And I'm back with another chapter! I'd like to think everyone again for their continued support! So funny thing this chapter got waaay too long so I had to split it in half! Luckily the second half should be posted before the end of next week so enjoy!
I own nothing but the plot and the twins.
Dealing with shifting moods part one
Reagan pov
Reagan couldn't help but feel pleased at the end of the workday on Friday. It wasn't because she had a good work week, in fact when you consider having to find a new house on top of the nonsense, she had to deal with at work you'd know that the week was very stressful up until yesterday. But now the work week was over, and she was free to leave her job for the weekend, under normal circumstances she would have probably stayed in her lab a few hours longer (though Brett wasn't letting her work more than eight hours a day right now) working on her next big experiment. But then again if she stayed working passed her shift, she wouldn't get the satisfaction of annoying the shit out of Rand. Because for this round she had beaten him, she wasn't forced to crawl back to him like he had wanted when he got her kicked out of her apartment. She didn't 'break up' with Brett because of the stress of a new relationship and having to find a new home in less than a week, like her father was trying to make happen. In fact, to those on the outside it looks like their 'relationship' was thriving even better because they went through this ordeal and made it to the other side. And she just knew that Rand Ridley knew that she was winning she was finally truly beating him; after all what better way could there be to show that her pig-headed father was wrong then to succeed at where he failed.
Keeping a 'relationship' during a stressful period and buying a (and she hates to use this word) dreamhouse together! Yes, Reagan Ridley was beating her father…in many ways that even he didn't know (and as long as she's careful he'd never know) keeping relationships both friendly and romantic (even a fake one) wasn't something Rand had managed to maintain throughout his life since he believed that he was too good for those kinds of things and dragging his daughter along with him. Well, she was proving him wrong on that front every day and that made this victory all the better. While Rand is likely to try something else to 'make her come to her senses' she still had her allies and she had something…two things to fight for. Two little parasites that depended on her to genuinely care for and love something that her father would never understand. She was winning right now though and that felt amazing! For the first time and who knows how long she was partially content with how her life was going.
"Hey Rea-Sunshine!" Brett exclaims happily while entering her lab. "You ready, to get out of here?"
"Yeah, everything here is pretty much wrapped up." Reagan stated as she shut down her computer and various other machines. "I never thought I'd actually be excited to leave work and go home!"
"You're excited to go back to the apartment and pack some more?" Brett questioned in confusion while tilting his head to the side.
"What? No! I'm excited because I get to rub it in Rand's face that I beat him!" Reagan proclaimed excitedly. "No matter how much he's tried to make my life miserable this week or how many deathtrap missions he sent you on, he wasn't able to break me!"
"Yeah, that ambassador mission to the lava people without flame resistant clothes, or cold water…or even being allowed to wear a suit that breathes was tough but I'm proud of the work I did!" Brett states as he thinks back to the mission that he had earlier that week. "I was able to get them to sign the treaty in record time!"
"And I've never seen Rand so pissed at someone succeeding at their mission!" Reagan continued excitedly. "And to top off Rand's week of failures, I'm going to leave early from work-"
"We've been here for eight hours; you're just leaving on time like anyone else would." Brett helpfully points out.
"With my 'boyfriend' so that we can continue to pack up and move into our now home!" Reagan continued completely ignoring Brett as she finished shutting down any machines that didn't need to stay on. "And even if I don't get to see his face as I'm leaving, I know that he'll be watching the cameras as I leave so I get to picture him sitting behind his desk alone, bitter, pissed off, and best of all defeated. And that thought alone is better than any type of sexual experience I've had with anyone in the past five years."
"Okay, I'm going to try not to take that last sentence personally." Brett sheepishly. "Kind of feels like I'm being attacked for my performance a little bit."
"Although, if I liked stopped by his office just to say 'goodnight' I'd be able to see his defeated face in person instead of just imaging it!" Reagan said in a mischievous tone while still ignoring Brett.
"I mean in my defense despite being drunk off my ass I still managed to impregnate you with twins so it couldn't have been-" Brett tried to say defensively.
"Yeah, that would be perfect!" Reagan interrupts her mind still locked in her plans for vengeance. "Bye Rand, me the boyfriend that you couldn't get rid of are leaving to pack up so that we can move into the new mini mansion we bought together! Yeah, that's perfect, he might even lose his cool and break something?!"
