This Is Us - Chapter 44: Chapter 44

MATTY POV
"I am not getting snipped,"
Thomas blatantly refuses as we start hustling towards Rockefeller Center with two bodyguards following closely behind us in plain clothes.
"I mean, I don't know about you, but I don't want any more kids either," Luca points out.
"You're supposed to be on my side!" Thomas argues as we crossed the street.
"I've looked it up, it's pretty invasive and you'll be in and out like that," I snap my fingers and both Thomas and Luca flinch.
"God you guys are weak," I grunt as I looked down at Jaydean who was skipping on the concrete with an abundance of energy.
"RIght Jaydean?" I asked her and she looked up with her eyebrows furrowed in confusion.
"Right Mommy?" She replies, going along with it even though she had no idea what we were talking about.
"Why don't you get your tubes tied?" Luca huffs, taking Jayde's other hand for extra protection.
"My surgery would be super complicated and yours takes a few minutes. I could die in mine and I'm pretty sure neither one of you want to raise these five kids without me," I told them and knew they agreed even though they were cursing me out under their breaths.
As a sick form of revenge, my significant others decided to veto every store I wanted to go into until we got to Rockefeller center. But of course, Jaydean's request to go into the Lego store could never be ignored and the three of us followed her lead.
"Jayde, you don't even like playing with Legos," I tried to tell her but she waved me off for the first time.
"No Mommy, I wanna find something for Hasan! He loves legos," She chants and switches hands to her Papa's as she wonders over to a shelf of brick sets. Thomas gets a phone call and gives me a wink, letting me know it was the call we had been waiting for.
"Can I get him this one? We like to play house a lot," Jaydean picks out a small Lego wedding set and I could almost see the anger radiating off Luca who had crouched down beside her.
"Over my dead body," Luca grumbles and I ruffled his hair a bit to calm him down.
"Relax, she's not getting married tomorrow. Why don't you look at these one's baby? Look, it's a pirate roller coaster," I pointed out to her and she quickly dropped the wedding one and drew her attention to the pirates. Luca stood up again and I gently rubbed his shoulder as she found other ones she liked.
"She's just growing up so fast," He sighs and tilts his head to kiss my cheek.
"She's gotta grow up sometime but she'll always be our baby girl," I told him and we walked to the other side of the store with her, where she quickly tossed the roller coaster at her Luca to build a Lego Minifigure.
"Look! Four come in a pack! I'm going to make our whole family," She says with excitement as she gets to work with the other kids and Luca and I stood back and watched her.
Soon she came back to us with a small carrying case containing four little figures. A little girl with an 'I love NY' t-shirt on, a guy with a large poof of dark brown hair in a surfer outfit with a teddy bear in his hand, another guy in a chef's outfit with a broom and bowl cut brown hair, and the last guy had a black afro, glasses, and was dressed in a clown costume.
"Jaydean...what is this?" I asked her as I saw them and Luca scratched the back of his head.
"It's all of us, silly. See, I'm the little girlie, Papa's the chef cause he's good at cooking, you're the surfer cause...well you wear a lot of clothes like that, and daddy's the clown cause he always makes me laugh," Jayde explains and Thomas quickly rejoined us.
"Oh, how cute," He commented while I was offended that she made me a surfer when I've never surfed in my life.
"I mean, you're not wrong," Luca shrugs and we walk over to the counter to pay for her things. On our way there, she stopped at a display of Rockefeller center and pointed.
"What are those people doing?" She asked and the three of us looked to where her little finger was, finding an ice skating rink with a golden statue.
"I believe they're ice skating, it's like roller skating, but on a lot of ice," Thomas tried to explain and Jayde was fascinated.
"Do you want to try it?" I asked her, thankful she pointed it out and she quickly nodded. Grabbing my hand again as we walked up to the register and bought her things. We walked back outside the store and Jaydean politely walked up to the personal assistant and asked her to hold the Lego bag.
We walked around the corner where she let go of my hand and started running towards the rink on her own. Security quickly ran after her, scooping her up by surprise she screamed out, gathering the attention of all those around us until she was brought back to me.
Thomas got down to her level and grabbed her shoulders, making sure she was okay and wiping away her tears with his scarf.
"Jaydean, we've told you over and over again, you can't run off on your own. We just don't want you to get hurt or be taken by bad people okay?" Thomas explained and she nodded.
"I'm sorry daddy, I just got really excited when I saw the statue," She squeaked as she kicked the ground with her sneakers and Thomas kissed her forehead.
"I know and that's where we're going, just don't run away from us okay? You have to hold us at all times unless we say so," He reminds her and she nods.
