bring you closer to me,

Place your head on my beating heart I’m thinking out loud--------------------

it had been a day of chasing after his daughter, cleaning up her messes and all around keeping her entertained. he had thrown colourful rubber balls around the house and broke two lamps in the process so that was yet another mess that he had to clean up but it got evie laughing. he loved to hear the melodious giggles coming from his only, young daughter. she was the miniature version of natalie, completely through and through –but she had his eyes. he saw himself reflecting in those big blue eyes and it scared him. he hoped that she got his good qualities and not his bad ones, not the things that caused him to act out when he was younger. he had already vowed to never leave her alone, never be away from her even if, god forbid, things didn’t work out with his wife. natalie though, he could not picture his life without her. evie and natalie were his entire life and it was not living without them. he needed them to keep him stable, to stop him from turning back into his old self. he was not a far distance from the past that he turned away from. his mother and his step father had pulled him out of that sucking abyss that was pulling him toward a dangerous path. sighing, sebastian bent down and picked up his squirming daughter who had fallen asleep on the couch. he had taken that time to get a little work done, make some calls and do some of the graphic making for a new company that hired his team to make a logo. but now he was in dad mode, standing up and rocking his daughter from left to right as she burrowed her face into her dad’s shoulder and fell back asleep. with careful steps, he made his way to his daughter’s bedroom and laid her down on her own mattress. he pressed a kiss to her forehead before bending down and flicking on the light attached to the wall. it illuminated her room, creating small shapes of butterflies and flowers on the walls. he glanced to his daughter quickly, a smile coming to his lips before walking out and back down the steps.

sitting down at the table, he brushed a hand through his hair and continued on with his work. sebastian actually preferred this lifestyle as opposed to commuting into the office every day and not being able to see evie as much as he did. he did not want to miss out on a single thing and so far, he hadn’t. sebstian had been able to see her first steps and hear her first words. he had been there the first time that she got sick and of course, her first laugh and her first smile. it was a rewarding job. smiling to the thought, an idea struck him for the project and sebastian began to get to work. natalie had parent teacher meetings all day and all evening and he knew that was going to be stressful on his wife. he made dinner at some point between checking on evie and continuing with the project. it was the sound of the door opening that caught sebastian’s attention and he instantly shut the laptop and stood up from the table. ”hey!”, he greeted her with a smile, looking down at the camera sitting on the kitchen table that he could put to good use right now but decided against it. she looked frazzled and probably would not appreciate being photographed right now. stepping over to her, he pressed a kiss to her lips before stepping back, ”evie fell asleep around 6 ..tuckered her out but it came at a price..”, referring to the two lamps, ”but dinner is in the fridge, all ready for you.”.

NATALIE ELIZABETH DANIELS, 639 , reunited and it feels so good.

1052 words

SEBASTIAN ZACHARY DANIELS

outfit; sorry for rambling >.>

LOVE YOU GOOD LOVE YOU SLOW

natalie loved the kids she taught. there were the trouble few, but they were what balanced the class. if there weren't the troublemakers, she'd be worried. she liked having an excuse to behave like a child, and play with arts and crafts. the thing about children was that they were the smartest, most creative human beings on earth. adults didn't give them enough credit. children were free of biases, judgements, and what society portrays a good human being to be. the only reason kids expressed hate and judged others were all things they took and learned from their parents and role models. people aren't born to hate or discriminate. love knew no colour, shape, size, or sex. bad behaviour is taught and adapted. she saw proof of this every day in her class. kids who welcomed others with open arms. who shared pencils and included others. they weren't adults who whispered behind backs and then fake a smile in front of them. they don't backstab or gossip. no, kids don't do what adults do. people said being childish was a bad thing, but she thought that was stupid because there was nothing wrong with being childish. there was nothing wrong with being an actual, genuine, decent human being. if adults were acting childish, they would not discriminate or judge because someone was different. unfortunately, much like eve, you can't unlearn things. once you know, you just know. you can't forget and pretend you didn't because that's just not how the brain works. they don't just forget facts. the brain's job is to retain information and make sure your body is working the way it's supposed to. which is why she often tried to let her kids' mind wander. let them be creative and say what they want to say without feeling stupid. she didn't want them to believe there was such thing as a stupid question or a wrong answer. yes, there were certain things like science where there was a possibility of a wrong answer. but even to this day and age, there's new studies that come out proving previous facts to be wrong. for all she knew, the kids could be shouting the wrong answer now, but maybe ten years down the road, they'll be right and prove everyone wrong. she didn't like putting these kids' ideas in a box and say they're wrong because she couldn't tell the future. she couldn't tell them that there wasn't a possibility of robots who could have feelings. no one can know this for certain. she also knew that the kids' parents hated her for this. for letting them be creative and wild. they can't stand that she puts them out of their routine, boring life and teach in unconventional ways. she wasn't like a normal grade school teacher. she didn't assign seats or had them in rows. no. they could sit where they wanted. on their desk, on the floor, on the counter…. as long as they were learning and paying attention then that was all that mattered to natalie. 

