Sleeping Arrangements

[LauraPhilly!!]

that was brilliant, i luvd the banter that went on between them

i could totally imagine them actually having that kind of conversation on the show!!

keep up the great work louise, can't wait 4 the nxt chapter!!

...xXx

[Jody]

I finally find a fic that gets me back to reviewing regularly and then my computer fails on me...

Chapter 5

I enjoyed this one although it was to be expected since a chapter filled with Mattie/Belle banter, especially the way you write these kind of scenes, had no chance of being anything less then great.

I liked Mattie warning her about being careful. She has a point there about the way they are being around each other. Knowing that Aden actually planned on proposing before she left makes me like him even more. The fact that he was still willing to put aside his feelings and support her desicion to leave and even remaining good friends, a very nice change from the guy who has a tendency to let his hurt feelings get the better of him, guess he really did grow up. And it does fit since we've seen him doing some growing up on the show while helping Belle with Irene.

Chapter 6

Poor Mattie and Ric. Can't believe they lost the baby but some angst along the way is always welcomed.

I loved this chapter so much. It's definitely my favourite. Not even because of the reunion, which was also done really well, but because of the conversation between them. You wrote that perfectly. From Belle asking why he didn't ask her to stay, Aden's reason for it, Belle explaining why she would have said no, and my favourite bit about Belle explaining how Matilda was right in a way (I like that they were still friends but they seemed to be getting a bit too comfortable there) and the part about her convincing herself that they didn't have that strong feelings, after all, because it made it easier. After all that, by the time they kissed, it just seemed like the natural thing to do. The conversation was written brilliantly and you managed to touch on everything I was hoping you would.

I love that you ended it with some fun banter between them. Their 'I love you's' were sweet.

Chapter 7

at the webcam. She's his girl These two are just too cute. Nice gift, so sweet that he kept the ring. Love the chat with Irene.

This fic is just impossible to read without smiling way too much. It's like a feel good story but while it's fluffy and all kinds of wonderful, it's interesting too. Big explosions and huge plot twists are great at times but sometimes it's nice to just read/watch characters just dealing with the normal stuff that comes with relationships or life in general. Thats what I'm enjoying the most about this fic.

I'm looking forward to the next chapter.

[HAA Girl 08]

WOW! I loved that chapter, Louise! The banter was great.

Esp the webcam bit ...and when Aden gave Belle the bracelet!

Poor Mattie and Ric. So sad that they lost the baby. Hoping they'll make an appearance in the next few chapters, hint hint.

Cannot wait for more.

[Louise_2983]

Poor Mattie and Ric. So sad that they lost the baby. Hoping they'll make an appearance in the next few chapters, hint hint.

Not sure whether that was a hint for the next chapter or a hint for Ric and Mattie to be in it. Well they are in the next chapter but we're in the middle of a heatwave over here and when it's 31 degrees I can't concentrate on writing so as soon as we get some rain it'll be up

[Louise_2983]

Chapter 8

“Ric!” Aden called out over the music blasting from the stereo and almost causing the entire house to shake. Aden could feel the reverberations under his feet as the beat pounded out all around him.

Unsurprisingly, Ric failed to hear his name being called as he continued to work on the engine parts he had scattered all over the kitchen table. Thick trails of deep black oil were smeared over his rough hands and his face was consumed by concentration.

“Ric!” Aden called out once more, again with no success.

Advancing further into the house he twirled the volume control on the stereo and his friend instantly turned around to see what had happened as the heavy metal track got quieter.

“Oh, hey man” he nodded.

“Sorry I was a little out of it there”

“Yeah so I saw” Aden let out a low chuckle as Ric wiped his hands on a nearby towel, transferring the grease from his hands on to it.

“Sorry” Ric repeated again.

“I was just, trying to forget you know?”

“Yeah” Aden nodded even though he didn’t know. He couldn’t begin to imagine how Ric was feeling or how he would ever feel himself if the same thing happened to him and Belle.

“I’m sorry about the baby Ric, how are you holding up mate?”

“I’m ok” he nodded curtly, pain flashing across his eyes as he did so.

“Apparently miscarriages before twelve weeks are quite common”

“That doesn’t mean it hurts any less man” Aden sighed softly.

“No I guess not” Ric shrugged uncomfortably before trying to change the subject.

“The girls went out somewhere if you’re here looking for Belle”

“I’m always looking for Belle mate” Aden smirked as he spoke honestly.

