She woke up that morning trying to breathe…

His hands, the way they touched her made her want him so badly

Alexis had forgotten just how much she missed being touched, how much she missed his touch

She had forgotten how she had gotten used to being in his arms and how much harder it was each time she had to leave them

Her hands slowly traveling up and down his bare back she could hear him sigh with a faint breath of how he too enjoyed her touch

He then began kissing her shoulder to her neck, sending chills all over her

He kissed the lobe of her ear to her jaw line

She took a deep breath in and then out…

“Ric” she said lavishing in the feel of him on her body and the way he kissed her gently after making love to her

He leaned in to kiss her once again this time to her mouth

Peter

It was Peter not Ric

His touch and everything about him lying there with her told her she was with the man she craved to be with

When his eyes met hers

It was Peter not Ric

7:33 am

She woke up trying to breathe

She had dreamed she was making love; she said her husband’s name but saw Dr. Peter Martin’s face…

Alexis sat up on the side of the bed running her hands through her hair

Surely there was an explanation…“Alexis it was just a dream” she told herself

Ric…Peter…Ric…Peter

She squeezed her eyes shut and then open again

Alexis got up and went straight for Chloe’s crib

Chloe was awake and waiting patiently for mommy to come and get her

She grinned widely at the sight of Alexis

“Hi sweetheart!” Alexis said lifting her from her crib

Alexis was trying desperately to immerse herself in her little girl and not her dream but the dream played over and over in her head almost as if she felt guilty

Alexis took her baby girl in to her arms and carried her towards the kitchen

“I bet you had sweet dreams? Mommy had a crazy dream about daddy and Peter” she confessed

Chloe just looked up at her mommy mesmerized

“I know it’s crazy and it meant nothing. Yesterday I had an impromptu lunch with Peter and dinner with your daddy. It was probably just my subconscious getting all confused in a dream… it was just a dream…”

Chloe let out a bubbly grin

And Alexis stopped her babbling and couldn’t help but grin herself

“You know little one at this moment I’m glad you can’t talk because otherwise I’m sure you would be telling me to shut up and just get you your breakfast!”

Chloe grinned once again

“It’s ok; your daddy thinks I’m a loon too!”

Alexis gave Chloe her breakfast and sat her down in the floor of the living room to play

“Mommy forgot to make her coffee this morning she was all wrapped up in her crazy dream” Alexis said in a singsong voice

“Let’s take a trip back to the kitchen and let’s make mommy some coffee”

Before Alexis could stand up the door bell rang…

“Who do you think that is Ms. Lansing Davis? The coffee fairy maybe?” Alexis said getting up to answer the door

There he stood, on her doorstep handsome; his jeans, his t-shirt, a scruffy face… looking as if he might have just rolled out of bed himself

“Hi”

“Peter” She said stunned to see him to say the least

Of all people to show up handsome and charming this morning it would be him

The man in her dreams

“Am I interrupting? He asked sensing she was caught off guard

“No, no”

“Ok um… Coffee?” he said handing her one of the cups he juggled with one hand

She took the coffee “That’s funny I was just hoping for the coffee fairy to come by”

“Coffee fairy huh?”

Alexis just laughed

“Oh and flowers” Peter said grinning as he handed to her the freshly cut flowers from behind his back

Her face lit up

“Peter! Thank you but you shouldn’t have” she said stepping aside to invite him in

“Yes I should have… but I do have to admit caffeine and flowers are mostly a ploy to get you to take a walk with me. I mean it’s a beautiful day and…”

“Oh… I um, I would but I have Chloe so…”

“We could take her and Kristina too! They’ll love the sunshine… I mean if you don’t mind…”he said sensing her hesitation

“Kristina is with her father today” Alexis said taking her eyes away from him to Chloe sitting on her blanket on the floor

Peter assumed Kristina was with Ric

Alexis didn’t correct him

“Hey… I know I came by, again unannounced but I honestly had a rough night with a patient at the hospital and I just needed something to take my mind off of everything and I knew your beautiful face would do the trick”

Alexis gave a dimpled grin

 He could give out compliments so easily

“Does that mean you two will join me?” he said studying the look on her face

Alexis shook her head yes as placed the flowers on the table and walked towards Chloe scooping her up in her arms

“I don’t think you two have officially met”

“Hello there” Peter said already turning to mush at their introduction

Chloe pulled her teething ring from her mouth and quickly grinned

She would lay on some charm of her own

Peter Martin wouldn’t be any competition

Alexis smiled at the two of them

“I assumed your little girls would be beautiful but not this beautiful Alexis”

“Thank you” she said watching him mesmerized by the one and only Chloe Lansing-Davis

“Do you mind watching her while I put the flowers in water and change?”

