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“I can’t let you go, Princess,” he whispered into her ear. “You’re as essential to my life as breathing. I don’t know how it happened, Deidre, but you’re ingrained in my soul.”

Her eyes welled up with tears at his honesty. The fact he was such a big, strong man and a total badass made it all the more meaningful.

“Maireann lá go ruaig ach maireann an grá go huaigh.”

“What’s that mean?” he asked in her ear where he began to nuzzle her.

“A day lasts until it’s chased away, but a love lasts until the grave.” She was nervous about telling him the true meaning. Everything with them had been going at warp speed, but she was finally in tune with her heart. And her heart was telling her he was it for her.

“Oh yeah?”

Nodding her head quickly, he slowly lowered his mouth to hers. A simple meeting of lips, an intense feeling of lust, an overwhelming feeling of love. For them it was perfect.

“What’s a man gotta do to get some grub around here?” They heard Casey holler from inside the house.

“Fucking inbred...” Dom mumbled, shooting a glare at the house.

Laughing, she pulled from his arms slightly. “I’ve got to wake up Jax anyway.”

“You’re good with him.” He held a note of surprise in his voice.

“Am I not supposed to be?”

“I’m just shocked is all. He doesn’t normally take to people the way he has with you, and I had no clue how you would be with him, so ya, I was worried. At first.”

“Hmm,” she murmured walking away. Unsure of how to feel about his doubt.

“Wait a minute, Princess.” He tried to grab her arm as she walked in the house.

“It’s fine, Dominic.”

“Oh shit, what’d ya do, dude?” Casey laughed as Dom trailed her inside.

“Fuck off, Case.”

Ignoring them both, she went upstairs to wake up Jax. Entering his room, she loved the care and attention he paid to organizing everything. He had bins upon bins lined up against one wall all labeled for what toys went where. He was very proud the first time he’d shown her. His bookshelf had books going from largest to smallest and another shelf with all his teddy bears organized by character. It was one of the most innovative things she’d ever seen from someone so young.

She’d asked Dom about it a while go to see if he were the one who did it or maybe Casey or Angela. He’d told her it was all Jax. That’s been that way he’s done things since he started crawling. For him, everything had a place.

Leaning down beside the sweet, little boy’s toddler bed covered in Transformers bedding—because Optimus Prime was the bomb apparently—she started rubbing his back gently. She’d discovered that he was not happy when being awoken suddenly. He needed a slow wake up, and she was happy to do that for him.

“Jax, sweetheart, it’s time to wake up,” she whispered, kissing his head.

As her lips touched him, she realized he felt warmer than normal. Rolling him to his back gently, she felt his cheeks and continued onto his arms and chest. She knew that when he slept he was always warmer, but this felt different. He was clammy, and his face was slightly paler.

Shaking him a bit she called, “Jaxson, a stór, wake up, baby. Look at me.”

His eyes fluttered briefly before closing and he tried to roll back over. Panicking now, she picked him up and moved as fast as she could down the stairs to where Dom and Case were in the kitchen.

“Dominic!” she called in a quiet panic.

He turned, laughing at something Case had said, but all good humor faded as he took in how tense and upset she was. Looking to his son, he rushed over asking her, “What’s wrong?”

“He’s warm. Like warmer than usual. Is he ok? Is this normal? He won’t wake up!” Anxiety began rising within her. She’d never felt anything like it before. Her heart hurt from the thought of something being wrong with this sweet boy.

“Flu’s been going around,” Case supplied as he hovered over them.

“The flu? This can’t be the flu? Feel him,” Deedee demanded. Surely the flu doesn’t make a person that warm.