Author's Note: I'm so sorry; I meant to get this out last night and got distracted by my six-month-old nephew. Special thanks to WendyCR72 for the review!
Chapter Three
"I'm going to get you, Ruthie!" Bobby called out. He chased the toddler down the hall, a silly grin on his face. Ruthie chuckled loudly as she hid behind Alex's legs.
"No get! No get Ruthie!" Ruthie yelled. "Get A-lex!"
A naughty twinkle entered his eye. "You want me to get Alex?"
Ruthie's head bobbed up and down. "Yea! Yea!"
"Okay!" Bobby reached down and grabbed Alex by the waist, throwing her over his shoulder. He looked at Ruthie, even as Alex laughingly pounded him on the back, calling out his name. "Where should we put her?"
"Couch! Couch!"
Bobby headed there, but didn't put her down. "And what should we do with her?"
Holding up her hands, Ruthie scrunched her fingers. "Tickle."
"Tickle her? Are you sure?" Ruthie bobbed up and down, excitedly. "Okay, you're the boss."
"Bobby, I swear if you tickle me!" Alex never got to finish her threat as Bobby placed her on the couch and he and Ruthie immediately began to tickle her. She rapidly reached the point where she could scarcely breathe. Using all of her strength, and a distracted Bobby, she flipped him so that he landed on his back on the other end of the couch. Alex hovered over him, hands poised at his hides. "Come on, Ruthie. Girl power!"
Ruthie pounced on Goren, her brown eyes shining. "Grul power!"
Bobby squirmed as they tickled him. He tried to sit up, but found he was unable to without dislodging Alex and he didn't want to risk her falling and hurting herself. After a few minutes, he finally grabbed a hold of her arms, pulling her to his chest to stop the assault. They stared at each other, panting. Ruthie grew bored once playtime was over and wandered over to the stack of stuffed animals that Alex had brought out for her.
"You don't play fair," Bobby told Alex, his hands remaining on her arms. His fingers burned her skin where they touched.
"Says the man who started this by picking me up."
Goren blushed. "I'd apologize, but, well, it got us here."
Alex's mouth hung open, scarcely able to believe he had said that. Maybe she wasn't as alone as she thought in her feelings. "Bobby! I..."
"Sorry," he told her, sheepishly. His face turned beet red, but he still didn't release her. Slowly, his face inched towards her.
Alex could feel his breath on her lips when Ruthie popped up beside them and said, "Hi! Go see Mama now?"
They sprung apart from each other, unable to look each other in the eye. Alex scrambled to the chair while Bobby ran his hands through his hair. She attempted to convince herself that they hadn't just kissed. Ruthie giggled at them both.
"Go see Mama?" Ruthie repeated after a few moments. "Go see?"
"Alex?" Bobby looked at her, helplessly, but she could only shrug. She wasn't sure what to do anymore than he was. "Ruthie, we… we can't go see Mama right now."
Ruthie tilted her head to study him. "Mama sleeping. Mama no wake."
He gathered her in his arms, holding her tightly. "I know. Your mama wouldn't wake up. But it's okay because you have me and you have Alex and we're going to make sure that you're okay."
"Daddy yell," Ruthie continued, her hand winding its way into his graying locks. "Daddy mean. Ruthie hide from Daddy. Mama no wake."
Bobby rocked her, gently. "You did a good job hiding. A very good job. Daddy will never yell again. He'll never be mean." He sighed almost painfully. "You are going to stay with Bobby and Alex for awhile, okay? We're going to make sure that you're okay."
"I'm going to start dinner," Alex announced, standing up before her emotions got the better of her.
"No! No go, A-lex!" Ruthie screamed. She wiggled down from Bobby and ran over to Alex, throwing herself around Alex's legs. "No go! No go!"
Alex pulled her into her arms, squeezing her close to her chest. She was becoming attached and she knew it as much as she had fought against it. "I'm not going anywhere. I'm just going to make dinner."
Ruthie looked up from her place on Alex's shoulder. "Grul power? Ruthie go?"
"You want to help me make dinner?"
"Yeah. Help dinner." She nodded enthusiastically.
Kissing the top of Ruthie's head, Alex agreed. "Of course, you can."
Ruthie turned to the man in the room. "Bobby come." It was an order not a request.
"I guess I'm helping, too," Bobby remarked, pushing himself from the couch.
"I've seen your cooking, Bobby," Alex told him with a teasing tone, leading them into the kitchen. "You make the biggest mess in the world and I am so not cleaning up. You can boil the water."
Bobby pretended to be offended. "I certainly don't see you turning your head away from my meals, no matter what the mess in the kitchen is."
Alex leaned in close to him. "That's because what you make is always delicious." She released a long breath of slow air when she realized just how close they were. "Here, take the kid. I'll get the spaghetti started."
