Chapter 153
Alex was busy packing their clothes in the bedroom since their little weekend away came to an end, and way too soon for her liking as well. With Phoebe and Ryan out of her way she managed to pack up their things in record time. Ryan appeared with Phoebe following him into the room just as she was zipping closed the last bag.
"Come on, let's get cleaned up." Alex said as Phoebe walked towards her while Ryan went into the bathroom to run Phoebe's bath water. Sitting her down on the bed Alex started undressing her, which seemed like the wrong thing to do as the toddler burst out in tears while her mother took off her vest.
"Daadaaa." Phoebe wined laying while her mother continued undressing her, wiping her face with a little balled up fist as tears came down her cheeks. "Phoebe, what's going on with you?" Alex asked as she had no idea what her daughter was crying about. "Come on, it's bath time and you're gonna play with some bubbles." Her mother tried but Phoebe kept crying.
"Pheebs, what's wrong?" Ryan asked from the bathroom, as Alex lowered her into the water but even bath time was a pain for her today. Testing the water with her elbow Alex still had no idea why her daughter was acting this way.
"Daaadaaa." Phoebe lifted her arms from the water and Alex stood aside, while Ryan knelt down in front of the bath as he started washing her, all her crying stopped at once, Alex looking at her daughter in awe. "You could've just said you don't want me to wash you." Alex stated simply not sure how she is supposed to feel about this new trend where her daughter didn't want to was.
Leaving the two of them alone she went into the kitchen to get breakfast started, if you can call the good old faithful bacon and eggs breakfast. But that was for Ryan this morning she was in the mood for Nutella on bread and a large cup of coffee, she knew it was wrong and that she'll get a lecture by her husband if she happens to drink coffee but it's a once off thing. And with that thought in mind she put on a fresh pot of coffee, just as he and Phoebe came into the kitchen, her hair still damp as he handed her off to Alex because combing hair wasn't something he mastered just yet.
"Ooohhh, all nice and clean. Can I have a kiss please?" Alex asked and Phoebe poked out her lips, leaning in to kiss her mother. Alex wasn't in much of a mood to battle with hair this morning so she dried Phoebe's hair further with the towel as the curls got more prominent as it got dried and opted for a pink headband, that matched her pink leggings and white t shirt, with pink drawings on it. Hoping it would stay white until they got home later today at least. "There you go. Thank you Mama." Alex said kissing her cheeks when she finished with her hair, Phoebe walking out the room with Barney in her arms as Alex followed her.
"Why is there only one cup? I also want coffee please." Alex announced getting the Nutella out of the cupboard, ignoring the look her husband gave her.
"You're not supposed to have coffee."
"Yes but one cup won't hurt, either coffee or we go back on that horrible diet of a few months ago." Alex bargained and Ryan gave in because there was no way he would be able to deal with greens and organic foods once again. Adding a thick layer of Nutella on both slices of her bread they both sat down at the table eating, while feeding Phoebe bites of scrambled egg in between.
"So, I need to ask you something." Ryan said looking up at her and she had no idea what to expect.
"I'm listening."
"We were planning on going out, or no wait let me rephrase." Ryan thought and started over again. "Clive and Quade, were planning on going out tonight they have extra tickets to the football game and asked if Caleb and I were willing to go with." He paused trying to read the expression on his wife's face before he continued, or he wasn't sure if he can continue as he waited for her to give her input on things. Alex just sat there nodding her head indulging in her second slice of bread.
"So now you're waiting for permission to go out?" She asked taking a sip of coffee, looking at him.
"Basically, I mean they're not married they can come and go as they please I need to consider you and Phoebe, and the fact that you're pregnant. I can't just go out and stay out past midnight."
A small smile appeared on Alex's face at his words "aauuww he is so sweet. Just because of that you can go. You make it sound as if I'll cane you if you go out without clearing it with me first." Alex laughed although she knew what he meant and what his intentions are behind asking her if she'll be fine with it.
After breakfast they packed the car, and allowed Phoebe for one last stroll on the beach before they headed back home. Alex fell asleep she remembered talking to Ryan and she wasn't sure if she answered him because when she opened her eyes again they were close to home. "Fast food, I don't feel like cooking tonight, and you're not at home either way so it'll be a waste if I cook." She decided and they picked up two large pizzas.
