Weapons of War

"You okay?" Shea asked as they got into the car after her appointment.

"I'm fine." She told him, leaning her head against the window of the car. They had decided, officially, that they were going to wait until the baby was born to find out if it was a boy or a girl, just as they had with Noah. She wasn't as on edge as she had been leading up to the appointment after finding out that her blood pressure, while still high, hadn't gone any higher. For all intents and purposes it was a good day.

As Shea came to a stop at a red light he glanced over at her and asked her curiously, "What do you think about what the doctor suggested?"

She had given them the recommendation and name of a marriage councilor, in hopes that it might help them with their problems. Riley knew she was right; marriage was hard enough, throw in a sick kid and a pregnancy and it made it even harder, it was a miracle that they had made it this far without professional help.

Still, she admitted to Shea, "I just… don't know how I feel about that."

He surprised her by telling her, "I think we should talk about it… I think we should go. Even once."

She was silent for a long time, so long that Shea was pulling into the driveway of the house when Riley asked him, "Do you really want to?"

As he put the vehicle in park and turned in his seat to face her, asking, "Don't you? Don't you want to do whatever it takes to fix things between us?"

She sighed and Shea reached out to tuck her hair behind her ears as she told him, "Of course I do. I just don't know if sitting on a couch talking to a shrink is gonna do anything."

"Even if it helps us figure out how to go forward without wanting to rip each others heads off all the time then it would do something for us." Shea told her, and Riley sighed. He had a point, she did want to do whatever it took to fix things between them, or to at least work on fixing things, but a therapist? She just wasn't sure about it. Sensing her apprehension Shea told her, "I want us to figure out whatever is going on. If this can help us then why not try?"

Again she sighed, and then she admitted to him, "I think you're right."

"I am?" He asked her in surprise.

She nodded her head, "We can't keep doing this. The back and forth, and how we keep thinking we'll fix things but then we don't. As much as I hate the idea of having some psychologist analyze our life… you're right it's worth the try if it helps."

Shea nodded his head and he got out of the car so Riley followed suit. She followed him into the house, where they found Noah, Quinn and James on the back deck. Dug was running around the backyard, and Noah and Quinn were both laying on their stomachs on the deck finger painting while James sat on a chair watching them.

Noah turned, spotted Riley and Shea and exclaimed, "I paintin!"

Riley smiled and she slowly sat down on the deck between Noah and Quinn and asked, "What are you painting?"

He pointed to one stick figure, "That's Dug."

"And is that you?" Riley asked him as she pointed to the smaller figure beside the dog and Noah nodded.

"That's daddy." Noah stated, pointing at the largest stick figure of all, and then he pointed to the smaller one beside it and told her, "And that's you."

She smiled and pointed to a blob of paint, asking him, "What's that?"

"Baby." Noah stated, making the four adults chuckle.

Riley glanced over at Quinn's much neater painting and asked her, "And what did you draw?"

"Well that's the sun, and that's Snoop and Nixon, and there's grass and trees and everything." Quinn told her with a wide grin.

Riley rolled her eyes, nudged Quinn and said, "You're odd."

"Truth." Both Quinn and James stated at the same time, making Noah giggle.

Riley stayed where she was as Noah and Quinn finished painting and Shea and James went inside. Quinn glanced over at her and asked, "How was your appointment?"

"Good. Everything's good right now." Riley assured her.

Quinn smiled, "I'm glad."

"Me too."

- - -

"Oh I'm so glad you called." Brooke told Riley as they hurried into the restaurant they were meeting Quinn at.

Riley had decided that Shea was right; she needed the occasional time away from them to do her own thing. So she got him to babysit for the evening and made arrangements to go for dinner with a few friends.

"Nolan or Pekka?" Riley asked her and when Brooke shot her a confused glance Riley explained, "Which one is driving you crazy?"

Brooke chuckled as a hostess lead them to the table Quinn was already sitting in. She told her, "Both."

She didn't get the option to explain, they approached the table to find Quinn already seated, and three vases with flowers in them on the table. Riley quirked her eyebrow, "What is this?"

"Beats me, this was all here when I got here." Quinn informed her.

There was a note card attached to each vase, so Riley pulled the one off of the vase in front of Quinn and read it. Thank you for everything you do for our family, we appreciate it all. - Shea.

