Weapons of War

When Riley dropped onto the couch in Quinn and James’ living room and Quinn let out a small giggle she raised her eyebrow curiously and asked, “What the hell are you giggling about?”

“You so can’t hide that anymore.” Quinn stated, shooting a look at Riley’s stomach.

“Can too.” Riley responded, making James laugh from the kitchen.

Quinn turned her head over her shoulder and asked, “And what are you laughing at over there in the peanut gallery?”

He rolled his eyes at her and then said, “Listening to the two of you is like listening to toddlers.”

Riley shook her head and informed him, “Not true. I have a toddler, we sound nothing like that. Mostly it’s banging plastic blocks around and babbling on about things that I don’t understand.”

He shook his head in amusement as he took the two dogs outside, leaving Quinn and Riley alone. Once he was gone Riley looked down at her stomach, frowned and asked Quinn, “Can you really tell?”

“Yes.” Both Riley and Quinn turned at the sound of Taya’s voice as she came downstairs from the guest room upstairs. Riley noted the fact that her bruises and scrapes had healed in the two weeks she had been in Nashville, but she turned away to keep herself from staring.

As Taya took a seat on the couch opposite of them Quinn grinned and told Riley, “See, two against one.”

“You all suck.” Riley mumbled, crossing her arms over her chest for good measure.

Quinn held her hand out to cover Riley’s cleavage and said, “We can really tell when you do that. Your boobs are massive.”

Riley grinned, “I know, but hey at least something is normal about this pregnancy.”

Quinn rolled her eyes, “You’re such an exaggerator.”

“I’m serious. Everything is weird compared to last time. Like I haven’t been nauseous once, and I have like zero energy. It is a real struggle to get out of bed every morning.” Riley informed Quinn.

Curiously Taya asked, “Isn’t being tired all the time normal though?”

Riley shrugged, “All I know is that when I was pregnant with Noah I was like the energizer bunny. I drove Shea crazy. It was like every morning up at like six in the morning, he had to take me on like three walks a day I’m not kidding.”

Quinn laughed, “I like how you basically just referred to yourself as a dog with the walks thing.”

She shrugged, “You know what he’s like. I was pregnant, he wasn’t gonna let me go for walks by myself.”

“Is he any different this time around?” Quinn asked her curiously. As cute as Quinn had found Shea to be the first time around with Riley she knew she would get tired of that fast if she was Riley.

“Not really. He’s gone a lot more, thanks to the season being in full swing, but other than that it’s… pretty much the same, and I complain about it but we all know I secretly love it.” Riley stated, laughing when Quinn nodded her head vigorously.

Curiously Quinn asked her, “What exactly are you doing here? Not that I mind, but you’re kind of house bound lately so what do I owe this great middle of the day, middle of the week visit?”

Riley damn near pouted as she told Quinn, “Shea forced me out of the house in an attempt to get me to do something other than watch him bring new furniture into the house. He’s mean and clearly hates me.”

Quinn and Taya chuckled, and then Quinn asked her curiously, “New furniture?”

“Noah puked on the couch and you know Shea, instead of having the couch cushion redone he just went and bought a new couch, but then the new couch didn’t match the coffee table so we had to get a new one of those. Honestly I think he did that on purpose so he could have a coffee table downstairs.” Riley told them, and when Quinn laughed she raised her eyebrow and asked, “What?”

“Nothing.”

“I will hit you with this pillow, don’t doubt me.” She warned as she grabbed the couch pillow beside her.

Quinn sighed loud and dramatically and explained, “You and Shea just…”

“What?” Riley asked her, confused and curious by her laughter and lead in comment.

Taya answered for Quinn, “You guys have a pretty great relationship.”

Riley could have scoffed, and instead of airing her dirty laundry for her sister to hear Quinn told Riley, “You do, I’ve always been jealous.”

“Yeah, yeah, sure.” Riley mumbled. How in the world could Quinn be jealous of she and Shea when she had James?

Quinn told her, “I swear dude.”

Riley rolled her eyes and she pulled her phone from her bag on the floor when it beeped. There was a text message from Shea waiting and she laughed when she read it. ‘The couch is in the house, Noah threw up all over his bed, I locked myself out and all hell is breaking loose. Please come home. She glanced down at her watch, before she sighed and said, “Okay I’m going home.”

Quinn couldn’t help but chuckle and ask her, “Home already? You lasted a whole forty minutes.”

Riley again rolled her eyes and as she fished her keys from her bag she informed Quinn, “My kid is sick, my husband has probably managed to either break something in the house or almost kill himself with furniture. Not to mention he apparently locked himself out of the house, I’d say forty minutes was probably too long to be gone.”

