Author Note: So I'm a little stuck on something with Thunder Chasing The Wind, so I went through my requests in my ask box for anything that popped out to me, and this is what I came up with. Enjoy!
Date Night
"Della, Owen, just do what I ask." Riley cried out, feeling her exhausted body as she sat on the stairs, listening for the running water in the bathroom, the sound of their electric toothbrushes going off sighing.
She went to run her hand through her hair finding it caught in her hair-tie, trying to undo it, tugging on her tangled hair, tears burning in her eyes.
She rested her face in her hands. It had been a long day, a long week, a long month. Everything was building up, when was the last time she had five minutes to herself?
"Stop it Della" Owen cried.
"You started it" Della whined.
"Don't make me come in there, wash your faces, and go to bed." Riley felt her vocal cords strain as the pounding headache she'd had for what felt like days throbbed.
The kids were silent after their mother's warning, a moment later the bathroom door closed and each scurried to their own rooms.
Riley continued sitting on the stairs, her hands shaking, tears in her eyes, she knew she should go and tuck them in, but she couldn't bring herself to get up at the moment. Her phone vibrated in the kangaroo pocket of her hoodie. She slipped it out, seeing the text from her husband, Home soon, sorry I missed dinner.
When was the last time Lucas wasn't home late? When was the last time she hadn't left him a plate of dinner to heat up when he walked in? Why did he keep having house calls so late at night?
She felt the knot in her stomach as she tried to push away that thought, the same one that crept into her mind several times a day. Sometimes when she'd catch a glimpse of herself in the mirror after a day of running errands, shuffling the kids around, taking care of the PTA and all the other random things that seemed to land on her plate.
She pulled herself up on the stairs, wiping her eyes. She checked herself in the mirror, pulling her hair back with the tie that was barely stretchy any longer. She took a calming breath before she went into Owen's room. He was on the bed, playing with two monster trucks crashing into each other.
"Do I have to go to bed?" Owen looked up at his mother, his chocolate eyes mirroring her own. "Daddy isn't home yet."
Riley sighed, "Yes, it's your bedtime." She moved to her knees as Owen joined her to say a little prayer. Once he was tucked in she kissed his forehead, turned out all the lights except the glowing bunny on his dresser before moving across the hall to her daughter.
Della was already under the covers, reading a chapter book when Riley came in. She looked up, turning the corner of the page down before putting the book on the nightstand.
"How's Uncle Josh's new book?" Riley sat on the bed.
Della shrugged, "It's okay," she looked down at her hands, "Why isn't Daddy home?"
"House call, he'll be home soon and he'll want you to be asleep." Riley took her daughters hand, "Let's say your prayer and then get you to bed."
Della nodded as they said her bedtime prayer before Riley turned out the lights, pausing at the door as she turned to her, "Go to sleep sweetheart, don't stay up reading."
"Yes Mommy." Della snuggled deeper under the covers before the door was closed.
Riley breathed a sigh of relief as she realized both kids were in bed. She grabbed the hamper from the bathroom and made her way down the stairs, noticing that the plate she left for Lucas was still sitting on the table.
He still wasn't home.
She opened the basement door, clicking the light on before carrying the dirty clothes downstairs.
Lucas parked the truck, he knew it was late, he knew he couldn't keep doing these late shifts, but it was extra money, and thankfully tonight was his final shift. He sat in the driver's seat for a few moments before he dug into his bag and found what he was looking for.
When he finally found it, he checked to make sure he had everything else he'd picked up on his way home. He knew Riley was stressing out, that she'd been doing everything at the house lately, everything with the kids, he could only hope that she understood what he'd been doing.
He went up the front steps of the porch, entered the house quietly thankful that the dogs didn't bark waking the kids. He moved as softly as he could towards the kitchen, his plate of dinner to heat up still waiting under its plastic wrap.
He glanced towards the office, and saw that the lights were off, he didn't hear the TV or see it's blue light glowing from the family room. He went to the basement door, over the sound of the washing machine he could hear her crying, his heart breaking that he'd done this to her.
His body was cold with guilt as he ignored the dinner plate and went up to their bedroom. He went to their bathroom and began to turn the bath on, filling the tub with hot water and her favorite bubble bath. He pulled out the LED candles, setting them up to create a calming glow.
He moved into the bedroom, setting up more of the candles, putting the package he'd put together that afternoon on the bed before placing the flowers he'd gotten on the way home in a vase. He opened a bottle of her favorite wine, pouring a glass for her.
He looked around, trying to see if he missed anything just as the door opened, he turned to see his wife. "Riley?"
She looked at her husband, trying to understand what was going on. She didn't care, whatever he wanted could wait, she just wanted to take a quick shower before she had to switch the laundry, before Lucas fell asleep.
It was worse than he'd realized as she didn't speak. "Honey, I know you're tired, I know you're exhausted."
"Do you?" She snapped, her eyes filled with a fire Lucas had only seen a couple of times before, and never directed at him. "You know what Lucas, if you're cheating on me, just pack a bag and leave now."
His mouth dropped, was that what she was thinking? "Riley, no, I would never, I could never cheat on you."
She was surprised to see the hurt in his eyes as he looked at her. "Then why haven't you been coming home at a decent hour? Why are you always out on house calls, you have never in the past decade that we've been married? Why haven't you made love to me?"
He ran his hand over his golden hair before going to the bed and picking up the package, "I've been putting in extra hours to make sure we could afford this. That means being on call for the evening shifts, and all the damn cows and horses in this county seem to want to have emergencies at night."
Riley looked at the box in her hand, "So you're not sleeping with that skinny little blonde that is always hitting on you at church, yeah I've seen it."
