I hope you love this one as much as I do!

•••

The next morning, I was so giddy I woke up early– four hours earlier than I normally did. That also meant that Isaac was still asleep. After trying to go back to sleep for thirty minutes, I decided to just wake up. I could spend the day with Isaac; I felt bad for asking him to pause his life so he could accompany me to a trial he couldn't even attend. Isaac always went on a run every morning, so why not join him?

Jumping out of bed, I got ready for the day and threw on a pair of leggings and a crop top. Tying my hair up into a ponytail, I walked through the adjoining doors and into his dark room. There was a small gap in the curtain that let the sun stream through, illuminating his figure. Isaac was sleeping on his stomach, the covers pooled around his waist as one of his arms wrapped itself around a pillow. I rounded the bed, chuckling at the sight of the drool stain on his pillow.

Pursing my lips, I looked around the room to try and figure out how I'd wake him up. I've suffered enough bruises from Isaac pushing me off my bed to know I shouldn't let this opportunity go to waste. Pulling my phone out of the waistband of my leggings, I searched for a song that I knew would wake him right up. I gently placed the phone right by his head, making sure it was maxed out on the volume, before pressing play on the My Chemical Romance song.

Almost instantly, Isaac's eyes snapped open as his head jolted up in fright, the sound of guitar shredding bursting his eardrums. I burst out laughing when he started patting around his bed to try and find my phone, which buried itself under his pillow at his sudden movements. His hair was a mess and his eyes were still heavy with sleep, but when he finally found the phone, he pressed on the volume button, lowering it until you couldn't hear anything, and let his head fall back onto the pillow.

"What the fuck, Amber?" He groaned, pressing his face into the pillow as he kicked the covers back, revealing the boxers he slept in.

"Rise and shine, Zachy," I sang.

"What the hell do you want?" He mumbled, blinking to adjust to having his eyes opened and focused on me.

"I'm joining you on your run," I chirped, rocking on the balls of my feet. His eyebrows rose at my statement like he didn't believe me and he snorted before closing his eyes. I huffed and shook his shoulders, "Come on, wake the fuck up."

He slapped my hands away and snapped his eyes back open, "What time is it?" He croaked, rubbing his eye with the back of his hand.

"Seven," I replied, wrapping my hand around his wrist to pull him off the bed. He wouldn't budge, "This is a once in a lifetime opportunity, Zachy. I don't usually exercise– or willingly wake up before ten, but that's not the point– it'll be fun."

He sat up, scowling at me, "The only thing I'm looking forward to is seeing you faint from overworking yourself."

I snorted, "How hard can it be?" I challenged, raising an eyebrow. The corners of his lips tugged up into a sinister smirk, and he nodded, accepting the challenge, pushing me out of the way to get to the bathroom so he could get ready.

Isaac was ready ten minutes later. Dressed in a shirt and a pair of cotton shorts, I followed him out of the hotel excitedly. We stretched in a nearby park before he started his route off by jogging. His pace slowly increased and I would have to match it. I was already tired five minutes into the route, but I didn't want him to enjoy my pain, so I followed him silently. Talking only used up oxygen, and I needed as much of that as I could get.

"You good?" He asked ten minutes later, shooting me a look from the corner of his eyes. I nodded in reply even though it felt like my heart was going to explode right out of my chest. "Are you sure? We can always take a break if you want to."

Suddenly, he skidded to a stop. I stopped too, trying to regulate my breathing without making it seem like I was suffocating for the past fifteen minutes, "Why'd you stop?" I panted, wiping the sweat off my forehead. "I was doing fine."

"Sure you were," He scoffed, uncapping the water bottle he was holding before handing it to me. I yanked it out of his hold and chugged half of its contents down. "I'm surprised you lasted this long. I've only ever seen you run one time, and that was after Nick accidentally poked Leo in the eye."

"Why do you enjoy torturing yourself?" I asked, looking around the street we were on. My eyes landed on a toy shop and I perked up at the sight of it. I reached for Isaac's wrist and dragged him across the street before he could reply. "Let's go shopping."

"I've still got a run to finish," He groaned, digging his feet into the pavement.

