After Ender's melt down the boys left so I could calm him down and then tend to a confused and curious Gracie who wanted to know where her Mommy was.

I decided to help take their minds off of it and got them in their swim suits and myself in mine before going downstairs to the hotels inside pool.

I helped Gracie swim around, not being able to help but smile as she played, but of course I couldn't stop thinking about Carter.

Fighting with her was the worst, but that was because we loved each other so much.

After I had found out she was at the beach I saw a photo Becca had posted of her and Carter  baking in a kitchen.

Carter looked happy.

After dinner had ended and she still wasnt back I was getting ready to call when Becca texted me that Carter had just left her apartment and was on her way.

After responding with a thank you she sent back another message.

'Remember how fragile Carter is. Don't push it. She'll tell you when she wants to.'

Although I knew she was right it still made me upset that Carter didn't trust me enough to tell me something about her that seemed to particularly upset her.

I had already put both kids to bed and sat in the chair in the main room, waiting for Carter to come back.

At around 10:45 the door opened to reveal a already shut down Carter.

"We need to talk." I said as the door closed behind her and she silently took a step forward.

"Then talk." She replied in monotone, her attitude displeasing.

"Sit." I said, my patience was wearing thin and she could tell. Carter moved to sit on the sofa opposite of me.

Her eyes met mine before quickly looking away and I sighed.

"Why won't you confide in me?" I asked her and saw her shoulders drop.

"Ashton." She shook her head.

"I'm supposed to be your husband. I'm supposed to be the one you go to for everything, the one you don't keep secrets from, the one who knows everything about you.  But you don't trust me Carter."

"That's not true." She rolled her eyes.

"Really? Because I think the difference between the way I trust you and the way you trust me is quite clear."

"How so?"

"The only secret I ever kept from you was about the band, but now you know, and there's not a thing about me that I'm not willing to tell you. You, Carter, are the person I trust most in the world. I've told you everything about me, told you my secrets, my flaws, not held anything back because you're going to be my wife, and I don't want us to keep things from each other. But you...you haven't given me anything."

"I haven't given you anything? I haven't confided in you?" She asked the rhetorical questions, the anger obvious in her voice. "I gave you everything. I gave you my entire life, what more do you want from me Ashton? Huh? What more do you want?"

"I want you to start trusting me. You say you do but you don't, and I'm so sick of giving and giving and giving and getting nothing in return."

"Nothing in return? So you being my first kiss, my first boyfriend, the first man I ever had sex with, my fiancé, my brothers legal guardian, or our daughters father is nothing in return? Telling you things about me that I've never told anyone before, letting you into my life and my brothers life doesn't prove that I trust you?"

"I think there's a lot more about your life than you've told me about." I said and watched her entire body freeze at my words.

She didn't say anything.

"Why did you never cash in your parents life insurance policy?" I asked her.

No response.

"Whose name is it under Carter, and why won't they cash it in?" I asked and her head bowed, turning to the side. Her face was twisted in pain.

"Tell me Carter, who is it?"

"Stop." She whispered, her voice breaking. "Please stop, please. I can't."

"Why can't you?" I pressed harder.

"Just please stop."

"Carter, talk to me."

She moved her hands to her hair where she gripped the strands in her fist, her body leaning forward.

"I can't do this. I can't, I'm sorry." I heard her begin to cry and I immediately backed off.

I watched her cry in front of me and I felt the guilt seep into me like water to a sponge.

I had promised I would never hurt her but here I was...

I moved forward, kneeling in front of her and putting a hand on her head.

"Hey, hey I'm sorry. Im sorry, I'll stop. I didn't mean to upset you."

She moved her head up to my shoulder and nodded her head, sniffling away.

"I just want us to be open with each other. I didn't mean to make you cry, I'm sorry, but can you see how frustrating it is when you won't tell me something about you that obviously upsets you. I want to be there for you but I can't do that if you don't let me in."

Carter lifted her head up and rested her chin on my shoulder.

"I just-" She began and I felt her wince. "It hurts."

"I know baby." I moved my arms to wrap around her back.

