Chapter 54
Ryan woke up early the next morning to Phoebe's soft cries. Alex was laying on the far end of the bed probably to be as far away from him as possible. It seemed like she was sleeping soundly since she didn't respond to their daughter's cries. Ryan got up and walked over to the crib to try and soothe her. Hoping she wasn't hungry because then he'd have to wake Alex up again and he had a feeling they wouldn't be on speaking terms later in the day. He sat down on the edge of the bed on Alex side stroking Phoebe's hair gently. "Hey munchkin. What's wrong?" He asked picking her up gently. She fussed a little more before she settled down looking at her father. "You're done sleeping aren't you? You do know it's 5AM." He yawned taking her down to the living room so he won't wake Alex. "Daddy is still really really tired." He told his daughter who was oblivious to that statement because she was clearly wide awake now. He switched on the TV and they watched some rerun of an old football game. She became fussy after half an hour and when talking to her didn't help anymore, he was ready to take her to Alex so she can feed her. But she came down the stairs already. Ryan handed her over to her mother where he stood at the base of the stairs leading towards the bedroom. "Can we talk later?" He asked carefully not sure how else to start the conversation. Alex didn't answer him she just nodded her head and walked over to where he and Phoebe sat a few seconds ago before she started nursing their baby.
Ryan stepped into a cold shower desperate to get rid of the hangover he felt coming on. He's gonna have to man up and face the music, he did this to himself. And he's the reason he and his wife might have an argument or she would just choose not to talk to him, which would be worse than the argument. He brushed his teeth and scratched around in the medicine cabinet and found some painkillers, he took two and dressed himself halfway before heading down to talk to Alex.
She was in the kitchen making some coffee, Phoebe was asleep again, when he entered. She didn't even acknowledge his presence when he walked up to the fridge to get some ice water. He poured some in a glass and downed the whole glass and the two painkillers while standing in front of the open fridge. Alex was pouring coffee into her mug and was about to leave the kitchen to make the bed when he stopped her. "Can I talk to you quickly?" He asked carefully and she took a deep breath before turning around to face him. She didn't say anything, she stood there waiting for him to start talking. "About last night, I'm sorry. We got carried away and I had a few beers too many. I was telling the truth when I told you I'm going to be working late. I left the office at 7 and I told the guys I can't stay long." He continued and really started to worry when she didn't say anything. "Alex I need you to say something." He said softly. He could take a disagreement between the two of them but silent treatment kills him. "What do you want me to say, Ryan?" She asked looking up at him. "I don't know, anything just, just don't shut me out. Please." He answered walking over to her where she sat at the kitchen counter. "I'm not upset that you went out with your friends. The fact that you came home in the state that you were in last night is what really got under my skin." Alex said twisting her hands together. "Alex I'm sorry. I don't know what else to say to you to make all this go away." He said taking her hands in his. "You can start by stop acting like a teenager who gives in to peer pressure ." She said smiling as he twisted the wedding band on her left hand. "Boys will be boys." He laughed a little looking at Alex. "Are we good?" He questioned raising an eyebrow at her. "Yeah we're good." She nodded standing up and leaning into his chest as he hugged her. "You should probably get dressed now." She told him after a while when she loosened her embrace on his waist. "Yeah probably." He commented and made his way towards the bedroom, leaving Alex in the kitchen wondering what she can do with herself today.
"I need to talk to you about something later tonight." Alex said as he came down the stairs dressed in a dark navy blue suit and a black shirt. Damn you look good. She thought to herself, she couldn't say it out loud just yet she still had to put a façade since they just got over the little bump in the road. "You sure it can wait until tonight it sounds heavy." Ryan commented looking at her. "It can wait. Go on now or you're going to be late." Alex said when he didn't seem to be moving. He walked over to the sleeping baby and kissed her on her head before doing the same with his wife, and left for work.
Alex looked through her social media newsfeed, gave Phoebe a bath when she woke up fed her again, and now she was sleeping, Her life was basically eat and sleep. She watched some TV but nothing interesting was on worth watching, and she decided to clean the house. She took off all the bedding in the three bedrooms and put fresh ones on, mopped the whole house and cleaned the two bathrooms. After that she changed the curtains in the living room, dusted here and there and by lunch time she was done. And tired.
She took a nap with Phoebe and woke up an hour later to start dinner. Maybe she might have that dinner discussion with Ryan tonight that she had planned out in her head the night before.
