A/N: Thanks for the reviews on the last chapter - I know as I said in the beginning that this is a very different story from what I usually write; but I do firstly love my angst and also as well I do think that it's important to challenge myself as a writer.
This chapter is mainly from Marley's side of things and with her being in South Carolina, and them starting to realize that there is something amiss with her and maybe Ryder.
I should also mention that this will contain a somewhat spoiler for another story, that this one links into; however because of the rates I am churning all them out at, and the fact that I am also not even at the point in that story of being close to the chapter where said things are happening and such;
I would have to hold out on a lot of stories and keep people waiting to read which I don't want to do, if it can be helped. So yes, there is a spoiler for another; and one probably expected to be happening some time in that particular story; but it still is an important part of this story because it will change relationships not only now, but how they are also in the near future as well.
Anyway, thanks for reading.
Love always,
KJ xoxoxoxoxoxo
Chapter 4 –
Spending the next week, with still just that little bit of tension between them; Marley and Ryder both tried to get on with their normal everyday lives; but both of them knowing that now after what had been said between the two of them, that it wasn't going to be the same as it had been for the nearly six years that they had been together; and that was because for so long so much had gone unspoken between them, things that should have been said to one another before they thought of spending a life time together.
Having packed her bag that morning, Marley picked it up from the bed and walked out to the living area of the apartment, that for nearly as long as she and Ryder had been together; had lived with one another in.
"Are you still okay to take me to the airport?" asked Marley, looking to him with a small smile. "My flight is in two hours"
"Umm yeah of course" replied Ryder, who was looking at something on his phone. "I don't expect you to catch a cab, Marls"
"I know" said Marley, with a nod. "It's just I know you said that you have an early job tomorrow morning, and I didn't want you to feel obligated to take me that's all"
"Marley" said Ryder, as he stood and looked at her. "I know things at the moment are really weird and even tense between us; but you're still my wife and I do still love you"
"I still love you as well" replied Marley, with a smile to him. "And I think a break from one another will do us good"
"I think so too" said Ryder, with a quick nod of his head. "And also it will give us time to really think if we do want what the other person wants"
"Agree" replied Marley, with a nod of her also. "So do we want to get going?"
"Sure" said Ryder with a nod; and the two of them left their apartment, with Ryder taking Marley to the airport to spend the week with her family, and him with his; both of them left to think whilst the other one was away just what it is they each were wanting and if they were maybe willing to take a different path to what they had intended for that of themselves.
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The next day after getting in to Columbia Metropolitan Airport and spending the day with her sister and niece, later that evening helping her sister out in the kitchen, prepare that of the night's meal; Marley smiled to herself as she cut up the tomatoes for the salad that she was making, and looked over to her older sister who was working on putting the spread of butter, garlic, parsley, cheese, salt and pepper into that of a crusty loaf of bread; as Amelia sat over in the high chair near the table in the kitchen, with a few toys to keep her entertained and also able to be kept an eye on by her mother.
"I am so looking forward to this lasagna tonight" said Marley, with a little smile as the two of them worked almost that of side by side; and Mikki looked over to her younger sister.
"You don't get a chance to make it often then?" asked Mikki, as she spooned some butter mixture into the cuts she had made and then grabbed a knife to spread it more evenly.
"I often make things for heating up on a weeknight on the weekend or just do quick and easy things most nights" replied Marley, looking to her Mikki as she placed the cut tomatoes into the bowl nearby, and then grabbed the fennel to start cutting that. "And Ryder doesn't particularly like the lasagna, as he's not a huge fan of all the pasta that is in it"
"So he prefers sloppy joes instead" said Mikki, with a laugh.
"Pretty much" replied Marley, with a sigh. "He'd much rather things like pizza, tacos, fried chicken and all that kind of stuff"
"Whilst I admit I am the first to love that kind of stuff as well" said Mikki, looking to her younger sister with a smile. "I also do love that of a meal that is cooked at home"
"Same" replied Marley, with a nod; as Sebastian having arrived home walked into the kitchen.
"Hmm, something smells amazing" he said, with a smile as he walked over to Amelia, who when seeing her father gave a huge smile and Sebastian laughed, kissing her on the cheek. "Hi my gorgeous girl"; as Mikki looked to her husband with a smile, "Hey babe, lasagna and also have a salad and cheese garlic bread"
"Well that I definitely love the sound of" replied Sebastian, with a smile as he walked over to Mikki and wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into towards himself and kissed her. "Hi you too, I'm starving"
"Hmm, yes and you're also all sweaty too" said Mikki, with a laugh.
