Carter Ackermann

"You will, you're a good Dad."

"You really think so?"

I smiled and nodded "Yeah, of course I do." Hell, he'd always been great at anything.

I smiled. "Thanks Brooke. I hope you're right."

"I'm always right, Carter. Some things never change." I joked as we got the baby and sat down to eat.

I chuckled and sat down, Daphne in one arm and eating with the other. "Well when you put it that way."

The three of us ate until we were full and Carter insisted that he clean everything up. "I'm going to go out for a bit but I'll be back. Will you two be okay?"

"Yeah, we'll be fine. When do you think you'll be back?" I asked as I fed Daphne a bottle.

"A few hours, shouldn't be too long though."

"Oh okay. Where are you going? I'm... sorry, that's really not my business. I'll see you when you get back. Just be careful okay."

"It's alright, I'm going into the woods to see what I can find. Just so you know I'll be on the North side if I'm not back before dark."

"Okay. Just be careful okay?"

"I promise." I said and grabbed my bag, pulling it on. I went over and kissed Daphne on the cheek then looked back up at Carter "See you later."

"Bye," I said and watched her as she left.

I was almost to the house when I saw Brooke coming out of Jonathon's house. I don't know why, but I really didn't want to run into him. I shook my head and went into the house, taking Daphne to her nursery to get her fed and down for the night.

Jonathon walked me to the door and I embraced him again "Goodnight. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Good night baby," I said, sliding my hands around her waist and pulling her close to me. I leaned down and kissed her softly, then deepened it a little, not wanting to let her go. 

I smiled against his lips as he deepened the kiss and after a few moments we managed to pull apart. "Sweet Dreams." I winked and opened the door smiling at him as I closed it.

As soon as I saw her start to move away from him, I went to the kitchen, not wanting her to know I'd been watching. What the fuck, I was a peeping tom now? I didn't have any claim to her, really shouldn't be thinking about that. At all. Nope. She was with Jon. End of discussion.

"I'm home." I said but not too loudly incase Daphne was already asleep. I went into the kitchen where Carter stood "Is the baby asleep?"

"Yeah. I just got her down." I picked up a cloth and started washing off the counters to keep from looking at her. "Did you have a good time at the wedding?" 

"It was nice, they seem like they really love each other so I hope it works out for them." I said watching him wipe the counters even though they were spotless. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, why do you ask?" I asked, looking around for something to do, anything, then tossing the cloth into the sink when I couldn't find anything. Why was everything so fucking clean?

Wow, it had been such a weird day. "No, reason."

"Oh. Alright then. Well um... I'm... gonna go... to bed... Yeah, that sounds good. I'll see you in the morning. Night." I went to leave the kitchen and slammed right into her, almost knocking her to the ground, and grabbed onto her shoulders to steady her. "Shit, I'm sorry."