[CHELSEA] we were just kids in love

[chelsea noelle hayes]

'Yes sir!' Adrienne exclaimed, running after him into the bathroom. Chelsea watched them a moment, almost wishing she hadn't left. She couldve seen this every day, Mikey watching him intently while Adrienne nudged bubble bath at him, telling him it smelled like candied apples and cinnamon rolls. She pulled on their clean sheets carefully, then walked into the bathroom with two clean towels for the kids. "Gosh. I got a couple of wet rats. I wonder where my little angels went." She teased as she pulled Mikey out to dry him off. She carried him out to get him dressed and tuck him safely into bed, leaving Adrienne for Cameron. "Mommy's gonna be outside." She told Mikey, kissing his head gently. She walked out of the room, closing the door behind her before she slid to the floor, putting her head in her knees.

[cameron james smith]

Cameron added almost half of the bottle of bubble bath into the water and began to mix it up with his hand. He kept the water at a warm temperture and let it fill to where the bubbles were about to spill out. He had fun stacking bubbles onto Mikey's head and giving himself a beard of bubbles just to get them to laugh.
He waited untill Chelsea had left with Mikey before pulling Adrienne out of the tub and drying her off. Cameron wrapped the towel around her and pulled her up into his arms. "Where's your room, princess? It's time to get your PJ's on and find mommy."

[chelsea noelle hayes]

Adrienne pointed to the bunk beds with the dresser at the foot of it. 'We all sleep in here. Its the only room we got. And mommy sleeps over there on blankies. But sometimes, we let her sleep with us. Mikey pretends he gets nightmares.' She explained, reaching up into her bunk to grab her nightgown. Mikey grabbed the other end of it, peeking up it and giggling. Adrienne stuck her head in the other end, telling her brother to get out. 'You're a stinky, smelly meany!' She complained, trying to yank it back.

[cameron james smith]

"Hey, no fighting. Don't end the day on a bad note." Cameron smirked as he scooped Mikey into his arms, giving Adrienne her night gown back. "Ready to fly?" He asked the little boy, holding him up so they were eye to eye. There was no doubt in Cameron's mind that the little boy wasn't his, but it didn't bother him. He was happy to have Adrienne back in his life, and the little boy was her brother after all.

[chelsea noelle hayes]

Adrienne pulled on her nightgown, then climbed up into her bunk. 'He doesn't like heights.' Adrienne told Cameron when her brother started to cry. She pulled her blanket up over herself, laying her head down on the pillow. She smiled when Chelsea walked back into the room, watching her walk all the way to the shower. 'Mommy!' She called as she climbed down, running to the bathroom. She sat down next to the door, waiting patiently for Chelsea to get out of the shower. Chelsea wrapped her towel around herself so she could pick up Adrienne and carry her back to bed. "Sleep now, princess." She said, kissing her forehead. "You mind waiting outside?" She asked Cameron, putting her hand on her hip.

[cameron james smith]

Cameron brought the boy back to his chest, and began to rock Mikey back and forth before putting him back into his bed. Cam's eyes flashed over to Chelsea at the sound of her voice. He still wasn't sure of what he wanted to say to her, so he offered a smile and told the kids good night before heading out into the hall.

He was half tempted to just keep on walking, but instead, he just leaned up against the wall and slid slowly to his feet. Cameron still wasn't happy with Chelsea, but he wasn't in the mood to listen to her scream anymore.

[chelsea noelle hayes]

Chelsea got dressed, putting her comb into her pocket to comb out her hair. She remembered the times she'd get Cameron to do it when she was pregnant, and how he used to pretend to complain. She tucked the kids in, kissing each of them before she walked out into the hall. She pulled her comb out, sitting down next to him to comb her hair. "I was gonna come home. But I didn't think making you raise Mikey would have been fair." She said quietly, slowly pulling the comb through her hair. "You remember the guy we used to spend like.. hours with? Bean, we used to call him. Well, someone told him when we went into the hospital to have Adrienne, and it was the day you left to go wash all her stuff that he showed up and raped me. So I went to my mom's, thinking I could just transfer so I wouldn't deal with him. I was gonna go home to you. But when I went to get my papers from school a week or so later, he did it again.. And then I found out I was pregnant." She shrugged, not daring to look at him.

[cameron james smith]

Bringing his knees close, he put his head down as she dove into her explaination. Cameron never understood why she never had much trust in him. As if he would just leave her because of something that wasn't her fault. When she finished, he took the chance to steal a look at her. "So you just left? You didn't even give me a chance." His teeth began to grind as he tried to supresse his anger. A fight wasn't going to do any good, and he was sure they would find something else to fight about. "Did you think I wouldn't come find you? That I would just let you run off with her?"

