Ashton's PoV:

Waking up at 5:00 in the morning was not the highlight of my day. I had spent the night at Calum's house and both of us were slightly cranky as we started to get ready.

I checked my phone to see that Carter hadn't responded after I had texted her back last night. I didn't expect her to but it was sweet of her to text me goodnight and also her comment on my Instagram post made me happy.

I left my phone on the counter of Calum's bathroom while I got ready and my phone started to ring a little after 5:30; it was Carter.

"Hey baby." I answered, putting the call on speaker and setting it on the counter.

"Morning." She said softly and I could just imagine her with that sleepy little smile on her face.

"Good morning to you too." I chuckled. "How did you sleep?"

"Okay. I was cold." She replied.

"You're always cold." I retorted.

"I know, but I was colder." She giggled and a wide smile broke out on my face.

"Well I'll be home to keep you warm tonight."

"Good." She laughed.

"You know, I could really go for some of your coffee right now."

"Is that your code word for sex?" Calum asked as he walked in the bathroom, my hand hitting the side of his head.

"What?" Carter asked confused.

"Nothing, Calum is being annoying." I rolled my eyes and Calum winked at me in the mirror.

"Okay." She laughed. "Well I just wanted to call you before you left for the interview."

"You just want to hear me talk about you on the radio." I joked causing her to giggle.

"Oops, you caught me."

I let out a breathy laugh. "I love you."

"I love you too." She said back. "I can't wait to hear you."

"Give the kids hugs for me."

"I will." She promised. "I'll see you tonight."

"You certainly will."

We said goodbye and then hung up, me setting my phone back down on the counter.

"You guys are so cute it's disgusting." Calum scoffed next to me and I laughed, still smiling from talking with Car and grabbed my toothbrush so I could brush my teeth to finish getting ready.

The car that was taking us to the radio station arrived after I had stolen a crappy cup of coffee from Calum's house, Michael and Luke already inside.

"Sup guys?" I asked as I climbed in, taking a seat in the middle row next to Calum.

"Morning." Michael waved.

"Hey." Luke nodded.

We were pretty quiet on our way over to the station except I filmed an Instagram video to tell the fans what we were doing and to tune in since I liked to keep them updated.

When we pulled up to the radio station there were already girls waiting outside for us, so we took a few pictures with them on our way in and then met the hosts for the show who were named Stacey and Ron.

The guys and I took seats around the semi circle desk across from the co-hosts, laughing with each other and making jokes like we always did.

I felt a little anxious knowing that Carter was listening, but also excited for her to see part of what I did.

"Alright, up next the moment you've all been waiting for, 5 Seconds of Summer is in the building and we are going to be having a chat with them right after this song so don't go anywhere!" One of the hosts Ron said and then took off his headphones. He was in his thirties with buzz cut brown hair and a medium build about him.

Stacey his female co-host was in her thirties as well, blonde haired and blue eyed and always was very quick witted.

They were playing a Bruno Mars song and Michael and Calum were attempting to dance when thankfully the music stopped and the interview began.

"Welcome back to the Stacey and Ronnie Show, it's a beautiful Monday morning in Sydney and we're here with the band 5 Seconds of Summer. Luke, Michael, Ashton, Calum, it's nice to see you. How are you doing?" Ronnie asked us and we all replied with something around the answer of good.

"So you guys are currently on break from your first headlining tour, how is that going?" Stacey asked.

"It's going great. It's a lot of fun and I think we're all excited to get back on the road and play more shows for the fans." Michael answered.

"So you have the Japan tour then the U.S. tour left."

"Yeah." Calum replied.

"What's one of your favourite cities to play a show in?" Ron asked.

"Well we love every city but I think coming home to Sydney is always fun because we get to see our friends and family and they come to the shows and stuff."

"I bet that is fun." Stacey smiled. "So have you been enjoying your break off from tour? I think we can address the elephant in the room as well and say that one of you got engaged, Ashton."

The guys and the rest of the people in the studio cheered and applauded.

"Congratulations!" Stacey grinned.

"Thank you." I smiled.

"You announced it on Instagram a few days ago and only a few days before that finally confirmed that you were dating, so have you been engaged for a while or how did that happen?" Ron asked.

"Yeah, well Carter and I have been dating for a while now and we got engaged on Friday night, so we just got engaged." I answered.

"How long have you two been together?"

"Around five months." I replied and Stacey's jaw dropped.

"Wow! That's quick!" She exclaimed and I laughed. "You must really be in love."

