Ashton's PoV:

I woke up to an empty bed in my new home.

My home.

I still didn't feel real that I was now living with Carter. I mean I was practically already living here anyways, but now it was official.

It sounded so trivial, but the fact that now she and I could get our mail together, and pay bills with both of our names on the envelope, and pay a mortgage together excited me.

We were two engaged adults, living a life with each other.

My eyes glanced around the bedroom that was now mine and Carters to share.

The walls of the room were painted an aquamarine colour, the floor a light wood with her bright blue rug covering the floor in front of the bed.

The dresser we shared was against the wall by the door, Gracie's baby pink and white toy chest next to it.

The walls were pretty sparse except for a few white framed sea shell pictures, a mirror, and then the window.

I turned over in the white sheets, my eyes landing on the nightstand where last night we had found a picture frame and put our engagement photo in it.

Smiling, I closed my eyes, listening for noises downstairs and stretched before getting out of the bed.

After getting dressed I fixed my slept on hair in the mirror and then headed downstairs where Carter was already awake and so were the kids.

"Morning." I said happily as I tromped down the stairs.

Carter turned around to smile at me while Ender nodded and Gracie ran towards me.

"Daddy!" She grinned as I bent down to catch her, the little girl wrapping her arms around my neck and I put my arms around her before pulling her up.

"Hey there princess." I kissed her cheek, her brown eyes shining. "Did you sleep good?"

She nodded, smiling before hugging my neck again and I laughed.

I loved this little girl, I really did.

I moved her to my side, her legs around my stomach while I supported her back and carried her over to where Carter was standing.

Leaning down I gave Car a quick kiss, her lips soft as always, and then she handed me a cup of coffee.

Taking a few sips I set it down before heading into the living room to turn on the television for Gracie.

"Cartoon cartoons cartoons!" She yelled happily, pointing towards the living room as I walked and I laughed at her silliness.

Once the cartoons were going and she was sitting on the sofa with her sippy cup, I went to sit at the bar.

"Okay so we have a lot to do today and I need you guys to add what you want to the grocery list." Carter passed Ender and I the yellow notepad and we took turns writing what we wanted.

She added a few things for herself and Gracie and then set it to the side.

"So what's all on the agenda for today?" I asked her.

"Well, you have to call your management to get everything taken care of with them, then we need to go to the grocery store, bank, post office, and call our mortgage, water, electric, and phone bill companies to get all of that straightened out." She read off a list she had written down.

"Alright then. Let me grab some cereal and then I'll call management." I said and she smiled at me before grabbing the box of frosted flakes that she knew I liked and the milk carton and handing them to me.

I ate quickly, washed my bowl out in the sink, and then went to grab my phone to start calling.

"Hello." My manager Adam answered.

"Hey Adam, so Carter and the kids decided they are going to go on tour with us, and I just wanted to let you know so we could get hotels and flights straightened out." I said.

"Awesome. Okay so first give me their full names and ages so I can add them to our list and then get the plane tickets." He said.

"Great. Halle Carter Chase and she's 19, and then Ender Noah Chase who's 11, and then Parker Grace..." I looked up at Carter who was standing at the counter on her phone, "Car do we want to put Gracie's last name as Chase or Irwin?"

"Uh, let's just do Irwin." She said and I smiled before returning back to my phone call.

"And then Parker Grace Irwin and she's four."

"Alright. Then I'm assuming we'll get one room with two beds for you guys if that works."

"Yeah that's fine."

"Okay, do they have passports?"

"Gracie does but we are getting Carter's and Ender's today."

"Good. Well I will get the plane tickets for them and change our hotel reservations and see you guys in a couple weeks."

"Alright, we'll see you then."

"Oh and Ashton." He said before I hung up. "I'm excited to finally meet your fiancé and kids."

"Thanks." I laughed and then we ended the call. "And we're all set." I told Carter.

"Really?" She grinned.

"Mhmm." I smiled. "You're officially coming on tour with me."

"Yay." She laughed and I joined in.

After she had crossed me calling management off the list she took Gracie upstairs to get her dressed.

"Ashton can I bring my skateboard too?" Ender asked me.

"Sure bud." I told him.

Gracie ran down a few minutes later in red and white striped leggings with little silver shoes, and a blue shirt with a red heart on it that tucked into a red tutu skirt with little white polka dots that I had bought her a while back.

