Extinguished

~24~ Apartment

Taylor's POV

It's been several months since the night Ellie told me she forgave me. We still haven't moved in together yet, we're waiting a little bit longer before we do. Our only reason for moving in is for the baby. If we do it too soon, we're afraid it's going to be awkward.

I'm ready, though. I'm ready to become a family. I'm ready to live under the same roof as Liam again. I'm ready to be a dad, and to meet my baby. We decided we're not finding out the gender, either way is fine. I'm still secretly hoping for a girl, but I will be ecstatic for a boy too. As long as the baby and Ellie are healthy, that's all that matters to me.

Ellie is now 7 months pregnant. If I thought she was beautiful before, that's nothing compared to how she is now. She's just glowing. She has the tiny baby bump that most woman are envious of. She's perfect. She's happy. I'm still in love with her, but it's not painful anymore. I'm working on letting go. I'm no longer swallowed up by hatred and bitterness. Things are starting to get a little better.

I've still seen Jessica lurking around. I really thought she would have given up by now, but she hasn't. I don't see her as much though. So, either she's starting to come to terms with the fact that I hate her, or she's just really good at being stealthy. I'm really hoping it's the former, though.

Liam hasn't been in any more trouble since the day he ruined Jake's place. He almost has me completely paid back; He got a job at a movie theater and he's not so cranky about it anymore. He REALLY wasn't thrilled with the punishment, but to my absolute amazement, Alex agreed and helped enforce it.

When Alex heard about what happened, he came to me and we decided to split the amount equally. Alex didn't want me paying for all of it. There were $5,000 worth of damages though, so we decided to split. Alex rode him pretty hard until he got the job. I'm proud of Alex, he really stepped up.

We're in the middle of shift, when Ellie comes up to me in my office.

"You got a minute?" She asks as she plops down on my bed.

"If you're nice, I'll even give you two," I say with a smile, putting my pen down and shutting my laptop. "What's up?"

"I think we need to talk about looking for apartments soon. I kinda have a feeling that this baby is gonna come early," she says as she lovingly rubs her stomach.

I smile as I act casual. I don't want to sound as excited as I feel. "I've just been waiting on you," I smirk. "There's several good apartments available right now. We just need to set up a time to go look at them."

"Ok. Well, let's do it this week, yeah? I'm feeling anxious for some reason," she says, as her face suddenly flashes with concern.

"What's wrong?"

"Probably nothing. I've just been getting creeped out again. It stopped for a while, but it just seems like every night I feel uneasy. I'm just ready to be out of there."

I instantly feel like I've been punched in my gut. Maybe that's why I've felt like Jessica has backed off. Maybe she has...with me....

"Let's go after shift tomorrow," I say, instantly deciding she isn't spending another night alone in the apartment. "Then I'll sleep on the couch at your place until we find an apartment."

"There's no reason for that."

"Maybe not, but I'm not taking any chances. We're going to live together soon anyways. We'll look for places tomorrow."

"But..." she starts, trying to argue. I put my hand out to stop her and look at my watch. "Sorry, Freeman, your two minutes are up."

She smiles at me and rolls her eyes. As she's getting up to leave, she kicks my leg softly. We're definitely friends again, and it feels good.

Shift goes by quickly, and before I know it, I'm waiting on Ellie outside. She comes up and smiles at me. "Ready?"

"Am I ready? I'm the one waiting on you, ya slow poke." I say, giving her a light shove.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Come on, I'll drive," says walking to her car.

"Mmmm, that's a hard no, Freeman. The only reason I ever let you drive before, was cause I wanted sex. Now, I don't have to pretend that your driving doesn't scare the crap outta me."

She stops and glares at me, her eyes narrowing. "I'm getting pretty sick and tired of all the driving cracks from everyone."

I laugh. Loudly. She knows she's a horrible driver. She REALLY is a horrible driver. She drove the ambulance once, when Megan was sick, and she hasn't been allowed to since. She pulled out to get gas, and smacked right into Keegan's newly paid-off Dodge Charger. We were still dating then, so I tried to convince her that anyone could have made that mistake.

In reality, still to this day we can't figure out how she did it. Keegan's car was nowhere near the ambulance. Ellie is lucky she's so loved at the station. If it would have been anyone else, Keegan would have murdered them.

She reluctantly gets into my car with a sigh. "Just because we're not dating anymore, Preston, doesn't mean you need to be so dang honest."

I laugh again as I drive out of the parking lot. I've missed her.

We see three apartments before we find the one we both really liked. It's a nice one on the west side of town with an amazing view. The balcony overlooks a huge lake. Sunsets are going to be beautiful. There's a huge master, which I'll have Ellie take. And the other two rooms are a good size.

Ellie was mostly excited about the kitchen. It's huge, with new cabinets and appliances. What Ellie lacks in driving, she makes up for in cooking. That girl can cook! I've missed her chili and cornbread the most.

We decided on this apartment before we even left. We filled out our application, and are now just waiting for them to approve it.

I take her out to lunch before I drop her back to the station to get her car. On our way home, I get a phone call. We got the apartment!

In one week, I get to move in with Ellie and Liam, while we wait on our baby.