Weapons of War

"Honey, I'm home!" Riley let out a chuckle when Quinn walked into the house and called out to her.

She walked out of the kitchen and greeted both Kelly and Quinn with, "Noah's sleeping."

Quinn made an apologetic face and quietly whispered, "Honey, I'm home?"

She chuckled again and she led them both into the living room, but Riley went into the kitchen to finish up the dishes. Quinn turned to look at her from the couch and asked, "You have dinner yet?"

"Not yet. I knew you guys wouldn't have eaten yet so I figured we could just order in." Riley told them, drying her hands before she brought the iPad over to the couch and dropped onto it with a sigh.

Kelly asked, "Long day?"

Riley nodded and as she opened up the Internet on the iPad she asked, "What do we want?"

Kelly and Quinn stated at the same time, "Pizza."

With a chuckle Riley said, "Pizza it is."

With their dinner ordered, and Riley bringing everyone drinks, Quinn pulled her phone from the pocket of her sweater and asked, "You guys wanna see something pretty cool?"

"Sure." Kelly said, and they watched, waiting while she flicked through her phone for a few minutes.

Finally she held her phone out to them and Riley and Kelly scooted close to each other so that they could see the picture on her phone. It was a sonogram photo and Riley asked excitedly, "Is that?"

Nodding Quinn flipped to the next photo, of a dark haired young girl, obviously pregnant, sitting between Quinn and James and Quinn told them, "That's her."

Kelly joked, a wide smile on her face as she did so, "Well at least this poor kid won't come out as white as James."

Quinn laughed, "I know right? I told him I was happy she was closer to my skin tone, and not his."

"He is exceptionally pale." Riley stated with a small smile.

Quinn laughed and nodded her head, and Kelly asked her curiously, "So when is she due?"

"End of December, beginning of January." Quinn told her.

"Is your family gonna come out? When the baby gets here?" Riley asked her curiously.

Quinn shook her head, "James' mom is coming."

"No one from your family is coming? Not even your sisters?" Riley asked her, shocked. Shea's dad had come out to stay with them for three whole weeks when Noah was born, and Riley knew with certainty it would have been so much harder if he hadn't, especially with Shea travelling every few days.

Quinn shook her head, "No, Jess doesn't have any vacation time left, and Taya and Patrick just got married so they're still in the honeymoon stage and don’t really want to go anywhere."

"So what about a baby shower? Is it okay to throw one without them there? Or should we wait until they can get here?" Riley asked Quinn. She and Kelly had decided on planning one since Quinn told them about the baby a few days previous.

"No, I don't even really want one." Quinn told them, her voice soft, and it surprised them both. Before they could ask she explained, "It's just not something I want. Especially with my family not being here and what not."

"Quinn is this because you guys are adopting and not having a baby of your own?" Kelly asked her curious, not understanding her apprehension.

Riley watched her struggle with her words for a few moments before she told her softly, "Honey that doesn't make you any less of a mom."

"I know. I just… as happy as I am right now I can't help but think that I'm getting this amazing gift that's making me so happy, off of someone else's pain and sadness, you know?" She asked them and Riley sent her a soft look.

Both of them got up and practically tackled Quinn, holding her in a tight hug between them as Kelly said, "Cheer up Quinny, everything's gonna be okay."

"I know. I just… I wish my family was gonna be here. I keep saying it’s okay, and I keep making excuses but it's not okay. I want them here. I love James' mom, and his whole family, I do but… it's not the same." Quinn said sadly and Riley pressed a loud kiss to her cheek. With a small smile Quinn asked her, "What was that for?"

"Just to say I love you, and take it from me, you have a whole lot of family here, and we're gonna be here for you guys. You're not gonna be alone, and I am gonna spoil the shit out of that kid." Riley told her with a wide grin.

With a smile of her own Quinn said, "I wouldn't expect any less from you."

"Good." Riley told her with a nod of her head.

The doorbell rang and Kelly jumped up, grabbing her wallet before she disappeared down the hall to the door. Once she came back carrying the pizza she caught Riley's look and told her, "I got it. My turn."

"Who says?" Riley asked.

Kelly countered back with, "Quinn got it last road trip, you the other day. Thus my turn."

"Don't you love how we don't cook when the guys are gone?" Quinn asked with a big grin.

