Thank you, Hannah (grahamlecter) for Beta-reading my story and finding my mistakes so that I can fix them.
Thank you, readers, for taking the time to check out my stories. I hope you're enjoying them.
Remember to read Chapter 8 (Disneyland) in Side Stories BEFORE you read this chapter. It will make more sense that way.
G-Girl
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Chapter Forty – The Happiest Place on... Ouch"Admit it, Spencer; you had a good time today. Well, before I got knocked down, anyway. I'm not counting all the inconsiderate people who stop in the middle of the walkways and the millions of germs." Susan lay on the sofa in their suite, her head on his thigh, wearing only a towel and an ice pack strapped with an ace bandage on her left knee. "Which is why I suggested the shower."
"Mm-hmm." He wore a hotel robe and had his eyes closed, with his head resting on the back of the sofa. "How's your knee?"
"It'll be fine. The swelling will go down, and I'll have a nice bruise for a few days. At least I had enough time to curl up and protect my head when I landed on the ground. And those boys apologized for goofing around and knocking me over. Besides, we still have two days and the wheelchair, for me to get around in."
He got up and checked the ice pack. "I'm gonna get more ice." Spencer went into the bedroom and came back out wearing his board shorts, a t-shirt, and flip-flops, picked up the card key and the bucket, heading for the door. "I'll be right back."
Susan smiled, watching him. He was so sweet to dote on her, helping her in the shower earlier, making up a fresh ice pack, wrapping her knee, and now going for more ice. He came back and set the nearly full bucket on the bar.
"Love, do you want me to lift my leg up onto the back of the sofa? It might be easier for you to unwrap and re-wrap it."
"Be careful. Here, I'll help." He held her thigh and calf gently, as Susan lifted her leg and set it on top of the sofa cushions, unwrapping the ace bandage. After dumping the water out of the plastic bag, he scooped in fresh ice, sealed it, and re-wrapped her knee. "I got pretty good at doing this after I had surgery on my leg. That should stay on if you move around. How does that feel?"
She shuddered and smiled. "Mm-hmm, you are good at that. I thought it would be nice to lie down for a bit, maybe take a nap? Could you help me to the bed?"
"Sure, good idea. You should rest. I'll go get dinner and bring it back." He carried her to the bed, with her right leg around his waist, her left thigh carefully tucked under his arm, and his hands holding her backside. She was kissing his ear as he set her down. That made him chuckle. "I thought you were going to take a nap?"
"Yeah, but you carrying me felt so good." Susan scooted back on the bed, keeping her sore knee bent slightly as Spencer stacked a few pillows to prop her leg up.
"Is there anything else you need?"
"Besides you?" She smiled playfully, laying back on the other pillow by the headboard. "We could order room service for dinner."
"Sounds good." Spencer closed the curtains and turned around to find she had opened one side of her towel. He laughed, shaking his head. "You're insatiable. If anything hurts, tell me?"
"Like ow, ow, stop, get off me?" She was trying not to smile.
"Mm-hmm, exactly." He grinned. "Let me order dinner first." Spencer brought the room service menu over and handed it to her as he lay down. "What do you want? From the menu, I mean."
"Ha-ha, you're funny. The corn chowder and the roasted chicken, please."
He turned over as he sat up, picked up the phone, and called room service to order dinner.
After he hung up, he turned around again to see she had opened the other side of the towel. He laid back down on the bed and kissed her. "I can't resist you. You know that, obviously. I'm serious, though. If there's any pain, tell me. Promise?"
"Yes, Doctor. I will. I promise." She drew an X over her heart. "My knee isn't the only part of me that's throbbing…"
/
He got dressed again and leaned over to give her another kiss. "Room service should be here... soon. I'll set it up out in the other room. Want some help with your clothes?"
"That would be nice, Love..."
"Let me take care of this; then I'll help you." Carefully, he unwrapped the ace bandage, setting it on her towel on the dresser with the bag of ice. "We'll leave the ice off for a while." He kissed her knee as he examined it. "Looks better; the swelling's down." Opening the dresser, he pulled out a pair of panties, shorts, and a tank top. "How's this?"
"Works for me… thank you."
A knock on the outer door interrupted them; dinner had arrived.
"I'll be back." He handed her the clothes and went out, closing the bedroom door behind him.
By the time he returned, Susan had the tank top on and was leaning against the edge of the bed on her good leg, pulling her panties up to her hips.
"Here, let me help. Dinner's all set up." She sat on the edge of the bed, and he held the shorts so she could get her legs into them and gently slid them up to her hips, making her shake.
