Chapter 69

Ryan was uneasy and couldn't sleep for most of the night. He laid awake staring at his wife's sleeping form. Curled up into a ball snuggling his chest. He couldn't bear the thought of everything that could've gone wrong. When he finally got some sleep, Alex must've gotten up in the middle of the night and picked Phoebe up from her crib. Because he was awoken by his daughter laying in the middle of the two of them, talking away too herself. He had no idea how much time had passed when he saw a few rays of sunshine creep into the bedroom. Phoebe also waking with the break of day. He laid still waiting for her to start crying or give an indication that someone should attend to her, but to his surprise she went back to sleep, which gave him some time to take a little power nap of his own.

At 07:15 he woke again, picking her up and kissing her sweet face. "Good morning baby girl." He cooed reaching over to the diaper bag to change her. "Are you hungry? Mommy's still sleeping so it'll just be me and you until she wakes up." He talked to Phoebe as he picked her up, carrying the diaper in one hand to discard it, making their way downstairs. He opened the fridge to get one of her bottles, the last one actually, that Alex had pumped her breast milk in. "Okay, how do we do this? Should I warm it a little? I don't know let's see." Ryan thought out loud taking a seat at the kitchen counter, positioning three month old Phoebe and giving her the cold milk to drink. She barely took one sip and made it clear cold milk was not her favorite, as she started whining.

"Sorry bub, I didn't know it should be warmed." He apologized warming the bottle a little, testing the temperature on his wrist before trying again for a second time. Phoebe sipping away gratefully. "Okay, now I know how it should be done in the future." He smiled looking at her as she kicks her little legs. "I love you so much." Ryan whispered walking over to the couch when she finished drinking. The fact that he didn't get enough sleep slowly caught up with him, as he yawned loudly. "Are you done sleeping?" He looked over at Phoebe who showed no sign of being tired, but retaliated by having a conversation with her father in a language only she understood.

"Do you think we should call Granny and Nanna and tell them what happened to mommy?" Ryan asked but Phoebe gave him a weird look that made him change his mind. "Yeah you're probably right, no need to alarm them. The two of us will do just fine by looking after mommy until she's her old self again." He said looking at his daughter. "Did I tell you about the day we found out we're going to have you?" Ryan asked placing her on his lap and turning her to face him.

"Yes you told her that story about a hundred times already." Alex responded from the stairs causing both father and daughter to look her way. "Telling her about it another hundred times won't hurt, right Pheebs?" Ryan asked but Phoebe's attention shifted and she extended her arms towards her mother. Alex walked down the few steps and took her daughter from her father, taking a seat next to the two of them on the couch.

"Why are you up so early?" Ryan asked his wife who barely looked like someone who slept peacefully. "I couldn't sleep anymore. And look who's talking about being up early you were fidgeting the whole night." She looked up at him hoping he wasn't still worried about her. "You have to get ready or you'll be late for work." Alex told him but he shook his head. "I'm not leaving you here all by yourself. I'm not gonna go work today." He stated. Phoebe was intrigued by the mark on her mother's neck and kept touching it. Alex smiled down at her daughter. "Yeah, it is ouch, but the bad guy was caught and I'm gonna be okay." She kissed Phoebe's cheeks repeatedly until she started laughing. "Did she drink yet?" Alex questioned looking at her husband. "Yeah." Ryan nodded. "That was the last bottle there was in the fridge." He added making sure she was aware of it. "I think we should start her on formula, I'll ask the pediatrician when she has to go for a checkup again." Alex thought out loud seeing the look on Ryan's face made her decide to not go into this conversation right now.

A knock on the door made the family give up their little time together, when Ryan got up to answer. Not sure who would be on their doorstep at 8AM. Ryan opened the door surprised to see Simone standing on the other side. "I know it's early but I'd give anything for a cup of coffee right now. After that I'll be out of your hair again." Simone told her brother who opened the door signaling for his sister to enter. "Phoebe! Look how big you are." She smiled walking over to Phoebe and Alex on the couch. She took Phoebe from her mother and Alex got up so she could hug her sister in law when her smile disappeared.