She had a red head band in her hair too that Carter had curled a little bit.

"Very cute." I smiled at her as she skipped up to me and I sat her in my lap.

"Ender, Mommy said to get dressed." Gracie told the young boy and he went off to go do so.

"Come watch some TV with me Gray." I carried Gracie over to the sofa, sitting down and keeping her in my lap.

I flipped through the channels and watched the news for a few minutes and then moved on until I found a crime show, starting to watch it.

"That's appropriate." Carter said sarcastically while she walked down the stairs as me and Gracie were currently watching some guy get tasered. 

"She's four; she doesn't know what it means." I said.

"I just don't want her to be scared."

"Are you scared Gracie?" I asked the little girl who was sitting in my lap and she shook her head no.

"See, she's fine."

"Whatever. Okay, let's go run our errands." She said as Ender came down the stairs.

We made our way to the car and then went to post office first so Carter and Ender could get their passports.

I laughed as they both had to stand in front of the camera to get their picture taken, Ender smiling awkwardly while Carter kept trying to fix his hair, yet I had to fix hers when she took her photo.

We had to wait a few days for their passports so after that we went to the bank.

Luckily Carter and I used the same bank chain (smart girl) and we sat in the waiting area with the kids so we could both close our current accounts and then open a new one, pooling our money together.

Gracie was getting bored and restless so I put my headphones in her ears and connected them to my phone so she could watch music videos of our band, the little girl laughing and smiling.

I saw Carter taking a picture of us and sent her a smile.

Finally an older woman walked out to us.

"Hi how may I help you guys?"

"We need to close our accounts and make a joint one." I said and she nodded.

"Follow me then." She smiled and waved us into an office.

We followed her inside, all of us taking a seat.

"Okay so I need your cards and your I.D's please." She said and Carter pulled out her wallet from her back pocket while I did the same, and it dawned on me I had never seen her carry a purse.

We passed over our cards and I.D.'s and the lady began to tap at the computer.

"So did you just get married?" The woman asked us.

"No, we're engaged." Carter answered her.

"Oh, how exciting. Have you set a date yet?"

"Not yet." Carter laughed lightly.

The process of closing our accounts to create a new one was going to take a long time and Ender ended up playing on Carters phone while Gracie stayed on mine.

She was sitting on the chair next to me and after a few minutes slid off the seat, walking over to me and climbing up in my lap, still watching the video on my phone.

"Daddy I wanna play the-the baking game." She said to me and I pulled it up for her, watching her play.

"She's adorable, how old is she?" The bank lady asked us.

"Thank you, and she's four." I smiled.

I placed a hand on the back of Gracie's head, my fingers lightly running through her hair.

"Car, can I go get a smoothie from the ice cream shop?" Ender asked; he was bored.

She handed him $5. "Yes, but you walk straight there and straight back."

"Wait take one of our phones with you." I said.

"Mines almost out of battery." Carter frowned.

"Take mine then. Hey Gray, can Ender use my phone for a little bit?" I placed my hand on Gracie's shoulder.

She nodded and I gave him my phone.

"Be back in fifteen minutes." I said to him before he left.

Gracie moved from my lap to Carters, resting her head on her shoulder.

"Tired?" Carter asked her. "It's about your nap time."

"No." Gracie shook her head.

"Hmm. I think that you should take a nap." Carter suggested as she began to play lightly with the little girls hair.

"No." She shook her head again.

"Well what if you just close your eyes?"

Gracie nodded at this and closed her eyes, Carter smiling at her.

Within minutes the little girl was asleep, and Carter carefully moved her over to the empty chair next to her so she and I could fill out the paperwork for our new account.

Ender came back while we were filling out the forms, taking the seat next to me since Gracie was passed out in his.

"Someone called you but I didn't answer." Ender said as he handed me back my phone and looked to see that it was Adam.

"Thanks man." I smiled at him, returning back to signing my name on the paper.

"Okay, I'll go get your new cards." The lady said , leaving and coming back with two new cards.

One had Carters name on it and the other had mine; we officially had a joint bank account.

We thanked the lady before leaving, stowing away our new cards and then heading to the grocery store.

I had carried the sleeping Gracie out to the car but she woke up when I took her out of her car seat at the grocery store.

She walked between me and Carter as we went up and down the isles, Carter crossing the items off the list as we got them.

