“Okay, so maybe harmless is overstating,” Silas conceded at the arched eyebrow. “And I would never teach him something that you hadn’t already ok’d, babe.” EJ wasn’t his kid, he didn’t get to make those decisions. He could teach him things sure, but it was always going to be at the okay of Rae. He inhaled sharply when EJ grabbed at his nose, because the kid had a pretty good grip for someone who wasn’t even a year old yet. “Hey,” he exclaimed, the word coming out a little nasally. “What d’you think you’re doing?” Because yeah, he’d forgotten EJ’s new game, so it just left him a little bit at a loss for what the infant wanted.
He nodded at the idea of a prank war. “I think the two of them against the two of us would be a pretty even war too,” he told her. “They got all their cop smarts to work with, but we got skills of our own.”
“It says I got strange taste,” he joked, extending the conversation just for the hell of it. “And none of those other women were blonde. I like blondes,” he grinned wide enough to show his dimples. “I’ll make a lot o concessions for a pretty blonde, even if she is ridiculous.” It was one of the things that he loved about her, her sense of humor and the fact that she didn’t take herself seriously all the time. It lent a level of relaxation to the relationship that he really liked. He recoiled away from her fingers when she went after a ticklish spot, furrowing his brow at her for only a second. “Only people with voyeuristic tendencies,” he countered, knowing full well what she’d meant by the comment but being difficult on purpose.
It was a good thing he’d gotten good at reading her words; otherwise he’d be more concerned about answering her question. “Nothing,” he answered and his expression stayed the same. “Just that I love you is all,” he leant down and pressed a kiss into her hair, just above her temple. “We are adults, and way beyond the teenager excuses,” he reasoned with a definitive nod. “I mean, I didn’t really use the movie excuse when I was a teenager either.” But that was because the girls he’d been with in high school had all been pretty easy anyways; uncomplicated is what he used to call them, but desperate is what he’d probably call them now. It was clear that his taste in women had definitely improved.
“God, so that was what the weird game of twenty questions was for?” he asked rhetorically, thinking back to Regan and his questions. “I thought Reg had slipped a cog with that conversation.” And for a cop he really hadn’t been that sneaky about getting an answer, but maybe he hadn’t been going for sneaky, Silas couldn’t really be sure. There was a flash of doubt about his words when Rae turned away from him after she’d asked her question, and suddenly he wondered if he should joke about it or not. God, he was being ridiculous now, it wasn’t like Rae didn’t expect him to say shit like that sometimes. “Nah, I’d never cheat on you,” he replied. “But maybe I’d try for a threesome.” He resister the urge to draw her face back so he could see her eyes.
How was he supposed to take that? Being happy like this was still pretty new to him. Not that he’d been unhappy for years upon years, but happiness at this level hadn’t happened very often for him before now. “If I was always this happy I’d lose my rep ‘cause I’d be smiling all the time,” he murmured.
But part of him was getting concerned with her reactions, with how tired she looked and how it seemed like she was struggling just a little, though it was clear she was trying to make sure that he couldn’t tell. Should he call her on it now?
“Babe,” he hedged, testing the waters. “Are you alright?” And he hoped that if she answered he’d get an honest one and not her usual ‘I’ll be fine’ approach.