Ease [Cashton/Muke]

Chapter eighty four

"You're doing really good you know?" Carla comments offhandedly as she approaches where Luke is sitting on a banana lounge by the pool.
"Oh. Uh." Luke startles. "I don't know what to call you." He adds as a mumble.
"Carla's fine if you're comfortable with it."
"And if I wasn't?" Luke humours.
"Then I'd suck it up. I'm doing okay here. When we try and help and support people, we shouldn't expect them to satisfy our needs. Especially with little things. We need to get to their level, not expect them to reach ours." Carla explains, staring at the soft ripples of the pool in front of them.

"I'm doing fine too." Luke mutters.
"You just had your first fight with your soulmate, it was about his parents, and it was in front of four of his close friends but no one you're overly familiar with." Carla replies flatly.
"I don't know what you want me to say." He scoffs.
"Nothing. That would be expecting you to reach my level instead of me going to yours. I wanted to let you know how well you're doing. You're having to deal with your soulmate before the universe thinks you're ready for it, not to mention you're pregnant. And in high school."
"Don't remind me." He rolls his eyes.

"Seriously Luke, you're incredible. Maybe I seem ready because I know all this now, but keep in mind I didn't meet Maggie until I was 20. We started at completely different stages of our lives."
"I don't have a choice on whether I deal with this or not. It's not like I can ignore any of it. I'm here by force." He deadpans.
"I'm going to have to respectfully disagree." Carla chuckles. "The sex was a choice. You not running away and just saying 'we'll meet again next year' was a choice. You keeping the baby was a choice."
"Sex maybe, but staying with him wasn't a choice. Surely you understand the pull of soulmates." Luke counters.
"I do. I just want you to see that facing all your challenges head on is admirable. It shows strength. Anyone who says otherwise is wrong."

"Not keeping the baby never crossed my mind." Luke whispers.
"Are you against abortion?" Carla wonders aloud.
"Not on the whole, everyone has the right to bodily autonomy. Just not for me. I've always been too clucky and in love with the idea of children." He clarifies.
"I like that, a lot of people your age think differently. That's not necessarily bad, I understand their reasons, but you're essential. Balance is essential."

"Balance I'm about to lose." Luke scrunches his face up in frustration. "I just mean," he groans when Carla sends him a lot of confusion. "I'm going to lose any sense of normalcy in my life. I'm about to have a child. An actual, living, breathing, human being. I don't think that's fully set in yet. Who knows when it will?"
"It'll just be a new normal."
"At least it'll be with Michael. Sure we have this bridge called 'his parents outdated and obnoxious beliefs' to cross but he's still my soulmate. I'm so fucking grateful he's with me. And to think, if I hadn't have gotten pregnant we would have just been able to be in a happy and chill relationship for nearly a year. That would have been nice." Luke sighs.
"But you wouldn't have known you were soulmates, would have lived on the edge just in case you weren't. I like to believe everything happens for a reason. The universe is giving you what you've always wanted nearly a full year before everyone else, that's pretty special."

A silence falls over them, the sound of trees rustling in the spring air provides a calm ambience.
"I think I love him." Luke speaks barely audibly, terrified of the repercussions.
"That much is obvious." Carla shrugs.
"What?" Luke nearly chokes.
"You don't fight like that if you're not in love. Your fight didn't come from a place of anger, it came from a place of passion. Of dedication. Besides, you agreed to move in with him." Carla says, making it clear how obvious it was that Luke and Michael were in fact in love already.
"Yeah..." Luke's mouth falls open in realisation. "I'm just- I love him and the thought of his only immediate family not loving me back, or even accepting me, makes me sick. I'm terrified to potentially raise a child in that environment." Luke confesses desperately.
"That's understandable. It's impossible to know until you meet them though." She concedes. "Even if the relationship isn't as you hope right now, babies have a marvellous way of bringing people together. They're not going to be able to stay away from the only grandchild or grandchildren they will ever have." Carla adds reassuringly.

"We should go back inside." Luke mutters as he stands up, slowly so he doesn't have the strong urge to throw up his most previous meal.
"Stress is bad for the baby, I think you leaving school will be good for you mental health at the moment." Carla comments, standing up and heading towards the stairs.
"Yeah, I hope so." Luke sighs, following behind.

"Wait." Luke calls out softly just as they're about to step back into the living room, causing Carla to turn around. "Thank you for this. You've been really helpful."
"Of course, I'm here anytime." She smiles.
"I'm sure we'll get to know each other a lot more. Again, thank you. Carla." Luke says genuinely, the two of them stepping back inside just after.

"How are you feeling? I'm sorry about earlier." Michael mumbles into his sub's ear when the young blonde slips wordlessly onto his lap.
"Much better. I'm sorry too. I can't wait to meet your parents. Promise. Love you." Luke apologises back, gently kissing his dom's chin before allowing himself to peacefully exist amongst the ongoing conversation. Michael squeezes back tightly at Luke's casual first 'I love you' but decides to leave the rest unsaid for now. Luke doesn't mind. He still understands.

A/N: Carla is incredible I would wife her anyway Luke said I love you and guess what I love all of you happy Thursday

-Grace Williams xo