3.18 Mommy

Being a teenager does not stop Rafe from sleeping in his fathers bed, though his reasoning for this has changed. When his father told him to go and sleep in his own bed after his birthday, he was okay with this at first, until he asked his father where "mom" should sleep then. His father told him he would buy Madeline her own bed and that they could find the space and money to build her her own room. So he made up some lame excuse about not wanting to sleep on his own, feeling lost at night and missing his mother so much at night. And with his father accepting this lame excuse, the first steps of his plan was set in motion. He would not leave this bed, not until it was obvious Madeline was going to be sleeping at his side.

The next phase consisted of giving Madeline most of the responsibility, trying to show his father he really wanted her to be his mom. In all possible definitions of what it meant to be his mom. So for everything he needed permission for, he'd ask Madeline. "Mom, would it be okay if I had some friends over tonight? They can all bring sleeping bags and sleep in the living room!"

But Rafe was not an idiot, he also noticed that his father was out when Madeline was home, and that she went out when his father got home. So he told his father Madeline wanted to work on her condition, but that she was afraid to ask him, a totally liable story, cause everybody in that house knew Madeline was a coward. So when Ryan walked up to Madeline to tell her he'd be happy to help her work on her condition to catch those big fish, she didn't know where this was coming from, but embraced the possibility to spend some time with her friend. Every time their eyes locked, she'd feel the tension, every small touch would send shivers down her spine and now that she knew what it was, it no longer confused her. She even managed to enjoy it, so long as Ryan doesn't notice it.

Slowly both Ryan and Madeline shifted their priorities. Madeline would be at home more, spending time with Luke, when Ryan was around. Ryan would come home after work and usually help Madeline training, or spend time with Luke as well.

Madeline only went fishing in the early mornings, before Luke wakes up, and after Ryan has left for work. Though not necessary for their income, she did needed this time for herself, even if it was just for half an hour a day. More so because she and Ryan started to spend more and more time together, though nothing ever happened that went beyond friendship.

When both his father and Madeline were at home, Rafe often took Luke outside with him, only to force his father to look at Madeline other then the mother of his second son and best friend. Though Rafe managed to make good use of his baby brother as well, girls were attracted to cute toddlers, "So ehm, I have a ticket spare to that movie that's coming out tonight...you wouldn't mind going with me would you?" He didn't care that Sidney had been his friend since child hood, those make the best girl friends in his opinion, just like his father and Madeline.

When Sidney had left to get herself ready for the movies, Rafe threw Luke in the air, "I knew you would come in handy! You're the best Luke!" Luke could do nothing more then giggle from excitement.

"Just don't tell mom okay? I'll get in trouble." Luke looked at Rafe and nodded, adoring his big brother he just figured it would be the right time to give him a nod. Rafe rewarded him with a nice cuddle, he adored his little brother as well.

The date went well, so when they got to his house to try out the hot-tub, Rafe pretended to yawn and made a move at her.

To which Sidney did not object, so Rafe decided it was time to take it a step further, but for that he had to get her into the house, "do you want to go to my bedroom and see if you can beat me at pillow fighting?"

