Weapons of War

Riley was half asleep standing at the sink doing dishes when she heard Shea's vehicle pull into the driveway. Noah had gone to bed hours before and it seemed like finally he was feeling well enough that he might just sleep through the night this time. When Shea walked into the househis he heard Riley in the kitchen so he slipped out of his shoes and made his way into the kitchen. He placed his keys and phone carefully onto the counter above the dishwasher and walked toward her, wrapping both arms around her carefully. She leaned into him and said, "You're home."

"I'm home." He confirmed, kissing her jaw softly before he told her, "I missed you."

"You were gone for like five hours." She said, mercilessly poking fun at him for trying to be a sweet husband. He pinched her side, and Riley almost laughed when he reached down and unplugged the sink. She told him, "I wasn't done with that."

"I'll finish them tomorrow. I'm tired and I know you must be exhausted." Shea explained to her. She nodded her head and allowed him to grab her hand and pull her up the stairs.

They stood side by side at the double sinks in their bathroom and brushed their teeth, and as Riley rinsed the face wash off of her face she chuckled and said, "Married life."

Shea raised his eyebrow at her from where he stood in front of the toilet and asked, "What does that mean?"

"The fact that you just whipped it out and peed while I was washing my face." She stated, still chuckling.

Shea shook his head in amusement and said, "You do it when I'm in the shower all the time."

"Thus; married life." She said as she hung the face cloth back on the towel rack before heading into the closet. As she changed from her jeans and tshirt into a pair of matching pyjamas she told him, "I happen to love married us."

He grinned at her, wrapping his arms around her tightly and as she arched her back so that she could still see him Shea said, "I love married us too."

"I already knew that." Riley stated with a shrug of her shoulders. When his brow cocked she smiled and told him, "You practically begged me to marry you."

As they stood; wrapped up in each other, Shea leaned down and kissed her warmly. She sighed against his lips and raised one hand to press against his cheek as Shea's hands pressed into her back through her shirt. As they pulled apart Shea looked down at her and told her, "You are so beautiful."

She smiled gently and leaned up to kiss him once more. Once they parted and she dropped onto the heels of her feet Riley said, "So I was thinking."

"About?" He asked curiously.

"That maybe I'm not so tired now." When she said this Shea raised his eyebrow and Riley grinned and nodded, telling him, "Maybe we get to practising now? You know, tire me out so I sleep well tonight."

He leaned down quickly to kiss her straight on the lips, and Riley smiled against his lips as he held onto her hips tightly. She wound one arm around his neck, standing on her tip toes to clear the near fifteen inch height difference between the two of them and finally Shea leaned down even more, moved his hands from her hips to the backs of her thighs and lifted her up off the ground in one swift motion. She let out a small squeal against his lips, and wrapped her legs as tightly around his waist as she could as Shea moved them from the closet to the bedroom and carefully set her on her back on the bed without pulling his lips from hers even once.

Once they were settled on the bed; Shea hovering over top of her with his hips pressed gently into hers Riley looked up at him, ran her fingers through his hair and told him, "I love you."

"I love you too." Shea said, leaning down again to kiss her softly.

- - -

When Shea woke up that morning he was alone in bed so he glanced to the left of him to find the clock. It was quarter to nine in the morning and he couldn't remember the last time he had slept past eight am. Resting both arms above his head he laid on his back for a few minutes, before he could hear a quiet giggle floating up the stairs, followed by tiny foot steps on the hardwood.

Then he heard Riley whisper, "You gotta be quiet buddy or you'll wake him up."

So he pulled his arms down, stuffing one under the covers and the other hanging off the side of the bed and closed his eyes; pretending to be asleep as Noah crept into the bedroom. A few seconds later a two year old body dropped onto his torso, and he did his best not to make any noise even as Noah lowered himself so their noses were nearly touching. It wasn't until then that Shea opened one eye and Noah jumped backwards with a scream before he giggled loudly.

Riley watched Shea reach out and grab Noah, tucking him into his side as he asked, "How did you know I needed a wake up call?"

Knowing he wouldn't understand what he was being asked Riley told Shea, "Breakfast is ready."

With a grin Shea said, "I'm starving."

"You're always starving." She told him, stepping forward long enough to pick Noah up off of the bed and onto her hip before she told Shea, "Get dressed. We will be downstairs."

He watched them leave the bedroom and then he heaved himself up out of bed and into the bathroom where he brushed his teeth and then wandered into the closet. He threw on a pair of jeans and a t shirt before shuffling downstairs and into the kitchen, where he found Riley attempting, and clearly failing, to get Noah to eat his breakfast.