“No of course not! We’ll be fine” Peter said reaching for Chloe

Alexis handed her to Peter

Chloe went willingly. She didn’t seem to mind and Peter quickly gave all his attention to her trying to make her smile once again

She was happy, comfortable in his arms

A baby’s intuition

Alexis watched them for a moment together

She couldn’t help it. She was lost in him. Lost in him holding her daughter… wrong or not

Peter looked up just in time to catch her, he smiled

“I’ll um I’ll be right back”

Alexis made her way back to the bedroom looking back at Peter and Chloe

“Alexis we’ll be fine” he assured

“Oh yeah… I” Alexis said suddenly catching herself staring

She picked up the flowers that were still lying on the table

“Flowers, I forgot the flowers…”

Peter thought it a bit odd of her sudden nervousness around him but he then thought nothing else of it

It only took Alexis a few minutes to change and get ready

After cursing herself for being a bumbling fool and for so easily falling for the coffee and flower bringing, handsome, good with a baby type, she made her way back down the hall towards the living room with flowers in a vase, in hand

She could hear Chloe squealing in joy over her new found entertainer

Alexis could already tell that Chloe wouldn’t be as shy as Kristina. Chloe was there to entertain anyone who was willing to play

She made her way back into the living room

“You’ve already started packing I see” Peter said picking up the conversation

“Yeah just a few boxes here and there… between work and the girls, packing is turning out to be quite a challenge”

“Have a moving day yet?”

“I’m having a few things done before we move in… the painters are coming the first of next week… So as soon as possible after that”

“I bet you’re getting anxious”

“I can’t believe I’m not panic stricken!”

“What do you mean?”

“I like my apartment. I feel safe in my apartment… I’ve never had a house and so moving in to one if huge for me”

“You’ll love it… and all the aches and pains that go along with it! And I bet Chloe and Kristina won’t know how to act with all the space”

“I’ve taken Kristina to see it a couple of times so she understands that’s her new house. She is so excited!”

“Kind of like her mother maybe... deep down?”

Alexis grinned “Deep down somewhere, maybe”

Shall we go?

“Yeah…let me get her diaper changed and few things and we’ll be ready” Alexis said taking Chloe back in to her arms

Peter waited patiently and they left for the park

++++++

“You have a great balance”

“Hmm? What do you mean?”

“A great balance, you’re this successful lawyer but you also balance being a very attentive mom. And you make it look so easy!”

“If I do it’s a façade”

“Well I guess it helps to have Ric too. I mean it’s great of him to give you a chance to just spend time with Chloe today…”

Alexis bit at her bottom lip

“Peter”

“Yeah”

Alexis shuffled Chloe in her arms as they continued to walk

“When I said earlier Kristina was with her father I didn’t mean she was with Ric”

Peter looked at her a bit puzzled

“Ric isn’t Kristina’s biological father”

“Oh, ok”

“I warned you my life was complicated”

“Alexis a lot of siblings have different fathers!” Peter said understandingly

“Yeah but Ric and Kristina’s father are brothers”

“Oh I guess that does make it a bit complicated”

“At one time more than you would ever want to know”

“But everything’s fine now?”

“For as much as it can be” Alexis said optimistically

“Is that why you and Ric aren’t together? Or why you and Kristina’s father aren’t together?” Peter asked trying to put the pieces together

“Kristina’s father and I, it was a one night stand. We were friends… We spent one night together and well you probably get the ending to the story”

“Loosing a friendship was really that easy? I mean getting pregnant can compromise things but…”

“He lived a life I didn’t agree with” She said honestly “Especially when it came to raising a child with him… I chose to distance myself from him”

“But now it’s ok?”

“He’s changed his life as much as he knows to. I’ve learned to give a little, we’ve learned to compromise”

“Good so where does Ric fit in?”

