The Next Chapter - Chapter 9
Riley stood outside the lake house, taking one last look as Danny packed up the car. The sun still hadn't rose yet, but she had been up for hours. This weekend was amazing, but she still worried about when they got back to their regularly scheduled lives. Sure, it was easy to focus attention on her marriage, when there was nothing else to think about. But throw in a teething baby, work, and all the stresses of daily life, Riley couldn't help but feel uneasy.
"Okay," Danny said as he loaded the last of the bags into the minivan.
"everything's packed up and ready to go. Except us."
"Okay, I'm ready. But, can we stay and watch the sun come up?" Riley asked, turning to look in the direction of the light, just starting to glow behind the trees.
"Sure," Danny replied, "any amount of traffic is worth getting to watch the sunrise with you." Riley smiled at Danny, walking over to the porch swing, taking a seat she patted the seat next to her, signaling for him to sit. He came over and put his arm around her and pulled her close. In that one simple act, Riley felt all her worries just fade away. It was then she had an idea.
"Danny, this is perfect,"
"I know."
"But it isn't always going to be like this, I mean life is gonna happen, babies cry and lawyer meetings and stuff. It's all coming, and I worry, because, I"
"You don't want to go back to what it use to be." he said, once again reading her mind.
"Well, yeah. I mean I was worried about that, but then you put your arm around me and I felt better."
"Okay, so I'll just keep my arm around you 24/7" Riley laughed as he squeezed her tight.
"As much as I would love that, it might get awkward when I have to go back to work, and people start asking me who the handsome guy hanging off me is."
"Then you just say I'm your husband who you love very much and cant keep your hands off of." Danny jested with a raise of his brow.
"Hey your hands aren't guilt free mister." she said just as jokingly.
"Okay how about this, I promise to put my arm around you at least once a day." Danny said as he stood up, extending his hand to Riley. As she took it she responded,
"And I promise you will never see those sweat-clothes again as long as we live, except if I'm kicking your butt at basketball."
"And I promise to keep letting you kick my butt at basketball." at that remark Riley gave Danny's arm a pinch, before he continued,
"and I also promise you, that I will be open and honest with you about how I'm feeling, and that I'll remind you everyday, every hour, and every minute,"
"You forgot every second." she reminded him playfully.
"and every second and every millisecond, how much I love and need you."
"Me too." Riley said as she and Danny shared a kiss, as the sun came up over the horizon.
When they finished kissing, they started at the last bit of the sunrise, before heading to the car.
"So you ready to start the next chapter of our lives?" Danny said as he got in his seat and fastened his seatbelt.
"The next chapter? Of what?" Riley asked as she did the same.
"Our story, remember?" he reminded her, of the conversation they had on their wedding night.
"Oh our story, yes how did that go again?"
"Like this." Danny said as he gave Riley another sweet kiss.
"Oh I like that one." she replied dreamily.
"Me too. So you ready?" he asked
"Yup, whatever happens." and with that they were on their way back to Manhattan.
Riley definitely noticed the change once they drove back into the city. They went from seeing trees to skyscrapers, and being on the open road to the middle of a traffic jam, but she was glad to be home. They made their way to their apartment when they saw a not taped on their door from Ben. It read 'Riley and Danny. Come over when you get back. Ben.'. so Riley and Danny put their bags inside and went across the hall to see what Ben wanted. When they opened the door to Ben and Tucker's, they were surprised to see the lights were all off.
"Hello, Ben. Were here." Danny called out.
All of a sudden the lights came on and everyone jumped out yelling,
"Surprise! Happy Anniversary!"
Riley nearly jumped out of her skin, but she was glad to see everyone.
"Wow, thanks guys. This is great!" Danny exclaimed.
Riley was too busy scanning the room, for someone in particular that she had missed, terribly.
"Happy Anniversary Mommy and Daddy." Riley gasped as she saw her baby boy in his grandma's arms.
"Hi Jamie. Wow look at you. Did you miss your momma?" once Riley had her baby back in her arms, everything felt as it should be. She gave him a kiss before Danny came and snatched him.
"Hey buddy! Did you miss Daddy, cause Daddy sure missed you." He said in his baby talk voice.
"Yeah, sure he did." Tucker insinuated "I bet you and Riley were so busy getting it on, you didn't even remember you had a kid." That remark earned him a smack on the arm from Riley, as she got a wink from Danny.
"So, how was the trip?" Bonnie asked from Brad's arms.
"Amazing, I have pictures if you guys want to see?" she was greeted with an all around 'no'.
