Ashton's PoV:

Carter and I had fallen asleep that night after a few hours of very passionate love making, and I knew I would never get tired of being with her like that.

We then got up early the next morning to go to the Louvre and experience all of that. We managed to get a peek at the Mona Lisa which was really cool to see, and spent the day walking around there.

Of course there were fans and Brad and Dave kept a close watch on us as they came up and asked to hug or take pictures with us.

We then had a nice dinner and went back to the hotel where I set down the few shopping bags we had accumulated throughout the day.

"I'm going to go take a bath." Carter said to me and kissed my cheek before going into the bathroom.

I sat down on the sofa and heard the water running, noticing she didn't close the door behind her.

Turning on the television, I caught up on world news and when they got to celebrity news there was a little two liner segment on Carter and I vacationing in Paris.

The water stopped and I looked to the open door, staring at it for a few minutes before standing up and walking over, looking in the bathroom.

Carter was in the claw foot bathtub, her head leaned back and her eyes closed as bubbles covered her body. She looked at peace and relaxed.

Taking a breath I knocked on the door frame and her eyes opened as she turned and looked at me.

"Hey." She smiled.

"Hey." I smiled back. "Mind if I join you?"

"You mean take a bath with me?" She asked and I nodded. "Okay."

She sat up as I walked in the bathroom and undressed, setting my clothes on the counter and then walking over to the bath, getting in behind her.

I put my legs around her and leaned back, placing my hands on her waist so she would lean back against me.

She had her hair in a bun so it wouldn't get wet, and rested her head on my chest, a little smile on her face.

"This is nice." She hummed.

"Yeah?" I chuckled as I moved a hand to her knee.

"I wouldn't mind if we did this more often."

"You just want to see me naked." I teased her.

"Totally." She squeezed my arms that I had wrapped around her.

"How about after this, we order some dessert and a bottle of wine, and turn on the fire place and curl up in front of it." I suggested.

"That sounds amazing." She sighed happily, and I moved my lips down to her neck, brushing them over her skin before kissing it.

She let out a soft moan and I began to trace my fingers along her waist under the water.

"I love you, but we had sex three times last night, give me some time to recover." She giggled.

"Sex wasn't my motive."

"You know I can tell when you're lying, i'm a woman."

"Women." I scoffed and she laughed. "Wait, I have an idea." I reached onto the floor and picked up my phone and went to the camera.

I then took a picture of how our feet were, her small ones pressed against the tub with mine on either side of hers.

She watched as I shared the photo on Instagram and captioned it 'Our kids better get her feet and not mine.'

She laughed at this and then we got out of the bath, both of us drying off and putting on clothes.

I found the room service menu and looked at the dessert and wine lists, picking out some things and calling down to room service before walking back to the bedroom where Carter had put on a white sweater and some black yoga pants and was trying to turn on the fire place.

"Okay, I can't figure this out." She said as I walked in.

"Let me see." I came up next to her and looked at the fireplace before seeing a small remote on top of the mantle and picking it up, pressing on.

Suddenly the fire started and Carter nodded.

"See, what would I do without you?" She giggled.

While we waited we put the pillows and blankets from the bed on the floor in front of the fireplace, and soon there was a knock at the door and I went to get our desserts and wine.

"How fancy." Carter wiggled her eyebrows as I brought in a bottle of wine and came back with a tray with two creme brûlées, and some kind of chocolate raspberry cake.

I set that on the floor and then sat down, Carter sitting next to me.

I popped the cork from the wine bottle and went to pour Carter a glass.

"Just give me a little." She held out her hand.

"Why?" I asked as I stopped pouring.

"Lately every time i've drank alcohol it's made me sick."

"Well now I can't get you drunk."

She rolled her eyes as she smiled at me.

"Kill joy." I muttered and she continued to laugh and then made it up to me with just one sentence.

"I guess that means i'll have to get drunk off you instead."

I stared at her in surprise for a moment.

"Okay, that's probably one of the sweetest things you ever told me."