Alex was grateful for the weekend away but there was nothing like your own house. She sat down on the couch putting her feet up on the table while purposefully ignoring the emails she is supposed to check. Phoebe was still a daze of sleep when she laid her down on the couch next to her, but she was fighting it once again by doing everything she possible could in order not to go back to sleep, while Ryan went upstairs to get a shower. Alex got up and retrieved Phoebe's bottle handing it to her, while she sat on her mother's lap the two of them watching some soap opera. Alex eating some pizza with a glass of water, hoping it would be a substitute for this morning's coffee but she'll wait until Ryan is gone before she makes herself some more coffee. When Phoebe fell asleep again, she decided to check her emails and grateful that she did it, because she forgot about her OBGYN appointment. And it was relatively early so she'll be late for work but with a valid reason, as she can't afford to be on her boss's wrong side once again.
"I'm meeting them at the stadium. See you later." Ryan came downstairs texting, kissing her and Phoebe before getting his car keys. He walked halfway to the door but turned around again. "You sure about this? I can still tell them I've changed my mind." He continued, without saying anything Alex set her laptop down and walked towards the front door, opening it and waited for him to follow her so she can close the door behind him. "Oh, okay I see how this is. I love you." He laughed kissing the tip of her nose walking down towards the driveway. "Behave yourself." Alex said before closing the door, laying down on the couch napping with her daughter for a little while before she continued with the housework.
Alex woke up about half an hour later, and started the washing since there had been quite a lot after their weekend away. She opened the door to the storage closet in the hallway, but closed it again because there is way too much clutter in there but she promised herself that she'll get rid of all those unnecessary clutter, but that will definitely not be today . She even managed to squeeze in a quick bath before Phoebe woke up. Getting some dinner ready for Phoebe she settled in at the kitchen counter with her and her laptop as they have a Skype session planned with Sita, surprised to see that three other familiar faces were joining their conversation.
"Gram-ma" Phoebe smiled pointing in Sita's direction.
"Hello my angel." Sita smiled at her granddaughter's excitement.
"There's more people that just Grandma, say hello to the other aunties also." Alex said, and Phoebe waved in general at the rest as she didn't have all their names down just yet. "I assume we're talking wedding." Sita said as she was hoping it would come to an end now.
"If Joey and I had just gone ahead with our court wedding it would've been done now." Sita reminded them but they all shook their heads.
"It will be done in about two months, Sita." Nimah answered as she showed them a page where she had most of the things written down and are about to distribute workload to everyone. "Since I'm not getting married anytime soon, I had some fun planning your wedding, and looking at some ideas, but you have the final say." Nimah said and Sita nodded. Deep down Alex was really grateful for the extra help.
After distributing the workload, and giving each one a date on when they would report back and set up another skype session they called it a day and went offline, while Sita stayed and talked to Alex for a little while longer. "How are you doing Alex? Your health and the baby's?" Sita asked and Alex smiled at the concern of her mother.
"I'm good ma, I have an appointment tomorrow morning to see how baby is doing. I had to deal with some morning sickness but it hasn't come back again so I'm hoping it'll stay away now." Alex said helping Phoebe down onto the floor when she got bored of sitting on her mother's lap while Alex had to continuously take her hands away from the keyboard. "I'm sure it will be, just keep hydrated and eat healthy. And stay away from coffee!" The mother reprimanded her child and she had no idea how her mother knew she was having coffee.
"Why is the house so quiet? Where's Ryan?"
"He went to a football game with the guys, so it's just the two of us at home. And I'm pretty sure he'll be back by the time we're asleep either way, leaving me to battle with bath time."
"Why would you have a problem with bathing her? She loves bathtime."
"Loved, ma. Past tense. Since this morning whenever I start undressing her she cries and doesn't stop until she's dressed in pajama's. But somehow when her father does it it's no problem."
"She just doesn't love you as much Alex." Sita laughed seeing the look of disapproval on her daughter's face, as she called Phoebe to say goodbye to her. "Say bye to ma." Alex said and the little girl leaned forward into the screen kissing her grandma, making the adults laugh. "Aaauuww bye my angel. I love you." Sita smiled saying goodbye to her daughter.
Closing the laptop and checking that everything was locked downstairs, she picked Phoebe up walking her to the bedroom. "Bathtime bub." Alex started while she ran the bath and returned to the bedroom, starting to undress her, while she silently prayed that Phoebe would remain calm through all of this, but it didn't work, the moment the little girl realized what was going on her crying started.