"I just don't think it's fair to judge my performance on one drunken night!" Brett proclaimed. "I mean if I was given a chance to-"
"Brett? What the hell are you talking about?" Reagan asked finally snapping out of her on thoughts and paying attention to him.
"Nothing!" Brett said rather quickly his face turning slightly red. "I-I mean I asked if you were ready to go again?"
"Yeah, all I need to do is grab the robot arms so that I can use it to make the packing go by even faster and-" Reagan explained while searching for the robot arms.
"Ah, Reagan are you sure it would be a good idea to use those arms again…for like any reason?!" Brett asked nervously.
"You know I need to be out of the apartment by tomorrow, and the arms are the perfect choice for packing not only quickly but efficiently!" Reagan stated while still searching for the robotic arms. "Now where did I put them again?"
"It's just that the last time you used those arms was kind of…a lot." Brett said nervously as he tried to reason with her. "And if something bad happens again…like someone's arms get ripped off-"
"Don't worry the reason why that happened last time was because they got wet and malfunctioned!" Reagan proclaimed as she picked up the arms. "Okay I found them let's go!"
"Ah Rea-Shine…I'm still not sure if-" Brett said in a nervous tone.
"Would you relax, Brett it's perfectly safe now." Reagan proclaimed while shaking her head at him. "Now, let's go I want to be able to really rub it in Rand's face that I'm killing it before we leave!"
"Speaking of killing it, are we sure that the robot arms are the safest things to use…anywhere around us?" Brett nervously tried to reason again.
"Christ Brett, I told you already that they're perfectly safe." Reagan stated in a huff as she closed up her lab. "Since when have you doubted my inventions?"
"I'm not doubting your skills Reagan…I'm just a bit concerned about using this particular invention which on record has ripped the arms off a senator!" Brett tried to explain.
"What's the big deal the reptilians forgave me, and his arms eventually grew back!" Reagan said defensively.
"Yeah, but our arms won't be able to grow back in a week if something goes wrong Reagan!" Brett tries to argue as the two began walking down the hallway.
"You're being ridiculous Brett!" Reagan said starting to get a bit annoyed with the questioning. "It's not that big of a deal!"
"I'm just concerned about our safety Reagan!" Brett continues to argue while the two were walking. "Especially since you're-"
"Well, if it isn't Cognito's newest happy dream couple!" A voice says sarcastically interrupting Brett's sentence from behind them causing the two to flinch. "I guess the honeymoon period was over very quickly if you're having fights in the middle of the hallway. Course it's not as if anyone thought you two would last very long…be proud that you at least managed to stay together as long as you did!"
Reagan fights off the urge to curse out loud before plastering a fake smile on her face. She turns around and sees Rand looking smugly down at her no doubt amused by the couple's disagreement. Just great after all that work spent putting up a united front their whole cover was almost blown just because of a disagreement about using robot arms.
"Actually Dad, it was just a teeny tiny little disagreement about what would be the best method for packing up the apartment." Reagan proclaims. "Really it's barely even a disagreement."
"Really? Because it sounded like your emotional support animal doesn't think you're a good inventor?" Rand stated evenly. "Of course, this is what happens when you throw yourself into a doomed relationship. You end up with people too stupid to understand your genius."
"That's not true!" Brett said while wrapping an arm around Reagan's shoulders. "I think Reagan is an amazing inventor and scientist and I support her in everything she does!"
"Didn't sound very supportive from where I was standing." Rand said sarcastically. "In fact, it sounded like a very bad relationship ending argument."
"Don't get your hopes up Dad we were only having a small disagreement on how to move into the new house that we bought together." Reagan said forcefully while hugging Brett's waist. "Actually, while you're here we should really thank you."
"Yeah, because of you we went out and bought the best house ever!" Brett added in excitedly.
"And we couldn't have done it without you pushing our relationship into that direction." Reagan says almost gleefully. "Now we have a new two-story American Craftsman style house with four bedrooms, two bathrooms, a spacious fully ventilated attic, a living room, dining room, home office space, huge kitchen, basement and garage and a big backyard!"
"We're actually thinking about building a pool and also putting in a hot tube in the backyard!" Brett added in excitedly. "I mean we have so much space now that we might as well!"
