Nora heard the muffled crack of a baseball bat, followed by Alex's voice. She frowned and walked to the bedroom window that overlooked the backyard. She lifted the pane, ready to snap at her husband, then paused. He lobbed the baseball at their son, who swung awkwardly and missed. She could hear his agitated sigh and bit her lip to stop from laughing.
"Five plus six."
The bat dropped to the ground to free his hands and he counted on his fingers.
"Eleven." He hurled the ball back to Miles and retrieved his bat.
"Move your hands higher up the bat so you can grip it better. Don't lean it on your shoulder. Like this," Miles mimicked a batting stance, then tossed the ball again. This time, Alex hit it, and Miles quickly threw his glove up to protect his face as the ball flew at him. "Good. Nice. Alright,"
He bent down to grab the spelling book out of the grass and scanned the page, "Mars."
"M-A-R-S."
"Is this too easy for you?"
"A little."
"Thank God you got your mom's brains. I don't even remember learning about planets."
"That's because it was about a million years ago." Nora called, catching both their attention. Alex swerved quickly and the guilty expression on his face almost killed her. "You just had to have your own way."
"I did but I figured this was a better way of learning. Incentive and all that. Besides, you said we had to be a united front. Baseball and homework."
"Well, aren't you clever?"
"I try."
"Does any of that have to be written down?"
"I read the directions."
"You just don't like to follow them."
Miles winked but said, "We already took care of that part. This is just studying with fun."
She raised an eyebrow in amusement, then focused her gaze on Alex, and asked, "Is he telling the truth?"
"That's messed up." Miles protested as he tossed the book to the ground.
"Yes. It's awful that I have to ask our seven year old if you're being honest."
"He's telling the truth. I promise. It's in the kitchen." Alex nodded vigorously. That seemed to finalize her decision and she nodded to okay their little escapade.
"Try not to break any windows."
"That's why I have him facing this way."
When she finished upstairs, she headed to the kitchen and found the spelling words and math problems sitting on the table. She smiled slightly at the eraser marks and scratch outs on the math work, then laughed as she realized another sheet was Miles's handwriting as he tried to figure out if Alex had the correct answer or not. She looked out the window to watch them and welcomed the familiar flood of warmth she typically got at the sight of them. Miles was busy throwing pop-ups and laughing as Alex darted and dove in every direction to catch them. He missed the majority of them and wound up rolling in the grass after stumbling over his own feet.
After a few minutes, they started for the door. Alex had climbed onto Miles's back so he had to carry him piggyback style. They looked as thick as thieves, laughing together over something. They reminded her of a painting, or maybe a vacation brochure, by the way they were looking at each other. Alex was absolutely enthralled by Miles and Miles- well, she could read his thoughts easily. He was grinning at their son but she saw the hidden look in his eyes, as though he was thinking this is the strangest thing ever and I'm probably not doing it right but what the hell. I adore you anyway. She would never get over them.
"Can we build a treehouse?"
"What?"
"Jake has one and it's really cool. That tree by the fence is really tall. I'd go all the way to the top."
"So you're going to learn to play baseball, a guitar, and we're going to build a treehouse."
"Yep."
"I think we can squeeze it in. What do you think?" Miles turned his gaze to Nora, who was smiling as she watched them. "You want to build a treehouse?"
"Sounds like fun."
"See, I did do my homework." Alex squirmed down to the floor and pointed at the papers on the table.
"I know. You did a good job." She ruffled his hair gently. "Did you have a problem with your math?"
"Nah, we figured it out." He looked back to Miles with a grin, who smirked with a nod. Alex looked back to Nora, frowned a little, and tilted his head. "Why do you look so pretty?"
"You're going to be a charmer, aren't you? Your dad and I are going out. You're going to stay here with Charlie and Jason tonight."
"Yes!" he darted out of the kitchen, making her laugh slightly.
"You look so pretty." Miles mimicked as he snaked an arm around her waist.
"Yeah, haha. How much did you pay him?"
"Nothing. He's just good at giving compliments." He dipped his head to give her a soft kiss. "You do look really nice."
"Thanks baby." She grinned a little and patted him gently on the cheek. "Now go return the favor."
"Ouch."
