DEEPER THAN SKIN

A chapter story

Comments:

This story was written for someone I know and love very much who has gone through something very similar to these two men. This story is about two fathers who both have hard-working lives, dangerous jobs and two kids to care for….but where is the two kids' mothers, you ask? Ryan and Devin both have wives, but their wives couldn't really care less about them. The only thing they want is money. Join others as they read this inspiring tale of two men who find something in two women…..something deeper than skin.

WARNING: Mild language(a.k.a. no 'F' word)

CHAPTER 1: Just a Wish

Five o'clock in the morning. The sun had just begun to appear over the tops of the buildings on the horizon of Jump City, but some citizens of the community were already getting up and heading to work - or had even been up for a while. The light was dim outside, cars zoomed quietly along the street, buildings and stores began to open up here and there for the day, and the air was still chilly after the night's reign on the earth.

A typical early day...and one that Ryan Roth had already seen many times.

Five o'clock in the morning, already it was time to leave the house. It was still an hour later than when he used to leave, but now he always left an hour later, because he was not the only one that had to go. It had been that way for a while. He placed the last of the night before's papers in his brief case, adjusted his dark jacket, and checked the time.

Five o' five. He had a seven o'clock meeting, and rounds in the weaponry stations before that. He would have to leave very soon. Ai, why hadn't he stopped in and checked to see if she was awake--?

Small, hurried footsteps on the staircase interrupted his thoughts. And sure enough, only a second later, two small figures came running in through the doorway, all dressed, small backpacks packed with necessities for the day. As usual, they had gotten themselves up early, and completely prepared themselves so as not to put any more work on their father's shoulders. It was an adaptation that was sadly necessary for them - due to the absence of their mother's care.

Ah, Jade. She wasn't gone. She wasn't even truly absent. She lived in the house with them, but she simply took no interest in their home life or in lives of their children in the least bit. She slept in late, went to her job when she wanted to, or just went shopping all day if it suited her. The children had learned to fend for themselves far more than any little one should have to, and Ryan knew they hurt without the proper love of a mother in their lives. An old friend of his, Devin Rorek, was experiencing the same thing in this damn world...two children and no mother to speak of. That problem coupled with work made mornings like this seem trivial - even though they accented the grief of the situation.

Four-year-old Rain and two-year-old Donovan came in through the door, Rain clutching her brother's small hand while he innocently sucked on his thumb with the other. They knew what time they had to leave, and when they had to be at daycare, and they knew it was very bad whenever Daddy was late for work.

With a small knowing smile and a shake of his head, Ryan simply approached his two beautiful offspring, before kneeling down to give them both a good-morning hug. He was eagerly accepted as little Rain and Donovan quickly took the opportunity and ran into their Daddy's open arms.

Clutching them tightly, Ryan tenderly whispered good-morning in their young ears, before hoisting them up in his strong, gentle arms. Chuckling lightly at their yelps of laughter, he spun them playfully around the room once, before stopping to grab both of their lunch bags (which had been previously filled the night before) and his brief case. Using any free limb, he somehow made it out the door, turned off the light, and closed the door behind him.

He carried his two struggling children down their walkway and onto their driveway. He heaved them both onto the roof of his not-so-new Jaguar 106, where both Rain and Donovan slowed their laughing and began to actually breathe.

Ryan chuckled to himself again as he swung open the rear door, revealing two neatly set car-seats. One at a time, he hauled his kids off the roof and into their car-seats, buckling them
in easily--quite used to doing this himself. Once both of them were all set, he shut the door and got in the driver's seat. He placed their lunches and his brief case in the passenger seat next to him, before turning to start up the car.

The way to Daycare was as it always was. Ryan would make sure Rain and Donovan knew what to do, made sure that they remembered their manners, reminded Rain to watch over Donovan, told them both to tell him if ANYTHING went wrong when he came back, told them both to eat ALL of their lunch, and the such.

Finally, the large, familiar building would come in sight. Ryan would park by the curb, get out, help the kids get out of their car seats, hand them their lunches, hug and kiss them goodbye, then hop right back in and head off to barely make it in time for work. Leaving Rain and Donovan to simply take each others' hands, after watching Daddy disappear, and head on in to their awaiting caretakers for the day.

