DEEPER THAN SKIN
CHAPTER 2: The "Reading Chick"
Continuing from chapter 1….
At the end of the day, Ryan shook the hand of the last general who had contracted his service, and then gathered his things from the office and hurried out of the building to head to the Daycare, as he always did. Devin had already said he would meet him there to pick up the kids, and then they would head to the library straight from there.
The half-hour commute between the giant FBI building and the Flinstone's Daycare Facility
was, once again, a time to think for this particular Ryan Roth. The entire way there, he barely made a sound. The ONLY time he spoke while in his car on the way, would be if someone called him on his cell...or maybe if there was some stupid reckless driver on the road. THEN he might talk a little bit...
But nevertheless, the quiet father soon pulled up in front of the semi-large Daycare, twisted the key with his left hand, unbuckled himself with his right, and then opened the door with his left again. He slipped out from the slick black car before resoundingly slamming the door shut. Following him turning to head on in, there was the infamous "blip blip" of the car responding to his super-lock system button. Oh, how he loved that thing.
The tall, dark-haired agent was soon looking through sunglass-covered eyes into the face of his children's caretaker. He had a brief conversation, handed over a hand-written check for the 350 dollars for those past two weeks, and nodded politely when she turned to summon his offspring.
"Rain and Donovan Roth!" The boss called sweetly from over the top of the half-sized door that lead into the realm of wild, happy playing kids. And sure enough, the two little well-behaved kids came up to the door, Rain's bag neatly packed and ready to go on her shoulder, and little Donovan obediently clinging to her hand, looking around the room.
With a nod to the boss and a chuckle at the sight of his flawless jewels for kids, Ryan walked over (pushing his way gently passed the woman) before opening the small doorway and kneeling down to his kids' height. From there he smiled and opened his arms wide and embraced his now excited children who had run ever so happily into his welcoming arms.
"How was your day?" Ryan asked softly enough for both of his lovely miniatures to hear, but for only their ears.
"We missed you today, Daddy..." Rain responded quietly, snuggling up to her mega-father as tightly as she could.
"Yeah?" He asked, kissing her jet-black hair tenderly, "Well, I missed you two very much today." Ryan pulled back to look at both his children right in their pure, innocent faces. "In fact, I missed you two so much today, that your uncle Devin and I are going to take you both and the Rorek kids to the library today for a special surprise. Now how does that sound?"
All he needed (and wanted) for a response was what he got: the two dark-haired young ones' eyes went wide with excitement, and they looked at each other before both looking like they were going to burst from too much anticipation and excitement all in one breath. They both soon laughed and squealed happily and hugged their daddy tightly once again--making Ryan's day complete.
As he was holding his two beautiful kids, Ryan's covered dark eyes flickered around the room for several things. Literally. Either little D.J. Rorek, little Diva Rorek, or good ol' Uncle Devin.
And sure enough. It took less than .5 seconds before an excited shout came from the other end of the room.
"Daddy!! Diva! Look!! It's the Roth dudes!!" DJ Rorek shouted excitedly, practically jumping out of his slightly oversized shoes and having to push his large cap back over his head after jumping up and down. He took Diva's hand happily. "We're goin' to the lib'ry with em', right Daddy?"
"You bet!" Devin came out grinning from behind the reception desk after paying his dues for the month as well, and ruffled the hair of both of his excited kids before pointing over to Ryan. "Wanna go give Uncle Ryan a big, FAT hug?" He grinned evilly.
"YEAH!!" The two kids squealed excitedly before taking off toward the embracing happy family of Roths only a few yards away.
"Oh, no..." Ryan muttered to himself, fully seeing the full-speed oncoming traffic from a mile away. The two young children were indeed coming his way, just as he had expected--not to mention that Devin wasn't exactly quiet...
The agent hoisted both Rain and Donovan into his arms and began to "make a run for it." Pretending, of course, to escape the two mini attackers...but to no avail. With a couple laughs and determined squeals of laughter from both little Diva and D.J., Ryan was officially tackled. He playfully let himself fall--both his kids still laughing in his arms, he began tickling and wrestling all four of the reckless offspring. Whether his or not, it was hard to tell. Well, maybe not that hard. Two were dark-haired and well behaved, and two were dark-haired and completely wild. But when all four were playing around, it was hard to tell.
