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 27:
Everything was suddenly a lot more real and Sonny wasn't entirely sure how to handle it. Yeah he knew that they were having a baby, but being here, sitting next to Morgan as they prepared for the ultrasound, just solidified everything in a way he hadn't been expecting. He had to keep himself together though, not when Morgan had already freaked out enough for the both of them that day, apparently her excitement had come out as anxiety today of all days, but Sonny couldn't blame her.
All he could do was be with her in the here and now, supporting her the best way he knew how. He gently set his palm on her bicep, watching the nurse set Morgan up on the examination table, and he found himself unsure if the pounding in his chest was more because he was excited to finally be a part of everything or if he was scared out of his skull of becoming a father.
Sounds around him were unclear, muffled almost, and he could feel his heart drumming against his chest, but Sonny knew that he had to stay calm, at least on the outside, because Morgan needed him to. He was supposed to be the calm one, the one who had originally suggested having a baby; if he freaked out now, surely Morgan would find herself uneasy about having a child with a man who was terrified of looking after a tiny little baby.
Suddenly Sonny felt like everything was happening too fast: the house that they weren't moved into, the nursery that needed to be painted and furnished, hell they barely had a plan for when the baby would finally come to meet them.
No matter what happened though, he knew that Morgan was the most important person to him, Morgan and now, of course, the baby.
"Hey?" Morgan's voice pierced his skull and he gave a slight shake of his head, trying to focus his thoughts and attention on what was going on in front of him. The house could be sorted later, right now he was going to get to see his baby and hear the heartbeat. "You okay?"
"I should be the one asking you that." He countered and scooted the chair next to the table closer to her, moving his hand down her arm to take hold of her hand, giving it a gentle, reassuring squeeze.
"Yeah but you're the one who looks like he's going to throw up, not me." She teased and he forced an uneasy smile onto his face. "Seriously Sonny, you good?"
Morgan sucked in a breath as the nurse wandered upwards, pulling a blanket over her bottom half but stopping it just below her belly button. Morgan wiggled her fingers and reluctantly pulled her hand away from Sonny's, gathering her shirt up in her hands and forcing it upwards so that her abdomen was free and clear for the woman to do her work.
"I uh, yeah, I think so." He nodded and held his breath, trying to force the nerves away. He still didn't know what to think. On one hand, he was glad that he was here with Morgan, but on the other hand, no, no there was no other hand. He was Morgan's husband, the father to her baby and he wanted to be here. He was just nervous.
"Is this the father?" The nurse questioned softly. Morgan was grateful that this woman seemed nice and even a little bit comforting. She needed it on a day like today where they would find out what they were having. No, well, sort of- god, she wanted to know so badly but Sonny's family had mentioned a gender reveal party and Morgan had been on board for having one of those.
They'd get the gender but it would be kept a secret until the party, which meant more waiting for Morgan and Sonny.
"Yes, this is the father." Morgan answered quickly and shot a glance over towards Sonny, who tipped his head sideways at the question. Were there a lot of people who didn't bring the fathers? So much so that the nurses had to ask about them? "He's my baby daddy, the absolute love of my life, one man that means the world to me."
He couldn't contain the chuckle and let it out, taking note that she was obviously just as nervous as he was, as was evident by her joking manner. She was uneasy about finding out the gender, but was that because she wanted one over the other, or just because she was excited and happy with whatever they found out today?
"You two married?" The nurse pressed with a genuine smile and Morgan looked down at her hands, wiggling her finger with the rings on it.
"We sure are." Morgan nodded her head. "He's catholic so a bastard child would be a sin."
"Mo." Sonny scolded and the nurse let out a chuckle.
"I have to say, you two are one of the most adorable couples I've seen come through here."
"Adorable?" Sonny narrowed his eyes in on the woman. He wasn't adorable, he didn't want to be adorable.
"Thanks." Morgan forced the word out and shot a glare in Sonny's direction. She knew that he was getting a little up in arms about being called adorable (a lot of men would), but there was no reason for him to cause a scene, especially not when it was blatantly obvious that Morgan was pregnant and very likely to go into a mood swing if he said the wrong thing. "We've only been married for a short while and we're already having a baby together, I'm so excited, I just can't contain how happy I am."
"We're pretty sure it's a honeymoon baby." Sonny threw out with a chuckle.
"Oh nice, that's exciting!"
"Right! It's certainly a good wedding present in my eyes." Morgan teased and laughed as the woman smiled at her. Sonny shook his head at how much fun she seemed to be having, well, okay, if this is what it took for her to calm down and relax, then he'd let her go for it.
"So you planned this baby then?" The nurse questioned, clearly knowing the answer but asking to make conversation.
"Sort of." Morgan gave a little nod. "No, yes, yes we planned to get pregnant."
"Seems like the stars aligned for us because it happened so quickly." Sonny teased.
Morgan opened her mouth to respond to him but she found that she didn't really know what more she could say. He had a point, when Sonny had suggested not using protection, Morgan hadn't really thought it would happen so fast, but it had and she couldn't have been happier.