Alex left her alone for a few seconds as she had to close the taps and when she got back into the bedroom Phoebe was hiding on the other side of the bed on the floor, hoping her mother wouldn't see her. "Phoebe, come on I want to get done. You use to love bath time what happened now?" Alex asked as she picked her up while she was still crying and kicking.
"Daaaadaaaa"
"Dada's not here, come on it'll be fun look there's bubbles also. And some ducks." Alex tried as the water toys were floating in the tub but that didn't work, she made it clear she was not amused by her mother. Through water fights as Phoebe pushed away Alex's hand whenever she tried to come close to her with the cloth or the bar of soap, Alex was grateful when it was all over. At one stage she thought the neighbors might complain about the crying because they'd think she could be mistreating her daughter. Feeling just as tired as her daughter was when they got out of the bath and Alex wrapped her in the towel setting her down on the bed while putting on her nappy, she started playing as if she hadn't cried a few minutes ago.
"What's going on bub? Why are you acting up all of a sudden?" Alex asked as if she'll expect an answer but hoping that an epiphany will answer her unanswered questions about her daughter's new behavior. She's always been a daddy's girl, but these days it seems to have gotten worse and that she doesn't want her mother around her anymore. Or maybe she's just being paranoid, she decided while getting her dressed and putting her to bed downstairs, waiting until she fell asleep before she made her way upstairs. Checking the time, and smiling to herself as she got into bed at 9PM, something that doesn't always happen but tonight she managed a new goal and will be getting more hours of sleep than other nights.
Alex tried waiting up for him but fell asleep soon after. She got up to use the bathroom around midnight, and started to worry when he was still not at home. She texted him a few times but he didn't reply after which she tried calling but his phone went to voicemail. Leaving it at that she went downstairs to check on Phoebe who was still sound asleep and then tried to get some more sleep, but it was pointless as she was just tossing and turning. And if she happened to fall asleep it was a few minutes before she was awake again. After her third trip to the bathroom at 02:30AM she heard his car pull up in the driveway and the key turning in the lock. She was beyond mad at this point, and wanted to stop him from entering the bedroom telling him to go sleep downstairs she wanted to see in what intoxicated state he'll enter the room.
The moment he walked up the stairs he knew he would hear about it from his wife, but honestly he had no energy left in him to deal with an argument right now. The eight stairs he has to climb towards the bedroom seems like too much at this moment, but he'll have to man up and admit that he went overboard tonight. But he wasn't the only one, the others looked worse than he looked right now. Walking into the bedroom he tried to keep his composure, heading towards the bathroom and glancing over at his wife, who seemed like she was sleeping but he can't be certain, she might be faking it. Not bothering to find his sleepwear he opted for grey sweatpants and his old Quantico grey t-shirt. Walking out of the bathroom he sat down on his side of the bed, trying to charge his phone, but it seemed like too much effort as either the room were spinning or the adapter wouldn't fit into the charging hole of his phone so he left it on the bedside table and will deal with it later.
"Alex, a…are you mad a…at me?" He asked thinking he was whispering but he was talking a perfectly normal tone of voice.
"You really expect me to answer you?" Alex asked without turning around to look at him.
"I don't know w…why you're even mad. You t..old me I could go." He reasoned, words slurring.
"Ryan Booth, just close your eyes and sleep. We'll talk about this when you're sober." She ended the conversation.
"I a…am sober. You should see how the others l…looked compared to me." He said highly amused with himself pulling back the covers settling into bed, throwing an arm over Alex's belly. But before he could get comfortable Alex removed his arm.
"Don't touch me." She scooting over to the edge of the bed to be as far away from him as possible.
"Sweetheart, p..please, don't be mad at me. It's not my fau…lt."
"Yes I'm sure it's not, because the others forced you to get as wasted as you are right now. Either you close your eyes and sleep and leave me alone, or you can go sleep downstairs." She gave him the ultimatum, not sure if he heard but after a few minutes of silence she heard him snore. Sleeping peacefully while she was lying awake. Sometimes she would really like to know what's going on in the mind of men that they turn into teenagers without supervision whenever they get together.
Hey guys. I figured we haven't had some drama in a while, so here is some. Also I'm home for two weeks (yaaaaaayy!) although I have to work (which sucks) but it means more frequent updates now, in between work and holiday assignments, and assigned readings and all those uni paperwork. Hope you guys are still doing well. Thank you for the read and for the new follows and favourites, hope you enjoy.
Lovies-S
