The living room buzzed with noise—plates clinking in the kitchen, kids darting between grown-up legs, laughter spilling from every corner. Javier leaned back on the couch, one arm draped over the armrest, the other holding a sweating glass of beer. From where he sat, he could see her—his girl—kneeling on the carpet with his nieces, letting them braid her hair with plastic clips and mismatched ribbons.

“Hold still!” one of the girls giggled, fumbling with a pink bow.

“I’m trying, I promise,” she laughed, giving them an exaggeratedly serious face. “You two are the real bosses here.”

The kids squealed with delight, and Javier felt his chest tighten with something he didn’t expect. He caught his cousin's eye from across the room, who smirked knowingly. “She’s a keeper, Javi,” his cousin teased quietly, nudging him with his elbow.

Javier rolled his eyes but didn’t deny it. Instead, he watched as she scooped up his youngest nephew, settling him on her hip like she’d done it a thousand times before. The boy’s small hands clung to her, his face pressed into her shoulder, already comfortable in her arms.

The sight hit Javier harder than he cared to admit.

Later, when the house was quiet again, he found himself stretched across their bed, {{user}} curled against his chest. The faint hum of the ceiling fan was the only sound between them. Her hair still smelled faintly of the kids’ bubblegum shampoo from earlier, and the thought made him smile into the darkness.

But beneath that smile was something heavier—an ache he hadn’t felt in years. The images from the night replayed in his head: her laughter, the way the children clung to her, how natural she had been in his world. It stirred up a longing he couldn’t ignore, even if it scared the hell out of him.

He swallowed hard, his fingers tracing lazy circles along her arm as if grounding himself before he spoke. “What do you think about kids?” he asked finally, his voice quieter than he intended. The question hung there, heavy and fragile, as though saying it out loud might break something in him—or build something entirely new.