"It's nice out tonight." Nora commented as she settled into her seat. They were at the little Italian restaurant towards the end of Main Street and seated at one of the outdoor tables. Miles nodded in agreement while reaching for his drink. Their server had just walked away with their order so they had some time to kill. "It was a good idea babe."
"I'm sorry, I didn't hear you. Can you repeat that?"
"Don't be a dick." She smiled teasingly at him, causing him to chuckle into his glass. "So what else do you have planned for tonight?"
"You'll see."
"Are we winging it?"
"Why can't you be surprised?"
"Fine, fine. How was baseball? It seemed like a hit or miss, no pun intended."
"It was good. Obviously he wasn't great at it but he seemed to enjoy it."
"You seemed to enjoy it too." She commented softly, making him shrug bashfully in response. His response made her smile and she leaned over, clasped one hand over his and the other over his forearm.
"Yeah, yeah, I did. I… I still don't get it." He looked away for a moment, then met her gaze. "I keep expecting him to hate me."
"I doubt that'll happen. He thinks the world of you."
"No, he thinks the world of you. If he could crawl back up into the womb, I think he would."
"No," she laughed, shaking her head, "I'm comforting but you're exciting. You try to act nonchalant but anything he asks, you're willing to do. It's more than Bass ever did, I'm sure. He looks up to you. You don't see it, or I don't think you do, but he tries emulating you as often as possible, which is the most terrifying thing I've had to deal with in a while."
"Haha." He lifted their joined hands and kissed her knuckles gently. Her smile softened and grazed her fingers against his jaw lightly. "It scares me."
"What?"
"How much I care."
"You're scared of being a good father?"
"I don't know. I never- I didn't ever think it would get here. Not even, not even with thinking we lost him, but before he was born. I figured I'd screw him up before he really had a chance and I felt guilty. Maybe that's why it scares me. I want things to be good for him. It's weird how much I love him because I didn't think I even wanted kids. I guess it's just one of those things people won't understand, unless they experience them. But now I get it and I accept it and roll with the punches. I know I tease you about how you are with him but I'm the same way. The difference is you're a lot better at this than I am."
"That's not true. You're a great dad. You handle it better than I do half the time. I don't want to say I told you so."
"No, you would."
"Maybe. It's not difficult to figure out. When you care about someone, you give it everything you've got. You try to act like you don't but you do. Before we got to Philly and found Alex, it hurt seeing you with Charlie. I knew that we were missing out on so much and if you were that way with your niece, you'd be that way- even more so- with our own child. Now we have that and you're not disappointing me. I love this part of you. When I was watching you with him today, it felt like things clicked into place. Maybe, after everything happened today, I'm feeling a little more confident but with everything, you know, with us, I thought that we're going to be able to do this and I'm not going to stress myself out anymore. I just- I don't want to waste any more time. Things are good. I know it's only the second day of school, but he's happy and we're making a home here. We're happy."
He nodded faintly in understanding and reached for her, murmuring, "Come here."
They exchanged a slow kiss, then separated just enough to look at each other. He tucked a curl behind her ear as she smiled at him. Nothing else had to be said or done between them. They understood each other easily.
"Hey guys!"
"God, we should have gone on a picnic in a deserted area." Miles huffed in annoyance. Sandy and Eric had exited a shop across the street and she somehow spotted them.
"Stop it!" Nora hissed warningly and quickly smiled as the other couple came to a stop in front of their table. Sandy leaned down to kiss Nora's cheek as Eric extended a hand to Miles, which he shook. "Hey! How is everything?"
"Great! Date night? Managed to lose the kids for some alone time?"
"That was the idea, yeah," Miles commented. Nora kicked him swiftly under the table.
"I can take a hint," Sandy laughed. "I'll be out of your hair in just a minute. I forgot to mention to you last night that all of us girls are getting together on Sunday afternoon. Shopping and lunch."
"Sounds like fun." She nodded eagerly at the idea. After the first barbecue, they had become close enough with each other that Nora would consider the other woman a friend. She was typically invited for outings and meals with the other women and had been spending an acceptable amount of time with them. Once she had gotten to know each of them, she realized she couldn't judge them based off of that first meeting and had actually been enjoying herself more than she had expected.
"Great! So, we're all meeting at my house, say around one. Rick, the guys are getting together for some cards and drinks if you feel like joining."
