I shot up out of bed and booked it straight to the bathroom. I'm pretty sure I woke up Henry but that's not too much of a concern. I close the door behind me and sit down to pee til something thicker than pee comes out.  That would explain all my emotional mess last night.

I just clean myself up and prepare for the day, including counting up how many pads I had left. I have plenty which is weird since I know that last month I definitely almost ran out. Maybe Chloe left some.

I exit the bathroom heading for my phone immediately texting Chloe.

Hey, did you leave pads here ?

Chlo🤞🏾🤞 : No, I'm not on rn. I'm 3 weeks after you I think.

"You good ?" Henry asks causing me to look at him. I nod my head.

"Hey question, did you do any shopping ?" I ask Henry.

"Yeah remember when I went to go pick up a few house things after work last week ? Is there no tissue in the bathroom ? I thought I put some extra rolls in there." Henry spews out and I shake my head.

"No no it's not that um did you pick up some extra pads ?" I ask him.

"Oh are you on right now ?, " He asks and I nod my head slowly. "Huh that'd explain a lot but yeah I noticed last month your supply got really low and I had some extra change so I got some. I hope I got the right one, did I?" Henry asks now becoming worried. I just smile as I watch his eyes fill with fear and he starts to bite his lip.

"Yeah you did, you're good. Thank you for that." I commend him and just like that he eases back up. Well his body does but his face is still tense, actually more tense than before. His jaw is clenched and his eyes are darkening. His lips are etched into a scowl and he looks like asshat Henry. Oh no, not today dammit.

I do the one thing that comes to mind. Hug him. I wrap my arms around his upper abdomen and rest my face against half of his chest and half of his abs. I rub his back and pray this will calm him down. At first he goes rigid again but then he relaxes and actually wraps his arms back around me. He hugs me tightly, as if I'm pulling away which I'm not. I feel his chin rest atop my head and he takes a deep breath.

"Hey Hen?" I ask.

"Hmm?" He hums out.

"Are you ever going to tell me what this is all about ? This internal switch of yours ? " I ask and he sighs.

"Yeah, I guess we can talk about it now but can we cuddle ? I want to keep you in my arms in case you want to run afterwards." Henry says and I just nod, becoming slightly afraid that I asked my question. He kisses the top of my head and pulls away. What the hell is it so cold for in this room ? I touch my forehead to see if I'm sick or something but no go. Oh my period, right. That explains it.

Henry lays down in bed and I just follow suit. I lay my head on his chest and he puts his arm around my waist.

"Okay so in a sense it really is an internal switch I have. But it's more than that. I don't know when it really started or why but it's like a leech in my head. Not an actual one, a figurative one. That's how the doctor described it. It just criticizes everything I do and sometimes when I don't shut it up it can break me down to the point where I let it take over." Henry speaks this time in a softer tone, he's probably scared.

"So when it takes over that's when you go all asshole Henry ?" I ask and he makes an 'mhm' sound.

" I used to think it was protecting me but now it's been ruining my life and my image. " Henry says.

" Maybe it still is protecting you. You know sometimes we think pushing everyone away will keep us from getting hurt but it does just the opposite." I voice and Henry sighs.

" I've thought about that but my doctor said otherwise. Listen let me finish. I also have things that trigger me to flip my switch and things that can keep me from flipping it so to speak." He breathes out.

"Go on, I won't interrupt you." I say.

"Okay well not being taken seriously when I feel like I'm making an effort is one of my triggers, another one is when I'm really angry and I can't express it in a nice way. There are a few others like undeserved rudeness or blatant disrespect but my biggest one is feeling helpless." He says and then he starts to grip my waist.

"Hey Hen, it's alright." I whisper and I start to draw little circles on his chest. He takes a deep breath. " So basically strong negative emotions are what sets you off. What makes you switch back ? " I ask.

"The biggest thing that makes me switch back is you and our kids. When we argued at the park and you said you didn't want to be near me something switched. When I was at the party and those guys were saying they raped you and you were crying for help something switched. Just thinking of you being hurt or needing my help will always make me switch. I want you to stay happy." He says. He pauses for a while and just breathes. "Then our kids when we were in the hospital waiting for Aiden, I was struggling to keep myself in tact but I knew I had to because I needed my son to know he could count on me and I needed him to know I can be okay. You guys keep me grounded. Other than that it's minor things like monitoring my breathing, using my stresss ball and stuff like that which also help prevent asshole Henry from coming out. " Henry finishes and it's silent for a bit. I sit up abruptly but immediately face Henry when I realize my action could have come off the wrong way.

