Chapter Text
The morning sun tickling her face and the sound of birds chirping somewhere in the distance are what pulls her out of her deep slumber that morning. A frustrated grunt leaves her mouth, her brows furrow and her grip on the warm white sheets tightens as she's desperately trying to stay in her bubbly magical cotton candy fantasy world, clinging to the last beautiful moments of her most recent dream. But as frustrating as it might be, as a mother of three little boys waking up and going back to sleep right away doesn't come easy to her, and as much as she loves sleeping, she can't remember the last time she got to really sleep in, not even now that she's technically on vacation. The sun on her face is warm and so are Blake's linen sheets that are loosely wrapped around her almost naked body (she must've put on his flannel during the night when she got cold) and so is his body that's tightly pressed against her back, trapping her in the most delicious of ways. She opens her eyes then, carefully, and has to squint a few times to get used to the unusual bright light in the bedroom. They must've forgotten to close the curtains last night after they collapsed on top of each other, bodies heated and sweaty, eyes shut tightly with pleasure as they were trying to catch their breaths. The last thing she can remember is Blake pulling her flush against his body, his arm snaking around to softly caress the naked skin of her stomach while whispering words of love in her ear, before her breath evened out and her eyes closed, giving in to the exhaustion. She feels his presence now too, his warm breath stroking her neck and his grip on her tightening when she slightly moves to get a better look at him. For a moment her breath catches in her throat and her heart beats faster, because ohmygod, she's never found him more beautiful than in this very moment, right here. His stubble is slightly longer than usual, the wrinkles around his eyes more prominent in the sunlight, his skin still glowing from last night's activities. His lips are full and slightly swollen, begging to be kissed. And his grey sprinkled hair the definition of bed head, lightly matted to one side, wild and unruly. She loves those wonderful moments in the early morning hours when the first sun beams start slipping through the trees and the rest of the world is still peacefully asleep. When it's only her and her thoughts. It hasn't always been like this, though. Just a few months ago, being alone with her thoughts was unbearable and she'd end up crying and vomiting and exhausted every time. So being able to lie here, in the arms of her lover without falling into a minor depression feels strangely comforting to her and shows her once again how much her life has changed within the past year. How much she has changed.
She can't help but touch him then, her hands moving on their own accord, fingertips slowly tracing over his flushed skin, memorizing every line, every peak and valley of his handsome face before slightly scratching along his rough scruff. The corners of his mouth curve up in a lazy smile, his little snuffles that she learned to love a clear sign that he's enjoying her touch even in his sleep. She wants to smile then too, but instead of the newly familiar feeling of joy and happiness that usually spreads through her body like a wildfire whenever she's faced with his little acts of love and affection, her heart aches. A painful, slow squeeze that makes it hard to breathe for a moment and has her withdraw her hand as if she's been burnt. Gwen takes a few more minutes to admire his sleeping form and collect herself before she decides to get up. The alarm on the night stand is only showing 6 o'clock but her feelings are threatening to overwhelm her this morning (they did so too last night, but Blake had her pressed against their bedroom door faster than she could react and it was needless to say that they didn't do much talking for the rest of the night) and she doesn't know how much longer she can stay in close proximity to Blake, because she can already feel a lump in her throat and tears in her eyes and the tightening feeling in her chest and she's pretty sure she needs to get out and breathe and clear her head for a while before the kids and Jen and Todd wake up and the usual chaos of their morning routine starts. Getting out of bed without waking her 6'5 boyfriend, who's wrapped himself around her like a blanket, has proven to be a tougher task than she thought, but with a few confused, almost disappointed grunts on his part (and her heart skips a beat again, because it's the little gestures like feeling her absence even when he's dead asleep, that show her how much he loves her) she makes it out of their bedroom, putting on her silky robe and cowboy boots, before quietly closing the door behind her. She lets out a shaky breath then, that she didn't realize she'd been holding in and leans back against the door for a second, taking a few deep breaths in and out, in and out, in and out before sneaking down the hallway. She checks on Apollo first. Her baby boy had a hard time sleeping these last couple of days, which is mostly due to the huge and unfamiliar room he has on the ranch and the disordered daily routine that comes with traveling, family vacations and birthdays. But as she walks in she finds him peacefully sucking on his pacifier in the crib that Blake got for him. He's snuggled up under his blanket, letting out tiny little sniffles now and then, clutching his favorite teddy bear. (Putting him to bed last night took about 2 hours, cause they couldn't find the damn bear anywhere and he refuses to sleep without it. So the fact that it's now in the crib with Apollo must mean that he woke up at some point during the night, screaming probably, and that Blake searched the whole ranch again until he found it and lulled her baby back to sleep. It's little gestures like this that make her heart beat faster and make her feel all warm and fuzzy on the inside.) She watches her little miracle for a few more minutes, bathing in the pure joy and happiness only a mother can feel and catches herself imagining life with another curly haired baby, with brilliant blue eyes and tiny dimples that will break every man's heart.