"Yeah, well you know Tuesday nights after work Robbie and I head to the gym" said Sebastian, with a smile to her. "Although I really shouldn't let him talk me into the weights, really hurt tonight"
"Maybe I can help with that later" replied Mikki, giving him a smile and then quickly kissing him; as Sebastian nodded.
"Yeah, I'd really like that" replied Sebastian with a nod and kissed Mikki back also. "You always know how to make me feel really good"
Mikki looked at him with a smile and nodded. "Yeah, go have a shower and dinner will probably be ready by the time you're done"
"Okay" replied Sebastian, quickly kissing her again and unwrapped his arms from around Mikki and looked to Marley. "I'd hug you Marls, but kind of sweaty"
Marley looked at him with a laugh and smile. "That's okay, I'll hug you later. I really don't need one now"
"Yeah" replied Sebastian, with a laugh and looked to Mikki with a smile and quickly hugged her again from around the back, as she was once again buttering the bread up.
"Sebastian, seriously you're all stinky and gross" said Mikki, turning to look her husband. "And there is food around"
"Hmm, yeah but admit you like it when I'm all hot and sweaty" said Sebastian, placing a few kisses to her neck.
"Different kind of hot and sweaty, babe" said Mikki, with a smile to him. "Now go and shower"
"Fine" replied Sebastian, with a sigh and unwrapped his arms from her again. "But you're going to get me hot and sweaty later on you know that"
"Seb" said Mikki, with a laugh, looking to him and shaking her head. "Are you forgetting we have a house guest for the next few days"
"Minnie" said Sebastian, with a laugh and quickly kissing her on the lips. "I think Marls is quite aware that we do stuff, having been together since college"
"Yes, I'm sure" replied Mikki, with a smile to him. "But still, time and place babe"
"Okay, yeah" said Sebastian, with a laugh. "I'm just going to go and shower"
"Uh huh" replied Mikki, looking to him with a nod.
"Love you" said Sebastian, with a smile to her and quickly kissed her again; before going to head out of the kitchen.
"Love you too" said Mikki, with her own smile as Sebastian headed out of the kitchen, and shaking her head with a laugh at the same time; and then looked to her younger sister. "Sorry about that, Seb sometimes forgets boundaries; and he wonders why Jere teases the two of us like he does"
"It's fine" replied Marley looking at her sister with a laugh and smile. "It's cute how you two are just able to be like that around other people"
"Yeah" said Mikki with a laugh as well. "Admittedly I sometimes also forget boundaries too, but I guess Seb and I have always just been like that with one another"
"Oh you two have always been like that, you're right there" replied Marley, with a smile as Mikki wrapped the bread in aluminium foil and walked over the oven to put it in with the lasagna.
"I'm sure though there are times, when you and Ryder just get in like this little bubble still" said Mikki as she opened the oven and placed the bread inside to cook.
"Occasionally I guess, not that we've ever been made aware of anything recently" replied Marley, with a sigh as Mikki closed up the oven. "As apart from Sam, and occasionally Blaine and Hannah; we don't tend to have as many people come over to the apartment like you do here to your house"
"I'm sure you do and you don't even realize it" said Mikki, with a laugh, looking to her younger sister.
"Yeah maybe" replied Marley with a small smile, as Mikki took the bowl that she had the butter mixture in over to the dishwasher and put it in there for washing later on.
"Can you watch Millie for a minute?" asked Mikki, looking to her sister. "I just need to go to the bathroom"
"Yeah sure of course" replied Marley looking to her with a smile.
"Thanks" said Mikki, with a smile of her own, as she went to walk out of the kitchen to go to the bathroom; but stopping to place a kiss to the top of her daughter's head.
Marley smiled as she watched her older sister do this and then head out, and she looked over to her little niece with a sad smile, willing the tears to not start; realizing that she maybe never was going to get to experience the joys of motherhood.
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That same night, sitting in the living room along with her older sister and brother in law, as well as her niece; Marley couldn't help but feel sadness in her heart knowing that was something she was never probably going to be able to experience with Ryder.
"I think this little one is just about ready for bed" said Mikki, looking at her daughter who after having had a bottle of milk was starting to fall asleep in her arms.
"Yeah" replied Sebastian, with a smile looking to her also where she was clearly starting to fall asleep in Mikki's arms as she sat next to him on the sofa. "Did you want to take her up to bed or me?"
"I'll do it, less chance of her waking up if we switch now" said Mikki, with a smile.
"kay" replied Sebastian, with a nod and leaned in towards Amelia; placing a small gentle kiss to his daughters face. "Night princess, love you"
Amelia looked at him with eyes half open, and Mikki gently stood trying not to wake the sleeping little girl in her arms.
