[Riley] New News

[Mackenzie Janelle Collins]

Mackenzie yawned as she turned on the porch light for Riley. He'd been gone at the hospital for days and in the meantime Mackenzie had her own business to tend to. She was exhausted, and more so than the normal tiredness she had at the end of the day after toting the kids around all the time. She woke up tired. And then obviously some other things had clued her in a bit; it didn't take much for her to go take a pregnancy test. The trouble was she was bursting with so much excitement over it but she refused to tell anyone until Riley knew. So here she was, long after the girls had been put to bed, waiting up for Riley to return home. He'd be exhausted when he got here. Probably a little hungry. Riley had texted to say he was finally leaving and on his way, so Mackenzie had gone to the kitchen to fix him a plate of dinner and heat it up. She was so anxious about his reaction. She assumed he would be happy; she'd told him months ago she wanted to try for another baby so they'd been trying, but it didn't change her surprise. A pleasant surprise. Mackenzie grabbed a beer from the fridge and a cold glass from the freezer, pouring him a cold brew and placed it on the counter at the island. Mack heard the front door open, "Riley?" she said trying not to let her voice carry upstairs. "Hi," she smiled excitedly as she entered the foyer, hurrying over to wrap her arms around him as he set his bags down, "I missed you." Once he'd set his things down and she let him take his coat off, she wiggled her way back into his arms, wrapping her arms around his neck and kissed him. Mackenzie smiled, pulling just slightly away, "I made you a plate if you're hungry." Mackenzie took his hand and led him to the kitchen where she made him sit down, hugging him tightly again and kissing his cheek. She moved to get herself a glass of water and then leaned he elbows on the island counter, watching him with a bright smile.

[Riley Scott Collins]

Riley ran his hand over his wet hair. He knew that when he got home Mackenzie would be thrilled to see him, and that he wouldn't necessarily be able to take a shower when he got home. Not to mention it was late and he didn't want to risk waking the girls up. So he had taken what seemed like a two minute shower after the last trauma rolled through. Five days and nights at the hospital... or had it been six? He parked the car, leaning forward as he pinched the bridge of his nose. He was at least going to be able to get seven hours of sleep before he had to be at a meeting for his late father's company. He looked over at the passenger seat where a couple pairs of scrubs and his backpack with some necessities - deodorant, toothbrush, etc- were and puffed his cheeks out before picking them up. It almost felt weird to be wearing normal clothes right now. He head up to the door, quietly making his way in. However, Mackenzie had heard him. He smiled tiredly, setting his bag down before wrapping his arms around her. She smelled like vanilla and lavender, like home. And was it possible that he had forgotten how soft her skin was? "Hello darling," he said quietly. His smile grew as she said that she had some food for him. "Thank you," he said, making his way toward he kitchen. Ah. And a cold beer. This woman... he didn't deserve her. God knew how tired she was taking care of their kids entirely as he was off doing his hospital rotation. He took his fork, digging into the mashed potatoes right away before looking up at her and noticing how big she was smiling. "How are you so happy for this late in the evening?" he asked with a quiet laugh before taking a long drink of his beer.

[Mackenzie Janelle Collins]

Riley sat and ate his dinner, digging into the mashed potatoes before anything else, and Mackenzie watched him, beaming. On one hand she was terrible at keeping secrets and wanted to blurt it out; on the other hand, he was probably so hungry... she should let him have a few bites before she dropped the news bomb on him. He looked at her, wondering why on earth she was so happy at this time of night. She shrugged slightly, "I'm happy to see you, I'm glad you're home." She paused, wringing her hands together, "And I have some news. Good news," she added, watching him carefully. She was smiling so much her face was starting to hurt but she couldn't help it. Surely he could tell, he had to. "You can probably guess..." she said, shifting her weight to her other foot.

[Riley Scott Collins]

Riley wasn't entirely sure how it had been possible to work as much as he had been lately. Even during the "down time" at the hospital, he was trying to run his father's company. But when he looked up at Mackenzie, he knew he couldn't complain. He was working hard now because he wanted Mackenzie and their little family to have the life that they deserved. Now, if he decided to walk away from being a doctor today, it wasn't like they would hurt financially. But realistically, Riley had plans. Someday he wanted to sell the business. He wanted to be a private practice doctor who took on his own clients. He wanted to be there for his daughters, go to father daughter dances, make Mackenzie breakfast, and come home in time to have family dinners. That couldn't happen without putting in some grunt work for now. He reached over to his glass, taking a quick drink. Just as much as he had been working, Mackenzie had to. She'd been working hard in everything she did just as much as he had - and she had been responsible for tiny humans. Though, to be honest, with as tired as he was, he was trying to mull over what her news could possibly be. "Did you get the role as Daisy in that remake?" he asked, looking up with a slight lift of his eyebrows. He smiled quickly. " You did, didn't you?" he reached over giving her a quick kiss as he placed his hand on the back of her neck. " That's perfect. I can... I can take a break from school or something. Or maybe we can hire a nanny. We'll figure something out," he said, giving a nod of his head.

[Mackenzie Janelle Collins]

Mackenzie smiled while he tried guessing, though when he mentioned a role she had auditioned for she tilted her head to the side, "What?" Mackenzie laughed a little, shaking her head, "No, that's not it, I haven't heard from my agent about that." She paused, seeing that he was still eating and decided she wouldn't make him wait any longer. "No, it's something else." She clasped her hands together, smiling, "I... am pregnant." She stared at him, "I'm pregnant, we're having another baby." It felt so good to get it off her chest and finally tell him and watch his reaction and hold him and go to sleep beside him. She knew it was good news, he would be happy, surely. It was just a matter of letting him in on it. She'd just wanted him to be the first to know. "I found out a few days ago and I wanted to tell you in person, I wanted you to be the first to know," she beamed, bouncing on her heels slightly out of excitement.

[Riley Scott Collins]

Riley stopped chewing as he heard Mackenzie say what he thought he had, and looked up at her directly. It was hard to imagine that this beautiful woman he had approached at a bonfire some night had ever been a young girl. I mean, she still was. But he had never seen her as just 'another' of the girls that he had been seeing. To be fair, Riley had been known for a sort of reputation. But he knew that the moment he had laid eyes on Mackenzie that his whole world would be jolted. There wasn't ever going to be force in his life quite like her. And after every thing they had been through, through all the heartache and despair, memory loss and death, loved ones in spiraling addictions, after everything... here he was sitting in a grandiose home across from the woman he loved more than anything in the world. And she was going to have another of his children. He swallowed what was in his mouth quickly, since he couldn't seem to stop the smile that was threatening to rip his entire mouth wide open. "We're having a baby?" he questioned excitedly, getting up from the table. He felt like he wasn't that interested in food anymore. "We're having another baby!" this time he yelled out, leaning down to pick Mackenzie up from where she was seated so that he could hug her. Riley wrapped his arms around her small frame, just pulling him as close to him as he possibly could. He'd already missed her from the long hours at work anyway, but now that they had this magical news he felt like he was on cloud nine, and didn't even need the sleep he had been desperately craving. Riley held onto her, burying his mouth and face into the side of her neck as he held her up against him. "Alright," he said, setting her down. He clapped his hands together once excitedly before placing them on both sides of her face. "Well now we have to celebrate with the girls." he said, moving to the fridge quickly so that he could start getting out all three of his current ladies favorite ice creams ready. "GIRLS!" he yelled at the top of his lungs, knowing without a doubt that they would be sleeping at this hour. But who needed sleep when their perfect little family was about to get just a little more perfect.