I didn't really know I wanted to have sex with Dres until that moment. I mean, in theory I always wanted to, since the moment I met him. But now that I've said it, I realize just how ready I am. There aren't any nerves, just excitement. This is right. Unless...unless, of course, Dres doesn't want to, in which case it's definitely not the right move.

     Uhm, there's a possibility Dres may not want to. His eyes have gone wide, and he opens his mouth to respond, but there's no time. We're interrupted by Amelia, who skates over with Sofia in tow. "Someone's getting tired," she says lowly, not immediately noticing the tension between Dres and I. I try to ignore the fact my whole body feels like it's on fire.

     Maybe this wasn't the most opportune moment to broach the topic of sex, but I physically couldn't hold that in any longer.

     I tear my gaze from Dres's, saying too anxiously, "Right, okay, yeah. It's late, anyway. We should get going."

     "I'll get Maddox," Dres says.

     Amelia raises both her eyebrows at me, spares a glance at me and Dres's retreating form, before commenting, "Why do I feel like I interrupted something?"

     "Uhm, well, you know, uhm, sometimes we just read situations wrong. So you're probably just doing that." Cheers to the smoothest response I've ever given.

     I step off the ice and make a beeline for our table. "Yeah, okay, so that sounds like a load of you know what."

     Sofia goes, "You know what what?"

     "A load of marshmallows," I say quickly. "Which is how I prefer to take my hot chocolate. You like loads of marshmallows, too, don't you Sof?"

      She nods her head vigorously. Amelia gives me a look like she's not letting it go. I choose to ignore her, sitting down and undoing the laces on my skates.

     I'm putting my shoes on once Dres and Maddox get off of the ice. Dres leads him over to the bench and crouches down so he can undo his skates. I catch myself staring and look away before he catches me, too.

     Amelia has gotten Sofia's shoes back on and Sofia's leaning against the table, dozing off. "Come here, Sof," I say giving her a nudge before I lift her into my arms. She snakes her arms around my neck, tucking her head into the shoulder of my coat. Dres looks over at me, but doesn't say anything.

     We wait for Maddox to tie his boots. He insists on tying them without any help so it's a longer process than is necessary. I wrestle the keys out of my coat pocket as we're walking to the car, and unlock the doors. Dres grabs the door for me and says, "You got her?"

     "Yeah," I say quickly, flushing for no reason at all except, you know, the exact reason I'm flushing (which is because I am an idiot.) I set Sofia in her car seat, buckle her up, and when Maddox comes in through the other side and gets into his car seat, I buckle him in, too.

     When I close the door, Dres is still standing behind me. We've got to drop Amelia off at home, not Dres's home but Dolores's, which I guess is just home for Amelia. So I hold my keys out to him. "You wanna' drive? Since you know how to get to Dolores's and all."

     Dres furrows his brows like me asking him to drive means more than it does. Like the question is actually code for 'I've made things awkward because I suggested we have sex tonight.' It isn't code for anything, so I don't wait for him, getting into the passenger seat.

     Dres takes a moment, like he's still decoding that statement, before he walks around the car and gets in. The ride to Dolores's is a quiet one. Maddox and Sofia both are asleep by the time we get there.

     "Thanks, Cas," Amelia whispers touching my arm. I jump, before turning to look at her. "I had fun. It was nice to finally meet you. I'm sure I'll see you soon."

     "Good bye," Dres says over her. Amelia glares at him, and then smiles at me before she gets out. Dres waits, watching her go inside. His expression's kind of sour. "She's going on a date with that guy tonight," he mumbles.

     "That guy as in her boyfriend?" I say with a laugh.

     "Actually, they aren't calling each other anything," he says sounding hopeful. I refrain from telling him that probably means their relationship is casual, as in casually hooking up.

     The rest of the ride we stay quiet. I keep thinking of things to say but it's not the thing I want to say so I decide not to say anything at all.

     Everyone's back by the time we get home. Maddox wakes up enough to walk inside with Dres leading him but I carry Sofia in, taking her upstairs so she can go to sleep. When I get to the top of the stairs, she stirs, saying, "Wait, wait."

     "You're gonna lay down in my bed, okay?" I say continuing my path to my room.

     She shakes her head, strands of silky hair whipping along my face. "I'm not tired anymore."

     I set her down on the ground slowly as she squirms out of my grip. "Are you sure? You can take a quick nap."

