"I can take Jessie in there. Assuming Ashley is taking Makenzie in, she can show me the way." Evie directed at Ryan.
"Sounds like a plan," Ashley responded.
"Are you sure?" Ryan questioned.
"Yup, besides, I've been up since 5:30 and I haven't adjusted to the time zone yet." Evie reasoned.
"Okay then. Jessie, do you want to go find a place to sleep with Evie?" Ryan whispered to the girl.
"Can Duffy come?" Jessie mumbled back.
"Yes, Duffy can go with you," Ryan responded kissing his daughter on the crown of her head.
"M-Kay" Evie walked over to the five-year-old.
"Do you want me to give you a piggyback ride?" Evie asked.
"Evie you don't have to," Ryan attempted to reason.
"Ryan, she's tired, and it's not like she is heavy." Evie squatted down in front of the girl who immediately wrapped her arms around Evie's neck Evie took hold of Jessie's legs and stood. "Shall we?" Evie directed at Ashley.
"We shall," Ashley responded.
Ashley and Evie took off towards a large brown and tan building labeled 5.
"So Ryan, how is the mated life?" Burnie asked once the two ladies were out of ear shot.
"It's," Ryan paused trying to find the right words, "interesting. That's the best way to describe it."
"Ryan the words guy is out of fancy words?" Michael asked sarcastically.
"That's the best way to describe it," Ryan defended. "We haven't really gotten a chance to acquaint ourselves with each other."
"You were in the car together for 7 hours! You can't tell me you just sat there twiddling your thumbs." Lindsay inserted.
"Three and a half of those hours were spent with kids. The rest of the time we listened to AH videos." Ryan responded. "She was curious about the job."
"Did you discuss her at all?" Meg asked incredulously.
"Yes. I know that she is going to be teaching at the school across the street. She is the color guard coach in addition to teaching two different kinds of history courses."
"Color guard, like military color guard?" Burnie asked.
"You'll have to get her to explain it," Ryan responded.
"Hey guys, I brought the beer," a bearded man called as he walked up to their group.
"Hey Jack, I didn't know you were going to be here. I thought you were hosting again?" Ryan commented.
"No, we didn't want to deal with the clean up this year." Jack shrugged, "I thought you were with your new soulmate. Do I owe Geoff and Gavin $100? Did you chicken out!"
"You guys bet on my love life?" Ryan accused.
"What the hell else were we supposed to do when you left?" Michael complained.
"Typical. What was the bet," Ryan asked.
"Well, Geoff and Gavin bet that you would chicken out," Jack said.
"Oii, I did no such thing! I bet that you would have just waited until she was in town before going to meet her," Gavin defended.
"I said that you would meet her, but you would come back alone," Jack explained.
"Jeremy and I had more faith in you Rye bread. He thought that you would stay the night, but only I thought that you would bring her to meet us." Michael elaborated. "but now we have to decide who wins."
"What do you mean? Ryan's back here, doesn't that mean I won?" Jack speculated.
"No, he brought her with him!" Michael exclaimed.
"Where is she," Jack asked.
"She and Ash went to stage 5 to but the kids down," Burnie explained.
"Evie's been up since 5:30 this morning," Ryan elaborated. "Plus she has a tiny bit of social anxiety. Almost had a panic attack when she thought she would embarrass me in front of you guys."
"Why, were a bunch of losers. How could she embarrass herself more than we do ourselves?" Lindsay asked.
"I have no idea. But please, when I bring her in tomorrow, don't crowd her or anything. I don't want her to be uncomfortable here." Ryan pleaded. "Besides, I think she was planning on doing some dissertation research tomorrow."
"How did you get involved with another doctor?" Gavin asked.
"I'm attracted to smart women, what can I say?" Ryan said in a suave voice. "Hey, I'm going to go check on my girls."
He exchanged the customary pleasantries and headed over to stage 5. Once inside he started to make his way across the podcast sets but stopped when he heard Evie speaking in rhyme.
"to show Prometheus who's boss."
'What on earth is she doing?' Ryan thought to himself as he listened further.
""So let the humans have their meat," Zeus held up his fist and shook it, "I won't let them have fire so they won't be able to cook it!"
Prometheus was not impressed at this childish display of spite, and he decided that he would stand up for what was right.
He climbed a mountain, lit a torch from the chariot of Apollo, then took the flame and gave it to the humans down below."
"But you said that po-meaty-us got fire from the sun!" Ryan heard Jessie and several other voices ask.
"Yes, I did," Evie affirmed. "Apollo is the Greek god of the sun. It's his job to pull the sun across the sky, in his chariot every day. Prometheus took some of the sun from the chariot before Apollo could drag it across the sky."
'She is actually doing a good job at explaining this to them. And she is keeping them interested!' He continued to listen.
"But what about-" Jessie started.
"Jessie you need to go to sleep." Evie cut her off with a light giggle.
"But I'm not" Jessie was cut off by her own yawn, "tired yet."
