Demi

We managed to keep the secret of Emily under wraps for a while. My publicist, Shealyn, had prohibited anyone from asking me about her. I did a day full of press, ending with a buzzfeed video where I played with puppies. Once I wrapped the interview, Emily shyly came out and sat on the side, smiling and giggling when the puppies ran towards her. I watched with a soft smile and Kelsey knelt down, handing me a bottle of water.

"Finally warming up, ice queen?"

I sighed and sipped from the bottle. "I'll admit, she's cute. So are the puppies, but you don't see me asking for one."

"You could though." Kelsey gasped and looked at me. "You could get her a puppy!"

"Kelsey!" I stared at her and shook my head. "That's crazy."

"It could help... Look at her."

I looked back over at Emily and sighed when I saw her looking carefree for the first time since I met her as the puppies jumped on her. One of them in particular, a little german shepherd, with floppy ears. The dog was laying on Emily's lap as she scratched his stomach, but her eyes were lit up, smiling widely down at it and cooing softly.

"Fine." I sighed. "Go see if we can adopt the one that's on her lap."

Kelsey grinned at me and walked up to one of the people who had brought the puppies. She gave me a thumbs up, and I walked over to Emily, sitting down next to her.

"Do you like that one?" Emily nodded shyly, looking up at me quickly before her eyes went down to the puppy again. I reached over and pet it's head, then put my hand on Emily's back. "Do you want to take him home?"

Emily's eyebrows shot up to her hairline and her eyes got as big as saucers. "What?"

"Do you want to take him home? Do you want to keep him?"

"Really?" She whispered, staring at me in shock. "Really, really?"

"Really." I smiled. "Do you want a puppy?"

Emily nodded her head an awestruck smile spreading across her cheeks, as she softly stroked the dogs ear. "Puppy." She murmured, almost to herself.

I looked at Kelsey and smiled. "We'll stop at Petco to get all the stuff we need. Make a list." Then I leaned down to Emily. "What do you want to name him?"

She bit her lip, then shrugged, looking up at me. "I don't know."

I looked down at the brown dog, and tilted my head. "How about... Sam?"

"Sam." She repeated, and softly stroked the dog's head again before looking up at me with a smile. "Sam."

"Sam it is. Come on... Let's go, bring Sam."

I helped her stand up, and the puppy settled comfortably in her arms.

"Demi? We just need to have you sign some papers?"

"Of course." I walked over and signed where Katie, the puppy-handler, pointed me. "Normally we'd do a home visit to make sure the dog is going to a good home, but..." She smiled at Emily. "I trust you."

"Thank you." I finished signing and put down the pen. "Ready Emily?"

She nodded and we walked out of the building to the black escalade that was running. Max, my longtime security guard was waiting, along with Scott, the intern-of-sorts who was going to take Max's place when he got in the swing of things. I would miss Max, but he wanted to spend more time with his family.

"Hey boss." He greeted me, and smiled at Emily. Kids were always his weakness in bringing down his tough interior. "Look at that! Another thing to protect!"

Emily had warmed up amazingly fast to Max, after I had explained his literal purpose was to protect anyone from hurting her. She even allowed him to carry her, something she had ran away from Kelsey for.

We got in the car and stopped  at the pet store on the way home, grabbing a collar with SAM printed on it with Kelsey's phone number, dog food, a bed, and house-training stuff. When I walked out of the store, Emily was smiling from ear to ear, cradling the puppy in her arms like it was made of gold.

When we got home Wilmer was making dinner, he turned around as we walked in the kitchen, and his eyes zeroed in on the puppy in Emily's arms.

"Who is this?" He asked, kneeling down. Emily put the puppy on the ground and it ran over to Wilmer, jumping up on his leg and trying to lick his face. "We got a puppy?"

"Yup." I smiled at Emily. "His name is Sam."

Wilmer patted the dog, then stood up, glancing at Kelsey. "Demi can I talk to you?"

I nodded and followed him out of the room, rolling my eyes when he went into the bedroom, out of earshot from everyone else.

"You didn't even bother to check with me on this?"

I raised one eyebrow at him. "I'm sorry, I thought we weren't talking."

"This is a big decision." He took a step towards me. "We're going to have that dog for the next ten years! I thought your plan was to have Emily for the next three months."

"So we'll have a dog! Don't try and tell me that this is a bad idea, you should've seen her with that dog Wilmer, she was actually smiling for the first time since I've even met her. We proved it today how busy we are, it would be good for her to have a friend."

"So we hire a nanny! We don't get a dog that's small now but about to become giant! Jesus, Demi, this is a decision you should've talked to me about! I know you're not exactly big on that lately, but it would be nice to be clued in once in a while!"

I shook my head. "I'm not going to apologize for something I thought was a good decision-"

"You thought! That's the point! It's not like you're great with decisions!"

