on.

When Maisie finally decided that she had gotten enough pancakes, they cleaned off the table and got ready for the day ahead of them. Maisie pulled on her favorite flannel and jumped up and down by the door, waiting for her parents who in her eyes were taking too damn long. "Maisie we have the whole day, try to calm down for your own sake" Claire told the girl with an understanding smile. Owen came out of the bathroom seconds later and off they went.

Maisie wanted to take a long walk into the woods which Claire had been skeptical about at first, with good reason as well. The girl reminded Claire that last time they came across the living things that Maisie set free, it didn't go bad. No one got eaten and Owen handled it easily. Claire remembered hearing him chuckle at that. Maisie wanted to walk somewhere she hadn't been before, to explore the woods around the property. Claire eventually sighed in surrender.

Hand in hand, Claire and Owen walked down a shallow path, with the river leading to the lake, on their right and Maisie jumping from stump to stump in front of them. Running and climbing on fallen trees and eventually up in the still standing trees, when she felt brave enough to explore the tree tops. "Maisie sweetie, please be careful. We can't have a broken leg on your birthday" Claire said. Maisie laughed down at her, because her mom was being too overprotective. She was a big girl, she was able to climb some trees. Owen laughed at Claire's protectiveness and let go of her hand to wrap it around her shoulder and pull her close. She leaned into him, their steps in sync and sighed, feeling like everything around them fell into place and nothing could go wrong.

They walked for hours but Maisie never seemed to run out of energy. Even well-trained Owen was starting to take quicker breaths. "Maisie, how about we sit down for a second" Owen suggested, stopping his feet from taking another step and Claire took in a deeper breath than she initially intended. Maisie was up in a tree somewhere above them, her body splayed out on one of the thicker branches. Her arms and legs dangling from her body, her head to the side, looking down at her parents, making their way closer to her. Owen found a tree stump right next to said tree.

He sat down with a loud thump and let out a sigh. "I'm not in as good shape as I thought" He laughed and Claire tilted her head at him with a grin on her face. "Still better than me" She said and walked closer. His head at the same height as Claire's breasts, he couldn't help his eyes making their way to them. Still wearing the same grin on her face, she looked down at him. "Owen honey" She said and waited for him to look up at her and when he did she quickly said jokingly. "My eyes are up here" with another tilt of her head. He huffed out a laugh of embarrassment and looked towards the ground. After quickly recovering, he reached out for her hands and intertwined their fingers, pulling her closer to him. Letting go of her hands, he let his arms wrap around her middle, when she came to stand between his legs. She leaned into him and cradled his head in her arm as the other hung over his back, letting her hand rub soothing circles against his tired muscles.

Hugging her boobs, as Owen liked to call it, he felt quite at ease, like the world had stopped. He could honestly fall asleep like this. Lucky him that she wore a tank top with a rather low cut, completed with an open flannel, just like Maisie. Her breasts smelled more like her than any other part of her body, okay maybe minus a few places, that he knew rather well. "You're enjoying this, aren't you, hon?" Claire whispered and she felt him chuckle against her. He hummed as a form of answer and sighed, pulling her closer to him.

What they both sort of forgot, was that Maisie was right above them, looking down and observing what was going on. She felt herself smile at the sight below. She didn't know much about love and relationships, for a good amount of reasons, but what Claire and Owen had, seemed extremely special. Like something not everyone was lucky enough to find in their life. She hoped with everything in her, that she would end up being one of the lucky few who got to experience this kind of love.

Claire bent down to give the top of his head a kiss and whispered an 'I love you' before letting go of him, feeling like it was time to head back. He groaned in disagreement which left Claire laughing. "I think it's time to head back" She said and heard another groan from above them. Slightly panicking, when she realized Maisie probably saw all of that. Then she calmed down when she thought about how calm and at peace Maisie had been with everything else.

"I guess you don't want your presents then" Claire said and looked up for a reaction. The girl's eyes widened and she climbed down the tree as quickly as possible, almost missing a few branches here and there which made Claire flinch in terror taking a step closer for every one of them, wanting to run the few feet there was, to catch the girl. Luckily Maisie found her footing and got down safely. "You bought a present?" She asked excitedly, making Claire laugh as she nodded.

Maisie didn't realize how tired she herself had gotten until they started walking again and she had a hard time keeping up with the adults. Owen quickly noticed the girl's struggles and let go of Claire's hand to crouch down in front of Maisie. "Here, jump up" He said. Maisie gave him a questioning look, since he was the one asking for a break five minutes ago. "Are you sure, you can carry me?" She asked out of concern and Claire couldn't help the tilt her head made. "Of course, I can. I could carry mom if need be" He said which send Maisie into a fit of giggles before finally climbing up on Owen's shoulders. "You comfortable?" He asked and stood up carefully when the girl said 'yep'.

They started walking, Claire looking up at them every five minutes, not able to stop. They were too damn cute and she made a quick decision. "You guys go ahead, I need to tie my shoes" They did as told without question and Claire waited a few seconds before fishing her phone out of her pocket and taking a perfect picture of the two, with their backs to her, oblivious to the camera. Claire swore to save that picture for the rest of her life, because it was one of the god damn best ones she had ever taken.

She quickly caught up with them and Maisie reached down a hand for Claire to take. They proceeded to walk back home like that, Owen confident that he knew the way.

Are they going to get lost? To be honest, at this point I haven't figured it out lol haha – When you read this, I will already be at least 5 chapters ahead so I'll know then.

To be honest, I wish I was Owen there...I mean who doesn't want to hug Bryce's boobs...damn...

Quick question - do you want to know the gender or should I wait till the baby is born ?