Alex finished most of the dinner and threw the food away she kept for Ryan last night. She was just about to finish a last few things when Ryan's SUV pulled up in the driveway. 17:45, showed the green numbers on the stove. They usually got home at 18:30 when it was a normal day at work, but clearly someone is still trying to make up for what happened yesterday. "Hey." He greeted her, walking over to the kitchen, kissing her where she was standing in front of the stove. Hair pulled up in a messy bun, dressed in black leggings and an olive green t shirt. He allowed his mouth to linger on hers for a while and he felt her smile into the kiss. "You're home early." She said after they pulled away. "Yeah well, I figured I'm not out of the dog box just yet." He said putting his briefcase down. "See, this is why I married you, because you're so smart." She answered smiling up at him. "If you say so Mrs. Booth. Where's my munchkin?" He asked when he didn't see her downstairs. "In her crib in the nursery. I'll bath her once I'm done here." Alex answered turning her attention back to the cooking she was busy with. "No it's fine I'll do it, you can finish up." He said walking down the hallway towards the nursery.
She laid awake when he entered, bottom lip poked out as she's on the verge of crying. Clearly feeling abandoned since no one was in sight. "Hey no no no. Why the water works Pheebs?" He asked walking over to the white crib, picking her up. "Here's Daddy, it's okay." He said rubbing her back gently, taking a seat on the grey lounger, positioning her in the crook of his arm so she can look up to him. She stopped crying when she saw someone was in the room with her. "Hey, I missed you today. Were you a good girl for mommy?" He enquired looking into her blue eyes. He'll never get tired of seeing this little face and her big sparkly eyes. "What did you two do today? Did mommy ask you to help her clean the house?" He questioned thinking how silly it must sound that he's talking to a baby about things like this. "She wants to talk to me tonight. What do you think it'll be about?" He asked out loud more to himself than to Phoebe. "We'll wait and see. Come, on, let's get you in the water." He decided getting up, putting her back in the crib so he can get her bathing essentials ready. Once they were done Alex came in to check on them, she fed and burped little Phoebe, while holding her until she was asleep and then put her back down. She headed for the kitchen after Ryan came back from his shower and they sat down to eat at the table.
They talked about little things. This and that some family stuff that went on, some things that happened at work and Alex figured now would be the best time to tell him about what was on her mind. "I want to tell you something. And you have to be honest with me and tell me how you feel about it." She laid the groundwork before the big reveal. "Okay, well what is it?" Ryan asked looking across the table to her. "I want to go back to work. I love being at home and taking care of Phoebe but she sleeps most of the time and some days I feel like I can climb the walls because I'm so bored." She said looking at him, trying to read his facial expression. "Like today, after I bathed and fed her she went to sleep and I literally had nothing to do. I cleaned the whole house and once I was done I took a nap with her and started dinner. Ryan I need to get back to work. For my own sanity." She concluded and he still didn't say anything. "I don't mind if you want to get back to work, I'm more worried about what we're going to do with Phoebe. Do we get a nanny to stay at home and look after her or do we get her into some crèche?" He asked not sure which way to go from here. "I have no idea. My maternity leave is four months I'll look around until I find something or someone I can trust." Alex said uncertain that she'll ever trust anyone with her child not knowing them personally. Seems like she'll take Shelby's offer on that background checks they'll run on the people.
Ryan got up and cleared the table, thanking Alex for dinner and offered to do the dishes and check on Phoebe while Alex takes a shower. Once he was done downstairs he took Phoebe from the nursery and brought her to the crib upstairs in the bedroom. He laid her down in the middle of the bed looking at her face as she's sleeping peacefully. The shower turned off a few minutes later and Alex came out drying her hair with the towel dressed in one of Ryan's old academy shirts. "Is she sleeping?" Alex asked her husband as she sat down on Ryan's side of the bed with her legs crossed. "Yeah, she told me she had a rough day." He joked as Alex sat down on the bed with both of them. "Yeah, clearly. We had a heart to heart about the man in our lives." Alex said looking at Ryan. "And what was the conclusion you two reached?" He questioned lying flat on his back. "That we really like him, some days more than others but he seems to be a cool dude." Alex laughed making Ryan smile and he sat up to give her a kiss. Leaning with his head against her shoulder. Ryan yawned making Alex laugh s little. "Yeah, I figured you didn't get much sleep last night, and being up at 5 AM again." She said and he looked up at her with a shocked expression on his face. "You were awake all that time?" He asked surprised. "Of course I was. But I was looking for a way to pay you back." She said kissing his face. "Nooo, kissing won't make it better right now." He whined but Alex continued while she's laughing. She picked little Phoebe up and placed her in the crib next to her bedside before getting in. "Revenge is sweet." She said when he pulled her closer to his side spooning her small frame. "You're so sneaky." He smiled kissing her head once more before the three of them drifted off to sleep.
Hey guys, thanks for the read. This chapter didn't really go as planned this was not suppose to be the ending but there it is now. Hope you enjoy the read. Lovies-S
