Chapter 73

At the hospital Caleb sat down next to his wife's bedside holding her hand. "Are you sure you're okay? What did the doctor say?" He asked concerned but Shelby laid there her head resting against the pillows eyes closed.

"Why did you have to be so rude to them?" She croaked taking her hand out of his hold. "That was really unnecessary, they brought me here when you weren't there. The least you could've done was to thank them." She said turning her head to look at him. "I was just worried when Maranda told me what happened." Caleb tried to get her to see his point of view. "That doesn't make any of your behavior you portrayed right, Caleb." She sighed.

"I know. I'll apologize to them later. Once I know you're okay." He got up and kissed her head. Just then a nurse came into the room to check up on her and saw that her bag of fluids they've hung was finished. She was allowed to go home but was told to be on bedrest for the remainder of the week and will only be allowed to go back to work the following week. She accepted he doctor's orders reluctantly as they walked out of the hospital. She was there for about two hours, maybe three at most but she certainly felt a lot better than she had earlier that day.

Ryan knocked on Maranda's door before entering. "What have you got for me?" She asked taking of her glassed and looking at the special agent. "They're estimating that there is at least 200kg of cocaine loaded in the truck. The stuff we found at the back were flour they had all the bags tested and nothing weird came of that." Ryan informed her.

"All right. I think we've done enough for today we can continue this tomorrow. How's Shelby doing?" Maranda asked.

"I haven't spoken to Caleb yet and didn't ask Alex or the other two what the doctors said. They were pretty upset when we left the hospital." He informed her.

"Why? Is it something bad?" Maranda asked and Ryan shook his head. "They were more upset with Caleb than with the diagnosis." Ryan told her, she nodded her head and he turned around and left the office closing the door behind him.

"You ready to go?" Ryan asked knocking on the open glass door office downstairs where his wife worked downstairs. "Yeah. See you guys tomorrow." She greeted the others grabbing her things and walking out with him. "What's on your mind?" Ryan asked as he pulled out of the parking lot seeing how intently she was watching the road. "That bust we did last month I think it was heroin I don't know I'm not sure. One of my CI's are willing to give me intel on what's up with that truck we found today, but I have to return the favor." Alex said looking at him.

"Return what favor?" Ryan asked not exactly sure where this is going. "Mark is my intel, and you know how he is into weird stuff like the opera and ice hockey right?" Alex started and Ryan nodded waiting for her to continue. Two hobbies that differed so largely.

"So, I made him an offer, and told him if he could give me names of the guys who organized that truck I can give him two tickets for the Blackhawks game." Alex concluded and Ryan was confused at first but then it all made sense.

"Woah, you're going to give him my two tickets for the Blackhawks game that's in three weeks?" He asked incredulous. "Alexandra. Please tell me you're joking!" He asked hoping she wasn't serious. He was looking forward to that game for months and it was the finals that he hoped to watch live instead of on TV. "What's more important? Getting these guys of the streets or those stupid tickets?" Alex asked amused looking over at him.

"You take that back, it's everything but stupid. And yes, right now I feel like that game is more important than these cocaine guys. This is a sad day in the life of Ryan Booth. My wife betrayed me." He said ready to get out when they stopped at the daycare.

"Oh hush, it's not that big of a deal. And I'll make it up to you." She whispered in his ear walking up behind him swatting his butt. "No, that's not going to work right now, I'm sad let me wallow in self-pity." He said without looking back at her walking through the door. "Boys will be boys." She whispered to herself following him inside to get their daughter.

They walked into the house and put their bags down on the nearest couch. Ryan walking with Phoebe in his arms to take a seat while Alex made her way to the kitchen opening the fridge. Mind racing to what she'll cook for dinner tonight. Taking the bottle of orange juice to pour herself a glass while she decided.

"Do you know what mommy did today, Phoebe?" Ryan asked his daughter positioning her on his lap so they can look at each other while having this conversation. "Here we go. I wondered how long it would take before you tell her all your sorrows." Alex laughed deciding on lasagna. Since it was Ryan's favorite and she had some making up to do, dinner would be the start of her apology.

"You know those awesome Blackhawks tickets I got as a gift." He started emphasizing that the tickets were a gift, causing Phoebe to smile at her father's silliness. "She made a bet with someone at work and now she's gonna give it away. Just like that. Don't you think it's sad, bub?" He asked a rhetorical question and Phoebe responded with a noise that made both her parents laugh. "I knew you'd agree." Ryan smiled kissing her chubby cheeks.

"Come on, let's go get you cleaned up." Ryan suggested getting up from the couch but pausing at the stairs. "Do you need some help or can I go bathe her?" He asked his wife who was bending down at one of the cabinets looking for a dish. "Uuhhhmm, no I'll be fine, you can go ahead." She said her voice muffled as she's her head is buried in the cabinet, feeling relieved when she retrieved the while dish she was looking for.

Ryan got her things ready and stated undressing her. She laid on the towel and he took a quick minute to pick her body wash off the floor that fell down. "Phooeebeee." He whined when he came up and saw the wet spot on the pink towel where she urinated. Certain that there would be a wet spot on the bed also where she laid. "Mommy's not gonna be happy with this." He stated holding his daughter in his arms surveying the damage. "Okay, let's get you cleaned up then we can deal with this." He said putting her in the bath and she stated smiling. "Yeah, you know what you did don't you." He laughed as her smile broadened and her eyes twinkled even more.

The rest of the bathing routine went fairly smoothly apart from the little mistake they had earlier that Ryan was still trying to figure out how to deal with, without his wife noticing. Putting lotion on her body and dressing her in white and pink Mini Mouse pajamas. He was about to throw the bath water out when Alex came into the bedroom with a bottle in hand, catching him off guard.

"Look at you nice and clean looking pretty." She smiled taking the baby from her father so he can put her stuff away. She wanted to get a load of washing started and picked up the pink towel, absentmindedly assuming that the wet stain is water. But when she noticed the dark stain on the bed spread as well she became suspicious and smelled the towel, which confirmed her thoughts. Ryan watching the ordeal from the bathroom.

"Phoebe and Ryan." Alex said when she made eye contact with her husband from across the room.

"It wasn't me. Phoebe did it." Ryan answered pointing a finger at his daughter who found this situation humorous. "Phoebe Grace, I am not laughing." Alex answered finding it hard to keep a straight face at the cuteness of her curly haired daughter. "I'll take care of this, you can go finish up downstairs." Ryan suggested. He was no expert in changing sheets but tonight he'll have to learn how to do it he thought as he got busy.

Downstairs Alex put Phoebe down and finished up the last dinner preparations before giving Phoebe a bottle. "How do you think daddy's doing upstairs?" She asked hearing cupboards open and close as he's looking for who knows what. Laughing a little to herself as she's imagining how flabbergasted he must be right now. "Are you tired? You didn't even tell me how your day was." Alex said as Phoebe's eyes started to get heavy. "It's okay, you can go to sleep. I love you so much." She said cradling Phoebe in the crook of her arm, getting ready to get up to lay her down in the bedroom, when her husband appeared on the stairs carrying the bunch of sheets. She stopped halfway as Ryan kissed Phoebe goodnight on her head and they went opposite directions. Alex going up to lay her down while Ryan went downstairs to get the washing machine started.

At the dining room table Ryan was pleased with the meal since it was all his favorites and he wondered if this was his wife's way of apologizing for giving away his tickets. They talked about little things during dinner avoiding the topic of work since they made it a rule to not discuss it during any dinner unless they have to. And tonight it certainly wasn't necessary. He thanked her for dinner and help his wife clear the table and load the dishes into the dishwasher.

Her phone buzzed in her bag and it took her a minute to locate the bag where she discarded it earlier. A text from Caleb startled her and she remembered she told Shelby she'll call and find out how she's doing, suddenly feeling guilty.

"It's Caleb, apologizing for his behavior at the hospital earlier." Alex said turning to Ryan. "A text is still not good enough." Ryan said skeptical remembering the looks on their faces when he met them in the hallway. "Yeah, but it's a start." Alex answered, walking to the kitchen to her husband where he stood in front the dishwasher, hugging him from behind, kissing his back.

"Thank you." She said into his shirt.

"For what?" Ryan asked not sure what she means and turned around taking her hands in his.

"For having my back with this whole thing." Alex shrugged, feeling as if it's unnecessary but she felt like it was kind of a big deal since Caleb was his best friend. "I don't take it lightly when someone, other than me, upsets you." Ryan smiled at her. "Even if it's my best friend. And, a text doesn't solve it I feel like he should apologize in person, but at least he admitted he was wrong." Ryan finished pulling her closer to him kissing her forehead.

"And you should also apologize to me for giving away my tickets." Ryan pushed when he pulled her in for a hug.

"Nice try, Booth." She laughed standing on her toes to kiss her husband.

I was planning on finishing the case but somehow it's prolonged yet again because this chapter somehow wrote itself. Some cute family stuff with their daughter I like it though, hope you guys do too.* & thanks for reading

Lovies-S