"Where are the kids?"
"Smith is having dinner at Liz's and Gabby is taking a bath."
"Uh-oh," I said, though I was secretly cheering inside. It was Monday, not the weekend. That's important because I'd anticipated Gabby's period sometime in the previous two days, but it hadn't made an appearance. I'd fucked her without protection a little over a week ago, so a period was a good thing. That said, I was mostly cheering because it meant she could start taking the pill and I would be fucking her without protection a lot more. I didn't say any of this to my wife.
"Is she OK?"
"Yes. She came home pale, headache. Took some ibuprofen and went to lie down. When I checked in a bit ago, she said she was going to take a bath."
My girl struggled with periods, every day of every single one of them since she was 13. Five years later, well I'm not going to do the math, I majored in English, but that was a lot of struggling.
I started moving toward Stella. "OK, I'll start dinner."
"What do you think I'm doing?"
We were standing in the kitchen, I'd just stopped working for the day, come out of my office, and found Stell washing her hands. She'd finished while we were talking and they were dry by that point. I watched closely as she placed them on her hips.
"Well, it looks like you're gearing up to let me have it." I smiled.
"You don't have to cook every single night, Danny."
"I don't. Sometimes we get takeout."
She glared at me which made my smile wider. "Is this about the pancake debacle?"
"Babe."
"Daniel."
"I'm not sure I would describe fire damage as a debacle."
"We're having spaghetti." She made sure I caught her eyeing the knife block on the counter.
I put my hands up and started slowly backing out of the kitchen. "I'll just leave you to it."
"Appreciated."
I smiled at her until an answering grin threatened her murderous wife act. "Fire extinguisher is under the sink." Then I turned and ran.
Upstairs, I knocked lightly on the bathroom door. I didn't want to startle Gabby, but I didn't want to alert Stella to the fact that I was visiting our daughter while she was in the bath. I opened the door and slipped inside, closing it quietly behind me.
Gabby's eyes were wide. "Where's mom?"
"Cooking dinner."
Gabby instantly looked concerned. "I should get out and get dressed. We might need to evacuate."
I laughed quietly and knelt down next to the tub. Her shoulders and most of her tits were above the soapy water, but the rest of her was hidden. I loved that she didn't feel the need to hide or cover herself from me anymore.
"How are you feeling?"
She shrugged. "A little better, I guess."
"Cramps?"
She nodded. This was the first time I was venturing into specifics. As her dad, I'd always left it at a general inquiry of her well being, but I'd told her she should be comfortable talking about this stuff.
"What else is bothering you?"
She sighed. She knew the purpose of my questions, though I did genuinely want to know. "I had a headache, but that's gone. My back hurts and my boobs hurt really bad."
"Does this usually help?" I gestured to the bath, figuring it must or she wouldn't do it, but I didn't know to what extent.
"A little."
A hand came out of the water to brush an annoying strand of hair away from her cheek before disappearing again. The move left lines of water running down her neck, over her chest, and choosing direction around the swell of her breast. I didn't want to be an asshole with a one track mind, but maybe I was an asshole with a one track mind because I wanted to lick the water off her skin.
"Mostly it means I can just sit here and relax without worrying about it. It's pretty bad the first day."
"The bleeding?"
She blew out a breath that ruffled some of the fly away strands of hair at her face. "Yes!"
I shushed her gently while smiling at her.
"Why aren't you grossed out?"
"First of all, it's not gross. A lot of stuff goes on down there and guys aren't thinking about any of it when our mouths, hands, or dicks are down there too. Secondly, it could never be gross because it's you."
She smiled for a moment, but it faded when her eyes moved down to my mouth.