Dorky Green Eyes (BXB)

~ Reminisce ~

"No," I giggled, snorting. "Ohmigod, stop."

This only seemed to egg Ryan on more, who continued planting kisses up and down my neck. "Your laugh, though," he mumbled against my skin.

I could tell he was smiling, but the clock in my peripheral vision told me this wasn't the time. Hands on his face, I pulled him back far enough to say, "Ryan, you're going to be late for your therapy session."

So he squeezed me and grumbled into my chest.

I pulled Ryan's hands off of me, finally able to stand up from bed and began heading to the bathroom.

"I don't wannaaaaa," he whined.

I grabbed some clothes from his side of the closet, walked over back to the bed, and hit his leg. "Ryan, come on. You have no work today, and the only thing you have planned is therapy." I tossed him the shirt and pants.

Ryan rolled up from the bed and grumbled. "Fine." But he just kept staring at me.

I pulled my shirt down before I realized he hadn't moved. "Ryan." He blinked, and suddenly his grin diminished slightly. "Get dressed before I begin making breakfast."

He grudgingly began dressing himself, but was downstairs and cooking by the time I walked down to find the pillow fort from the previous night still standing. "Addie?" I asked curiously, throwing up the blanket roof. The child hiding underneath cringed at the increase of light, squealing and turning over. "Sweetie, what are you doing down here? I thought I took you back upstairs."

The Duke, curled up beside her, sat up first and sniffed the air around her. His greying coat was more noticeable and the blue in his eyes told us constantly the cataracts was progressing.

My daughter sat up and yawned. "Needed...to protect the castle. Huns." she told me, clutching her Cinderella and Belle Barbies. Inside the collapsing fort, I spied the keepsake box, beaten up and dirtied, which was now used as her "treasure chest", filled to the brim with smooth rocks, fake jewels, and Post-Its with Ryan's perfect handwriting in purple Sharpie.

I took the still very tired five-year-old in my arms. "Daddy, we're going upstairs. Princess Adeline is still very sleepy."

"Let her stay in the fort," Ryan replied from the kitchen.

"She needs to catch up on her sleep. We have guests coming soon, too. And I want to clean up the fort." Addie whined about the fort dismantlement, complaining about the battlements she built (which were just the pillow cushions) while I took her back to her room and deposited her in her bed. She fell right to sleep again. I stopped in Milo's room and brought him down to the kitchen, where I told Ryan bluntly, "That's your kid. That's your kid up there."

Ryan scooped the eggs onto the plate. He smiled. "I know." When Ryan saw how displeased I was with the response, he told me, "She wanted to finish watching Mulan."

I deposited the still tired two-year-old into his chair. "Why?" I asked.

"You remember that movie, right? It's kick-butt," he insisted, placing the eggs in front of Milo and me. "Okay, you passed out, and she wouldn't stop singing 'I'll Make a Man Out of You' either." Ryan then turned back to the kitchen, humming it.

"Yeah, I remember that. But then you watched the rest of the movie?"

Ryan sat down with a plate of toast. "...yes."

I sighed. "You're irresponsible, sometimes. You know that?"

"This is why I'm the fun parent," he beamed.