"Come on buddy, just a few bites?" She asked, holding the spoon out but he shook his head and held our his hand to push the spoon away from him. Shea swooped in and grabbed the spoon of oatmeal from her hand and held it out, and Riley rolled her eyes when Noah took the spoon and shovelled his breakfast into his mouth. As she went to fill two glasses with juice she mumbled, "Of course when daddy does it you listen."

Shea grinned at him, ruffling his hair and when Noah took another spoonful he said, "That's my boy."

With Noah content and finally eating his breakfast Shea and Riley sat at the kitchen table and ate theirs. It was when they were down to a piece of toast each that Riley told Shea, "The doctor called yesterday."

"He did?"

With his full attention on her Riley explained, "I was gonna tell you when you got home but then we got… busy doing other things."

He sent her a lazy smirk and she rolled her eyes, and then Shea asked, "And?"

"And… they still want to do the six months of chemo before attempting the surgery but they don't think it'll take any longer than six months." Riley told him, and she watched as Shea let out a visible sigh of relief. After a few seconds she told him, "It's gonna be a long couple months but they're pretty hopeful that things are gonna go in our favor."

"I told Pekka." Shea blurted out before realizing what he said. When Riley raised her eyebrow his cheeks pinked and he explained, "On the road last time. He knew something was up and I just couldn't lie to him anymore. I didn't mean to keep it from you, I honestly forgot I even told him."

When she let out the tiniest of giggles Shea crunched his eyebrows in confusion. He expected her to be annoyed that he told someone without talking to her first after they agreed to keep things quiet. She looked over at him and explained her outburst, "I told Quinn while you were gone too."

"You did?" He asked curiously.

She nodded her head, "Yeah. He wasn't feeling well while she was over. I kind of had to but I'm glad I did. You're right we can't keep lying to people."

"So we should start telling the guys then?" Shea asked her in surprise, he didn't expect this so quickly.

"I don't know… maybe we should wait a little bit yet. Or start telling them one at a time, I'm just worried they'll have questions that we don't have answers for right now." Riley stated.

"I think that's probably the best idea." Shea said with a nod of agreement. He watched her for a few minutes before he carefully broached the subject, "So… I guess this means the whole baby thing is on hold for a lot longer huh?"

She nodded slowly and told him, "I just think that would be too much for both of us right now."

He knew that, but it didn't mean he wasn't disappointed and he knew by the way she kept her eyes trained on her empty plate that she felt the same way. They had always talked about having a big family, going no more than two years between babies because they wanted them all to be relatively close in age. They were at year two without even really trying for a second one now, and it weighed on both of them just how different life's plans were now. It wasn't about having another one right now, no right now was all about making sure the one they had now lived to see a brother or sister when the time was right for that.

- - -

"Can you put cereal on the list?" Riley asked Shea as she rooted through the pantry to find things they needed to buy while he sat at the kitchen table and made the list. Noah was asleep up in his bedroom, and they were using the quite down time to get the things they really needed to do done.

As he wrote he asked, "What kinds?"

"All of them." She told him, going through the next shelf of the pantry.

Noah came running into the kitchen holding a coloring book and a pack of crayons. Shea chuckled as he watched him hop onto the chair and set up his coloring station, and he slid a few place mats underneath the book so he didn't color the table. Riley stopped worrying about the grocery list so that she could make them breakfast and Shea watched her work for a few minutes before he got up and rooted through the pantry and fridge and finished the list himself.

A plate was set down on the placemat in front of his chair, another in front of hers and a very special plate put in front of Noah. Shea nudged his arm to get his attention from his coloring book and when his eyes landed on his plate of colorful waffles he held his hands up and exclaimed, "Colors!"

"Can you name them?" Shea asked him. Noah glanced at his plate and then Shea and Riley's, but he didn't say anything so Shea asked, "Which ones blue?"

Noah thought about it for a moment before pointing at Shea's plate, "This one."

"And which ones green?" Shea asked, looking over at Riley for a moment to find her leaning her back against the counter, coffee mug in her hands watching them with a smile on her face.

Noah pushed his index finger into Shea's forearm impatiently, trying to get his father's attention back to him and when Shea looked over at him again he took a bite out of his green waffle with a wide smile on his face. Shea couldn't help but laugh when he made a face, spit his unchewed waffle bite out of his mouth, stuck his tongue out and exclaimed, "Ick."

Riley appeared behind him and poured some syrup over his waffle and when she went to grab the fork and knife to cut it for him Shea stopped her and told her, "I got it. You sit down and eat."

