Title: The Swear Jar 13/X
Author: Romantique
Email: dolph1n
Classification: Raylan/Winona Family/General
Rating: T for language (but no worse than the show)
Summary: Raylan is a new dad. This one is a stand-alone, not a sequel to 'A Change of Scenery.'
Disclaimer: It's 'Justified' hiatus time, and I'm bored. This fic is based on nothing but my imagination and takes place sometime after the end of Season 3.
Legal: These characters do not belong to me. I'm just a fan and have not made a dime. Please email me to obtain permission to post.
o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
Raylan made it home by the late afternoon. Met with silence when he came through the front door of his new home, he made his way to the bedroom. He found Winona taking a nap and Caitlyn awake in her bassinette, cooing and looking at her hands.
"Hey," he smiled down at his daughter.
He took off his hat and placed his keys in the pockets of his jeans. And he bent down to pick up the tiny girl. As he brought her up to his shoulder, he grabbed a blanket and pacifier from her bassinette and draped the blanket over his other shoulder. Then, he turned around and grabbed a diaper and a package of wipes, and he carried his daughter out to the living room so her momma could get some more sleep.
"Are you havin' a good day?" he asked his girl, as he walked into the other room.
He sat down and placed her down on the sofa beside him. Then, he lifted up her little gown and used a finger to test her diaper. Dry. She seemed to be perfectly content. Picking her back up, he settled into the corner of the sofa, toeing his boots off. He then placed his socked feet flat on the sofa with his knees bent, providing perfect, upright support for little Cait's back and head.
The babe stuffed her tiny fist into her mouth.
"Does your hand taste good?" Raylan asked.
Cait looked up at him with wide blue eyes. She was engaged with him.
"I always preferred tender, little baby feet myself," he said, bringing one of her left foot up to his lips and pretending to nibble.
The baby continued to look at him, and then, she gave him a toothless smile.
"I bet my whiskers tickle don't they, " he smiled back at her.
Unbeknownst to Raylan, Winona stood in the doorway taking in the beautiful sight. It brought a smile to her face, as well.
After a beat she asked, "What would you do if she actually answered you?"
"Oh, so you're awake?" he was surprised and glanced over in her direction. "We tried to be quiet."
"You didn't wake me up," she reassured him. "It felt good to lie down for a little while."
After a beat, she ran her fingers through her hair and asked, "So, how did it go in Nashville? Did you get the closure you were looking for?"
"Not exactly," he said, looking at her. Only this time, he maintained eye contact.
Winona came around and sat beside him on the other end of the sofa. She grabbed an afghan that was draped over the back of the sofa, drew her legs up, and covered her bare feet.
"Well, are you going to tell me, or do I have to drag it out of you?" she said with a little smile and her arms crossed in front of her, only she wasn't kidding around.
Raylan knew she wasn't kidding. It didn't matter whether or not he wanted to talk about it or not. He owed it to her to let her know what he was thinking and feeling.
"Boyd confessed to murderin' one of the two men Arlo pled guilty to murderin'," he said, pursing his lips. "And he says he can prove it."
"Tom Bergen?" she asked with a sudden and very concerned look on her face.
"No, the other one," he replied.
"Well, what does that mean?" she gently pried.
"What it means is that the federal prison has Boyd's murder confession on tape," he began to explain. "So much for me goin' there to visit him as a private citizen ... I witnessed a recorded confession. I'm gonna be dragged into this, at some point."
"I thought you said Tennessee would lock him up and throw away the key?" she asked, trying to take it all in, the ramifications of what he was telling her.
"Murder trumps federal drug charges," he went on. "That and Boyd doesn't want to do his time in Tennessee. Let's just say he's havin' to keep his back to the wall in there and leave it at that."
Winona flashed him a horrified look, to which he responded by raising his eyebrows and nodding his head.
"Yep," he said.
"Oh, wow," she finally spoke. "I can see why he'd want to get out of there."
"His motivation is clear. It is so bad there that he'd confess to a murder," Raylan expounded.
Then, Winona suddenly saw the bigger picture.
"Art's going to find out you went down there," she finally got to the foregone conclusion for Raylan.
