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Lexi was still in shocked silence as she continued to stare at her and Ryan's baby in the ultrasound image.
"Big day for Ryan," Jamie said to break the silence finally.
"Hm?" Lexi asked, dazed.
"His dad shows up," Jamie reminded her. "Then he finds out he's going to be one," he listed. There was the darker humor again to get her to laugh. It at least worked a little this time.
"Which, ah, life changing news do I hit him with first?" She asked lightly.
"His dad," Jamie said without missing a beat; she looked at him curiously. "He's going to be so excited about the baby, you don't want to knock him down after that."
"Even if we were just joking last week about dad killing him if I got pregnant?" She half laughed.
"You're thirty two," Jamie reminded her with a laugh, but he knew telling John would probably still be intimidating. "Ryan's going to be excited, trust me."
She realized what he meant. He had been excited when Christina told him, just to have her tell him she wouldn't let him around the baby.
"I'm sorry if this was insensitive," she said, realizing the ultrasound was probably a lot.
"It's all right," he nodded reassuringly. "Let's get out of here though," he said and she nodded in agreement, heading for the door.
Naturally, they ran right into her boss as she was opening the door.
"I thought you left for the day?" Keith questioned as he saw her. Then he noticed what room she was coming out of, raising a brow at her.
"Um," she wasn't sure what to say.
"Looks like you'll be needing some more time off in a few months," he commented lightly to which she nodded. "We'll talk more when you're back," he said, turning to go. Lexi and Jamie took the chance to leave too.
…
Lexi went back to the ranch alone, getting her things as well as the medical supplies ready to go. Not wanting her to ride out alone, Rip offered to ride with her. He could tell something was up, but decided not to push it. In the same vain, she decided not to ask him how he would feel if he was Ryan about his dad coming back, knowing what Rip would do if his dad were still alive.
"There she is," she heard Ryan calling as Rip took her horse for her; Ryan and Kaycee had taken Tate fishing.
"Go help your aunt," Kaycee told Tate, who took off running to see her.
"Hey Aunt Lexi!" He said as he gave her a big hug. "Me, dad and Uncle Ryan caught dinner!"
"Whoa," she laughed, trying hard to come off normally but there was no hiding that she felt anxious after everything that day. "Can you help me with that?" she asked Tate, handing him the smaller of the two bags, the one with her medical supplies.
She followed him to the tent where she and Ryan would be sleeping, tossing her bag inside while Tate carefully took the one he had been given inside.
"That's a lot for a long weekend," Ryan joked as he came over to greet her. It was the longest they had been away from each other since getting back together.
"Ew," Tate commented as he came out to see them kissing.
"I got off for the rest of camp," she said, shoving her hands in her sweatshirt pocket, feeling the paper with Nick's phone number as she did.
"No way," Ryan grinned.
"Just have to do the orientation for the new residents in July," she said, taking a hand to ruffle Tate's hair. "Can you go help the cowboys with supper? I need to borrow Uncle Ryan," she told her nephew.
"Sure," Tate nodded, heading off towards the big fire where everyone was gathering.
"You ok baby?" Ryan asked her.
"I had kind of a weird morning," she admitted.
"Roarke weird?" He asked, worried he had confronted her in town.
"No," she assured him quickly. "No, I um," she hesitated, but remembered what her mom always said about ripping the bandaid off. "I met your dad today," she admitted.
Ryan was stunned silent for a moment.
"…what?" he asked, more confused than anything. Maybe he heard her wrong.
"I met your dad," she repeated.
"At the hospital or Keith's office…" Ryan was asking as him being sick or something was the only thing that made sense.
"At Jamie's office," she stopped him and Ryan looked even more bewildered. "He heard you were a livestock agent and…wanted to see you," she explained.
"….why?"
"He didn't really say. It just, um, felt very…." She was trying to think of how to word it. "Like a get to know you kind of thing."