Which of course did not mean he would take her downstairs, she could never find out he still sleeps in his fathers bed, besides, his father was already asleep. Not able to win Sidney decides it is time to tease Rafe with words, "I thought you always slept in your fathers bed?" Rafe hit her even harder for that, "no, I stopped doing that ages ago! I sleep here, with my baby brother." Though Sidney tried to avoid the next hit, she wasn't trying hard enough, "don't toddlers wake up at night like a lot??" Rafe stood still to think about that for a moment...do toddlers really wake up a lot at night? He didn't know the answer to that, but if Sidney thought so, it must be true..."Ehm, yes, he does, but I don't mind," another brilliant idea popped up, "this way my mom can get some rest as well at night." He stood still, wondering if he should start by telling Madeline she looked tired about a thousand times a day before he offered to sleep in his own bed so she could get a proper good night rest in his fathers bed, or if he should just tell her right away he'd like to help her out by taking care of the nights...It was a mistake to take the time to think it through, because Sidney took advantage of this moment and shoved the pillow on his head while launching herself at him. As they both toppled over and fell on the floor, Sidney on top of Rafe, he grabbed hold of her and tried to kiss her. He just saw the opportunity and took it, but apparently Sidney did not agree, she pushed him away and hurried to get up, "oh Rafe, I'm sorry, no, this can't happen...I thought we were just friends." As Rafe took his time to stand up, taken aback a bit by this sudden rejection he said, "so, does that mean we can't become more, I thought my intentions were pretty clear, or do you always cuddle with your friend like we did in the hot-tub?" Sidney suddenly looked away, as though feeling ashamed of herself, "no I normally don't, and I do like you, I don't want to loose you as a friend, but please understand Rafe, I am already dating Emmet..." Rafe stared at her, "Emmet? You never even mentioned him to me! I thought I was your friend, I thought we talked about everything!" When Sidney stayed silent, Rafe turned his back on her and crawled into the bed to let her know she was no longer wanted here. When he heard her walk away, he curled himself up into a ball while pulling the blankets over his head.

When Madeline came home from her late night fishing, she found Rafe like that fast asleep. She could see the pillow was still wet with tears. Knowing he had been on his first date, she thought it best to not disturb him. So after getting her nightgown, she quietly left the room again, leaving her in quite predicament.

The only reasonable place for her to sleep now, is where Rafe normally sleeps. The option of sleeping in bed with Danya didn't even cross her mind. She had been able to avoid going to this room ever since Satya died here, and she felt as though Satya's spirit never left this room. The chair, used to sit by her side, was still standing there as though it happened only yesterday. The walls were still covered in photo's taken on their wedding day or honeymoon. It used to make her feel all warm inside, to see how much two human beings could love each other. Now it only makes her sad, it only tells her what she should have known all along, Ryan is nowhere near ready to go on with his live, and she is not sure if he will ever be.

Glancing over her shoulder to look at Ryan sleep, she worried what he would say when he'd wake up the following morning only to find her in his bed. Would he get angry with her? Would he yell at her? Shaking her head to get rid of those thoughts, she lies down and curls up under the blankets feeling very similar to what Rafe was feeling earlier that evening.

-----------------------------------------Notes------------------------------------------

Okay, I know this is a tad bit sad, but just blame Sidney will you, she never minded Rafe flirting with her, she let him cuddle with her in the hot-tub, but when I let him kiss her for the first time, all of sudden she blurts out she was going steady with Emmet! Stupid teens... This was actually supposed to be a very happy chapter! But as I had with many other chapters :) this just seemed like a proper ending.

In response to some of the comments I got on my previous chapter (again sneaking in a thanks to everybody for reading my story! and commenting!), the apple-tree story... I actually am blaming those for the fact that there are no girls in my legacy (yet). Danya is actually growing apples, and nothing but apples ever since she started with her first batch stolen from Avian. She is currently at level 9 of the gardening career, and I have no intention of letting her get to 10. It takes another 50K or so and since I still blame those bloody apple trees, I want them gone. So I am letting Danya harvest them until there are no more, I'm down to 4 now. Danya is still alive, though 102 days old, I don't know how she manages to hold on, but she does.

Then there's this. I used to have this little birdie whispering stuff in my ear every now and then, this little birdie turned out to be a devil in disguise. She started whispering stuff like "go break the rules...get another adorable crist/sabo toddler" But saint-like me is not used to breaking the rules. So here it is. Normally if your heir get's to half his teen stage, you are allowed to have more children then you rolled for. Sadly, Luke is my heir, and both Ryan and Maddie will be long past elder before he gets to that age. I would LOVE to have a little girl from them both, another thing, I would love to know if those apple trees really are the issue. So I am very very tempted to give maddie and ryan another child at the end of their adult stage, just in time before they turn to elder and see if I can FINALLY get a girl...
Your opinions on this please?