As they settled in to watch the game together and eat their dinner Riley was once again reminded of what she had only moments ago told Quinn. They had a lot of family in Nashville who were there for them through anything. So why were they keeping things, important and life changing things, from them?

- - -

Following a very uneventful win in St. Louis Shea was more than ready to head home. They were given an allotted amount of time after the game to get their things and do anything they had left to do before they were due in the lobby to head home. Shea had packed before the game so he sat on the bed and used his time to call Riley.

He wasn't sure she would be awake but it was worth a try, and he was glad, and slightly surprised, when she answered the phone, "I love you."

He grinned, "I love you too."

She sighed contently and told him, "I am so beyond happy right now."

"You're happy? Being awake at midnight?" Shea asked in confusion.

With a smile Riley told him, "I am. I'm in bed, cuddling our boy, and I'm happy. I'm so happy."

"Have you been drinking?" Shea asked her curiously.

She let out a laugh, almost a giggle was more like it, and told him softly, "Not at all. I just… I have everything I could ever want right here… well... once you get home. Really, Shea, I don't think you know how incredibly happy you make me."

"I'm glad to hear that." He said with a soft smile on his face. Curiously he asked her, "What brought this on? If it's okay for me to ask."

"Noah had a bad day, and when I went to bed he came and asked if he could sleep with me, and I've just been laying here watching him sleep for hours. I just, I love you so much and I... I'm happy." Riley told him, and his smile grew.

"I love you too Riley." Shea told her as he glanced at his watch to check the time. He still had fifteen minutes so he took the time to asked, "How bad of a day?"

"He was just tired and sick all day. He was in bed knocked out by like four and he slept until about an hour ago, and now he's asleep again." Riley told him, and she shifted in the bed to look down at Noah once more. He was still asleep and she was once again reminded of how much he looked like Shea, so she voiced that out loud, "God he looks so much like you."

Shea smiled gently, "Yeah, he does."

"I can't even pick one thing he got from me. Honestly. He's just like a mini you." Riley said, and as Shea wandered into the bathroom to double check that he grabbed everything Riley went on, "He has your eyes, and your nose, and your fucking dimple-"

Shea interrupted her to ask in amusement, "Did you just drop an f-bomb in front of my kid?"

"Your kid?" Riley asked him in amusement.

He shrugged his shoulders and joked, "Yeah well, he is more like me."

She let out a laugh and said, "You are rude."

"How the tides have changed." Shea joked with her and when she chuckled again, on a more serious note, he asked her, "You gonna be up when I get home?"

He knew Riley, she usually stayed awake waiting for him when he was on his way home after a particularly long road trip. So he wasn't surprised when she told him, "Probably. How can I sleep when the most precious little boy is beside me?"

"That's true. I wouldn't get very much sleep if he was sharing the bed with me either." Shea knew that Riley knew that out of the two of them he was the more emotional one. He would spend hours holding Noah when he was a baby, Riley would walk into the nursery to find them both asleep in the rocking chair. Even now, with Noah older, Shea still would sneak into his room when he was sleeping and sit and watch him for hours. Sometimes, even now, it amazed them both that he was theirs.

"What time will you be home?" Riley asked him curiously.

"Around two, I think." Shea told her and when he looked down at his watch and realized it was time to go he told her, "Speaking of. I gotta go."

He heard her yawn and say, "Okay. I'll see you in a bit."

"Go to bed Ry." He told her with a chuckle.

He heard a low laugh escape her lips before she told him, "Go get on your flight and get you and that dimple home to me."

"You anxious to see me or something?" Shea asked in amusement as he grabbed his bags and headed out of the hotel room and into the elevator.

"Mm yeah, see I'm all alone and I miss you and I keep looking at Noah and thinking that maybe we just keep practicing for a new one so that when the time comes…"

When she trailed off Shea grinned and finished for her, "We're all systems go?"

"So to speak." She said with a chuckle. She could hear the elevator ding from his end so she then told him, "I'll see you in a few hours. Have a safe flight, and I love you."

"I love you too, I'll see you soon." He hung up and slid his phone back into the pocket of his pants as he stepped out of the elevator and joined his teammates in the lobby.

Pekka stepped into the spot beside Shea and told him, "So I got a call this morning."

"Oh yeah?" Shea asked as his phone beeped and he pulled it from his pocket. Waiting for him was a text from Riley, a photo attached of Noah cuddled into her chest that made him smile. Pekka cleared his throat so Shea looked over at him and apologized, "Sorry man. You were saying?"