"This is a change. Usually, I'm the one taking your clothes off." He chuckled, "Don't put your weight on it yet." and picked her up the same way he carried her to the bedroom, setting her down gently on the sofa, then stacked the pillows so she could prop her leg up. He set the tray on an ottoman in front of her, then sat next to her and used the remote to turn on the television. "The Count of Monte Cristo is on. We could watch it while we eat."
"Sure. I'm okay with that. It's an excellent adaptation."
"I've only read the book, so it'll be nice to watch it with you."
"And after we eat, we can snuggle under a blanket. There's an extra one in the closet. First food." She unfolded the napkin, laying it across her t-shirt as she reached for the tray. After they ate, he brought out the blanket from the closet, and they watched the rest of the movie with her leg propped on pillows on top of the ottoman. When the movie ended, he studied the DCA park map, admitting he was looking forward to going.
By morning, the swelling on her knee had gone down quite a bit, but Spencer insisted she use the wheelchair. She wasn't going to argue, since she had been to both parks many times before, walking several miles over the course of the day. Better to be safe than sorry, hobbling in pain and making it worse.
He made sure her ice pack was secure before they left the room and hung her Tigger backpack on the handles of the wheelchair in case she needed anything from it.
The pair met up with Phil at the hotel restaurant for the buffet breakfast, and he introduced Spencer and Susan to his girlfriend Amanda, and his sons, 14-year-old Trey and 12-year-old Eddie, to Spencer. They asked about his cool job as an FBI agent, and he told them about some of the less gruesome aspects of his job, like psychological and geographical profiling, investigative techniques, and the FBI Academy. Susan got a kick out of the boys, treating Spencer as they would their favorite baseball players, like Clayton Kershaw or Mookie Betts of the LA Dodgers.
While they were eating, they decided to go as a group on the Midway Mania ride first. To make it interesting, the high score winner would get to pick the next ride and where to have lunch; the one with the highest percentage of accuracy picked the ride after that. Susan offered to give Spencer advice on scoring, but he assured her he would be fine.
After going through the Hotel's park entrance, Spencer was looking around at everything, including the Pixar Pier on the way over to the ride, where the boys took turns pushing Susan in the wheelchair. They were happy to do it, but she had to remind them not to go too fast. One accident was enough for this trip.
On the ride, Phil and Amanda paired up in one car, the boys in one, and Spencer and Susan in another. With his help, she was able to put some weight on her leg.
As they met up at the ride's exit, they compared their scores. Amanda had the lowest score, with Spencer having the highest. Susan had the highest accuracy percentage, by three points, and was more than a little surprised at Spencer's score.
"Beginner's luck, perhaps? Usually, I get the highest score. I'm impressed… and I have to admit, a little envious."
His competitiveness enjoyed hearing that. "When Phil wheeled you over to the buffet, Trey and Eddie showed me a video on how to get high scores. I watched it twice. It's actually possible to score even higher, using a simple algorithm—" He stopped and saw that she was smiling. "—but… you already know that and that's how you usually score so well."
Susan nodded, smiling. "Mm-hmm."
For their next ride, Spencer chose the Ferris Wheel. The boys got in line for the swinging gondolas, while the adults boarded one of the stationary gondolas. Phil and Amanda sat in one corner, holding hands and talking quietly to each other.
In the opposite corner, Spencer smiled and kissed Susan's temple with his arm around her waist, looking out over the park. "This is a great view."
"I can tell you're having a good time." She pointed out some rides they could go on. "With my knee, Mission Breakout is gonna be a no... for me. Normally I would, but only before a meal, or a few hours after. The guys love that ride. You might enjoy it."
He ran his fingers gently over her leg, checking the ice pack. "How is your knee?"
"Better, but I'm thankful to have the wheelchair."
"Thank you, for suggesting this. I'm having fun, and yes, I would like to go on that ride." Spencer kissed her again. "Trey told me about it. For lunch, how about… the Wine Country Trattoria?"
"Excellent choice. Add extra emphasis on the wine." Susan leaned against him, holding his hand.
She picked Soarin' Around the World to go on next, which Spencer also enjoyed. There were other rides she would have gone on if not for her injured knee, like the Incredicoaster.
Since everyone else wanted to go on Grizzly River Run next and Radiator Springs Racers before lunch, Susan said she wanted to go back to the room to take a nap.
Phil offered to stop by the restaurant to make reservations, while Spencer and Trey took Susan to the room and helped her to the bed, then caught up with the others at the River ride.
Spencer came back for her before lunch, and while they ate, Susan got to know her brother's girlfriend better.
Amanda was five years younger than Phil. A pretty blonde, intelligent and sweet, with a sharp sense of humor. They talked while the guys huddled around Spencer, talking low at the other end of the table and laughing once in a while.