"Okay, Wilmer." I put my hand on the doorknob. "You're making this about the fight we had, not the dog. We're having a discussion about whether or not getting Emily a puppy is a bad idea. Clearly we have differing opinions on that but I'm not going to stand here and have you yell at me like this. You want to hash this out, we'll do it tonight. Right now, we have other things to think about."

~*~

Wilmer and I were still fighting by the time we got in bed. We barely spoke or looked at each other as we went through our nightly routines and got dressed. I was sitting bed reading a book with my glasses on and my hair up in a messy bun when Wilmer walked into the bedroom. He shut the light off, leaving me in almost complete darkness.

"Excuse me." I looked up at his dark form. "I was reading."

He came to my side of the bed, taking my book and tossing it to the floor. Then his lips came against mine hard, taking me by surprise as he kissed me deeply. My hands came up to his face, kissing back with just as much passion. Wilmer broke the kiss for a moment and I pulled my glasses off, throwing them carelessly onto my nightstand before greedily bringing his lips back to mine. Wilmer climbed onto the bed, making me laugh as he pulled me down the bed by my thighs. He leaned down to kiss me one more time, then leaned his forehead against mine.

"I'm sorry for being an ass."

I sighed and kissed him softly. "I'm sorry for being a bitch."

"Truce?" He chuckled, holding up his hand with his pinky up.

I hooked his finger with mine and smiled. "Truce."

~*~

When I woke up the next morning Wilmer's arm was slung around my waist, his breath washing over my neck as he snored softly in my ear. I sighed happily and snuggled back into his chest, promptly waking him up.

"Good morning." He mumbled, his lips pressing right behind my ear.

"Morning." I whispered, and rolled onto my back, my hear resting on his bicep as I smiled at him. "So what brought on your change of heart?"

Wilmer chuckled and ran his and over my hair. "I walked by Emily's room. She was sleeping... cuddled up with the dog. You were right, I haven't even seen her that happy. I would've done the same thing."

I smiled and pulled his lips down to mine, enjoying the feeling of his lips on mine. "I've missed this." I murmured, running my hands down his neck and shoulders. "I've missed you... Twenty four hours of fighting is exhausting."

He leaned his forehead against mine. "My sentiments exactly."

I kissed him again, my fingers knotting in his hair as I arched my back press against his body. Last night we had rolled around underneath the sheets for what felt like hours, but it still wasn't enough. I always wanted him, in every way, shape, and form.

"Emily is probably up." He murmured against my kiss. "Baby we shouldn't."

I sighed loudly and pulled away to look at him. "This is going to be harder than I thought."

He placed three kisses up my jawline and rested his head in the crook of my neck. "You know... you're very sexy when you're mad at me."

I smiled and held his head as he softly kissed my skin. "You infuriate me."

Wilmer laughed and raised his head. "Anytime."

I hit his shoulder and sat up, holding the sheets to my chest. "So are we really going to do this?"

He sat up with me, his fingertips trailing slowly up my bare back, tracing my spine. "Do what?"

I looked over at him, resting my cheek on my knee. "Parent? I mean, how do we even do that?"

Wilmer sighed and kissed my temple. "I don't know... Take it one day at a time I guess. Does this mean you've made up your mind about the three-month thing?"

"No." I bit my lip as his face fell. "But that doesn't mean I'm not getting closer to making that decision." I sighed and reached for his hand, bringing it up and holding his palm against my cheek. "I just don't want you to hate me if I make a decision that you don't agree with."

"I wouldn't hate you." He stroked my cheek with his thumb. "I can't say I wouldn't be disappointed, but I wouldn't hate you. We'd get through it."

"But for you to be angry with me at all-"

"I didn't say I would be angry either." He interrupted, giving me a look. "I said I would be disappointed, but I would understand. That understanding is why we'd get through it."

I bit my lip and closed my eyes. "I want to make the right decision, but it's hard. I just wish you could see it from my point of view."

"I know you'll make the decision that you need to make. The decision that you think is the right one. That's all I ask of you, Demi."

"I love you." I murmured, and reached out to grip the back of his neck, pulling myself up and over onto his lap, my hands sliding up his neck to hold his face. I placed soft kisses on his jawline and up to his lips, pausing just before our mouths touched. "Tell me you love me."

"I love you." He answered back looking up at me with his dark eyes. "I love you more than anything, Demi."

~*~

I had a day of interviews, since I was beginning my promotional tour of my new album, so Wilmer worked from home to watch Emily. When I walked in the door after a long day, I was slightly disappointed when I didn't smell dinner cooking.

"Babe?" I called out, texting Kelsey asking her to drop off takeout.

I walked into the living room and stopped, a smile making it's way onto my lips. In front of me, Wilmer was lying on the recliner with his head tilted back, mouth open slightly. Emily was lying on his chest, her face in the exact same expression. Sam was snuggled above Wilmer's shoulder, his body curled into the crook of his neck. All of them were dead asleep. I lifted my phone and took a few pictures, then walked over to Wilmer, running my hand through his hair before I kissed him awake.