She winked and then clinked her wine glass to mine.

We each took a sip and then she set down the glass.

"Okay, so I had an idea." She said kind of excitedly. I had never seen her like this, but I liked it.

"What?" I asked her as I took another sip of my wine.

"Let's play truth or dare."

"Truth or dare?" I laughed. "Okay. Do you want to go first?"

"Sure." She smiled.

"Okay, truth or dare?"

"Truth." She said.

Now I had to think of something to ask her.

"Ummm...who was your first crush?"

"My first crush?" She laughed. "Um, Zack Ryan, he was in my first year class and he gave me his crayons when a girl stole mine."

"That's cute." I laughed with her.

"Okay now you, truth or dare?"

"Dare." I smirked playfully.

"Ooo." She wiggled her eyebrows. "Alright, I dare you to...go out on the balcony and yell something really random."

"Okay." I smiled and stood up, walking to the balcony, opening the doors and walking outside.

And I knew just what to yell.

"IM IN LOVE WITH CARTER CHASE!" I cupped my hands around my mouth and yelled at the top of my lungs.

I heard Carter laughing and turned to see her videoing me with her phone.

I walked back inside and closed the doors, going to sit next to her again.

"Nice." She high-fived me.

"Truth or dare?" I asked her.

"Um...dare." She said and my eyes widened.

"Alright then. I dare you to kiss me for three minutes straight without stopping."

She looked a little surprised by this bit I set a timer for three minutes and looked at her before saying go.

She leaned forward and put both of her hands on the side of my face before attaching her lips to mine.

Carter moved her mouth against mine and slipped her tongue between my lips to deepen it. The kiss was hot and sexy and honestly I didn't want her to stop but the timer went off all too soon and she broke the kiss, panting as she pulled away.

"Okay, that was hot." I said as I caught my breath and she shook her head before sitting back down.

"Truth or dare?" She took a sip of her wine and fanned at her blushing cheeks.

"I'll do truth." I said.

"Okay, tell me something you've never told me before."

"Ah, okay." I laughed and when she moved her left hand to tuck some hair behind her ear I knew. "So, the ring I got you for mother's day was supposed to be your original engagement ring, but when I decided to propose I didn't have enough time to order it so I went to that jewelry store and bought you the one you have now, and then ordered the other one too."

She looked down at her hands and smiled.

"Luke told me that two months into our relationship he walked in on you looking at engagement rings."

"I knew you were the one." I felt myself blush as well.

"Okay, ask me a question before I start crying." She said and I laughed.

"Truth or dare?"

"Truth."

"Now tell me something you've never told me before."

She smiled before a dark look crossed her face. But if I hadn't been staring at her I wouldn't have noticed because she immediately went back to a blank face.

My mind flashed back to that blue letter she got but I knew not to ask her about that now. We were having a good time and I didn't want to fight with her.

"Okay, um...I never thought I would get married."

When the words left her mouth my eyes widened and I felt a bit of pain in my heart.

"You didn't?" I asked, my voice barely above a whisper.

She shook her head.

"After my parents died I just didn't think that would happen for me."

"Well what changed your mind?"

"You." She lightly smiled. "When you asked me to be your girlfriend I was surprised, and I guess a little part of me was waiting for you to get bored of me and leave, but then you had me meet your mom, and you came for Enders birthday, and you were there for me in the
hospital, and I thought maybe you liked me more than I thought. And then we got Gracie and I started to think about my future with you and what you wanted and if you even wanted a future with me. And then that night after you had told me you loved me, we were laying in our bed and I asked you what the promise ring meant, and you said that one day you would replace it with an engagement ring, and I knew I wanted that."

I reached across to hold her hand.

"And then of course, when I found out about the band and we were going through that ordeal, I thought maybe we just weren't meant to be, but I still loved you, and I needed a sign to either end us or try and get through it...and then you asked me to marry you." She smiled at me. "And I figured that was a pretty good sign for us to keep going and try and make it work."