    "Noooo," she cries before taking off down the stairs. I stare at her retreating form jealous of the toddler's ability to rally. Honestly, if she's not going to take a nap, I certainly will.

     When I head back downstairs, Dres and the kids are in the living room and they're practicing karate. Dres turns and grins at me before he lets them tackle him to the ground.

     "Oh watch out, Dres, you're about to get your butt handed to you." I curl up into an armchair, tucking my feet under me. I'm still cold from being at the rink and outside.

     From his spot under both Sofia and Maddox, he says, "Where's Olivia?"

     I frown, still not used to him being on a first name basis with my mom. "She's upstairs getting ready," I tell him as Maddox chops at his chest and Sofia sits on his legs. "They're going to dinner."

     I reach for the remote on the coffee table as Maddox says, "You have to surrender, Dres."

     "Surrender?" Dres says playfully. "Never!" Underneath the two of them, he locks eyes with me and asks, "They?"

     "Yeah, I told her I'd take Lily, so they wouldn't have to come back early. So they're leaving the kids behind."

     Maddox sits up and then drops back down on Dres's chest. Dres groans like he just got the wind knocked out of him. I can't tell if he's pretending or not.

     "And since I'm in charge everyone's taking baths and going to bed in one hour," I say loudly to get their attention. Sofia and Maddox react the way I expect, with cries of dissent. "But I'll change my mind if you can find a seat thats not Dres in 5, 4, 3 — oh, look at that, I guess no one's going to bed early."

     Maddox has sprawled across the couch and Sofia's sitting on his back, which is better than them sitting on Dres, I guess.

     Dres sits up. "So what are we doing for dinner?"

     I raise both my eyebrows. "We?"

     Sofia shouts, "Pizza."

     "Not uh, not when Auntie Liv has a fridge full of leftovers," Aunt Suki says as she walks into the living room. Sofia jumps from the couch and rushes into Uncle Dan's arms who's standing behind Aunt Suki.

     Uncle Dan lifts Sofia into the air as he asks about our day. Sofia and Maddox recant the day animatedly to their parents. I catch Dres's gaze and don't look away the whole time. We light a fire between our eyes.

     About an hour later, everyone's finally ready to leave for dinner. They've crowded at the door grabbing their coats, barking orders left and right, like I've never watched the kids before and didn't have them with me all day.

     Mom's the last one out. She frowns slightly as she glances between Dres and I, before saying, "I feel like I've stuck you on kid duty all day."

     I shrug. "Well, you kinda did." Dres shoots me a look. I add, forgivingly, "I don't mind, though. Don't worry about it."

      "Yeah, but this is your break." She sighs. "We won't be gone all night. Maybe you both can catch a late movie?"

     "It's fine," I start to say because I'm wiped out. I'm positive I'd fall asleep if I went to the movies and while I've got no qualms about using Dres as a pillow, it'd be sort of a waste of time for him.

     I barely get the words out, though, because Dres says over me, "Yeah, that's a good idea."
I glance at him questioningly, but decide to go with it. 

     "Go, mom. Have a good time."

     "Okay, okay," she says holding up her hands, placatingly. I close and lock the door behind her, maybe spend a few seconds longer than I need to doing so, before I turn and face Dres, unsurely.

     "You're trying to see a movie tonight?" I ask, confused. I wonder if we're just going to ignore the fact I propositioned him with sex tonight. I don't really know when I expected us to do it. A quickie in his car before he left for the night? Not exactly romantic, Cas.

     Dres is saying, "Well, I thought that." He doesn't get to finish. Sofia walks in, interrupting him. She's still pretty groggy. I probably should've enforced the nap but at least she'll fall asleep early tonight.

     "Cas, I'm hungry," she whines, rubbing at her eyes.

     "Ok, yeah, let's heat up dinner," I respond, ushering Sofia down the entryway towards the kitchen. I say to Dres, "Do you wanna' take them into the kitchen and make them plates and I'll grab Lily? Or you can get Lily and I'll plate." I add teasingly, "I know you've got a soft spot for the baby."

     Dres shrugs like he's not going to deny this newly discovered soft spot but turns towards the kitchen as he says, "I'll do dinner. You get Lily."

     We divide and conquer and dinner goes as smoothly as it can when the ratio of children to adults is three to two.

     Afterwards, we crowd onto the couch to watch TV but by seven, all three kids are falling asleep. Dres takes Lily to put her down and I take Sofia and Maddox upstairs so they can get washed up. Once they're both in bed, I set the timer on the television in my room for a half hour and say good night.