unfortunately for her, it was days like these that she hated her job. with a passion. parent teacher conference. who the hell thought this was a good idea? who was the genius that came up with this? because she sure had an earful for them. it was a peace of cake for her colleagues. but parent teacher conferences were always the one day parents gathered to rally against her. and all she could do was just sit there, stare, nod, and smile like she was actually listening to what they had to say. which was exactly what she was doing at the moment. she had her back straight, knees crossed, and hands folded on top of the desk with the permanent, cheek muscle straining smile on her face. "yes, mr. lancaster, i understand what you're saying." she lied with a nod, trying not to let her frustration show. she wanted to yell no, she didn't understand. she didn't understand why he was pulling his daughter out of her class. she didn't understand why he was trying to suppress his daughter's brilliant and creative mind. she wanted to ask him what was wrong with him. "have you talked to your daughter about this?" she asked, hoping that she wasn't gritting her teeth. he shook his head, probably about to say i don't need to, but she spoke before he could, "i think you should talk to your daughter about this. any big changes can be tough for kids." there was a spark of hesitance she thought she saw, but it disappeared as quickly as it came. she sighed inaudibly, "well, mr. lancaster, i will respect your decision regardless. darcy is an extraordinary child. any teacher would feel privileged to teach her." she told him before standing up from her chair, deliberately giving him the signal that this conversation was over. "it was a pleasure to see you again." she shook his hand and watched him walk out of her classroom before sitting back down and letting her head fall into her hands. she let herself wallow in self pity for a few minutes before she forced herself to look at her schedule, and then proceeded to sigh with relief. at least the day was over. that didn't mean the second batch of parents weren't scheduled to meet the next day though. she pushed herself off the chair and packed her things, ready to just go home and relax and see sebastian and her little girl. she was so done with the day, and the comfort of her home had never been so enticing. she parked the car in front of her house and nearly barrelled into the house. her smile instantly brightened at the sound of seb's voice, melting into his kiss. this was just what she needed. she peeked over his shoulder to look at the broken lamps with a small frown before a chuckle bubbled out of her lips, "i've learned my lesson. i'll buy new, unbreakable ones now."  she joked, turning her attention back to him. "god i love you. you are so amazing to me." and he was. he always went above and beyond for her just to make her happy. she didn't know how she got so lucky.

x

Place your head on my beating heart I’m thinking out loud that we found love-----

sometimes it was hard to believe that his life went in this positive of a direction after the nose dive that he was taking. but sebastian could only look back at his old self and laugh it off, look forward to what his life was going to bring him. it had already granted him love, a wife, a daughter, a better job, a brighter future that he could not wait to push forward into. with evie now tucked away into bed, hugging her stuffed toy from infancy and of course, her nightlight illuminating her room with butterflies moving on the walls—sebastian could comfortably work. he had a bit of a deadline coming up and well, he had been putting off the work for some time. something always come up, his daughter wanted to play or his wife wanted to play—those type of things. life just kind of got in the way but his career was steady and sebastian had never missed a deadline for a project, even if it took him all night to finish. he figured it would take him quite a bit of the night at least but a continuation could happen before the wife got home and evie woke up after her usual three hours of sleep to come cuddle with daddy on the couch. he smiled to the simple thought, sitting down at the computer and beginning to design the project. time got away from him as he rushed between his computer and the kitchen, making a simple dinner for his wife for when she got home. he knew that these were usually stressful meetings with disgruntled parents that had nothing but negative things to say about the system or his wife’s teachings. he knew natalie better than anyone and she was nurturing and caring and he knew that it was not always what a parent wanted for their child education wise. evie would be raised in a house that was open minded, others were not as fortunate and had conservative ideas shoved down their throat.