As she headed toward the door Quinn called out, “If the police find Shea dead under the new couch when you get home I’ll totally be your alibi.”

Riley chuckled to herself as she walked outside and got into her vehicle, and as she drove home she wondered what kind of state the house would be in when she got home. She wondered what ‘all hell is breaking loose’ meant to Shea, it wasn’t often that he couldn’t handle dad duty while she was gone, in fact, this might actually be the first time. When she pulled into the driveway she found Shea sitting on the top step of the porch, he glanced up when he saw her vehicle and as she got out his cheeks flushed.

As she approached him she couldn’t help but chuckle and ask him, “How did you lock yourself out?”

“Technically I didn’t.” He informed her, and when she raised her eyebrow he explained, “Dug did it.”

She laughed as she passed him to get to the door, “Blame the dog, sure.”

He chuckled but told her, “Seriously. I went outside to grab my phone from the truck and apparently the door was locked and he must have knocked it shut or something.”

She unlocked the door, and when she pushed it open and found Dug sitting on the floor by the stairs with Noah sitting beside him Riley couldn’t help but chuckle. Shea stepped inside behind her, glanced at the two of them and also chuckled, and it was then that Riley asked, “Noah, did you lock daddy out?”

He had that mischievous grin on his face all the while shaking his head as he said, “Nope. Dug.”

Riley looked over at Shea, who was watching Noah in amusement, before she turned back to Noah and said, “No lying mister.”

He pouted and then giggled, “Funny!”

Riley couldn’t help herself from laughing, and she looked at Shea again, to find he was also trying very hard not to laugh, and told him, “See, don’t blame the dog. Blame your child.”

“Yeah, he takes after you.” Shea told her, and Riley chuckled as she picked Noah up and brought him upstairs. She put him back to bed, with strict instructions that he was never to do that again, before she left his room.

She stopped at the top of the stairs for a moment before changing her mind and heading toward the bedroom, where she stepped in front of the mirror in the bathroom and stared at herself for a moment. She pulled her shirt just a little tighter across herself, before she turned sideways and glanced at herself again, she supposed that Quinn was right, she couldn’t really hide it anymore. Not that she had really been hiding it anyway, everyone already knew, but she had been hoping that unlike last time she wouldn’t explode almost overnight and that she might have been able to go a few extra weeks without having to bring out maternity clothes again.

She jumped when she caught Shea’s eyes in the mirror, and turned to face him. He was leaning against the door frame of the bathroom, watching her with a small smile, and she rolled her eyes at him and asked, “How long have you been standing there?”

He shrugged his shoulders, “Long enough.”

He pushed off of the door frame and as he stood behind her he wrapped his arms around her waist and put his chin on her shoulder. Riley reached up and ran a hand through his hair before telling him, “That’s not fair, you can’t just sneak up on me like that.”

He smiled gently, “Sorry.”

He spread his palms out across her stomach, and she glanced down before she chuckled and asked, “Who was I kidding, I wasn’t gonna get to stay skinny very long. Maybe if I had procreated with one of your not as large teammates.”

He reached down and pinched her thigh before resuming his former position with both hands on her stomach and he warned her, “No talking about my teammates in relation to my baby.”

“Well if you weren’t so friggin huge I wouldn’t be in this predicament.” Riley stated with a small smile on her face to make sure that he knew she was joking. He should have, he knew her well enough, but these days with things as rocky as they were between them Riley didn’t want to take the chance.

Shea let out a laugh and he pressed a kiss to her neck before he told her, “I’d apologize, but being tall is a good thing.”

“Large. You’re large.” When she said this he raised his eyebrow at her and she explained, “You can’t just say you’re tall. You’re like three feet wide too. Thus, large.”

He couldn’t help but laugh, a sound that he muffled into her neck, and Riley smiled gently as she ran her fingers through his hair once more. Shea said to her, “Okay, large.”

She leaned into him, and as she ran her fingers through his hair she told him, "I want the pool."

"You do?" He was surprised, Riley had been so undecided and on the fence about the pool since he started the plans.

She nodded and told him, "It's hot and the bath tub is too small. Plus Noah would love it."

"This is true." He told her softly, and he pressed a kiss to her neck before he told her, "I love you."

She smiled gently, "I love you too Shea."

"I was thinking maybe we could get Quinn to babysit and we could maybe look at some nursery stuff in the next few weeks." Shea told her, and Riley smiled. As much as she struggled with this, she loved how excited Shea was for this baby. She really, really loved that.

Nodding her head she turned enough so that she could kiss him and then she pulled out of his grasp, and told him, “I’m hungry.”