Her mind flitted to Riley for a split second, feeling saddened by the fact that she was having trouble getting pregnant. It wasn't Morgan's fault and even though she was saddened by that fact, she definitely didn't feel guilty.
"You ready for this…sorry honey, I didn't catch your name." The nurse carried on and Morgan cocked her head sideways.
"Morgan." She answered and looked from the woman to Sonny, who had his eyes glued on the nurse, watching as she closed in on Morgan.
"Hey, can I ask you something?" He piped up and sat up straighter on the chair.
"Of course you can." The nurse smiled back at him politely.
"Should we…I mean, is it okay for us to still have sex?"
The nurse let out a low snicker and shook her head in amusement. Morgan forced a smile onto her face and rolled her eyes at him. Was that really his question, was he honestly asking the woman doing the ultrasound if it was okay for them to still be having sex?
Hell, even she knew the answer to that and honestly, she had been expecting him to be quiet for the majority of this entire ordeal, not for him to ask questions about sex.
"Yes, sex is perfectly acceptable to indulge in while pregnant." The nurse nodded and set to work, pausing momentarily to meet Sonny's eyes, a teasing grin on her face. "Only if the mother wants it though, sometimes it's not always comfortable."
Sonny nodded his understanding and watched in curiosity as the nurse moved over onto the other side of Morgan, while remaining firmly on a stool. She squeezed some sort of clear gel out of tube onto her skin and then proceeded to spread it around with the rounded device that she held in her hand.
"You know how far along you are?" The nurse asked and Morgan gave a slow but firm nod of her head. "And do you know what you're having?"
"Just over sixteen weeks, and no, we don't know what we're having. We want to know but not at this moment, we're planning a gender reveal party." Morgan answered with an excited tone but kept her eyes on the screen of the machine, which was now full of the same sort of black and white swirls as she had seen during her first ultrasound at the very beginning of her pregnancy.
She felt Sonny's fingers brush against her arm and when she peered over to get a look at him, she stared at his eyes, watching him as he became entranced by the muffled sounds echoing into the room.
The nurse took significant time locating the baby but a few minutes in and suddenly, without any sort of warning, or any time to panic, the baby's heartbeat sounded out in the room.
"There's your baby." The nurse said softly and Morgan let go of her shirt with just one of her hands before reaching across her chest and resting her palm against the back of Sonny's hand. He tore his eyes off the screen long enough to meet her gaze, which is when she noticed the shine to his eyes.
"You sure you're okay?" Morgan asked in a whisper and leaned her head in his direction. "You can cry if you want to, it's pretty amazing if you think about and I won't tell a soul, except Riley, so- yeah, everyone would probably know by the end of the day but still, you can cry if you want to."
"No." He winced. "I'm good, not going to cry at all."
"Well I might." She teased and took in a deep breath. "Sonny that's it, you see our baby, right?"
"I, uh, yeah."
The nurse lifted her hand up, pinky finger extended, and traced the outer limits of the baby on the screen just to make sure Sonny knew where he was supposed to look and what he was supposed to be seeing.
"I can tell what it is, so I'll put a note in the file and on your way out, you can stop by the front desk and grab the envelope containing the baby's gender." The nurse supplied, Morgan letting out the breath she had taken in seconds earlier. "Congratulations you two, everything, as far as I can tell, seems to be fine."
"Can we…can we get a picture, of our baby?" Morgan quipped and found her voice cracking from the emotions.
"Of course you can." The nurse smiled and went right to work on providing Morgan with exactly what she had asked for.
Morgan ducked her eyes down and took in the sight of her abdomen, studying it carefully and trying to decide if she felt like she looked big enough to be housing a baby.
In all reality, she loved being pregnant, but she feared gaining too much weight. She didn't want to get fat, she didn't want to gain more than she was supposed to, she just wanted to stay as close to the expected size as possible, but she knew that wasn't necessarily going to happen, especially not with her cravings as out of control as they had been lately.
"Here you go."
Morgan reached out and took hold of the picture that the nurse offered her, then she waited for the woman to gently wipe off her skin before letting her shirt go. She turned towards Sonny and handed him the picture before turning to the side of the table to face him.
"Thank you." Morgan murmured.
"You're very welcome. I'll just give you two a few minutes and be back, how's that sound?"
"Yeah, thanks." Sonny nodded.
"Congratulations mom and dad." The nurse smiled and Sonny just nodded his head yet again.
The nurse disappeared quickly out the door leaving the two of them alone in the room, whereby Morgan dropped her feet down and stood up next to the table. Sonny leaned back in the chair and she immediately planted herself down on his lap, relaxing as his one arm curled around her waist and held her there.
"It feels so much more real now." Sonny remarked softly. "It's like I knew we were going to have a baby but now I have proof, I know it's real."
"I know how you feel." She countered and rested her one hand on the back of his neck. "Now we just have to wait a little longer for our party to find out if we're having a Michael or an Eva."
He shook his head at her in amusement but didn't dare move too much. She drummed her fingers against his skin and leaned in to him, cuddling into his hold.