"I'll be back soon hopefully" said Mikki, quietly as she went to head upstairs. "Hopefully she won't have a freak out tonight when I leave her"
"Hopefully" said Sebastian, with a smile. "Because Millie's room is right next to where Marls is sleeping"
"I'm sure she will be just fine" said Marley with a small laugh and stood up quickly going over to where her older sister was and gently also placed a kiss to her niece's forehead. "Night gorgeous girl, be good for your Mommy and Daddy, and me too because we all want to sleep"
"Hmm, here's hoping" replied Mikki, with a smile. "Back soon guys"
"'kay babe" said Sebastian, as Mikki headed up stairs to the bedrooms and Marley sat back down in the arm chair she had been in; and Sebastian looked at her. "So what's the plan whilst here Marls, besides that of I am guessing the obvious shopping and making my wife spend money"
Marley laughed as she looked at him, shaking her head. "I promise I won't let her buy too much if we do go shopping"
"Good" replied Sebastian with a laugh as well. "Because the last thing we need in this house, is any more books"
"Oh you will never ever stop my sister from buying books" said Marley, with a laugh. "It's like impossible to do, Mom and Dad tried it when we were younger, but never could get it to happen"
"That I kind of believe" said Sebastian, with a smile. "But in saying that, if she gets Millie to appreciate books from a young age then that's not bad"
"No it's not" replied Marley, shaking her head. "And I know Mik, and she definitely will do that"
"Yeah" said Sebastian, with a smile. "So Ryder will be able to cope on his own without you back in California?"
"Sure he will" replied Marley, with small sigh not wanting to talk or think about her husband at the moment. "He has the pizza delivery on speed dial, so he'll be okay"
"Well I'm sure he is missing you still" said Sebastian, with a smile to his sister in law. "I know I really miss Mikki any time she or I are away from one another at night. Although it's more so me that has to go away for work occasionally, and I really hate it"
"Yeah, well I can think of one time you didn't hate going away for work" said Marley, with a laugh. "And that's because you did get to see my sister again"
"That was definitely a good away, yes" replied Sebastian, with a laugh as well. "But also, it was really hard to leave again knowing maybe she might go back to that jerk in California"
"I thought you were okay with Blaine now" said Marley, looking to her brother in law. "I mean I know you weren't for a while, because of the horrible thing he did a while back. But he has seemed to grow up a little more now, and he and Hannah are getting married in a couple of months"
"Honestly I have no problem with him" replied Sebastian. "I just kind of out of habit call him a jerk, I guess; cause for a short time there he had the woman I love and I couldn't even begin to imagine what it would be like to see the two of them have a happy ever after"
"I kind of could see it, they were in some ways good together" said Marley, with a small smile. "But I could also never imagine Mik with anyone but you forever; you and her are really it for one another, so in love with one another, even now after being together for ten years"
"Hmm, I still can't believe it's been ten years either" said Sebastian, with a smile also. "I mean honestly sometimes when I look at Mik, I feel like I did when I saw her that first time in the bar, and it's just so hard to explain that feeling"
"Butterflies in stomach" said Marley with a laugh, and wondering why she now didn't feel that way whenever she thought about or looked at Ryder.
"Something like that, yeah" replied Sebastian, with a laugh also as Mikki came back into the living room and he looked at his wife as she sat down again beside him. "All okay with Millie?"
"Uh huh" replied Mikki, with sigh as she rested her head against his shoulder and pulled her legs up next to herself on the sofa and Sebastian put his arm around her; enabling Mikki to get a little more comfortable next to him. "I just stayed for a bit to make sure that she didn't wake and start fussing. But she only had a really small nap today after lunch so she's probably tired"
"Hmm and I'm sure that's because she knew she was going to be so completely spoiled with her Auntie Lee Lee being here" said Sebastian, with a laugh.
"Yeah, once she got over fear of Marley" said Mikki, looking at her sister with a smile. "She really seemed to enjoy the cuddles and that"
"Me too, I enjoyed it as well" said Marley, with a smile. "She's so adorable"
"Yeah she is" replied Sebastian, looking at his sister in law with a smile. "Your sister and I made a pretty cute kid"
"We did, yeah" said Mikki, looking to him with a smile and he kissed her; Marley giving a sad smile not noticed by her sister and brother in law.