"You ran for fifteen minutes," I replied incredulously, tugging on his wrist to get him to come with me. "Come on, we promised Leo we'd get him a gift."

When his feet remained firmly rooted on the ground, I turned to face him, widening my eyes and jutting out my bottom lip in what I hoped looked like an adorable face. He averted his gaze from my face and huffed, running his hand through his hair, "You're going to be the reason coach kills me."

I paused– I knew he was joking, but would his coach really give him hell for missing the past week to stay with me while I dealt with all of this? This wasn't fair for him. He didn't have to miss his training, I knew he had a match coming up mid-January that he had to train for. How much damage could a week without training do?

He furrowed his eyebrows at my change in behavior, "You know I'm kidding, right?" He asked, reading my mind. "The little man deserves a gift for being away from his mom for this long." He threw his arm around my shoulder and pulled me close to his side. He pushed open the door to the shop, waiting for me to walk in before following after me.

I smiled at the employee as Isaac directed me towards the LEGO section. We stood in front of the shelf for what felt like hours, comparing different sets and models before deciding on a pet shop. I grew excited at the thought of helping Leo build it; after the time where Isaac told me to help them, I learned that I loved watching Leo concentrate on putting pieces together correctly. After buying him the set, we decided to walk back to the hotel.

Isaac seemed to be staring ahead deep in thought, the plastic bag hitting his knee when he twisted the handle nervously. His eyebrows were puckered up in a frown all the while he rolled his bottom lip between his teeth. I chose not to comment on his unusual silence and walked by his side on the brick pavement.

When we stepped into the hotel, he broke out of his thoughts and glanced at me, "Is there anything you want to do before we have to check-out?"

I looked around the hotel lobby, trying to come up with something to do when my eyes landed on a mannequin outside the gift shop. I smiled up at him in response, dragging him towards the store so I could do some more shopping. Isaac just threw his head back and silently screamed.

•••

When I packed for the hotel, I didn't necessarily pack to have fun. I came here for one thing, and one thing only– make sure Adam lost. My accomplishment made weights lift off my shoulders. I was, for the first time in a while, free of stress. My mind wasn't whirling with unnecessary thoughts and the smile on my lips would not falter.

I was happy.

According to the hotel, they had a really great indoor pool that was available to all guests. Neither Isaac nor I packed swimsuits, which meant I had to buy a bikini while he bought a pair of swim trunks from the gift shop. We went up to our rooms to change and so I could put Leo's gift in my suitcase so I'd remember to take it home later today.

After we changed, Isaac said he wanted to get breakfast before swimming. Running always left him hungry, so I agreed. It was ten by the time we'd finished eating and made our way to the top floor to swim in their indoor pool.

The swimming pool was empty. There was nobody in it, and I didn't know who in their right minds would go swimming in December. Isaac wasn't lying, though, when he said the winters here were pathetic. It didn't get cold at home, just chilly. I'd gotten so used to Paris's cold weather that this 'cold' didn't faze me anymore.

The water was heated though, which was kind of relaxing. I was treading water, my head craned up to look out the skylight that shone down on us. The sun was high up in the sky, and the heat felt good against my skin. The only sound that could be heard was that of water rippling around me as my arms and legs moved to keep me afloat.

When was the last time I felt this relaxed?

When Adam and his gang robbed me, it felt like they stole a piece of me too. I couldn't go anywhere without feeling scared or making sure the security there was good. My doors had to always be locked in case they found me again and decided to rob me again. But now, I also had to fear for Leo's life as well as mine. What would've Adam done if he found out he had his own child? Thoughts of him discovering my child made me even more scared of him, which just worsened my nightmares.

Now, I didn't have to worry. I surrounded myself with people I trusted one-hundred-percent and I had finally rid myself of Adam. The only two things I should be worrying about now were my job and Leo; my priorities. My therapist always said that closure would be great for me, and I always thought she was just saying that. But now that I'd cleared up the air with Dean and 'confronted' Adam in court, I felt like I could rule the world.