"Either way, I couldn't be any more excited." He beamed at her
"Good." Morgan smiled back at him, letting out a soft sigh of relief. She had been terribly excited for her appointment but now that it was over, she was nothing short of relieved.
"Have I ever told you that I appreciate you so much Mo? I love you so much, you know that, right?"
"I do. I love you just as much Sonny Bunny."
"And thanks for having my baby."
"You're welcome." She pressed a sweet little kiss against his jaw. "It was especially fun to make this baby."
Sonny grinned at her, thinking the exact same thing.
XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX
The house barely had any furniture in it, Sonny and Morgan had yet to actually move in, but there were enough chairs scattered around the living room, plus they had the couch, to accommodate enough people to have a gender reveal party here. Their apartment was way too small to host a party, plus it was the perfect opportunity to let their friends see their new place.
The one thing that they had moved over from the apartment was their dining room table and chairs, which served as the snack table, the cake set up on a cake stand in the very centre of it, taunting Morgan every time she looked at it. There were decorations lining the walls, in both pink and blue, which Morgan had thrown up with Sonny's help and there were drinks in the fridge for the guests, a pot of coffee brewing for those that wanted it.
The cake on the table was covered in white icing with a blue and pink coloured question mark adorning the top of it, right in the centre; blue and pink alternating icing tufts surrounded the edges. The cake itself, which was hidden by the white icing, was either blue or pink, and once they cut into it, Morgan and Sonny would know what they were having, and so would all of their guests.
Not surprisingly, Audrey, Riley and Peter had arrived first, Audrey having driven to Riley's place the day before and spent the night there in order to be in New York in time for the party. Morgan had greeted them all with excited hugs, lingering in Audrey's embrace and whispering a low thank you for the name book and stuffed dog. Audrey merely patted her on the back, grinned widely and wandered over to the snacks, taking a finger sandwich and a napkin before taking a seat on the couch.
"Make sure you mark the chalkboard with what you think I'm having." Morgan called out towards Audrey and Riley snorted at the request. Right, in addition to the chairs and table, there was also a small chalkboard set up on a little table just before the hallway to the stairs. On it was a line drawn right down the middle with the word 'Boy' in blue chalk on one half and the word 'Girl' in pink chalk on the other. "What do you think it is Ry?"
Riley glanced at Peter quickly before she answered, "velociraptor."
"That's physically impossible." Peter remarked.
"Yeah but how wild would that be?" Riley's eyes widened at the mere thought of Morgan having a dinosaur. Indeed it would be wild.
Morgan stuck her tongue out at her friend and swatted her arm, "what gender Ry? Because I can tell you with great certainly that it is, in fact, human, evidence by the fact that I've seen it at the ultrasound appointment."
"Does gender truly exist in this day and age?" Riley countered philosophically before whisking Peter towards the chalkboard, freeing Morgan up to greet her next guests, which were Bella and Sonny's mother.
More hugs were given, excited squeals erupted and before Morgan knew where he had even come from, Sonny was ushering his mother to the couch to sit with Audrey, heading over to the snacks to gather her up something to eat. Bella couldn't help but grin at Morgan, who grinned right back at her and waved her hand around at the room.
"Nice place." Bella remarked. "You and Sonny have good taste, I can't wait to see it when you're actually all settled in."
"Soon." With a giggle, Morgan stepped closer to Bella, "by the way don't forget to put your guess on the chalkboard, I'm really curious to see what everyone thinks."
Bella nodded her understanding and wandered over to the couch, sitting on the arm of it near her mother, apparently asking her for her guess so she could mark it down too. Morgan ran a hand over her lower abdomen and blew out a sigh, hoping that she could get some sort of second wind soon.
She had been up fairly early to get the place ready for the party but her and Sonny had found themselves distracted by wandering through the house and sharing ideas out loud for what they wanted to do with the place and where they wanted to put the furniture they already had. Needless to say, by the time they had finished daydreaming about their home, and what it would potentially look like when they moved in, they had ended up rushing to get the party ready, and they had done so just in time.
A few more people trickled into the house, her mother first, followed by Amanda Rollins and Olivia Benson, Fin trailing along behind them and immediately heading for Sonny, who was leaning against the kitchen counter near the fridge, passing out beers to anyone who wanted one. He had a small group with him consisting of Peter, Riley and now Fin.
Good, at least he was entertaining people instead of just hanging out with one person.
Morgan directed everyone to the chalkboard when they arrived and before she knew it, there were a load of tick marks, pretty evenly matched for girl and boy. She couldn't help but be excited for this party; she wanted to find out what she was having so badly, she was surprised she had managed to wait this long.
Today was the day though, she would finally find out what she was having, and it wasn't going to be a velociraptor, much to Riley's dismay.
Riley came up behind her and set her arm across her back, offering her a glass of water. Morgan took it with a smile and leaned in against her friend, grateful that she was here with her to share in her excitement.
"Seriously Ry, boy or girl?" Morgan pressed and Riley let out a low hum.
