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Chapter Seventeen

Warnings: None

Word Count: 1955

Author's Note: I hope you enjoy this chapter! :)

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Carter: Be there in about five minutes

You smiled as the text popped up on your phone. Despite the busy week that you and Carter both had, the two of you had finally found some free time for him to come over and visit while Tyler was out at his final meeting. This, of course, also meant that he was bringing your nephew along, not that you were complaining. You looked forward to any time that you spent with Max.

Now that you knew Carter was close, you got off the couch and started to straighten out a few things that you noticed were out of place, even though you knew it would be a mess again as soon as Max arrived. As much as you loved him, he did have a habit of throwing things around at the moment.

Carter arrived almost exactly five minutes after he had sent his text, carrying Max in one arm and a bag of things in the other. Max immediately lunged at you when you opened the door, throwing Carter off balance and nearly making him run into the door frame. You quickly scooped Max into your arms, which was a relief to Carter.

"Thank you, he's been high energy all morning. He woke Marenna and I up at six this morning to demand breakfast."

"Oh geez, how much sleep did you get then?" you asked as you closed the door behind him.

"Five hours, if that. I just couldn't fall asleep last night, I don't know what it was."

"It's been getting warm lately, I think. I've had some sleep troubles too."

Carter nodded, "That makes sense."

He set his bag down next to the couch and immediately fell back into the cushions. His eyes fluttered closed when he was comfortable, and for a moment you thought he was going to take a nap on the spot.

"Auntie," Max said, patting your shoulder to grab your attention. "Toys."

"You want to grab some toys from the closet?"

He nodded, so you carried him down the hallway towards the toy closet. Once you got close, he began to wiggle in your arms. You waited until the door was open before you set him down.

"What do you think, Max?"

This time, his first choice was a set of colorful building blocks. You grabbed them off the shelf and carried them back to the living room for him since they were a bit heavy for his little arms to handle. Carter was still sitting with his eyes closed, but his peace and quiet was quickly interrupted.

"Dadda!" Max said, running over and smacking his hands down on Carter's legs. His eyes shot open. "Toys!"

"Did Auntie Y/N get some toys for you?" he asked.

Max nodded proudly and grabbed Carter's hand, pulling him off the couch. Carter sighed and followed after him, taking a seat on the ground. You decided to join them.

"I haven't really had a chance to ask yet because of this little one," Carter said, ruffling Max's hair. Max playfully pushed his hand away. "How have you been?"

"It's been... a week, to say the least," you nodded. Because of Carter's busy schedule, you hadn't had a chance to talk to him about the huge fight you had with Tyler yet.

"Did something happen?"

"You could say that."

Carter looked at you, his eyebrows furrowed. You began to chew on your lower lip; thinking about the fight was still a sore spot for you, even if things had gotten better. Still, you knew Carter would provide some reassurance about the entire situation.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"You always know," you laughed. "But it can wait, I want to hear more about you."

Carter reached out and helped Max put another block on top of the tower, which made him smile.

"What is there to say? I've just been working and taking care of this little dude."

"Oh, come on. There must be something exciting going on with you lately."

"Well, there has been talk of me getting a promotion sometime soon. The pay raise would be really helpful, plus my hours would be a little more flexible than they are now."

"Car!" you said. "That's great! You deserve a promotion."

"Thanks, Y/N," he smiled.

"Maybe you'll get some more days off so we can actually see one another on a regular basis when I'm home. It's so hard to coordinate now."

"I know, I wish we could make it over here more often. The drive is just so long."

Max placed one more block on top of his tower before shoving it over, laughing as it toppled onto the ground. You and Carter helped him collect the pieces so that he could start all over again.

"I know, sometimes I wish we still lived in the middle of the city, but it's hard now that Tyler is getting more recognizable. And he really likes being out here by the woods; it helps him write, I think."

"I understand," Carter nodded. "Speaking of him, how has he been? I don't think I've seen him since the wedding."

"He's doing ok. The stress of figuring the tour out was really getting to him for awhile, but I think it's finally starting to wind down again now that everything is kicking off soon. He finished up the last bit of paperwork last night and now they're pretty much good to go, aside from rehearsals."

"That's good, I'm glad. I know he works really hard to make his shows the best that they can be, which always pays off, but it's nice to hear he's taking care of himself too. I can guarantee you're making sure of it."

"I always am," you laughed as Carter gave you a playful punch in the shoulder.

"Auntie!" Max said, throwing his hands into the air. "Look!"