"Well it's kind of late for me" said Marley and the two of them looked at her. "So I might head up to get some sleep and I will see you both in the morning"
"Sure Leesy" replied Mikki, with a smile to her. "Sleep well"
"Thanks guys" said Marley, with a smile to her sister. "Night"
"Yeah night" replied Sebastian, and Marley headed upstairs to the room that she would be sleeping in whilst visiting.
"Is everything okay with Marls?" asked Sebastian, wrapping now both his arms around Mikki and pulling her in close to himself.
"I don't know" replied Mikki, with a sigh as she let her own arms relax around Sebastian. "I was thinking something wasn't right as well, but thought I was just being over protective big sister. But with you saying it as well, it makes me think there might be"
"Yeah, I think her and Ryder might be having problems" said Sebastian. "It's just how she has kind of spoke in regards to him, makes me think that they're maybe not all that happy at the moment"
"Same" replied Mikki as she moved away from Sebastian and grabbed the cordless house phone from off the side coffee table, and started going through the address book on there. "You're not calling up Ryder are you? You don't think he's cheating on Marls and that is why she is here?"
"No I was going to ring up Kitty and see if she can come over here tomorrow, maybe help figure out what's going on with Marley" said Mikki, looking at him as she connected a call. "And I really hope what you said there isn't the case and Ryder isn't cheating on my little sister"
"He'd be getting a serve from a few of us if he was" said Sebastian, placing a kiss to Mikki's hairline as she quickly nodded her head, and the phone call got answered.
"Hello?" came Artie's voice on the other end.
"Hey Artie" said Mikki, with a hint of a smile to her voice.
"Oh hey Mik" he replied. "So you want to talk with Kit, I'm guessing"
"Yeah, if you don't mind" said Mikki. "Not that I don't love speaking with my fave brother in law"
"Wouldn't let Jeremy hear you say that" replied Artie. "He might get really offended"
"Oh don't worry, when I talk with Jere" said Mikki, with a laugh. "I just tell him exactly the same thing"
"Uh huh, but we all know it's really me who is the fave one" said Artie, with a laugh. "I'll pass the phone over to Kits for you"
"Thanks" said Mikki, as she could hear Artie talking with Kitty as he handed over the phone.
"Hey Mouse" said Kitty as she spoke to her older sister.
"Hi Kitty Litter" replied Mikki, resting her head to Sebastian's shoulder again. "So you know how I said Leesy is here for a few days"
"Yeah, course" said Kitty. "I was planning to come over and visit"
"That's what I was hoping" replied Mikki. "And I was kind of hoping that you might be able to make it tomorrow if all possible"
"Yeah, I guess I can take a day from work" said Kitty. "Why, is something wrong with Leesy?"
"I'm not sure" replied Mikki. "Something isn't right, and it's not just me who is thinking it. Seb is as well, and maybe together you and I can get her talking"
"Sure I'm there" said Kitty.
"Great" replied Mikki. "I'll be home just before nine, so any time after that you want to get here, will be good"
"I'll get there about nine thirty or ten o'clock maybe, depending on traffic" said Kitty.
"Not a problem" said Mikki. "Will Artie be with you too?"
"No, he's doing that youth program over the holidays at the country club" replied Kitty. "So it's a little harder for him to get out of that, as they don't have many volunteers to begin with"
"That's fine" said Mikki, with a laugh also. "I'll talk with you tomorrow"
"Yeah see you then" replied Kitty. "Bye Miks"
"See you Kits" said Mikki and ended the call, and then looked up at Sebastian.
"So Kits will be here tomorrow" said Mikki, as she moved to put the phone back where it normally sat.
"Yeah, hopefully the two of you can maybe talk with Marls" said Sebastian, as he pulled Mikki back over and hugged her again. "Find out what she is thinking or feeling"
"Hope so" replied Mikki, with a sigh. "Now can we please go to bed, I need sleep if I am to be up at five o'clock tomorrow morning"
"Sure babe" said Sebastian, with a laugh and the two of them headed off to bed to sleep; hoping that maybe tomorrow they would be able to get some idea as to the reason Marley was here on her own and also seemingly that of in that of a different frame of mind then what they usually knew the youngest Kapowski girl to be like.
End Note: So the two spoilers there were that Kitty and Artie are now married; and that Blaine and Hannah are soon going to be married. I think though it was probably expected that both the stories I also have here on featuring the two of them as pairings; that they would head into that direction.
However if I was to hold this story back until those reveals came into play, it would be a couple of chapters at least before I could continue to post this story.
The next chapter is going to be from Ryder's side of things, in San Francisco - and how he is thinking if he does maybe want to consider having children or not.
Thanks for reading, and there will be more updates soon on something else,
Love always,
KJ xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo