Chapter 148

A little while after dinner, and when Barney ended Ryan and Jeremy left the women alone in the house as he took Jeremy home. When Ryan got his keys, and headed for the door Phoebe followed suit, not wanting to be left behind, lifting her hands up when she came to stand in front of her father.

"Phoebe, you need to get into a bath." Alex intervened, walking towards the two of them, when Ryan picked her up to try and avoid the waterworks that might follow soon. "Come on." Alex said holding out her hands to her daughter but she clung to her father with more force hoping her mother will see the urgency that she needed to go with them. "Dada's coming back, bub." Alex tried again when she loosened Phoebe's grip from her father and took her into her own arms, as the toddler started crying, Ryan and Jeremy making their way outside.

Alex kissing Phoebe repeatedly in an attempt to get her to stop crying. "Come on, let's go get you clean and before you go to bed Dada will be back." Alex bargained, handing her daughter her pacifier which soothed her crying although there still was occasional sobs involved. Alex left to set out Phoebe's things and ran the bath, and in this time Sita and Theresa took the time to give their grandchild a piece of chocolate, which she managed to finish and then a biscuit, when Alex caught them in the act.

"I'm not going to say anything." Alex surrendered knowing there was no way she would be able to win this bribing, not with two grandmothers in the house, and her daughter who would always be on the receiving ends of all things that she's not usually allowed when Grandma and Nana are not present.

Ryan and Jeremy got talking lightheartedly, and Jeremy directed him towards the house, but tonight it seemed like all the traffic lights they caught was stuck on red because it felt like it took forever to change. "Ryan can I ask you something?" Jeremy asked when the light changed and Ryan drove into the direction the teen gave him. "Ask away." Ryan said concentrating on the road ahead while listening to Jeremy's question. "How do you manage to be a father and not disappoint your daughter, regardless of how small she is?"

"I'm trying to be a better man than my father was. He left my mom a note one day saying he can't do this anymore and he left. I have three sisters and my mom raised the four of us by herself. " Ryan started, "and when Alex and I got married I promised myself that I'd want to be a better man than my father was."

Jeremy nodded, and pointed Ryan into another direction where he should turn off. "My dad always does this you know, and for some reason I keep on thinking he'll change when deep down I know he'll just disappoint me again." The teen admitted softly.

"I wish there was something I could say that would make you feel better about all this man." Ryan said when they pulled up in front of the house.

Jeremy shook his head, "you already proved it to me, the fact that you're a better man than your father was is something I'll aspire to do." Jeremy said as he got out the car and walked into the house, Ryan waiting until he saw Sandra and shook her hand, as she thanked him for what they did today, before he drove back home.

Phoebe sat in the bath refusing to let go of the biscuit that was in her hand, making Alex's efforts to wash her properly ten times harder. "Can I keep that until we're done here?" Alex asked holding her hand out to receive the biscuit. "Nooooooo, Nana." Phoebe complained screwing up her face.

"I know Nana gave it to you, but I want to get done here Phoebe." Alex said sternly, when Theresa came into the bathroom to see how far they are. Phoebe noticing her grandmother, took advantage of this moment, "Naaannnaaaa" the toddler called stretching her arms towards her grandmother, trying to stand up in the bath, but forgetting she had a biscuit in her hand when she opened her hands to hold onto the side of the tub and the biscuit fell out of her hand into the water, becoming a soggy mass floating around in the clear water, as Alex picked it up discarding it into the toilet and flushing it down.

"Alright, we'll get you a new one once you're done here." Theresa calmed her granddaughter, occupying the space in front of the tub where Alex sat previously. "It's okay Lex, we'll survive." Theresa smiled and grateful Alex left the two of them as she made her way downstairs, thinking she could help her mother with the dishes when she'd just finished packing the last few things away. "Can I make you some tea?" Sita asked and Alex shook her head. "No thank you, Ma I'm fine."

"Alexandra, if I find out you're lying to me." Sita warmed pointing a finger at her only child. "I'm not lying, I'm okay. Really." Alex said walking over to the couch where Sita joined her after a few minutes. "Thank you, for being here this past few days." Alex said softly taking her mother's hand in her own squeezing it gently. "I'm so grateful the two of you are going to be okay." Sita said wiping a stray tear from her cheek.

Ryan returned and was surprised to see everything was dark downstairs, except for the TV still playing in the background. After making sure he locked the doors he went upstairs and heard saw Alex and Phoebe talking to someone on the phone.

"Papa Jo" Phoebe kept repeating pointing a hand towards the screen that Alex held out in front of her so she could see her grandfather. "Alex you need to look after yourself, and the baby, and please take things slow." He instructed and Alex nodded not sure how many times she's heard similar words this past week. "I promise I will." She said before ending their Skype session when Ryan walked into the room.

"Dada, Papa Jo" Phoebe exclaimed excitedly pointing towards her mother's phone.

"I heard you were talking to him." Ryan smiled picking her up and walking towards the bed. "Are you okay?" He asked Alex and she nodded. "If I had a dollar for everytime someone asked me that question." She smiled, knowing it's only because they care. "I'm fine, really." She said again so he can have peace of mind knowing about it, when he sat on the bed and stroked a hand over her belly while Phoebe mimicked the action putting her little hand on top of her father's.

It's been a while. I'm REALLY REALLY busy and I always feel bad for not updating frequently. But deadlines got the best of me. I have a submission in literally 3hours (midnight) and it's around 9PM now, so I squeezed this chapter in. I am not really satisfied with it and I feel like we need to get some more FBI action going, but I'll start working on that when things have calmed down.

Thank you for sticking around.

Lovies-S