I snapped myself out of my thoughts, a smile on my face as I glanced at Isaac, whose entire body was floating atop the water, shaped like a starfish. He was staring up at the skylight, pulling his bottom lip between his teeth as he continued to think about whatever it was.

Was he having another off day?

I don't think I've ever seen Isaac this stressed. He was usually the calm, cool, and collected one out of the both of us– I was hot-headed. He was always chill before his matches, and radiated nothing but optimism and confidence, so seeing him so stressed about a matter confused me. I'd only ever seen him stressed when he had to order food off a never-before-seen menu.

I swung my feet and moved my arms, floating towards him. His gaze remained trained up at the skylight while I floated beside him. I pushed my hand against the water to splash his torso. He blinked before glancing at me from the corner of his eye.

"You okay?" I asked, tone soft and worried.

He stared at me for a bit before fixing his gaze at the glass ceiling, "Yeah," He replied, flicking a finger to send water droplets flying onto my chest. "Just thinking about shit."

I tilted my head, "Is it that match that's coming up?" I questioned.

It took him a second before he hummed in agreement, "Mhm," He sounded. "It's kind of stressing me out– it can really go either one of two ways."

We drifted into silence after his confession. I stared at the side of his face while he stared up at the skylight. It was unlike Isaac to be so nervous over a match that wasn't a big deal. They always played matches like these to earn points to qualify for the FIFA World Cup.

"Well," I stated breathily, splashing water onto his body. "Do you think the chances of you winning are higher than that of you losing?" He paused, thinking about it for a bit, before nodding his head yes. I smiled, "That's good. If the match is really stressing you out, you can always train harder, just to prepare yourself."

He shrugged halfheartedly, "I guess."

I rolled my eyes at his lazy reply and splashed him in the face this time, "If there's one thing this trial taught me, Zachy, it's that you should trust yourself. You're a great football player, one of the best in your team, and you've earned them so many wins. I think you'll do amazing."

Isaac lowered his body into the water. He was a good thirty centimeters taller than me, which meant he could easily touch the floor of the pool. He wiped his face of the water I splashed on it and smirked at me, "The only thing I heard come out of your mouth was that you think I'm amazing."

Of course, he did.

I smiled at his change in mood and put all my effort into sending a big wave of water on him. He raised an arm to protect himself from the oncoming splash, but it did nothing to keep him dry. I grinned at his drenched hair, which made his eyebrows raise in return. He pulled his arms back, and I knew what that look entailed.

"Isaac," I warned, pushing myself away from him. "I don't want to get my hair wet–" I screeched when he basically drowned me in the chlorinated water. I wiped my eyes and opened them, spitting out the water that made itself into my mouth. "What the fuck, Zac."

"Come back here," He said, swimming in my direction which made me flip myself onto my stomach so I could swim away from him. "I wanna try to suplex you."

My eyes widened when he narrowly missed my ankle, "Leave me alone!" I yelled, kicking water onto his face to slow him down. He pushed himself against the water and wrapped his fingers around my wrist, pulling me back against him. "Come on, Zachy, please don't. I don't want to wash my hair–"

"Sorry, my love," He said into my ear before his arm snaked around my waist. He flipped me over himself, sending me toppling headfirst into the water. I pushed my foot against the floor to propel me up, gasping to breathe once I reached the surface. I opened my eyes to find him grinning at me, brown hair sticking onto his forehead.

"Fuck you," I muttered, pretending to be angry as I shoved past him to get to the ladders.

"You're not really mad, are you?" He called after my retreating figure. I smiled at the undertone of panic and continued treading water to get to the edge of the pool. "Amber?" I ignored him, hearing a brief pause before the sound of splashing water replaced the silence. I turned around to find him swimming towards me. Once he got close enough, I readied both hands before shoving his head completely under the water.

He resurfaced, coughing out the water he inhaled, while I laughed at him. He wiped the water off his eyes, scowling at my amused figure.

"I could've died," He grumbled dramatically.

"You're such a baby," I cooeed reaching over to pinch his cheek. He narrowed his eyes at me, not amused by my antics. "A very grumpy baby."

"I'm suplexing you again," He decided tugging on my hand that was pinching his cheek to spin me around. "I don't give a fuck about your hair."