He was always looking for Belle. Even when she had been living on the other side of the world he had still found himself looking for her pretty face whenever he was in a crowd. Even when he knew

she was not nearby, he was always looking for her.

“But I actually came to talk to you, to see how you’re doing”

“Like I said, I’m ok” Ric nodded once more, clearly still reluctant to open up about how he was really feeling.

“And Matilda?”

“She’s...she’s...a mess” he sighed deeply.

“And nothing I say or do helps with that. In fact it just makes things worse”

“I’m sure that’s not true” Aden tried to reassure him.

“She...” Ric began and then let his sentence trail away as he blushed slightly.

“Look Ric” Aden began as he scraped back a chair and sat down next to him.

“If you don’t want to talk about it, then we don’t have to. We can talk about footie or whatever. But if you do want to talk about then, I’m listening mate”

“She wants to try again” Ric confessed quietly.

“For another baby”

“Right” Aden nodded.

“And you don’t? I thought you were as happy as she was about the pregnancy?”

“I was” Ric sighed, leaning back in his chair.

“I wanted us to have a baby, I still do but...”

“But?” Aden prompted softly.

“She wanted us to try straight away, last night”

“Oh” Aden nodded suddenly grasping his friend’s meaning.

“She was crying and a mess and when I said it wasn’t the right time, that we should wait a while before we tried again, she started yelling and accused me of not loving her or wanting a baby with her.

She even said I was probably happy that she’d lost the baby”

“I’m sure she knows that’s not true, she’s just upset mate”

“I know” Ric nodded slowly.

“But I just don’t know how to help her, how to make it any better”

“Just be there for her” Aden told him quietly.

“That’s all you can do, just be there for each other”

“She won’t even let me near her, she slept in the spare room last night and I could hear her crying herself to sleep. The walls aren’t very thick in this place. I went to her but she’d locked the door and

when I called out she just went quiet and ignored me until I went away”

“Just give her time man. For some strange reason none of us can comprehend” Aden smirked cheekily.

“She loves you. Hell she even married you. She will come round and let you back in. She’s probably talking the whole thing through with Belle right this minute and realising you were right and that last

night was too soon”

“You really think so?” Ric asked, a glimmer of hope in his blue green eyes as he heard the front door creek open and he instantly jumped to his feet.

“Yeah, I do” Aden nodded as Matilda entered the house, followed closely by Belle.

Her cheeks slightly red and tearstained, she rushed across the room and looped her arms around her husband’s waist, burying her head against his chest.

“I’m sorry” her muffled voice sounded from behind the blonde tresses hiding her pretty face.

“It’s ok” Ric murmured softly, his strong arms tightening around her.

“We’re going to be ok”

Aden smiled softly at the scene as Belle stopped beside him.

“What are you smiling at?” she whispered quietly.

“Oh just how wise I am” he laughed softly as, certain that the other couple in the room were too wrapped up in each other to even notice, she slipped her hand into his and squeezed gently.

“And the fact that my girl’s back. I missed you”

“Aden it’s been six hours” she whispered with a little giggle, his hand tightening around hers and making her heart quicken slightly.

“Not missed me then? Hmph! Charming” he mumbled at a barely audible volume.

“I always miss you, you know that” she smiled.

“But you sent me a text every half hour”

“It wasn’t that often” he objected.

“Yes it was!” she disagreed but before she could argue she had whipped her hand from his and Mattie and Ric were looking up at them.

“We should go anyway” she announced looking at Aden.

“I’ve got some flat viewings this afternoon and I could use a second opinion”

He felt his heart sink. They were back together. He’d thought that meant she was staying but she was clearly still planning to move out and the thought almost killed him. He wanted her with him not

across town in some pokey little flat.

“And I think we need to talk about things, really talk about things” Ric whispered softly as he continued to hug his wife close to him.

“Yeah we do” she nodded with a smile at Belle.

“Thanks for listening to me and making me realise how irrational I was being”

“You’re just upset, that’s understandable” Belle smiled.

“And I’m your best friend. I’m always here to listen. Remember that”

“Thank you” Matilda smiled as Ric nodded at Aden and they shared a moment of understanding over the girl’s heads. Ric was grateful to Aden for listening too but it wasn’t something either of them were

going to discuss in front of Belle and Matilda.

“No problem” Belle smiled, grabbing hold of Aden’s arm and pulling him towards the door.

“Come on you”

“Wait!” he protested as soon as they were out of sight of the house, pulling her back towards him and pressing their bodies together before he kissed her passionately.