"I don't know." She shrugged. "I can see you with either. Me, I've always wanted a girl, but at this point, I wouldn't be picky."
"What did you mark on the chalkboard?" Morgan quipped.
"Boy." Riley answered. "But just because it was the first one I saw."
Morgan gave a nod of her head, "I can't believe your mom came all the way to New York for my gender reveal party."
"She came for your bridal shower, why wouldn't she be here for this." Riley pointed out. "She adores you, plus it's not like she drove across the country, it's like a three-hour drive."
"Still."
Riley scoffed at her but understood what she was trying to say. Audrey wasn't her actual mother, no matter how often she wished she was. The fact that she had shown up to the gender reveal party meant the world to her.
Another few guests trickled in, this time Sonny's remaining sisters trailed in after Rafael Barba, who greeted Morgan with a kiss on the cheek. She wasn't sure if he was going to be able to make it but here he was, with a smile on his face at the sight of her. Sonny came up behind her, she figured it was to make sure his sisters behaved but she didn't care either way.
"Please, check out the chalkboard over there and mark what you think I'm having." Morgan instructed and Gina and Theresa headed right over there, thankful that Morgan had given them a way out of an awkward greeting. Barba however, stayed right in front of her.
"Congratulations." He smirked.
"Thanks." Morgan smiled. "And thanks for coming."
"Anything for you." Barba replied politely. "But you know, I wouldn't miss the gender reveal for my brother husband's baby."
"Of course you wouldn't Rafi. Still, thanks for showing up."
"Some brother husband you are, couldn't even get Oreos when I asked." Sonny threw out with a scoff and headed back to the kitchen, taking Morgan's glass of water with him. He wound up right back where he had been standing before his sisters had arrived.
Morgan watched him go and gave her head a little shake at his words. Whatever, she liked Barba and he was nice to her, which was what really counted in the end. He could be sassy with Sonny all he wanted, in fact, it was rather entertaining.
"Right, anyways, it should be a fun party, we have drinks, food and games." Morgan threw out.
"Games?" Riley piped up from next to her. "You have games and you're just telling me this now? How do you expect me to win-"
"Oh my god, go talk to Sonny in the kitchen, he'll give you the sheets." Morgan cut her off and Riley took off for the man in question, leaving Morgan alone with Barba. He gave the girl a smile and followed after Riley, wanting to give his congratulations to Sonny in addition to Morgan, which happened to be in the form of a handshake.
She turned towards the kitchen and spotted Sonny handing Riley two sheets, which had pictures and text on both sides. One sheet contained a quiz on songs (on one side) and movies (on the other) that contained lyrics or movie lines; the game was to guess what the title of the song or movie was and, as a fun twist, it had to contain either the word pink or blue.
On the second sheet was a game where the player had to come up baby names that began with each letter of the alphabet. One side of the page was for girl names and the other side was for boy names. It was no surprise to Morgan that Riley was already starting in on the games, she was super competitive after all, it was how she wound up with Peter in the first place and look how well that had gone for her.
When Riley came back over, she held the sheets in one hand along with a small pencil, and a glass of vodka and orange juice in the other. She wiggled the sheets in her hand and stared at Morgan, who merely rolled her eyes at her friend, making a mental note that she was currently the only one ready to play her games.
"Games…pfft and you didn't tell me right away. Not cool Mo." Riley chuckled.
"I should tell Sonny to pass the sheets out." Morgan stated but Riley shook her head no. Apparently she was willing to schmooze for an extra bit of time, a head start if you will. "Ry, it's just a silly party game."
"Yeah and I want to win, are there prizes? Do I win something?" Riley shot back at her.
"Uh, no…" Morgan answered slowly.
"Huh, so just bragging rights, well that doesn't change anything. I'm going to obliterate everyone else." Riley growled out the last word and turned on her heels, leaving Morgan standing there by herself as Riley headed over to the couch, plopping herself down on the floor next to her mother and going right to work on the sheets.
Morgan moved quickly to Sonny and stood in front of him.
"Congrats on the baby." Fin said simply and Morgan smiled at him.
"Thanks. You guys know there are games, right?" Morgan asked, looking directly at Sonny, who reached behind him blindly and grabbed at the stack of papers, bringing them out in front of him and looking at her. "Good, great, now go hand them out."
"Sure doll." Sonny nodded at her and excused himself from his group of guys. Peter flashed her a smile and she let out a laugh.
"Any more Oreo cravings since I was by last?" Peter teased.
"No, surprisingly four bags of cookies is a pretty sufficient amount for a craving." She joked right back. "Plus every day seems to be something different; this morning I had vegetable soup and garlic bread for brunch."
"That sounds delicious." Fin remarked.
"I blame the baby." Morgan chuckled. "Excuse me."
She headed over towards the couch where most of Sonny's sisters were sitting near their mother and Riley was kneeling on the floor at the end of the couch where her mother sat. A lot of them were working away at their games but no one was as focused as Riley, who was locked in and not talking to anyone.
When Peter wandered over and crouched down next to her, she jerked in surprise as his hand came to rest on the middle of her back. Pausing only long enough to shoot him a smile, she went right back to her games.
