Authors Note: Twirlgirl85 the fact that Ryan and Marissa's daughters name is Autumn Reese, is actually total coincidence believe it or not. I work at a pre-school in the summer and a little girl in my class whose name is Autumn, was the idea behind Ryan and Marissa's oldest child. If Mischa Barton and Ben McKenzie ever had a kid, I swear this little girl is exactly what she would look like. Plus I just love Reese as a middle name it flows. It wasn't until after I reread my story that I realized what I had done. Just thought I'd fill you in. Also, this is the final installment of this story :(
It was exactly one month after Liam had been brought home from the hospital and things in the Atwood household were finally starting to get back to some sort of a normalcy. One thing was for sure though, and that was that Marissa's doctor certainly didn't have to remind her about the 6 week rule. She was so beyond tired, that sex was the farthest thing on her mind. Ryan had just started going back to work this week and she thanked god everyday for tiny miracles called summer camp. For 6 hours of the day, Autumn and Erica were out of the house and Marissa could focus all her time on the newborn. And luckily once more, Ryan and Marissa had lucked out in the baby department. Baby Liam was usually content and only cried when he was hungry, needed to be change, or just wanted to be held. The girls loved their brother as well. No jealously had sprung up in the month and Ryan and Marissa figured it was because they always had each other to keep company. If Marissa was busy feeding the baby, it was no problem with them they would just go off and play together. Life with three children was not nearly as bad as everyone had told them it would be.
When Ryan got home that night, he was exhausted. It was his first day back and the sleepless nights were taking a toll on him. He walked into the house and found his daughters running around in their ballet outfits.
"Daddy!" They yelled running towards him. He hugged them both and then took a step back to admire them.
"So what's going on tonight girls?"
"We miss dance class. Mommy said we could pretend we were at dance class. And we had pizza and salad for dinner. There's leftovers for you in the refrigerator and mommy's upstairs with Liam." Erica informed him.
"Well thank you very much sweetie. Listen why don't you and your sister play a little bit more and then I'll give you a bath okay?"
"Okay!" They said simultaneously before taking off. Ryan walked over to the fridge and fixed himself some salad and then put the pizza in the oven before he walked upstairs to the master bedroom where he found Marissa feeding Liam.
"Ya know I think that's the first time I've seen your breast in about a month" He stated as he smiled. She looked up at him happily.
"We have three kids now Ryan. I have C cups that leak and I feel fat as anything. Not to mention I get about 5 hours of sleep a night. If that. Not exactly the great making for a romance novel" She explained. He walked over and kissed her lightly before he began getting undressed and into more comfortable clothes.
"There's pizza in the refridge for you" She told him.
"Yeah the girls told me. Pizza's in the oven right now and the girls are out back playing. I'm gonna give them baths after I eat dinner."
"Okay. Listen could you bring them in soon though because it looks like there's a big storm headed this way" She told him. He looked at her quizzically
"I didn't hear anything about a storm"
"You've also been at work all day not sitting home watching the news." She smirked. He laughed as he walked out of the room and downstairs to get dinner. He looked outside and saw the girls playing and noticed the sky getting darker and the wind picking up. He called for them to come in and grabbed his food out of the oven.
"Daddy is it gonna rain?" Autumn asked.
"I think so girls. So why don't we turn on the TV and see what the news says." He suggested hitting the power button on the remote.
"Thanks Kevin and now were on to an emergency update with weather and traffic. Orange County is under a tornado watch as we speak. You can see here on the radar things are really starting to pick up were looking at high powered lightening, hail about a half an inch, rain, and heavy winds possibly reaching category 4. Citizens are asked to stay inside because research shows that this storm is ready to hit directly into Orange County" Ryan stared at the TV nervously. As he flipped through the different stations, emergency warnings came on one by one. He looked out into the sky and saw it getting blacker and blacker. Suddenly the phone rang and he jumped. Searching around the house, the phone was no where to be found. Finally the answering machine picked up and Marissa's voice came on.
"Hi you've reached the Atwood's. Please leave a message for Ryan, Marissa, Autumn, Erica, or Liam. Thanks have a great day"
"Hey Ryan it's Sandy. Listen not sure if you've been watching the news or not but there's a big storm headed this way and it looks serious. Get everybody into the basement as soon as possible and stock up. Looks like were in for it"
Marissa came down with the baby in her arms just after and Ryan looked at her.
"What's going on? What's that look for?" She asked.
"There's a tornado headed for Orange County we need to get into the basement fast. I was wondering if you could get the girls rounded up and bring them down. I'm gonna get some food and water, blankets, candles, flashlights, battery's, and anything else I think we might need." She knew he was serious and there was no time to fool around.
"How bad?" She asked.
"Category 4 winds. This is no joke" She started into his eyes and saw the concern. Without looking away, she called for the girls.
"Autumn, Erica go run upstairs and grab your pajamas I'll be up in a second and then were gonna head down to the basement. I'll explain later just grab your pajamas" She told them. Without saying a word, the two girls ran upstairs and grabbed their pajamas. Ryan walked off grabbing supplies and putting it into boxes. Just as he rounded up everything he needed, he looked outside one last time. The sky was a dark black and he could already see the lightning. The trees whipped around in the backyard and the hail was now coming down. He took a deep breath and walked down into the basement. Marissa had the TV on and the girls were playing with their Barbie's. He put everything off to the side and walked over to her. She got up and looked at him.
"Ryan I'm scared. This storm is looking really bad the closer it gets the worse it becomes" He kissed her deeply and she stopped talking.
"Its gonna be okay Marissa. The day I said I do, I promised to take care of you for the rest of my life. I am gonna take care of you and I am gonna take care of our children. I love you okay?" She nodded her head and took a deep breath. They had to be strong for the kids. She sat down in his lap and he wrapped his arms around her body when suddenly everything stopped and the power was gone. Both girls screamed and immediately began freaking out which scared the baby and caused him to start screaming as well.
"Girls come 'mere girls shh its okay" The two crying scared children ran to their father for comfort.
"Ry maybe we should light some candles" Marissa suggested. As he thought about it, he heard the sirens. The tornado was here. There was no time for candles. He ran to get blankets when both windows burst open spewing glass everywhere. The two girls screamed in horror and were sobbing hard not knowing what was happening. Ryan grabbed the blankets and jumped down to the ground holding onto his family.
"MARISSA WHERE'S THE BABY!" He yelled.
"I HAVE HIM UNDER ME" She responded. They stayed huddled together for about 30 minutes and then just like that, it was over and suddenly everything was silent. Ryan got up wiping the rubble off him and looked around. The basement was a mess. He could only imagine what the upstairs looked like. Slowly everyone began getting up and looking around at each other to make sure everyone was okay.
"The baby Liam is he okay??" Ryan asked. Marissa looked down at him
"He's fine he's okay" Marissa told him. He embraced her tightly not wanting to go and soon his two daughters came over and hugged their parents. And it was in that very moment, that he knew what really made a family. And that was love, not money, not superficial things but love. Love, is what makes a family.
The End.