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“Ours.” she replies.

A grin slowly pulls my lips up. Ours.

She looks at me like she might regret saying that. “You’re getting that Grinchy grin on your face like your plan’s finally coming together,” she climbs off the stool.

I shake my head, walking toward her, wrapping my arms around her waist. “It sounds really good hearing that coming out of your mouth.”

“What? That Maggie’s basically my child too? She hangs out with me more anyways. At least I let her on the bed.” She shrugs, smiling at me.

“She’s our child,” I corrected her. “Until you decide you want to have my children.” I move my hands to her ass, giving it a squeeze with both hands. “If that’s even in your future…”

Eliana blushes, moving my hands. “I mean, I wouldn’t be opposed to it.”

“Great, we can start after the World Series.” I smirk at her, giving her a kiss before I walk over to the fridge.

“You’re fairly confident you’ll make it there again?” She asks, perking my attention again.

“If we don’t, I think I might actually crash out.” I look over at her. “I’ll be devastated if we don’t make it. The team is on a fucking tear, it’s the one thing we deserve.”

“I don’t disagree with that sentiment,” she tells me. “I think you all have worked your asses off so far. It would be devastating for you guys to miss that…”

I lean up against the counter, crossing my arms over my chest. “Do you ever think about the future?”

This question takes her back. She nearly chokes on her water before looking up at me again. “Pardon?”

“Do you ever think about the future?” I repeat. “Like, what’ll happen after this season? If you’ll be reassigned to somewhere else?”

Eliana pauses for a beat. I don’t think anyone has really asked her this, and it was the first time we really were talking about it.

I didn’t like to think too far into the future, but with the end of the season approaching faster than I’d like it to, I needed to start thinking about these things. I needed to prepare myself if she was going to be shipped off somewhere else, away from me.

“I…I guess I haven’t really put a lot of thought into it,” she finally answers. “Nothing’s been discussed on if I am going to be going somewhere else next season. I know there’s a chance I can get hired on as a content creator for the Milwaukee Crafters in general for MLB, and I would be able to live where I want.”

I nod. “That would be ideal.”

“I haven’t really thought about what would happen if I’m assigned to someone else,” she mumbles. “I haven’t really thought about what would happen with leaving this…again.”

“Leaving what, El?”

“This,” she circles her hands between us. “Our relationship. The thought of it being taken away again scares me to death because we’ve worked so hard to patch everything up. I wouldn’t be able to bear the distance.” Her voice cracks a little, and my chest tightens when I hear her talk like this.

We hadn’t really put a label on what we were again. I wasn’t a big stickler on labels, so we really could call it whatever we wanted to. Hearing this be called a relationship by Eliana just solidified we were in this together.

I pushed myself off the counter, walked over by her and lifted her onto the island, stepping between her legs. “I’m going to make sure you stay here,” I reassured her. “I’ll fight like hell if it means I get to come home to you every night.”

Eliana looked into my eyes as I looked back into hers, trying to grasp how she was feeling about everything. “What if it happens, though?”

“Then we make it work, El.” I told her. “We make sure we don’t make the same mistake twice, and we’re the center of our universes. We make sure no matter what happens, we’re in this together through it all.”

Her hands wrap around my neck, pulling me closer to her. “I don’t want to lose you again,” she whispers.

I put my hands on either side of her, leaning in close to her so our lips are mere inches apart from each other. “You aren’t losing me, El. I love you too much to let you go.”

Her expression changes, a soft smile forms on her lips. That was the first time I told her I loved her. “I love you too, Wy.” She replies before sealing our mouths together with a kiss. She pulls back and has this giant grin on her face. “Say that more often, I like hearing it.”

I chuckle, kissing her again before standing upright. “Oh, I will. I like saying it.”

“So say it again.”