"God no Riley" He chuckled knowing the idea was ridiculous, "I know you're tired, I know you're overworked, and part of that is my fault because I haven't been the best husband, co-parent at all lately. I was trying to keep a promise, and maybe I just fucked up, maybe I could've put this off a few more years."
Riley looked down at the box, "What is this Lucas? What promise?"
He reached out to push her messy hair from her eyes, "Open it."
She rolled her eyes before she pulled off the ribbon and opened the box. Pale purple tissue paper inside propped up the printed-out plane reservations that laid over their updated passports. She studied the reservation sheet, "What is this for?"
"Our Wedding Anniversary," he softly smiled, "Your parents are coming down on Friday, they'll stay with the kids. I tried to get Auggie or Zay to come but they couldn't get the time off. You and I fly out Saturday, and then we'll have ten days in France."
Riley blinked, feeling tears in her eyes that were different than the ones she cried earlier, "You fool, I've been here thinking you didn't love me anymore and here you are trying to give us a second honeymoon."
He reached out to wipe her tears away, "You do so much for everyone but yourself Riley. I want you to take this glass of wine, go into the bathroom and have a bubble bath, have a date with yourself. I'm going to finish the laundry, and anything else that needs to be done tonight. If you want to crawl into the bed before me and take up all the space, go for it. You deserve it."
Riley put the box down before kissing him, "How could I deserve you after I accused you of having an affair?"
"I wouldn't be where I am without you, I don't think I deserve you." He kissed her forehead, "Go before the bath gets cold, please just enjoy yourself, relax, let the day melt away."
"Okay, okay." She reluctantly pulled away, "My list of stuff for tonight is down on the kitchen table, it's not a lot left."
"Just go relax, I've got it taken care of." He felt relief wash over him as he watched her go into the bathroom.
Lucas heated up his dinner in the microwave while he went to switch out the laundry. He ate quickly before he went around the house picking up the kid's toys, finding papers that needed to be dealt with, cleaning up the kitchen, he went back to get the dried laundry, folding it, putting them in the different piles to be brought up in the morning.
He looked at the list again, realizing he still had to get lunches made for the kids, set up the coffee maker for the morning and what seemed like a dozen random things he hadn't realized until now had taken for granted.
Riley sank into the hot bubble bath, enjoying the scent before she took a sip of wine. It took her a few minutes before the guilt started to bubble inside of her, how could she think he was having an affair?
She took another sip of wine. Closing her eyes, feeling the stress start to fade away along with the guilt.
Lucas was giving her what she had wanted.
Time to herself.
She lifted her leg just the way Ariel did in The Little Mermaid when she first became human. Realizing she couldn't recall the last time she shaved her legs she grabbed her razor and took her time. She continued, shocked at how relaxing she found this before she drained the tub and got in the shower, washing her hair, conditioning it, taking her time under the hot spray before she got out, wrapping the fluffy towel around her body before she slowly toweled dry.
She realized Lucas was still downstairs, as she grabbed the wine glass taking a final sip before she went and pulled out her favorite short, silk nightie and climbed into the bed.
Lucas wasn't sure how he got up the stairs, he wasn't sure how Riley hadn't snapped before today at him. He realized all he'd done in the time he was trying to prepare the perfect wedding anniversary for her, all he'd done was add more pressure, more stress to her.
Outside the bedroom, he slipped off his boots before he looked in on Owen and Della. He went into the room, seeing her in bed as he quickly changed and got ready to crawl in next to her.
When he pulled back the bedding he saw what she was wearing he smiled as he laid next to her giving her a soft kiss, which was quickly deepened as she returned it. He pulled away seeing her eyes open, "Were you playing opossum?"
She smirked, "Maybe, thank you I needed that tonight."
"I'm sorry, I made this all worse trying to get this surprise for you."
She took his hand, kissing his palm, "I'm sorry for thinking the worst."
"I get it, I've been a bit distant, if I hadn't been I would've never been able to keep this a surprise." He sighed, "I love you Riley, I don't want you to ever feel like you have to do it all, and I know that you have been."
She closed her eyes for a moment, "I could've told you, but I didn't."
"No more secrets?"
"No more secrets."
He breathed a sigh of relief, "I love you Ri, seriously, I'm sorry for making you feel stressed, awful, unwanted."
She bit her lip, "You still want me?"
"Every moment of every day Ri, you might not think you're beautiful when you've got oatmeal on your shirt, your hair messy, you've only had a few hours' sleep." He caressed her cheek, "Honey, I will want you until the day after I die."
She let her finger trace the palm of his hand, "Well you said it was my date night, right?"
"Yeah?"
"Well, unless you're too tired," her hand moved to his hip, "Maybe we could start making out, see what happens next."
"Whatever you want." He kissed her, feeling her relax into his body as they slowly reconnected, in the late hours of the night.
When Riley woke up with the morning light crossing over her, she felt Lucas pull her back to him, murmuring as he kissed her neck. "Lucas, the kids will come in soon if I don't have breakfast made."
He sighed, "I set out bowls and cereal, Della can get the milk."
"You're so smart, no wonder I married you." She nuzzled his neck.
"I thought you could sleep in for a little while this morning."
"Thank you, you really are the best."
He scoffed, "I'm glad you think so, I promise you more date nights, real date nights, especially in France."
"Oh yeah, you've got the whole thing planned huh?"
"Yeah, I do." He kissed the top of her forehead, "I gotta get up and shower, you stay in bed for a little bit."
"Fine, I will." She sighed as she watched him go into the bathroom. She looked around the room, yesterday had been a hard day, but she knew today would be better, and so would the others. She just had to believe it, trust it, and know remember that her husband loved her beyond what she had ever thought was possible.
She got up, going to the dresser, pulling out her clothes for the day, feeling refreshed.