Throw Me to The Wolves & I Will Return Leading the Pack
Summary:Morgan, the newest member of SVU hasn't had much luck with men, but her new partner might just be the one for her, if only she could let Sonny Carisi know. Men come much easier to her friend Riley, who's maybe not prepared for the challenge that Peter Stone provides.
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Law and Order SVU, Morgan and Riley however are all mine.
Chapter 23:
Venice, for god's sake, they were in Venice and Morgan couldn't have been happier.
Her idea for a honeymoon had originally been Hawaii but someone had mentioned that Hawaii was so boring, especially when it came to honeymoons- and maybe Riley had been right, Venice was so much more exotic, so much nicer and plus, she loved Italy, which was evident by the fact that her new husband was Italian.
Morgan let out a giggle and shook her head at Sonny, who was sitting on the end of the bed looking out their giant plate glass window at the beautiful scenes outside. She threw a smile at him before dropping down to sit next to him, wondering what she was going to do now that they were officially in Venice for the next two weeks.
She gave his leg a rough pat and shook her head, the smile permanently stuck on her face for the time being.
"Jesus, I can't believe we're actually here, and for two whole weeks." Morgan beamed.
"Two uninterrupted weeks with my wife, my very own Mrs. Carisi." Sonny countered and she found herself blushing at her new last name. It was so surreal, she couldn't believe everything had happened so smoothly, so easily and now here they were in Venice celebrating the fact that they were married.
"I hope your prepared for lots of sex." She grinned and leaned against his side, feeling relaxed as his arm came around her shoulders. "Like lots of it."
"I will go until I literally cannot go anymore." He remarked, giving her shoulders a gentle squeeze. "Then we can eat and I'll go some more."
She tipped her head back at let out a low laugh at him. Yes, this was going to be the best two weeks with Sonny ever.
"Well, you'll get a break every now and then, we have a gondola ride booked, and some sights to see…" She stated, letting her thoughts trail off. "But when we get back here at the end of the days, we can definitely have hot sweaty married sex."
"I like the sounds of that."
She sat on the bed for a minute longer, the two of them basking in silence, just staring out the window at the picturesque Venice outside the window. It was gorgeous, and Morgan couldn't wait to get out there the following day and experience it with Sonny.
She let out a soft sigh and stood up, letting Sonny move upwards on the bed. He got himself comfortable and when she looked back at him (after tearing her eyes away from the window), Sonny was lounging on the bed, his eyes shut as he laid stretched out, his upper body resting in the pillows. Their suitcases, which the hotel staff had brought up for them, were on the floor beside the bed and without making much of a sound, Morgan wandered closer to look over their suitcases.
"Can you believe we're actually married?" Morgan questioned in sheer amazement. She bent over to grab the handles of her suitcase, lifting it up to set it on the bed next to his legs. "I mean, it doesn't feel like all that long ago that I professed my love for you outside your apartment and then didn't speak to you for days."
"Thank god that's in the past, that night was terrible." Sonny let out a laugh and popped open his eyes, looking at Morgan with a smirk. "I still can't believe you thought I had some random woman in my apartment and not just my sister."
Morgan nodded her head at him, wondering why she hadn't just given him a chance to explain right from the beginning. It didn't matter, at the time she had been too hurt, but in hindsight, it did seem ridiculous. Sonny had blown off Amanda for her, he had stayed with her multiple nights just cuddling with her, he had been more than just a friend.
He smiled at her and she felt her heart swell. Sonny made her happy, she didn't want anyone else, just him, until her last breath. He was perfect in her eyes and she loved him for who he was. Marrying him had been a dream come true and she couldn't stop thinking about how amazing their wedding day had been; her in her amazing dress, him in his sexy suit- just perfection.
"And how about those wedding speeches. I can't believe Rafi said something so nice." Morgan remarked softly, making quick work of the zipper on her suitcase. She flipped the flap open and peered down at her clothes, her toiletries bag residing on top of her folded garments. "I still don't know how I feel about that speech from my dad."
"Yeah, I wasn't expecting that. I wasn't expecting my best man speech to be given by someone who wasn't my best man either." He murmured.
"Give Rafi credit, he could've been a lot meaner." She shrugged.
"True, it was a nice enough speech." Sonny carefully pushed his body forward so that he was sitting upright. He looked at Morgan and studied her expression and for him, it wasn't hard to see that she was way too happy for anything to ruin their first night in Venice.
