Babies Make the World Go 'Round
Disclaimer-Story's mine, nothing else is.
A/N--Wow! Have I neglected this story or what. Sorry about that. I know what I wanted to happen and all, just completely forgot to type it up. But here it is now. Loooong. I hope, at least. Enjoy it.
Riley snuck up the stairs, following Ryan into what seemed to be the new baby's room. "Did she…!" She asked excitedly, now running up the stairs. Ryan broke out into a grin and let each twin's hand go from his and watched them follow their older sister.
"Baby!" Emily shouted from the nursery. Ryan laughed from the stairs and quickly went into the room where currently, Marissa stood over Jake's shoulder-who had come home due to both his parents surprise-and held the new baby in his hands, sitting in the white rocking chair.
Connor smiled and shyly went up to his new baby sister, running his small fingers over the baby's forehead. "What's your name, baby?" he asked, continuing to run his fingers over her.
"Angie." Jake answered, smiling at his little brother. "You want to hold her little man?" he asked, slowly moving Angie towards Connor. Connor grinned and shook his head, running behind Ryan's leg and sneaking quick peeks at the baby.
"Riles? You want to?"
Riley grinned and went up to Jake and Angie, swiftly grabbing the pink bundle and cooing at it. She squealed and looked at both her parents. "It's so cute!" She rocked it back and forth, mumbling and cooing when she finally stopped and looked at Ryan. "Dad. I can tell this one's going to milk you dry of your wallet." She teased.
"Great." Ryan replied dryly, picking up Connor in his arms. "C'mon bud. Get out of here?"
"No. Stay." Connor looked at his Dad and than slid himself down until he was on the floor and playing with the baby's new toys.
Ryan sighed and smiled as he admired his new family, together once again.
A cry shook him from his admiration and three kids stormed out the room, making excuses. Ryan chuckled and shook his head. He saw Connor still playing with the toys and looked at him, trying to read him. The little boy lifted his blonde eyebrows suspiciously. "Dad?"
"You want to help Mom change the baby?" he asked, motioning over to Marissa who had already rid Angie's odor filled diaper in the garbage. He smiled and walked over to his Mom and new baby sister.
"Dinner?" Ryan finally asked after a few moments of silence. He looked to Marissa for confirmation. She grinned at him-thanking him without words- and turned back to her diaper duties while Ryan walked out of the room and into the kitchen, going to prepare dinner for his family.
"Mom! Someone stole my fork!"
"Dad! She's poking me! Tell her to stop."
"Daddy! Connor ate my--"
"She's lying!"
"Hey!" Ryan stood up at the table, scaring everyone at the table. "Everyone…" he looked at each of them "stop fighting. The baby's asleep. Let's enjoy the peace and quiet." He sat back down, having every intention of having this be a quiet meal.
Marissa bit her bottom lip to keep from breaking out into hysterics and looked across the table to her meal determined husband.
Oh yeah. A new baby was exactly what they needed.
Marissa woke up, expecting to find Ryan next to her. She didn't. With a yawn, she swung her legs over the mess of pillows and blankets and made her way down the hall to check on Angie before she set out to look for Ryan. She saw the little girl fully asleep, looking peaceful with a smile. Content, she started her way downstairs; finding Ryan in the kitchen over a mess of papers.
"Hey you." She said softly, trying not to scare him. He craned his neck to get a full view of her. "Hey yourself." He gave her a tired smile in return and Marissa frowned as she saw her tired husband. She went over to him and dropped her hands to his neck, starting to knead the skin on his neck. "What are you doing?" she asked, sneaking a quick peek over his shoulder at what he was working on. "Just…financial stuff."
Marissa sighed dramatically and turned him around. "Ryan. I called our accountant."
"What? Why would you do that?"
"Why shouldn't I? He said we were--"
"Marissa. Why would you do that? I told I had it under control."
Wrapping her arms around him once again, she nuzzled her face into his neck and started to explain herself. "I want to help. I need to help. Costs around the house can go down for awhile, we'll just tell the kids, they can go a few weeks without eating out or going to the mall. Trust me. Everything will be just…fine." She shook him to get her point across.
Ryan sighed and started to stand up. "Fine."
Marissa smiled and kissed his cheek gratefully.
Everything would be fine. She was sure of it.
"Is everyone here?" Ryan asked, hands in his jean pockets. "Want me to do another head count?" Marissa teased, holding baby Angie in her arms. Ryan sarcastically gave a smirk and turned his attention back to the kids. "Okay…we need to have a talk."
"Whatever it is--"
"Shh. Your Mom and I--"
"You're crazy, right! Another baby?" Jake stood up, yelling. "What? No, I--"
"Good. You two just got done, stop this whole crazy--" He stopped when he saw Ryan's glare and let his father continue. "We just want…" He looked to Marissa for help. Marissa smiled sympathetically and placed Angie in his arms and turned back to the kids. "What your Dad's trying to say is that…we have to cut costs down in this house. At least for awhile."
"Why?" Came from the one of the twins.
"Because we need to. Which means…no more shopping sprees at the mall," she looked to Riley, "no more toys every week"; looking at the twins, "and no more running up your cell phone bill. We know you're in college, but just use it wisely." She was looking at Jake.
They all nodded solemnly and started to leave, moaning complaints. "Wasn't so hard," Marissa smiled. Ryan chuckled softly and continued to cradle the sleeping baby.
"Hey Mom. Dad." Jake sped down the stairs and came up to his parents. "About the…money issues, you know, I can get a job…or…you know, whatever…"
Marissa smiled and wrapped her son in a sideways hug. "We appreciate the help sweetie, but what you can do is go back to Virginia…and--"
"Get good grades. I know." He finished.
Marissa smiled and let him go back upstairs.
"Smile! Not grimace!" Summer shouted. The kids widened their eyes in surprise and placed fake smiles on. The photographer snapped a few photos and than left to go take pictures of more smiling people.
"Summer, calm down." Marissa comforted, wrapping her friend in a hug.
"Sorry, I guess it's just…baby hormones." She sighed. "Something like that," Marissa replied.
"Okay, free to go," Summer waved the kids away as they all sighed of relief and ran away from their Aunt Summer.
Summer played around with the straps of her wedding dress, sighing at the simplicity of the fringe at the sleeves. "Oh stop, you look great. Gorgeous, in fact." Marissa told her friend, adjusting and playing with the veil on her head.
"Yeah, except for this--"
"Don't even say it," Marissa warned, only half joking. Ryan came in through the living room, all smiles and of course his new accessory, Angie, in his arms. "Seth's coming down, so you probably--" He pointed to the dining room for a place for her to hide out while Seth made his walk down the aisle.
Marissa smiled tiredly as she took her seat next to Ryan on the aisle. Ryan smiled back and kissed the side of her head. "Think. In a matter of hours, it'll all be over and everything can go back to semi-normal."
She laughed and nodded in agreement.
Suddenly, the wedding march started to waft through the backyard and everyone stood up as a pregnant Summer waddled through the aisle, her father on her arm.
A grin spread widely on Seth's face as his wife slowly came down, a smile also on her face. He started to take a few steps forward and took her hand, kissing it lightly as her father gave her cheek a quick kiss and went to his seat.
The ceremony started with a few words from the priest and went on, short and sweet. Ryan turned to his wife and wrapped a protective arm around her, kissing her head again.
It was kind of perfect, he thought.
END
A/N--Yippee, I'm done. I know, it absolutely sucked, but I just had to get it out of the way. So…sorry for the suckiness but thank you to all my faithful reviewers for sticking with me and this story, for about a year J Much love and thanks again.