This time Shea got to use her line and he told her, “You’re always hungry.”

“I’m pregnant, what’s your excuse?” Riley asked him, throwing a grin over her shoulder at him.

She let out a laugh as she walked down the stairs and he called out, “I’m large, remember?”

Riley was sitting on the new couch when he finally emerged from upstairs, and as he approached her she smiled sweetly at him and asked, “Can you bring me a yogurt tube?”

He cocked an eyebrow as he continued past her and into the kitchen, as he opened the freezer and located the box of yogurt tubes he asked her, “You couldn’t have grabbed it before you sat down?”

“Well I would have but then I saw the couch and it seemed like a better idea." She told him and as he approached her she added, "Besides, why would I get it when I know you will and then I get an excuse to stare at your butt."

She reached out with her leg and tapped his butt with her foot as he passed her and Shea rolled his eyes as he dropped onto the couch beside her. He handed her the frozen yogurt tube and bit into an apple as Riley scooted closer to him and draped her legs across his lap. As she leaned against the back of the couch Shea told her, "I'm sorry you had to come home."

She shrugged, "I was trying to find an excuse to leave anyway."

He shot her a look, "Yeah but you shouldn't have been. You need to spend time outside of the house, and you need to do things to help keep your stress level under control."

"Can you stop being Dr. Weber for a minute and just be Shea?" Riley asked him and he sighed so she said, "I am not the kind of mother that can go out and kill time when her kid is at home sick Shea. Don't ask me to be that kind of mom."

"I'm not, and I never will. I just want you to make the effort to take care of yourself and do things for yourself." Shea told her softly, he didn't want to push her, he didn't want to start a fight but he would if he had to. He would push her and he would start a fight if it meant he got his point across. If it meant he didn't have to worry about her, if it meant he could not be worried about everything going on here and whether Riley was really taking care of herself like she should be. He would do anything.

She sighed and reached out, grabbing his hand before she told him, "I'm trying."

He smiled gently, "I need you to try harder."

Again she sighed, "I am."

"You're not." He told her, and she pulled her hand away from his. He reached out and clasped his hand around hers again, and he told her, "Riley I know what I'm about to say is gonna sound awful, and horrible but I need you to remember who's saying it to you and I need you to try to understand where I'm coming from."

She knew what he was going to say and she still felt nervous, "Okay."

"I need you to do everything you can to take care of yourself and this baby. I need you to do that. Because I can't, I have no say in what happens, you do. So I need you to do everything that you can because I don't want to be in some city hundreds of miles away worrying about you, and I don't want to be in some city hundreds of miles away and get a phone call to tell me that something happened. So I need you to take care of both of you. If you can't do it for you, do it for the baby, or do it for Noah, or me. But please."

"Shea…" She started but didn't know what to say to him. She couldn't blame him for always being worried. She was too. She had heard the doctor, she knew if things didn't change, if she didn't change them, that it could affect the way her pregnancy went. It wasn't like she wanted that, of course she didn't, but it wasn't as if she could snap her fingers and twitch her nose and have everything done.

"I know it's hard, and I can't even begin to imagine what it's like for you with Noah and our home life and now this but please promise me that things will change. We're a two person household, and I know me being gone so much puts even more stress on you, but Riley we need to get better at doing it together. I need you to promise me that you'll do everything you can to take care of yourself." He was damn near begging and he knew it, and he knew she knew it, but he didn't care. He was desperate.

She sighed gently and gave his hand a squeeze and she told him, "I am trying, I really am, and I'll try harder. But can you do me a favor?"

'"Anything." She could have rolled her eyes at his cheesiness, but she didn't, she secretly found it endearing.

"Stop making me go out, stop making me see friends and do things that don't involve you guys." When she said this, he looked as if he was going to respond, to argue no doubt, so she continued speaking, trying to get her point across, "We barely get to spend any time together just the two of us during the season. If we don't start working on that we're never going to be able to get past this, we're never going to be able to work through our issues. We thought we did, but clearly we didn't, clearly we just scratched the surface and then shoved the rest away. So we need to make time to work on things, I don't want to be so apart when this baby comes Shea, that scares me."

"I know, you're right, and it scares me too. The thought of what might happen if we're still the way we are when this baby gets here scares me too. I love you Riley, I always have and I always will, but we can't keep doing this to each other. Something needs to change and I think you're right, we need to work on that change so it's the change that we want and not the one we don't." Shea told her softly.

Riley looked over at him, her eyes soft and she surprised him when she told him the one thing that he had been wanting her to say to him for so long, "I love you, and I can live without you… but I don't want to. I don't ever want to."