Chapter 130
They pulled up to the hotel about an hour later after. Signing in they got to their room and Alex flopped down onto the bed. "I can feel you're judging me, and you also do it when you get home and you're tired." She said her words muffled as her face is turned towards the bedding.
"Yes I do, but I haven't been at work for some time. Why are you tired, it's not as if you did anything." He said laying down on the little space that she didn't occupy. "My mind was working which technically serves as a productive function." She answered turning her face towards him.
"Yes Alex." Ryan smiled tangling his hand in her hair as he massaged her sculp. Her eyes closing and soon she fell asleep, Ryan feeling his eyelid get heavy joining her in the afternoon nap.
When Alex woke she sat up seeing the small space her husband slept on since she was sprawled out on over half the bed. She contemplated waking him up but decided not to, so she opted to watch some TV until he started stirring. "What time is it?" He asked voice full of sleep.
"Just after four." She answered brushing a finger over the stubble on his face. "Should I order something to eat?" She asked as he stretches himself out. "I won't say no to food." He smiled sitting up and moving across the bed to sit next to her, their backs pressed against the headboard. Alex took the food menu but her attention shifted to the visitor's guide and she peeked at all the things they could do. A hiking trail caught her eye and the food she was about to order was forgotten.
"Look what I found." She sang showing the brochure to her husband.
"What happened to the food you were about to order?" Ryan asked and she shrugged.
"Come on it'll be fun, don't you think?" She nudged his side and he soon joined in her smiles after she show it to him. Deciding on the hike instead of food the two of them got up and got dressed in the not really hiking clothes they packed because they didn't plan for it actually. Alex dressed in black leggings and a tank top with some sneakers and Ryan in a navy blue tracksuit pants and a grey t-shirt, the two of them headed outside to tackle their late afternoon adventure.
To their disappointment there was a no entry sign at the beginning of the trail, and it was barred off with red and white tape. Every curious ounce of Alex told her to enter and see what this is all about but it was as if her husband read her mind. "Don't even think about it Alex." Ryan said from behind her making her jump. "Let's go jog rather." He suggested and she looked like a kid in a candy store who just found out that she's not allowed to have any candy. "Fine." She moaned as they turned back and walked towards the car.
They drove further downtown, and got to the boardwalk deciding to jog along the coast. Stretching for a while before they started jogging on the pedestrian sidewalk. Not having done this in a while it seemed to catch up with Alex when she found out that she's not as fit as she used to be. Ryan slowed down the pace he was jogging at when he saw she was lagging behind and waited for her to catch up, jogging at the pace she set. Setting targets for them along the way as they sprinted towards it, making the jog more fun until they reached their goal. "Race you to the trashcan." He said looking up at her and she accepted the challenge sprinting towards the trashcan leaving him a few steps behind, but when she looked back seeing he caught up with her she ran in front of him slowing him down momentarily until she reached it first. "That was cheating" he breathed trying to slow his racing heart rate.
"No it's called being one step ahead." She answered hands on her knees as her breath raced.
An older couple jogged past them, slowly but surely. Alex smiled at them imagining her and Ryan looking like that in the future. "You can do it!" Ryan encouraged them as they smiled and waved making their way past the young couple. "That'll be us when we're older." He said looking up into his wife's sparkly eyes. "Hhhhmmm you better say that, because there's no way you're getting rid of me that easily." Alex smile leaning into his embrace. The two of them standing in the middle of the sidewalk holding each other as the world around them stood still and the sun began to set.
Sita entered the lounge looking for Phoebe who was standing at the coffee table with a framed picture pf her parents on their wedding day in her hands. Sita remembered that she has some baby proofing to do around the house by putting away things that didn't bother her and Joey before but will certainly bother their little house guest.
"Phoebe, please give that to me." Sita instructed as the little girl walked over to her grandmother holding the framed photo in both hands. "Thank you princess. Do you know who this is?" She asked holding the picture in front of Phoebe. "Who's that?" Sita asked pointing to Alex.
