Chapter 36
When Alex woke Ryan's side of the bed was empty. At first she thought he left for work early but hic phone was still on the bedside table so he had to be somewhere in the apartment. Once she woke fully she smelled the coffee, so he was definitely downstairs making breakfast again. She made the bed and took a shower before heading downstairs to join him. He was shirtless behind the stove wearing his grey sweatpants making the usual, flapjacks. "Good morning sleepy head." He greeted her when she came downstairs. "Hey." She replied walking over to him for a quick kiss before pouring herself some coffee. His laptop was open on the kitchen counter, she took a seat and pulled it closer to see what he was busy browsing. "I was busy emailing the estate agents asking if they might have a slot open for lunch time today, if that suits you?" He asked stacking the last flapjack on the plate, before retrieving the Nutella from the cupboard and sliding it in her direction. "Yeah, I don't think I have anything planned. We can go." Alex said spreading a thick layer of Nutella on her first flapjack. " And the second one after work, maybe?" He asked and she nodded her head in agreement. "I hope you have scratched that four bedroom one of your list." She said looking at him skeptically. "So a good night's sleep really didn't make you change your mind?" Ryan asked surprised really hoping she would've felt different about it in the morning. "Nope. It didn't so you might as well get that idea out of your head." She answered getting up from her seat and putting her plate in the sink. "Thank you for breakfast." She said kissing him before heading upstairs to finish up for the day. "You're heartless, Alexandra Booth!" He yelled up the stairs. "I love you too." She laughed.
Walking into the FBI office Ryan really wasn't looking forward to spending his whole day stuck behind his desk. He could've just left the doctor's report and didn't have to tell them about what he said, but Alex said it'll be unethical and that they had the right to know. So now everyone brought their paperwork to him for filing and he wasn't allowed to go out on a call with the rest of them, not even once. He even went into Maranda's office and begged her to just take him with on a ride along, and promised that he'd be a choir boy and not say anything but she refused. "You'll do that bunch of paperwork until next week. Doctor's orders Ryan not mine. And if you keep asking I'll extend it to two weeks of not going out and handling cases, your choice." Maranda said giving him the ultimatum. "Fiinnee." He said walking away grumpy. Happy that it was lunch time so he can get out for some fresh air, and that he can get Alex can spend some lunch time together. He walked downstairs towards the office where his wife and her colleagues worked. He didn't bother going inside but knocked on the glass instead to get her attention, but got most of the room to look at him standing on the other side. Her usual bunch of friends waved at him before Alex got up of her chair, grabbed her bag and headed towards the door. Exchanging a quick kiss once she was outside, they walked hand in hand towards the parking lot to meet the estate agent.
The drive towards the house was about 10 minutes away from the office and they pulled up to a lovely, quiet residential area. There was a car parked outside and the front door was open. Weirdly enough the house only had 8 steps leading to the main bedroom which impressed Alex. It had a lovely garden and the front was laid out with green grass, a double garage and white paving leading up to the big wooden front door. There were white square tiles on the floor of the entire house which complemented the light pine wood ceiling. The house had a built in kitchen and three bedrooms, two of which had on suite bathrooms with an additional one close to the end of the hallway. The open plan kitchen opened up to a large living and dining area with the sliding door opening onto the porch to reveal the built BBQ against the wall, overlooking some of the tall buildings that peaked out beyond the rest of the buildings. Alex was sold on this house she didn't even have to go look at the other one this was her pick.
After viewing the first one and having only half an hour left of their lunch break, they swung by the drive thru, grabbing a cheeseburger, fries and some cola for both of them eating in the parking lot, since neither of them were in the mood to go sit inside the restaurant. "So, what did you think?" Ryan asked taking a bit of his burger. "I really liked it. No scratch that. I loved it. I feel like we don't even need to go look at the others." She answered excitedly turning in her seat to face him. "And how weird was it that the house literally only had eight steps leading up to the main bedroom?" He asked smiling at her thinking back to the house. "I know right! I think that's part of why I love it so much." She answered eyeing his half eaten fries. Alex finished her fries and her burger but somehow she was still hungry." Are you planning on finishing that?" She asked pointing at his fries. "Go ahead Alex, enjoy yourself." He answered handing it over to her before pulling out of the parking lot, driving back towards the office.