Morgan wandered over and took a trip around the table, her eyes glued to the cake, wondering what secret would be revealed when they cut in to it. She was getting overly excited and at this point in the day, she just wanted to know what she was having.
Sonny came up next to her and grabbed her hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze as their guests seemed to settle into smaller groups, most of them working on the game sheets. He leaned in and pressed a kiss against the side of her head, feeling her relax a bit at the gesture.
"Have you looked at the chalkboard?" Sonny asked in a low tone.
"No, why, what's in the lead, girl or boy?" Morgan countered.
"Boy, by two."
Morgan let out a hum and glanced around at the people who had shown up for her gender reveal party. Hell, even her mother had shown up, which was the biggest shock of them all. Then again, her mother had been at the bridal shower too and Morgan was her daughter after all, was it so farfetched to think that her mom was halfway decent?
"I just want to know." Morgan whined and grabbed a fistful of his shirt. "Seriously, can we just cut the stupid cake already?"
"I'll make an announcement." Sonny replied with a chuckle.
He reluctantly let go of her and wandered over to stand in front of the couch, most of the guests stopping in their movements to look at him. He cleared his throat and straightened up, preparing himself to make a speech.
"First of all, I want to thank everyone for showing up, we appreciate you guys being here to share in this excitement with us." Sonny started and it was clear that everyone was hanging on to his every word. "If you haven't already, there's a guessing game over on the chalkboard, Morgan and I are going to be cutting the cake soon so please, head on over there and make your guess. As for the games, we'll be revealing the answers to the movies and songs after the cake is cut."
"Ugh boo." Riley murmured and threw her hand into the air. Peter grabbed it and lowered it back down, giving Sonny an apologetic nod. "Lame."
"Right, and for the alphabet game, well, the first person who hands in both sides of their sheet, completed, to me wins." Sonny continued on and Riley leapt to her feet, waving the paper at him. "Okay."
He took it and waved back at the chalkboard, a couple people heading over towards it to make their guesses. He peered down at the sheet and Riley closed the distance between them, standing directly in front of him as he read over the first side of the sheet, a through z were completed for girls names and for the most part, the answers she had written down were pretty good.
She hadn't cheated and made up names, nor had she used random words. Sonny would give it to Riley, at least she played fair.
When he flipped it over, she took a step closer to him and grinned, watching as he read down the list, nodding at her answers. Jesus Riley was no slouch when it came to competition, even if it was just a game at a gender reveal party.
"Okay, well Riley wins the alphabet game!" Sonny called out.
"Ha, yes!" Riley spun on her heels and pointed at her mother. "I am the best, you raised a winner."
"Not a very modest one." Audrey shot back with a knowing smirk. Riley stuck her tongue out at her and went back over to lean against the arm of the couch, Peter slipping his arm around her shoulders once she was settled.
Wandering over to the counter, Sonny set Riley's list on top of it, wondering how she had so many decent names on her sheet. Was the woman already thinking of names for her own children, children that she didn't have yet? Or did she just know a lot of people- oh well now that he thought of it, Riley had known a lot of guys in her past, maybe that gave her an advantage.
Shrugging it off, he opened the one drawer and pulled out a knife to cut the cake with, setting it on the table next to the cake before wandering over to Morgan, who was mingling with Liv and Amanda.
"Desk duty is the worst, but it's better than not working." Amanda had said and Sonny slipped his fingers in between Morgan's.
"I don't mind desk duty." Morgan replied.
"Good because you're going to be doing a lot of it from here on out." Liv added with a knowing look. "No more field for you, not until after that baby's born."
Morgan could only smile at her boss. She'd do whatever she had to in order to keep her baby safe, and if that meant playing by the rules and relegating herself to desk duty, then so be it. Just because Amanda wasn't fond of it, didn't mean Morgan wouldn't be. Hell, if it got her off her feet, then she was content with that.
"Darling!" Her mother's voice called out and Morgan winced at the sheer volume. She hadn't really wanted Charlotte at the party but it only seemed fair to invite her. She figured her father was busy working, that was fine, she'd shoot him a picture of the cake later to let him know what his grandchild was going to be. "Morgan! I'm so happy for you."
Charlotte marched over and hugged her, Morgan tensing at the action. If her mother noticed, she didn't say anything, she just pulled away and locked her eyes on Sonny.
"Thanks mom." Morgan ground the words out and Sonny tugged on her arm, easily dragging her towards the chalkboard, where he quickly counted the most recent tally marks.
He nodded to himself and then headed for the table, stopping at it and standing over the cake. Waiting for people to gather around, he looked at each and every person. Once he was sure that everyone was paying attention, he gave Morgan's hand a squeeze and then picked up the knife with the other one.
The room was dead silent, waiting to hear what he had to say and wanting him to cut into the cake to tell them what their baby was going to be.
"The votes are in." Sonny announced and tightened his grip on the handle. "By a very, very slim margin, you guys think we're having a boy. I guess it's time to find out if you're right."