"Well, considering how much weight Reagan has gain in the past week I'm sure the pool would be a great way for her to get some much Much needed exercise." Rand said evenly with a smirk.
"Wow, Dad going after a women's weight how very honorable. Though I guess consider how pathetic-I mean how challenging your life has been going lately, I guess the stress makes it so that you can't come up with a better comeback." Reagan states just as evenly.
"Yes, well being in charge of Cognito Inc has been a real challenge lately! After all I'm in charge of all the idiots in the building." Rand said sarcastically. "Oh, but you would know better than I would, I mean you were in change for one whole day after all!"
"And what an important eye-opening day it was." Reagan says coolly as she tightens her grip around Brett's waist. "I certainly learned who was best to keep in my life and who needed to be cut and burned out of it."
"From where I'm standing it looks like you've learned nothing." Rand said as he began to walk away from the two. "But that's not anything new."
"Enjoy your weekend Dad be sure to say hi to…oh that's right 'friends are temporary, and love is meaningless', so I guess you're going home to nobody…so I guess we'll see you on Monday!" Reagan says in a cheerful tone as she and Brett walked in the opposite direction.
Cut to later that night
"I can't believe that we're actually finished." Brett says in almost disbelief as he looked around the now empty apartment. "We must have broken some kind of record!"
"I told you the robot arms would make the packing go way faster." Reagan says in a smug tone, though they had been packing boxes each night after finding out Reagan was being kicked. They still managed to have her apartment emptied out of everything in record time that night. "And they'll be just as useful when we have to unpack everything at the house."
"Well, I'm still not entirely comfortable with the thought of you using it b-" Brett began to say.
"Yeah well, you made that perfectly clear at Cognito when Rand caught us fighting about it!" Reagan interrupted with an angry huff being reminded again of the incident at work. "I swear to God Brett sometimes it's like you want us to get caught!"
"Come on Reagan, you know that I didn't know that your dad was standing behind us!" Brett tried to reason again. "I was just concerned about your safety; we can't afford for something bad to happen to you if something goes wrong with your inventions!"
"Oh, so you admit that you thought something was going to go wrong?!" Reagan exclaimed angrily. "Maybe my dad was right, and you don't actually think I'm a good inventor!"
"What?! Reagan, do you know how crazy that sounds?" Brett questioned in a confused tone.
"Oh, so now you think I'm fucking crazy too!" Reagan spats out, she becomes so angry that she starts trying to punch him.
"Reagan!" Brett shouted while dodging her swings. "Please, you're being-"
"What?! Am I acting crazy like some kind of manic inventor who can't create something without it backfiring in some way!" Reagan tries to take a swing at him again only to miss once more which makes her drop down to the ground and burst into tears. "And who's stupid pregnancy hormones are making her angry, sad and weepy at the drop of a hat!"
"Oh Reagan." Brett says softy as he moves to comfort her on the ground. "It's okay."
"No, it's not!" Reagan yells back while tears continued to fall. "My dad is trying to drive me crazy; these hormones are driving me crazy and making me fat and…and you won't let me punch your stupid fucking face!"
"I'm sorry Reagan if you want, I'll hold still now so you can punch me." Brett suggested in a helpful tone as he wiped away her tears while pulling her into a hug.
"Well, now I don't feel like it." Reagan said her voice muffled a bit as she hugged him back. "Maybe later?"
"Whatever you want Reagan." Brett said while chuckling a bit as he held her. "Are you hungry? How about I order a pizza for dinner?"
"Really?" Reagan asked looking up at him in disbelief. "Is this a trick because you haven't let me eat any greasy foods in a month?!"
"Well, after everything we've been through this week, I think that you deserve a treat." Brett proclaimed. "Plus, all the cooking utensils are packed away and most of the food has either been eaten or put in the fridge inside the new house anyway!"
"Can I drink beer with my pizza too?" Reagan asked in a hopeful tone. "You know as a treat because of all the stress I've been under this week?"
"Sure Reagan, I'll make sure the pizza place brings you two cold cans of root beer with our order." Brett stated as he took out his phone to place their order.
"I hate root beer!" Reagan whined in a huff. "I think I deserve a regular alcoholic beer with my pizza after all the crap I've put up with this week!"
