Riley's POV
After Jack and my mom leave and Mia and the twins are in bed Mac and I were sitting in the living room talking. "Riles, I need to tell you something." He says. "Okay. You know you can tell me anything. What's up?" I say. "That phone call Jack got earlier. It was about Cage. She was murdered..." he says. At first I'm shocked then I start crying. Cage was basically like my only sister other than Leanna. Mac puts his arms around me and manages to calm me down a bit. After a second I notice Mac's breath becomes irregular. I look at him and see him trying to hold back tears. "Mac you know you don't have to act tough right?" I say. He nods and I see a few tears escape. After we both cried for a bit we decide to head to bed. I lay facing Mac and he smiles at me. "Riles." "Hm." "Thank you." He says. "For what?" I ask confused. "Everything. Helping me through everything with my dad and Gwen. Loving me. Giving me a family. Making me feel whole again." He says. "I'd do anything for you Mac. No matter how much fear either of us have of being hurt. For a while I stopped dating out of fear of being hurt then I realized I liked you and just never started dating again. Not until I started dating you I mean." I say. He smiles and kisses me. "I love you Riles." "I love you too Mac." I say falling asleep.
The next morning my mom comes over with bins and Mac goes to meet Jack to haul the bigger stuff. We bring the twins downstairs with their play mat while we organize some of the bins as to where they're going. We make three piles: clothes and bedding, pictures and photo albums, and decorations. Once the boys get here with the bed, a bookshelf, and dresser we start unpacking bins. After about 4 hours of unpacking we head upstairs for lunch. Mia asked if she could cook while we were unpacking and I told her as long as she yelled for help if she needed it she could. She did pretty well. She made a chicken casserole recipe I had. "Thank you for making lunch Mia. You did a good job." I say. She just smiles. "So are Jack and mom gonna live here now?" She asked. "Yea they're mostly moved in. Just a few more bins to unpack but then they're done." I say. "Well I like having Jack around. He's like the fun uncle figure." She says. Mac and I both almost choke trying not to laugh. Jack looks at me and Mac with the 'really' look. "I mean you have the right mindset for working at the Phoenix." Mac says. "Oh yea just wait till you see Mac make paper clips into figures." Jack says. "Speaking of which what do you do with those?" Jack asks confused. "He gives them to me and I put them in a jar." I say pointing to a jar on a bookshelf in the living room. "Ohhhh so that's how he hits on you." Jack says teasingly. "Jack, watch it. There are kids in the room." I say.
After my mom and Jack finish unpacking they come upstairs and we all talk. "Does anyone else really miss Cage?" I ask hoping someone says yes. Both Jack and Mac nod. "Things at the Phoenix are definitely gonna be harder for a couple weeks." Mac says. "Well sometimes you just have to take it one day at a time. It'll get easier." Jack says. We sit there for a few minutes in silence. Mac just puts his arms around me and kisses the top of my head. I look over at Mia and see a new painting she's working on. "That's amazing Mia. How are you so good at that?" I ask. "I don't know I don't think I'm that great at it, I just copy pictures I take or pictures I find and then make this." She says holding up a small painting of Mac and I on our wedding day. I swear she could be an artist someday.
The next day we head to the Phoenix not for a mission but to be with the Phoenix and spend time together remembering Cage. "I know the next few weeks are gonna be hard for us all. I'm not gonna ask you guys to do any missions unless it's absolutely necessary cause the last thing I want to do is send emotionally unstable agents on a mission." Matty says. We all nod knowing nothing we say is gonna change how Matty is gonna do this. We talked for a good two hours sharing stories and memories. Eventually it started getting late and we all decided to head home. Mac stops me outside. "Riles can I ask you something?" "Yea what's up?" I say. "Are you okay? Like honestly?" He says. "No.... losing Cage made me think about what if it's my fault? What if something I did on the mission exposed Cage and it's my fault she's dead?" I say. I didn't want to tell Mac this because I didn't want him worrying about me but it's getting harder and harder not to have a full mental breakdown knowing this could be my fault. "Riles," Mac says hugging me, "this isn't your fault. No one could have known that Cage would have been killed by one of the dealer's clients. We can't spend our lives beating ourselves up over it. This isn't anyone's fault." I can't hold it back. A few tears escape and Mac just hugs me tighter. "Thank you Mac." I say. "For what?" He asks confused. "Everything. Convincing Thornton to give me a chance. Standing up for me when people doubted me. Being there for me when I go through a break up or loss. Just for loving me." I say not sure how to explain everything I need him for. Once I calm down he kisses me and we head home.
A few months later
It's been a few months since we lost Cage. I think most of us have gotten better. It's never 100 percent easy but it's getting better. Mia is out of school today and Jack and my mom's wedding it in 2 days. "How was school?" I ask as we pick her up. "Good. I'm gonna miss my classmates over the summer but I'm glad to get a break from the work. Oh and we still get to do conditioning over the summer for soccer." She says. "Sounds fun." I say. We head home and Noel comes running up to us with Izzy following behind. "Play?" Izzy says to Mia. "I'll play with you once I get my shoes off." She says heading to her room. Noel looks past me and sees Mac. "Dada!" She says. "Hey baby!" He says picking her up. She giggles then he puts her back down. "We have that baby shower today don't forget." Mac says. Leanna and Bozer are having their baby shower today and I was put in charge of getting a cake with the gender of the baby. "How could I forget I've been helping plan it. Anyway I was debating whether or not we should bring the twins." I say. "I think we could bring them. We could handle it." He says. I nod and get ready. Then we get Noel ready and finally we get Izzy ready despite some complaints. I put the twins in opposite colors. Noel had a blue dress and pink shoes and Izzy had a pink dress and blue shoes.