"It hurts." She let out a little sob and I began to run my fingers through her hair.

"I just want to be there for you like I should."

"You are."

"I don't feel like I am."

"I'm sorry." She brushed her hand across the back of my neck, her way of comforting me.

I pulled away so that I could look at her.

"Can I ask you something?"

She nodded.

"Where do you see us in five years?"

"I don't know." She shrugged.

"Well where do you think we'll be at in five years, relationship wise?"

"Married, I guess, I don't know?" She shrugged again. "Where do you see us?"

"Married. We'd have a kid of our own, maybe two depending on how quickly we got married. We'd be living at home, taking care of our family and living together happily."

"What about the band?"

"Well I mean we'd still probably make music, but eventually we'll get to a point where all of us will have wives and kids and we won't be able to make music as much."

"What would you do for a job?"

"I don't know, work the business with you, maybe get a job teaching music or working at a radio station. Maybe I'll finally start doing photography like I've always wanted."

"You'd work the business with me?" She looked at me, shocked.

"Well yeah, why wouldn't I? That's an important part of your life and therefore it's an important part of mine."

"You'd really do that for me?"

"Yes." I laughed. "It could be fun. You could teach me how to drive the boat, and we could do tours together. We'd be like your parents, how they ran the business as a husband and wife; I want that for us."

"Thank you." She smiled softly. "That really means a lot to me."

"Yeah, well being with you means a lot to me, and I want us to have a long, successful, and happy marriage, but I think we have some areas we need to work on in order for that to happen. Because I hate fighting with you; it breaks my heart, and I don't want us to go into this marriage with any doubts or baggage or things holding us back."

"I agree." She nodded.

"Okay, I have an idea." I got up and went to find a notepad and a pen before going back to sit in the chair again. "Let's make a list for both of us, one column on what we expect from each other and one on what we want from each other, and then make a list on what we want and expect for our relationship."

"Okay." She nodded and I made a T-chart and wrote her name at the top before labelling one side wants and one side expectations.

"Alright, so what are your expectations for me?" I asked her and she sat there for a moment before sighing.

"I don't know, I mean I guess I expect you to protect me and the kids and help provide for us." She said and I wrote that down.

"I expect you to be honest and I expect you to always be there for our family." She said and I wrote that down too.

"Is that it, or do you have more?"

"I expect you to always be the man who is loving and caring and sweet even in the times that we may not be at our best."

"Okay. Now wants, what do you want of me?"

"I want you to be patient, and I want you to be tender. I want you to understand that even when it seems like I'm not being completely open with you, it's because I have a good reason but I'm working things out with myself. And I want you to understand that if I'm making you feel like I don't trust you, that I do." I wrote everything down as she spoke and once done I nodded and moved on to my list.

I passed her the notepad and pen across the coffee table and she got comfortable before speaking.

"Okay, now what do you expect from me?"

"I expect you to to tell me whenever you're feeling sad or upset, and to tell me if you have any doubts about us. I expect you to trust me, and I expect you to be yourself around me and to not hold any part of you back."

She wrote down everything I said before moving to the next column.

"Okay, now tell me your wants."

"I want you to feel comfortable around me, I want you to love me even if I'm not being the most loveable person. I want you to understand that if I'm pressing or pushing trying to get something out of you, its not because I'm trying to upset you or fight with you, it's because I'm worried about you. And I want you to understand that I make mistakes, but I'm still learning how to be a husband and a father and I'm going to mess up, but even when I mess up I want you to remember that I love you and that I care."

"That was sweet." She smiled as she finished writing.

"Alright, now the list for our relationship." I said and she flipped to another page.

"Okay, well I think we can agree we both expect each other to be honest and trustworthy." She said and I nodded as she wrote that. "We expect each other to be kind to one another, and to accept the other for who they are, flaws and all."

I moved to sit next to her as she wrote, putting a hand on her shoulder.

"We should expect each other to know that we are inevitably going to have fights, but to remember that we still love each other." I added and she wrote that.

"And we should expect each other to share any doubts we may have, and to work through them together." I said.

"Now wants." She moved the pen across the page.

"Most importantly I want you to be happy." I leaned my chin on her shoulder.

"Want each other to be happy." I watched her write as she spoke. "We want each other to be proud of the other and to stand up for them always."

"Agreed." I lightly pressed my lips to her shoulder.

"We want each other to be respectful, and responsible, and to be there for each other." She said and I agreed.

"And we want to love each other through the good and the bad." I rubbed my hand up and down her arm.

"I like that." She smiled.

"See, maybe this will help us."

"I think so." She nodded and set the pen and paper down before turning towards me. "Ashton, I understand that we are a young couple, and for reasons that we couldn't control, we've ended up being like a couple that's been married for ten years when in fact we've only been engaged for a month. We are young and stupid and still trying to figure out who we are while at the same time we are raising two kids who not only have no idea who they are, but rely on us to be that stable and constant presence in their life. We're still kids, Ashton, and we shouldn't expect each other to be perfect, we should expect each other to screw up every once in a while, because that's life."

"You're right." I nodded.

She was quiet after that and I joined in her silence, soaking in everything we had said.

"You know," she said after a while, "we missed our six month anniversary."

"What?" I looked over at her.

"Tonight, when I was out, I was trying to figure out how long we had been together, and I remembered that we started dating on December 19th; our six month anniversary would have been June 19th; that was two Thursday's ago."

"You're kidding." I laughed.

"Nope." She shook her head.

"Well then, I might be a little late then, but happy anniversary." I leaned in a little more, smiling.

"Happy anniversary." She smiled back before we connected our lips in a kiss. "I love you."

"I love you too." I kissed her for another minute. "I'm sorry about today."

"It's okay. I forgive you. I'm sorry I stormed out like that."

"It's okay. You might need to apologise to Ender though."

"Did he freak out?" She asked, biting her lip nervously.

"Oh yeah, he pitched a fit, but that's something for us to handle tomorrow, for now though, I think we have a nice warm bed calling our names." I said and she chuckled.

"Let's go." She stood up and took my hand, leading me to the bedroom.

We were only a few steps away from the door when she stopped and turned around to wind her arms around my waist.

"Can you just hold me for a minute?" She asked.

"Yeah, of course." I wound my arms around her body while she breathed a sigh of relief.

"I love you, Ashton. Please don't ever forget that." She spoke into the quiet.

"I won't." I squeezed her lightly. "And you'll never forget that I love you?"

"Never." She replied.

One of Carters beauties and flaws was that she had never been in a relationship before, and I needed to remember that she didn't always know how to handle me as her partner wanting to be so involved in everything.

"By the way, I know you may not like them, but I think those glasses are pretty sexy." I tilted my head so I could ghost my lips across her face.

She let out an adorable laugh and then pressed a kiss to my lips.

Eventually she let go, giving me a sweet smile before we continued to the bedroom.

We changed into our pyjamas and went over to kiss both kids before getting underneath the covers.

Carter moved close to me so I could put my arms around her like she wanted.

"Ashton?" She asked as she turned over in my arms so that her face was to my chest.

"Yes?"

"Would you still marry me tomorrow if I let you?" She asked, speaking the words I had said to her the night I proposed.

"I would." I smiled. "I most definitely would."

I could feel her smile against my chest.

"I would too." She said back quietly, the happiness clear in her voice and I kissed her head.

We fell asleep nestled in each other's arms, my ears tuned in to the sound of her breathing.

I awoke to the feeling of Carter shifting in my arms, them adjusting to her liking before she sighed.

I felt her lips pucker against my neck and I smiled.

"Morning sweetheart." I smirked and heard her chuckle.

"Good morning." She smiled into my skin, her hand placing itself on my side.

"So how about we go out to breakfast today before we pack?"

"That sounds nice." She breathed. "So I had a dream last night."

"Oh yeah?"

"Mhmm, it was about our first kiss."

"Oh yes, I think I remember that day."

"It was a good dream, and a good night in reality."

"I agree." I smirked. "Now if I remember correctly, I think it went a little something like this." I cupped her cheeks in my hands before placing my mouth on hers.

