The Things That You Do

Gently smoothing out the small t-shirt that he dressed Zachary in, Lionel quirked a soft smile, wordlessly fussing about how cute the little boy looked. It hadn’t been long, when he and Alexa had fought, she had only spent a couple of nights at her mother’s home, but still he had missed them being around, even if it hadn’t been gone for too long. He had hated how quiet the house had been without them around.

It was still a work in progress, despite the conversation that they had had, things between him and Alexa still felt a little off, and whilst it bothered Lionel that things didn’t feel as easy as they had before they’d had their fight, he knew that he had simply had to give it a little time, even if things were a little awkward. He knew that he had to give things a chance to settle down.

Carefully smoothing out Zachary’s brown hair, he pressed a tender kiss to the top of the baby’s head before he leant over, slipping a pair of socks onto Zachary’s feet.

“Are you going somewhere?”

Lionel, who’d moved to lift Zachary into his arms, jumped a little at the sound of Alexa’s voice before he wheeled around, settling his eyes on where she stood in the doorway, stifling a yawn into her hand. “I thought you were still sleeping” he replied “I was going to come back through and wake you in a minute. I thought that it would be nice if the three of us headed out for breakfast” he added.

Alexa, who’d been trying to wake herself up slightly, tilted her head. “Breakfast?” she posed, the tone of her voice a little difficult to decipher.

Lionel shifted his feet slightly, a little perturbed by the tone of her voice, before he nodded, offering her a shy smile. “I thought it would be nice” he repeated “I mean, I know I’ve been busy for the last couple of days since you got back, but I’ve got the day off today and I thought that we could make the most of it. Obviously, we don’t have to. It was just a thought” he babbled self-consciously.

It wasn’t uncommon, with things between him and Alexa still feeling more than a little awkward, he had developed a habit of overthinking what he wanted to say to her, and whilst it irked him that he felt so nervous around her, he doubted that it was something which would fade quickly, even if he did want it to. He was sure that he would be a little apprehensive around her for a while to come.

Alexa frowned a little, not missing the self-conscious tone in his voice, but she didn’t comment on it, instead quirking a soft smile as she took a step towards him, gently pressing a soft kiss against Zachary’s cheek. “I think breakfast sounds lovely” she murmured “Give me a little while to take a shower and get dressed and then we can go, Ok?” she posed, peeking up at him.

Lionel gently lifted his hand, brushing a few loose blonde hairs behind her ear, before he nodded, offering her a small smile. “That sounds like a plan” he mused.

Alexa flashed him another brief smile before she pushed herself up onto her toes, sneaking a brief kiss before she padded out of the room, heading towards the bathroom. Lionel watched her across the hall for a few seconds before he gently shook his head, settling his stare on Zachary who looked up at him, his blue eyes wide. “It’ll get better” he mumbled more to himself than to the baby.

~#~
Finishing up the glass of orange juice that she had ordered, Alexa spared a glance across the table, her blue eyes admiring the sight of Lionel who sat opposite her, cooing happily to Zachary who sat in his arms, his big blue eyes blinking sleepily. It had been a quiet a morning, with Lionel more than a little awkward around her, the conversation that they had shared had been a little disjointed and uncomfortable, but Alexa didn’t quite know how to fix it, even if she knew that she wanted to. She didn’t quite know what she could say to put him at ease. She knew why he was nervous, with their fight still fresh in the mind, she was certain that he was worried about saying something wrong, but she didn’t want him to be. She didn’t like the idea that he felt as though he had to walk on eggshells around her.

Settling her glass down onto the table, she spared them another soft look, before she gently shook her head, a soft sigh falling out of her mouth,

Lionel, who’d been fussing over Zachary, noticed the sound of her sigh before he lifted his head, tilting it slightly. “You Ok?” he posed.

Alexa spared him a glance, briefly contemplating insisting that she was fine, before she shook her head. “You know we’re OK, don’t you?” she posed.

Lionel’s forehead creased. “What?” he posed, a slightly awkward laugh falling out of his mouth.

“Me and you” Alexa replied “We’re good, Leo, and I want you to know that. You’ve been odd since I came home, you’ve been overthinking and babbling, and I don’t like it. You have no reason to be nervous around me and I don’t like the idea that you think you do” she added, her voice softening slightly.

Lionel’s eyes widened fractionally, surprised that she had caught on, before he shook his head, gently moving to settle Zachary down into his pushchair. “I just don’t want to upset you” he murmured, pushing a nervous hand back through his hair.

“What makes you think you will?” Alexa countered.

Lionel merely shrugged, something which made Alexa smile to herself before she leant across the table, sliding her fingers through his. “It was a fight, Leo” she mused “We had a disagreement, some of us said some pretty stupid things, but it’s over with now and I’d quite like to put it behind us, something which isn’t going to happen until you stop acting like we’re on our first date again. Isn’t it bad enough that we sat through that once?” she quipped warmly.

Lionel let out a small laugh, something which made Alexa squeeze his hand tightly. “It was just a fight” she noted “Not our first, probably not our last, and I’d like to forget about it. Wouldn’t you?” she posed, watching as he gently skimmed his finger over the engagement ring which she sported on her finger.

Lionel nodded without hesitation. “I’d love that” he insisted, a crooked smile pulling at the corner of his mouth.

Alexa marveled at the soft smile on his face before she ducked her head, squeezing his hand once more. “Good” she mused “Because my mother isn’t about to let up on wedding planning. She’s already got a wonderful hat picked out and I wasn’t going to be the one to break it to her that we might have to postpone” she quipped playfully.

Lionel grinned at her, marveling at her warm and familiar smile, before he lifted her hand, kissing the warm skin gently. He knew that it wasn’t going to be instant, despite Alexa’s insistence that she wanted to put their fight behind them, he knew it was going to take a little while for things to settle down completely between the two of them, but he knew that it was what he wanted, even if it did take them a little while. He had no doubt that he wanted things to go back to normal. They had come a long way, to him, it didn’t seem that long ago that Alexa was awkwardly admitting that she had feelings for him and he was awkwardly trying to figure out what it was that he wanted to happen between the two of them, and he was proud of how far they’d come, even if it hadn’t always been smooth sailing. He doubted that he could have been happier that Alexa had admitted how she felt about him.