When we got to dairy section Carter was grabbing some yogurt when Gracie suddenly gasped.

"Mommy get the Frozen one!" She pointed to a yogurt container that had pictures of the Frozen characters on the package to advertise it to kids.

"No baby, that one is more expensive." Carter replied.

"But I want it." Gracie whined, and I knew what she was about to do and apparently so did Carter.

"Gracie stop." Carter looked at her sternly.

I watched as the child's eyes misted up, her cheeks went pink, and her bottom lip poked out.

"I want the Frozen one." She bawled, hot tears starting to stream down her face.

Carter looked at me before we both crouched down.

"Gracie stop crying." Carter told her, wrapping her hand around the girls upper arm tightly.

"I want Frozen." Gracie sobbed.

"Gracie we're not going to tell you again, stop." I said in a firm voice.

Gracie let out a wail and I sighed before standing up.

"I'll take her to the car." I told Carter and she nodded.

Sweeping Gracie up she began to cry harder, her feet kicking all over the place as I tried to stop them from hitting me.

"Gracie stop!" I said to her, using the same voice I had used the one time Ender had gone off on Carter when I was in the room and I had had to get onto him.

I ignored the people watching as I carried the melting down child to our car, putting her in the back seat before sitting behind the wheel.

Once she had been set in the car a whole new wave of tears burst through her.

'What do I do, she's crying her eyes out?' I texted Carter.

'Just ignore her, she will stop.' She texted back and I sighed, looking in the rearview mirror at Gracie who was still bawling.

It took about five more minutes until Gracie had fully calmed down, her cheeks still pink and wet from her tears.

"Daddy?" She asked me from the backseat, sniffling.

"Yes?" I answered.

"Do I get time out?"

"When we get home."

She poked out her bottom lip at this but didn't cry.

We sat there for another fifteen minutes until Carter and Ender walked out of the grocery store with the cart. When they arrived at the jeep I got out to help put the groceries in the back seat while Carter went to have a little chat with Gracie.

"Gracie do you understand that what you did in the grocery store was bad?" Carter asked her and Gracie nodded.

"You can't always get everything you want. When I say no that means no." She added.

"But I wanted the Frozen one." Gracie whined.

"I understand that, but I said no. Now if you had been a good girl and not thrown a fit, maybe I would've been nice and got it for you, but since you decided to be bad, you didn't get it." Carter said as Gracie sniffled.

"I'm sorry." Gracie said and reached up her arms towards Carter.

"I know, thank you." She picked her up, Gracie clinging to her while Carter flickered her eyes up to mine, giving me a half smile.

Carter pressed a kiss to Gracie's cheek.

"Now go say sorry to your dad." She pointed the little girl in my direction and Gracie came over to hug me.

"Sorry Daddy."

"Thank you." I smoothed my hand over her hair before pressing a kiss to her head.

We got her back in her car seat and then headed home.

The moment we got through the door I took Gracie over to the time out corner in the dining room.

"Okay, you'll sit here for five minutes." I told her and she nodded solemnly, crossing her legs Indian style.

I set the timer on my phone and joined Carter in the kitchen where she was putting away groceries.

"I feel awful." I said as I put a carton of milk away.

"I know, but you're doing the right thing. She acted up and she needs a consequence to know that her actions were not okay. We're her parents now, and it's our job to teach her what's right and wrong." She said to me.

"You're right. It's just hard. How did you do this at thirteen?"

"Don't get me started." She rolled her eyes and I laughed.

"Come here." I said and she stepped up to me and I placed my hands on the side of her soft face.

My eyes scanned over the beautiful features of her face, and I smiled at her before swiping my thumbs under her eyes to wipe away the mascara flakes to which she blushed.

"I got us something at the store." She said happily as she looked up at me.

"Oh yeah? What did you get?" I smirked at her.

She stepped away from my hands and went to the counter to pull a bottle of wine from a brown paper bag.

"Ooo." I raised my eyebrows, giving her a simper. "That's nice."

"Mhmm." She hummed as she stepped back up to me and I placed my hands on her waist. "I thought that tonight you and I could have this and watch a movie after the kids are asleep."

"I like that idea, and I have an idea of what we could do after too." I hinted at her before taking her top lip between my lips in a slow kiss.

"I can't." She said when we had broken the kiss.

"You can't?" I raised my eyebrows.

Carter shook her head. "I can't."