Sucking in a nervous breath, Sonny lifted the blade up and gingerly pressed it against the top of the cake. He hesitated and looked at Morgan, who was beaming at him, wanting nothing more than for him to dig into the cake and let her know if they were going to have a Michael or an Eva.
The blade sliced through the cake like butter and Sonny quickly pulled it out, glancing at the crumbs on the knife and furrowing his eyebrows. He quickly drove the blade in once again and then freed the first slice out, the room erupting into cheers at the sight of a blue cake.
A boy, they were having a boy! Morgan lunged at him and he managed to drop the knife to the table before anything bad happened, catching Morgan and embracing her tightly in his arms. God he couldn't have been any happier, even if it had been a girl. He honestly hadn't preferred one gender to the other, but it was just a relief to know.
"A boy!" Charlotte cried out and when Sonny caught her expression, he felt his body relax; good Charlotte seemed happy about the news.
"May god have mercy on your souls." Barba muttered but it was loud enough that everyone heard him, suddenly most eyes were on him.
"What are you going on about?" Charlotte pressed, leveling the man with a glare; how dare he disturb the happy couple's joyous announcement.
"I was hoping for a mini Morgan, she's sweet." Barba said, his voice louder and firmer than mere seconds ago. "Sonny is the reason god gave us middle fingers, the world really doesn't need two of him."
Riley snorted at the man's words but went silent when Peter shot her a look. Everyone else seemed to be watching Barba carefully, wondering if he was going to have to deal with angry, pregnant Morgan or not. She was known to have mighty mood swings but for some odd reason she adored Barba; sass, sarcasm and all.
"Seriously Rafi?" Morgan chuckled. "While I appreciate the sentiment, is it possible for you, for once in your life, to just say something nice?"
"Okay, I can try for you," Barba paused, seriously considering his next words. After a good thirty seconds of silence, he spoke, "Congratulations Sonny on your demon spawn, at least he'll be tall?"
It was clear to everyone in the room that Barba wasn't entirely sure how to be nice to someone, specifically Sonny, but Sonny apparently appreciated how hard he had seemed to have tried. A smile spread across Sonny's face and he shook his head with a laugh.
"Scale of one to ten, how hard was it to pretend you have a soul?" Sonny asked with a smirk. "From where I'm standing, it looked pretty hard."
"Always hard for you." Barba fired back.
"I give up!" Morgan threw her hands into the air but she didn't sound overly mad. Maybe this party was too good to let her get mad, maybe she was too excited by the news of finding out she was having a boy. "I'm surrounded by jackasses."
"A boy!" Riley yipped, in a lame attempt to get the party back to fun status. Morgan let out a loud bark of laughter and smiled.
"It's a boy." She added and just as suddenly as the first time, the room erupted into applause.
It was good to know that Morgan was having a Michael, and now she couldn't wait to meet him.
XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX
Riley wasn't too sure where exactly she was supposed to meet Peter, seeing as he had merely said 'outside the courthouse', she was at a loss.
There were a lot of people outside the courthouse, but surely she could find Peter right? She knew what he looked like and he was tall, that had to help, except it wasn't helping, not really. She was standing in front of the building waiting for him, praying that he'd at least be able to see her when he came walking out.
She made a mental note to meet him somewhere specific next time, if there was a next time. She had taken a rare afternoon off and left work in time to meet Peter for lunch, which he insisted would be from his favourite hot dog vendor on the sidewalk near the courthouse.
Shaking her head, Riley let out a low growl and wandered closer to the steps to the building. She peered at them and watched carefully, waiting for her fiancé to show up in the crowd of people that had just erupted from the doors. In a little over a minute, she had managed to locate the very man in question.
Lifting her hand into the air, she waved for him and Peter spotted her easily, as if he was drawn right to her. She waited in her spot and when he was close enough, he enveloped her into a hug and kissed her softly on the lips. She melted in his hold and when he pulled away, she took note that he was grinning.
"What?" She gaped.
"I just love seeing you." He countered and leaned in, lowering his voice in her ear. "Those shoes are my favourite."
Riley let out an unladylike snort, "I know."
"Then you also know what they do to me."
"I came here for lunch." She leveled him with a teasing glare.
"Wearing my favourite shoes?"
She cocked her head sideways and a grin took up residence on her face. Oh yeah, she knew exactly what she was doing. She wasn't going to show up for lunch looking like she didn't try to look good, no, she had shown up in full Riley garb, tight skirt, figure hugging shirt and yes, his favourite pair of her shoes.
Overkill for a hot dog date? Maybe, but she liked dressing up for him, no matter the occasion.
"Come on, my guy's over here." Peter took her hand and she let him lead her over to a man behind a food cart.
Considering how much of her life she had lived in New York, she had never been a fan of the 'street meat' scene, in fact, it always made her a little nervous. She didn't trust the food itself and it wasn't like there were readily available bathrooms on the street corners, so, much to Peter's dismay, she rarely ate food off of a cart.
Today though, today she was feeling daring, plus she was heading home after this, meaning she could use the bathroom there if she needed it.