"Alex what the hell happened?" Simone asked seeing the marks on her neck. Alex opened her mouth but was cut off. "Ryan, what the hell man! If you did this.." Simone turned to her brother who was still standing by the door. "Hey woah, slow you roll why would you think I'd go around hitting my wife?" He asked hurt that his sister would think that he is capable of something like that. "Some guy attacked me in the parking lot for busting a dope dealer he worked for a few months ago." Alex explained shortly. "I'm fine, really. No need to worry." She assured her sister in law. Simone didn't say anything she nodded her head to show she understands. "I'm gonna go get ready for work." Ryan dismissed himself and headed towards the bedroom.

"Lexi you sure you're okay? If Ryan leaves I can stay at home with you until he gets back." Simone offered sympathetically but Alex shook her head. "I'm fine, really. I need to get back to normal and put this whole ordeal behind me so we can all move forward." Alex answered but Simone was still not comfortable with the idea of her being home alone all day. "Can you please not tell your mom about this?" Alex felt guilty for asking knowing they care about her but she couldn't deal with people's pity right now. "You got it," Simone answered hugging the coffee cup with both hands.

"Promise you'll call when you need me to come home?" Ryan asked when he was dressed and ready to head out. "I promise." Alex replied kissing him quickly.

"Are we good, Ryan? You know mom never allowed us to leave the house when there were bad vibes between someone in the house." Simone reminded him, hoping they could put their earlier mishap behind them. "Yeah, we're good." He answered kissing his sister's cheek, and his daughter before heading out the door.

When Simone heard Ryan's car drive off she got up from the counter and walked over to Alex, hugging her unexpectedly. "I'm fine. Really." Alex said once Simone let go. Alex felt as if there was something her sister in law and husband didn't tell her. "I was in an abusive relationship a few years ago. Ryan saw what was happening but I kept making excuses for the guy. Until one day when I was beaten really badly and had to be hospitalized, that I eventually got out." Simone said seeing the sad look in Alex's eyes as she told her her story. "I'm sorry. I didn't know." Alex said softly. "The family were there every day until I got discharged, but Ryan didn't show up once." Simone took a deep breath to compose herself. "He was blaming himself for not trying hard enough to get me out of that relationship, or making me see how wrong the whole thing was." She concluded and Alex nodded thinking back to how Ryan apologized over and over again the previous night for not being there to protect her.

"He didn't have much of a bachelor life you know. Without realizing it all four of us relied on him as being the man of the house, when dad left. So he had to grow up pretty quickly. " Simone told Alex getting up to rinse her coffee cup. "He didn't turn out too bad though." Alex smiled and Simone nodded.

Simone left for the conference she was attending soon after ad promised Alex she'll call and text her regularly throughout the day. "Come on, let's get you cleaned up." Alex answered picking Phoebe up so she can get ready for the day. Once Phoebe was settled watching TV Alex took the gap to take a quick five minute shower. Being a new mother made her shower in record time where she previously stood under the water for hours on end. Back in the bedroom her phone buzzed.

"Ryan don't you have work to do?" Alex asked. "Yeah I do. Are you okay?" He questioned knowing how irritated she probably is with him checking in on her when he left about two hours ago. "I'm fine, you need to stop worrying. Go back to work and do something productive. I love you, but I'm gonna be fine babe." She told him hoping he'd understand that she need some normality. "Okay. I love you too. See you tonight." He concluded their conversation and went back to work.

"What do you want to do today?" Alex asked Phoebe dressed in a denim three quarter pants and a white shirt with pink frills on the sleeves. "Lounge around and be lazy?" Alex asked a rhetorical question and a smile from Phoebe showed she agreed with her mother, that that is how they two of them will spend the rest of their day.

Thanks for reading guys. And for the follows and favorites, you guys are awesome. Hope you enjoy this story with the rest of the squad :D. Lovies-S