She gave him a firm nod of her head and grabbed her toiletries bag, setting it on the bed next to her suitcase. Sucking in a breath, she lowered her butt down and sat down on the edge of the mattress, Sonny pressing a kiss against the back of her shoulder, trying to reassure her that everything was just fine on his end too. He didn't want her to think he wasn't just as happy as she was.
"I liked it. I liked all the speeches, I think." Morgan bowed her head, gripping her toiletries and opening it up. She looked inside, making note that all of her soaps, shampoos and toothpaste were at the top. When she dug in further, she found her toothbrush, deodorant and sunscreen.
"I'm a little surprised your mom didn't cause any drama." Sonny pushed, moving one hand up to rub over her back. Morgan let out a soft sigh and nodded her head.
"I know." She said softly and let out a small yawn. "God, flying wipes me out."
"So have a nap." He offered. "I'll stay right here with you."
Morgan let out a snort, "I want to unpack a little first."
Sonny chuckled at her as if to say 'do what you want' but he moved away from her, readjusted himself on the bed and relaxed back into the pillows. Morgan remained sitting down for a moment longer before standing up and taking her toiletries with her.
She disappeared out of the bedroom, leaving Sonny alone on the bed in their hotel room in Venice. He was so excited to be in Italy, he just loved the country, loved the city of Venice and he couldn't wait to spend two weeks here with Morgan. Letting out a small yawn of his own, he shook his head and peered down at his left hand, his eyes landing on the golden wedding band that currently adorned his finger.
Morgan was it for him and he'd do whatever he could to make sure the rest of their life together was happy.
When Morgan finally came back into the bedroom, Sonny immediately took note that she had a frantic expression on her face. He studied her but remained quiet, waiting for her to voice her concern before he pestered her about it. In all of his time knowing Morgan, he knew it was better for her to come to him, to be patient because chances were good that she was taking a few seconds to gather her thoughts.
She moved to stand in front of her suitcase and grabbed a stack of clothes, pulling them out and setting them on the end of the bed. She shook her head and peered into the pockets on the inside of her suitcase, clearly looking for something specific that she apparently couldn't find.
Letting out a growl of frustration, she moved on to the pockets on the outside of her suitcase, unzipping them, pulling out the contents and looking inside to make sure she hadn't missed anything.
"God dammit." Morgan grumbled and moved back to the inside pockets of her suitcase, checking yet again for whatever she was looking for.
"Mo?" Sonny said softly, catching her attention. She jerked her head upwards and looked at him, taking her bottom lip in between her teeth. "Talk to me here."
"I can't find…" she let her sentence trail off as she grabbed the sides of his suitcase, hauling it upwards and setting it on the bed next to hers. She continued to let her sentence hang as she ripped open the top of his and grabbed for his smaller bag containing toiletries.
"Mo." Sonny spoke up again and turned slightly towards her.
"My pills Sonny, I can't find my pills."
"Okay."
"Not okay!" She shot back and threw her arms up in defeat. "I don't remember packing my birth control."
Sonny sat up once again and leaned forward, trying desperately to get closer to Morgan. She still seemed frantic as she wandered over to the table in the corner of their hotel room, her hands gripping either side of her oversized purse, which doubled as a carry-on, and hauled it open.
She seemed to dig around inside but when she let out a sigh of frustration, he knew she hadn't found what she was looking for.
"I have condoms." He pointed out, trying to keep her calm, to help her with her current situation.
"Yeah, great, it's not…it's not the same thing."
"Mo, it's okay."
"No it's fucking not." She growled at him, turning her back to him and crossing her arms over her chest, clearly upset by the fact that she had forgotten to pack something so important. "I don't…"
"Well, what if you just didn't worry about it?" Sonny quipped, his voice trying to remain casual but inside he was nervous for how she would respond.
"What are you talking about?" She turned around and leveled him with a curious look. Well she didn't seem mad at him for suggesting it, but did that mean he was out of the woods?
"I mean, we're married now, we've been together for a while…why don't we try-"
"You want a baby, right now?" She cut him off. "Sonny, we literally just got married like twenty-four hours ago."
"Then we'll use condoms." He shrugged, remaining calm. There was no sense in showing his cards if he didn't have to.
She let out a scoff and shook her head, "it's not just that, it helps with my period."
"Well if you're pregnant, you don't get periods."