the sound of the door opening prompted sebastian to launch out of his chair and shut his laptop, as though he was hiding what he was working on. as an artist, he did not enjoy others seeing his progress but only the actual execution of his ideas. he met her at the door and quickly helped to remove her coat, hanging it up and leaning in for a kiss only a moment after. he smiled against the kiss, pulling back to finish placing the hanger on the rack before stepping over to his wife and pulling her into his arms, ”that probably still won’t stop evie and i. we were spacemen today..”, or was it western themed? either way, the lamps were shattered and pushed into a corner, with a broom already there to clean but sebastian had just lost track of time and actually left the mess. he would get to it after finishing speaking to his wife. with an arm around her waist, he brought her in for another kiss and then led her into the kitchen where another little mess was sitting in the sink but it was yet another thing that sebastian would clean up later, just adding it to the list in his head. releasing her, he went over to the fridge and pulled out the still warm plate, having only been in the fridge for a handful of minutes, and placed it into the microwave to be warmed up a bit more. turning around to face her, he leaned his back into the counter, ”so how was it? mean parents? need me to kick their butts?...”, flashing her a smile to show he was joking but sebastian would in fact unleash that darker side of him to anyone that dared to upset his wife. but he knew that displeased parents came with the territory.

NATALIE ELIZABETH DANIELS, 654 , <3 NOT ANYWHERE AS CLOSE TO YOUR WC THOUGH

889 words

SEBASTIAN ZACHARY DANIELS

outfit; crappy

LOVE YOU GOOD LOVE YOU SLOW

more often than not, natalie felt that sebastian spoiled her rotten. she knew he would do anything for her. and by anything, she meant everything. if she asked him for the moon, he would find any way possible to give it to her. much like how he spoiled evie rotten. evie was definitely daddy's little girl. and not once did she ever think about taking advantage of that because she knew how fast good things could just fall out of your grasp. she didn't know how she got so lucky to find someone as extraordinary as sebastian, but she did. well, rather, it seemed that he found her if they were being literal. but sometimes she thought that maybe she was holding sebastian back from his potential. she knew her husband was an amazing marketer. he was creative and he saw things that people miss. he found so much beauty in such simple things that it amazed her. he was capable of doing so much and even building his own company. and yet, instead, he stays at home to take care of their daughter, their house, and even menial tasks like cooking for her. she never expected him to do the laundry or cook dinner. would never force him to. but he did them anyway. no complaints. he always welcomed her home with a smile, and sometimes had to stay up late just to get his own work done. she always felt that it was such an unfair advantage that she got in this marriage. there she was, able to do the job she loved, and sebastian was just stuck at home. whenever she brought it up, he would just assure her that it was fine. that he didn't mind. sometimes she wanted to believe him. but she didn't want to be the kind of girl that held their significant other back from what they love to do. but he was always so understanding of her feelings. of their situation. always supported and encouraged her to do what she wanted to do just so she'd be happy. he would sacrifice anything for those he loved. still, she wished there was something she could do. something he would let her do to make it easier for him. to be more fair and equal in the marriage. she knew a lot of her sorority sisters envied the marriage she had. that she had gotten her fairytale prince charming and happily ever after. and natalie didn't deny that she had indeed found her knight in shining armour. but she wasn't like her sorority sisters. she liked being independent and doing things herself. she liked being fair and equal. she loved that sebastian spoiled her, but she just wished that he'd let her spoil him every once in a while too because god knows her certainly deserves it.