I broke the kiss to see her smiling up at me, her cheeks in a blush.

"I think it lasted a little longer than that." She toyed.

"Like this?" I kissed her again, massaging her lips with my own.

"Mhmm." She nodded.

"Well how about I give you some more kisses to dream about." I smirked at her before moving back in.

As we kissed I could feel her becoming more excited; she was happy.

"What are you doing?" Gracie's voice suddenly interrupted us and we pulled apart our mouths to see the little girl sitting up in her blankets.

"I'm just giving Mommy a good morning kiss." I told her and she giggled happily.

"I want kissy too!"

"Then come over here girly." I waved her over and she moved out of the blankets and ran over to our bed, climbing up and into my arms.

"Mwuah!" I gave her a kiss and she smiled happily.

"Morning Gracie." Carter smiled and Gracie moved into her arms, giving her a kiss as well.

"Cuddle!" Gracie clapped her hands together before pulling at Carters shirt.

"Okay, let's cuddle." Carter said and leaned back against the pillows, lifting her shirt over her head and letting Gracie lay down before putting a blanket over them to cover Carters chest.

Gracie snuggled into Carter who smiled at the child before closing her eyes.

I laid down next to Carter and put my arm around her shoulders, smiling down at Gracie who was one very happy four year old.

"I give Mommy kiss too." Gracie grinned cheekily and kissed Carters chest making Carter laugh.

"Silly girl." Carter messed with one of Gracie's braids.

Gracie kissed her again and we laughed.

"Do you like Mommy cuddles?" I touched Gracie's arm.

"Mhmm." She nodded.

"Okay, thank you for the cuddles, but I need to start getting you ready baby girl." Carter said and had Gracie crawl over to me while she put her shirt back on.

"Glasses." I reminded Carter as she got out of the bed and she rolled her eyes before putting them on.

"Come on Gray, let's go make some coffee for Daddy." She picked up the child and carried her out of the room.

I laid in the bed for a few more minutes until Gracie came running back in and jumped on me.

"Daddy I want to wear my pink shirt."

"Your pink shirt? Okay."

"You wear pink shirt too!"

"I don't have a pink shirt." I laughed.

A movement out of the corner of my eye had me looking over to see Ender sitting up in the bed.

"Hey End."

"Is Carter here?"

"Yeah she's in the other room."

Ender flipped back the sheets before stomping out of the room.

"Where did you go?!" I heard him shout at Carter and knew this was not going to be good.

I quickly got out of bed and carried Gracie in the other room with me.

"Ender I'm sorry. I was angry and I left, I didn't mean to upset you." Carter sincerely apologised.

"I thought you and Ashton were happy!"

"We are Ender, but sometimes couples fight! That doesn't mean that we don't love each other or that we hate each other, it means we disagreed. We talked it out and everything is fine, you don't need to be upset."

"But why do you have to fight?!"

"Ender. Listen to me." I said in my firm "dad" voice and he straightened up. "We don't want to fight, it's not fun and we don't like it, but sometimes we do. We are going to disagree, that's part of life, but we love each other and we get past it. Now stop yelling, it's over and done with and it's time to move on."

"Fine." He said and the atmosphere of the room relaxed.

"Thank you. Now everyone go get dressed."

After that everyone calmed down and began to get ready for the day.

Once I was dressed I began to get Gracie's toys together that were spread all over the hotel room.

I went in the bedroom to look for toys there and saw Carter dressed in light grey sweats with the skinny ankles and a black leather stripe down the side of each leg, a black short sleeved shirt, and a black baseball hat, original adidas on her feet.

She was dressing Gracie in her black leggings and oversized pink tee like Gracie had requested, Ender coming out of the bathroom dressed and ready to go as well.

We left the hotel, taking the car to a place downtown where we went inside, getting a nice table by the window.

It wasn't long until there were paparazzi outside waiting for us and Carter took notice.

"Ignore it." I told her and she nodded.

"Mommy I want juice!" Gracie tugged on Carters arm. "Juice juice juice!"