"Hey." He said, his voice full of sleep as he blinked his eyes open, his hand coming up to hold Sam's body as he turned his head to look at me.

"Hi sleepyhead." I murmured, and kissed him again. "So I come home after slaving all day and I find you asleep on the couch?"

Wilmer smiled and closed his eyes. "Such a bad husband."

"Terrible." I grinned, and kissed him one more time. "I'm having Kelsey drop off some takeout."

"Good." He mumbled. "Food."

"Food." I agreed, then looked down at Emily. "How did that happen?"

"We were watching a movie." He murmured. "She got scared, then we both fell asleep before it ended."

Just then, Emily lifted her head and looked up at me blearily.

"Hi sweetie." I said softly, crouching down. "Did you have a good nap?"

She nodded, automatically curling up back into Wilmer before her eyes widened and she leaned away. "Sorry."

"It's okay." He put his hand on her back. "You're allowed to do that, Emily."

She smiled shyly and looked down at the chair, not liking being the center of attention.

"Alright. Wait here for the food, give Kelsey the normal, I'll take Emily upstairs... You need a bath."

"We already did that." She said, tilting her head up at me.

"Yeah, two days ago. You need another one."

She shook her head. "Not until seven counts."

"Seven counts?" I repeated. "What's seven counts?"

"Daddy said the water all dries up. I can bath when I get to seven counts." Emily explained slowly, looking confused as to why this wasn't normal.

"Do you mean seven days?" Wilmer asked, his hand squeezing mine. "Seven days and you can take a bath? Seven sun ups and sun downs?"

Emily nodded, and this time it was my turn to squeeze Wilmer's hand tightly. His thumb ran across the back of my palm and he forced a smile.

"Well... here you can do it whenever you want. Anytime you need to or want to, you can."

"Really?" She asked, her eyes lighting up with nearly as much as when she found out she could keep Sam.

"Really." I smiled. "Let's go take one right now."

Emily got up off Wilmer's lap and Sam jumped up, scampering down Wilmer's body to the floor as he followed her out of the room.

I smiled at Wilmer and slowly climbed onto the chair, my knees settling on either side of him. Wilmer's hands skimmed up my thighs and settled on my hips, a content sigh leaving his lips as I rubbed my hand through his hair.

"I missed you today." I murmured, tracing his eyebrow.

"I missed you too." He said softly, his hands rubbing up and down my sides. Then he slid his hands around my waist and pulled me close. "How was your day?"

"It's starting to look up." I teased, kissing him softly. "How was yours?"

"Very relaxing." Wilmer chuckled. "I spent the day wrangling a four year old and a puppy."

"What a hard life." I giggled and kissed him one more time. "I love you."

"I love you too."

Sam barking made me look up and I caught a glimpse of Emily over Wilmer's shoulder before she bolted back towards the stairs.

"Someone's eavesdropping." I murmured, running my hand through his hair. "She's probably never seen this... Two people who love each other."

"Probably not." He checked over his shoulder. "Jesus though, a bath every seven days?"

"I know." I closed my eyes. "I'm trying not to think about it."

"Did he ever..."

"Do that to me?" Wilmer nodded and I shook my head, running the pad of my thumb over his lower lip. "No. My mom worked enough to be able to keep the water running."

"I want to kill him." He sighed, and I saw the same anger in his eyes that was there the first time I told him about my father. "I hate him for what he did to you... both of you."

"I hate him too." I murmured. "It's hard to say, but after seeing that it's only gotten worse... I hate him, not for me but for her."

Wilmer kissed my forehead and pulled me into a hug, resting his chin on top of my head. "I love you Demi."

"I love you too."

After Wilmer and I untangled ourselves and got off the couch, I went upstairs to give Emily a bath, trying to ignore the various scars and bruises that littered her back. Once I helped her get dressed, we sat on the bed as I brushed out her hair and braided it.

"Demi?" She asked, in such a small voice I almost didn't hear it.

"What is it, sweetheart?"

"When do I have to go back?"

I stopped brushing her hair for a moment. "What do you mean?"

She turned around to look at me. "When do I have to go back to daddy?"

I shook my head and swallowed hard. "You don't ever have to go back to him."

"I never want to go back." She whispered. "I want to stay here."

"Then you can stay here." I smiled softly. "You can stay here as long as you want."

Emily smiled and I pulled her into a hug, keeping my hand on the back of her head, as we sat there for a few moments. Deep down I had made my decision about keeping Emily with us a long time ago. I felt such a strong instinct to protect this little girl that the thought of her going anywhere but here made me feel sick to my stomach. Thinking of her being back in the monstrous clutches of my father made me want to scream.

And so I silently vowed to myself and this little girl that I'd protect her from whatever the world wanted to throw at us.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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-Rachel