"What about now?" I asked her.

"Well I'm pretty sure I'm getting married now."
She chuckled. "And I learned that you and I are stronger than we think as people, but together... we can get through anything. We make each other stronger and bring out the best in each other, and that's what being a couple is all about."

I squeezed her hand.

"You know, I always looked at my parents marriage, and they showed each other and Ender and I so much love, and that's what I want us to be for our kids. I don't want them to ever doubt how much we love each other and love them."

"I couldn't agree with you more." I said and she smiled at me.

"Um..." She said awkwardly and tried to discretely dab at the corners of her eyes. "We should eat our dessert."

"Yeah." I said and we both reached for a spoon to eat the dessert, still holding hands.

As we ate the fire crackled and popped in the fireplace, adding a warmth to the room.

"If I eat another bite im going to be sick." Carter set down her spoon, sighing in contentment.

"Me too." I set down my spoon and moved the tray, motioning her over to me.

Carter moved to sit next to me and I placed a blanket over our legs.

"Can I ask you another truth question?" Her voice came out soft and innocent.

"Yeah." I said and felt her look up at me so I looked down at her.

"Why did it take you so long to tell me you love me?"

I gave her a little smile.

"Because I was scared you wouldn't feel the same way."

"Well you were wrong." She said and I placed my hand on her cheek before leaning down to kiss her.

This kiss was filled with emotion and I felt a salty tear drop mix into our kiss and I pulled away to see her face. She looked both happy and sad and I didn't know how to read her.

"What is it?" I asked her. "Did I do something?"

"Yeah." She nodded. "You saved me."

Her arms went around my neck as she went to hug me and I kept mine around her waist, pulling her on top of me.

"No. You saved me." I moved a hand to the back of her head.

As we held each other I felt our bond growing stronger and our connection deepening.  We needed tonight.

Looking down I saw her eyes closed as she clutched onto my neck, and I kissed her hair.

I then looked at the fireplace and had an idea.

Reaching behind me I tossed a pillow on the floor and then reached to put my arm under her knees.

She lifted her head at this and I said nothing as I got on my knees and moved her over to the pillow, I then went back for the blanket before going back over to her.

"What are you doing?" She asked.

"I thought we could sleep in front of the fireplace tonight." I said and she smiled.

I laid down as she moved back against me and pulled the blanket over us. My arms went around her and she nestled into me, the two of us relaxing into each other.

"This is so romantic." She sighed.

"I know, I'll have to figure out how to top this for our honeymoon."

"Oh yeah, i'm excited for that." She said and then turned around in my arms so she could rest her head on my chest.

I ran my hand up and down her back, eventually slipping it under her shirt to rub her skin and she sighed again.

"Okay, i've recovered." She said suddenly and I didn't realize what she meant until she pulled me on top of her and began to kiss me.

If this vacation was romantic, then sex in front of a fireplace was the cherry on top of this trip.

Afterwards, our clothes were thrown in a pile across the room and she and I fell asleep under the blanket on the floor, the fireplace crackling in the quiet.

In the morning I awoke with my body pressed to her still sleeping one, and couldn't fight the smile on my lips.

I got out from under the blanket, covering her back up before going to the bathroom and throwing on some boxers and a tee shirt.

Walking back in the bedroom I saw she had turned on her side and the blanket had fallen off, so I went over and covered her again, but left it so I was able to see her bare back.

I sat down on the sofa and snapped a quick picture of her, and like I almost always did, I got my thoughts out in a caption.