When the man behind the cart greeted Peter, she watched in awe as he even carried on a short but polite conversation. Well, it was obvious that Peter wasn't lying when he said he was taking her to his favourite food stand, the man clearly dealt with Peter on a pretty regular basis.
"What do you want to drink?" Peter questioned, looking sideways at her.
"Water." Riley gave a nod of her head.
"Two hot dogs and two waters."
Riley remained silent while standing at his side. She watched carefully as the man readied two hot dogs for them and handed them over after taking the bill Peter had handed to him. When he held the waters out, Riley stepped in and grabbed them, Peter having let go of her hand minutes earlier.
He then motioned towards a bench not too far away and Riley followed him to it, sitting down gracefully and crossing her legs at the knees. He turned sideways and held out one of the hotdogs as she set the waters on the bench in the space between them.
"Do I say thanks for lunch considering it's a hot dog from some random guy on the street?" She teased and he let out a laugh at her. "Thanks."
"Best hot dog on the block."
"You know what they make hot dogs out of, right?" She questioned and when he shook his head with a smile, she carried on. "Racoon meat and work boots. Scientific fact."
"Inaccurate."
"Well you have your opinion, I have mine." She stated and looked at the hot dog before chancing a glance at him. When she caught sight of him, he was in the middle of taking a bite of his hot dog.
If Peter ate at the guy's cart frequently and was still alive, maybe she'd be okay too. With a deep breath, she took a bite of her own and chewed it carefully, enjoying the taste. As soon as she swallowed, his arm came around her shoulders and he hauled her closer to him, the bottled waters pressed tightly between their thighs.
"Good right?"
She forced a smile onto her face, "it's fine, definitely decent for a wiener."
"My favourite shoes and the word wiener, you are killing me today."
"Your wiener will always be my favourite." She said with a laugh. "I can't believe you eat these all the time. I can make you lunches if you want, it's not that big of a deal."
"I like to get out sometimes."
"Okay." She shook her head, not totally understanding what he saw in the hot dog. It wasn't her first choice but if Peter liked to eat them then who was she to judge? "Do you usually sit here by yourself?"
"I usually have somewhere else to be so I eat on the run."
Riley stared at him, "but not today?"
"I cleared my schedule for you." He teased and she leaned her head against his shoulder.
"Well thanks."
A comfortable silence fell over them and she worked away at her hot dog, Peter had his gone in a matter of a few bites, something that was both impressive and sort of disturbing. She let her gaze wander to the people moving around in front of her; some of them were dressed rather nicely like her and Peter, some of them were dressed more for comfort and mobility, but nonetheless, she couldn't help but watch the people.
In her line of work, she didn't have a place like this to sit and eat lunch, hell, there weren't even all that many people around her office building to watch. It was fine by her though, she liked her job well enough and she had a few friends there that helped the days pass. This was different though, and to think that Peter could do this whenever he wanted seemed pretty amazing to her.
"Can you believe Morgan's having a boy?" Peter broke the silence first and Riley shook her head no. "You thought she was having a girl?"
"No, I didn't think she was having anything specific, but the whole idea of Morgan being pregnant is still sort of weird to me." Riley stated. "Honestly, the whole idea of being pregnant is weird to me. Sperm meets egg, then that grows into a person, all inside of a woman, it's weird."
"I guess I never really thought too much about it."
"Probably better that way."
"But you…you still want a baby?"
"Yeah I still want a baby, doesn't make it any less weird though. Morgan's got this little human being inside of her, sucking away all of her nutrients, and gradually growing larger by the day until the time comes when it doesn't need to be inside her anymore."
Peter gave her shoulder a nudge with his finger, "if you still want that, have you thought any more about when you want to try in vitro for a second time?"
Riley blew out a breath and collapsed against him. She wasn't sure when she wanted to try in vitro again, but with Morgan being pregnant, she knew she definitely wanted to try it again soon. After they were married seemed like the best time for them to try again, at least that way she'd be able to enjoy her wedding without being pregnant.
"I think maybe sometime after the wedding." Riley answered, sounding fairly confident.
He smiled down at her and she moved her arms so that they wrapped around him. She loved this man, he was so patient with her, so supportive of what she wanted. She didn't know if any other man would be as calm as Peter when it came to her issues but she honestly didn't care because she didn't want any other man.
Peter Stone was the one for her and with each day that passed for them, the more confident in that fact she became.
"Oh my god!" A shrill voice broke into Riley's thoughts and she sat up straighter.
When a lean and tall female came jogging right for them, she took a second to study her, wondering if this was someone she was supposed to know, or hell, maybe it was someone Peter was supposed to know. This random female was gorgeous and she was dressed in a tight fitting royal blue dress that fell just above her knees, her black strappy heels even taller than Riley's.
"Uh hi?" Riley lifted her hand up and waved at the woman, but the woman only had eyes for Peter, blatantly ignoring Riley as if she wasn't even there.
"Are you Peter Stone?" God even the woman's voice was attractive, all smooth and buttery. Okay, this woman was officially someone that Riley was jealous of. She had curves in all the right places and legs to die for, and here she was with her attention solely focused on her fiancé, who was giving this woman his attention right back.