"Our doctor called this morning." Pekka told him, and when Shea raised his eyebrow Pekka grinned and said, "It's not a definite no."

"Yeah?" Shea asked, also smiling.

With a nod of his head Pekka told him, “We just keep doing what we’re doing and hopefully something happens. It’s not a ‘never gonna happen’ issue, it just might take us a little longer than usual.”

With a smile Shea wrapped an arm around Pekka’s shoulders, gave him a good half hug, half shake, and told him, “I’m glad to hear that.”

“Me too. But uh, I’m not… the guys don’t know.” Pekka told him as Shea let go of him, his cheeks flushed.

Shea nodded, almost laughing at the goal tenders reaction, it wasn’t very often that he got flushed and flustered. Shea wondered if it was because of his random outburst, that didn’t happen very often at all, or if it was because he hadn’t told the guys yet, or maybe both. Whatever it was Shea told him, “I won’t say anything. Don’t worry.”

“I knew you wouldn’t, but I just… had to say it, more for my own peace of mind.” Pekka informed him, making sure that Shea didn’t think he would spill all of his secrets.

While Pekka took the seat beside Shea on both the bus to the airport and on the plane, neither of them spoke a word to each other the entire trip. Pekka plugged headphones into his phone and listened to music while Shea read a book, and by two ten they were waiting for their luggage from the plane and heading home in near exhaustion.

Shea offered a few of the guys a ride home, and he was pulling into the garage with a yawn by two thirty. He heaved his backpack over his shoulder, grabbed both his suitcase and his garment bag and headed inside through the garage door. Dug greeted him at the door, so he gave him a good pet, grabbed a dog bone from the cupboard and gave it to him before he quietly headed upstairs and he stood in the hall as he stripped out of his jeans and t-shirt so that he didn’t wake Riley or Noah by doing it in the bedroom.

He walked inside the door, and the light by Riley’s side of the bed was on, she was laying on her side, with Noah cuddled against her chest, they were laying in the middle of the bed, and Shea stood in the doorway and watched them with a smile on his face for a few moments. This was what they were missing all those years. Finally, when he began to feel that exhaustion creep in again Shea set his bags by the closet door, went into the bathroom and quietly closed the door.

When he came back out Riley was awake, she had shifted both she and Noah over in the bed to make room for him. She smiled gently when he walked over to the bed and got in, and when he was settled in beside her, Noah between them, she joked, “You’re late.”

With a small smile he told her, “Had to give some of the guys a ride home.”

“Excuses, excuses.” She jokingly chastised him, before she reached out, her arm laying over Noah, and her hand resting against Shea’s stomach as he laid on his back with the pillow folded underneath his head. Shea glanced down at Noah and watched him for a few seconds, before Riley said, “He woke up about an hour ago, asking for you. So you’ll probably be up pretty early tomorrow morning with him.”

“Maybe he’ll settle for morning cuddles instead of getting out of bed at six.” Shea said with hope.

Riley let out a low and soft chuckle, “Good luck with that.”

He heaved a loud and dramatic sigh from his mouth and then said, “He listens to me.”

Again she chuckled, “More like you listen to him.”

“Yeah… I’m working on that.” Shea informed her, and she smiled gently and shook her head.

“Don’t.” Riley said.

With a cocked eyebrow Shea asked her, “Don’t?”

Nodding Riley told him, “I like the way we parent.”

“Yeah?” He asked, yawning.

She rubbed his side gently with her hand as she told him, “You parent like Dave did, and I think I turned out pretty great so I think our kids will be just fine.”

“I do?” He asked her, both curiously and in surprise.

“Yeah, he was only ever strict when he had to be, other than that he let me get away with a lot as long as it wasn’t illegal, or bad for me or him, and I think that’s a big reason why I never had an issue telling the truth. I mean, I never once lied to him about you spending the night, he always knew and I never had an issue telling him you were there.” Riley told him softly, and when Shea chuckled gently she added, “I mean, this one sneaks a girl into his room at sixteen all bets are off and he’ll be grounded for a month, but that’s because I’ll be making the discipline decisions in this house.”

“I’m okay with that. Like you said, I’m a push over.” Shea said with a nod of his head.

Riley this time chuckled and said, “That’s okay though, all the best dads are.”