"Well I'm not giving you a choice." she said as she went to get her camera and her laptop.
When she came back in, she overheard a conversation between Danny and Ben, as Danny was giving Jamie a bottle.
"So, I guess this means everything is good again in the Perrin-Wheeler household?" Ben asked.
"Yeah, I mean it's always gonna take work. The best relationships do, and now that Riley and I both realize that, we're both gonna put in the effort to have a lasting love." Her heart melted at Danny's sweet words.
"Yeah that's great, but did you do it." Ben asked as Riley rolled her eyes. Just as Danny was about to answer, she made her presence known.
"Okay, whose ready for vacation photos." she said in a sing-song voice.
"Nobody, but you're forcing us to watch them anyways." Tucker said sarcastically.
"If I could have everybody's attention please, before we get this picture party started, I'd like to make a toast." Ben announced. Riley stopped setting up and turned towards him, as Danny came over and sat next to her with Jamie.
"To Danny and Riley. Whose love endures, friendship thrives, and sex life astounds all due to the seriously major height difference. To Danny and Riley."
"To Danny and Riley." everyone echoed, with an 'ouch' from Ben, who Riley nailed with a pacifier.
"Ha ha, that's my girl." Danny bragged as he gave her a kiss.
"Okay, on with the slideshow." Riley said, full of excitement, as she started the slideshow on her computer, that also showed up on Ben's TV.
"Here's a picture of the house. Here's one of the lake, and one of the porch swing."
"Boo, get to the fun stuff." Bonnie called from behind her.
"Please keep all comments and questions till the end of the slideshow. Thank you." Riley directed.
"Now here's a picture of the inside of the house. Here's the loving room with built in fireplace."
"Did it there.' Ben whispered to Tucker.
"And the kitchen." Riley continued.
"Did it there." Tucker whispered right back.
"And finally, the bedroom, which had the most amazing view of the forest."
"Definitely did it there." Bonnie joined in on the boys fun, earning a 'shush' from Danny.
After a few more slides, and snide comments, Riley had shown them pretty much everything, from horseback riding to Cappy's Restaurant.
"Okay I think that's everything," Riley said before Danny pointed out,
"Wait, there's one more picture," he said as he pushed the space bar.
"Wait Danny no that's," Riley couldn't even finish her sentence before the picture of her and Danny, naked in front of the fireplace, came on the screen.
"Oh my god." was Bonnie's reaction. Tuckers was "Oh god, my eyes."
Ben just stared for a moment before saying "I knew you guys did it in front of the fireplace!" Brad just sat there covering his eyes. Danny slammed the laptop closed, before turning to Riley,
"Sorry." he said as his eyes finally returned back to their sockets. Riley only heard him, as she cradled her head in her hands, dying of embarrassment. When she finally raised her head she took a deep breath and said sheepishly,
"So, that was our trip." She looked over to see Jamie had fallen asleep in Danny's arms, Riley let out a sigh of relief. She had hoped to have a few more years before she and Danny scarred him for life, as for everyone else, she didn't really mind.
"Well," Bonnie started "Riley that was a great shot, you should blow it up and hang it somewhere. Maybe over your fireplace." Bonnie joked as she laughed and almost fell of the bar stool she was sitting on.
Riley put her head back in her hands, until she felt Danny put his arm around her.
"Fixes everything, Right?" Danny asked her. She nodded as she snuggled into his side.
"Okay, enough about you two. Somebody hit the lights. I have something to say." Bonnie announced to the room. She and Brad stood together as she announced,
"Brad and I are getting married."
"We know, we were there when he proposed, and when you tried to do it the first time." Ben reminded her.
"No, I mean, we're going down to the courthouse and getting married next Friday."
"I thought you wanted your big wedding, you know the one you didn't get when you married Dad." Danny pointed out.
"I know, but after seeing you and Riley so happy, I want that too. So we decided to just go and get it over with."
"God, I love it when you talk so romantic." Brad said before kissing her, a little too roughly in front of everyone. Riley thought of no better example for how perfect they were for each other.
"Well congratulations, I for one am thrilled." Tucker said, shocking everyone.
"You are?" Ben asked him.
"Yeah, maybe once she gets married, she won't be hanging around here all the time."
Riley watched as Bonnie went straight for the throat, before turning to Danny.
"It's good to be home." she said to him, taking a crying Jamie from his arms.
"Yup, now I'm gonna go break up my mom and Tucker." he said getting up. As Riley calmed Jamie's crying, she looked at all the craziness around her and thought, if she and Danny could survive this bunch, the rest of the world wouldn't be so hard.