"Mama" Phoebe said repeating the pointing action her grandmother did.
"And who is that?" She asked pointing to Ryan.
"Dada." Phoebe smiled looking up at her grandmother. This was the last thing Sita expected, that her granddaughter answered the questions she asked making her heart swell with pride. When Joey came to look for them Sita asked the questions again and she answered them the same like she did a few seconds ago.
"Phoebe girl! Look how big you are. Please stay this small." Joey said picking her up and kissing her cheeks. "Can you believe this? I mean who would've thought we'd end up where we are now looking after our grandchild. We're getting old."
Sita looked up at him shaking her head "you're probably mean you're getting old. Definitely not me." She laughed, the two of them watching Phoebe as she jetted of into the corner of the lounge to unpack the bookcase. Sighing in content as neither her grandmother nor grandfather is about to do anything about it, whereas if her mother was here she would've banned the child to play there. They joy of being home alone with your granddaughter, grandma's house and grandma's rules.
"I'm hungry." Alex said as they walked hand in hand back towards where they parked the car.
"What do you wanna eat?" Ryan asked looking up at her seeing her mouth curl up in a smile.
"A cheeseburger and extra fries." She answered when. "For people who just finished jogging and realizing that they're not as fit as they used to be" Ryan laughed as they drove off towards the restaurant and pulled into the parking lot of his wife's choice of fast food. They entered ordering their cheeseburgers and extra fries Alex topping hers of with milkshake while Ryan settled for a large soda.
Feeling like lovesick teenagers the two of them sat down, holding hands across the table. Ryan twisting Alex's wedding bands around her finger absentmindedly. Something he always did whenever he held er hand in his.
"Thank you. For suggesting this." Alex says looking into his eyes. "I needed a change of scenery."
"I'll do whatever it takes to make you happy, and to get us back to where we need to be." He answered honestly and she squeezed his hands slightly, breaking apart as their food arrived at the table. Both of them digging in hungrily, you'd never say they just got back from an exercise session eating this junk food.
"What are you thinking?" Ryan asked when he saw her brows furrowed.
"Just wondering what Phoebe's doing." She smiled looking up at him.
"Eating chocolates for dinner, and having some biscuits as a late night snack." He laughed knowing how disrupted her routine will be since her grandparents always allowed her to have everything she cries about, not much different than he was.
"Yeah something I'd rather not want to think about." Alex said twirling the straw around in her milkshake. "Ryan I'm sorry." She suddenly said and he looked up at her in confusion since this doesn't fit into the previous discussion they had. "I was being bitter and mad at the wrong person but it somehow made me feel better. I'm not where I want to be yet but I feel like I've made progress between today and a three days ago."
"I'm not blaming you that you did it sweetheart. I get where you're coming from and why you've acted that way. You take as much time as you need to get through this. I just want you to know that you're not alone, I'm here for you. Always." He looked into her eyes and she nodded her head giving him a small smile.
"Why do these things always seem to happen to us?" She whispered and he takes a hold of her hand again from across the table. "I know I shouldn't be comparing our marriage with the other couples at work, but take Caleb and Shelby. It seems as if they have things relatively easy and that work and their personal lives never get mixed together. Tragedy seems to always remember our address.
"I know right." Ryan breathed looking out the window at the passing cars and the people walking past, all occupied with their thoughts. "But you know, maybe they could be wishing they had the kind of support structure we have from our parents and family. Shelby's parents who are in Australia, that's if they're still there and Caleb's dad who doesn't approve of his marriage."
"No one said this life would be easy, but we've made it through the trials and tribulations so we can make it through this one again. " She answered, both of them leaning across the table sharing a few small kisses.
Once back at the hotel Alex took the chance to video call her mother to see what they're up to and if Phoebe would be in bed by now, but she already knew the answer to that. "Hey Ma, we fell asleep when we got here that's why we didn't let you know we've arrived." She apologized before her mother laid down her own ground rules. She though once she's married and out of the house it wouldn't count anymore, but not when Sita Parrish is your mother.