She looked over at Phil and smiled. "Your brother's a great guy. We met at the non-profit law office where he volunteers, and I'm the supervising accountant. I've read a good way to judge a man's character is how he treats his ex-wife. Phil's never said an unkind word about her."
"Well, they started out as friends in college before they dated. Her parents were, let's say, disappointed when she told them she was gay and couldn't deny it anymore. Phil and the boys accepted it and are supportive. She's an amazing mother and a wonderful person. Even though she and Phil split up, they're still friends."
"Is that why they didn't hire divorce lawyers? Phil never said."
"Pretty much. They both wanted to make sure the boys were taken care of. That's why he signed the deed to their house over to her and bought his across the street, so the boys could go back and forth easily and stay in the same school. If only everyone going through a divorce could be so… civil. The boys told me the only difference is their parents don't live together. They both go to all the boys' sports games and school functions. Katie even helped take care of Phil after he had his surgery. You've noticed he's straightforward and not into drama? He's like me in that way. I think it's ingrained in our DNA."
"I've noticed. And he told me about the appendectomy. We had just started dating, and he called me to apologize for not calling sooner. And he sent me flowers. After you went home, I started bringing him dinner and got to meet Katie. She's great... the boys are too. So, Phil has always been this amazing? I get it; you have a natural bias, being his sister."
"I am biased, but he's been the best big brother my whole life. He's one of those guys who do what's right even when it's not popular." She turned her head; she could hear the guys laughing and quietly talking about Disneyland.
Phil and the boys were telling Spencer about Buzz's Astro Blaster, giving him tips on scoring. They were planning the next day at Disneyland, and he was looking forward to going back with Susan in the wheelchair.
They spent the rest of the day going on a few more rides and browsing in some shops. Susan went on the rides she could and waited for the group on the rest. For dinner, they had reservations at the hotel, so Mission Breakout was the last ride of the evening. Amanda skipped it, so she sat with Susan on the bench across the street, and they talked more, finding out they shared the same unusually diverse taste in music.
When the guys met up with them after the ride, Susan could tell Spencer had fun from the grin on his face.
As they were finishing dinner, the boys asked Phil about going to Disneyland until closing, so he and Amanda left with them, while Spencer and Susan went back up to their suite.
At the elevator, she asked him, "Are you sure you don't want to go with them? I'll be okay, maybe watch a movie or go to bed after the fireworks."
He leaned over and kissed her. "We're going with them tomorrow. Tonight, I want to watch the fireworks with you…"
/
She lay on the couch, wearing her new Mickey Mouse tank top and a pair of panties, with her leg up on the sofa pillows, as Spencer knelt on the floor beside her, in his pajama pants and the grey tank top. Running his hand along her leg, he leaned over, checked her knee, kissing it softly. "It's looking better, but I recommend using the wheelchair again tomorrow." He stretched out over her on the sofa, with his hips between her thighs, and propped himself up on his arms and with his hands under her shoulders. "I also recommend another shower… later."
"Ooh, yes, Doctor, I quite agree." She shuddered under him, slipping her arms around his waist, sliding her good leg along the back of his pajama pants.
Later, they sat on the balcony and watched the fireworks over Disneyland, then went to bed…
/
The following day, they had fun. Galaxy's Edge was aesthetically pleasing and even remarkable as a new attraction, but talking about it, they both felt it seemed to lack something… neither could quite describe.
At the Main Street Magic Shop, he showed Susan and the boys some magic tricks; buying a few he didn't already have.
By the end of the day, she was glad to be back in the room. After a shower, she lay in his arms, brushing her lips softly against his chin. "Did you have a good time today, Love?"
"I did, thank you. Especially beating your score on the… Astro Blasters."
She gasped, "On the second time, Love." and pressed her lips together, trying not to smile.
"A rematch then... on our next trip. Tomorrow, Knott's Berry Farm? I assume you'll want berry pie and… fried chicken?"
"Yes, and a funnel cake. And tomorrow night, Medieval Times, for dinner. That's a fun show. In the morning, we get to sleep in before breakfast." She smiled and said quietly, "Yay."
He enjoyed Knott's well enough, but it was the Medieval Times dinner show, where Spencer had the best time that day. The food was delicious; the show was entertaining, and they bought a couple of souvenirs at the gift shop to take home.
The group, heading back to the hotel, decided they would meet up the following morning for the buffet brunch. When Spencer and Susan returned to their room, they packed their suitcases before turning in for the night.
After brunch, they checked out and got to the airport with enough time to say goodbye, giving hugs all around as the luggage was being unloaded. Susan and Spencer promised to keep Phil updated on their wedding plans.