A/N: Who all was cheering like it was the first moon landing during the mid-season finale?! I know I was! Best scene in the history of The Secret Life, people! Ricky and Adrian are the BEST! COUPLE! EVER! And in celebration, I wrote a fic!
I Just Wanna Love You
"I thought you were asleep." Ricky couldn't keep the faint smile off of his lips as he spoke.
"I guess your words were the rays of sunlight on my face." Adrian angled her arm and pushed her elbow into her pillow before settling her chin and the side of her cheek into her palm. "Was I not supposed to hear that admission?"
He sauntered back to the bed and hung there in the shadows of the morning. The only time she'd seen Ricky more content had been when she'd seen him hold his son. "No, it's okay that you did." He sat down on the edge of the bed. "I was going to tell you when you woke up, but you just looked so peaceful that I couldn't help myself."
Adrian tilted her head. "You…you were watching me sleep?"
Ricky laughed as he slid across the cheats so that he was lying next to her. "So you weren't faking the whole time?"
"I wasn't faking." She rolled her dark eyes. "I was dreaming…and when I woke up, it was coming true."
Ricky slipped his arm around the pillow and brushed her hair with his fingertips. It was a mane of onyx satin. "I wanna know something."
"Hmm?" She'd closed her eyes and was soaking in the strokes of his hand.
"Tell me about that future you envision." He swallowed, though not uneasily. Everything was at ease right then. As far as his world was concerned, all was at peace. "How many kids do you want?"
Adrian opened her eyes, looking amused. Her full lips pressed together like plump flower petals as she considered his question. "Why?" she finally asked. "I thought you didn't want anymore kids."
"I'm not saying I do," he clarified, "I'm just wondering…there's always a chance I could be open to the possibility one day." He shrugged, never taking his eyes away from hers. "After all, there was one time in my life where I never wanted kids at all and now I have John…so maybe I could be open to more kids someday too." His finger looped a ringlet in her hair. "You never know."
Adrian pressed her hand to his bare chest and scooted forward, lingering to feel the beat of his heart. She then leaned her head against his chest and closed her eyes, envisioning a future for them. "Mmm…three. One girl, one boy, and…one complete and total surprise."
Ricky traced his fingernails down her bare arm. "You like surprises?"
"Only good surprises," she clarified.
"Like what? What would be a good surprise for you?"
Adrian laughed. His nails felt like the edges of five feathers against her olive skin. "Waking up to hearing you tell me you love me was a good surprise."
"You knew I loved you before I knew I loved you."
"But hearing you say it…that was the surprise. It was perfect. More perfect than I could've ever dreamt. Knowing something and having someone admit that truth to the world are completely different."
"I didn't admit it to the world."
"Yeah you did. This is you and me. We have our own world. That's all I need."
Ricky twined his arm around his girlfriend's bare back and curled it under her arm before finally resting it against her stomach, which was covered only by his bed sheet. He'd never held her before, but it felt good. Great. Amazing, when admitted the truth. There was something so complete about the gesture. He'd never held anyone before Adrian, and as he laid there with her, he never wanted to hold anyone else after. "Tell me," he said, his voice as smooth as her hair, "what would this girl you dream of look like?"
"What would she look like…" Adrian paused to draw invisible designs on his chest with her index finger. "I think…I think she'd look like me."
"So she'd be beautiful?"
"If you say so."
"I do."
Adrian giggled. "I do too, then." She clicked her tongue to the roof of her mouth. "But she wouldn't look exactly like me," she continued. "I think she'd have a combination of our lips."
It was Ricky's turn to laugh. "Why?"
"Mine are too big, yours are too small…hers would meet in the middle. But most everything else would be me. Except for her smile. That would be all you. And her smirk. And the way her eyes would squint when she's plotting something, she'd get that from you too. And-"
"She'd have your accent."
"My accent?"
"Yeah, the one that hitches on certain words when you talk. Spanish and Italian words, for example. She'd probably have your strut too."
Adrian rolled over, making sure not to move too much so that Ricky's arm was still entwined around her waist. Amusement twinkled in her eyes. "Oh no," she grinned, her Latina accent hitching on the word as she pressed her index finger to his lips, "she'd have your strut."
