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Jackson’s room felt like it existed outside of time — no noise, no rush, no responsibilities tugging them away. Just the soft glow of the lamp, the warmth of the blankets, and the steady comfort of each other.
Rocki rested half on his chest, half curled beside him, her fingers tracing idle patterns over the fabric of his shirt. Jackson kept brushing his fingertips over the back of her hand, like he couldn’t help touching her in some small way.
Rocki let out a slow breath. “It’s weird having the house this quiet,” she muttered, her voice soft. “I forgot what that feels like.”
Jackson chuckled under his breath. “Yeah, well… quiet’s nice sometimes.”
She hummed, leaning a little more into him. “Only with you.”
That did something to him. He tightened his arm around her, pressing a kiss to the top of her head. For a few more minutes, they stayed like that, sharing the same rhythm of breathing.
“Do you ever miss the days when things were simpler?” she murmured.
Jackson thought for a moment. “Yeah. But… I don’t know if I’d trade anything. Not if it means I wouldn’t end up here with you.”
Rocki’s cheeks warmed. She tried to hide it by ducking her face into his shoulder. He smiled, pressing a kiss to the top of her head.
That moment of quiet stretched, and when Jackson spoke again, it was softer than before — like it came straight from the center of his chest.
“Seeing you with Dani the other day…” he murmured, “it was one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen. I loved watching you see her for the first time,” he admitted. “Your whole face just… lit up. And then it kind of melted at the same time.”
Rocki looked up, her brows softening. “Jax…”
“You bent over her little hospital bassinet,” he continued, voice slow and careful, “and I swear your whole face changed. Like someone turned on a light inside you. You looked… happy. And soft. And like you belonged there.”
Rocki exhaled shakily. “She was so tiny,” she whispered. “I didn’t want to breathe too close to her.”
Jackson chuckled. “Yeah, you stood there frozen for a minute, like she was made of glass.”
“Well, she kinda was!” Rocki protested gently. “She was this tiny little miracle, and everyone kept laughing at me for being nervous.”
“I wasn’t laughing,” he murmured. “I was… in awe. Like… I don’t know. You were so happy, and soft, and you had this look like Dani was the most perfect thing you’d ever seen.” His voice gentled. “I’ve never seen you look at anything like that before.”
Rocki’s chest tightened, but in a good way — that warm, fluttering kind of tightness. “She was perfect,” she whispered. “Still is.”
“I know.” Jackson brushed a curl out of her face. “But… seeing you like that? I think that’s what got me the most.”
Rocki felt her throat catch for a second. “Got you how?”
Jackson paused, hesitating just long enough that she knew he was choosing his words carefully.
“It made me fall harder for you,” he said softly. “Just watching how much love you had for her, right away. Like you just… opened up without even noticing.”
She leaned in and kissed him — soft, slow, not rushed. Just… grateful. Jackson wrapped both arms around her like she was the easiest thing in the world to love.
“You’re gonna make me cry,” she murmured.
He laughed quietly, nudging her nose with his. “Then I’ll just hold you until you stop.”
Rocki shook her head, smiling a little through the emotion. “You always know exactly what to say, and it’s not fair.”
“It’s not my fault you’re easy to love,” he countered, smoothing his hand down her back.
That did it — she buried her face in his chest, hiding the blush, the tears, all of it. Jackson wrapped both arms around her immediately, pulling her impossibly closer.
For a long moment, neither of them spoke. The room stayed quiet, gentle, safe — the kind of quiet that wasn’t empty at all.
Rocki finally whispered into his shirt, “I love you too, you know.”
Jackson smiled so wide she could feel it without even seeing his face.
“Yeah,” he murmured, kissing the top of her head again. “I know.”
And the room stayed quiet, but now it was full.
After a few minutes, they shifted — Rocki sliding fully beside him but keeping her head on his chest. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders, creating that little cocoon of warmth she loved so much.
Her voice came out quieter than before. “You ever think about… what things will look like in a few years?”
Jackson blinked, caught off guard but clearly not bothered. “Yeah,” he answered after a moment. “More than I probably should.”
She smiled. “Like what?”
He inhaled, letting the truth fall out in that gentle, vulnerable way he only let happen around her. “Like us,” he said. “Just… being together. Long-term. Whatever that looks like.”
Rocki’s heart squeezed so tight she almost laughed. Instead, she traced the line of his jaw with her thumb. “You really think about that?”
“Mhm.” He brushed his fingers through her hair. “I think about us getting our own place someday. Somewhere with a tiny kitchen we complain about but secretly love. A sofa that sinks too much in the middle. A bedroom where you steal all the blankets.”
Rocki let out a surprised laugh. “You think I’d steal them?”
“You’d hog every single one.”
“Maybe,” she said, nudging him with her nose. “But I’d let you steal them back.”
“Generous.”
She snorted and snuggled closer.
“And,” he continued softly, “I think about you doing your thing. Whatever you want. Music, makeup, art — anything. I think about driving you to late-night gigs or helping you set up your equipment, and watching you yell at me for carrying things wrong.”
Rocki bit her lip, her chest squeezing at the picture he painted. “You’d really do all that?”
“For you?” he murmured. “Always.”
She closed her eyes for a long moment, letting herself feel it — the safety, the sweetness, the future he wasn’t scared of at all.
“I think about it too,” she admitted softly.
Jackson’s hand stilled on her back. “Yeah?”
She nodded. “I think about living with you. Having a space that’s ours. Eating cereal at midnight. Fighting over where the cups go. You falling asleep on the couch while we watch movies.”
“That last one sounds accurate.”
“Very.”
He laughed quietly and kissed her forehead.
“But mostly…” Rocki hesitated, heart pounding. “I think about family.”
“Yeah?”
Rocki nodded slowly, letting the moment hold her. “I didn’t think I’d ever want… all that stuff. Family. Kids. I figured it just wasn’t for me.”
Jackson stayed quiet, letting her speak at her own pace.
“But then I met you,” she said, voice tiny and honest. “And everything changed. I see you with Dani… with Tommy… with everyone you love. And it makes me think…” She hesitated, breath catching. “If I ever had kids… I’d want them with you.”
Jackson froze — not in fear, but in that stunned, overwhelmed way where he didn’t dare breathe too loud.
“And then tonight,” she continued, resting her palm against his chest, “when you talked about how you saw me with her… it made me think even more about it.”
For a moment, Jackson didn’t say anything. His eyes softened, glassy in the warm light, his lips parting like he’d forgotten how to breathe.
“Rocki,” he whispered, shaking his head in disbelief. “You have no idea what that means to me.”
She smiled tenderly. “I meant every word.”
He sat up just enough to cup her face, brushing his thumbs across her cheeks with a gentleness that made her stomach flutter.
“You’d be an incredible mom,” he said, voice thick. “And I’d be so… unbelievably lucky to do that with you someday.”
She leaned into his touch. “We’d figure it all out together.”
“Always,” he murmured.
Rocki curled into him again, letting Jackson wrap her in both arms, his chin resting lightly on top of her head. The room felt warmer, fuller — like the future wasn’t some blurry faraway thing anymore, but something glowing right in front of them.
After a long stretch of quiet, Rocki whispered, “You’re not scared of any of that?”
Jackson shook his head. “Not with you.”
Rocki smiled into his chest. “Good. Because I think… we’d make a pretty amazing team.”
He grinned against her hair. “We already do.”
She hummed in agreement, half-asleep, half-floating on the softness of everything they’d said.
And as they lay there, tangled together in the quiet of his room, talking about futures that didn’t feel impossible anymore, they both knew — wherever life took them, they’d be taking it together.