she turned her attention to seb when he spoke again, letting out a chuckle, "well i guess it's time to invest in some plastic lamps then."   she was teasing, but it was probably not that far off from the truth. it would be a good idea to purchase a more sustainable lamp- especially with evie's creative mind. the apple certainly did not fall far from the tree. she had to smile at that. she could remember sebastian freaking out when she had first told him she was pregnant. panicked over how he would make a bad father. but now look at him. he was truly the world's greatest dad. he would do anything to protect their daughter. a giggle escaped her lips as she imagined their daughter going on a date with a boy and sebastian sitting on the porch with a weapon of some sort, just waiting for the boy to drop evie off. she could only imagine the new set of panic her husband would have as their daughter grew older. evie was certainly a lot like sebastian in many ways. she was certainly going to be a heart breaker rather than the heart breakee. there was no doubt there'd be a line of boys sebastian would have to scare off. she couldn't wait to see it. she leaned into sebastian slightly as he slipped his arm around her waist, a small secretive smile on her face. she let him release her for a moment before she went back to him as he leaned against the counter. she wrapped both arms around his waist, ear to his chest. she didn't know why, but she just always immediately felt comfort and safe when she did that. just listening to his heartbeat was enough to make everything better. she shook her head against his chest, "it wasn't as bad as i expected it to be." she mumbled before taking her ear off his chest and resting her chin on it instead so she could look up at him, "but there was one parent. he was so frustrating! he's pulling one of my students out of the class because he thought she was being too imaginative. the nerve of that guy!" she ranted with a frown on her face before she huffed out a frustrated sigh. she shook her head slightly as if that would shake off the frustration, "anyway, enough about me. how was your day? were you able to get any work done today?"

x

Place your head on my beating heart I’m thinking out loud that we found love-----

the messes had been swept under the rug, literally, and the lamp had been collected but sebastian had been so focused on getting his work done that it had slipped his mind to actually take the trash outside, into the garbage can so that his wife didn’t see the evidence. he would tell her, he always explained what he and evie had destroyed or were going to fix with smiles on their faces. he never let natalie down, he never could let her down. she saved him, she had no idea what she did for him and so, sebastian was just trying to pay it forward but sometimes she just hated being spoiled. it was one of their only problems in an otherwise harmonious marriage. he spoiled her and she hated it. it was easy to fix but sebastian just would not allow himself to give her anything less than the best of what he could. he tried effortlessly but it appeared to be always full of effort and extra energy into his housework, into the yard work, into his advertising firm business—but he did it easily because it was for her. it was something that she never really understood and he was not sure she ever would get it. she made his life easier just by being in his life. so with that, dinner was almost finished being cooked, he ate his own portion when it was complete and then he sat on his computer and finished his own personal work that needed to be improved upon. he had done outlines and small things like that but nothing that he could actually show their client and get a nod of approval on. it was all webbing, planning, stupid ideas but something struck him in the middle of his meal and he abandoned his plate of food to expand on the idea which turned into a reality and that was the end of that project. the door opening caught his attention and he instantly just closed his laptop and stood up from the table. he was like a puppy, waiting patiently for the owner to come home. he gave her a moment to breathe on her own before enveloping her into a warm embrace. the run down of the day was brief but the mention of the lamp prompted her to suggest plastic lamps and he chuckled, shrugging, ”well that gives evie and i a challenge now.”, since he was sure that him and his daughter would find a way to shatter those as well.

assisting her in taking off her coat, he went in for another quick kiss before leading her into the kitchen and showing her that it was also a bit of a mess but he would clean it up later. he leaned into the counter and she came flush against his chest, he ignored the small jolt of pain that the counter’s edge was presenting to his lower back and just embraced her and the moment. he noticed a mischievous smile on her lips and he raised an eyebrow, curiously, ”what is going on in that beautiful mind of yours?”, he asked, leaning forward to put his lips to her forehead. his lips spread into a smile against her skin before he pulled back, releasing her from his grasp and letting her finish unwinding on her own. it was not long before she was back in his arms and he took her graciously, listening to her horror stories of the parent-teacher conferences. he hoped that their daughter would not be one of those kids, the kind that the teacher constantly came back home and bitched about what she did. he hoped that she would get her mother’s manners and just his eyes, that was all he wanted for evie. ”well that is surprising. but go on…”, and he allowed her to continue. he heard the sadness and disappointment that was in her voice of she spoke of one of her students, now a former student. sighing, he brushed a hand from the top of her head down to her shoulder, smoothing her hair and trying to relax her, ”some parents are just too stupid to realize that creativity counts too..”, pressing another kiss to her lips, ”we aren’t going to make that mistake with our little girl….”. he knew there was more to the story that natalie was not being let in on, most parents were not that stupid—were they? he sighed along with her before nodding, ”just finished the new design. it’s pretty cool, inspired by evie’s game actually..”, he chuckled before unwrapping his arms from around her, ”now, you need to eat.”, especially since he knew evie would up soon and would definitely want her mommy over her daddy at this hour.

NATALIE ELIZABETH DANIELS, 807 , THE BBIES