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Carlos pulls the door closed behind him, dumping his bag at his feet. He ignores the part of him that would usually hate leaving anything on the ground right at the entrance of their house and heads straight through to the lounge where he can hear the TV playing.
“Sorry I’m so late” he apologises as he enters, and TK, curled up on the couch looks over at him, giving him a soft, sleepy smile in return.
“All good, we got through dinner and bath time without any issue for once” Carlos glances behind him towards the stairs where he can hear strange sounds coming from upstairs.
“And she’s doing what now?” Carlos sits on the chair opposite him, slipping off his shoes.
“I have no idea. She kicked me out” TK shrugs and Carlos imagines that their daughter is either creating a tornado that he’ll spend the evening cleaning up or it is one of the rare nights she will behave and come down the stairs ready for bed.
“How’s the packing coming along?” He asks
“I’ll do mine tomorrow before we go,” Tk tells him and Carlos looks across at him midway through undoing a shoelace, raising one brow at him in question. “It’ll take me 5 minutes” TK stresses.
“We leave tomorrow morning. Why must you always leave it to the last minute?” Carlos rises to join him on the couch.
“Because I know you love it so much” TK smirks at him and Carlos lifts his legs so he can sit down, placing them on top of him.
“Please tell me that Audrey is at least packed?” Carlos asks, running his hands over TK’s legs on top of him.
“She spent all afternoon in her room, so I hope so. I gave her a packing guide and left her to it” Carlos groans in response.
“I knew I shouldn’t have agreed to work the day before we leave”
“Why do you doubt that I can help our daughter pack?”
“Because I’ve seen you pack” Carlos deadpans and TK frowns at him before pushing his feet into his stomach.
“Wow, such a mean husband you are”
Carlos grins at him and runs his hand higher up TK’s leg “Need me to make it better?”
TK grabs him before he can make it any higher “Don’t start something you know you can’t finish”
“Who says I’m not going to finish it?” Carlos teases and TK shakes his head at him linking their fingers together.
“Our daughter. I’m surprised she hasn’t come running yet” Carlos relaxes back into the couch, knowing that TK is right. Their luck in avoiding awkward encounters with their daughter must be verging on running out. He brings their linked hands together and kisses TK’s hand before leaning back into the couch and closing his eyes.
“Remember when we could go on a holiday and not have to spend it entertaining our daughter? Carlos asks and TK grabs the remote off the table in front of him, turning the TV off the children’s station Audrey had put on as soon as they had come home.
It’s not their first holiday together as a family but it’s their first since Audrey has been to school and maybe the first, she’ll remember fully. TK knows Carlos has spent the better part of the last month planning the perfect holiday for a 6-year-old and while he has tried to help, he knows he’s useless at organising and planning. Keeping out of his husband’s way was much more beneficial. A weekend away had quickly turned into a week, then stretched even further to ten days and suddenly Grace and Judd had joined the trip as well. TK’s pretty sure that Carlos is aiming for the best planned holiday of all, which guarantees that something will go wrong as is always the way when TK is involved.
“You’re not looking forward to theme parks, zoos and play centres? I told you she’d be fine with going to the beach for 10 days” Carlos stays still, eyes still closed as he answers.
“Of course I am. I just miss us” Carlos continues, opening his eyes but keeping them resolutely on the ceiling “And I’m being dramatic. Ignore me”
“I’m not going to ignore you” TK starts pulling their linked hands towards him, waiting for Carlos to let his head fall in his direction “I’m sorry, I know it’s been crazy lately”
“That’s not your fault,” Carlos tells him and TK wishes he could melt all the stress off his husband, and take him far away from the world that seems to take and take all the best parts of him.
“I’m sure we could make a deal with Grace and Judd. Give ourselves a night to ourselves”
“You think?” Carlos looks pensive for a moment turning to the stairs once again “I don’t want anyone to think I don’t want to spend time with Audrey, I just..”
“Want some adult alone time” TK finishes for him and Carlos blushes at the statement.
“Yes, obviously” Carlos looks across at TK and TK winks at him in a way too obvious teasing gesture that Carlos tickles his side as a payback laughing at the shriek he gets in return “but also I just want to spend some time with you that isn’t overshadowed with who is doing school pick up or what form we have to fill out or god forbid what child I have to restrain myself from telling off this time. Does that make me a bad dad?”
“Hardly” TK scoffs “I want all those things too. I’ll ask Judd, okay?”
“Okay” TK pushes himself upright and leans forward to run his nose against Carlos’s cheek encouraging him to lean closer. Their lips barely brush before they hear the small footsteps of their daughter making her way down the stairs followed by several bangs after her. TK groans quietly against Carlos’s cheek, their timing as good as ever.
“What has she got?” Carlos asks and TK shifts again, folding his legs under him so he can snuggle into Carlos’s side.
