"Justin?" I threw my keys on the counter not even having any energy to lift my arm up to put them on my designated key hook, and kicked my shoes off at the door. I could hear the TV in the living room, the same people I hear everyday coming from ESPN while I walked to the refrigerator and grabbed myself a bottle of water, but there was no response from him. "J?" I yelled a little louder but still got nothing in return. Finding it a bit strange I closed the freezer door placing frozen chicken in the sink to defrost for dinner tomorrow and walked a little bit faster then normal into the living room. I stopped in my tracks at the doorway taking in the scene in front of me. Ava was passed out in her playpen, her right hand under her head, and her left arm holding on tightly to the stuffed guitar Justin won her at the fair last week. And Justin...Justin was sprawled out on the couch, one leg hanging off the side of it, the other hanging off the back of it. The TV remote was sitting on his chest and his head was half on the pillow, half hanging off the side of the couch. I took my phone out of my back pocket and snapped a picture for future blackmail before making my way over to the playpen to scoop up my niece and bring her to her room.

Trace was in New York on business and Justin got the bright idea to volunteer our godparent skills and offered to baby-sit for five days because he had a week off before he had to start doing promo for his next movie, and I wasn't traveling this week. Even though he didn't say he offered to prove to me that we should have kids at some point in our life, I know that was one of his reasons as well. After I explained to him it would be a bad idea since I had a lot to do in the office and this would be his only break for a really long time he still threw it out there, and 48 hours later he's dead to the world on the couch at 9:30 at night. I turned the TV off and sat of the edge of the couch leaning down to kiss his forehead. After a couple of seconds his eyes rolled open and his hand came up to rub the sleep out of his eyes. "Let's go to bed," I said with a smile as the biggest yawn of the century came out of his mouth.

"I'm up, I'm up," but in reality his eyes were closed as he brought his arm up to rub my back. "What time is it?"

"Early enough for it to not be time for bed for anyone that hasn't taken care of an almost one year old all day today."

"Did you just get home?"

"I did...Come on, bed," I stood up pulling on his arm realizing that I should probably hit the gym because it was extremely difficult for me to pull 180 pounds of dead weight. He let me struggle for a while before finally giving in and following me up the steps.

We made it to the landing of the second floor before he poked at my sides causing me to jump with my hand on my heart and turn around to give him a nasty glance. "Come here," he growled pulling the bottom of my shirt closer to him. I wrapped my arms around his torso resting my head on his chest and he placed a kiss on the top of my head. "Happy birthday..."

"I don't do--"

"I know I know you don't do birthdays. I'm not making it a big deal I'm just saying happy birthday. Since it is kind of a big one..."

"Are you calling me old?"

"I am calling you 30 and beautiful."

"30 sounds so old," I said scrunching my nose up at the sound of my new age.

"You calling me old Logan?"

"I absolutely am." I turned around with a smirk on my face practically sprinting to the bedroom knowing that he was going to attack me. I jumped on the bed getting under the covers as fast as I could putting my face in the pillow when I heard the door click closed and he jumped on top of me. But instead of tickling me like he normally would he nuzzled his nose in my neck kissing it softly before giving me a back rub. "Is this a birthday back rub?"

"What?" he asked shocked I would even say that, "It absolutely is not! You don't do birthdays."

"This is why I love you..."

***

I didn't sleep much last night because Justin had been sleeping for about three hours before I got home and I will never...ever say no to hours upon hours worth of birthday sex. Well...if I'm sticking to my own rule it was just sex but lets be honest, we never stay up all night and have sex unless it's one of our birthdays. Ava decided to wake up two hours before she normally does and like the man that he is Justin slept through the screaming so I was the one that was attempting to play with her for hours on end before he finally got his ass up so that I could come to the office. I've been here for what seems like days but when I managed to look up at the clock from where my cheek was flat up against the desk I realized I'd only been here for three hours and I have gotten absolutely nothing done. I seemingly smashed the red flashing button on my phone only to make the ringing stop so that I can get back to my much-needed nap, "Logan," I shouted groggily.

"Emily...you have to come home!" Julie was talking so fast I could barely understand a word she was saying.

"What? Why?"

"Ava--"

"What about Ava?" my head shot up and suddenly it was like I had just slept for days.

"Well she...she's crying and she won't stop."

