36 Not so shocking embarrassment

The cold wind tousles my hair, the dark colored dreads hitting my face causing me to close my eyes. The warm blanket wrapped around me making my eyes droopy but I force myself to stay awake, waiting silently for Austin to come back home.

Home. It's his condo, but it's our home. Wherever he is, is home. I'd left all of them back at the family house, shortly after the show had finished. It had all been a blur after Sheryl had come on.

Sheryl Stone, owner of the Stones & Furnitures world-wide company, recognized by the royal family of Mexico City and Egypt. She's been close friends with Austin since their teens, too close if you ask me. During the show, they'd chatted like two people who realized they're in the same fandom, or have the same favorite book. I could feel my blood boiling as I watched them. In fact, my blood is still boiling right now.

We haven't met before, but there's something off about her. I'm gonna put it straight, I don't like her. I see the light of Austin's car as he parks next to the condo, the sound of him closing his door gets me standing up. I walk down from the patio and down the stairs. I pause when I see him taking off his jacket, he looks up, a tired look on his face, his eyes full of exhaustion.

"Hey." He smiles and takes off his jacket fully, throwing them over his shoulder and walking up the stairs to meet me. "Hi." He replies, wrapping his arms around my waist.

"What took you so long?" I ask with a pout and he steals a kiss, making a humming sound. "I'm sorry babe, I had to see Sheryl off, she insisted." He says and a frown takes over my face.

"I don't like her." I say outrightly and Austin's head falls back in a deep chuckle. "Is that a declaration?" He asks, releasing me from his grip. He turns me around and starts taking me up the stairs.

"I'm being serious Austin, there's something about her that I don't like." Maybe it's that she's much better than me in every way, or the fact that she has a well known history with my boyfriend, or the fact that she's just drop dead gorgeous, pick any one please.

"I know honey, but I assure you that you have nothing to worry about with her." He kisses my cheek and starts taking off his shirt. "I will worry all I want to worry, now go take a bath, you're not getting in that bed without being clean." I say and throw the blanket on the bed. He smirks, a mischievous look in his eyes.

"Even clean minded? Because right now, seeing you in my shirt and nothing but really, really short shorts, is making me think very dirty things." He says and I gasp.

"Austin! Get your mind out of the gutter or else I will be sleeping in my winter outfit!" He laughs and walks into the bathroom, throwing me a wink before disappearing behind the bathroom door.

I close my eyes and rub my hands over my face. I walk out of the room, my legs finding their way to the kitchen. I pull open the fridge door, grabbing a bottle of grape juice, I grab a cup and pour it in, putting the bottle back into the fridge, I walk back up the stairs, heading for the room.

I pause when I see Austin standing in the room, with only a towel wrapped around his waist, he's searching through his drawers for something and my jaw just hangs low.

"Can you at least cover up, for once, there's a lady in your house." I whine and he turns around, a smile on his face. "I'm sorry Milady, I didn't mean to appear so inappropriate in your presence." He says and grabs some clothes and rushes back into the bathroom. I laugh and go to the bed, taking a swig of the grape juice.

Austin's phone pings and I turn around, my curiosity getting the best of me. I reach for it and laugh when I see the picture he took of me when I was sleeping in the car on the day he took me to his parents place.

He comes out of the bathroom, baggy shorts hanging low on his waist with an armless shirt on. He sees me holding his phone and he turns red. "Really, are you that cliché? You seriously took my picture and used it as your wallpaper?" I ask and pass him his phone, the message long forgotten.

"Haha, yeah, funny." He says in the most monotone voice ever and I roll my eyes, taking the last sip of the juice.

"Shoot." Austin mutters under his breath and I look at him, my brows furrowing. He lets out a deep sigh and throws his phone in the bed, sitting down and wrapping his arms around me and pulling me down to lay with him.

"What's wrong?" I ask and he exhales deeply, opening his blue eyes and staring right at mine. Has anyone ever told him how beautiful his eyes are?