Her eyes widened at his logic. As if it was that simple. Yeah being pregnant meant not having periods, but it also meant lots of others things that she'd have to deal with instead. She cocked her head sideways and lifted a hand up to silence him and he raised one of his own hands in surrender. He wasn't going to force her and if she didn't want to try then he wasn't going to push it.
"I don't…" she let her words trail off yet again and sucked in a breath, "I don't know Sonny Bunny. It's not that I don't want to have kids with you, it's just…doesn't this seem a little fast?"
"Lots of babies get conceived on honeymoons but I'm leaving it up to you Mo. I'm game for whatever, your body, your choice."
Morgan shook her head as she contemplated his words. Was he really saying that he wanted to try for a baby now? They were barely even married, but then again, it wasn't like they hadn't spent the last little while together and they had been so happy together, so perfect.
She continued to think his proposition through. They could have a baby, they were mature enough, he was older than her and probably more than willing to start the family phase of his life, but then again, so was she. The idea of having a baby- well, was the thought of having a baby really that scary?
Peering over at Sonny, she gave him a once over. She wasn't exactly planning to have a baby so soon, but then again, the idea of having a family with Sonny was something she had wanted for a little while.
"We can just let nature take its course." Sonny suggested. "Or we can use protection."
Morgan sucked in a breath, "let me think about it for a little while?"
"Obviously Mo." He chuckled. "It's all on you."
Shaking her head, she scoffed, "yeah, no pressure or anything."
Sonny could only laugh at her as he relaxed back into the pillows, Morgan giving in and flopping down next to him. She curled up against him, wrapping her hands around his arm and holding on to him, letting her body relax against the heat from his.
"Only if you want." Sonny murmured, leaning his head over towards her and pressing a kiss to the top of her head.
She let her own eyes fall shut and a sigh escaped her. Was it something she wanted? Did she want to have a baby? Well, if she was honest with herself, it was definitely not a no, and much to her delight, the idea sounded quite nice.
"Nature." She said softly and he leaned in closer to her, if it was even possible. "Let's let nature take its course."
Sonny could only smile at her.
XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX
Sonny was excited to be back at work. Of course he had enjoyed his time off and hadn't wanted to come back, he just wanted to spend more and more time with Morgan, but reality was a bitch. Alas, she was heading back to work the next day, which meant she'd be facing reality again soon too, just like he was now.
His first stop was his office to drop off his briefcase and jacket, then he was heading right to Peter's office to check in, after all, a lot could've happened in two weeks and Sonny needed a run down on what was going on. His cases could've changed, sure, but he was expecting to be handed more cases because that was his job and he had been gone for two weeks. No one was going to go easy on him just because he was a married man.
In fact, maybe that gave him more to prove. He had to worry about looking after himself and Morgan, was it more responsibility? Yes, especially if they ended up having a baby in the near future. They were certainly trying, but Sonny knew it didn't always come easy to women, just like it didn't for Riley.
Approaching Peter's office, Sonny knocked on the door and waited to be called in, once he was, he strode into the office and saw the smile on his boss's face at the sight of him.
"Venice? How was it?" Peter questioned immediately. Neither he nor Riley had spoken to the couple very much while they had been gone, he wasn't bothered by them being absent but Riley had taken to baking to pass the time in the evenings when she'd normally be texting with her best friend. He had a nice brownie in his lunch to prove it.
"It was amazing, highly recommend you should go sometime. Take a gondola ride, eat some genuine Italian food, it's just awesome."
"Good, you looked relaxed." Peter joked and Sonny dropped down to sit in the chair across from him. "You ready to get back to work?"
"Yeah, I'm ready, I just think there's one thing I need to tell you first, get it off my chest, you know?"
Peter cocked his head at Sonny but his ADA didn't jump right into it like he figured. It was almost like something was bothering him, but what did the man have to tell him that he was nervous about? Was Sonny going to be leaving his position as ADA? Had him and Morgan decided he was better off somewhere else?
"What is it?" Peter pressed when it was clear Sonny was going to need prompting.
"It's more so that you can prepare Riley."
"Riley?" He stared at his ADA and conjured up all sorts of possibilities of what Sonny was going to tell him that he'd need to prepare Riley for. Were they moving? Were they-
"Morgan and I are trying to have a baby."
Oh. That was what he'd need to prepare Riley for. God, he should've been able to figure that out on his own, it wasn't like it wasn't the natural next step for Morgan and Sonny, hell, if the man hadn't been part of a pretty die hard Catholic family, he wouldn't have been surprised if they'd already had a kid.
