Only Us

Hey guys! Yeah, I know it's been forever since I updated this story, but quarantine has made me think of a lot of stuff I should finish and I figured this would be one of them. Thank you so much for supporting this story, it's always been so close to my heart just like Rheese has.

Stay safe and be kind guys!

Sometime in the future.

Connor woke up in bed alone. Sarah must have been up for a long time because her side of the bed was cold, he opened his eyes to a bright light. Summer weather was the best and this year particularly it seemed like it had made its mission to make every day lovely, or maybe that was the romantic in Connor, the writer in him, two years before though, before meeting Sarah, Connor would have thought differently, but now, everything in his life, although still challenging, seemed to be looking brighter.

"Good morning sleepyhead." Sarah was only wearing his shirt as she moved around the kitchen of their newly acquired apartment. They had finally saved up enough to stop renting and have their own place, his father would have paid for it but Sarah refused to be anyone's charity case, no matter how much she loved the idea of not having to worry about financial trouble. "Come on sit, we need to eat and then get the boys ready for a walk." Connor was usually the one to cook, his safe haven was the kitchen, but domesticity suited Sarah well and he loved when she made him pancakes.

Connor dragged his feet, grabbed onto the chair and pulled it out so he could sit. Sarah joined him a minute later. Both of them ate quietly, as both their dogs sat by their feet. Bass and Petey, the energetic pup they had rescued about a year before.

Once they were done with breakfast, Connor settled himself against the sink to start doing dishes, it was something that relaxed him and some housework he could actually do without falling on his face.

They showered, separately or they'd never made it out of the house and then took the dogs for a walk in the park, Connor walked with his crutches, Sarah's hand in his, a finger to a finger so it resembled something similar to holding hands and one hand to the dog's leashes. They were there for about half an hour before Connor's legs began to give out.

"What time do we have to be at the house?" Sarah asked Connor as they made their way back to the house.

"I think around two." It was Claire's birthday, and even after becoming a new mom, she couldn't help but make a big deal out of it, well, you only turned 35 once, she'd said.

"Oh, okay." Sarah came out of the bathroom as she changed, and Connor couldn't help but stare. "I thought you were supposed to be changing Connor, come on."

"Come here a sec." He said from the bed. "Please."

Sarah smiled as she took the hand, he was offering her and pulled her to a sitting position next to her. "What? If we are late, your sister will have my head."

"You worry too much about Claire…" Connor mused, a sweet kiss to her cheek. "It's Saturday, I just want to enjoy us."

"Fine, 20 minutes and then, you have to start getting ready okay?" Connor rolled his eyes at her. But he knew she was right, if they were late, Claire would not be happy.

They laid back in bed, Connor's chest against Sarah's back. His arms around her, he nuzzled his face against her neck. "This is nice, right?" He said.

"Yeah, it is." Sarah admitted, turning to look at him, he stole a sweet kiss from her lips. "If it wasn't Claire, I'd rather stay like this all day."

"Me too." Connor said, trying to cuddle even closer as if it was possible. Soon enough though time was up and they had to get up. Connor got dressed in the bedroom while Sarah put on some makeup and rearranged her hair.

It was hard to believe though, that just two years before, they had both being alone, healing over what past relationships had taken from them and now it was each other who they found. They packed the dogs in the car and Sarah drove them over to the Rhodes Estate.

The party was in full swing when they arrived, Russ and Claire were the perfect hosts as always and Connor had found Natalie, Will and the kids, plus the recently engaged Jay and Erin in an assigned table, "Hey, look who finally decided to show up." Natalie joked. Connor rolled his eyes at her. "Where's Sarah?"

"Somehow, I lost her halfway here to Owen, when are you finally getting him that dog?"

"Ugh, no, we're still negotiating. Probably Christmas."

"Definitely Christmas, I mean we've been postponing it for two years, Santa will have a win not us I guess." Will said. Sarah came to the table a moment later.

"Oh good, you are all here, babe, your sister was looking for you."

"I just sat down." Connor said.

"It's her birthday, come on…" Sarah countered. "Plus, it will do you good to not stay put."

"Always the doctor huh?" Connor said. "Fine, I'll go but you'll owe me."

"Come on cry baby, we'll come with." Jay said, dragging Will along with him as they both kept an eye on Connor. He, of course winked at Sarah.

Connor met up in the kitchen with Claire, people coming and going, his father was there also.

"Son."

"Hey Dad." He said, a little smile. In the last two years since he'd gotten together with Sarah, his relationship with Cornelius had improved greatly, he still blamed himself for the accident, Connor knew that much, not that he'd ever admit it to either sibling.

"Why don't I hear yelling?" Claire said with a smile. "Oh good both of you are keeping your promises, that's great."

"Don't push it Claire..." Her father warned.

"What? I'm not doing anything, You two are doing the talking all alone." She said, a hand to Connor's shoulder as his grip on the crutches made his knuckles white. "And see? It's not that hard is it?"

"He has no idea, does he?" Erin whispered to Sarah, even though it was just them and Nat.

"No." Sarah said. "But I hate to steal the spotlight from Claire."

"Oh, no honey, Claire lives for this, and it's the biggest thing to happen in Connor's life in a long time. Since you actually." Nat said. Sarah felt bad that she hadn't told Connor first, but Erin and Nat had figured it out before she had, and it was hard for her to hide that she needed some advice on how to handle it. "And she'll be so happy for you both."