"I am."
"Does he know you?" Riley snipped, cozying up tighter against Peter, silently laying claim to what was hers so that this woman would know he wasn't available for the taking.
"No, uh sorry, I'm a huge fan." The woman carried on and Riley raised her eyebrows at her. "Oh my god, of the Cubs, you were one of my favourite players when you were on the team."
"Oh a Cubs fan? That's what you are now?" Riley retorted, a faux sweetness lacing her tone. "Shitty team if you ask me."
"Well I didn't. But holy shit, Peter Stone; I can't believe you're actually here." The woman gushed and Peter shifted forward on the bench. "Can I- would it be weird- do you mind taking a picture with me?"
Peter smiled at her, "yeah, sure."
"What?" Riley barked and he peeled himself away from her, making his way to his feet and leaving her sitting there by herself.
She sat on the bench in awe as the woman finagled her phone and wound up taking a photo of her and Peter, the two of them very close together. Not cool, nope, this woman was encroaching on her territory and she wasn't about to sit back and let it happen.
"I loved watching you pitch. Can I buy you a drink or something?" The woman purred and Riley was on her feet faster than she could say boo.
"What's a Cubs fan doing in New York? You lost or something?" Riley snarled and the woman finally looked in her direction, giving her the attention Riley had been seeking since she came at them. "Move along girly."
"Who are you to tell me what to do bitch?" She put her hands on her hips, almost challenging Riley to come at her. The woman had a good few inches on her but Riley was scrappy, she knew how to fight and she figured this woman had sorely underestimated her.
"She's my fiancé." Peter piped up and Riley felt her spine stiffen at his tone. Huh, well, that was unexpected. Here Riley was ready to fight and Peter had said the words so confidently, so smoothly that Riley knew he was on her side. "Maybe she's right, I think you can move along now that you've gotten your picture."
With one final look at Riley, the woman threw a sexy smile in Peter's direction but wandered off without incident. Riley scrunched up her nose at the whole thing and didn't peel her gaze away from the woman's retreating form until Peter took her by the hand and pulled her back down onto the bench.
Only looking away for a second, she caught the concerned look on Peter's face before she peered back out at the people in front of her. She couldn't find the woman though, who had apparently gotten lost within the crowd and disappeared out of Riley's line of sight.
"Were you jealous?" Peter asked, sincerity in his tone. She opened her mouth to object but stopped herself before she could get any words out. Was she jealous? Hell yeah she was jealous, that girl was gorgeous! And she had just waltzed right up to Peter as if Riley hadn't even been there. "Riley, you have nothing to be jealous about."
"Does that happen often?" She asked, holding his gaze.
"Every now and then."
"Are they always such pretty girls?"
"You think she was pretty?" Peter questioned. She looked at him, wondering what he was getting at but she didn't know what sort of answer he was expecting from her.
"Yes." Riley nodded her head, answering honestly. "Didn't you?"
"No." He relaxed against the back of the bench. "She's nowhere close to being as pretty as you."
Riley scoffed at his words but when he turned his head to look at her, she realized that he wasn't trying to be cute or funny, he wasn't saying it just to calm her down, no, he genuinely meant it.
This was the guy she was going to marry, the guy that she wanted to father her children, and suddenly she felt embarrassed of being jealous. Peter Stone loved her, he had chosen her, she had no need to be jealous because his heart belonged to Riley Prescott.
"She loved watching you pitch." Riley remarked.
"I was pretty good." Peter shrugged.
"You were one of her favourite players."
"I know my number one fan is sitting beside me."
"Cheeseball." She fired back at him but set her hand on his thigh. "I am though."
"I know." A smirk toyed at the corners of his lips. "You're the girl who got me my own rookie card."
"I did." She agreed. "I also wear your jersey number to bed every now and then."
"So sexy."
She let out a low hum and twisted her body to face him more directly, her palm sliding up his thigh a little bit further, "I've never actually seen you pitch though."
"Get the gloves out, we can play catch in the backyard this weekend."
"Peter." She scolded. As quick as she could move, she pulled her cell phone out of her skirt pocket and made short work of googling him yet again; something she'd never actually get tired of.
She went right to the videos and chose the first one on the list of results. When the video of him pitching in a Cubs uniform began to play on her phone, her eyes were glued to the screen, watching him in awe as he pitched. He was a thing of beauty, a majestic ball player and he had been pretty decent at it too.
What she wouldn't give to be able to go back in time and watch him play before he had gotten injured though. She loved baseball and the idea of being at one of his games, cheering him on, that was something she would've loved to have been able to do.
"Do you ever miss that life?" Riley asked in a somber voice, not daring to look him in the eye.
"That life didn't have you."
"It had baseball though."
"But no you."
She turned her attention to him and when she finally met his gaze, she felt her heart swell. He was smiling at her, letting her know that even if he did miss baseball, it didn't matter because everything he wanted was sitting right next to him.
After all, baseball was just a game.