"I'll keep it in mind thanks."
"Sandy, you can't just invite other people to my poker game." Eric chided.
"You've invited him plenty of times before."
"I'm still trying to recoup my losses from the last time he came over. You're a hell of a player O'Connell. Where did you learn to play like that?"
"Marines."
"You could make a living off of it. Come on sweetheart, let's not overstay our welcome. We have our own things to do." Eric gave a tug on Sandy's sleeve as she continued to speak to Nora. He rolled his eyes at Miles, who tipped his head in a semi-nod of exasperation, as if to say, wives.
"She shows up at the worst times." He muttered once their friends had walked away. Nora rolled her eyes and took a sip of her wine.
"I like them."
"Sometimes."
"I guess that's as much of an approval as they'll get." She grinned a little while he shrugged in response. She squeezed his hand gently and chuckled, "We'll get you to make some real friends."
"I think that's pushing it a little, don't you?"
"Yeah, maybe. You're not exactly friendly. I know you're capable of it but they're not your type of people."
"I don't mind Eric. Sandy reminds me of one of those animated cartoons. You can practically see the speech bubbles over her head."
"She can be a little over eager."
"A little?"
She smiled and turned her attention to the street. Her eyes wandered along the scenes, taking in the calmness of the town. The sun had just set behind the buildings, the shopkeepers were pulling in their sidewalk displays, and families roamed up and down the street- some heading back from the beach, the others going to dinner or shopping.
"I like it here. It's… quaint."
"It's a good place. Suits our needs for right now." He glanced towards her, saw she was still focused on her observing, then looked down at her hand in his. He skimmed his thumb along the top of her hand, along her fingers, then laced his own between them. "I got you something."
"You got me something?" she turned her gaze back to him, a small smile growing on her face.
"Well, yeah, I figured yesterday, if I came home with things for Alex and myself, you would be all, the bastard didn't get me anything."
"I'm above those materialistic desires."
"Are you sure?"
"Yep."
"Never mind then."
"Don't be a jerk. What is it?"
He stared at her a moment longer, then dug his free hand into the pocket of his jeans. He set the small box onto the table and she stared at it quietly, a blank expression on her face.
"Are you going to open it?" he prompted. She pulled her hand out of his and pried the top of the box up. She sighed quietly and leaned on the table, resting her head on her propped hand. "Jesus, you weren't this difficult when I originally asked you to marry me."
"You didn't have to do this." She stared at the ring nestled in the box. It was a white gold band with small, round diamonds embedded into the metal. The center diamond was an emerald cut with a circle of round diamonds around it.
"I know I didn't have to but I wanted to." He plucked the ring out and took her hand in his to slip it onto her finger. It seemed a little loose but that was easily fixable. "I know it's not your old one and it doesn't look close to it either but I wanted you to have one."
Their rings, which had been sewn into her jacket as they had been for years, had been lost in Philly after Bass had taken her captive. She had apologized profusely in the Tower after she realized the loss, especially since her ring had been passed down in his family for years. He hadn't cared, seeing as he would take her living and breathing over a piece of metal any day.
"You don't have to think of it as a replacement. You could," she swore he turned red as he paused and rubbed a hand over the top of his head, "you could think of it as a new start. I figured, you know, we'd been apart all those years, and then, after everything, we've-"
She cut him off with a kiss, held his face tightly between her hands. He was frozen for a moment, then quickly responded to her. When they separated, there were tears on her cheeks, which he wiped away gently.
"I love you." She whispered tearfully, sniffling a little as well.
"I love you too." He started to lean back to her but was stopped when another voice called out to them.
"Good evening! I'm sorry, I don't mean to interrupt."
They tore themselves away from each other and turned at the same time to see Jonathan Grant standing over them. Immediately, they both straightened up- on guard for some kind of trouble, though Grant took it as a sign of respect. He chuckled and waved a hand as if to calm them.
"I have terrible timing. I apologize. I've been making the rounds to introduce myself to everyone. Jonathan Grant, United States Government."
"Rick O'Connell. This is my wife Evie."
"Pleasure to meet you both." He shook Miles's hand with a charming smile, then took Nora's. "Were you at the meeting this afternoon?"
"Yes. It was riveting."
