The sound of the bed squeaking from movement jolts me to the land of the living. Blake's lips meet the side of my neck softly in a smooth seductive manner, which instantly has me reeling for more.

He wraps his arm around my waist and squeezes the material of my shirt. I shuffle my body back, which earns me a deep laugh which rumbles through his warm chest.

The tip of his tongue touches the skin of my neck lightly. When I attempt to squirm out of his hold, Blake licks down my neck and blows cool air on the skin. A cold shiver crawls down my spine from the chill, which makes me alert and awake.

"Go away, Blake," I mumble as I push his body away from mine.

"Ava baby, we have to get up, it's late," he says.

Cracking an eye open, I reach out for my phone and see the time. Seven in the morning flashes on the screen. Late? This isn't late. This is way too early for someone to be awake let alone to be considered sleeping in.

I throw the phone over my shoulder and smile when I hear the device hit his shoulder. I snuggle into my pillow and go back to thinking about sleep and the weird dream I was having about cats . . . but my idea of sleeping doesn't last very long, seconds actually.

Blake's hand grips the side of my hip as he shakes me back and forth. I feel like a ragdoll being shaken by a small child, which makes me annoyed. To add, the sound of his laughter makes me even more annoyed. I can't believe he finds this funny.

"Come on, baby. It's time to get up."

"No, it's sleep time," I insist. "Please leave me alone." I try to shake off his hand, but Blake's persistent in the matter.

"Can you cuddle me then?" inquires Blake.

"Ugh, why are you being so demanding?" I grumble.

"Because I've missed you," he instantly replies.

"Fine, I'll give you cuddles." I abandon the warm comfortable material of my pillow to roll over and cuddle Blake. Sometimes it's a bit hard to fall asleep on his chest because he ends up fidgeting around, but if I'm tired enough, I'm out like a light.

As I curl up into his body, Blake wraps his arms around me. He shuffles around and eventually gets comfortable, thankfully. Blake lightly rubs my back and then suddenly stops. I look up to see the smile dropping off his face miraculously.

"What's wrong?" I ask.

"I just remembered you're supposed to go to the support group today," he says.

"Oh really, that thing." I laugh nervously. "I can always do it another time. I should spend time with you," I reply.

Despite my poor efforts of avoiding the subject, Blake presses on the matter. While I think the group is great . . . standing around and talking to a bunch of strangers is scary. I don't know them from a bar of soap! I don't want to go by myself because I'm afraid.

"No, baby, I promised, so I'm taking you." Blake sits up which results to me flopping onto my back like a starfish. He gets out of bed and walks around to the drawers to start getting ready. When I don't follow in pursuit, he looks over his shoulder and frowns at me.

"Why aren't you out of bed?" he asks.

"Because I thought we'd spend the day in bed?" I smile innocently, slightly hoping he'll just run and jump back in.

"Oh really?" Blake stalks towards the bed, lust filling his green eyes.

He grabs my ankles and roughly yanks me towards the end of the bed. The sudden movement sends sparks of excitement vibrating through me. Blake leans above and slowly leans in to rubs his lips against mine. He slightly jerks back to prevent me from kissing him.

With a mischievous grin plastered on his face, Blake leans in a second time and rubs his nose against mine softly.

"Ava, Ava, Ava," he whispers, my name almost a moan coming from his parted lips. "What am I going to do with you?" I place my hands on his face to force his lips against mine. When they meet, it's like an explosion of passion between us. My stomach flips with excitement as I attempt to draw him closer.

Blake kisses me deeply, to the point where the fog of lust consumes my brain thickly. He leaves my lips to trail kisses down the side of my neck, then over my breasts and stomach. When he gets to the waist band of my pants, he runs a finger under the elastic and tugs it down an inch.

I stretch back and smile triumphantly at my win. But as I'm celebrating it, Blake snaps my pyjama pants back and moves away completely.

"Time to get ready," says Blake.

"What-t?" I frown. "But?" I bite my lip seductively.

Blake ignores me and turns his attention towards the drawers. He picks out the first pair of pants he can find along with a top and throws them at me. The clothing falls short of the bed and falls on the ground. I pick them up and place them on the bed with a pout.

"When you're ready, we can head off." He smiles victoriously.

Annoyed by his stupid grin, I scheme another plan to get Blake back into bed. If he's distracted enough, he'll just forget about this group and I won't need to attend.

I stand up and stretch out my tired limbs in front of him. I slowly turn around and look over my shoulder innocently. I remove my top and throw it on the ground. As I do that, I look over my shoulder to see Blake completely frozen to the core.

Taking it another step further, I hook my fingers into the side of my pants and tug them off. As I look around to gloat at my victory, I see the fading back of Blake as he walks down the stairs, a chuckle ringing in the air.

"Are you kidding me?" I grumble.

"Time is ticking," he calls back in response.

I stomp into the bathroom and take a long steamy shower to prolong the inevitable. When I get out, Blake is nowhere to be seen in the bedroom, so I assume he's hiding downstairs. I change into the clothes he's thrown out for me and drag my feet downstairs like a child.

Blake bounces off the couch and shoots off towards the door with the car keys in hand. I slowly trail after him, which earns me a disapproving look.

"What?" I ask.

"You were so excited last night, what's changed?" he asks.

"How about the fact I'm walking into a room of strange people?" I suggest, many other thoughts consuming my brain for defence. It's easy for Blake, he's always been the kind of person who can command the room easily. Me? I fade into the background and get lost in between the brick work.

"And you'll make new friends." Smiles Blake, completely ignoring my comment.

"What if –"

"What if you have a really good time? What if they're all the help you need?" Blake offers up with the same scared look from last night. I can easily see the excitement for the new baby on the way, but I fail to see the scared look sheltered behind the happiness. I always fail to see this because perhaps I'm never looking for it?

I'll never know too much about Tori and Blake's relationship, and perhaps that's actually a good thing for my neurotic brain. It's hard to say if they were truly happy when she was pregnant and it went to shits when she had the baby . . . or if they were happy on the outside and unsettled on the inside.

I can't promise Blake I'll be settled or even the best mother in the world, I can't promise I won't get mad or we won't fight, because I know we will. The only thing I can promise is that I'll stay because I love him. But leaving to stay at my parents' house has clearly put Blake on edge. I hate being the reason he's upset. I never wanted him to be upset. This is where it gets messy, this is where your feelings and someone else's become too tangled.

"Fine, I'll go to the group." I slump my shoulders and pout. I really didn't have an option now. If I rock up to the group and show Blake that I'm fine, that I'll try and be okay with everything, it might just minus his fear of me leaving.

"Thank you, Ava." Blake back tracks to give me a hug and a kiss on my forehead.

"You're welcome." I smile.

"And I'm also taking your offer up later," he adds, a mischievous grin on his face.

"Nope." I laugh, pushing his body away from mine. "That offer is gone, Blakie boo."

"Nothing is ever really gone, Ava." Blake tries to salvage the situation, but I ignore any attempts. I gave him two opportunities, but he shut me down and is forcing me to go to the group.

With a much deserved victorious smile on my face, I brush past Blake and head towards the car with a spring in my step. Even through I'd lost, I still feel like I've partly own something and that's all I needed to set my mood straight.

Sometimes loving someone means you've got to lose at some point. It means that winning is the point where you see your other one happy, even if you have to suffer as a consequence. I could understand his excitement, but it didn't make the experience any more enjoyable for me.

How do you think the support group will go?