That was a sin though.
"I appreciate the heads up." Peter nodded solemnly and Sonny leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees.
"She really should tell Morgan." Sonny said. "Mo won't judge her, she has to know that."
"She does." Peter nodded his head. "I think it's more than that though, trust me, I'm with you on this but it's not something I'm going to push her into doing."
Sonny knew how the man felt, he wouldn't want to push Morgan into something like that either. He didn't know the whole story but he knew enough to want to spare Riley's feelings and if giving Peter a fighting chance was as easy as a conversation, then he'd do that for the man who had become his friend over the last couple of years.
"How's that going by the way?" Sonny questioned, not entirely sure if he really wanted to know the details, but then again, how could he not. If he at least knew they were still trying, or getting close to succeeding, then maybe Riley and Morgan could have kids around the same age, maybe they could have kids that wound up being best friends, just like them. "You hand over your sperm?"
"Twice now." Peter answered, an almost sad expression crossing his face. "We're officially past the artificial insemination phase."
Sonny cringed at the clinical terms and prayed that it didn't come to that for him and Morgan. He figured Morgan was capable of having kids seeing as she hadn't mentioned it to him yet, but it was possible that she couldn't and she wasn't aware. They'd just have to wait and see.
"What's the next step then?" Sonny asked.
"In vitro."
"That's where they put the egg and the sperm together outside, then put…then it goes where it's supposed to?"
"Basically." Peter found himself smiling the tiniest little bit at Sonny's hesitancy to talk about this particular subject, but honestly, he found it weird himself, he was just glad that he could talk about it with someone who wasn't Riley. "Third time for sperm."
"Do they know what's wrong?"
"If they do, no one's told me." Peter offered up and Sonny figured that Peter would be the first to know if Riley found out specifics. "So next Friday I will be off in the afternoon."
"For in vitro?" Sonny wondered, more for confirmation than anything.
"Egg harvesting." Peter said the words forcefully and Sonny winced at them. "It sounds worse than it is, I think."
"Sounds like something out of a sci-fi movie." Sonny joked. "Friday afternoon…"
"You'll be taking over my court appearances while I'm gone, I tried to shuffle things around so you shouldn't have too many." Peter stated. "And I will be mostly available via a phone call, it's just that I promised Riley that I'd be there with her, and plus they can do the sperm thing at the same time- it's really awkward to talk about out loud."
"It's really awkward to think about too." Sonny tossed out. "Sounds terrifying, how's she doing with all this anyway?"
Peter paused for a second and thought about how Riley was doing. She certainly seemed okay, but he knew that she really wanted a child of her own. She was hell bent on it, so much so that she was resorting to minor surgery and an expensive medical process. He wasn't going to say no though, if he was honest, having a baby with Riley sounded great.
He just wasn't sure how much further she was going to want to take things.
"I don't know." Peter sighed. "Honestly, I have no idea if this is going to work and I don't know how to tell her how I'm feeling about everything because she has enough of her own things to worry about."
"Sounds rough."
"She'll be okay."
"She's got you." Sonny smirked. "And, like I said, Venice is really nice."
Peter shook his head in amusement and grabbed hold of a couple of folders off his desk before offering them to Sonny, who took them without hesitation. Neither man said anything for a few seconds but that was just fine, it was comfortable enough for them to sit together and not say anything, in fact, it might even be what they needed every once in a while.
"I'm glad you're back." Peter smiled. "And not just because I can hand files off to you."
Sonny smiled back at him in return, "I'd be more excited to be back if you hadn't pawned your best man speech off to Barba."
"Hey, he approached me." Peter countered.
Sonny rolled his eyes but stood up, still smiling. He tapped the edge of the files and headed for the door, making his way back to his own office. Once he was sitting at his desk, he let out a soft sigh and settled in for his first day back at work in over two weeks. He was ready for it, he was ready for anything so long as he had Morgan by his side.
XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX
"Listen to all the things I baked you while you were gone!" Riley exclaimed as she met up with Morgan at the pier. "Brownies, cookies- I even baked a pie but Peter ate it."
"You baked a pie?" Morgan grinned.
"Yeah." She nodded.
"You don't even like pie."