"Okay! Calm down, it's just juice." Carter laughed.

"So is this anniversary breakfast?" Carter then turned to me, a smirk on her lips.

"I don't know, it can be." I smiled.

"Okay."

"What that?" Gracie asked us.

"Well, an anniversary is a special day when you celebrate how long you've been with someone. It's kind of like a birthday."

"It's your birthday?!" She asked, excited and I laughed.

"No, it's not my birthday. It just means that Mommy and I are celebrating being together for six months."

"How many that?" She asked.

"Well there are 12 months in one year, and we have been together for half of one year." I tried to explain.

"But I four year." She held up her fingers.

"I know that silly girl." I reached across the table to touch her cheek.

"You love Mommy four years." She held up her fingers again, laughing away.

"Yeah, I've loved Mommy for four years." I smiled but directed it at Carter.

"Happy anniversary." She smiled back.

"Happy anniversary."

We leaned across the table to share a kiss, Gracie clapping her hands together before finishing our breakfast.

Flashes practically blinded us as we left, Carter holding Gracie in her arms before we got back in the car.

Back at the hotel we spent the rest of our morning and afternoon packing up our things and getting ready to go to the airport.

Becca had packed away all of our clothes and they were being sent to Japan along with our big luggage, and soon it was time for all of us to leave.

The guys joined us in the van that took us to the airport and soon we arrived at LAX, and I got out of the car first.

I took my duffel from the driver and took a step forward when I heard a squeak, smack, and then several gasps and turned to see Carter on the ground.

"Hey, you okay?" I immediately jogged over to her.

"I'm fine." She said. "Just clumsy, you know me."

"Did you hurt your ankle?" I asked her since she was holding it.

"I'm good, let's go." She tried to stand but fell back down.

"Let me look at it." I took ahold of her ankle.

"Ow!" She flinched and pulled her foot back.

"Stop moving it." I took ahold of it again and began to feel around her foot, asking her where it hurt while fans shouted asking if she was okay and the guys got the kids out of the car.

"I think you twisted it." I said and she whined. "Okay come on." I slid one arm under her knees and the other behind her back before lifting her up.

"I can walk!" She protested as I cradled her close to my chest.

"Shut up, I'm carrying you and don't try to argue with me." I told her.

I reached for her back pack and put it over one shoulder while Brad took mine and Carters duffels.

I checked to make sure Gracie was being carried by someone (who happened to be Calum) and had all of her things and that Ender was good before going inside the airport.

"Well that was graceful." Carter sighed as I carried her inside and I laughed, making my way towards private security.

Once checked in and through security we walked (well I carried) through the airport until we got to our gate and went straight on the plane.

We had the same seats as last time and I set Carter down in hers before getting everyone else's bags put away, getting them in their seats, and making sure their seat belts were fastened.

We prepared for takeoff and once we were in the air I got out a bottle of pain pills for Carter after she finally admitted her foot hurt.

She was asleep in five minutes and I shook my head before returning my attention to Gracie.

I got out some colouring books and crayons before colouring with her, moving her to my lap and putting the table in front of us.

I wrote 'Daddy loves Gracie' on her paper and she giggled, not knowing what it read and I then wrote her name.

"Here, let's try and write your name." I took her hand and helped her write the letters to her name underneath mine, spelling them out as we went.

She clapped her hands after we were done and I pulled out my phone to take a picture of her drawing and then a selfie of us.

I put them together before using the planes wifi to post the picture.

'Today we learned letters, how to spell Gracie, and how to write it. You grow more and more each day and I'm so proud of how smart you are. Please stop growing and stay my little baby girl forever.'

After this Gracie went back to her seat where I set her movie player up and put in Tangled for her to watch while I pulled up the notes on my phone.

Carter informing me that we had been together for six months had really hit me for some reason, and I was going to make it an amazing anniversary. We needed it.

And I was going to start by writing her a love letter.

--

Roller coaster of emotions let me tell you lol

I'll have the next part up soon, it's about to get interesting everybody ;)

Comment and vote, and let me know if you have any ideas on what Carter might be hiding!

Much love xx -M