'Last night you told me that I saved you, but the truth is that you saved me. Carter, before I met you I was a mess. I had no sense of direction in my life. I was just waiting to figure life out, hoping I would stumble along it. And then I met you and suddenly life had meaning. It had a sense of purpose and reason, and it was for me to your husband. You showed me that there's so much more to life than the partying, the drinking so I wouldn't realize how lonely and empty I was, the bitterness I had in me, and the grudge I held against everything...you made all of that disappear. You were the light I needed to get me out of that place, and bring me into one where I could feel and give love like never before.
Now I have a sense of purpose. I'm a husband, and i'm a father. I wake up in the mornings, kiss you awake, carry around our daughter and hug our son, and I know that my life, our life, is everything I needed. So in reality, you saved me. You showed me who I am; and who I am is yours. And I can never thank you enough for that.
This vacation with you has been perfect, and in a few minutes i'll pick you up off the floor from where we fell asleep in front of the fireplace, and try not to wake you up as I lay you on the bed, but the vacation isn't over and I can't wait to go continue exploring Paris with you today. I love you with all of my heart Halle Carter.
-Ash'

I shared the photo then went to lift Carter up and carefully walked over to the bed to lay her down.

When I did she made a few noises and fluttered  her eyes open.

"Morning." I smiled down at her and bent down to hover over her, tucking some hair behind her ear.

"Hi." She said, her voice cracking since she just woke up, and then she stretched.

"Did you sleep okay?" I asked her.

"Mhmm." She nodded. "How long have you been up?"

"Not long." I said.

"Have you already showered?"

"No."

"Do you want to take one with me?"

"Sure."

She sat up and rubbed at her eyes then realized she was naked and pulled the blanket up to cover her chest.

I smiled and then moved back in to press a kiss to her lips.

She stood up and we went to take a shower before getting ready together.

Carter was getting dressed in the bedroom and when I walked out I saw her sitting on the edge of the bed on her phone, smiling at it.

"You always know what to say." She said as I sat down next to her.

"You're sweet." I kissed her temple. "Ready to go out?"

"Yeah." She stood up and as we walked to the door her phone began to ring.

"Hello?" She answered and I didn't see who it was. "Oh." She stopped walking. "Well how high is it?"

I raised my eyebrows at her and she looked up at me and mouthed "Gracie".

"Speaker." I whispered and she did as I said.

"Um, it says 100.2." Luke said and I saw thats who had called.

"Okay, that's just a low grade fever. There's some Tylenol in the bathroom; give her that to knock down her temperature." Carter said.

"Is her stomach hurting?" I asked.

"Yeah, and she has a little bit of a runny nose." Luke replied.

"There's stomach medicine in the bathroom too."

"Let us know how she's doing in an hour." Carter sighed.

"We will." He said and then hung up.

"I had a feeling something like this would happen." Carter said.

"I know. But they can handle it." I placed a hand on her shoulder to assure her.

"Yeah." She sighed. "Okay let's go."

We began to walk to the door again when her phone rang and she groaned.

"Yes?" She held it up to her ear. "Oh, hey." Her voice became much quieter. "Look, Hare, I can't do lunch this week, but I promise we'll get together when I go back to London." She paused as she listened. "Because i'm spending time with Ashton which I really need and I have a sick child back in London that I need to focus on. I'm sorry, okay? But not this week. I've got to go."

She hung up and sighed dramatically.

"Whatever, okay lets go." 

"You okay?" I asked her, just to make sure.

"Yes." She said. "Come on."

We left the hotel, Brad and Dave with us and walked down the street a few blocks until we came across a place that had breakfast. We took a table and sat outside.

"So i've been thinking," I began and Carter looked at me, "if we have three kids where are we going to put them?"

As soon as I said that a sudden look of realization came across her face.

"I mean, say we move into your parents room, that's still only two bedrooms upstairs, and Gracie can't sleep on the couch forever. But buying a new house isn't going to work because the shop is right there."

"We could add on?" She suggested. "Wow, I didn't think about that."

"Well we have plenty of time to figure something out and do it, but it was just a thought."

"How do you think that'll be for Gracie? I mean she'd be like six or seven when we had a kid, do you think she'll be okay with another sibling?"

"We'll she doesn't get much of a choice." I laughed.

"True." Carter joined in my laughter.

Her phone rang again and she picked it up off the table before smiling at me.

"Speaking of our little girl." She winked and then answered the call on speaker. "Hey, Luke."