"Now?" Ryan laughed cynically. "Shit, where's he been for the last twenty five…" He trailed off as he read her face. "I meant that rhetorically," he said as he realized she knew where he had been; he wasn't sure he wanted to know.
"Not the whole time but, ah," she bit her lip. "I made Jamie run a background check." He looked at her expectantly. Maybe he didn't want to know, but he had to now. "He's out on parole. Twenty years for, um, drug smuggling into Canada," she confessed.
"Oh," Ryan continued his cynical laugh. "Oh, that's just…" He couldn't finish his thought. His mother, who took care of him and sacrificed so much, was gone after a long painful illness at a young age. His dad was just waltzing into his workplace after abandoning them over two decades ago like nothing happened.
"He wanted me to give you this," she said, offering the scrap of paper with Nick's number. He was back to stunned silence. "Ryan?"
"I'm sorry baby, I need a minute," he said, kissing her forehead before stepping around her to go. She watched as he tossed the paper onto the fire before walking away from the group without explanation.
John got up from the fire to come talk to her, seeing her run her hands through her hair in frustration.
"Everything ok?" He asked, voice concerned.
"No, um," she said, blinking back tears. "Ryan's dad showed up today at the livestock office. And I get the feeling I should have kept that to myself."
"You're not the one hurting him sweetpea," he assured her, putting an arm around her shoulders.
"Ryan ok?" Kaycee was asking. He was the one tasked with watching over the cattle that night but Ryan went to take over for him, sending him back and just saying he needed a minute to himself, that this was a good place to do it.
"I don't know how much he wants this getting around," she said quietly as her dad let her go from his arm. "But, his dad showed up at Jamie's office today. He heard Ryan was an agent, that he worked at the ranch, that he was dating a Dutton. Town still has its small town gossip," she shrugged.
"What did he want?" Kaycee asked in shock.
"To see his son," she shrugged again. "Asked me if he was a good man, that sort of thing."
"Well, where the hell's he been then?" John asked angrily. What Nick did never sat well with him, let alone never coming to Ryan's mother's funeral or to see Ryan after her death. John may not be the perfect father, but he never left them at twelve years old.
"Prison," Lexi answered simply. "Drug charges."
"Shit," Kaycee murmured. Of all people, Ryan didn't deserve this. "Once I get Tate to bed, I'll switch out with him, ok?"
He would do the same thing, avoid Monica; but with outside perspective he knew Ryan needed to be around Lexi. Lexi nodded at her brother in thanks, hands back in her pocket where her ultrasound picture still remained.
"Come eat something," her dad encouraged her. She wasn't hungry, but obliged him by coming to the fire anyway.
What a great first night at camp, she thought to herself.
…
She had excused herself to bed before anyone else, exhausted after that day's events. Despite her anxieties, she dozed off relatively easily. As promised, Kaycee relieved Ryan to come back to camp, and she stirred as she felt Ryan lay down with her.
He didn't bother to change, other than taking off his boots. He didn't get under the blankets of the cot either. He just laid on top of the pile, behind her as he stretched an arm over her waist, kissing her shoulder before burying his head there.
After everything she told him, he felt like he just wanted to hide there forever. He felt her reach an arm behind her to gently scratch his hair.
"I didn't mean to wake you," he murmured against her.
"It's ok," she assured him. "You wanna talk about it?"
She felt him shake his head.
"Ok," she promised, taking her hand back and resting it over his; she would never make him talk about it.
They were quiet for a while.
"I hate him, Lexi," he confessed.
"I know baby," she agreed.
"How's he the one that's here?" He asked and she heard the tears in his voice.
"I don't know," she said as she turned over to face him. She took him in her arms, feeling his tears against her neck.
He rested there for a while once his tears were dry, again wanting to just hide from it all. He hadn't thought about the trauma with his dad in a long time, burying it deep.
"Baby," he heard Lexi saying, shifting away from him quickly.