She didn't argue like he expected, instead she went and sat down at her spot on the table and ate her red waffle while Shea cut up little pieces for Noah. They had started doing colorful waffles once a week to work on colors with Noah, they always tried to do it when Shea was home as it was easier to do bigger or more time consuming breakfasts when there was two people.

As she ate in silence she watched Shea with Noah, smiling as she watched Noah giggle between bites of his breakfast at something Shea did or said that she wasn't paying attention to. She missed Shea on the days he was gone and on the road, and mornings like this; blissful, perfect mornings, she knew the next time he was gone she would miss him even more.

It was also mornings like this, or simply moments like this that made her wish they had decided to have another baby sooner. She wished they had gone from one to the other, that they had decided to have another one shortly after Noah was born, or at least before he had gotten sick.

She knew she wanted lots of kids; a full house complete with a dog and a few straggling teammates. She hadn't always felt that way, but ever since she and Shea got serious and she knew she wanted a family with him; a big one at that, and Shea wanted the same. When she had first gotten pregnant with Noah it took Riley a long time to get used to the idea but after about five months she started to feel more and more excited. Each time she would wake up late at night to find Shea face level with her stomach having conversations with their unborn baby her excitement would grow. Each time Shea leaned down to kiss her stomach before leaving the house her heart warmed. Each time Shea would wrap his arms around her, around both of them, and tell her he loved her made her heart melt.

When she had gone into labor, in early October, she had stayed home and waited it out through the entire game, even through overtime and a shootout, and when Shea pulled into the driveway and walked into the door she was standing by the stairs with her hospital bag ready and waiting. After twenty-two hours of labor and a conversation of a possible c-section their perfect baby boy was finally there and the feeling was something Riley couldn't explain. She had jokingly been angry with Shea for the fact that their baby was over nine pounds, but he took it the way it was meant. But every time she looked at that baby Riley knew Bianca had been right; there was nothing like it. However, there was nothing more indescribable than seeing Shea holding their perfect baby boy, a thousand watt smile on his face as he stared down at him, practically ignoring Riley in the hospital bed beside him.

The door opening and closing caused Riley to pull herself out of her thoughts as Noah hopped off of his chair and ran toward Quinn, syrup coated hands outstretched. She picked him up, holding his wrists in her free hand to keep them away from her hair as she said, "Good morning."

"Morning." Noah told her as she took him to the sink.

She set him down beside the sink and as she washed his hands she looked over at Shea and Riley as Shea asked, "What are you doing here?"

"Babysitting so you guys can go grocery shopping." Quinn informed him, drying Noah's hands and giving him a poke to his nose before she picked him up and set him down on the floor again. Instantly he grabbed her hand and pulled her to the living room to show off some type of toy she had seen a million times already but always acted surprised to see. As Shea gathered up the dishes she told him, "Leave them. I'll do it. You guys go, spend some time together. Take the morning, whatever. We'll be good here the two of us."

Still Shea continued into the kitchen to put the dishes away before he waved goodbye to Noah as Riley gave him a kiss to the head and with the grocery list in hand she followed him out of the house and into his vehicle.

They had opted to go pick out a new dresser first, Shea had somehow managed to break theirs the week previous. They hadn't had much time just the two of them lately, so they were welcoming the time away from the house today. They were wandering through the furniture store when Shea slipped his arm around Riley's lower back, hand on her waist as he pulled her into his side and asked, "You okay?"

"What do you mean?" She asked him, slightly confused by his question.

"You've been quite all morning. I was just worried about you." He told her honestly, deciding not to skirt around the subject this time.

She smiled gently and told him, "I just like when you're home is all. I like being able to share mornings with my two guys. It's nice."

"I like being home too." Shea told her, as if she thought otherwise. Eventually he asked her, "You sure that's it?"

"I was just thinking." Riley said and when Shea raised his eyebrow she explained, "Just wishing we had another one… or two by now."

"Kids?" He asked her curiously.

She nodded her head and admitted, "I just don't want… I'm worried that maybe you wish things were different."

"Riley." He said, gathering her attention again before telling her, "Yeah, I wish we had more kids before now but I don't wish our lives were any different than they are. I love you, and Noah, you're my entire life. I wouldn't change having the two of you for having a few more kids. You guys are enough."

"Yeah, but-"

He interrupted her to tell her, "We'll have that big family some day, just because some day wasn't yesterday doesn't mean it won't happen."

"Are you sure?" She asked tentatively.

"I'm positive."