"No, but apparently Peter does." Riley shrugged. "I've always wanted to bake a pie, so I did. I think it turned out okay, I didn't eat any but Peter never complained and, like I said, he ate it. Oh my god, he's going to get fat isn't he? I need-"
"He won't get fat, you two work each other out enough at night, I'm sure he'll be fine." Morgan cut her off and continued to grin. "Seriously, it's so hard to believe that it wasn't all that long ago you were out with a different guy every other night."
Riley snorted at her and wrapped her hands around the top of the railing in front of her. She had the baked goods for Morgan back in the car but right now the two of them were merely hanging out on the pier, chilling with each other after two weeks of minimal contact.
"It was just sex, it's not like I was doing anything weird."
"Yeah but a lot of sex." Morgan teased and leaned on the railing next to Riley, the two of them looking out at the water. It was a cooler day but still rather nice out, the sun was shining and the sky was clear. "Peter must be good in bed if you haven't gotten bored of him yet."
Riley turned her head to face Morgan and studied her carefully. Riley loved Peter, Morgan knew that, but did her friend really believe she'd have gotten bored with him by now? Shrugging her off, Riley turned her attention back out to the water, watching the boats that were floating far off in the distance. She'd never get bored of Peter.
"How was Venice? Did you have sex in a gondola?" Riley asked, obviously changing the subject. She didn't really want to talk about her and Peter, especially not since finding out that her second try at artificial insemination didn't take, she just wanted to hear Morgan talk about her great honeymoon adventure in Venice, but not with too many details.
"No Ry, there's always a dude in the boat with you so that the boat moves down the river so that'd be awkward for him." Morgan answered. "Not that you wouldn't find a way I'm sure."
"I've never once been a voyeur." Riley huffed. "But the idea of having a man put his hand in my underwear while out in public has crossed my mind- never done it though."
"Really?"
Riley grinned at her friend, not bothering to dignify her question with a response. She leaned closer to Morgan and rested her head against her shoulder, loving that Morgan was back in New York safe and sound. She had missed her dearly, but Peter had been a decent substitute, when he wasn't busy eating pie.
"I love that you went to Carisi's motherland." Riley joked. "Was it nice? Did he look like all the other Italians?"
"No he didn't look like all the other Italians Ry. As for Venice, my god, you'd love the architecture." Morgan gushed. "And the food was so good."
"Authentic Italian pizza?"
"Yes! More than once." Morgan's voice was laced with excitement and Riley was glad that she had a good time on her honeymoon. Venice sounded like a wonderful place to head off to for two weeks. "So many carbs though, I don't understand how Sonny stays as skinny as he does with the sheer amount of carbs that Italians ingest."
Riley laughed at her pal and pictured Sonny in her head, his body all thin and gangly. She couldn't picture him any other way. She had missed him too, but not as much as Morgan. He was a good guy, a great match for Morgan, and she couldn't have been happier that the two of them managed to find each other.
"His suits are expensive and he doesn't want to risk outgrowing them." Riley jeered. "I love his vests Mo, he's just too adorable, in a way that puppies are adorable."
"Yeah, I think he's adorable in a different way." Morgan chuckled. "But hey, that's just better for me, I never had to compete with you for his attention."
Riley nodded her head in agreement, thanking god that she had found Peter Stone while Morgan had been crushing on Sonny. Things seemed to have worked out fairly well for the two of them.
"Somehow I don't think I'm his type but I'm definitely glad you're home though." Riley sighed in contentment. "I missed you."
"Not going to lie here Ry, I barely thought of you while I was gone."
"Fair, you were probably too busy having massive amounts of vanilla sex."
"Ry." Morgan groaned. "We're not vanilla."
Riley cocked her head sideways innocently and smirked at her friend. She'd tease her about it for a long time to come, but she couldn't have been any happier that Morgan had managed to find a guy like Sonny who loved her just as much as she loved him.
"I can upgrade you to chocolate, but that's about as far as I can put you."
"Whatever, at least I haven't tried like a thousand different flavours, like you."
Leaning back, Riley glared playfully at her friend and even reached out and slapped her on the back. Morgan broke out into a fit of laughter but hugged Riley tight, holding on to her for the first time she had arrived back in New York.
"Peter and I picked a date." Riley murmured and Morgan tensed at her words.
"What?"
"October seventeenth. We're going to have a wedding." Riley explained, Morgan's lips curling upwards into the biggest smile. "I decided that I want the fancy dress and party, and we decided that October seventeenth is going to be the day."
"Wow." Morgan's eyes widened in sheer joy. "I think that's a great date and you will look amazing in, well, probably any dress you try on."