He curled his lips and kissed the pad of her finger. "Alright," he eased, "I suppose she might have my strut…but she'd had your hips. They'd sway like yours do when you walk." He nipped at her index finger.
"So…she'd have an Underwood swagger with Latina flavor."
"And what about the boy?" He wondered out loud. Ricky couldn't believe he was actually talking about their hypothetical children. After John, he had been dead set on never having anymore children. Now, he could actually see his daughter. She was so real in his mind's eye he could almost her voice in his ears.
"Oh, that's easy," Adrian purred. "He'd be just like you…but with darker skin of course. Lighter than mine, but darker than yours. Kissed by the sun, as they say. He'd be the envy of his peers. A regular Jacob Black in the making."
"Didn't know you were into Twilight."
"Just New Moon," she grinned. "I generally prefer classics like Shakespeare, but I'm a bit of a hopeless romantic at heart. What can I say?" she grinned, "I like BlackSwan." She shook her head, tickling Ricky's toned chest with her satin waves. "Anyway, he'd be like that. But he'd have your lush head of hair…but it would be darker, a French Roast color like mine, but streaked with soft highlights of brunette crème like yours."
"You make him sound like a Starbucks coffee."
"It is the best commercial coffee." Adrian drew the finger Ricky had playfully bit at over his jaw line. It was strong, like the walls he'd built up around his heart. "He'd have that too," she whispered, "every feature of your face and your chest…everything that makes me and every other girl love you." She slid her tongue along the edge of her teeth. "And he'd know exactly how to talk to a woman."
"Would I teach him that?"
"It would come natural, but you'd teach him anyway, and he'd hang on every word you had to say. And you know what you'd tell him?"
"What?"
"That it's okay to open your heart to someone."
"Maybe I would…" his voice faded with the shadows that the sunlight was slowly scaring away.
"My turn." She pulled the sheet up to her chin and eyed her boyfriend from an upside down angle. "What would their names be?"
Ricky leaned back, resting his head against the headboard. "Enrique," he laughed. "After your father."
"Wouldn't that be Ruben?"
"Ruben makes me think of a sandwich. Not a good name for a boy. Besides…I'd enjoy hearing you say his name."
"Is that so?" She sat up. "Enrique."
A primal growl came from the pit of Ricky's throat. "I crave that accent."
"Hmm." Adrian crawled on top of him and pressed her hands to his arms, pinning him down. "And what about the surprise?"
Ricky squinted. "You tell me," he challenged.
"Hmm…it would have to be a neutral name."
"Like…"
"Like…"
"Lee," they both spoke in unison.
"Lee Underwood," Ricky tested aloud. "It's an interesting combination."
"I like it." She laced her hands with his. "And what about the girl?"
Ricky glanced away. "I don't know if you'd be so keen on what that one."
"Why?" her eyes flashed with genuine curiosity. "Unless," she smirked, "you're about to suggest Amy in which case-"
"Antonia."
A lump formed in Adrian's throat. Her eyes were almost instantly glass, like liquid diamonds. "Antonia?" she asked; her accent in full fire. "Why would you-"
"Because if it hadn't been for Antonio, I wouldn't have you here now, would I? You'd still be in his bed…dreaming of what his children would look like. And I guess in a way, I want to thank him." He lifted his thumb and wiped it under Adrian's eyelashes, where her water diamonds were falling down. "I didn't mean to make you-"
She was kissing him before he knew it. And oddly, her tears seemed to intensify their heat instead of putting out the flames as one might assume. "I love you," she breathed. Each breath was like steam on his lips. "You have no idea how much I love you. And every time I think I couldn't love you more, I fall in love with you all over again."
Right then and there, Ricky silently thanked The Powers That Be. Goddess, God, gods… He had never been a religious person, but in that moment looking into her eyes and those three words in her voice pounding in his ears and her lips on his, Ricky knew that whatever had brought Adrian Lee into his life had been divine intervention. Quietly, he thanked Antonio. He never knew the man had even existed until yesterday, but somehow he felt as though he knew him. And he owed him. He wanted to make him proud. "I love you too. And swear, I'll never let you down again, Adrian. I'll never leave you." He laced his hands with hers and pulled them up to his face where he breathed soft kisses onto each of her fingers. "You can count on me forever."