"You…" He started to ask if she was ok but she was already running outside. He briefly wondered why as he followed her, but he saw her doubled over vomiting a few yards away.
"Here I got it," he said, grabbing her hair for her; she used her free hands to balance on her knees as she was leaning over, still getting sick. "Easy, easy," he soothed, resting a hand on her waist to help her balance.
After what she felt like was an eternity, she was finally done, standing up slowly.
"Go lay down, I'll get you some water," he told her and she went back to the tent. When he returned he saw her laying on her side on the cot, having turned a lantern on for him on the ground.
"You feeling ok?" He asked as he sat on the ground, eye level with her as she laid in bed still. She nodded, gratefully taking the water. "Once the sun is up, I can ride with you back to the house."
She shook her head.
"Baby, if you're sick, you shouldn't be camping," he reasoned with her.
"I'm not sick," she said, reaching for her sweatshirt she had dropped by the cot earlier.
"I know you're the doctor," he joked, seeing her grab something from the pocket.
"I'm not sick," she repeated, handing him the ultrasound.
"You're pregnant?" He questioned, looking to her for confirmation. He couldn't tell where the baby was on this but he knew what an ultrasound meant.
She nodded, waiting for his reaction.
A huge grin spread across his face as he leaned forward to kiss her. He kept kissing her as he got up, moving over her to lay next to her on the cot.
"You're happy?" She asked when he pulled away from kissing her.
"Yes," he laughed, taking her face in his hands. "Yes, this is amazing," he reiterated, handing her the picture. "Show me where," he said eagerly.
"Here," she circled the small white blur with her finger.
"Wow," he let out a breath as he looked at it again. He pulled her close to him, holding her tight as they finally went to sleep.
…
Monica got to camp the next morning, off with Kaycee now as John occupied Tate. They were waiting for a good time to talk to him, but there always seemed to be someone around or something going on. They decided to get him that night after dinner as everyone was going to be turning in.
That wasn't going to work out either though.
They were all sitting around the fire as John was telling a story about Evelyn, how Kaycee would always drive her crazy when they were camping about when the biscuits would be done. She often made a tray just for him.
"I asked her why she always went through the trouble of making them when Kaycee would eat anything," he continued the story. "They always took forever, why not make something else? And she said, 'if I don't make them, then I don't get to watch him eat them.'"
He looked to where the twins were sitting next to each other, between their respective significant others.
"My wife loved all her children equally, but you two," he said now. "Her babies. Well, you had a special place in her heart."
Ryan took Lexi's hand, knowing how hard it was to talk about her mom.
"She went to bed and I had to take Lexi back to the house," he continued and the Dutton twins realized what camping trip this story was from. "She had gotten sick. I was already out branding with the older two when Evelyn came to check on her. I didn't….didn't even tell her happy birthday," he said, getting up to leave now.
What started out as a fun story turned into a terrible memory of the day their mom died.
And all that served to remind Lexi right now was that she was becoming a mom without her own to guide her.
…
The next day didn't start out much better for telling John the news. The guys left early to go finish work on the new barn, with Ryan leaving Lexi to sleep in after being sick again the night before. She did get up eventually, going over to see their work that was finished around noon.
Jamie showed up then in his truck, saying the governor wanted to see them both, but she wouldn't say why. Knowing something was going on, John decided to make her come to him, planning on everyone going to the rodeo that night to watch Jimmy.
Ryan had fun picking on Colby as they left for getting stuck with the new girl, Teeter, watching the cattle that night.
Lexi was in her room at the house changing her clothes when her sister knocked at the door.
"What's up?" Lexi asked. Her sister was wearing a denim jacket over a blue sundress with white flowers and her boots. Lexi was dressed similarly, but held her jacket; the warmth made her nauseous. Her dress was a darker purple and she left her hair down, unlike Beth who pulled hers up.