"Now apologize to the guys who had to rescue you," I add with my hands on my hips and she turns to the two large security guards that had run after her before we could even think of running.
"I'm sorry," She tells them and walks up to them, giving their legs hugs as an apology that they kindly accept and together we walk towards the rink again.
The large ice-skating rink had been cleared of people as we walked down the stairs to grab skates.
"Are you sure it isn't closed?" Luca asked but we were greeted by the friendly staff who had just called Thomas to let him know everything was going as planned.
I put Jayde in her skates first before putting on my own, tying up her laces super tight as I did so she wouldn't fall. The camera's had already started to gather around the rink as if these people had nothing better to do than take pictures of some singers who just wanted a little family time to themselves.
"Mommy, these blades look super sharp. Am I going to die if I do this?" She asked and I laughed out loud.
"No baby, the worst thing that could happen to you is falling on your bum," I lied, knowing she could break her arm or leg but why worry my five-year-old with the truth?
"You're not coming with us?" Luca asked Thomas and he shook his head.
"You know, you two seem to forget something here," He points to his legs and Luca blushes.
"We don't have to-"
"No, you guys go ahead, I have to take care of something anyway," He says and walks away from us with Cooper trailing beside him.
"Come on guys! I wanna try ice skating!" Jaydean chimes in and we turn to hold her little hands in ours as we bring her out to the ice.
"You know, when I was your age my dad's use to take me skating every weekend," I told her as she wobbled around a bit.
"Really? Are you going to do it with me too?" She asked, watching my feet and copying the beginners shuffle I was doing.
"If you want to," I offer and she slowly starts scooting along with the determination to be free of Luca and me.
"I want to! This is really fun!" She cries out before slipping and falling on her butt. She takes it like a champ and gets back up onto her feet with a little help from Luca before letting go of us and skating on her own.
"Look Mommy! I'm doing it!" She calls back and holds her arms out for balance as Luca reached out and held my hand, the music playing around us had changed from the latest pop songs to a throwback of John Legend's All of Me and I wanted to draw Luca a little closer than before.
"How are you so good at this?" I asked him, surprised that he wasn't slipping and falling like most people when they got on the ice for the first time. He turned to me and gave his signature smirk of mystery.
"I'm good at a lot of things. It might take you our entire lifetime to list them all," He says and I rolled my eyes.
"Wow, look at you coming in hot with the self-confidence," I chuckle, gently squeezing his hand.
"Eh, I have one boyfriend whose full of self-confidence and bravery. Maybe a little rubbed off on me," He says showing with his index finger and his thumb, just how little rubbed off on him.
I gave him a tiny shove in response and he slips, unable to catch himself I tried to, but I was too late as he falls back on the ice with a loud thud. Laughing his ass off, he groaned as he closed his eyes and covered his blushing face in embarrassment with the camera's flashing.
"I thought you were good at this? What happened to the self-confidence?" I asked and Luca semi groaned, laughing so hard he snorted which had me laughing too as I got down on one knee in front of him and Thomas silently joined me.
"It's all gone now!" He squeaked and now Thomas was laughing too, giving himself away.
When Luca finally caught his breath, he opened his big blue eyes and met our gaze while letting out a small breathy sigh.
"I love you guys," he said in the softest voice that only we would hear.
"We love you too," Thomas and I both answered simultaneously and he sat up, just now catching sight of the diamond engagement ring we were hiding in front of his curled up legs.
"No fucking way," He gasped as he held his hands to his mouth and tears instantly filled his eyes. My heart started to race because I didn't know if this was good or bad or what if he was having another attack...
"Will you marry us?" Thomas asked for both of us as I held my breath and Luca quickly nodded, somehow laughing and crying at the same time now and Jayde finally made her way around the rink on her own and skidded into me as if I was her brake.
"Of course I will," Luca answered instead of nodding and Jayde kneeled down beside her fallen father.
"Papa, are you okay?" She asked as Thomas and I together slid the ring on his left ring finger.
"I'm more than just okay baby, these are happy tears," Luca explained to our daughter who still looked confused.
"Oh! You're wearing the ring I picked out!" Jaydean decided to announce and I nearly smacked my forehead with my palm. Luca looks at the ring, unable to stop his adorable fit of giggles and smiled as he kissed Jaydean.
"That makes it even more special," He tells her and she claps with glee.
"Are you going to love Papa forever and ever too now?" Jaydean asks us the same question she asked when Thomas and I got married.
"Yes, yes we are," I answered, getting a little tearful now as Luca wrapped his arms around Thomas and I, with Jaydean sneaking her way into the middle as we all celebrated together.
I kept myself in the crook of Luca's neck, soaking in his warmth until I opened my eyes and saw the familiar green ones staring straight back at me.