"Kai's going at Neferankh, well actually Meredith." He says and my heart dips, a sad look taking over my face. "I gotta call her now." He says and I nod immediately, grabbing his phone and handing it to him. He smiles and dials Neferankh, she picks up at the third ring, her voice shaky as she says his name. I stand up and walk into the bathroom, taking out the spare toothbrush that Austin kept for me and slapping some toothpaste on it. I push the brush in my mouth, scrubbing my teeth loudly to block out Austin trying to talk to Neferankh.

I rinse my mouth out, staring at myself in the mirror. I wait for a few more seconds before opening the door. He's sitting up, his head in his hands.

"Is she okay?" I ask and straddle him. "Yeah, but I have to pick her up from Cosmo's place tomorrow morning. River put Kai to bed and now he's with Neferankh." He whispers softly, his hands tightly on my waist. He hums as my fingers run through his hair, his eyes close and he pulls me until he's on his back, my arms on his chest, I close in the distance between us, our lips in sync.

°•°•°|°•°•°

A low moan escapes my throat as I roll over, feeling the cold sheets shocking me awake. My eyes fly open and I'm met with the rumpled part of the sheets, empty. I sit up, pushing my hair back and throwing the covers off. My feet touch the warm rug and I slip into the slippers, yawning and walking down the stairs. I hear chattering and I pause when I reach the bottom of the stairs, listening to Austin and Neferankh joke and laugh. I walk into the kitchen, Neferankh is the first to see me and she pauses, staring at me with her adorably wide eyes. "Hey." She mutters and I smile at her. "Good morning, I see you were able to get breakfast, Austin can't cook to save his life!" I exclaim and she giggles.

"My daddy taught me how to make quesadillas, so I just told him what to do and helped him with some things, I even got a burn." She says with an excited look in her eyes. I rush to her and inspect her finger.

"Austin, why were you so careless?" I scokd and he pouts. "It's okay, my uncle said if I get a cut or a burn while cooking, it means I'm tough enough to be in the kitchen again." She says with a beam and I smile at her.

"Yes you are." She smiles and goes back to her breakfast and I look at Austin. I walk past him, smacking the back of his head.

"Hey, don't embarrass me in front of the kid!" He whines and I roll my eyes. "It's no use uncle Luke, you've been embarrassed so many times by ma, it's no longer shocking." She says and I bark out a laugh, the look on Austin's face is priceless. I feel so bad that I don't have my phone to take a picture of him right now.

"Your mouth is going to get you in trouble one day young lady." He accuses, his index finger pointed sharply at her, she doesn't seem fazed though, biting into her quesadilla. "And it will also get me out of it, like the day you lost your wallet after buying the taco and eating them." She reminds him and he narrows his eyes at her.

"You really are your mother's daughter." He murmurs and she smiles widely at him, waving her hand. "Same old, same old."

Macy is going to love this kid!

°•°|°•°

After breakfast, we all went to the house to see Brooke and Uriah. Austin hadn't seen her since the day she gave birth to Uriah, and he decided he wanted to see her today, after missing his chance yesterday because of the show. Neferankh looked so excited when I told her we were going to see a baby, the only other baby she'd seen so much was from her uncle Alejandro and Layla when she was younger.

Austin parks the car in front of the house, looking back to find the back door open, Neferankh running for the door. She stands there, jumping in excitement and when she doesn't see us, she turns around and motions for us to come over.

"Someone's excited." Austin murmurs and opens his door, I follow suit, shutting my door and walking to meet Neferankh. I push open the door and walk in, taking off my shoes and heading straight for where the noise is coming from, the kitchen, as usual.

Alistair is the first to spot me and he calls out my name, looking down and seeing a child. Everyone stops what they're doing and looks at me, their eyes slowly travelling to Neferankh hugging my leg.

"Neferankh, this is my family, guys this is Neferankh." I say and she looks at me then back to everyone. They all pull their smiles on, Macy walking over to her with her tummy in front and all, Neferankh releases my leg and walks slowly to Macy.

"Hi." She mutters and a series of awn's fill the air. Mom walks next to her, and drops to her knees, talking in a soft voice with her. I walk to Brooke who's watching with a smile on her face, Ethan is holding the baby and she's sitting on one of the stools, eating some fruit.

