" Woah ! "
With a quick duck of his quasi-fro head, Junior avoided the projectile that had been lobbed at him, twisting to one side as he did so, mere seconds after he'd entered his kitchen, on a pleasantly overcast Monday morning.
The projectile in question- a long handled wooden serving spoon- missed him by only about 2 inches, at most. It sailed past his right ear, and clattered noisily to the tiled floor beside him.
Still partially frozen after dodging the impromptu missile, Junior kept his hands raised, in what he hoped was a placating gesture , before slowly turning to face to face who was responsible for the cutlery assault.
" Woah, Tani ! What did I do ?! ", he exclaimed, lifting both hands, palms up and out.
Arms and crossed, the 5-0 Task Force's newest ranking officer stood, feet planted, on the other side of the kitchen, having fixed him with a pointed, directed gaze. It quite unmistakably said she had something to say to him.
" You left all the cupboards open ", Tani scolded, gesturing sharply behind her at them. " All of them. Just, hanging and swinging out. "
Glancing up cautiously, Junior noticed she was right; all the cupboard doors were actually open. Yawing wide, with several of them now exposing the rather neatly stacked dishes and cups they held within.
Ah, of course.
Now Junior remembered. They'd been stored that way for a while now; courtesy of Tani's newfound ( and oddly strong ) focus on neatness and rearranging things around the house.
He was also keenly aware, of course, of her somewhat unpredictable temper.
" Well, mister ? ", Tani prodded, eyebrow raised.
" Oh. That's my mistake, yeah. ", Junior smiled, a bit sheepishly, for her benefit.
It couldn't hurt, he decided, to offer something like that. Junior was well aware of the positive effects of smiling warmly to help defuse certain situations, alone with quickly admitting when you were the one to blame. Sometimes, defense was better than offense.
Sometimes, such as now.
It proved to be correct, as Tani huffed and rolled her eyes, but uncrossed her arms, and flipped a lock of brunette hair over her shoulder with a slight movement of her head.
" On my way out this morning ", Junior took the opportunity to elaborate, opting to smooth things even more with a bit of backstory, " for my usual jog, I was looking for my favorite mug. Thought I'd put it away, then remembered I'd left it in the fridge overnight full of hot tea to cool down- "
Tani raised a hand herself now, palm out.
Junior stopped, mid-sentence.
" Say no more. I'll take care of this ", she proclaimed firmly, pivoting gracefully away to do just that.
" Consider yourself fortunate you have me around to do things like this. Someone's got to keep this place shipshape. "
Tossing those last dual statements over her shoulder, Tani diligently began to ease each cabinet door closed, as Junior ambled over, thumbs hooked into his exercise shorts pockets, to retrieve the spoon.
Straightening up after grabbing it, Junior turned his head to find that Tani had her back to him, continuing to shut every cupboard door, muttering to herself about how hard was it to ensure that all doors were shut before you left.
Junior looked down at the spoon in his hand. This had, after all, just been thrown at him, over the fact that he'd left some cupboards open. That alone seemed wholly unwarranted, and technically, it was.
Yet he smiled again anyway. There was something about all of this that had him doing that, and it overshadowed nearly getting clocked by a flying fragment of wood.
Tossing the spoon onto the table in the middle of the kitchen, he strode over to where Tani was, easing the last door firmly closed.
" There. This is exactly-"
Which was as far as she got, before Junior embraced her, slipping both arms around her shoulders from behind, and gently pulling her against him.
Tani gasped slightly, quietly, out of straightforward surprise.
" Junes- ! "
"- ' how you like to keep them ? ' ", Junior filled the rest of her sentence in, speaking in a tone that had just the right amount of relaxed warmth to it. " Allright, not a problem. I'll be sure to stay on that more going forward, ok ? "
Tani let go of the cupboard door handle she was holding onto, letting her arm fall to her side.
She exhaled again, though now, it was more relaxed, mirroring what Junior had said.
" Junes, I- sorry about that. ", she admitted.
Tani shook her head.
" I just, you know. These days, I just get sensitive about things like this. Its-
She was cut off- again- when Junior proceeded to slide his right hand down her right side, before positioning it-
Squarely on her belly.
" Its not entirely your fault, upcoming mother ", Junior reminded her.
Yes. Mother.
It was roughly a month from when Tani had discovered she was pregnant, up till the current moment. During those past few weeks, the young woman had been hit by more than a few of the effects of it:
To name one, she was still getting hunger cravings. Several times, Junior had been woken- yes, woken- late into the night, not too often past midnight, by her, pressingly stating she was desperately hankering for something to eat- and more often than not, that something was toast. Whether she got it herself, or shanghaied Junior to do it for her, was a bit randomized.
Usually, Junior got the job.
Then, there was the ones Junior had just encountered ( again ) just now: taking a lot of care in organizing and cleaning, rearranging and neatness. As a military man, Junior wasn't a stranger to the concept of keeping things in order, but Tani was now getting into it- in a very, well, maternal way. It seemed like everything that had been the way it was, now couldn't be, not to her. It all had to be rearranged, altered, and replaced.
And, finally, the other one: Temper, and unpredictable triggers.
Aside from throwing a spoon at him, Tani had also once swatted him upside the head- rather hard- with a couch pillow for daring to suggest that they watch Star Wars the Clone Wars, rather than The Expanse. That also wasn't counting when she'd complained for nearly 5 straight minutes for when he'd let his wake up alarm go off at max volume.
Collectively, this was all pretty much just the tip of the iceberg. It was a learning experience for both of them, as the days marched by.
An illuminating one, as well.
Tani put her hand over his.
" You're covering for me. Again. ", Tani pointed out.
" Yes. " There was no denying that from Junior.
" You sure you want to put up with this till our new arrival gets here ? Day in, day out. "
On some level, they both knew that was a moot point. But, even so-
Some things, they just had you wanting to say them aloud. Especially something like this, something that had such an profound effect on both of them. It was the beginning, after all. They were entering it together, at least, but the scale of this journey was so much to take in, even now.
" I am certain, Tani. SEAL, remember ? Trained to handle tough situations. "
She chuckled softly, shaking her head. " There you go again, being all machismo. "
" Is that bad ? "
A short pause. " I can't say so. "
Junior kissed the spot just above her ear.
" Come on. " Junior stepped back, letting his fingers trail through her hair.
" Let's get a proper breakfast in you before we drag ourselves to the office. Enjoy what field work you can still do. "
As he headed toward the stove, planning to flick it on to prepare some oats:
" You were going to say ' Before you get all big and round ', weren't you ? ", Tani queried.
Stopping, then slowly turning to face her, Junior smirked.
" You said it, not me. "
" Aggh ! Where's that spoon !? "
They both savored the moment, and the shared laugh it brought on.
Overall, it wasn't a bad beginning.