“What time is your first viewing?” he asked as she pulled away.

“In 15 minutes!”

“And how far away is it?”

“About 10 minutes” she smirked suddenly realising what he was implying as he pulled her back to him and claimed her lips, greedily, once more.

***

“Aden!” she exclaimed loudly.

“Don’t do that!”

“Why not?” he smirked as he pressed down the piece of bread he had just popped into the toaster. Having persuaded the estate agent, a middle aged man who avidly followed Aden’s team, to let them

view the flats alone, he had already started to boil the kettle, turned the stereo on full blast and tested the water temperature by running the shower for five minutes.

“Because we don’t live here!”

“But you’re thinking about living here” he objected, joining her in the lounge again.

“And that means you need to test things like the toaster and the kettle and the sofa here” he announced as he flopped back onto the plush white sofa.

“If I do live here I’ll be renting it unfurnish-“ she began to protest but before she could finish her sentence he had pulled her down on to the sofa on top of him.

“Aden!” she giggled loudly.

“I told you, I’m just carrying out the appropriate checks” he smiled, kissing her softly.

“Like how good the sofa is for making out on”

“Well, when you put it like that” she grinned, running her palms down his toned chest.

“I’d be happy to assist with the necessary checks”

“Thought you might be” he grinned before cupping her face with his palm and pulling her red lips back to his.

Sliding forward she lay her body over his and kissed him back passionately, his hands roaming greedily over her body as she ran her fingers through his blond hair.

“No” he announced abruptly as they broke apart in need of oxygen.

“I don’t like it”

“Charming!” she pretended to sulk.

“Not that” he grinned, kissing her softly.

“The sofa. It just won’t do. In fact I don’t like anything in this flat, you’re going to have to find somewhere else”

“Aden!” she groaned loudly, resting her head against his chest as they remained cuddled up on the offending sofa.

“You’ve picked fault with the every single flat we’ve looked at today and there was nothing wrong with any of them!”

“That’s not true” he shook his head adamantly, his chin brushing her hair as he did so.

“Aden!” she sighed once more.

“The sofa not being comfy or the curtains not being the right colour are not faults when I’m going to be renting the place unfurnished! There is nothing wrong with these places!”

“Yes there is!” he continued to insist.

“What then? Because I don’t see anything! What could be possibly be wrong with them?”

“I don’t live in any of them” he told her simply, his fingertips playing with her hair and sending a shiver zipping down her spine.

“Aden” she groaned against his chest.

“We talked about this, we agreed to take things slow”

“I know but there’s going slow Belle and then there’s going backwards. We lived together for almost two years before you went to London”

“I know” she sighed once more, a hot puff of air escaping from her and tickling him through his black t-shirt.

“I just don’t want to ruin things by putting too much pressure on our relationship too soon”

“So living with me is a pressure” he pouted his full lips.

“Gee thanks Belle”

“I didn’t mean it like that. I’m just...”

“Worried that right now everything’s too perfect so something is bound to go wrong because it always does? So you’re getting in there first and making things less perfect so there’s less chance of

something going wrong?”

“How do you know me so well?” she sighed , her lips kicking up into a smile, as he gazed at her intently.

“It’s a gift” he grinned pulling her closer so he could whisper in her ear.

“Don’t move out”

“Bu-“

“No buts” he interrupted.

“Aden!”

“Belle, come on! This is just silly. I know you want to live with me as much as I want you to”

“Think a lot of yourself don’t you?” she laughed as she tilted her head upwards so she could look at him.

“Maybe” he smirked, kissing her tenderly.

“But I think way more of you and I hate being apart from you Belle. I can’t even remember how I managed when you were in London”

“Well I remember” she grinned cheekily.

“You stalked me via webcam and email! Seriously, you move all the way to London and the guy still doesn’t take the hint!”

“Oh I can take a hint” he told her seriously.

“But yours do not give off the impression that you want me to leave you alone”

“Damn, I’m really going to have to work on them then” she teased, kissing him softly.

“Don’t move out” he whispered once more, linking the fingers of his right hand through hers.

“I want you to be there first thing in the morning and last thing at night and I want to snuggle up to you on the sofa and do boring chores with you and I even want you to nag me about being messy and

my lack of ability to cook anything over than pasta”

“Well the nagging sounds quite fun” she smirked.

“And if that isn’t a big enough lure for you then it’s a lot cheaper too!” he told her picking up the real estate information from the coffee table next to them.