Gwen finds the three older kids in a room at the end of the hallway. It's big and bright thanks to the huge windows, and there are dozens of toys covering the hard wooden floor. King had made it his own the first time they ever came to visit Blake. There's a basketball hoop on the wall and a set of darts, there's a bin with all kinds of balls and a huge TV at the wall across his bed with about a million different video games, not so neatly stacked on a nearby shelf. (He'd probably never used it before because her kids usually prefer riding horses or four wheelers or looking for disgustingly big frogs and proudly holding them under her nose, before helping Blake chop wood or do other farm stuff she has no clue about). There's a huge tent in the middle of the room (a real one- camo, hanging leaves and all -that Blake probably uses for hunting trips in the woods) and inside are Stella, Kingston and Zuma, all cuddled up in their army green sleeping bags that are ten sizes too big for them and covered with a big, fluffy comforter that wasn't there yesterday. Todd, Blake and the kids had built it last night, in between fits of giggles and pillow fights, because they had promised to take all of them camping (not including Jen and Gwen, because yeah she loves his life in the country but she's not yet ready to risk her life, camping in the woods where she knows, bears and snakes could be hiding behind the next tree), which for some reason didn't work out during this trip. But since Blake just hates to disappoint her kids and would basically do anything for them at this point (including Stella, cause she has a huge crush on Blake and seems to have chosen him to be her own personal super hero), they settled for the indoors alternative, building the tent, equipping it with sleeping bags and camping chairs and dressing the kids in camo from head to toe. It was the perfect ending to the perfect day and Kingston was so grateful for this amazing birthday weekend that he almost started crying. Definitely her kid. Blake went out of his way to impress and entertain him (especially after he heard that it was in fact Kingston's idea to spend his birthday on the ranch and not Gwen's). From fishing to buying him his own four wheeler, to taking him on a helicopter ride and bringing him on stage at his concert, there was not a dead moment and her birthday boy had the time of his life. Tears well up in her eyes as she thinks about the amount of love her boyfriend has for her kids, about how much he actually cares for their happiness and well being, about how in tune he is with each kid and their own weird, special, precious personalities. She decides to let her favorite little cowboys and cowgirl sleep for a bit longer and closes the big oak door behind her, carefully walking down the stairs. She gets a cup of coffee from the kitchen and then makes her way outside, to her favorite spot on the front porch from where she can look out over the lake, some corn fields and grassland and from where the Oklahoma sunrise looks like the prettiest one she's ever seen.
Todd is walking off in the distance, dressed completely in camo gear with the biggest boots she's ever seen and one of Blake's ranch caps on his head, probably going down to the Lake to fish, with Betty happily chasing after him. He and Blake had done that a lot the previous times they'd been here, bonding in the quiet early morning hours by the lake while the rest of the house was still dead asleep. She has to stifle a laugh then and feels the corners of her mouth curl up into a big grin. It's funny, really, how well they all fit in here. Not just her, but her whole family too. Jen loves Blake to no ends, loves how good he's to Gwen and her kids, loves how happy he makes her and loves that he's the reason why she's crying less and less. Todd treats him like a brother, she noticed. They go fishing and even hunting (she had raised her eyebrows at Todd and gave him a slightly disapproving look the first time they dragged a dead deer up the hill, clad in hunting gear, shotguns over their shoulders, covered in dirt; but her heart had skipped a beat seeing their shit eating grins and sparkling eyes and she felt immense joy at the thought that two of the most important men in her life were spending quality time together) when in Oklahoma, they meet up for lunch or dinner or a boy's night out when they're in LA and she'll never forget the look on her brother's face when Blake asked him to work for him and do the filming of Behind the Scene's material for his upcoming tour. Her parents had loved the cowboy from the moment they met him during season 7 of The Voice. They'd loved him as her friend, because he was funny and easy going and always managed to make everyone on set laugh. They loved him as her partner even more (though they were majorly surprised when Gwen told them that they were, in fact, dating) because they watched him save their little girl more and more every day, because they saw his unfailing attempts to make her kids smile when they really didn't have a lot to smile about and because she had finally found someone who not only treats her right, but treats her like the most precious thing in the world. Blake had welcomed them into his world with open arms and a huge smile and she could tell that he genuinely loved having her family here (he was seeking the contact even, asking her parents and siblings when they'd be free the next time so they could all come to Oklahoma and spend time together), teaching them about the things he loves and is passionate about, making everyone fall in love with him and his life even more.