"Hello, Italian Kitchenette, I'd like to place an order for one large pizza with everything on it." Brett says as he speaks into his phone. "And I'd also like two cans of coke…actually make that just a can of coke yeah, a coke has way too much caffeine for my friend so one can of coke and one can of lemonade…It will be here in twenty minutes? Okay thanks so much! Bye!"
"You never let me have anything I want!" Reagan yelled before her fist quickly connected to his face.
"Ow! Reagan what did I do?" Brett pouted in disbelief.
Reagan didn't answer him she just walked away in a huff not having the patience to deal with him until the pizza arrived.
It was actually kind of fitting that the last meal Reagan would have in her apartment would be pizza, she was pretty sure it was one of the first meals she ever had in here along with a lot of alcoholic drinks. It was even the food she ate the first time she had invited Brett over for a 'family dinner' after their trip to that town that would be forever stuck in the 80's. They've had many fast-food dinners (and of course the healthy stuff Brett now insisted that she eat) since that day, but pizza was always a favorite for the pair and now they were sitting in said apartment now emptied of all her furniture and other possessions. Tonight, she would be sleeping in a sleeping bag in this apartment and the next morning she'll take a final sweep of the place before handing her keys over to her unreasonable landlord.
"So how long did you say you lived here again." Brett asked from his seat on the floor across from her.
"I think it was three…no like four years." Reagan answered while eating a slice of pizza. "I really did like this place it was way better than the last places I had to settle for."
"That bad heh?" Brett stated while also eating.
"Yeah." Reagan says with a shrug. "First place, I had just turned eighteen and was so desperate to move as far away from my parents that I leased this shit box of an apartment. I'd never been on my own, so I just accepted the first place I found. It was awful if the heat worked, the water didn't, the AC only worked when it was snowing and a whole lot of other crazy shit!"
"Wow, that does sound pretty bad!" Brett said looking at her in disbelief. "How long did you live there?"
"A year, couldn't stand it any longer than that." Reagan answered. "The only good thing about that place was that my parents refused to visit me while I was living there. The second apartment that I rented was much better but the commute to work and back took an hour both ways, so I was also done with that place after a year. God I must have spent most of my twenties hopping from one place to the next until I found this place."
"I guess I can't really relate as much to having that kind of issue." Brett admits sheepishly. "I mean the only thing that might come close is when I had to share a dorm room at Yale."
"Ah, poor little rich Brett his shittest apartment was a dorm room at an Ivy League School." Reagan says in a mocking tone. "And of course, even after college you had access to enough money that you didn't have to worry about where you'd live. At least you got to live on campus with your classmates at your school."
"Wait, you didn't live on campus when you went to MIT?" Brett asked.
"I was thirteen when I was admitted Brett." Reagan says evenly. "I wasn't allowed to live in the dorm rooms with the other students I was a minor. I ended up living at a small apartment near the campus instead and my dad ended up having to go with me as a chaperone…because again minor."
"Just your dad?" Brett questioned with a raised eyebrow.
"Yep, mom stayed here continuing to have her affairs with a variety of different pool boys." Reagan says in even tone. "Honestly it surprises me that my parents were even married for as long as they were. I used to ask them like every day to just get a divorce, I never understood why they were together."
"Well, if they got married, they must have loved each other at some point?" Brett suggested. "I mean your dad was pretty mad when he thought your mom was marrying someone else right? And he was pissed at Buzz for sleeping with her?"
"Yeah, but I think that's because he's a 'If I can't have her nobody can' kind of person." Reagan explained in a frustrated huff. "I've tried asking them both why they got together and never got a clear answer…I used to tell them to please not stay together for my sake!"
"Well Reagan, relationships are complicated but there must have been a reason for why they got together in the first place?" Brett says sheepishly.
"I used to think that maybe it was because mom got pregnant with me and was forced to marry Rand." Reagan begins to explain with a shrug. "She never looked happy in any of her wedding photos so growing up I thought that was why, but mom didn't conceive me until like a year into their marriage which pretty much blew that theory apart. Eventually I just thought that's what marriage is, two unhappy people stuck with each other. It never occurred to me until I started dating and hearing about how my dates parents were happy and in love after twenty years, that people could have parents that loved each other, and it was real and not some made up thing that you only saw in movies or on TV shows."
"Well, I guess that's another thing I can't really relate to." Brett says in a sad tone. "It was always clear that my parents loved each other and my older siblings…just not me."