Ryan sighed as his watched both his darling children head off inside the giant building from his rear-view mirror. Oh, how he wished they didn't have to do that. He would do anything to have them have a mother's care. Not only that, but he had minimal time with them as well, making him feel all the more guilty.

Taking the steering wheel with his left hand, the dark-haired father pulled out his cellphone with his right, before flicking it open and speed-dialing the one person he found a close friend nowadays. Devin Rorek.

He placed the phone to his ear and patiently waited for the other dark-haired father to pick up his cell.

It didn't take long.

There was a brief clicking sound. "...yeah...hold on...okay. Hey, Ryan! Wassup? Got the kids to Daycare already?" The good-humored voice greeted him.

"Yes, in fact." Ryan replied, smiling slightly with a roll of his dark eyes, "You?"

"Same here. Those little freaks will be terrorizing Mrs. Ziller for the entire day and I couldn't be happier." Devin chortled. "You heading right to work then? I'll probably see you in the office if you're going right away."

"I'm going right away." Ryan replied with a sigh, "I'll see you there, then?"

"You bet." Devin replied with a smile. "I'll see you there, bud." And with that, the phone hung up with a single click.

Ryan chuckled lightly in humor of his best friend's attitude before slapping his fold-up cell closed and swiftly slipping it back into the front pocket of his black-leather brief case.

This man was very different from most. With a very deep understanding of the world, sin, and life, his entire existence was dampened with the dark tint of reality. Well, almost his entire existence. As hard as he tried, Ryan Roth could not find fault in his two most beloved children--the only happiness and meaning he had in his life.

This was the time in the morning where he thought about anything and everything. His wife, kids, job, friends, house, money, investments, cars...and wishes. Oh, were there things he wished for. Things he prayed for every night before he slept. Things he thought about in his spare time. Things he would give up everything for. One of them? Well, it's simple, really. Something he lost a long time ago.

Love.

A woman's love.

A wife's care for him and his children.

A spouse's support.

A partner's companionship.

A female's touch to everything.

Just a wish.

With a shake of his dark head, Ryan burst back into real life and parked his vehicle in the back parking lot of a humongous building. Clicking off his seatbelt, he turned the car completely off before jumping out and slamming the tar-black car door shut. He walked around the hood to the passenger side before opening the door, grabbing his brief case, and slamming that one as shut as the first.

The tall, darkly-clothed man lifted a hand to tip his sunglasses from above his forehead to over his eyes, while he strode around the side of the intimidatingly tall structure before him to the front. He soon made it to where there were now two steel doors (which would be intimidating to any average person) with which he simply whipped out his keys and easily opened the door one-handedly, and swiftly entered.

He walked quickly and confidently down each hallway before the elevators, with which he firmly pressed the "up" button with his large thumb. Waiting, he glanced up and down both corridors on either side of him and down the one he had just walked up, waiving or nodding in greeting at any familiar faces, and ignoring the new ones.

The two metal doors finally opened to reveal an empty, red-carpeted elevator patiently awaiting his entrance. He walked in, pressed the 13th floor and watched as the doors shut right before his eyes.

Thankfully, this elevator was one of the faster ones, therefore his destination was not waited on for too long, and he easily strode out of the two now opening doors. The dark-eyed father now made his way down three or four more corridors, the ones on this floor were much more occupied at this hour in the morning than the lower ones. Ha. New-bes.

He now more warm-heartedly greeted his co-workers, bosses and friends as he made his way to his office. As he now more closely advanced on his office, another familiar face. There, as she was every morning, was his awaiting personal secretary.

"Good morning, Mrs. Pumkynne." Ryan greeted with a polite nod as he approached the door- handle to the tall, steel office door professionally labeled RYAN ROTH. "How are you this morning?"

"Fine, fine, Mr. Roth, sir." Replied the tall, hazel-eyed woman as she clung to her neatly laid, PACKED wooden clipboard. "How's the family?"

"Just fine, thank you." The young man responded respectfully as he finally turned the unlocked handle so as to reveal his giant, not-so-organized office. "Anything new lately?" He asked as he walked in, threw his keys down on the large fine-wood desk, and sat down in his comfortably large black-leather chair. "Any new news since last night that I need to know about?"