It hadn't even been a year since they started dating and with their traumatic past relationships and trust issues she knows she should be more careful, shouldn't depend on him and his love the way she does, shouldn't be so sure again, that this is it. That this is the real thing. She's been burnt before. Badly. Twice. And yet here she is, madly in love with Blake, fantasizing about marriage and kids and growing old together and never letting him go, because everything is just so damn perfect. And that's when the unsettling feeling in the pit of her stomach returns with vengeance. Her grip on the railing tightens until her knuckles turn white and she closes her eyes, fighting against the wave of nausea that threatens to overcome her, and the painful contracting of her fragile heart. Every good thing comes to an end. And so does every relationship. At least hers do. She's learned that over the past 46 years of her life, and she's learned that it doesn't matter how much she invests in a relationship, how much of herself she gives to her partner, how much she loves him. Cause in the end, love isn't always enough. She gave everything to Gavin. Gave him stability and support, gave him love and respect; trust, friendship and a future. She gave him her body and her soul and later on kids, and she always gave him the benefit of the doubt. And in the end, this innocent, naive way of loving him came back to bite her in the ass. Now she finds herself in the same position again. Well not quite, cause Blake wouldn't cheat on her, probably hasn't even lied to her once in the two years they've known each other. But it's almost the same, cause here she is, at 46 years old, more in love than she's ever been, so sure that there is no man on this planet, who's more perfect, more lovable, more special than Blake is. He's good and they're good together and the life she's living now is good. Too good to be true. There's this nagging feeling of insecurity in the pit of her stomach that she's been trying to shake off for weeks now. She feels like she's holding her breath, waiting for a big blow up, a big fight (They almost never fight and if they do it's about the dumbest shit and they start laughing about it within two minutes and yes she loved that about their relationship but now it's also freaking her out, because what if he's just trying to be nice and his anger is building up on the inside, just waiting to burst out in a big explosion), something bad to happen, that will eventually tear them apart and leave her crying on the floor again.
And again it's not just her that would end up getting hurt, but also her three precious babies who seem to love Blake like a father already and who are happier now that they're together, than she's ever seen them. And they depend on him as much as she does. Her oldest and Blake spend at least an hour a day talking about 'boys' stuff' and school, friendships and life, when her boyfriend is around; Apollo can't usually go to sleep without saying good night to Blake first (and it's happening more and more that he's specifically asking Blake, instead of her, to sing him to sleep at night) and the amount of times Zuma is telling her how much he's missing Blake whenever he's out of town or on tour or doing something that doesn't involve her little family, is getting out of control.
She's scared and freaked out and she wants to throw up.