"Shit Brett, that's so fucking sad and-" Reagan paused before she started tearing up again. "Messed up because you are so great and…I couldn't do any of this without you." At this point now Reagan was fully crying, and Brett quickly moved to comfort her. "I'm sorry." Reagan apologizes while trying to stop crying. "Fuck, why do I keep acting this way?!"
"Reagan, you're almost four months pregnant with twins and this past week has been a very stressful time. Plus, we just talked about a lot of heavy emotionally draining stuff." Brett tries to reassure her as he stroked her hair. "Cut yourself some slack you've had to deal with a lot."
"I know, I just feel like my emotions are all over the place at the worst possible times and I'm so frustrated with everything!" Reagan admits as she continued to cry. "And even though a lot of things are really exciting, it's also-"
"Really scary?" Brett finished for her. "I'm scare a lot too!"
"You are?" Reagan questioned in disbelief.
"Sure, things are moving along so fast and I'm really worried that your dad might find out about the twins and do something awful to you and them. I mean your dad is really smart and always seems to be one step ahead of everyone, and I don't even what to think about what I'd do if he hurt you or the twins." Brett admits as he continued to stroke her hair. "But I'm mostly worried about not being a good father for the twins…when I told my therapist about this, they kind of warned me that I might be setting myself up for disappointment…especially if raising children with my BFF doesn't turn out how I pictured it being."
"Thanks Brett, I guess I forget that becoming a parent might make you nervous too." Reagan said softly. "You're just always so happy and helpful and positive about everything all the time!"
"I just want to make things as stress free for you as I can Reagan." Brett explains as he continued to stroke her hair.
"But I don't want you to feel stress because you're trying to make me not feel stress!" Reagan proclaimed as she begins to tear up again. "It makes me feel like an asshole, a hormonal, manic, fat asshole!"
"Oh Reagan, don't cry!" Brett pleas as he tries to comfort her. "You're not being an asshole, if I'm trying to provide a stress-free environment for you! And stop calling yourself fat, you're like almost four months pregnant with twins and you don't even look it…honestly, I kind of want to see Dr. Lynn again about that because it worries me a little."
"Oh, Brett that's so sweet!" Reagan says while hugging him now starting to feel a bit better again.
"I'm glad you're feeling better Reagan." Brett said sighing in relief. "Though again I actually am kind of worried about it."
Reagan doesn't respond to his concerns she only leans into him more as she starts to calm down again. She really does hate how much her moods keep shifting sometimes, she knew some of it had to do with hormones, but she also knew that a lot of women don't experience mood swings during pregnancy. So of course, she would during hers, wouldn't she? Never mind that it was still early in the pregnancy, and now she was happy or sad or angry at a moments notice. At least Brett was patient with her and there to hold her when she needed him too. He was surprisingly her rock throughout this new journey, and even though it greatly annoyed her that he was restricting her diet right now she knew that it was because he cared about her and the twins.
"Hey, it's getting late, and we've got a big day ahead of us tomorrow." Brett speaks up breaking the silence. "We should probably get some rest?"
"Huh? Yeah, I guess you're right." Reagan agreed pulling away from him a little to look up at him, which she immediately regretted when she realized how close they were to each other. They hadn't been this close to each other since the other night when they accidently kissed. "Ah, I'm just gonna go to the bathroom now." Reagan said as she tried not to blush at their proximity. "And you know get ready for bed!"
"Okay." Brett nodded as if in agreement to Reagan's decision, but neither of them made a move to break their embrace for another few moments. The two could only sit in silence while staring at each other as if waiting for the other person to do something. "Soooo?"
"Soooo?" Reagan echoes back not sure of what else to say or do, the two together sat in complete silence for another minute before Brett's phone ringing breaks it.
"Oh, ah I should probably get that right?" Brett asked as he looked down at her.
"Yeah!" Reagan said snapping out of…whatever was happening before as the phone continued to ring, she stood up quickly putting some distance between the two of them. "You should answer that and I…I should go used the bathroom like I said!" Before he could respond she all but spirited towards the bathroom leaving him to answer his sudden phone call. "What the hell was that?" Reagan asked herself once she was safety locked behind the door of the bathroom.
A/N and that's the end of part one see ya next chapter!