"Hey." He said. "So her fever is gone but she's saying her tummy still hurts. What else do I do? We're supposed to leave in twenty minutes."

"Can I talk to her?" Carter asked.

"Yeah. Here she is."

"Gracie? It's Mommy. What's going on, baby girl?"

"I no feel good." We heard Gracie whimper.

"You don't? What's wrong?" Carter frowned.

"My tummy hurts."

"Hey, Gray, its Daddy. Why does your tummy hurt?"

"Because I miss you." She said and Carter and I looked up at each other with small smiles.

"We miss you too, love bug. But it's going to be okay, you'll see us soon."

"I see you now." Gracie began to cry.

"I know you want to see us now baby, but it's going to be okay. You have Uncle Luke, Uncle Mikey, Uncle Cal, and Ender to be with you." Carter tried to relax her but Gracie continued to sob.

"Mommy." Gracie cried and Carter went to wipe away a tear that was falling.

"She's breaking my heart." Carter said and I sighed.

"Becca is flying out today, she can bring Gracie with her." I suggested and Carter nodded.

"Luke." I said.

"Yeah." He came back. "Shh, it's okay Gracie, don't cry."

"Look, Becca is supposed to be flying out today, we'll call and see if she can take Gracie with her."

"Okay. What should I do until then?"

"Just hold her and try and comfort her the best you can. And if Becca can't take her then we'll send someone to get her." I said.

"Alright. Just let me know what the plan is."

We hung up and Carter immediately called Becca who we found out wasn't flying out until late tonight.

"Could Brad or Dave go get her?" She asked.

"Hopefully." I said and turned around to wave the two body guards over to us.

"Gracie is not feeling good and is having a complete meltdown, and we know it's a lot to ask for but we were wondering if one of you could go get her and bring her here."

"Yeah, we can do that. I'll go head for the airport." Dave said.

"Oh my gosh, thank you, honestly, thank you so much." Carter sighed in relief.

"No problem." He smiled and then left.

"We need to give them like a gift or tip or something to thank them." Carter said.

"I know." I took her hand. "Let Luke know what the plan is."

We called Luke who had left for the meeting already and so he sent Michael and Calum with Ender to the meeting and went back to the hotel with Gracie to pack her suitcase.

We sent him a list to make sure he didn't forget anything and then left the cafe because I needed to buy a few things for our photos tomorrow.

"Well, looks like our time alone together has come to an end." Carter sighed as she held onto my arm while we walked.

"We've still got a couple hours. Let's make the most of it." I kissed the side of her head and she smiled up at me.

We made our way to a men's designer shop downtown where I looked around for hats for the rooftop shoot.

"What shirt are you wearing?" Carter asked as she touched the fabric of a coat next to me.

"That black silk one you got me in Japan." I answered.

"Aw, really?" She looked up at me with a grin.

"Yeah." I chuckled. "I kind of designed the night time shoot around me wearing that shirt."

She continued to smile up at me and I laughed at her quirkiness before kissing her for several minutes.

Around two and a half hours later Dave called to say he was getting on a flight with Gracie. She was doing okay, was still very sad and Carter and I could hear her whimpering in the background but she was fine nonetheless.

Carter tracked their flight on her phone while we ate lunch and then we went to the hotel where we would be meeting Dave.

We waited in the room until there was a knock and we went to get it, Dave holding a tired Gracie in his arms.

"Hi, baby!" Carter smiled and took Gracie from Dave, hugging her closely. Gracie buried her head in Carters neck.

"Mommy." Gracie whimpered.

"You're okay, you're okay." Carter began to lightly bounce her. "Look, there's Daddy, give him a hug."

Gracie lifted her head up and looked at me.

"Hi, Gray." I grinned at her and took her from Carter. "You're with me and Mommy now, there's no reason to be sad."

She nodded up at me with her little lip poked out and I gave her a kiss, making her smile slightly.