Connor and the boys returned a moment later. "I swear that baby is the cutest…" Jay said, referring to Lizzie. Nat and Will turned to look at him. "I said baby, not kid, your kids are not babies anymore."

Nat sighed. "Yeah, don't remind me, Owen is this close to being a teenager and I'm not ready."

Connor laughed. Yeah, he indeed had the cutest baby niece in the world, baby Lizzie looked so much like Claire, and his Mom that it made his heart conflicted but happy.

"Oh, there you all are, everyone has drinks?" Claire said, baby Lizzie on her hip. "The kids are being watched by Katie bless her heart, so you and Will just relax." She told Nat. "Speaking of that, Russ, would you take her to Katie?"

"Sure, come here baby." Russ smiled and headed in Katie's direction.

"Motherhood suits you." Connor said with a cheeky smile following Russ's stance.

"Why thank you baby brother." Claire smiled. "It's hard but totally worth it, like I don't even remember a life before Lizzie."

"I do, all you did was work, but now you can't wait to come home and that makes me so happy." Russ said, standing behind his wife.

This was true, Claire had definitely changed with motherhood, in fact, Lizzie had caused a change in all of them, especially his father. He'd be less annoyed when the baby was around and that caused everyone to be more relaxed.

The rest of the day went by quickly, Connor didn't even notice the time until Sarah came looking for him after Will and Nat had said their goodbyes, saying they had to take the kids home. "Take care of yourself man." Will hugged Connor, as he held on his crutches.

"Don't be strangers the two, Sundays still have your name written all over at home."

"Of course." Sarah said. "We'll be there for Will's famous pancakes." She winked at him.

"You are on Reese." Will smirked.

"Can you bring Petey and Bass Sarah?" Owen asked, his eyes shining.

"Of course, if your Dad is okay with it."

"Fine, yeah, what's the point in saying no, huh? The more the merrier." Will rolled his eyes. "Come on, let's go."

"He needs to get him that dog or he'll never hear the end of it." Jay mused as they watched Will and Nat drive away. The others laughed. "We need to get a dog too."

"First, learn to care for a plant. Then we'll talk." Erin countered. "I think we should get going too you guys, we'll see you at Will's soon?"

Then it was just Connor and Sarah left in the huge driveway of the Rhodes home. "Hey, you want to go home?"

"We could, but there's something we need to do first, come on." Sarah told Connor. He saw Arthur making their way over to them with his wheelchair.

"Thanks Arthur, come on, get in, I want to take you somewhere…"

"Okay, what are you up to, Sarah Reese?"

Sarah winked at Arthur and ignored him. She pushed him for a few minutes until they reached his Mom's garden. Sarah parked him next to Claire's favorite bench and patted the seat next to her. "Come here." She offered him his hand as he got out of the chair and joined her.

"You know that we have talked about what comes next right?"

"Yeah…"

"Well, it's been two years and honestly these have been the most amazing 24 months of my life Connor, drama and all."

He gulped. "Yeah, mine too Sarah, I mean, I didn't think anyone could love me and then you do in spite of everything."

"And so, do you." Sarah told him. "You are the strongest person I know Connor and you've made me stronger because you are always showing me ways to overcome what life has thrown at you. And I love you."

"I love you too." He said.

"That's why I... need to tell you something…"

"Okay…"

"You know how we've also talked about the idea of marriage?"

"Are you proposing? Isn't that kind of my job?" He mused, suddenly anxious. Sarah waved her head.

"No, not exactly. Looks like we're going to have to do everything backwards." She said, her head falling a bit. Connor didn't seem to catch it. Not at first.

"Sarah, wait, what…"

"I'm pregnant Connor, we're going to have a baby."

It had been two months since Sarah had told him she was pregnant and one morning, he noticed more than ever that her tummy was starting to show. He'd just woken up and Sarah seemed to still be sleeping, he turned to the side and wrapped a hand around her stomach. "Hey, are you okay?" He didn't mean to wake her.

"Yeah, I'm fine, just thinking."

"About what?"

"The baby. Us. Everything." Connor admitted, Sarah was now on her back as Connor also settled himself beside her, his arm still over her belly. "About how I don't want to be so scared about it but I am somehow. I mean, how am I going to…"

"Be a father? That doesn't happen overnight Connor, trust me I have no idea either, but we'll figure it out okay?"

"Yeah, but I mean, how am I going to help you with everything Sarah. I don't want to miss out on anything."

"You won't okay."

"This isn't like Owen or the girls when they were babies Sarah, they were not completely dependent on me and our baby will."

Sarah looked at him. "I know and we'll get ready okay? We'll figure things out, together and our baby will be loved and cared for."

Connor was now looking at her. His eyes were full of worry and love for her, but he also would trust her with his life. "Okay?"

"Okay." He said, he traced a finger to her tummy and he could feel Sarah's hand in his hair. "Hi baby… this is your daddy and I promise me that even though I might not be like other daddies, I'm going to love you more than anything."

Sarah was right, this was not about him or his disability, he'd learn to deal with the challenges that came with it as he'd done almost his entire life. And he'd have Sarah to help him.

That's the end you guys! Thanks so much for supporting my Rheese stories these past few years, it's been a real pleasure to write these two! Keep an eye out for the last chapter of WAHS in the upcoming weeks!

Much love!