Bombs & Bullets | Cricky [C]

75 | Faith

| Chris' POV |

I was staring at the ceiling, unable to sleep. Ricky was curled up around my arm and off in dreamland. He was so precious to me. To think that anyone would dare doubt that makes me so pissed. Let alone, that someone tried to take that away from me. I know Ricky and I have had our share of fights, but we still love each other more than anyone could ever comprehend.

He started to whimper in his sleep. It was like an upset puppy, and just broke my heart. After a few moments of it, his eyes shot open. Ricky squeezed my arm and quickly looked around to understand his surroundings.

"Shh, it's okay. I'm here." I soothed him, "Bad dream?"

"Yeah." He muttered and rested his head back on my shoulder.

I sighed, "Jani?"

Quiet. Ricky grasped onto me harder and mumbled something that resembled a "Yes." I kissed his forehead and pulled him in closer to me, until I couldn't bring him any closer. His heart beat against my side at a rapid pace. My poor baby. His therapist told him it's likely memories of abuse will come back around important events, like marriage or having kids. It's just another thing we have to deal with on top of all our other issues.

"He can't hurt you anymore." I whispered to him as I pet his hair, "No one will hurt you on my watch."

"I feel safe when I'm with you." Ricky replied.

I smiled softly, "Good, because you are. It doesn't matter what happens, your arms feel like home."

He reached up and kissed me on the cheek. It sent chills, the good kind, through my body. He warms my heart more than he'll ever known. Ricky began to drift off, then some fucker decided to call my phone. Who the fuck? I reached over to the nightstand and pulled it off the charger. It was my brother. At this hour? At least he managed to finally get ahold of me.

"Hey." I answered as I sat up.

Ricky watched me get out of bed and frowned as he did so. I leaned over and kissed his forehead, whispering to him to go back to sleep.

"Hey, Chris." My brother responded, "I, um, I'm sorry to call you this late but I just got home and saw this whole shit storm."

"It's okay. I was awake anyways because Ricky had a bad nightmare. How was your trip?" I asked as I walked into the next room.

"It was fine. Met some hot forgien chicks, had a good time." He laughed, "But, um, speaking of chicks, that Angie girl..."

I sighed, "You know her?"

"Unfortunately." Nick muttered, "I had been drinking and ran into her at club. She was fucking wasted, I mean she must've been more alcohol than blood. She was drunk enough she probably thought I was you."

"I figured it was something like that. You know the test came back a particial match. That means it's most likely your kid."

I heard a thud on the other end of the phone, which I assume was him hitting his head against the wall, "I know. Stupid ass me. You know I'm really thinking you're doing something right by not drinking. It ruins shit, a lot."

"I really hoped it wouldn't take you becoming a father to realize being straight edge isn't that bad, but I'm glad something pushed you to stop. Life is so much better sober," I stressed, "But I won't get preachy. What's your game plan for this?"

"Didn't this kind of happen to Devin a few years ago?" He asked.

"Kind of. He broke up with his girlfriend while she was pregnant and fought for custody of the baby. She didn't want Bella anyways."

"Maybe I should just fight her for custody. I don't want to be with her, and I'd rather raise a kid by myself than force them to go back and forth between Scranton and Los Angeles. I'm going to take it over with mom. Either way, I need to talk to her about making a public announcement because I'm sick of this ruining your reputation."

"Thank you." I responded, "I should get back to bed. We can talk about this more tomorrow. Or, whenever I have time. I've got a lot of wedding planning to do."

"I'm excited for the wedding. We live in the same town and never see each other ever." He chuckled, "I'll talk to you, yeah, whenever. Goodnight."

"Night." I re