[chelsea noelle hayes]

Chelsea sighed. She knew it was going to come down to this. She just wished it hadn't. "I know it was fucking stupid, Cameron. Okay? It wasn't my brightest idea. You don't have to be a dick about it." She complained, tapping her comb on the floor. But she was almost glad he wasn't taking it lightly. She didn't want everything to be okay all at once. She'd screwed up and she needed to fix it again. That's how it was supposed to be, right? "I knew you were going to come. I prayed you'd find us and we could make a home somewhere else, somewhere he couldn't find me and leave me with another kid that wasn't yours. I don't like it anymore than you do, Cameron. I was stupid and didn't realize what a good father you'd be to them both. I just didn't think it was fair to you, having to raise some idiot's son." She looked over at him, reaching up to run her fingers through her hair. "Do you even understand how hard it is raising two kids nine months apart on my own?"

[cameron james smith]

With a roll of his eyes, Cameron went back to staring down the hall. No one told her to run off and raise two kids on her own. If she would have told him, He would have taken care of it. The idiot would have never laid another finger on her. "At least then, they wouldn't be tested on when they got older." He huffed, irritated by how she thought she could do everything on her own. "No one told you to run off, Chelsea. You might push every button I have and get on every single one of my nerves, but I would have taken care of you and them." He shook his head wairly before glancing back at her. It was hard not to pull her into his lap in that instant, but he refrained and moved his gaze to stare at the cracks in the floor.

[chelsea noelle hayes]

"Whatever, Cameron.." She breathed, slowly running her comb over the cracks in the floor. She looked up as Mikey started to scream, and pulled herself up, walking calmly into the room. She sat down on the bed, pulling him into her lap. "Shh, Mikey. Calm down, baby." She said quietly, picking him up to walk around the room slowly. She walked out and closed the door so he wouldn't wake Adrienne with her crying. "Look. Say hi." She said, pointing to Cameron. "He's nice. Can you say Cameron? Wanna go sit with Cameron?" She asked, but he just shook his head, holding tightly to her. "We're gonna sit by him, okay?" She sat down nest to him, fixing Mikey's pajamas. "It's all over now, sweet pea. Go back to sleep."

[cameron james smith]

When she disappeared, he let his hand return to his knees. His breathing slowed and he tried to relax. Cameron bit at his chapped lips, pulling the skin off as he cleared his hand. He could hear Chelsea as she began to walk across the room to come back into the hall. He lifted up and leaned back against the wall. "Hey, buddy." His voice was a soft whisper, and a smile pulled at his lips. Mikey was a cute kid, and thankfully, the only person Cameron saw in the little boy was Chelsea and not his father.

Cameron sighed as his eyes switched to trace over Chelsea's figure. "Why are you always so stubborn?" He questioned when she sat down next to him. His head rested against the wall, turned just enough to keep her in his sight.

[chelsea noelle hayes]

Chelsea looked from Mikey to Cameron, but her son was so tired he was soon fast asleep curled up against her. She held him close, slowly rubbing his back. "It's the red hair." She smirked a bit, kissing the top of Mikey's head. She fixed his sock, looking over the little boy. "And when you get mad it's adorable. Adrienne has your temper, you know. Which is awful, because she's bossy like me. And she thinks she rules the world." She shrugged again, drawing her knees up closer to her so she could keep Mikey close. "I'm sorry I didn't stay.." She apologized quietly, her eyes wandering over the floor. It wasn't often she said she was sorry about anything at all.

[cameron james smith]

As Chelsea spoke, he thought back to all the good times they had. It was true that most of their time spent together, they butted heads, but not everything was frustrating. Like when she was sick, and he would make her soup and make sure she was comfortable. "You're going to drive me insane, Chels." He breathed after her apology. It was probably the second one he had ever gotten from her. And it was the last string she needed to pull for him to forget about all of his anger at the moment. Scooting closer to her, he tucked one of her loose curls behind her ear before wrapping his arms around her and pulling her back to rest against his chest.

[chelsea noelle hayes]

Chelsea let out a sigh of relief when he pulled her closer. She buried her face against his neck, having missed this more than anything. She'd adored being in his arms more than anything. She turned a bit so she could rest her hand on his chest, the other tightly around Mikey. It seemed slightly comical it was Mikey in her lap instead of Adrienne. She didn't know if they could ever be a family, not the way the two of them bickered. But she wanted to at least try. "I never stopped loving you.." She mumbled into his neck, her hand closing around his shirt. She closed her eyes, her heart pounding faster. He smelled the same as he always had, the same way all of her clothes had smelled for the longest time no matter how many times she'd washed them. "And I also stole your favorite button down." She smirked a bit, looking up at him.