Chapter 40 - Life

For once, it wasn’t Darcy waking everyone up. Gavin falling up the stairs giggling, with Kate telling him to be quiet, which just made him giggle more, was the noise that eventually made Cam stir.

Lifting her head, she felt a little disorientated. She realized that Michelle wasn’t in bed with her, which instantly focused her thoughts. The baby monitor was silent apart from the gentle sound of breathing and static, and she relaxed again. Rolling over, she groaned. Every muscle ached. Sitting up, she rubbed at her wrist and smirked at the redness. Michelle had certainly left her mark.

Flinging her legs over the edge of the bed, she stood up and grabbed a dressing gown, tying it around her waist as she opened the door to go in search of her new mistress. She chuckled at that idea. It had been fun, but she couldn’t see herself giving up so much control every time they got jiggy with it.

She opened the door to the nursery and quietly poked her head around it. Her heart melted at the sight of Michelle curled up on the small couch along the back wall with Darcy tucked in beside her, both of them sound asleep.

Checking Noah was fine, Cam crept across the room and gently lifted Darcy. She snuffled and wriggled a little but didn’t wake as Cam placed her back into her crib and covered her up. Next, she leaned down and pushed arms under Michelle’s knees and neck, and lifted her too. Arms naturally clung to Cam as she walked them both back to bed.

“Hey,” Michelle mumbled sleepily.

“Hey yourself.” Cam smiled back, gently laying her down on her side of the bed, pulling the covers back and then over her. “Go back to sleep.”

There was silence for a moment, and Cam thought that she had already drifted off to sleep, but then Michelle said, “Don’t want to go back.”

“It’s just gone two a.m. Go to sleep,” Cam insisted as she dropped her robe and climbed back into bed beside her.

Michelle moved and pressed herself up against Cam’s naked side. “No, I don’t want to go back,” she said, more alert now as her arm snaked around Cam’s waist.

“What do you mean?” Cam turned slightly to look at her, her face just visible in the moonlight. Sleepy eyes stared back at her.

“I want to stay here. Live here and bring our children up here.”

It took a moment to register what Michelle was saying. “But what about your job? How will you commute from here to LA every day?”

Michelle kissed her shoulder. “I won’t.”

Now Cam was perplexed. “Would they move production up here then?”

Laughing at her, Michelle sat up and tugged the robe she had been wearing off, throwing it across the room. It landed on the floor. “Cam, I don’t care about the job. I’ve realized that I’m not just an actor now, I’m a mother. And I like that job so much more. I don’t want our kids growing up in LA. I don’t want a couple of Beverly Hills upstarts when they hit their teens; I want a couple of Storms.” She smiled. “I want our kids to spend time with nature, and normal kids, and go to a normal school. I want them to have real friends, to grow up part of a community.”

“Wow, you’ve really thought about this?”

Michelle nodded. “I have. What do you think?”

“I don’t know.” Cam sat up and flicked the bedside lamp on. “I mean, our lives are in LA. Not just your job, but mine too. I found a home there since leaving the UK, we have a lot of friends and support. What would we do here? Wouldn’t we get bored? As nice as this place is, I don’t think it’s ready for a gay bar!”

Chuckling, Michelle sat up properly too. “You might be right there…I thought maybe I could look into coaching. I’ve really enjoyed these sessions with Storm, watching her grow as an actor.”

Cam’s mind whirled with all of this new information. She’d never seen herself living anywhere else but the beach; that was home now, no matter how magical it was here. That was why they had the cabin. But she had to admit, since being here, Michelle was a different person. Everything was calmer and she was right, the kids would love growing up here.

“Just…think about it, yeah?” Michelle asked, leaning in to kiss Cam. “It’s just an idea.”