"I found out what Roarke's working on," Beth said, inviting herself to sit on her sister's bed. "It's an airport, then resorts, then…" she trailed off to let her sister get the picture.
"Where are they gonna put an airport?" she asked and Beth glanced at the window to let her know. "Shit."
"They say the original intent was the Jenkins place, but I'm not buying it," Beth informed her.
"Why's that?" Lexi asked curiously.
"They wanna make dad an offer, make him rich," Beth quoted. "Which Roarke says, 'is very generous given your sister broke my brother's heart.'"
"What the f-"
"I told him his still being able to walk is generous on our part," Beth said now. "Considering you ended up in the hospital." Lexi loved her sister.
"So, they're targeting the ranch over me," Lexi said, sitting with her sister now.
"Maybe," Beth nodded. "I'm guessing that's what the governor wants to talk to dad about."
"Fantastic," Lexi grumbled, brushing a piece of hair out of her face.
"I've got a few ideas," Beth assured her, getting up so they could go. "I'll leave them crippled financially."
…
They all took their seats in the stands at the rodeo, waiting for Jimmy's turn. Kaycee sat on one side of John with Monica, Tate and Jamie, while Lexi sat on his other side with Ryan; Beth and Rip sat on the other side of Ryan and then on down it went through the other ranch hands.
Beth had been trying to hold Rip's hand, which he kept brushing off out of respect for her dad. John told them there wasn't anything he didn't know on the ranch and that Rip could hold her hand. They held hands as they and a few others went to grab beer and Lexi wondered if her dad somehow already knew about the baby.
The others came back with beers, passing them around to everyone.
"Can you grab me one Kaycee?" Jamie asked as one was being passed towards Lexi, knowing she hadn't said anything to their dad yet. Kaycee grabbed the beer and passed it to his end. Beth rolled her eyes.
"Here, we have another," she said, holding it out to her sister.
"I'm good," Lexi brushed her off; Beth made a bit of a face.
"What, Ryan knock you up or something?" she asked dryly.
"Holy hell Beth," John complained.
"What's knocked up?" Tate was asking.
"Thank you," Kaycee was saying sarcastically to Beth.
The one person not saying anything was Lexi who blanked on what to say, even if her sister had just been joking.
"Wait, really?" Beth asked, seeing her sister's horrified expression. Continuing to push the issue turned the horror into aggravation. "Excuse me," Beth said, getting up from the stands to leave. Not sure why Beth was the one taking off, Rip went to follow her.
"Is anyone going to answer my question?" Tate asked. Lexi had her elbows resting on her legs, taking her face in her hands, feeling Ryan's hand on her back. She was mortified.
"Tate, you hungry?" Kaycee asked, excusing himself and his family to go get something to eat.
"So, whatever that is, is she?" Tate was asking as they walked by in the stands. The other cowboys kept their eyes straight ahead, sure Lexi and Ryan didn't want any more stares out of this.
Before Lexi could say anything to her dad, they were announcing that the governor was there. She made her way up the stands, with Lexi and Ryan shifting over to let her sit next to John.
Lexi wasn't ever so happy to see Lynelle as she was at that moment.
"How's forced retirement?" She heard Lynelle asking John lightly as they made polite small talk at first.
"Bliss," John said, drinking from his beer. "But, apparently, I'm going to be a grandfather again."
"No kidding?" She asked. "Which…." She was going to ask which child but John nodded over at Lexi who felt her face flushing. "Well, congratulations Dr. Dutton," she told her warmly.
"Lexi, please, and thank you," she tacked on. "Dad-"
"We'll talk later sweetpea," he told her as Jimmy was about to start.
"Sweetpea versus Alexa is at least a good start," Ryan murmured to her and she bit her lip to keep from laughing, his intent to lighten the mood.
Whatever levity they found was quickly shot down as Jimmy went down hard and wasn't getting back up. Everyone from the Yellowstone stood to get a better look as the paramedics were rushing out to him.
