Page 2

Elliot

I held my loves close as we basked in the aftermath of our lovemaking. We were a pile of sweaty limbs and full hearts.

“So good,” Tinsley mumbled around her pacifier.

Pressing a kiss to the top of her head, I agreed, “We are all so good together, baby.”

“I’m so thankful to have you both, I couldn’t handle going back to Augusta without you by my side,” Tyler admitted, bringing up the trip again. I knew how much it was stressing him out.

I lifted his hand and brought it to my mouth before kissing it. “It’s going to be beautiful, baby. I know they're thankful for your help.”

“Yeah,” he agreed, but his tone still sounded wounded. I wished I could take this burden from him, or at least make it a little lighter.

“We will be with you the whole time. I know this is going to be very hard for you, and we’re so proud of you,” I told him. One of the last times Tyler had been in his hometown, he’d been in a small rehabilitation center trying to figure out life after his injuries. We hadn’t known him as well then, but he’d been open with us about what a dark time it had been for him. He’d often admitted he’d considered ending his life several times during that period. We all knew the sacrifice he was making by going back to help a fellow vet.

“So proud,” Tinsley added, pulling her pacifier out.

“I love you,” Tyler said to the both of us.

“We love you too, baby,” I answered, shifting us so I could hold him on one side and Tinsley on the other.

“Love you, baby,” Tinsley agreed, causing us both to chuckle.

“You’re the baby in this relationship,” Tyler teased our girl.

“I’m forty-eleben.”

Snorting, I patted her naked butt. “Forty-eleven, huh?”

“Like you and Papa,” she said.

“You little shit,” I laughed.

Sitting up, she gave us her sweetest smile. “No. I’m Teenie, bemember? Did you forget ‘cause you’re so olds?”

“Oh, I remember,” Tyler said, sitting up and reaching for her. She screeched, crawled away from us, climbed off the bed, and ran into the bathroom. He followed hot on her trail. I enjoyed watching both their naked asses as they retreated. My cock rose as I climbed from the bed. Maybe I needed one more taste of them before we got on the road.

***

“She’s knocked out,” Tyler said, looking into the backseat.

“Two rounds of fantastic sex and numerous orgasms can do that to a Little girl,” I chuckled.

Tinsley had fallen asleep about twenty minutes into the two hour drive. Of course, she was wrapped up in her favorite blanket, her iPad was hanging from the back of my seat, and she had enough snacks to prepare for an apocalypse, so I wasn’t surprised. I’d sleep if I was that comfortable too.

“It was fantastic sex,” Tyler agreed.

Reaching over, I placed my hand on his thigh and squeezed.

“Thank you for coming with me,” Tyler said.

“I’ll follow you anywhere, baby.”

“I’m sorry I asked you to come, though. It was very needy of me.”

“We all have needs, Tyler.”

“I just mean… like…,” he paused, searching for the right words. “I feel bad I needed you both to come. I am a vet. I’ve lived through the worst parts of life. Going back to my hometown and hosting a fundraiser shouldn’t have freaked me out like it did. It was fucking pathetic and I think I was worried about making going backwards mentally. I am worried about needing to be inpatient again, which is even more fucking pathetic.”

“Tyler Everett Smith, if I ever hear you say something like that again, I will beat your ass. I don’t care if you're my partner or not,” I scolded. Anger burned inside my chest. Tyler had needed inpatient care and had only returned to our lives recently. He had PTSD and when you considered all he went through overseas, him needing help was perfectly understandable. Hell, anyone needing help for any reason was understandable. I hated to hear him being so hard on himself.

His face turned red and he brought his hand up to play with his ear, something he did when he was embarrassed. “No, I’m just saying,” he tried to say, but I cut him off.

“You were just saying how you should have been tough and pushed through instead of relying on the people who love you to help you through. You are feeling guilty because you think you’re being weak,” I filled in.

“Well, I am being weak.”

“You didn’t have to go home, Tyler. You absolutely could have declined to help and nobody would fault you, but because of your bravery, you’re doing something so fucking hard. Most people wish they could be as brave as you right now.”

“Well, when you say it like that…”

“Am I wrong?”

“No,” he said.

“That shit ends here. You are a fucking war vet. You fought and almost died for this country and now you’re going back to support another war vet even though it makes you face some hard things. You asked for help because you needed it and that’s one of the hardest things anyone can do. You’re a fucking badass, do you understand me?”

He nodded.

“Words, Tyler, I want fucking words,” I demanded, swallowing down the urge to rip this car off the road and wear his ass out on the side of the highway. It wasn’t the first time I’d felt the urge, but my hand was much more itchy to swat him than normal.