"Are you done with me now?" Henry asks not looking at me. I lightly slap his chest.

"Can't get rid of me that easily Hart. Thank you for sharing and I think I understand it all now. Besides if I run off who else will hold you down and remind you that you're no different from the rest of us ?" I ask raising my eyebrow. Before he tries to protest, I kiss his cheek and get up then leave to go check on the boys. These kids sure can sleep. Once I'm back in the room Henry is no longer in bed but he's in the bathroom and the shower is on.

"The kids are still sleep so we got a little bit of time. I'll shower after you and then we can start on breakfast." I say.

"Alright, Aaron should be getting up soon. He was rolling around like he normally does before he pops up." Henry calls from the bathroom. I look towards Aaron to find him staring at me.

"Hi bubs." I say cheerfully and go to pick him up.

"Called it." Henry says and then closes the bathroom door. I roll my eyes. I check and make sure Aaron is okay, pamper dry, he's not sweating and he's not freezing, I pick up his fingers and put them near his mouth to see if he's hungry and he immediately sticks his hands in his mouth and starts munching on them. Well he's hungry alright.

I go downstairs with Aaron in my arms and prepare him a nice warm bottle. Once I'm done I carry the bottle and Aaron upstairs. As I come in the room Henry is coming out the bathroom. I stop in my tracks and drop Aaron's baby bottle.

"Whoa Char. The nipple almost hit the floor. Be careful." Henry says as he picks up the bottle and goes into the bathroom to rinse it off. I watch him come out this time fully admiring his body. He's got on his boxers and jeans but that's it. No shirt at all. His chest is still a little damp and a water droplet runs down his chest every few seconds.

"Um Char, you okay ?" I get snapped out of my trance but instead of making a fool of myself I just nod my head and put Aaron in his makeshift bed and give him his bottle. I put the little support blanket under his arms so he can hold it up with no problem, he still struggles a little with it. I just immediately go into the bathroom and run the shower. I strip and stand in my underwear waiting for the water to finish heating up to the temperature I want. I hear a knock on the door.

" Hey, open the door for a quick sec." Henry says. I wrap a towel around myself and open the door a little but instead it gets swung all the way open. Luckily I jumped out the way but unluckily it caused my towel to fall. I turn to Henry ready to yell at him but he's in front of me and his lips are on mine.

He's kissing me and I waste no time in kissing him back. He sucks on my lip and nibbles at it causing me to let out a little humming sound in approval. His arms wrap around my waist but soon he grips my hips then brings his hands to the small of my back. I pull away to breathe a little but Henry isn't finished. He captures my lips in another kiss this time exploring my whole mouth and tasting every inch. Soon we're just making out in the middle of the bathroom, me in my underwear and him shirtless. This time he pulls away and resorts to leaving little kisses down my neck. He kisses back up to my lips and then kisses my forehead. He hugs me and then pecks my lips one last time. He looks down at me with the hugest grin. I smile pretty widely as well.

"Sorry, I just felt like we were waiting too long to do that." He said out of breathless. I shook my head and pecked his lips again.

"Don't be, that was perfect. Now I gotta shower, see you in a bit. Okay ?" I ask and he nods then kisses my forehead slowly. He waves bye and closes the bathroom door.

Ha, "I don't want to date" my ass. That boy is hooked up on me and I'm way past hooked up on him.

•■•♤•££•♤¥•◇•♤¡•¥~♤€•♤•£》\¡○£~¥~¡■£~~¡ Teehee Author's Note Time
So I just wanted to know if there's anything that you guys want to see in this book like any family situations or scenes you want to see. This is sort of like a requests application I suppose. You can tell me what you want & I'll try to incorporate it into the next 4-5 chapters. This book ain't over yet but I just wanted to give you guys a chance to be part of the creative process. So let me know what you want to see ( like more scenes with Chloe and Jasper, or a scene where Char & Chloe leave the boys with the kids or whatever ) and I'll work it in as best as possible. Other than that THANKS A BUTT-TON & LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK LOVES ❤❤❤❤