"Ah guilty conscious I see." Sita smiled and turned the phone towards the bath where Phoebe was playing. The bath filled with bubbles as the little girl scooped it up into her hands laughing loudly as Joey blew the foam from her hands and it drifted through the air and fell back into the tub.
"Someone's having fun, Ma is she behaving herself?" Alex asked and Ryan almost burst out laughing at the expression on his mother in law's face after that question. "Much better than you were at this age Alex." Sita said and Alex shook her head knowing that is her mother's new favourite phrase.
"Phooeebeee." Alex called and Sita held the phone in front of the little girl who looked up into the screen.
"Mama." Phoebe smiled pointing a foamy finger at the screen.
"Hey Pheebs." Ryan greeted getting comfortable next to his wife on the bed.
"Dada." She answered when she saw him, standing up in the bath with the help of her grandfather so she won't slip as he holds onto her arm. "Dada." She said again pointing a finger in the direction of the phone, her bottom lip poking out as she started crying. Alex feeling bad on her terms because there was no tears from her daughter when she was speaking to her.
"Hey Pheebs, it's okay, we'll see you in a few days." Ryan tried but that didn't work which made his heart ache seeing his little girl sad and there was nothing he could do to comfort her.
"Aaaauuwww it's okay, you want Grandma to yell at them?" Sita asked and Phoebe stopped crying for that moment nodding her head briefly causing the grown ups to laugh. Her parents lingered around on the phone until she calmed down before ending their session, laying back down on the bed.
Ryan got up from bed quickly "I'm going to take a long overdue shower." He walked out onto the balcony and Alex was confused because he went the opposite direction of the bathroom. She walked into the bathroom opening the tap filling the bath, and adding some bubbles, complimentary of the hotel. Tying her hair into a high bun when Ryan entered the bathroom.
"I'm conserving water, you can ditch the shower and join me." She offered as she got into the bath sinking away into the bubbles. Ryan following her lead, as the aroma of the bath oils and the bubbles hung in the air.
"I'm not gonna lie I feel a little emasculated sitting in a bubble bath." He admitted and Alex tried throwing a hand full of foam in his direction but it didn't reach him.
"I can't remember the last time I had a long bath." Alex answered.
"Probably the time before we decided to have kids." Ryan replied.
"Kids as in plural, we only have one last time I checked." She corrected but he shook his head.
"We'll see about that. I wouldn't mind having another five or seven. Nine or eleven." He laughed seeing the look on her face.
"Hold your horses Ryan, we can work on one more and take it from there. Five or seven." She said shaking her head, leaning forward as their lips met, and he kissed her softly. His hands resting on her hips as she scoots closer to him in the water, his thumbs lightly brushing across her discolored ribcage and he felt her body tense.
"I'm sorry." She apologized and Ryan shook his head, telling her wordlessly that there is nothing she has to apologize for. "I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable." He said and Alex buried her face on his shoulder breathing heavily as he rubbed his hands up and down her bare back in an attempt to try and comfort her as best as he could, until he breathing was even again.
Once she composed herself she lifted her head again, worrying her bottom lip between her teeth, stroking a soapy finger across the stubble along his jaw line, leaning in to kiss him softly. Slowly. "Please make love to me." She whispered once they broke apart from the kiss, leaning their foreheads against each other, Ryan capturing her mouth again.
Hey guys! I have a rough outline up until chapter 133. After that I want to do a time jump again (not a lot just fast forward a little bit I you won't miss out on anything vital. But I need the go ahead from you guys first before I do that.) Also I want to work on getting Ryan and Alex back on track before we head back to FBI life, which will follow more or less after chapter 133. Thank you for reading, hope you enjoy this one. Side note, you'll have to use your imagination on what follows after that last sentence….wink wink.
Lovies-S