Ryan walked lazily up the stairs leading to the second floor, where his office was walking past Liam's half open door when Liam called him. Ryan was so relieved and got his hopes up that they'd ask him to do something FBI related, but that wasn't the case. "I put a few files on your desk, I hope you don't mind. Can you look through them and fill out some paperwork before filing them, please?" Liam asked not sure how the man standing in front of him would respond. "Sure, no problem." Ryan said sarcastically to his superior. "This too shall pass man. We've all been there." Liam said trying to get his spirits up. "Oh and Ryan, can you finish it before 5PM?" Liam asked. "Go away." Ryan said dismissively leaving Liam's office. Liam sat there smiling and shaking his head at the agent. He really hated his new office job he had for the next few days. Ryan walked towards his office and found the piles of yellow folders stacked onto his desk. He took a seat and sighed heavily leaning backwards in his chair. "You better heal up this week." He said to no one in particular touching his arm gently before getting to work.
Meanwhile downstairs as Alex entered, her three friends rolled loser on their chairs looking at her with big eyes. "What?" Alex asked really uncertain of what they're up to this time. "Where's the pictures you were supposed to take of the house?" Shelby asked. "I never said I'd take any." Alex answered defensively. "After all these years of friendship she still doesn't know the rules." Natalie said acting shocked. "Now, she's forcing us to wait until the house warming."Nimah said and Alex shook her head. "What housewarming? I doubt there'll be one." Alex answered and once again they looked at her as if she's speaking some foreign language. "Yes there will." The three others answered in unison.
They were just busy getting the workload when Maranda came into their office asking to see all of them in the computer room in 5 minutes, about some new case. "Ooohhh I bet it's something to do with drugs again." Nimah said. "Or a serial killer." Alex answered looking at them with big eyes and they all laughed. "Or, maybe we should just get to the briefing and see what's going on." Shelby said taming her friends whose imagination is running wild again. After the briefing none of them were in the mood to work further so they loathed around for the next 30 minutes until 5PM. Shelby and Caleb were the first to leave he office while Alex were busy checking her emails, when she saw that the photographer sent some of their wedding pictures. She was looking through them when Ryan snuck up behind her.
"These photos look amazing." Ryan looking over her shoulder, pulling a chair closer so they can look through it together. "You looked beautiful on that day." He said reminiscing about their wedding day. "You still do Mrs. Booth." He answered looking at her and she bumped him with her shoulder playfully. He leaned in and kissed her unaware that Simon was still in the room packing his things. "No man, get a room you two." Simon said walking past them towards the door, fist bumping Ryan on the way out. "See y'all tomorrow." He answered walking out of the building. "Come on, we still have one more destination to get to before we can head home. " Ryan said as they got out to go see the second house.
Alex wasn't as keen on the second house as she was on the first one. It was basically the same setting and structure of the first one, it also had three bedrooms, a spacious kitchen and the view from the porch was incredible, but she just couldn't picture herself living there. Her mind was set on the first one and she was certain Ryan could see it. They walked around, and thanked the lady for her time and for showing them around.
"Thoughts?" Ryan asked as they drove away and back to their apartment. "I liked the first one better. This one is just, I don't know I just can't picture us living there." She answered. "So we go with the first one?" Ryan questioned as they came to a stop in the driveway. "Yup!" Alex said and they high fived each other before getting out and walking towards the front door.
Hey y'all! Thought I'd upload a quick one since I won't be able to upload this weekend. Hop you enjoyed this. Not much going on here just wanted to show Ryan doing his "office job" since his arm isn't healed properly yet and the house hunting. (I hope I've explained it well enough so you guys can picture it.) I was in a house like that with only eight stairs leading to the main bedroom while the rest is on ground level. That rally impressed me. Anyway, like always, read review let me know what you think. Lovies-S.