•••

After one more hour of playing around in the pool, we went back into our rooms to shower and pack up our suitcases. Checkout was normally at noon, but we were allowed to be late if need be. After washing my hair with the hotel's barely-enough products, I made sure I had everything in my suitcase and tote before going to Isaac's room. He'd apparently packed everything up last night, like any responsible adult would, and was just waiting on me to finish.

The road trip mainly consisted of me singing along to the music playing through the speakers while the wind blew through my hair. Isaac would occasionally join me while I sang, but for the most part, he remained quiet, eyes trained ahead of him as he focused on the roads and his thoughts.

When we neared the house, I sent Dylan a text, informing him we were back in town. The house was supposed to be empty since the adults were at work while the kids were at the camp. I slowly grew excited at the thought of seeing Leo, who didn't have to worry about meeting his sorry excuse of a father.

Isaac parked the car in front of my home and we simultaneously stepped out of the car. He popped open the trunk and pulled out both our suitcases. He went to carry mine up the stairs but I stopped him by wheeling it to the steps before gripping the handle. I heard him mutter something under his breath, but I made no comment as we made our way up.

I unlocked the door and walked in, Isaac taking ahold of my suitcase this time, "Do you want a sandwich?" I asked over my shoulder, tossing my purse on the couch as I made my way into the kitchen.

"Yes please," He yelled. I picked out the same ingredients Dylan did a few days ago, remembering how he made it. I pulled out a chopping board to cut up the tomatoes and lettuce as Isaac walked into the kitchen.

I heard him take a seat on the stool behind me by the counter. I started humming the song that played in the car as I chopped up the lettuce into shreds. I slightly turned my head to the left, glancing at Isaac through the corner of my eye. He was staring at my shoes, deep in thought, just like he was a few hours ago.

I sighed, "You okay?" I asked again, washing the tomato before I sliced through it. "You still worried about that football match?"

"I guess," He replied, voice mixed in with the sound of the knife hitting the wooden cutting board. I pushed the vegetables to the side before placing two mini baguettes on the board to slice them open, "What happens if I lose?"

"Nothing," I told him, looking over my shoulder to shoot him a quick smile. "You're a great player, Zachy. It'll all be okay. Even if you do lose, we'll still love and support you. You know that, don't you? All that matters is that you tried your best."

I opened the packet of the turkey mortadella when he suddenly went silent. I decided to let him lose himself in his thoughts while I continued assembling our sandwiches. Once the two sandwiches were ready, I stood on my tippy toes to get two plates out of the cabinets above

He stood up from his stool, "I should just be confident in what I'm doing."

I smiled, happy he was finally getting it, "Exactly," I said, his footsteps nearing as I plated the food. "Whether or not the team wins doesn't matter as long as you— what are you doing?"

Placing a hand on my shoulder, Isaac turned me around before stepping forward so that my back pressed into the counter. He stared down at me, eyes dark while my lips parted as I gasped. "Isaac, what—?" Before I knew it, he cupped my jaw in his large hands and tilted my face up his coming down to meet it. He stopped, our noses touching as he looked into my eyes before hs gaze flickered down to my lips. His eyes fluttered shut when he leaned in, pressing his lips against mine, moving as he kissed me softly. My eyes widened to the size of saucers at the action, not helping the familiar fluttering that erupted in my stomach as my hands came up to grip the counter behind me.

What the fuck?

Just as quickly as it started, he pulled his lips away from mine, his hands still on my face. My eyes remained wide open, staring at him in shock while his eyelids lifted, exposing his darker-than-usual brown eyes. My mouth dropped open at what he just did. His eyes looked into mine before he assessed my expression. Once he realized that one, I didn't respond to the kiss; and two, I was fucking shocked at what happened, his eyes widened in alarm. He jumped away from me like I was a wild flame and ran his hands through his hair.

"I... Should not have fucking done that," He said, trying to remain calm while he panicked. "Fuck, I should not have done that."

I blinked, surprised at everything that managed to unfold in just a second. My back was still pressed into the counter, my hands gripping the edge to try and stabilize myself. The butterflies in my stomach would not calm down. Isaac tugged on his hair as he apologized profusely.