You looked at the small tower that Max had created, which was just a tiny bit shorter than him. He smiled as you looked it over, making sure to exaggerate your nods.

"This looks very nice, Max. I think you did a wonderful job."

Max turned to Carter with an excited expression on his face, which made you smile. Shortly after, he knocked over his tower yet again. Carter shook his head as he collected all the blocks.

"You know, Mom said that Max acts just like you did as a child."

"Actually, I'm pretty sure she said I was worse," he laughed.

"I'm sure you were."

After some more time playing with blocks and catching one another up on your lives over the last week, the three of you decided it was about time that you made yourselves some lunch. You and Carter started to talk about some places you could order from, until Max chimed in insisting that he wanted chicken nuggets. Carter seemed to also be on board with the idea, so you started up the oven and laid out some chicken nuggets on a baking sheet.

"Alright, I want to hear more about this week you had," Carter said as he sat down on a stool. Max was in his arms, happily playing with a block.

"Do you really?" you asked as you grabbed some drinks from the fridge.

"Of course I do. Just because I don't see you every day doesn't mean that I care about you any less than I did before."

You smiled as you popped open your soda, but it quickly faded again.

"Ok, well, do you remember how I was talking to you and Marenna about Tyler being gone all the time?"

"Yeah."

"So, I brought it up with him the other night after he got home, but the problem is that I didn't do it very... tactfully and it ended up leading to this huge fight and we barely talked for the rest of the night."

"Y/N..." Carter frowned.

"That's why I didn't answer your call that night, I was too busy crying in bed," you laughed quietly, hoping it would lighten the mood. "We ended up working it out the next morning and we've both been making more effort with one another. Tyler brought me flowers and food the other night and made sure not to work too late, but while he was working I stood with him and helped him pick stuff out."

"You're creating a more equal balance."

"Exactly. I feel a lot better already, and now we're just focusing on getting everything ready for tour. Tomorrow is the big packing day."

"Your favorite," Carter laughed.

"It just takes so long! It's like packing for a nice vacation except the vacation is three months and you also have to bring your entire life with you."

"Are you really going to be gone for three months?"

"Yeah, but we'll still be in the US so communication won't, or at least shouldn't, be a big deal. I'm going to miss you guys."

"We're going to miss you too. Columbus isn't quite the same without you."

"Aww, Car," you smiled. "I didn't know you were capable of being nice."

"Hey!" he laughed. "I'm nice to you all the time."

"Sure you are."

The oven started to beep, interrupting your back and forth. You grabbed an oven mitt from the drawer and carefully pulled out the tray of perfectly golden brown nuggets. With a smile, you turned around to show Carter.

"See? That's how you make nuggets."

"I burned them one time! One! And you'll never let me live it down."

"They were crispy and black! Do you know how hard that is to do?"

"I don't think I'm the one that's incapable of being nice," he said.

"I can keep these chicken nuggets to myself, if you want."

"Nuggets!" Max frowned.

"Ok, I can keep these chicken nuggets for myself and Max, if you want," you repeated.

"You're proving my point, Y/N."

"Alright, fine, chicken nuggets for everyone," you said, piling all of them onto a plate.

"Juice!" Max demanded.

"You want some juice?" Carter asked.

"Juice," Max repeated, calmer this time.

Carter adjusted Max in his arms and then stood up to grab a juice from the other room. You leaned against the counter, grabbing a chicken nugget for yourself. It had been awhile since the last time you had chicken nuggets, although you knew you would start to again once you were on tour. It was one of the easier things to make on the bus.

"We've got the juice," Carter sighed as he walked back into the room. In his arms, Max was happily sipping on a juice box.

"I swear I've never seen a kid consume so much juice," you said. "He has like three or four of those a day."

"We're constantly buying it. Marenna told me that one time one of the employees commented on her coming in twice in the same week to buy more juice and she had to explain to him that our kid just doesn't stop drinking it."

"There are worse things that he could be drinking."

"You're right."

"Nuggie!" Max smiled.

Carter reached out and grabbed a nugget for Max. He took a huge chomp out of it, dramatic sound effects included, and smiled.

"Thanks for taking the time to come out here today, Car," you said. "It was much needed."

"I'm always going to be here for you, Y/N, even when you're thousands of miles away."

"Really?"

He smiled at you, "Really."

A smile overtook your face as you took a sip of your drink. For the first time in awhile, you finally felt like things were coming together.

And you couldn't be happier about it.

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