“Yes, yes. I understand,” he quickly assured me.

“Good. Because you’re the bravest man I know and I won’t let you think differently.”

***

Tyler

I submitted to Elliot occasionally, mostly in the bedroom, but him threatening to spank me was new and not in my predicted forecast for our relationship.

But his threat, as crazy as it sounded, did something to ease the terror bubbling inside me. It made me feel safe, secure, like I could take on anything and that was something I hadn’t expected.

“I love you,” I told Elliot instead of what I was really thinking. “I love you too, baby.”

“Do you think that we could maybe reschedule dinner with Tifton and order room service?” Tifton was my stepbrother, the only good thing that came from my family life and although I was thrilled to see him, I just wanted the comfort only Elliot and Tinsley could bring.

“I think that’s a great idea. I’ll call him later and tell him, okay?”

“You’ll call him?” I asked, sighing in relief. He wouldn’t be upset, but I already felt so stretched thin that rescheduling just seemed like a huge task.

“I will. I think you’ve got a little bit too much on your mind, so I’ll help you carry some of the weight, okay?”

“Thank you, Elliot. T-That’s really helpful.”

“You’re not on your own anymore, baby. Let us help you,” he said, lifting my hand to his lips and kissing each one of my fingers. “I know I can’t take away the hard feelings, but I can at least do that for you.”

***

“Do you want another bite of soup, Teenie?”

“Nu, Papa.”

“Are you all done?” I asked, smiling when she used American Sign Language to sign all done back to me.

“You’re doing so well with your ASL words. You know so many now,” I praised.

“We don’t sign fuck ,” she said, giving a hard nod. “Is naughty.”

“You’re right. We don’t sign fuck ,” I agreed, chuckling, wondering where her mind was going.

“Dallas signed fuck .” Ah. I sighed. Dallas, one of our Little friends and Tinsley’s playmate, was sometimes a bad influence on our baby. She was like the naughty older cousin who taught the other Littles naughty things, though recently she’d begun to act out even more, leaving us puzzled as to what was going on in her head.

“That wasn’t nice, was it?” Elliot said, wiping her hands with a baby wipe before throwing it away and going back to unpacking our bags.

“Unka Pike made her stand in da corner for a zillions minutes,” she said.

“Oh no,” I said, dramatically. “A zillions minutes?”

“Yas, huh. So many!” Another hard nod sent her hair flying out of the clip we’d put it in after brushing out all her car nap knots.

Laughing, I unclipped it. “Crazy haired baby.”

“What do?” she asked, swinging her feet back and forth. She was sitting in a chair much too big for her short stature.

“What are we doing tonight?” I asked for clarification.

“Yas, huh.”

“I think that maybe we will stay in and snuggle, maybe rest a bit from the drive,” Elliot answered.

“Fire?” she asked.

“Fire?” Elliot deadpanned. “I didn’t have any plans for fire.” I laughed at his expression, but I was lost too.

“Fire ‘side, please?”

“You want to ‘fire outside’?” I asked. I mean she was adorable and used wonderful manners but we were not supporting any newly developed pyromania traits.

She giggled, light and carefree and not for the first time I found myself a bit envious of her. Sometimes I wished I could be that untroubled.

“Fire, sign!” she said, sliding from the chair and running to the dresser. She grabbed a flyer and handed it to Elliot before climbing back in the chair.

“Oh, there’s a big bonfire tonight with live music.”

“Yas. Fire ‘side,” she said in a very duh tone. Tinsley very rarely left Little space so sometimes it took us a bit to translate things.

This time Elliot and I laughed. “Yes, that sounds like a great idea, what do you think, Tyler? Do you feel up to that or would you rather stay in? It’s up to you.”

I mulled it over for a second before nodding. “Yeah, we could do it. Does that sound good to you?”

“I love to be anywhere that you two are,” he answered. Picking Tinsley up from her chair, I walked over to where Elliot was sitting, organizing our clothes, and sat beside him. He stopped, moved the clothes, and wrapped his arm around us. My heart was so full.

Pressing a kiss first to Tinsley’s forehead and then mine, he asked, “You doing okay, baby?”

He had already talked to Tifton and rescheduled for tomorrow night. He’d ordered my favorite foods, talked to the event planners for me, and laid out my favorite pajama pants. I knew the next week would be so hard, but for the first time, I didn’t feel like I was drowning in panic.

“I’m doing good.” I could answer honestly for the first time in days. “I’m nervous, but I’ll get through the next few days because of your love and support.”