That's when she hears the swish of the glass doors opening and a second later Blake comes up behind her, wrapping his arms around her shivering body, pulling her close while nuzzling a warm 'Good morning, beautiful' into her neck. They stay like this for a few minutes, looking out at the vast Oklahoma sky and the small lake by the foot of the hill that seems to sparkle in the light of the morning sun; enjoying their precious alone time, bathing in each other's warmth and love. “Wanna tell me what's on yer mind now, darlin'?”. His voice is still rough from sleep, almost like a growl and his deep southern accent is even more prominent right after he wakes up. She shivers and her skin is tingling, where he whispered the question into her hair, breathing her in. “Hmm?” She humms back as an answer, slightly distracted by his close proximity, her mind still foggy from sleep. His mouth is close to her ear now, hands traveling across her stomach before landing on her hips, pulling her even closer. “You've been all tense and distracted since last night and I wanted to ask ya before but ya looked so hot in those tight jeans and cap with your pouty pink lips and ya didn't seem like you were ready to talk yet, so I figured I'd wait til today to ask you.” She feels him place a tiny kiss on the sweet spot behind her ear that would make her loose her mind if it wasn't for the heaviness of the conversation they were about to have. “So tell me, what's going on, sunshine?” Gwen takes a deep breath then, turning in his arms to look at him with teary eyes and a sad smile, her lips slightly quivering and her skin flushing under his intense gaze. She blinks a few times, willing the tears to disappear, and shakes her head, angry at herself for being such an emotional mess once again. His calloused hand is rough on the smooth skin of her cheek, and he turns her head to face him again, his deep blue eyes searching hers for an answer, a sign, anything really. “I don't want this to end” She barely manages to get those six words out, before averting her eyes again, trying her hardest not to break down and cry right then and there. She knows she's probably being totally irrational, paranoid even, but honesty has always been a weakness as much as a strength of hers. She can't count the times she got into trouble because of her loose thoughts and even looser mouth, can't remember how many times she got so embarrassed that she wanted nothing more than the earth to swallow her, because she'd said things in interviews that she probably shouldn't have said; can't remember all of the fights she had with Gavin, when she found out that honesty didn't mean crap to him. That's why she and Blake work, she thinks. Because as different as they may seem, their values are the same, and that's the only thing that counts, right?
“What are you talking about, Gwen? What happened?” His voice, slightly louder and more urgent now, is pulling her out of her thoughts and his confused and tense face makes her realize that's she's been staring at him for a while, with tears running down her cheeks and panic reflecting in her eyes. “Nothing happened, Blake! That's the problem! Everything is so fucking perfect that it hurts.” She didn't mean to raise her voice at him, but she can't help the frustration seeping through her (why the fuck can't she be happy for once, thoroughly happy without worrying about her future and just live in the moment?), driving her crazy and she feels bad instantly when she sees Blake flinch and take a step back. “I'm sorry, I'm just..” She hesitates for a second, waving her hands through the air helplessly before running them through her hair, trying to collect her thoughts and put them into words that won't scare him away. “I just don't want to loose you, Blake. I love you like so much and I need you in my life and my boys need you and this is all so perfect. Too perfect to be real. And it's freaking me the fuck out.” He's still looking at her intently, his blue eyes boring into her and she feels like he's looking straight into her soul. After what feels like ages (she doesn't really know how to continue so she decides to wait for his reaction first, decides to wait and see if this is going to be their first fight, maybe even their last). He seems to see something in her eyes or face or posture of her body then because his expression softens, one hand coming up to her face, to softly trace the shape of her lips and the flushed skin of her cheeks, wiping away her tears in the process, while the other one goes to rest on the small of her back, rubbing soothingly across the material of her robe. “Sweetheart, yer startin' to freak me out here. Why d'ya think yer gonna loose me? Did I do somethin' wrong?”. Blake's honest concern and worry endears him even more to her, if that's possible and scares the living daylights out of her at the same time. She coughs then, her voice quiet, shy, vulnerable. “Because everyone always leaves me. I'm so used to giving so much more than I receive. Hell, Gavin took every last ounce of love that I had in me until I was empty and broken and wanted to die. And then you came along and you're perfect, like truly perfect. This is the first time in my life that I didn't fall in love with the potential of what a man could be, but with who he really is. And you're so good to me and the boys and my family and I'm so freakin' happy all the time that I feel like something bad's gonna happen soon, y'know?” She doesn't know if she's making any sense at this point and averts her eyes, taking a small step back to bring some space between their bodies, so she can breathe again. He's not interrupting her, knows that she has a lot more to say, a lot more she needs to get out before it chokes her, so he gives her all the time she needs, his eyes carefully watching her every move. “I meant every word I said in “Rare”, y'know? Like you're better than you realize, so much better than you give yourself credit for and I know that you deserve more than me. I'm chaos, my life is chaos and so are my kids and I'm an emotional mess at best and I'm clingy and paranoid and