Still confused she grabbed the card off of the vase in front of her. Dinner is on me, I ordered wine, ginger ale for you, have a good night and don't worry about me or the kid, we'll be fine. You just have fun and relax and remember we love you and appreciate everything you do for us. Love, Shea.

"Okay, where can I find one of him?" Quinn asked as she read the card when Riley held it out to her.

Brooke chuckled, "James is a perfectly nice guy."

"Oh don't get me wrong he is, but he has the emotional range of a teaspoon. It's like pulling teeth to get him to say 'love you too' instead of 'yeah, me too.' Honestly." Quinn ranted, making both Riley and Brooke chuckle. Quinn then added, "Shea is just so… I don't know, I get jealous of women who have men who aren't terrified of their emotions."

"Yeah, Shea definitely is the more emotional one in our relationship. Actually, if I'm being honest, that's probably part of our problem. I'm like... uncapable of being emotional." When she said this both women rolled their eyes so Riley went on, "I'm serious. It's a huge problem with Shea and I. I didn't even cry when Noah was born, Shea did."

"Eh, I mean not every woman cries." Brooke assured her, and when she shrugged she added, "The whole ideal surrounding pregnancy and childbirth is so hyped up. Honestly, everyone says how amazing it is and how beautiful it is and it isn't. Your kid comes out screaming and red, sometimes purple, it looks like a little alien with a drug problem. There's nothing beautiful about it so I can totally understand not crying over it."

Quinn nodded, and she told Riley, "There's nothing wrong with being a more apathetic person."

"I know there isn't, it just has been causing problems with Shea and I." Riley said, taking a sip of her water.

"Yeah, but maybe Shea needs to remember that he knew this about you when he married you. You can't just change your entire make up, so you're not as emotionally charged as he is? Opposites attract right?" Quinn asked her with a grin.

Riley chuckled, and she shrugged, "Yeah I guess so."

"Besides, you can't help it if he's a big teddy bear." Brooke told her and Riley laughed as she nodded her head.

"But don't worry, I won't tell James that his captain is a big softy." Quinn assured her and Brooke nodded.

After a few seconds of silence Riley pulled her phone from her bag and went through her pictures, before she turned the phone to Quinn, "I meant to send this to you. But he loves his stuffed animal."

The picture was of Noah, curled up under covers in his bed with his little arms wrapped around the stuffed Pred Quinn had bought him. Shea's name and number were displayed on the back, and Noah was fast asleep in the picture. Quinn pouted, "Oh my god I just love that kid."

"Yeah I make a pretty damn cute kid." Riley stated with a grin as she showed Brooke the picture.

When Brooke smiled at the picture Quinn asked, "Doesn't he just make you want like a baseball team of babies?"

"Careful what you wish for. Babies turn into moody teenagers who then want to move across the country and leave you all alone." Brooke told her, making Quinn and Riley chuckle.

Quinn shrugged, "I could handle that. I just need a baby like… yesterday. They're addictive."

"See, I've never understood that." Brooke stated, and when both Riley and Quinn turned to her in surprise she flushed and explained, "I never got that. Babies are fun when you can hand them back to their parents. It's not so fun when you're the parent."

"Yeah, but doesn't it make it all worth it when they cuddle with you and tell you they love you?" Riley asked her, she knew that was how it was for herself. Some days she didn't understand what in the hell she and Shea had been thinking when they decided to have a baby, but then, most of those days ended with a slobbery toddler kiss and a cuddle and it was all worth it.

Brooke shrugged, "I mean… I guess. I don't know, maybe it's just different for me because I had Nolan so young and it was just the two of us for so long. Honestly I never even thought I'd have another one."

"But it's different now? With Pekka around?" Riley asked her curiously. When she had first met the goaltender so, so many years ago it she had developed a strong liking for him. He was like the annoying big brother she never knew she wanted. He had, for a long time, been her only confidant, the only person who got where she was coming from with being so unsure of moving to Nashville, so unsure of how to navigate her new life as a hockey girlfriend. She had a soft spot for him, which was why when Brooke had come into his life Riley had done whatever she could to help him.

Brooke nodded, and then she shrugged and she told Riley, "Honestly? Yes and no. Another baby would be nice, and he wants one and I get that, but if it doesn't happen for us it's not gonna be a huge disappointment to me. I did the whole baby-motherhood thing and I don't really have this huge need to do it again. Frankly, if I hadn't have had Nolan when I did, I probably wouldn't have any kids."