"Uh—" I started, trying to form a coherent sentence, but all my brain could do was replay the last minute's events.

"Don't say anything," He interrupted, cheeks flaming red with embarrassment. "Let's just pretend that never happened."

But it did– it did fucking happened.

"Uh—" I repeated, still staring at him with wide eyes. Did Isaac have feelings for me?

"I'm just going to..." He trailed off, reaching over my paralyzed body to pick up a plate. He lifted it in a 'cheers' motion, "Thanks for the sandwich."

With that, he turned around and left the kitchen. Before he could completely disappear, though, I could've sworn I heard him mutter, "You knew you were going to lose, you idiot."

What the fuck?

•••

Isaac disappeared into his room with his sandwich. He never came out, not even when Dylan came back with the kids. Deciding to forget about it for the time being, I spent the day listening to Leo tell me all about the winter camp. He seemed excited about the number of friends he made, and the different games he learned to play. It made me wonder whether not putting him in daycare was good for him. All I ever cared about was his safety, but I never considered the fact that he was a kid that needed friends.

Now that Adam was really out of the picture, maybe I could enroll him in something.

Céline then asked Leo if he'd like to play football out in the backyard, and he instantly jumped at the invitation. Cody, not liking being left out, joined them too. Antoine declined the invitation, saying that the only thing he wanted to play was the game on his iPad. Dylan decided to make dinner, to celebrate winning the trial. I knew that if I was on my own, I'd start thinking about Isaac kissing me, so I offered to help him.

With my help, Dylan cooked a three-course meal. He made garlic bread, from scratch, lasagna, a salad, and a fucking chocolate cake for dessert. When I asked what the occasion was, he admitted that he wanted to do something nice for Rose, who was working extra hard to get a promotion.

When Rose came home, she hugged me tight, congratulating me on winning the trial. She then sent up all the kids to wash up and call Isaac down. Dinner was fucking awkward. Dylan didn't notice since he was occupied with his daughter, who kept complaining about the vegetables on her plate. Isaac was seated stiffly to my right, while Leo sat to my left. His cheeks were still red with embarrassment, but he tried his best to downplay it whenever Rose tried to have a conversation with him.

Since Dylan made dinner, Rose insisted she did the cleaning up. Dylan made me help her out, and I agreed since I had nothing better to do. My brother had a thing against dishwashers, he said that they never cleaned the dishes properly, so he preferred doing them by hand. Rose dumped the pans into the dishwasher, telling me there was no way she was going to wash all that up– what Dylan didn't know wouldn't kill him.

I knew there was a reason we got along so well.

After we finished, Rose cut us both a slice of the cake I made, and we sat on the stools at the counter to enjoy them.

"You and Isaac okay?" She asked a few bites into her dessert, looking at me pointedly as she took a bite of the cake from her fork.

I paused, lifting my gaze up from the plate that I'd now have to wash, "Why wouldn't we be?" I replied, cutting off a piece of the cake.

She quirked an eyebrow, "You guys are usually attached at the hip," She commented, smirking when I thinned my lips– she knew she was right; we weren't okay. "But you didn't speak a word to each other the entire dinner. He was as stiff as a mannequin, almost like he was afraid of touching you."

"You noticed that?" I asked, surprised somebody actually picked up on the tension between the two of us.

"I notice a lot of things, hun, I just don't comment on them," She informed me. My eyes widened at her words, wondering what kind of things she knew. "Dylan thinks I didn't see him sliding Céline's veggies off her plate and onto his. He also thinks I don't know that he sometimes takes the kids out for ice cream after school, even if it spoils their lunch. My husband isn't really discrete."

I smiled at her words, glancing back down at my half-eaten cake. Maybe Rose could help me figure out what to do with the ordeal.

"Isaac kissed me," I confessed, the words sounding completely foreign coming out of my lips. Isaac kissed me? I never thought I'd say those three words, but here I was, telling Rose that it actually happened.

I lifted my gaze up to Rose, who was grinning from ear to ear, her fists clenched tightly around the fork. She released an ear-piercing squeal, widening her eyes out of excitement. She dropped the fork, letting it clatter on her plate, which she pushed aside to lean forward.