"Kiss, Mommy." Gracie then looked at Carter who laughed and leaned in to kiss Gracie as well, Gracie now sporting a full smile.

"Do you feel better, baby?" Carter asked her.

"My tummy hurts." Gracie pouted.

"Well then let's get you some medicine and cuddle for a few minutes." Carter took Gracie and headed to the bedroom.

I thanked Dave and took Gracie's suitcase before heading to the bedroom where Carter and Gracie were laying on the bed.

"Where my bed?" Gracie asked her as I sat down.

"Well Mommy and Daddy didn't know you'd be joining us so we only have one bed.

"I sleep with you." Gracie then decided and I shook my head.

"Once she's feeling better why don't we take her sight seeing and grab some dinner."

"Okay." Carter said and then rolled on her side to hover over Gracie and kiss her cheek, Gracie now giggling happy.

I then remembered that a long time ago I used to think that having kids killed the romance in the relationship, but I had been wrong. To me, seeing Carter with our kids made her even more sexy to me.

I took a cute photo of my two girls and shared it on my Instagram, saying, 'Our little Darcy Grace just couldn't go another day without her Mommy and Daddy so she was flown out to Paris to be with us. And by the looks of it I think Mommy was ready to be with her baby again (Daddy was too).'

"I feel better." Gracie smiled as Carter caressed her face, and I laughed.

"Do you want to go look outside?" I asked Gracie and she nodded, so I lifted her up and took her out on the balcony.

"Daddy, we tall!" Gracie gasped as we walked up to the rail and I laughed.

"We are." I kissed her cheek. "Doesn't it look pretty outside?" I asked her and she nodded.

"Hey you two, turn around for me." I heard Carter and turned to see her there with her phone.

"What we doing?" Gracie asked.

"Mommy is going to take our picture, so smile really pretty for Mommy." I said and she excitedly wrapped her arms around my neck and the two of us smiled as Carter took our picture.

"Okay, now let me take one of you two." I said and switched places with Carter.

They smiled as I took their photo and then we decided to hit the streets.

Gracie clung to Carter, hugging her with her arms wrapped around her neck and legs around her waist. She hid her face in Carters neck as well and I kept my hand on Carters waist, walking on the side of her that separated her from the paparazzi.

"She seems to be happy." I nodded towards Gracie.

"Yeah, she's doing better now." Carter smiled at me.

A few minutes later I saw Gracie waving at the paps following us and then she leaned back to look at Carter.

"Mommy where's Ender?"

"Ender is back in London with your Uncles." Carter told her and Gracie nodded.

Carter leaned in to give Gracie a kiss and Gracie smiled before hugging her again.

We walked for few more minutes before Gracie yelled.

"Mommy, look!"

Carter and I looked to see where she was pointing and saw a flower shop across the street.

"Do you want to go see the flowers?" I asked her and she nodded.

We crossed the street and went to the flower shop, Gracie smiling at the colourful flowers.

"Do you want some flowers, baby?" Carter asked Gracie.

"Okay, you can get six flowers." I told Gracie and she began to pick out some.

"Daddy, that one!" She pointed to a pink rose and I grabbed it for her while she and Carter looked at all of the other ones and picked five more.

The woman who owned the shop cut the stems short and tied the flowers together with a ribbon, and we paid her before resuming our walk with Gracie.

Our little girl continued to hold onto Carter, a smile on her face as she hung her arms around her mothers neck, one of her hands clutching her bouquet of flowers.

Yes, Carter and mines private vacation together might have been cut short by the arrival of our daughter, but it was alright. Carter and I had a good time and had some conversations we needed to have but had been putting off.

So in my mind this vacation was a success, and it wasn't even over.

--

Aw, Gracie just couldn't last another minute without Carter and Ashton :)

How do you think Harry will react to Carter quitting modeling? And what do you think he really wanted to say to her, i mean, he flew out to Paris just for a five minute conversation and waited around for her but she cancelled. Why do that? ;) ;) ;) !!!!

Anyways, HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!

much love xx-M