"Why not?" I asked her and her cheeks flared up and she awkwardly looked at the floor as I realised what she was trying to say: she was on her period.

"Ah." I said once I figured it out and she glanced back up at me.

"Sorry." She bit her lip.

"That's okay." I laughed. "You and I can have a nice night in, drink some wine, make out, watch a movie, make out some more..."

I smiled at her while I spoke and she started to laugh.

"Sounds perfect." She pressed a sweet kiss to my lips and we finished putting the groceries away.

When the timer went off for Gracie's timeout to be over we both went over to her.

"Gracie, do you understand why you were in timeout?" I asked her.

She nodded.

"Tell me why."

"I didn't get the-the Frozen so I cried." She said in her small voice.

"That's right." I said.

"Now, are you going to throw a tantrum again?" Carter asked her.

"No." Gracie shook her head.

"Good. Come give me a hug." Carter waved her over and Gracie did as such. "I love you." She gave her a kiss.

"Love you Mommy." She smiled at her.

"Okay, now go play." Carter sent her off and Gracie ran up the stairs.

I took Carters hand to help her back up, and we started in on our phone calls to the bill companies to change our information.

This took late into the afternoon, and once we were done we both sighed of relief.

"Well, you're a homeowner." Carter turned over onto her side from where she was sitting next to me.

"I know." I laughed. "I'm really happy."

I had the idea to take a picture of us in front of the house and dragged her outside and had Ender take the picture of us.

Carter was complaining that she wasn't "photo ready" so she turned herself to face me so her back was to the camera and I rolled my eyes, placing my arms around her waist and smiling down at her while her hand held onto my shirt by my shoulder.

Ender took the photo like that and you could see the house behind us, the house that Carter and I now owned together.

I posted the photo of us along with the caption 'homeowners'.

Back inside Ender and I started working on some new tricks with Bear that we looked up online while Carter started on dinner with the assistance of Gracie.

We had just got Bear to catch his rope toy in the air when my phone went off in my pocket.

I pulled it out to see I had several reminders.

"Oh crap." I sighed.

"What is it?" Carter asked.

"We have interviews next week and I completely forgot." I groaned.

"Well..." She said, thinking for a movement, "What if we went with you?"

"You wanna go with me?" I asked.

"Unless you don't want us to?" She shrunk back a little bit.

"No I do. That'd be amazing." I grinned.

"Great." She smiled at me and then went back to cutting tomatoes for our salad to go along with the lasagna.

After dinner Carter and I hurried to get the kids in bed so we could have our night in, Gracie and Ender both passed out in Ender's room with Bear.

We headed to the kitchen where she grabbed two wine glasses and I went to open the wine bottle, taking out the cork and causing a popping noise.

Carter and I laughed at this and then headed over to the sofa.

We took a seat and I began to pour us each a glass, handing one to Carter and taking the other as she leaned herself into my side.

I put my arm around her shoulders and smiled down at her.

"Alright, so what are we watching?" I asked her.

"Mamma Mia." She smiled.

I chuckled at how excited she was.

"So should we make out before the movie, during the movie, or after the movie?" I smirked at her.

"How about all three?" She winked and then pressed her lips to mine, the taste of wine on them.

She cuddled her head into the crook of my neck after we had kissed for a few minutes.

"You're warm." She said randomly and I let out a laugh.

"You're such a dork."

"You love it, shut up."

"Yeah I do." I chuckled. "But as your soon to be husband I guess you should know that I'm a dork too."

"Yeah you are." She laughed and then a serous expression took over her face. "Woah."

"What?"

"You're going to be my husband." Her eyes went wide.

"You didn't know that?" I laughed. "Did the ring on your finger not give you an idea?"

"No I knew, I guess I just didn't like put it together in my head."

"Well, is that okay with you?" I snickered.

"It's more than okay." She smiled brightly.

"And you're going to be my wife."

"Yeah." She breathed. "I'm going to be a wife."

"Mhmm, and you'll be the best wife ever."

"You really think so?" She asked.

"I know so."

At that Carter leaned up to give me another kiss.

She nestled back into my side and I took a picture of our hands holding our wine glasses to post saying 'A night in with my love.'

And that's what tonight truly was, a night in with the love of my life.

--

Just a heads up these next few chapters are going to be from Ashton's point of view!

thanks so much for reading!

as always vote and comment if you'd like!

much love xx-M