I was about to reply when Calum cut in.

"They are, and it's pretty gross."

"Oh my God." I shook my head.

"You should've heard them talking on the phone this morning, it's so cute it's almost too cute."

I rolled my eyes.

"Forgive me for being in love." I laughed and Michael clapped me on the back.

"So how did you propose?" Stacey asked.

"Uh well it's actually a pretty funny story. Me and Carter had gotten into an argument that morning and I had left the house and I was feeling really down and then I was just like "you know what, I'm going to ask her to marry me." And so I went to a jewellery store in town and bought a ring and then went back to her house, asked her brother for permission and he told me yes. And at her house they have this place on the roof called the crows nest and I found her up there and we talked for a while and then when I asked her to marry me she thought I was joking at first but then she said yes."

"She thought you were joking?" Ron laughed.

"Yes! Because I was like, "If I were to ask you to marry me, what would you say?", and she goes, "Well in like five years I'd say yes." So then I said "what if I asked you to marry me right now?", and she was like "I'd say you were crazy." Then I asked "What if I told you I have a ring in my pocket?", and she was like "wait, what?!" She thought I was asking hypothetical questions and then finally I pulled out the ring and asked her to marry me and she said yes. So it was pretty great."

"I have tears in my eyes." Stacey said and I looked to see her dabbing a few away. "That's so sweet."

"So how did you two meet?" Ron threw in another question.

"Well the boys and I had gone to Haven Harbour to vacation before we started the tour, and we went on a underwater diving trip and she was our tour guide." I smiled.

"Yeah, and you couldn't stop talking about her for weeks." Michael rolled his eyes.

"Seriously, it got to the point where we were like "If you don't ask her out, we'll ask her out for you."" Calum added.

"And then you asked her to be your girlfriend in a toy store." Luke chuckled.

"Oh my God. You'll never let me live that down." I dropped my head into my hands.

"So was she a fan of the band before you met?" Ron asked.

"No actually. We got to the shop that she owns and everything and when we saw her we were like she's probably going to freak out and she literally had no idea who we were."

"Yeah, I thought that was pretty funny." Michael chuckled.

"So did you call the boys and tell them you were going to propose to her?" Stacey asked next.

"No. He literally calls us Saturday morning and was like "we got engaged!" and all of us were like, "wait what?!" But no, we are all excited for them and Carter is a super sweet girl." Michael answered that question.

"Ashton, in your photos that you've shared with us, there are two kids, are they Carters kids?" Ron said.

"Not exactly. Uh, Carters parents passed away when she was 13 so she's been raising her little brother Ender, who is the boy you see in the photos, since then. And Gracie, the little girl, her mom who was Carters cousin, passed away as well a few months ago and Carter was her only remaining family so she came to live with us and she's been here for about a month."

"Some fans were saying that Gracie, the little girl, calls you Daddy." Stacey raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, she calls Carter "Mom", and me "Dad". It's really cute actually." I grinned.

"It sounds like you've really bonded with them." Stacey remarked.

"I have, in most ways it's like they're my own kids, and I think that's one of the reasons why I want to marry Carter, because I want to be that father figure in their life."

"That's sweet." Stacey smiled.

"Alright so you and Carter have dated for five months and are now engaged, besides the kids, what else made you decide to pop the question?" Ron asked. "What made you decide that she was the girl you wanted to marry?"

"Well I think when it's the right person you know, and I just can't imagine my life without her." I was biting my lip, trying to stop my stupid grin from showing through. "And she's just so caring and sweet and funny. She's so nice to everyone she meets and has the most amazing heart and outlook on life despite everything she's been through. Carter's just a really incredible girl."

"Aw." Michael cooed causing us all to laugh.

"How does Carter feel about you being in a famous band, I mean that must've been quite a shock." Stacey commented.

"Yeah, you have no idea." I said. "But uh, I think she's adjusting to it. She's really interested in my job, and getting to know the fans. She met some fans for the first time the other day and she was really happy and couldn't stop talking about how nice they were. And this is her first time to hear me and the boys on the radio so she was really excited about it."

"Oh she's listening, that's fantastic! Well Carter and Ashton, we wish you both the very best in your engagement." Ron said.

"Yes we do! And I would just like to mention, you've not stopped smiling the entire time you've talked about her. Ladies and gentlemen this is a man in love." Stacey added.

We finished out the interview by playing a round of would you rather, and then left the station, saying goodbye to fans as we left.

Looking at my phone when I got in the car I had a text from Carter.

