Fire And Ice

17

Three days had passed. Layla had been released from the hospital, and Parker had finally gotten to take her home so they could celebrate Christmas together. It was a couple days late, but Logan would never know that the rest of the world had already celebrated it. After assuring Parker's parents that Layla would be fine once more, the family of three went back to their house.

No one knew that Layla was pregnant except for her and Parker, and Layla planned to keep it that way until she saw how things played out with Parker. Granted, they had been doing alright since the first night in the hospital, but there was also much hesitance on her part to let him get close to her again. As for Parker, as far as he was concerned, things were back to normal and he had his wife back; they were having another baby, he knew that she would want to be together again. He was happy as he could be, although he despised it when Layla would deny him a kiss.

It was late that night, and Parker and Layla were in the living room putting presents from "Santa Claus" under the tree for Logan.

"Layla, you remember our first Christmas together?" Parker asked as they sat on the floor taking presents out of large trash bags one by one and arranging them around the tree.

"Of course." She replied.

"We were playing monopoly and drinking and listening to music. Now we're playing Santa Claus for our kid with another one on the way." Parker mused as he smiled.

"Crazy, isn't it?" Layla smirked. "I would've never thought it up."

"Me either. But I wouldn't trade our years together for anything."

Layla smiled shyly as she looked over at him. "They have been great for the most part."

"I wish you'd come around and let me sleep with you again." Parker stated. "I miss holding you while I sleep."

Layla sighed as she stacked one present on another. "I don't know..."

"Just for a Christmas present?" Parker smirked.

Layla chuckled and shook her head.

An hour later when all the presents were underneath the tree and the stockings were stuffed, Layla was upstairs in the master bathroom brushing her teeth when Parker walked in carrying a wrapped box.

"So I know we were waiting until tomorrow to open presents but technically it is tomorrow so..." Parker grinned.

Layla glanced to her side and saw Parker standing in front of the bed holding a decorative box.

"Parker, I'm tired. I'll open it first thing in the morning, okay?" Layla mumbled with toothpaste in her mouth. She figured it was probably something like clothes or jewelry, or both.

"Please open it now? It's special." Parker said as he set the box on the bed.

Layla rinsed her mouth out before wiping it with a hand towel and asking, "What is it?"

"Open it and find out." Parker smirked as he sat in the chair in the corner of the room.

Layla sighed as she walked over to the bed and lifted the lid off the box. She furrowed her eyebrows as she looked at all the papers that laid inside it. She picked one up and looked at Parker in confusion.

"They're letters that I wrote to you while you were in the hospital before. I wouldn't talk to anybody, do anything much..." Parker sighed as he ran his hand through the front of his hair. "So the doctor suggested that I journal. And I didn't like the idea of that, so I wrote to you instead."

Layla smiled sympathetically at her husband before sitting down on the bed and starting to read the letter. It was at that time that Parker stood up and began to walk towards the door.

"Hey, where are you going?" Layla asked. "Don't you want to be here while I'm reading them?"

"Not particularly. I don't care to hear your smart commentary on everything." Parker stated. "Just read them and you can tell me what you think in the morning. Or come down when you get done, I'll probably still be awake. I can't sleep anyhow."

Layla opened her mouth to say something to him, but he walked out before she spoke. She sighed before starting to read at the beginning of the letter again.

Three hours passed before she was done reading two hundred letters. She had laughed, cried, felt happy and mad. She knew why Parker didn't want to be in there now; she would've turned to him to argue instead of reading the whole letters and the ones after.

In the letters, Parker spoke about everything, from Logan, to missing her, to making "the biggest mistake of his life" as he called it. With reading all of the letters, Layla felt as if she understood Parker's mind during that time a lot more than she ever could have hoped before. It was amazing to her how he was able to bare his soul in the letters, in words that only he would write and only she would understand exactly what he meant when he said it.

She put the letters back in the box before placing the lid on. After setting the box in the closet, she quietly made her way down the stairs and into the living room where Parker was sitting in the recliner watching television. She shyfully looked at the shaggy haired man in the television light as she sat on the couch.

She sighed before softly saying, "I'm sorry."

"For what?" Parker asked in a monotone voice without looking away.

"For thinking that the things you did were because you didn't love me. I didn't understand your thought process; I didn't understand what all you went through."

Parker sighed before scratching the back of his neck. "Yeah, it was hell on earth for me that's for sure. But I never stopped loving you Layla, I just didn't know how to deal with it anymore."

"I know." Layla said quietly as she walked over to him. She sat down in his lap, wrapping her arms around his neck and laying her head on his shoulder. "I never stopped loving you either."

Parker smiled as he rubbed her back before kissing her forehead. "I love you."

"I love you." Layla smiled as she cupped his cheek in her head and looked into his eyes.

Parker leaned in to close the space between their lips, and for the first time in almost two months, Layla allowed it. They both smiled as they kissed each other multiple times, and the feeling of passion between them was as if it had never went away.

The innocent kisses soon turned into heated ones, and Parker was more than happy as he carried his wife upstairs to their bedroom. He received a lot more than what he had initially asked for earlier, and he made it last as long as he could, as if he wouldn't be getting it the next night again. All was right in their little world together as they fell asleep after the sun came up, wrapped up in each other and finally completely happy again.