Peter was finally asking the questions he wanted to

“Kristina got really sick and Ric was there for us both. I fell in love with him…”

“So married, babies the whole bit?”

Alexis smiled sadly

“Something like that”

Peter was the first to sit down on the bench and Alexis and Chloe followed

“This feels like a really strange question to ask the woman I’m, if you haven’t guessed yet, pursuing but…”

“I’m always prepared for strange questions”

“Ok then what’s the deal between you and Ric? I mean should I not even be sitting here beside you? I mean you’re together some days and others, like today there is not a trace of him”

“That’s pretty much it. That’s our relationship in a nutshell”

Peter didn’t expect such a blunt answer from her

Chloe began to fuss in her mother’s arms “It’s ok sweetheart” Alexis said giving her an assuring smile as she bounced her up and down

“I don’t know… I’m so sorry. But, I really don’t know if you should even be sitting here beside me. I know I enjoy your company and honestly I think we’re mutually attracted to each other. But I don’t know what’s going between Ric and me. I think he really wants to work it all out. I think he realizes that he is losing if he hasn’t already lost the family that was given to him”

“And you?”

Alexis let out a breathy laugh

“Me? I’m tired… I’m tired of the he loves me, he loves me not. I’m tired of the uncertainty”

“So why intentionally go through it again?”

“The ties that bind us, the chemical reaction… a gluten for punishment”

Peter gave an amused laugh before fixating his eyes on the ground

“Alexis”

Alexis waited for what he was going to say next

He looked back to her

“I think you deserve someone who loves you unconditionally. You deserve that certainty…”

“Peter”

“I know there is so much about you I don’t know” he continued “But for, well about a hundred reasons I’m completely head over heels for you… and I just think you deserve a man who will give you all that you want and all that you need…”

“Maybe it’s not supposed to happen that way for me?”

“It will if you let it”

Their conversation turned

“What if I’m afraid to? What if I let it and I get hurt all over again? I can accept everything that’s happened so far. It’s allowed me to feel love. It’s allowed me to have my little girls… but now chancing getting all I want and all I need… I’m afraid it might take away something I can’t live without”

“Ric?’ Peter asked honestly

“Maybe, yes”

Peter sat there for a moment

He was trying to choose his worlds carefully

“Alexis”

“Yeah”

“Can I bring you flowers again?”

Alexis smiled at his choice of a question

She then thought for a moment at her answer

It was a harder question than she realized

Saying yes meant he could pursue her. It meant that he had a chance of coming between she and Ric…

Alexis looked down at her baby girl. Chloe had fallen asleep in her arms

“Yes you can send me flowers again, if you’d like I mean” she said looking to him with a shy smile on her face

Peter let out a nervous breath

“Shall we walk?” he said standing

She stood and they continued their walk

“So you said earlier you had a rough night with a patient…” she said changing the subject

“Yeah, it was a 14 year old kid with heart failure… he’s doing fine at the moment but it’s just hard seeing a kid like that…”

“I’m glad he’s doing ok and I hope Chloe and I did a good job taking your mind away from it all”

“You two are the cure all pill. Thank you”

Alexis smiled to Peter “Anytime”

Alexis looked up to see Ric running towards them in the distance

She froze

His morning run

He was on his morning run

Ric… Peter…Ric… Peter

“Alexis what is it?” Peter asked not understanding why she stopped

“Alexis” Ric said stopping

“Hi”

Ric looked at Alexis and to their baby girl and then to Peter

“Dr. Martin” Ric said formally

“Ric” Peter said acknowledging him

Ric turned his attention back to Alexis

“I uh tried calling you this morning but I guess you were already out for a walk”

“Uh yeah… Peter asked us to take a walk with him this morning, it’ such a beautiful day...”

Every second painful

Every second awkward

Why?

She didn’t owe Ric an explanation of where she was or who she was with

“Yeah it’s a great day” Ric said blankly

Every second painful

Every second awkward

“Well I’ll let you get back to your walk”

Ric leaned in and kissed his sleeping baby girls’ head

And Peter watched as Alexis clenched her eyes shut, holding her breath as he did

Ric looked back at Alexis, heart broken on his face

“I’ll call and check on the girls later”

Alexis only shook her head

Ric left them, continuing his morning run

End Ch.7