"Yes, he will," Raylan nodded again. "And he won't be one bit too happy with me."
Then, after a beat, he uttered a pent up, "Shit."
Catching himself, he looked up at her. "Sorry. I shouldn't have said that." He was inferring he shouldn't have said it in front of the baby. "It's just that I'm so damn pissed off. Truth is stranger than fiction. I mean, I couldn't write this shit."
Then, he gently placed his hands over his daughter's ear, looked at her, and said, "You didn't hear any of that."
Cait continued to look up at him and smiled. Winona let out a little laugh at his predicament. Then, she quickly regained her composure.
"Seriously, I'm sorry you're going to have to deal with Art on this," she sounded sincere. "I feel like it's my fault."
"No," he shook his head, releasing his daughter's ears, "it's not. It was a good idea. That's why I went. I needed to go." Then, he looked up at her. "You know me. I would have eventually found a way to go down there and talk to him, anyway. All you did was to frame it as a good excuse that sounded like me, wantin' to defy Art was ... somehow normal. You gave me a reason to justify it."
Winona shifted her weight so that she was closer to Raylan and Cait.
"Maybe if you would explain it to Art, the way you explained it to me ... about how Boyd saved your life ... twice," she said, placing her hand firmly on his knee. "I didn't really get it until you supplied that little missing piece of the puzzle."
"The puzzle?" he asked, not understanding.
"You are a puzzle," she informed him, "at times. What I mean by that is that sometimes, your motivation isn't clear. But it's only because some information about your motivation hasn't been offered, by you."
"I am gettin' better about that, aren't I?" he looked up and asked her.
"Yes," she smiled. "And I appreciate it so much, Raylan. I know it doesn't come easy to you to share the really personal stuff."
He reached over the back of the soft for her Winona's hand. She reached for his, and he took hers and gave it squeezed.
"Somehow, I don't think Art is gonna be as understandin'," he said. "Boyd was finally out of his hair, and thanks to me, Boyd will be back in his hair ... and my name will be attached to it."
Winona chewed on the side of her mouth, in thought.
"Pre-emptive strike," she suddenly uttered.
"What are you sayin'?" he asked, confused.
"It's best if you tell him first," she offered. "Nobody likes surprises, not the bad kind. It would be better if Art had a heads up from you, rather than for him to be hit upside the head with the news."
"I already know I gotta tell him," Raylan agreed. "I'm the one who's gonna get hit upside the head."
"Now, wait a minute," Winona' mind was racing again.
"I'm listenin'" Raylan had a bit of a lilt to his voice.
She continued. "Boyd is going to do what he has to do to get out of his bad situation whether you were coming to see him or not."
Raylan thought about what she said. "That's true."
"So, in a way, this is a blessing you're able to give Art a heads up," she offered.
Raylan gave a little chuckle.
"I love you for wantin' to spin this piece of shit situation into a good thing for me," he gave her hand another loving squeeze. "But somethin' tells me Art is not gonna see it that way."
He smiled at her, and she gave him a loving smile back.
"Thank you for tryin' ... to make me feel better, for lookin' out for me," he continued to give her hand a tender squeeze.
She gave a little laugh. "You want me to talk to Art? He kinda likes me, you know."
Still smiling, Raylan answered, "He does like you. But Art wouldn't look too kindly on me sendin' my lady in to deliver my bad news. Art is a man's man. It'd be best for me to go on in and face him, like a man."
Still holding onto her hand, he tugged her in his direction. Winona shifted her weight so that she was up on her knees. She leaned over their baby and moved in closer.
"Yeah, that would be best," she said, her eyes locked into his.
Raylan moved his leg over a bit, allowing Winona a little more room as he drew her in for a long, soulful kiss.
Cait was in the middle of her parents, looking up, waving her hands up in the air, in delight.
When Raylan and Winona finally came up for air, they looked down at their little one. She was alert and wide awake.
Thinking on his feet, Raylan asked, "How about I take my girls out for dinner tonight?"
It was more than apparent that Caitlyn was going to be up for a while.