"Really?" She asked eagerly, bouncing in her seat. "Tell me everything."

So I did. I told her all about how weird Isaac was acting today, and how stressed he seemed. I told her about how silent he was– only speaking when spoken to and whatever. Then, I told her all about how I was making both of our sandwiches while he sat silently behind me. He confessed that he was stressed about a football match, and when I told him he should just be confident it would all turn out fine, he... Isaac fucking kissed me.

Rose's cake was long forgotten as she listened to me with open ears. The grin on her face did not waver once as I recounted the story to her, instead, it just widened, especially when I told her about the comment he made when he walked out.

"For somebody so smart, you have your oblivious moments," Rose said. I scrunched up my face, offended, and she gave me an apologetic wink. "The match was a metaphor for his feelings for you, Amber. 'It can go one of two ways'– you can either like him back or not."

I slumped against the stool, feeling slightly stupid for not getting it, "Oh."

Like him back?

Rose playfully rolled her eyes, "So?" She dragged out, propping her head up in her hands. "Did you like kissing Isaac?"

I blinked, feeling heat rush up to my cheeks, "It's not like I kissed him back or anything." I mumbled, averting my gaze from her overly enthusiastic one.

"O-kay," She said, pursing her lips to think. "How did it make you feel?"

I did a double-take at her question, "I don't know... Confused?" I replied, choosing not to tell her about how my stomach would not settle down or how my lips still tingled whenever I thought about it.

She tilted her head to the side, a knowing smile playing on her lips, "Do you think you like him?" She questioned, looking at me expectantly. My cheeks went a darker shade of red at the question– I don't know, did I? Rose, reading my hesitancy, nodded, "How about this, hun. We can make a list. What are things you don't like about Isaac?"

Oh, that was easy.

"He always teams up with Nick to annoy the everliving shit out of me; he once shoved me into a group of tourists because I called him 'Zachy'," I told her, rolling my eyes as a small smile graced my lips at the memory. "He always pushes me off my bed to wake me up. Uh... I think that's it?" I ended, racking my brain for other things that Isaac did that made me want to throw him out of a skyscraper.

She smiled at the list, nodding in acceptance, "Alright," She said, mentally noting them all down. "Now, what are things you like about him?"

"Leo loves him and he loves Leo. Both of them get along so well, sometimes I feel like he's his dad. He does this thing where, if I'm struggling with carrying Leo, he'll just take him off of me; I don't even have to ask. He just notices things, like when I'm stressed, he takes me out for lunch or dinner to get my mind off work. I love how tall he is because it makes his hugs so much better– he's like a giant teddy bear. He also makes me laugh all the time– I always have fun when I'm with Zachy." I relayed, smiling at her grin. "Isaac's my rock– he's always there for me; I mean, he dropped everything to come with me so I could attend the hearing."

"Amber," Rose said in a sing-song voice. "Did you like the kiss?" She repeated the question.

"Yeah, but–" I stopped mid-sentence, my eyes widening when I realized what the fuck just came out of my mouth. "Shit."

Rose squealed again, "Amber has a crush!"

I blinked at her excited figure, "I–" I stuttered, unable to form a sentence. I didn't know how I felt about the entire thing, but now that I thought back on it, I realized that I did have feelings for Isaac– how could I not? I wouldn't have felt butterflies if I didn't. I would have pushed him off if I didn't. I didn't know that I liked Isaac like that at the time, but Rose just tricked me into admitting it.

"I have feelings for Isaac?" I questioned out loud, staring at Rose with wide eyes. Yes, you do. "I have feelings for Isaac."

She nodded her head wildly, "You have feelings for Isaac!" She exclaimed, clapping her hands excitedly.

What the fuck?•••

– 29/07/20

THE DEANxAMBER SHIPPERS MIGHT HATE ME, BUT I DON'T CARE.

I'VE WANTED TO WRITE THIS CHAPTER SINCE THE ONE WHERE THEY WENT TO THE CLUB.

I SHIP AND THATS THAT THANK YOU