"No, sir." The reddish-orange-haired secretary answered dutifully. "But there are some more files that the boss would like you to look through. Also, I believe you'll find six or seven complaints in your email that you never made it to that workers'-night-out last weekend, and there is another notice about that over-night mission this weekend."

"Anything else?" Ryan questioned, seemingly unphased by the extreme list of duties and announcements, before he glanced up a second later from his notepad, now filled with these current notifications.

Glancing through her clip board only once more, the high-heeled secretary looked up and smiled. "No, sir. A light one today, eh?"

"That it would seem..." The dark-eyed Assassin agreed with a sigh as he turned toward his high-tech computer. "Thank you, Mrs. Pumkynne. You may leave. I'll call you if I need you."

"As always, Mr. Roth." She responded with a chuckle, before making her way out the door, and back into the corridor, where her high-heels were heard click-clacking throughout the building.

And it was then that the government-worker began his work day...but somehow he still cognated the fact that Devin would be showing up any minute now.

And he couldn't have been more right. For he had barely settled in for more than a minute, when his door was suddenly banged right open - this time to reveal a smiling, dark-haired man who looked a bit out of breath - but nonetheless glad to be there.

"Ha! Now THAT is a RECORD!" He declared triumphantly, swaggering in through the doorway and plopping himself down on a chair in front of Ryan's piled desk. He soluted the other man with a half-hearted flop of his arm. "Got the kids to Daycare, the car to the shop and MYSELF in this CHAIR in less than twenty-five minutes. How amazing is THAT?!"

"Astonishing." Ryan didn't even look up from his computer. "You get slower every day." He briefly shot a teasing glance in his friend's direction before continuing to log-in.

"Oooh, nice one, big guy." Devin pretended to cower back, wiggling his fingers in Ryan's direction. "You really impress me with that astounding wit of yours. Do you tutor on that subject, by any chance?"

"Yes, Devin." The other man responded in his typical sarcastically sincere tone, "In fact, I tutor a young man who looks just like you every day...but somehow I am seeming to fail to succeed."

Devin laughed, sitting back in the chair and clapping his hands. "AHA, good one, buddy!" He exclaimed, before letting out a long sigh and rubbing his eye. "So...uh...what's on the docket for today? Anything special?"

"No," Ryan responded with a sigh as he leaned back in his comfy leather chair, not taking his eyes off his computer, "Not besides dealing with another three thousand dollar shopping bill..." He brought his one elbow onto the arm of his chair before closing his eyes and softly rubbing his stressed brow. He gently shook his head, "...oh, Jade..."

A slight frown smoothed over Devin's forehead. "She's still doing that, huh?" He didn't need an answer. He sat back as well, pursing his lips. "I'm guessing she's not watching the kids after Daycare today, either. Hey...hold on!" He suddenly brightened a bit, leaning forward. "Why don't we take the kids to the library today? You know, after your meeting. They've got that story time, and I know they've been dying to go."

The other man scrunched his eyebrows and moved his hand quietly from his brow to covering his mouth in thought, but for only a second before he chuckled to himself and shifted his dark eyes to meet Devin's. "Why not...?" He sat up straight and placed his hands on the keyboard, "...who knows? It might be fun."

"Sweet!" Devin pumped his fist, getting to his feet afterward and giving the other man a dramatic bow. "I'll see you at lunch hour then, oh great one. We'll make more dastardly plans then!"

"As always." Ryan nodded to his friend with a chuckle. "Don't catch on fire. I don't want to have to take care of your kids for you. I have two of my own already."

"Oh, you poor baby." Devin made a face at him, before grinning one of his characteristic grins again and moving to duck out the door. "Don't work too hard. You'll burst into flame and you know I'm allergic to ash." He wiggled his fingers at him. "10-4."

And with that, he stepped out of the room, and closed the door behind him firmly, as though to make that his concluding statement.

"Hm. Kids..." Ryan teased, before turning to face his computer once again. He had a long day ahead of himself, and being fully prepared as always, he began his work for the day.

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