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"Luce, do you really need me to tag along for more baby clothes?"
Lucy's looking at him like he just now grew a second head and if her glare is any indication he decides it's best to keep his mouth shut and just go with whatever she wants at this point.
"You can never have enough baby clothes, Tim" she mutters quietly while strapping their two-year-old into his car seat.
Tim simply nods and helps her inside the car.
They arrive at Babies-R-Us a little while later and Lucy saunders towards the clothing section with their son in tow. Tim just plops himself into one of the seats near the little coffee corner and looks utterly amused when his two-year-old pulls clothes from the racks left and right before walking towards his mother "Mommy, these for sissy?"
Tim doesn't know how long he's been sitting there nursing his coffee when a quiet gasping '"Oh" pulls him out of his thoughts. He whips his head towards the sound and his eyes land on the familiar green eyes and blond-haired woman they belong to "Ashley" he breathes.
He can see the slight blush on her cheeks and before he gets a chance to wonder why on earth he would run into his ex here of all places he follows her hands down to where they now land on her visible bump. It's his turn to be startled now "Oh"
Ashley just looks from her bump to him and then fixes her eyes toward the wall behind him "So, yeah. How have you been?" She asks, attempting small talk
Tim just scoffs "Not wired that way, huh?" His mind goes back to that one particular day over four years ago when he feared that Ashley was expecting a proposal when they got to Hawaii because of something that Lucy had said. He knew, even back then, that Ashley and him weren't meant to get married but he can't pretend it didn't hurt when she said she never wanted to get married or have kids. Things have changed because she's pregnant now and he doesn't miss the ring that is sitting around a necklace hanging from her neck and somehow it does sting a little bit
Ashley manages to look shocked at his harsh tone but fixes her eyes on him offering a small smile "You and I both know I was never the one you would end up with"
He follows her eyes when he sees them fall and settle on his right hand where his weddingband rests "You can't know that" he tries to argue but his protest is weak because deep down he knows it's true. Ashley was fun, an easy distraction at the time but never the one he would see himself grow old with.
Ashley smiled timidly "Yes Tim, I do. Or can you seriously tell me that Lucy isn't the one you ended up marrying?"
As if on queue his wife rounds the corner, child perched up on one hip and a basket filled with baby clothes clutched in her other hand "I think we're done here, babe. I have enough for now and Alex wants his daddy"
The minute Lucy comprehends the scene in front of her, her eyes dart from Ashley to Tim, back to Ashley and her bump "Hi Ashley" she says, plastering on a smile that doesn't quite reach her eyes while handing Alex over to Tim.
Ashley just looked away briefly before turning her attention back on both Lucy and Tim. Alex visibly relaxing in Tim's arms, Lucy smiling at him warmly, and the little bump she was sporting matched her own and it lets her know everything she needed to know "It all worked out in the end though, Tim" she says, no menace behind the statement, no hurt, just stating a simple fact clear to all parties involved.
Tim looks from Lucy towards Ashley and on instinct he tucks his wife into his side "It sure did" he says, placing a kiss on her forehead.
"It was nice seeing you, Lucy" Ashley smiles sad but not unkindly.
"Yeah, Bye Ashley," she says before turning to face Tim "Let's go, babe, Alex is getting tired and my feet a killing me"
Without giving Ashley another look he gives Alex a kiss on her cheek and follows his wife towards the check-out counter.
When they're in bed later that night Tim can feel something weighing on his wife "What's on your mind?"
Lucy wills her body to the side, looking at him and he sees the vulnerability shining in them "Are you happy?" She suddenly asks, letting out a shutter.
Tim takes both of Lucy's hands in his and fixes his steal blues on her "Why would you ask that?"
"That's not a yes," she says, rubbing her fingers over his hands. Her mind has wandered back to this afternoon at Babies R Us where they bumped into Ashley. Lucy knows that she's the one he ended up marrying and had kids with but there's a small part of her that wonders if he settled for her when Ashley told him he never wanted what he wanted. She thinks, that if Ashley had said yes, she would have been the Mrs. Bradford he'd be raising their children with.
"It's not a no either. Luce, where is this coming from? I love you more than I ever thought I could possibly love anyone" When he sees the insecurity drain from her eyes he knows he said something right but there's this nagging thought in the back of his mind that tells him that if she questions his love that maybe he's not doing enough to show her on a daily basis just how happy he is.
After a minute of silence in which he's sure she's trying to collect her thoughts, her voice is tiny when she says "I know you love me, Tim that part will never be a question. I am asking you if you're happy with me "
Tim takes a minute to let the question settle in because he knows pregnant Lucy means hormonal and sentimental Lucy and he doesn't want to deal with either of those today. There have always been little things that nagged him in his relationship with Lucy but in the most general sense, he also knew that this is what he needed to do with his life, that this is where he needed to be and he's doing it with the one person he always knew he was meant to do it with "I literally couldn't be happier right now. Well maybe if the Rams won tonight or if you'd give me a footrub for a chance" He literally feels the dramatic eye roll before he sees it and he's JUST fast enough to catch her wrist before it lands on his shoulder. He sighs and sobers, putting his finger under her chin and pulling her head up so that she meets his eyes " I married you because I love you and want everything with you, you gave me Alex, you are growing another beautiful part of our love inside you and I am doing the job I love surrounded by the people I love and mean the most to me. Yes, Lucy. I am happy"
The answer seems to settle something inside of her because one minute she's looking at him with such vulnerability and the next she's practically pouncing on him and peppering his face with kisses. After what feels like a lifetime she finally finds his lips and when she presses on them lightly with her own she feels his mouth open and instantly tongues mingle for dominance and they quickly get lost in a very heated kiss. When they finally stop, because breathing becomes necessary, she rests her head again his forehead and asks "You'd tell me if you weren't, right?"
Tim drops a kiss on her forehead and wraps his arms around her a little tighter, giving her a light squeeze "Lucy, trust me, If I wasn't happy, you'd know"
"Okay"
Suddenly feeling the need for his own reasurrance he asks "Are you happy?"
Lucy nods, brown eyes sparkling "More than. Well, there's one thing that would make me even happier" she wiggles her eyebrows for good measure and looks at him with mischief
"Name it" he says, because Tim Bradford isn't one for doing things halfway and if he can do something that'll make his wife more happy he'd be more than willing to at least try to do it.
"That food rub sounds awfully delicious right now"
Tim laughs, a full on belly laugh, one reserved only for her and Alex "Gimme those feet" he says, before he wraps his hands around her feet already pulling of her socks and reaching in the drawer for the lotion "I love you"
Lucy lets out a loud content sigh when she feels his big strong hands working his magic on her feet. She's usually not one for letting others touch her feet but damn those things were killing her and if there was one person she trusted with every part of her, and letting her enjoy the things she's even a little weary off it's her husband and she wouldn't have it any other way "I love you too"