"How about this. If you go to sleep now, I will tell you another story tomorrow." Ryan knew that if Evie promised to do this every night, she would run out of stories by the end of the week. His little girl was very persuasive.
"Okay!" Jessie said followed by some shuffling and the sound of footsteps. Ryan saw Evie enter the Off Topic set and pause her steps before continuing towards him.
"Hey Stud, whacha doin'?" Evie asked. Ryan who enveloped her in his strong arms.
"Just listening to the story." Evie's face turned an adorable shade of pink. "Prometheus, Darlin', really?" He asked in amusement. He found it curious that she chose to go with mythology instead of princesses or pirates.
"Hey, it was the first thing that popped into my head." Evie justified, puffing her lip out slightly. Ryan leaned down and pressed a kiss to her lips. He circled her waist with one hand and buried the other hand in her hair. Evie soon got lost in the kiss as well, placing one hand in his hair and the other resting over the words on his heart.
A throat cleared and the new mates quickly broke the kiss. Ryan felt Evie push her head into his chest. He bent his head down and pressed his lips against the crown of her head.
"Sorry Ash, we haven't had any time to ourselves since we met." He apologized.
"It's fine with me, but just remember that there are kids in the other room."
The group was soon joined by Burnie and the group had a pleasant conversation until the party died down. Soon it was 10 PM and the parties gathered their respective children and got into their cars. Andrew and Jessica asleep before Ryan and Evie could buckle them in. They were soon driving towards their houses, both satisfied with how the night turned out.
Ryan pulled up to the house around 10:15. 6411 Bridgewater drive was a nice house in a nice area. The property was only three miles away from both Rooster Teeth and the Bartholomew learning community. Ryan's home was a two-story refurbished barn house. The front was covered in light sandy colored stone that complemented the rest of the white exterior. The driveway was a lighter color than the surrounding pavement and led to a two-car garage. There was yard space on both sides of the house, perfect for the animals and children to play.
On the left was a lot surrounded by a chain-link fence that led to a slightly forested area. To the right, separated by a brown wooden fence, was Evie's temporary living arrangements.
The house Rae and Ben were renting was a one-story house. The front was covered in bricks while the rest of the house was white wood. The porch had two doors which led into two different living spaces so multiple tenants could live there.
Evie helped Ryan bring the kids out of the car and into the house. Ryan opened the front door, and Evie was greeted to a nice open floor plan. The living room transitioned into a kitchen with a moderately sized table just poking out from behind the stairs, which were to the immediate right of the front door. The interior walls were a soft off white color that complemented the light carpet color.
Ryan placed his keys on a hall tree to the left of the door and led Evie up the stairs.
"Jessie's room is to the right," Ryan whispered pointing to a short hallway with 3 doors.
She opened the door and turned on the lights. The girl's room was painted a light sky blue. Celling was standard white, but Evie could see the faint greenish-yellow tint of glow in the dark stars. She pulled back the covers and placed the five-year-old on the bed. She carefully pulled off the girl's shoes and placed the down next to her closet. Not sure what to do next, Evie searched the upper floor for Ryan. She found him exiting what she guessed was Drew's room and met him at the top of the stairs.
"I wasn't sure if you wanted me to change her into sleeping clothes, so I left her under the covers in her day clothes."
"That's fine," Ryan replied. "I don't want to wake her again by jostling her around." The two headed downstairs. "So, before the night is over I think we need to cover some things."
"Sleeping Arraignments, right?" Evie knew where this was going.
"Right. Since we aren't going to complete the bond right now, we will need to spend as much time together as possible. We already established that you would go to work with me, so now we need to figure out if you are going to sleep with me, or not." Ryan explained.
"The illusory bond only builds up if we are touching, right?" Evie asked.
"It's stronger if we touch, but the bond will still form if we are in close proximity of each other," he clarified. "Remember, nothing happens here unless you're comfortable with it."
"We have already fallen asleep together before, so this shouldn't be any different, right?" She rationalized.
Ryan smiled, "I'll go get your things from the car and then we can settle down for the night."
While Ryan was out getting her suitcase, Evie unlaced her high tops. She set the next to the door and looked around the living room area. One thing that caught her eye was that the furniture didn't match the rest of the house. The room had two black sofas and a pure white table, all of which looked out of place against the cream walls. The upon further inspection, the dents in the rug didn't match the size or shape of the white table. 'Ryan must be doing some redecorating,' Evie thought.
The front door opened, and Ryan trudged in with her suitcase in hand. "Alright, let's get this upstairs, and I'll give you the tour." The pair made their way up the stairs and took a left.
The master bedroom was spacious. A California king rested in the center with a nightstand on each side of the bed. Windows framed the space allowing the moonlight to peer in. The left side of the room contained a short set of stairs that led up to a walk-in closet and the master bathroom. There was a dresser with a few knick-knacks on it, and a single black sock caught in one of the drawers. Ryan set Evie's suitcase on a small bench at the foot of the bed.