And as for Devin, he couldn't have been laughing harder. It wasn't an unusual sight to see this kind of interaction between the families - and it got more amusing every time. However, the Daycare closed seconds later, and before long they were all walking out of the building, the kids now a bit winded but still very excited, and the two fathers smiling to themselves.
"Awe we gonna get 'dew'r fast, Daddy?" Donovan asked excitedly, clinging happily to his father's hand. "Are we gonna heaw a stowy?"
Ryan smiled, and glanced down at his son before shifting his eyes to the door handle of his transportation vehicle. He opened it and hoisted his son by his tiny sides into his already prepared car-seat in the back. "Yes, Donovan." he replied as he began buckling his tiny figure in. "And I'm sure you'll love it."
Rain, in the meantime, was already buckled and smiling in her own booster seat on the opposite end of the leather-seated car. "Really, daddy?" She asked, looking hopeful for an exciting change in entertainment. "Who will tell us 'da story?"
"Some old ladies with reading glasses, I'm sure." her dark-haired father replied with a wink and a smile before he leaned back out of the car and slammed the back door shut. With that, he overlooked the hood of his black Jaguar and waived a hand over to where Devin was now currently finishing his kids' buckling as well...yeah, with as independent kids as he had, making sure they were at least SOMEWHAT safe, was always a hassle.
With a chuckle and a shake of his head, he called over to his friend, "By the time you're done, Devin, I'll be inside the dastardly luminous building already!"
"Shut up, Roth!" Devin called back, pretending to be at the peak of frustration as he finally gave up figuring out the seatbelts in his car and simply left his kids tangled in the restraints before getting into the driver's seat and revving up the engine. "I'LL lead the way, Captain Frigid!" He called out, before suddenly HITTING the gas and plunging off down the road, both Rorek kids squealing excitedly in the back seat.
Ryan quirked an eyebrow after Devin, before jumping in his car with a slight rush of adrenalin from the challenge. He got buckled with a single gesture before revving up his vehicle with the turn of a key, and slamming the gas and taking off in the opposite direction of his friend. HE was going to take the short cut.
However, neither a speeding Devin or a sneaky Ryan made it there first. Both automobiles and their passengers arrived bumper-to-bumper in front of the Cedar Lake Public Library--at the same time.
Ryan cursed under his breath as he twisted the key to disengage the engine. As soon as the engine's vibration had deceased, the gloved man clicked his buckle off his chest and, one leg at a time, exited his seat. He leaned against the roof of his car, the door still open, and removed his sunglasses as his gaze met his defeated friend. "Even as you speed, Devin, you still cannot beat me."
"That's because you can teleport, smart ass." Devin shouted back at him as he exited his own car, as if this were the most obvious thing on the face of the earth. He went to the side of his car, opening the door to get the squealing little Roreks out. "Don't go doing a victory dance on me!"
"Devin, you know as well as I do that you are the only one I know who performs that embarrassing celebration." Ryan replied quite simply, easily lifting his patient children out of their seats and onto the sidewalk as he spoke.
"Whatever. Now remember kids, this is a quiet place." Devin instructed his children, dramatically putting a finger to his lips to emphasize. "Sadly, if you're not quiet, they'll kinda' kick your asses right out. Your uncle Ryan learned that from experience." He flashed a wicked smile in Ryan's direction. "But once you know that. We can go inside. So let's go!"
The Rorek kids didn't need to be told twice. Only half-heeding the warning, they ran ahead right through the welcoming glass doors of the library, squealing happily at the sight of the exciting place that they rarely got to go. Devin gave Ryan an innocent shrug before jogging in after them, knowing he'd have to catch them before they started trying to play cop-and-bandit between the bookshelves.