I let out the breath I was holding in and put my hand over my heart to make sure it stopped racing.  "Really? She's a baby! And what are you doing at my house anyway? Where's Justin he's suppose to be watching her!"

"Justin? Oh he...he ummm...he had to go do something so he called me. She just...she's screaming and she won't stop, I need you to come home please?" 

"Julie...I am a business woman," I started pointing to myself like she could actually see me, "Ava is a child...children, they cry."

"I-I-It's pretty bad Em, and she keeps saying 'Meme Meme' and that's what she calls you. I think something's wrong and I don't know when Justin is going to be back, you know I don't do kids..."

"Well neither do I, but look at me! I don't even hear her..."

"She's in the other room. I couldn't take it anymore--"

"You left her in a room alone? Julie what the hell is wrong with you?"

"SEE!" she screamed, "I JUST NEED YOU TO COME HOME!"

"Alright already my goodness! Just make sure you don't kill her by the time I get there, and if Justin comes home before I do tell him he's in a shitload of trouble!" I hung up and proceeded to drag myself to the coat hook to grab my purse, pulling out my cell phone and speed dialing Justin's number.

I hit redial about 80 times; getting his voicemail each and every time I did so the entire way home. When I slammed the door to my car and I was about to get his voicemail again I was prepared to go off on his ass like Brooke went off on Jen on the Real World New Orleans all those years ago, but right as I opened my mouth to curse about getting his voicemail he answered. "Hey sexy lips!"

"Sexy lips really? Where the fuck did you go that you left the baby with Julie? Seriously Justin...you know she doesn't do kids and she's calling me to come home. I have work to do...WORK! Do you know what that is?" I was met with silence as I hit the button to the garage door watching it close and fumbling with my keys to open the door. "What do you have to say for yourself? You are the one that told Trace we'd watch her I said no from the start but you just had to go and--" My jaw, phone and purse all dropped when the door swung open and I saw Justin along with Julie and Trace and about 50 other people standing there.

"Surprise?" he asked with the biggest smirk on his face.

"What the fu--"

"BABY!" Trace yelled handing Ava to me and giving me a hug.

"What are you doing here? What is all this?"

"Happy day after your birthday sexy lips!" Trace backed away leaving me with his kid to make room for Mr. Sexy Lips himself to kiss me. "Don't kill me!"

"Oh you are so dead...You know I don't do--"

"Birthdays! We know," Julie cut in giving me a hug, "That's why this isn't a birthday party. It's a day after your 30th birthday celebration."

"If you think you're not dead too, you've got another thing coming! You really thought using the baby as an excuse was a good idea?"

"Trace told me to do it!"

I looked around and saw my whole family, all of my friends and co-workers and as much as I wanted to bash Justin, Julie and Trace off the head with a wooden baseball bat, I couldn't help but smile and feel very...very loved. Ava who was perched on my hip started clapping and screaming 'Meme Meme Meme' causing the whole room to break out into laughter and the tension that you could cut with a knife moments ago suddenly disappeared. She clung onto my neck as I made my way around the house saying hello to everyone and I stopped in my tracks when I saw Jake's parents standing in the back of the room. I haven't seen them since we left Tennessee but Cat and I have gotten into a routine of speaking to each other pretty much on a daily basis just to check in on her way to work every morning. The man that hit and killed Jake, Colin Westbrook, was sentenced to life in prison with a chance of parole in 25 years. None of us went to his sentencing and in a way that brought us all closer together. Every so often when I'm having a bad day, I'll type his name into a google search but I can never bring myself to actually hit the search button and look at a picture of him. I know it's for the best, but I can't help but sometimes be curious to see what this person actually looks like.

Before I could move to them, they made it over to me scooping me up in the tightest hug at the same time, "Happy non-birthday sweetheart," Cat cooed in my ear.

"Okay who do I have to kill for this? Trace or Julie?"

"Actually...Justin," I turned around following Michael's finger to see Justin standing behind me. Cat took Ava out of my arms laughing loudly at the small child that was speaking a language that no one could understand but her.

"You did this?"

"That depends on if you're going to kill me in my sleep or not," he smirked rubbing his hands up and down my arms.

Looking around the room again I sighed tugging on his shirt to pull him closer and kissed him, "I think I might let this one slide..."