"As you can see, the bathroom is up the steps," Ryan started. "Jessie and Drew's rooms are down that hall on the right of the stairs, along with another bathroom. The room at the top of the stairs is my office." Ryan directed them through the house and down the stairs. "Here is a greeting/playroom that leads into the kitchen. Past the kitchen is a family room. To the left you can see the back yard. If you go far enough past the tree like you will get to a small creek. It's usually dry, but we had an uncharacteristically wet winter last year. On the right through the hallway leading to the garage is a half-bath on one side and the laundry room on the other." They moved back upstairs. "And, that's the house."
"It really is a lovely house," Evie responded.
"I'm about to start some minor renovations. The entry way is going to be hardwood, and the carpets need cleaning. I'm going to repaint the walls." Ryan listed.
What color are they going to be?" Evie started looking through her suitcase for some suitable clothes. 'I don't think my sports bra and spandex will work tonight,' Evie thought.
"I'm thinking a light gray. I've been wanting to repaint since I bought the house but Brittny liked the color." Ryan complained.
Evie looked over to Ryan who was getting his own clothes out of the drawers. "Hey Ryan," Evie started. Ryan looked over to a very flushed Evie. "Do you have anything I could wear to bed? When I packed, I thought I would be going to bed alone. I don't want to make you uncomfortable." The blush on Evie's cheeks grew more vibrant the longer she spoke.
"Sure, would a T-shirt be okay?" Ryan said as he grabbed a random shirt from a drawer.
"Yeah, that's fine." Ryan handed her a black T-shirt, the front of the shirt featured a face with a white top hat, monocle, and fluff mustache. The words "Team Gents" rested below the face but above two glasses clinging together. "Thanks, Stud. I'm going to go change in the restroom."
Evie scampered up the three steps and turned to the right through a door that held a toilet and a shower. She changed into her black CSUF sports bra and shorts before slipping the "Team Gents" shirt over her head. She laughed as the shirt hit the back of her knees. Evie had been short her entire life, but this was ridiculous. Evie grabbed her clothes and made her way out into the bedroom.
It seemed like Ryan had picked up on her nervousness and was changing in the closet. Evie put her old clothes in a side compartment of her suitcase. She looked in the mirror on the dresser and saw her reflection drowning in fabric. She danced around from foot to foot, seeing how the dress like shirt moved. She suddenly saw Ryan leaning against the wall across from the closet in the mirror's reflection and jumped a mile onto the bed.
Ryan took a modest approach to his night dress. He was clothed in an old black shirt with a green star with a black joystick cut out of the center. The star was surrounded by a circle, and the words achievement hunter were written around it. His pants were a black and red plaid.
"Are you always this jumpy?" Ryan chuckled.
"Not usually. I guess I'm just tired." Evie replied. Ryan pulled back the sheets and entered the bed. Evie tentatively did the same. 'Evie, you have already slept together, get over it. Wait that didn't sound right.' Evie internally struggled, before climbing in on the other side. "What time do we have to be up tomorrow?" Evie yawned.
"The kids have summer camp at 9 AM," Ryan replied. "I'll get the kids up at 8, and we can leave at 8:45. Their camp is at the school, so I was planning just to go to work after I drop them off, but if you want we could go to breakfast afterward."
"I'm not one for big breakfasts, but we could go out to lunch on your break," Evie suggested.
"Sounds good. Do you want me to wake you at a specific time?" Ryan asked.
"If I'm not up by 8:30 can you wake me? It takes me like 10 minutes to get ready."
"You don't know how incredibly sexy that is," Ryan chuckled, turning onto his right side. He put one arm under his pillow closed his eyes. Evie scooted closer to Ryan and closed her eyes, leaving a small space in between them.
"Evie, Darlin' its time to wake up." Evie felt a hand on her shoulder and a light pressure on the top of her head. As she came to Ryan was kneeling to the side of her, rousing her from sleep. "Come on Darlin' its almost 8:30."
Evie opened her eyes and stretched her arms above her head, and arched her back. "Mornin' Stud," She called out.
"You slept like a rock last night," Ryan commented.
"I guess I was just catching up on some sleep. I'm usually up before the sun." Evie walked over to her bag and took out her Adderall and clothes for the day. "Your company have a dress code?" she called from her bag.
"Nope, just wear something casual." He called back while heading down the stairs.
Evie brought out a pair of shorts and a blue heather tank top that said: "keep calm and point your toes." She traditionally wore it to all the first performances of the season at her old jobs. Going into the bathroom, she quickly took a pill and a half with water and continued to take care of all her personal affairs. She dressed and folded up the "Team Gent" shirt, placing it on the bed. She brushed her hair quickly then grabbed her laptop and convertible holster bag and left down the stairs.
Ryan saw what she was wearing and told her to grab a jacket because the air was supposed to be fixed in the office today. She grabbed her slipknot jacket and met the group downstairs by the door at 8:43. "13 minutes, impressive." Ryan praised.
"Thanks. Morning guys." Evie smiled and greeted the children. They both mumbled good morning back and lugged themselves to the car. Evie chuckled and followed suit.
'Today is going to be a good day!' Evie thought to herself.