'That was so cool! The kids freaked out when they heard their names.'

'Aw!' I replied. 'Did you like hearing me talk about you?'

'Maybe just a little.' She texted back with a winking smile after that. 'Maybe next time I could go with you?'

'I'd love that!' I sent her with a bunch of heart emojis after that to which she replied with a heart emoji of her own.

Next she sent me a video of the kids standing by the old radio in the kitchen.

"Who are we listening to on the radio Gracie?" I heard Carters voice ask the precious little girl.

"Daddy, Uncle Lukey, Uncle Mikey, and Uncle Cal." Gracie responded, looking up at Carter with an adorable smile on her face.

"Good job!" Carter laughed and the video cut off.

"I want to see!" The guys fought over the phone, each watching the video and grinning just like I had.

After I got my phone back I posted it to all of my social media, not being able to resist sharing that with the fans.

Once in the car again, the guys wanted to go out for lunch so we headed to a restaurant in town.

"So I'm assuming Carter forgave you for not telling her about the band?" Michael asked after we had ordered our drinks.

"I don't know if she's forgiven me, but she understands why I did it." I replied.

"Was the fight bad?" Luke asked.

"It wasn't so much a fight, more like her being extremely pissed off and a lot of crying on both sides."

"You cried?" Michael gawked.

"Okay, you have the love of your life tell you she feels like you don't love her, then tell me you don't cry." I almost snapped at him.

"Sorry." Michael raised in hands up in surrender.

"Anyways, so what the plan for you guys? Are you getting married soon? Is she coming on tour with us, what's the deal?" Calum asked.

"I don't really know yet. We decided to have a long engagement because she feels like we're too young, so I'm letting her decide when she wants to get married. As for tour, I have no clue. I haven't asked her."

"Now I really don't want to be the downer here, but Ash you're 20, Carter's 19, we're still touring and working, there's two kids...are you sure you want to make that big of a commitment? I know you love her, but in five years is that what you're going to still want? You're tying yourself down at such a young age." Calum said and a little smile came to my face and I shook my head.

"Calum have you ever been in love before?" I asked.

"Sure." He answered.

"And have you ever been with a person that made you feel absolutely complete? And when you're not with them it feels like a piece of you missing? Someone who you can't imagine your life without and they become your entire world?"

Calum shook his head no.

"Then you've never been in love." I shrugged simply and he nodded appreciating my honesty.

The rest of lunch we returned to our normal rambunctious selves, until the car came back to take me and Calum back to his house so I could pick up my jeep.

My mother called me to say she had gone shopping and had gotten a few things for Ender and Gracie so I stopped by my house to pick up the two shopping bags filled with gifts.

The rest of my day consisted of getting back to Haven Harbour to be with my beautiful fiancé and kids again.

I pulled up to the car lot by the house at around  11:30 and had to walk down the dark docks to get to the house. I found the spare key above the door and let myself in, locking the door back behind me.

Gracie was fast asleep on the sofa and as I passed her to get upstairs, I stopped and kissed her cheek.

Quietly I got to Car's room and set down my bag only to see she wasn't there. Slightly confused I went back downstairs and then saw her fast asleep on the love seat under the front windows. She was using the seat cushion as a pillow and she was wearing a only tank top and shorts, her legs sprawled all over the place.

A soft smile came to my face when my eyes landed on her; she must have fallen asleep waiting for me to come back.

I made my way over to her, brushing the hair that had fallen in her face away and trying to wake her up.

She squeezed her eyes shut tighter and mumbled something that sounded like "the alarm hasn't gone off yet".

Chuckling quietly as to not wake Gracie, I slid my arms underneath Carter's body, lifting her up like how you would carry a child. I pressed a kiss to her sleeping lips, hugging her to me.

I could feel the goosebumps on her skin as I carried her up the stairs and into her bedroom where I laid her gently down on the bed.

Kicking off my shoes and jeans, I climbed over to my side of the bed and immediately pulled Carter to me, her body snuggling up to mine to get warm.

"You're home." She muttered quietly, almost as if she was talking in her sleep.

"I'm home." I sighed happily as she continued to cuddle up to me.

My eyes closed when she got comfortable and I fell asleep thinking about how lucky I was that one day I was going to get to marry this girl.

--

Ashton is so in love *forever sighs*

so things are pretty stable right now but just remember, nothing lasts forever (;

and I did the double update yay!

anyways, vote and comment if you'd like and I'll have the more dramatic chapters up soon!

much love xx -M