Winona also realized that her stirring passion was going to have to be put on hold.
"That sounds like a good idea," she acquiesced.
o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
After the three returned home from a wonderful Chinese dinner, Caitlyn was soon ready for sleep. And her parents had only one thought on their minds.
In the dim light of their bedroom, they fell into a deep kiss.
Winona finally pried herself away to catch her breath. "Are you ready for that massage I promised you last night?"
Raylan immediately went back to kissing her, while frantically unbuttoning the back of her blouse.
"I don't think a massage is what I need, at the moment," he whispered in between kisses, short of breath himself.
He then pulled her to him, pressing himself up against her.
"Hmmm," she uttered, her eyes widened at his urgency, and she began to help him get out of his jeans.
Clothing went flying through the air, and soon, he was on top of her, a force to be reckoned with.
"I've been thinkin' about you all afternoon," he panted.
His fervent desire for her ignited hers. Once they were one, Raylan deliberately slowed the pace to a tortuously slow rhythm that was almost tantric. He made love to her, and she to him until they released together in one another's arms ... not wanting to move.
Sometime later, Raylan woke to find them still together in the other's arms. Not wanting to wake Winona, he reached over for the hem of their bedspread with one arm and covered them. He then reached for a pillow for his head, as hers was cradled in is other arm. And he immediately went back to sleep.
The next morning, Raylan awoke to find he was alone in bed. In fact, he was alone as Caitlyn was not in her bassinette.
After washing up a little in the bathroom and slipping on a pair of sweatpants, he made his way to the kitchen. There, Winona was seated on a bar stool, nursing Caitlyn.
"There's coffee in the pot and some banana nut bread I bought from the bakery," she said upon seeing him enter the room.
"Thanks," he said, scrubbing the sleep from his face and eyes. "Did you sleep well?" he asked.
"I'm pregnant," she blurted out, with a look of shock on her face. "I took a pregnancy test this morning. It's in the bathroom if you need to see it."
He began to motion to the other bathroom and tell her that he was just in there and didn't see anything, when she quickly added, "Not our bathroom. It's in the guest bath."
Feeling as if he was hit by a bolt of lightning, he was silent for a moment, studying her face.
"I don't know how this happened," she began. "I mean I know how it happened, and we have been goin' at it, at a rabbit's pace."
"Which I never want to stop, by the way ... the rabbit's pace," he added while pouring himself a cup of coffee.
Still in shock, she was not rambling.
"I thought as long as I was breastfeeding, I couldn't get pregnant," she said.
"Well, we kinda defied the statistical norms of central tendency," he pointed out.
"Oh, my God," she blurted out. "The thought of breastfeeding two babies!"
Her reality was seeping in.
Raylan walked over and put a reassuring arm around her.
"This might be a little sooner than we'd planned, but we've got the room here to have another baby, and we talked about not wantin' Cait to be an only child like I was."
Winona looked up at him, in horror.
"Raylan, were you tryin' to get me pregnant again?" she gasped.
Taken aback, he carefully responded. "Well, no. That was not my intent. Although I was not tryin' either."
Then, the expression on his face turned. "But neither were you."
"Touché, Cowboy," she admitted. "Are you really okay with havin' another one so soon?"
He thought about it for a beat.
And then, he smiled. "Well, you did once promise me a baseball team of little Raylans."
"Yeah, well that was when I was a whole lot younger and before I actually went through a pregnancy and childbirth," she added. "And breastfeeding." She looked down at her little one.
"And Cait's not going to get enough baby time," she was beginning to go off the deep end and tears formed in her eyes.
It was all too overwhelming.
"Hey," Raylan squeezed her. "Cait's gonna get plenty of attention, from both of us. She'll be fine. And I don't know about the breast feeding, but maybe you could go talk to that lactation lady at the hospital."
After another squeeze, he added, "This is gonna be great. You'll see."
"So, you are happy about this?" she looked up at him.
He smiled and he leaned down to kiss her.
"I love you. I love Cait. And I'm gonna love this little one, too," he assured her. "Yeah, let's be happy about this."
And finally, he got a big smile out of Winona.
(To be continued ...)