Ryan just shook his head. HIS kids knew full-well not to be loud in a library...in ANY place that wasn't home for that matter! But with a reminding finger gestured against his lips for only a second, he took his kids' hands and lead them both inside.
Excited, but obediently quiet, both Roth children's eyes went HUGE at the sight of all the books, shelves, people and computers. They loved this place!! Both kids took FULL advantage of this rare opportunity and began to desperately pull on their father's large hands to follow the now running away Rorek kids.
Well, as they found out, they really weren't running away, they were just following their daddy who had been running playfully out of sight behind maybe a bookshelf or two. Devin always knew how to make anything a game for his oblivious-to-the-world offspring.
"Devin!" Ryan called from his spot stand-still position, both Rain and Donovan still trying their hardest to pull him in opposing directions. "Stop playing around. Now let's find this...well, this...whatever storyteller person...room...whatever! We're probably already late."
"You boring old geezer." Devin poked his head out from behind one of the bookshelves, then quickly dodging when his kids gave victorious squeals and jumped at him. "Fine. We'll find the storyteller person...room." He mimicked him, picking up both little Roreks under his arms and looking around the library grandly. "Should we scream for her?"
"No, you don't have to." A voice from the bookshelf behind him cut in, and Devin turned just time to see a young woman emerge with an armful of books, and would have appeared like any other library browser except for the fact that she wore nicer clothing - marking an obvious status as a librarian - and also had unusually pale skin, almost ashen, with long violet hair and eyes to match. She smiled pleasantly at him even despite the way he was currently holding the wriggling children. "Are you here for story time, then?"
"Uh...yeah." Devin frowned slightly, looking over her features slowly. "You're the...um... story-reader or something?"
"Yes I am." The librarian responded, and then smiled in amusement at Diva and DJ, who had stopped their fighting now to look and see who their father was talking to. "And I suppose you two are more than ready for it?"
"Yeah!" DJ shouted in celebration, at last wrenching himself from his father's grasp and tugging Diva down too. "We wanna hear a story! We wanna hear a story!"
"Uh, yeah. They're psyched." Devin grinned, shrugging casually as the librarian chuckled softly, then he looked over his shoulder and called over to Ryan, who was still being nearly-abducted by his children. "Yo, Ryan, I found the reading chick!"
Ryan, who was now crouching down and trying his best to stay in one piece as both his little kids were tugging and pulling back and forth. At their daddy's name however, Rain and Donovan stopped to see who was currently summoning their father.
At the same time, Ryan heard the call also. Taking only a minute, the dark-haired man looked over his hunched shoulder with covered eyes...and froze. Whoa. She was hot...and sweet-looking...and maybe even--nope! No more time to think for poor Ryan, for as both his miniatures finally realized that this was their storyteller, they ran right at her--not letting go of their dad.
Ryan's feet swept gracefully out from under him in his crouched position, therefore having him fall hard down on his back, and was quickly dragged mercilessly along the floor to where Devin, his kids, and this new librarian were standing. How embarrassing. He could fight body-guards, save the president from a gun-shot, go and assassinate the world's second Sadam Houssain--but he couldn't get away from his two very young companions dragging him on the floor.
Happily, Rain let go of her daddy's hand, and quickly nodding for little Donovan to do the same. Following her commands, Little D let go as well, and Ryan more than happily took both his hands back. He used them for support as he slowly but surely sat up on his elbows. With the quick of the moment, Ryan brought both his knees up near his face, thrust them powerfully out in front of him, and set them firmly on the ground. With that, the covered-eyed father was now standing and straightening out his good-quality, long-sleeved white work-shirt as if nothing had happened...
...however, with Diva and D.J. now rolling on the ground with uncontrollable laughter, and undoubted snickers from Devin (no matter how hard he tried to hold it in), Ryan concluded that that probably was the last thing that should have happened at that moment...no matter HOW much everything had a reason.
Embarrassed and irritated now, Ryan flickered his dark-eyes upward to meet the eyes of the lovely new librarian, who apparently found it amusing as well. However, Ryan did take note of this, and decided to take a whole new approach--hey! If she liked it, then he guessed he would live.
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