"Relaxing I see." I muse and she rolls her eyes, dropping her fork. "You wouldn't even understand, I haven't slept peacefully, he keeps waking up and crying, I'm so frustrated, I wanted him out if me, and now I wish I could put him back in." She complains and I laugh.

"He just missed his favorite aunt, that's all, hey Ethan, hand over my nephew now!" I call and he doesn't out up a fight, transferring Uriah into my arms.

"Hey, baby, who's a big boy?" I ask in a soft voice and he opens his mouth causing me to chuckle lightly. Austin walks in, stealing a fruit from Brooke's bowl which doesn't go unnoticed by Ethan, resulting in the hard smack and a yell.

"Quiet!" I hiss at him and he scrunches up his face, pouting. Him and Alistair start talking and not too long after, dad joins in. I turn to Neferankh, looking back to Brooke for permission, she nods silently and I call Neferankh over.

"Look at him, his name is Uriah, he's four days old and I don't think he can see yet, if you want to touch him, go over to mom there and wash your hands." I say and she nods excitedly, bouncing to mom. "Did you wash your hands?" Brooke asks me with her serious look on.

"No, but I sanitized." I say, she narrows her eyes at me and shakes her head, "Not good enough, go wash your hands." She says and takes her child.

"Grumpy, you can't seperate our love!" I tell her and she rolls her eyes. I quickly wash my hands and dey them, taking my nephew back. Neferankh touches his tiny hands carefully, a wondered look on her face.

"Where did he come from?" She suddenly asks and Brooke chokes on her fruit, Kira starts laughing and May swats her, also turning red.

°•°•°|°•°•°

We stayed four hours with Brooke and everyone, then we headed back home, to Austin's condo. Neferankh was going to stay for two more days until Kai was able to get Meredith back under control. When I asked Neferankh how she feels about Meredith, she said she knew it wasn't her mom, but she looked like her mom, and the more you try to convince yourself that it's not her, the more it hurts. Those were some deep things to feel for a seven year old.

We were now playing GTA 5 online, Austin on his laptop, I think working on his book and eating some croissants. The door bell rings and Austin looks up, putting his laptop on the desk. "I'll get it." He says and ruffles Neferankh's hair.

He goes to open the door, I go back to the game, pulling out my guns when I hear a female voice. A very familiar female voice that I wish I didn't know.

"What are you doing here?" Austin asks and she giggles. "Oh, I just thought I'd come see how you're doing." She says and I pause the game, Neferankh looks at me and I nod for her to continue playing without me. Sheryl's face comes into view, a large smile on her face but it falters when she sees me and Neferankh, her brows furrowing as she looks at Neferankh closely.

"Sheryl, this is April and Neferankh, babe, meet Sheryl." Austin says awkwardly and Sheryl's eyes fly to meet mine. "Hi!" She says and I can hear an underlying tone in her voice.

"Hello." I say curtly and give Austin the look. He makes a look that screams 'I don't know' and he walks past her.

"So you're Austin's girlfriend?" She asks, walking into the living room, her pointy heels making a clacking sound with each step. "Yes I am." I reply and she seems surprised that I don't show anymore interest in why she's here, although it's killing me inside to ask her what exactly she's here for.

"Oh, that's nice." She says in a small voice and sits down, her eyes going over Neferankh once more like she's irritated by her presence. It seems Neferankh noticed and starts to feel uncomfortable. She drops the control pad and looks at me, I unlock my phone and hand it to her as she silently asks to go upstairs. She smiles and takes it from me, pausing and staring at Sheryl and then at Austin before rushing up the stairs.

"What's a black kid doing in your house Luke?" Sheryl asks in a small voice and Austin looks at her like she's mad. "What?" He asks confused and she scoffs.

"I know it isn't your child, and I'm sure as hell it isn't April's either, so who in the world is she?" She asks with a look on her face, her brows raised in questioning.

"Excuse me, did you just call her an 'it'?"