"Well if that's the case then yes...I did this."

"Thank you," I said kissing him again. "Have I told you lately that I love you?"

"Have I told you there's no one else above you?"

"Okay Rod Stewart...Keep this up and I won't let it slide!"

"Love you," he replied in a singsong voice as he walked away, "Ease my troubles that's what you do!"

***

"EMSICLE!!"

"WHAT?" I screamed from the kitchen hoping my voice would reach up to Justin in the bedroom.

I heard the bedroom door open and listened as he padded to the top of the steps, "Bedroom...Now...Let's go!"

"Alright already, I'm almost done."

"No, no, no," he scolded making his way down the steps, "I told you not to clean up. The party was thrown for you to enjoy, not to clean up after."

"Okay, okay I'm done," I threw the sponge into the sink shrieking as I got thrown over his shoulder. Instead of fighting it like I normally do I hung there giving into my exhaustion as he carried me up the steps and threw me onto our bed. He began to undress me and I couldn't help but let out a chuckle watching him struggle with the hook to my bra. "Having some mechanical issues there Sparky?"

"Who designs these things? NASA Astronauts?" he asked giving up and throwing one of his t-shirts at me.

I put my hand on my heart and let my mouth fall into a shocked expression, "What? You throw my this huge birthday party and then no birthday sex?"

"Actually it was a day after your 30th birthday celebration, and no," he got under the covers and put his head on my chest. My hand instantly went to his bare back and began to lightly scratch it just the way he liked it. "You might be right about having kids..."

"Excuse me? Can you say that a little louder? Maybe write it down making sure to sign and date the bottom of the page?"

"Settle down killa! I said might be right. But after three days with Ava...You've proven to me that we should not have kids anytime soon."

"Maybe someday," I replied running my fingers through his curls, "When we're 50 and you're not across the country every other day, and I'm not so busy that I can't tell which way is up."

"We would make disgustingly good looking children," he said looking up at me.

"If only they don't come out with your nose," I replied sucking in a breath.

I expected him to attack, but instead he tilted his head to the side and nodded, "Good point." He put his head down on the pillow next to me, and I curled up on my side facing him as he put his arm around my waist holding onto the sheets behind me like he always does before kissing my nose. "Is your Mama going to be depressed when we tell her we don't want to get married?"

"I don't know maybe...once I explain it to her though she'll understand. She knows we're in it for the long haul and deep down inside she's wanted us together for just as long as your Mama has, so I don't think it'll matter to her whether there's a ring on my finger or not as long as we're happy."

"Are you happy?"

"Yeah," I replied leaning down to kiss his shoulder, "It took me a while to get here...Lots of twists and turns but I'm finally completely comfortable in who I am and happy with the way my life is."

"I guess I'm content," he laughed looking at me with his big beautiful blue eyes that get me every time even if I swear I'm going to be mad at him for at least 24 hours.

"Well you better get happy buddy because you're stuck with me forever."

"I wouldn't say I'm stuck with you forever...I'd say I'm choosing to be with you forever because you make me so happy and I've never been so sure of anything in my life."

"Nice recovery smart ass..."

"I love you Em."

"I love you too, and hey," I said after a few minutes when he was half awake and half asleep.

"Hm?"

"Thanks for saving my life."

"Don't be so dramatic..."

"No, I'm serious Justin. I wouldn't be here without you. I mean physically I would be, but mentally...I'd be off in space."

"With Butch?"

"Strong possibility that that statement would be the truth..."

"Now you're stuck with me forever."

"I wouldn't say that...I'd say I'm choosing to be with you forever because you make me so happy and I've--"

"Shut up," he cut me off hating when I mock him but laughing at the same time, "Shut up and kiss me," he rolled over and straddled me.

"Oh now you want to have birthday sex?" 

"Negative Shelly," he replied leaning down to place his lips on mine, "I want to have day after your birthday sex."

He looked at me questioning if I was going to comply with his request. I laughed wiggling out of his grasp a little so that I could be level with him, and I wrapped my arms around his neck placing small kisses on his chest, "What kind of person would I be if I said no to what I know would be mind blowing sex?"

"A person named Shelly with 3 cats and a rich grandma..." 

"Promise me you'll never let me be that girl..."

"Never have, and I never will."