"I get it. I never wanted kids for a long time. Not until I was… god… probably twenty-five and Shea and I were really serious. Honestly, as much as he and I want a big family, I also at the same time I could have done with it just being us two." Riley explained to Brooke, who nodded her head.

Quinn glanced between the two of them, and announced, "Y'all are crazy."

"Jeez, a few years in the south and you're more of a southerner than I am, and I was raised here." Brooke joked.

Quinn rolled her eyes, "I am serious though. Like… how can you not want babies? If I could, I'd honestly have a baseball team. James is so lucky that I can't just go get pregnant and that adoption takes so long. We would have like three kids by now. One every year."

Riley laughed, "I love how you want so many kids even though your boyfriend is a child in a grown man's body."

"I remember a few summers ago when we were in Whitby, James' mom was telling me all these stories about what he and all his siblings were like and they were all tyrants growing up, but like… I don't know… the thought of a bunch of kids running around the house, James going crazy chasing after a toddler… I could do that for a long time. That sounds like heaven to me honestly."

Riley grinned, "I'm beginning to think Shea married the wrong hockey girlfriend."

Quinn smiled, "Riley, honestly, James with Noah makes my heart hurt. So yenno, thanks for that and your cute, adorable, so, so cute little ruggrat. Every time I see them together I just want a baby."

"Yeah, is really good with him. Which surprised me honestly, I never would have expected him to be so good with kids. Like... older kids sure but toddlers and babies? I would have never thought." Riley admitted to Quinn.

She nodded, "Oh I know. I got a big surprise the first time I saw him with one of his teammates kids."

"There certainly is something about watching the man you love with kids." Brooke mused out loud.

Riley nodded her head and added, "Your uterus betrays you."

Brooke laughed at her comment and Quinn stated, "Your uterus really hates you then."

Riley couldn't help herself from chuckling and she told Quinn, "No, my husband has this insane notion of having kids as often as we can."

"Yeah, he totally married the wrong girl." Quinn nodded her head slowly as Brooke and Riley chuckled.

- - -

When Riley arrived home late that evening Noah was already long asleep, Dug had been fed and walked, the house was damn near spotless and Shea was reading a book on the back deck. So she headed out there, taking the chair beside him, asking, "Did you clean the house?"

He shrugged, "I had the time, and I was bored. I only did the kitchen and the living room."

"You make a really good house husband you know?" When he chuckled she joked, "You wanna stay home all the time? I'll go play hockey for you."

He laughed again, "I've seen you play hockey. No thanks."

"That's rude." She stated, laughing when he shrugged his shoulders. Shea had done everything he could in their very long relationship to get Riley to be more comfortable on the ice, but it never seemed to work. Sure she could skate decent enough, she had even, as of a few years ago, finally managed to learn how to stop without simply bumping into the boards or Shea. Really, she wasn't that terrible, but she certainly was no Crosby. She joked, "I could totally beat you for hardest shot."

"Only because I taught you how to do a slap shot." Shea told her, reminding her of the day the two had spent at the rink in his hometown a few summers previous, where Shea had held onto her from behind her and with his hands over hers on the stick he showed her all the fine tuned skills and tricks to a good slap shot. It wasn't the first time he had showed her that, he had in high school when his shot wasn't quite as hard, but that time had only ended up with them both falling onto the ice several times and their day had ended with a long make out session in the front seat of her Neon.

Riley grinned at him, "You're a very good teacher."

"Yeah?" He cocked his brow.

She smirked as she nodded and informed him, "Honestly if any of my college professors looked like you I probably would have paid a lot more attention in my classes."

He laughed when she said this, "So you weren't hot for teacher then? Good."

"Who said I wasn't? I just said none of them were as cute as you. I didn't say they were all ugly. Actually my stats professor was very, very cute, you're so lucky I even remembered who you were when you came home that summer." She joked, knowing just how to push his buttons.

He let out a low growl, one that made Riley laugh, before he told her, "Don't talk about other men, you know how it makes me feel."

"Yeah, you get all jealous."

"I do not get jealous." He stated.

She grinned and nodded, "Totally jealous, but it's okay because you get cuter when you're jealous."

"Yeah?" She nodded her head.

"Very much so, just don't go getting all 'me Tarzan, you Jane' on me. I might have to divorce you then."