the amount of trust issues I have is ridiculous, really. And I know that you love me, but I also know that one day you're gonna wake up and see the truth and that scares the hell out of me. I'm so scared Blake, that you'll wake up from that dream bubble we're in and see the wrinkles on my face and realize that me snoring isn't adorable but annoying as hell and then you'll have enough of my chaos house hold and my kids will tire you and me texting you a million times a day won't be cute anymore cause you wanna be independent and do your own stuff and have your freedom back.” Gwen has to swallow a few times before she can continue, cause that lump in her throat is back and she wants to throw up and throw herself into his arms for comfort at the same time, but she knows she has to get through this first. “One day soon you'll realize that I'm not what you want and that's ok, cause you deserve all the good things in the world, but it's also not because I'm gonna be broken. More broken than after what happened with Gavin cause back then I had you to save me and I won't have you this time around. And I can't do this Blake. You've got my heart and you've got my kids' hearts and if I loose you, I'll loose myself and I don't think I'll ever be able to recover from that.” The tears in her eyes are finally making their way down her cheeks and she's almost scared to look at him. Blake's always been nothing but patient with her and her emotional outbursts but he has to reach his limit at some point and she's pretty sure that this might be it. The last straw. “When..” his voice is hoarse and he coughs and she whips her head around to look at him. His eyes are red rimmed, tears clearly clouding the usual ocean blue eyes she came to love, a trembling hand rubbing the back of his neck nervously, before he turns to look at her again. “How long have we been together now, Gwen?” She's confused for a second, her voice nothing more than a whisper. “About 10 months, I guess.” He nods briefly, as if to confirm, “About 10 months.” Then: “Ran and I were out of our honey moon phase about 2 months in. She got annoyed cuz I was too clingy 'n liked to spend the majority of my time with'er while she tried to get away from me as much as possible. A month later we had our first big fight. Real big. She threw stuff through the house and yelled. I yelled back. We said hurtful things 'n ended up not talking to each other for a week or two. 'n I missed 'er cause I was in so deep already 'n I came to the conclusion that all of it must be my fault and decided to just roll with it. So we stayed together 'n I accepted her mood swings 'n the fact that I didn't deserve better 'n then I married her. Cause I was scared she'd leave me behind 'n I'd end up with another failed relationship. Not because I wanted to. 'n then.. well ya know the rest.” Blake's coming to stand next to her now, his hands tightly holding on to the railing, looking out at the scenery again. The sun had come up, she hears birds chirping and Betty barking in the distance. Todd must be on his way back from the lake. It's all so oddly comforting and calm that she almost forgets the heaviness of their conversation and the painful squeezing of her heart. “You 'n me, Gwen, we're not in the honey moon phase anymore.” Their eyes meet and he smiles at her softly, somewhat sad, the tears in his eyes still present and she wants nothing more than to kiss him and comfort him and assure him that everything's gonna be ok. “We're just in love. Madly in love. 'n I need ya to realize that this won't change. I won't stop loving you or your kids. I won't wake up from a dream and realize that this is not the life that I want to live or that you're not the woman I want to love.”. “Blake..” He places a soft kiss on her lips to silently shush her before pulling back, resuming his position at the railing, struggling to find the right words. “Yeah, sometimes I wake up at night when yer snoring lightly and I get annoyed for a second until I see your peaceful face 'n how gorgeous you are and then I realize that I'm the lucky bastard who gets to fall asleep next to an angel. And yes, your life is a fucking chaos..” He chuckles at that, amusement flickering in his eyes “but I love chaos, I love your chaos. I love seeing you run through the house like a maniac when yer tryin' to get ready for a meeting or interview yer already late for 'n when ya can't find the right pair of shoes or purse 'n freak out cuz ya have no clue what else is on yer schedule for the day. 'n I don't mind cleaning up after the boys when they decide to trash the house, or makin them dinner 'n puttin' them to bed by myself cause yer stuck in traffic or at a photo shoot or in the studio. And no, I don't think ya textin' me or wantin' to spend time with me is clingy or annoyin', cause I miss you when I'm not with ya 'n I wanna know what's going on in yer life 'n what the kids are up to 'n if you miss me too. And I get scared too, Gwen. I get scared that one day you'll realize that I'm just a country hick from Oklahoma 'n that I don't fit in yer life 'n that I have no clue how to dress properly 'n that yer not gonna want me anymore. But y'know what helps me?” The pure honesty and raw emotions she sees in his eyes make her shiver and she shakes her head briefly before wrapping her robe tighter around herself, clutching her arms. Sometimes she forgets that he got hurt too, that Miranda broke his heart and then stepped on it with her pink cowboy boots. Again and again until there was nothing left of his past self. “I look at ya 'n I see your beautiful heart and soul in yer eyes, 'n I see how much you love me 'n then I'm not scared anymore, cause I know that as long as we love each other and trust each other 'n are honest with each other, we're gonna be fine. And we're gonna make it. I know ya need me, Gwen. But you have to know that I need you 'n King 'n Zuma and 'pollo just as much. Yeah, this seems to perfect to be true, we seem too perfect to be true, but dontcha think that after all these fuckin' miserable years we deserve to have perfection? Deserve to have each other?”