"Glad you enjoyed it. I won't keep you long. I merely wanted to introduce myself and say that I look forward to working together. I think it's important to make a point of being familiar with everyone. A touch of personalization goes a long way, wouldn't you agree? That way we aren't just faces in a crowd. We're real live people striving towards a common goal. We learn from our mistakes and before the blackout, there wasn't that sense of camaraderie between the government and its people. It was all about getting ahead and stepping on whoever they could to do it. That's no way to treat your constituents. We want everything to be the best it could be. I think we made a good decision to settle in Pacific Grove. It's a wonderful town."
"That's what we were just saying." Nora smiled politely. She turned her gaze to Miles, who gave a small, forced smile of his own and gripped her hand tightly. "I'm sure things will be wonderful."
"We'll be recruiting people to help with our efforts. Keep an eye out for flyers and listen for announcements." Grant's smile widened just a little as his eyes flicked between the couple. Miles inhaled a deep breath to refrain from lunging over the table at the man. There was something about this meeting that didn't seem to be coincidental. Nora's fingers were digging into his own and he knew she felt the same way. "I believe this is your dinner coming. Enjoy. I ate here last night. The food was delicious. I look forward to seeing you in town. Have a good evening."
They were silent as he walked away but Nora smiled sweetly to their server, a teenage boy with slicked back hair.
"One penne vodka and one chicken parm. Can I get you anything else?"
"No, but thank you."
He disappeared with a nod, moving swiftly to check his other tables. The smile dropped from Nora's face and she looked towards Miles in worry.
"It's fine." He reassured her quietly with a kiss. "Look, he's doing it to everyone."
Sure enough, Grant was stopping people left and right, like he was some kind of campaigning politician trying to gear up votes.
"I don't know. The way he looked at us…"
"Hey, unless something happens directly to us, we're not getting involved. Right?"
"Yeah." she gave a small nod, silently reminding herself to stick to the promise she had made. She was going to stop this. She was going to regain control and enjoy her family. No one knew who they were in town and no one knew they had moved here. The Mathesons didn't exist so there was no reason to worry.
The only sound coming from inside their house was the TV. The movie had apparently been abandoned by Charlie, Jason, and Alex because they were all asleep. Charlie and Jason had stretched out on the couch together, wrapped awkwardly in each other's arms. Alex was curled into the arm chair and dangled halfway off the seat.
"I got him." Miles whispered, moving towards their son. He picked him up gently, causing the boy to wake up slightly.
"Mm," he stretched a little, trying to get away but Miles soothed him with a hand on his back.
"Shh, it's me. It's okay."
"Daddy?" a pair of bleary, brown eyes met his and he saw the faint recognition masked in the haze of sleep.
"Yeah. Go back to sleep bud. I got you." He gave Alex a soft kiss on the head as he settled into his shoulder and carried him up the stairs. Nora smiled at the exchange and turned the TV off, then leaned over the couch.
"Charlie," she touched her niece's shoulder gently. The only response she received was a sigh and the younger woman leaned further into Jason's embrace, which caused him to tighten his arm around her. Nora shook her head slightly, knowing there was no point in trying to wake either of them up. She grabbed a spare blanket off the end of the couch to cover them.
After checking that the doors were all locked, she turned off the lights, and went upstairs. She was surprised to see Miles leaning in Alex's doorway and moved to join him. She slipped under his arm and leaned into his side, an arm going around his waist.
"You okay?" she tilted her head up to look at him and saw him nod.
"Yeah."
"You gonna come to bed?"
"In a minute."
"Okay." She smiled into his side, then pushed up on her toes to kiss him. "Thank you for tonight."
"You don't have to thank me."
"I know but thank you. It was nice. I had a great time. And I love my ring."
"I'm glad. I saw it and thought of you."
"How sweet. Don't be too long."
"I won't." he muttered as she walked away and he quietly entered the room, then sat on the edge of Alex's bed. His son slept peacefully, completely unaware of his presence. He merely watched him, then after a moment, leaned in and kissed his head gently. He brushed his hair back, then fixed his blanket as he pulled away, and looked at Stitch laying on the floor at his side. "Keep an eye on him, okay?"
The dog lifted his head, as if to say I understand, then closed his eyes again. Miles stood slowly from the bed, took one last glance at Alex, and then went to join Nora in their room.