Riley shied away from her gaze but let Morgan hang on to her, taking her hand instead of hugging her. The two of them looked out at the water, letting a blanket of silence fall over them. It was perfect, Morgan was married and happy, Riley was going to be married and Peter seemed to be doing a decent job at keeping Riley happy so far.
What more could the two of them ask for?
"You'll be my maid of honour, right?" Riley asked softly.
"Duh." Morgan retorted. "And I will be there when you try on dresses and all that jazz."
"Good."
Morgan pressed a sweet little kiss against the side of Riley's head, loving that her friend was turning out to have a normal relationship. She had worried about her before when she simply slept with a man once and never saw him again, but this Riley, the very girl who was ready to settle down with a man and actually have a wedding, was someone Morgan felt confident in.
She definitely wasn't worried about Riley anymore.
XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX
Peter was confident in Sonny covering for him the following Friday afternoon, he'd been gone from the office for close to two hours and had yet to receive a call or text from Sonny asking him for help, or asking him anything at all really. His load for the afternoon had been lightened for him so it wasn't like Sonny was going to be overwhelmed, which just made him able to focus all of his attention on what was going on right now.
He was anxiously waiting for Riley to be done with her egg harvesting procedure, hell he had even gone and done his part for the day, but this waiting, the not knowing, was killing him. He had brought a book to read but it had been abandoned in the car because there was no way he'd be able to focus on anything except the idea of this in vitro process working.
They were so close to Riley potentially ending up pregnant. After today, they'd have to wait a few days and then the process would really be complete. Was he ready for that? Was he ready to become a dad if it happened?
His knee vibrated from the nerves of it all but before his other knee could start, his name was called by one of the ladies working in the clinic. Following her back down the hallway, he spotted Riley sitting on the edge of a hospital bed, she was entirely dressed but looking super groggy. Her eyes were half shut and when he wandered in, she merely stared at him, an almost lost expression on her face.
"She's good to go home, we'll be seeing her next Wednesday pending everything goes well from here on out." The lady announced and Riley hesitantly made her way to her feet, reaching out and grabbing for Peter, who was quick to take up a stance beside her, letting her use him to keep herself stable. "If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to call us."
"Thanks." Riley murmured and held on tight to Peter, letting him lead her out of the room, then out of the building.
When she was securely in the passenger seat of the car, he hesitated in her doorframe and gently set his hand on her knee. She peered up at him and forced a smile onto her face, her eyes glazed over from the anesthetic.
"You okay?" He asked in a low tone and she gave one cautious nod of her head.
"Tired mostly."
"You sure?"
"I mean, my whole bottom half feels weird but they said that's normal."
He leaned forward and pressed a kiss to the side of her head, Riley settling in to her seat as he retreated, shutting the door and heading around to the driver's side. On the way home, she had managed to fall asleep and when he pulled into the driveway, she didn't move.
Taking a minute to just look at her, he couldn't help but wonder how he had gotten so lucky in finding her. Yeah so what if they had started off going right to bed the first night they met, it had definitely worked out pretty well for them. She was beautiful, smart, funny, kind and so many other things.
Soon, but not soon enough, she'd be his wife.
The thought of standing in front of their friends and family made him smile and before he could think too much about it, he reached over and gingerly nudged her arm, waking her. She let her head loll sideways to look at him and he could tell that she was exhausted, and maybe it was from more than just her procedure, maybe it was the entirety of her wanting so desperately to have a baby of her own.
He didn't know for sure, nor did he know how far she was willing to go to have a baby of her own. At least he knew that she wasn't going to look for outside donors though, that was a comforting thought.
"Come on, let's get you inside." Peter whispered. She went to unbuckle her seatbelt and open her door but before she had a chance to step out into the driveway, he was standing there waiting for her, ready to support her if she needed it.
When she took hold of his hand, he helped her to the ground, shutting the car door behind her. She immediately curled her body into his chest and he hugged her tight, resting his chin on the top of her head.
Hesitantly pulling away, she let him take her hand and guide her to the front door before ushering her inside. He then led her to the living room and she flopped onto the couch, sitting there in a state of tiredness as he disappeared from the room.
When he came back, he sat down beside her and spread out the blanket that he had retrieved, covering the two of them with it and letting her curl against his side. He held on to her tightly and she stared into his eyes, a tiny little smile pulling at the corners of her mouth.
"You're coming on Wednesday, right?" She asked, letting out a little yawn.