She freezes for a moment, not knowing what to say and before she realizes what she's doing, she's in his arms. Gripping his face and puling him into a deep kiss, her tongue shoves into his mouth, her fingers scratching through his hair, her body flush against his, trying to get as close as possible. She can taste her tears in their kiss, and his as well and she knows she must look desperate but she can't bring herself to care because, holy shit, he's never said anything more perfect to her, no one did. And she already feels her walls coming down and her worries fade away and the pressure in her chest is almost gone, as is the nagging feeling of insecurity in the pit of her stomach. She breaks their kiss with a loud plop, trying to regain her senses and they both chuckle, resting their foreheads together. “You won't leave me?” she sighs against his lips, her voice still trembling. “I won't leave ya.” He nods, causing their noses to bump into each other and she looks up at him through her eyelashes, smiling softly. “We are forever?”. “We are forever.” It's Gwen's turn to nod and give him a small kiss, telling Blake without words that she'll be ok, that she loves and trusts him, that she believes in him and most importantly in them. But.. “I'm gonna be insecure, Blake. I can't turn it off. I've been hurt and lied to and there'll probably be a lot more breakdowns in the future, but I'm trying ok? I really am. But there might be times when I'll ask you the same questions over and over again and will expect you to answer them, over and over again.” She's more certain now, not as self conscious as before and it reflects in her voice. She's not asking him for approval, she's telling him. “That's ok, darlin'. I'll always be right here to reassure ya.”. The biggest smile she's ever seen appears on his face then, the slight crinkles around his eyes that she'd traced earlier this morning are showing, and so are his dimples. The signature spark returns to his brilliant blue eyes and Gwen can't take hers off of him. Their kiss is softer this time. More love than lust, more devotion than desire. His hands are stroking along her cheekbones as hers wrap themselves around his neck, pulling him closer. Their tongues are dancing against each other, both of them relishing the feeling of loving and being loved in return.
She's about to deepen the kiss and considers taking him right back to bed to show him exactly how much she loves him, when, “Hey lovebirds, say Hi to Snapchat.” She jumps in shock for a second and Blake whips his head around, looking royally pissed before letting out a booming laugh that makes her heart flutter, and pulling her back against his chest. And sure enough there's her brother with a tail-wagging Betty and a huge ass smirk on his face holding his phone up to capture the moment. “Fuck off, Todd. We're havin' a moment here.” One more kiss, then “Uh uh, no kiddin'. When you're done devouring my sister, get your ass inside and help me wake up the kids, Jen made breakfast.” Todd shakes his head good naturedly at them once more, before retreating inside to give them some privacy. “Gosh, I was this close to getting some incredible morning sex.” She can't help but laugh at him then, playfully swatting his chest and pushing him towards the big glass doors. “You'll survive, cowboy. Go help and you might get some when we're back home tonight.” Blake places another tender kiss to her temple before turning around and it's not until she's back to looking at the beautiful Oklahoma sky, that she hears his voice again. “Hey Gwen?” She humms in response and turns to look at him, feeling the love for her roll off his body in waves and shining in his eyes. “I'm gonna marry you one day. And when we're 80, sittin' on the porch of our ranch in California you'll look just as beautiful as ya do now, wrinkles and all, 'n you'll get pissed at me for listenin' to the same songs over 'n over again, 'n I'll get annoyed cause you'll still need 2 hours in the morning to put on yer make up 'n do yer hair and we're both gonna yell at each other cause we snore during the night and can't sleep 'n the boys will still be disgusted cause we kiss 'n cuddle too damn much, and y'know what? We're still gonna be just as happy as we're now. And I can't wait for it.” With that he winks at her and shuts the door behind him, diving into the adventure of waking up her kids and getting everyone ready for their flight back to LA. And she's still standing there, smiling like she just won the lottery, giddy and excited, her heart filling with love and joy and suddenly she's sure. Sure that he won't leave her and that she won't do anything to screw it up. Sure that their love is strong enough and that in the end they'll always find their way back to each other. Sure they'll make it. And if that's not the best damn feeling in the world, she doesn't know what is.