“I mean have you seen the rent for these places? “

“But at least I’ll be paying my own way” she protested.

“If that’s the problem then you can pay me rent” he told her seriously.

“And are you prepared to offer competitive rates?” she grinned.

“Well, the room you’re in at the moment is top rates so I’d say a few million dollars a year for that one” he smirked.

“But the left side of my bed is going cheap”

“That’s me moving out then!” she exclaimed trying to sit up but the strong arm he had around her pulled her back down.

“Babe” he whispered against her soft cheek.

“I don’t care which room you sleep in. Yes, I’d prefer it to be mine but either way as long as you’re in the same building and not forty minutes across town like you would be in any of the flats we’ve

looked at today, then I’ll be happy”

“Well not all of us can afford the rent in your area!”

“You don’t need to babe” he smiled softly.

“If paying me rent would make you feel better then go ahead but I don’t need rent. If I needed rent I’d get a lodger. I don’t want a lodger I want you”

“I want all that too” she smiled.

“The snuggling and you being there when I wake up and when I go to sleep. And the nagging sounds like the best bit” she grinned.

“Because if we fight then we’re going to have to make up aren’t we?”

“Oh you betcha!” he smirked, taking her lips and kissing her hungrily.

“I never really wanted to move out” she sighed, taking the property info sheet from him and slapping it back on the table.

“I just felt like I should”

“Is that you staying then?” he questioned with a grin before his lips worked their way from her chin, down her throat, peppering hot, hungry kisses as he did so in case she needed any extra persuading.

“Yeah” she grinned.

“I think it is...but still in the guest room for now if that’s ok?”

“For now?” he arched his eyebrows suggestively.

“Yes for now!” She grinned.

“I don’t intend to stay there forever, I just think that up until now for the past year if we got tired of each other we could just turn off our laptops. I don’t think going from that to being on top of one

another is go- ADEN!” she slapped him forcefully as she saw the smirk spread across his face.

“Babe, you already appear to be on top of me” he laughed nodding to her position above him.

“And I never get tired of you trust me. I could spend every second of the rest of my life with you and I wouldn’t get tired of you”

“Aww, you’re such a sap” she grinned, leaning down to press her lips against his.

“But you love me” he smiled, kissing her back softly.

“Yes I do. ” she nodded her head in agreement.

“I never get tired of you either and believe me I see plenty of sleepovers in our future but right now I just need to take things slow, settle back in to all this again. I’ve only been back in Australia for

four days!”

“You know” he grinned mischievously.

“When you say sleepovers it conjures up images of girls painting each others nails and having pillow fights in their undies”

“Well I’ll paint your nails if you want” she laughed, kissing him once more.

“But I wasn’t planning on wearing any undies so...”

He groaned loudly.

“I think I’m going to be taking a lot of cold showers until these sleepovers happen”

“Good job the water pressure is better at yours than it is here then isn’t it?” she chuckled before she pulled him into a passionate kiss.

“Erm babe?” he questioned against her lips as she continued to kiss him.

“Can you smell burning?”

As if on cue the fire alarm began to sound and they both lifted their head to find thick black smoke flooding out of the toaster and filling the kitchen area.

“I don’t think the toaster is up to scratch either!” she announced as she pressed her head against his chest and giggled.

“I’m just going to HAVE to stay at your house now!”

[Jody]

I like that you wrote in how Matilda and Ric are coping with losing the baby. I thought you handled that really well. It's nice that Ric as someone he can talk to as well.

Some more great banter between Aden and Belle. I'm loving all the relationship talk between them. It's good to see them discussing this stuff. Aden was sweet the way he got sad over the idea of Belle moving. I'm glad she is not moving out.

[bradyell]

If these updates get any sweeter i'm gonna need a trip to the dentist

I just LOVE this fic!! It's like a big bar of dairy milk everyime you update and that is high praise indeed because i ADORE dairy milk!

The chat between Aden and Ric was really nice, hope things work out well for Ric and Mattie.

Soooooooooo glad that Belle isn't moving out!

Can't wait for more!

[hitmanfan]

Yeah, Belle's not moving out.

Loved there talk and how they were both there for Ric and Mattie.

[LAURZY!]

Loved it

The chat between Ric and Aden was so good! I loved that Ric had someone there for him

Really happy Belle isn't moving out, there make out session in the house they went to see was awesome!

[~Zoe~]

Great chapter

I like the talk that Aden and Ric had, & hope Ric and Mattie will be okay.

Glad that Belle is'nt moving out