"Yes." Okay, so he'd need to find out what time on Wednesday she needed him and then fill Sonny in on the work for that day. He could do that, it was easy enough, even if it wasn't, he'd figure out a way to be there for her.
"Thank you." She murmured, letting her eyes fall shut. He took hold of the television remote and turned it on, flipping through the channels to see what he could find. When he landed on a repeat of the Yankees game from the night before, he stopped and turned the volume down low.
"For what exactly?"
"Everything." She shrugged awkwardly against him. "For the sperm, for putting up with all this, for being with me."
Well that was just a long list of things she was thankful for. He gave her shoulders a gentle squeeze, feeling her body relax against him. He'd pretty much do anything for the girl next to him, but he wasn't going to admit that out loud, not any time soon if he could help it. Once he did that, she'd hold all the cards and he wasn't ready to give her that power just yet. One day though.
"Morgan and Sonny are trying to have a baby." He blurted out and flinched at the tensing of her body against his. He had known for over a week and hadn't found the right time to break it to her, but now seemed like as good a time as any. What did he have to lose anyways, she was half drugged. "Sonny told me last week. I just thought you should know so that it doesn't come out of left field."
"You've known this for a week?" She pressed and readjusted her body against his, wrapping her arms around her middle. She was aching but she figured it would stop after a day or so, minor cramping and bloating was common. "Okay."
"Okay?"
"What do you want me to say?" She tipped her head back and looked at him, sadness in her eyes. "She's allowed to have babies, just because I'm having trouble doesn't mean she has to wait."
"That's not…Riley, I just don't want you to get hurt."
"People are going to have babies whether I do or not." She pointed out. "Morgan's allowed to, clearly she's going to. I figured this was going to happen."
"You're allowed to be upset." Peter stated.
"What's the point?" She countered. "I don't want Morgan to feel bad, it's part of the reason why I didn't tell her about my issues."
He twisted his body slightly and she drew herself against his chest, laying on him as opposed to against him. Curling into his hold, she let out a soft sigh and tried to relax against him. Morgan was allowed to get pregnant, she was allowed to have kids, even if it wasn't immediately in the cards for Riley.
She figured that if Morgan knew about her inability to conceive then Morgan might even put it off for fear of hurting her feelings and she certainly didn't want that. She just wanted Morgan to be happy. It wasn't her fault Riley had fertility issues and Riley certainly wasn't going to be the reason Morgan held back on having a family.
"It's whatever." Riley mumbled. "I'm upset, but not at Mo. I'm just upset at the world. Shit's not fair."
"No, it's not."
He knew that first hand. Growing up with a father who wasn't that great, having a sister who spent most of her grown life in an institution- yeah he knew all about shit not being fair. Riley didn't deserve this though, she deserved everything she could possibly want.
Maybe in vitro would work, maybe they'd get their baby. Maybe it wouldn't and they'd try again.
He didn't know what to expect, but he was going to be there with Riley every step of the way.
"Can we…" Riley trailed off, her eyes darting over to the television where she spotted her beloved Yankees. "I'm going to go to bed."
"I'll come-"
"No." She broke in. "You should probably call Sonny and check in."
Peter gave her a nod of his head and before he could protest any more, she was on her feet with the blanket in her arms. She headed for the stairs and he watched her go, careful to make sure that she made it up the stairs without incident. When she was safely on the second floor, he shook his head and pulled his phone out from his pocket, looking at the screen and daring it to ring.
Instead of calling Sonny though, he merely typed out a text message to him asking if everything was good. As soon as the response came back claiming that 'all's good', Peter knew where he needed to be, it didn't matter if she had told him not to come with her.
He made his way up the stairs and burst into the bedroom, catching sight of the tears in Riley's eyes as she lay sideways on the bed with the blanket over her body. Peter made quick work of joining her in bed, drawing her against his chest as she silently cried. He looked towards the ceiling, closed his eyes and prayed that this would work out for them.
Seeing Riley like this wasn't something he could do too many more times because it broke his heart to see her upset. He couldn't help her, he couldn't fix things, and at that moment, he wasn't sure how to even start to comfort her.
"I love you Riley." He whispered and she clung to him tighter, letting out a soft sob. "You're okay."
She didn't bother responding, instead, she just held on to him and tried to calm herself. What more could she do because she honestly didn't know if he was right? Was she okay?
She was scared because she was starting to think that maybe the answer was no.