“I’m not entirely sure” TK mumbles and watches as Audrey makes it down the stairs and stops in front of them, laughing as he sees she has two suitcases trailing behind her and another bag over her shoulder.
“Hi Mija, "do you need that much luggage?” Carlos asks her.
“Daddy said I could pack whatever I wanted” Carlos feels TK laugh against him.
“Of course he did” Carlos mutters and pinches TK in the side as he wiggles out from next to him to meet their daughter across the room. “Let’s see what you’ve got in here shall we?” Audrey grins at him and happily opens both her bags and Carlos huffs out a laugh at the sight in front of him.
“I got everyone in Papa,” Aubrey tells him and Carlos can’t help but agree, as he looks at two full suitcases filled with soft toys that usually grace their daughter’s bed.
“I can see that” Carlos agrees and turns around to give TK an exasperated look. “I thought you helped her pack?”
“I did!” TK argues “Remember all the clothes I put out for you to pack, sweetie? You were meant to put them in your suitcase and then whatever room was left you could fit your toys”
“I put all the clothes in your suitcase daddy, it was so empty! I have plenty of room for all my toys!”
“Oh” TK responds and gives a deathly glance to Carlos when he laughs at him. Sometimes he’s faced with the predicament of wanting to applaud her intelligence in working around problems, but also tell her off when they’re technically the wrong thing.
“Okay,” Carlos says “Daddy’s suitcase is for his things and you only need one suitcase, baby. I’ll help you”
“But Daddy said I could take whoever could fit!” Audrey’s face falls, tears already appearing in her dark brown eyes.
“Daddy should have been clearer,” TK tells her and quickly joins them, picking Audrey up. He mumbles an apology into her hair, hugging her to his chest to ensure a meltdown - that they’ll spend way too long trying to fix - doesn’t happen.
“You won’t have room for any new things if you fill your suitcase with all your toys, Mija,” Carlos tells her, following them up the stairs, all the bags in tow.
“I get new toys?” Their daughter’s eyes widen at the possibility of new things and Carlos ducks into their bedroom to take her clothes out of TK’s open suitcase on their bed.
“You have to pick your favourite, sweetie,” TK tells her gently and Carlos enters Aubrey’s room, carefully starting to roll her small clothes. They both watch as she painstakingly makes her decision on which toys are to be selected. He thinks, as he watches her consider every single toy, that she is too spoiled but there’s no way they’ll ever be able to stop.
“Papa” Aubrey says, her voice rising in a way that Carlos knows too well. It's times like these that he wants people to see, that even though she may look like Carlos, there are moments where Aubrey is so much like TK even though she shares no ounce of his DNA.
“Aubrey” Carlos replies, sing-song voice like he knows she loves and is rewarded with a slight giggle.
“If I only pick one pair of shoes, can I take Rosie?” Carlos sighs in response looking down at the well-worn rabbit in her arms.
“You need the shoes honey” Aubrey looks at her bag and up to Carlos. And Carlos swears to himself knowing that he’s going to give in, he can never upset his little girl for long and he’s aware she knows it. “Maybe we can see if Rosie can fit in one of our suitcases, okay?”
“Yay!” she screams. Her grin is blinding as Carlos helps her finish packing and get ready for bed, taking the win when she happily does what she’s told, ignoring that it’s because she’s already got her way.
“That girl is too smart for her own good” TK comments much later when they’ve relocated to their bedroom. He walks from their bathroom back into their bedroom minus a shirt and shorts slung low on his hips and smirks when Carlos glances at him from the wardrobe and then does a double take when he notices his state of dress.
“She knows she always gets her way” Carlos replies absently and stares for a beat too long and hurries to turn around when TK raises a brow at him. He knows he should pack for himself now, the likelihood that he’ll push all three of them out of the house on time tomorrow severely takes a dent if he must get himself ready too, but for once he wants to ignore the responsible part of himself. He hears TK move behind him, draping himself over Carlos’s back, his skin still warm from his shower.
“You know, I hear being a very quick packer has its advantages” TK drawls and Carlos can’t resist pushing back into him.
“I have heard that” Carlos breathes
“Wait, you’re going to leave packing until tomorrow? Who are you and what have you done with my husband?” Carlos turns in his arms and puts his hands on his face, not wasting any time before leaning in to press a soft kiss to TK’s neck relishing the way TK shivers at the contact.
“I miss you” he murmurs against TK’s pulse point, before moving upwards to place a kiss under his ear, taking his time to sweep his tongue across the skin. “I’m sorry I’ve been so distracted”
“It’s okay. Technically we are...” TK’s breath hitches for a moment as Carlos lets his hands wander down TK’s back pulling him until they are flush together “on holiday from now”
“Technically” Carlos agrees, walking TK backwards until they meet the end of the bed.
The next day they are barely ready when Grace and Judd come knocking but for once Carlos doesn’t mind.