"Get her down there," he nodded for Ryan and Jamie to lead Lexi to the EMTs and have her ride in the ambulance with Jimmy.
…
"Sir," Ryan was saying to John as they had a moment alone at the hospital in the waiting room. They others were all sent back to the ranch and while Lexi wasn't operating on Jimmy she was still back with the other doctors overseeing his care.
"Hm?" John asked, looking up from what he had been reading.
"That was not how we planned to tell you," Ryan told him. "We were waiting for the right time to tell you in private, but with camp and -"
"You didn't have to tell me anything Ryan," John told him and Ryan looked at him curiously. "Lexi's mother, she loved trout. Loved when we came back from fishing. Except," he held up a single finger. "When she was pregnant."
Ryan nodded.
"And for the last two nights at camp I've watched my daughter eat biscuits, corn, just about every other side," he half laughed. "But avoid the trout like it's the plague." He shrugged. "When I heard her getting sick, it didn't take a lot to put it together."
"I guess there's nothing on the ranch you don't know about," Ryan said lightly, referring to what he said about Beth and Rip earlier.
"Not much," John agreed. "I do know," he continued. "That that cabin is meant for a bachelor, not a family with a new baby." He sat back in his seat. "You two will move into the lodge. Tate can move down the hall so the room next to yours is free."
"….thank you sir," Ryan said appreciatively.
"Relax Ryan, it's not like when you two first started dating," John assured him. Lexi had only been twenty and was still in college. "So as long as leaving your child and their mother isn't genetic-"
"It's not," Ryan cut him off. He would never do to Lexi what Nick did to his mother, what he did to him to his child.
"Then we have nothing to worry about," John nodded.
"There's something else I," Ryan started but trailed off as Lexi was getting there.
"Jimmy's out of surgery," she told them. "Probably won't be up until tomorrow."
"How is he?" John asked.
"Fracture in his neck, two in his spine, and he's got a hip replaced at twenty five," she listed. "That alone is twenty five thous-"
"I don't want to talk about all that right now," he said, getting up and Ryan stood as well.
"I'm sorry daddy, about how you found out," Lexi told her dad now.
"Nothing to apologize for," he promised her. "The only thing I love more than my kids are grandkids," he said lightly, which got her to smile. "Let's go home," he was saying now, intending to come back in the morning with Jimmy. "Ryan can tell you all about your new living arrangements."
…
It didn't take long before they were back at the lodge for Lexi to fall asleep. She had been overly exhausted since finding out she was pregnant. Ryan slipped out of their room and downstairs to where he knew John was still up in his office, likely looking over some money for Jimmy.
"Everything ok?" John asked.
"I had something I wanted to ask you," Ryan told him and John nodded for him to sit. "I want to ask Lexi to marry me, I just want to ask your permission first."
"Well, hell, Ryan," John half laughed. "I didn't think you would ask twice."
Ryan had asked him before he and Lexi broke up, back before he found out about San Francisco and everything went to hell.
"I figured there might be a statute of limitations on those things," Ryan gave a small laugh back.
"Maybe there is," John pondered. "But, in any case, there's no one else I would have for her." He nodded at Ryan. "You're a good man, you make her happy and take care of her. There's not much else I can ask for." He offered his hand.
"Thank you sir," Ryan said, shaking his hand.
"Did you ever get a ring last time?" John questioned now to which Ryan shook his head. "You remember what I said last night, about how special the twins were to their mother?" he asked, opening the top drawer of his desk.
"Yes," Ryan nodded, not sure where this was going until he saw the small felt box.
"I planned on giving this to whichever one was getting married first," John explained as he showed him Evelyn's engagement ring. "But Kaycee just took off," he shook his head now at the memory.
"I think it makes best sense for her baby to have it," John said now of his youngest, formally passing the ring to Ryan.
"Thank you sir," Ryan said appreciatively.