All Good Things - Chapter Eight

[rycolfan.livejournal.com]

Title - All Good Things
Author - Rycolfan
Rating - PG-13
Pairing - Ryan/Colin, Ryan/Pat, Colin/Deb.
Summary - All good things come to an end, and the prospect of parting ways forces certain confessions...
Disclaimer - I only own the story peeps...no offense intended.
Feedback - makes me smile!

Right, seeing as there's a shortage of ficcage today (and due to some encouragement by a certain someone!) I'm posting the next chapter of this fic for you.  Comments are much appreciated, as always.  Enjoy!  ^_^

Chapter Eight


“Are we going to do that charity event next month, honey? They called again and asked us to confirm.”

I looked up briefly from my computer screen, my brain scrambling to catch up with the conversation. It was a few days before Christmas and I still hadn’t got all my gifts yet, which was proving a more difficult task than I’d thought. I never knew what to give Deb, normally falling back on either jewellery or art. She was sitting opposite me, looking expectant.

“Oh, yeah sure,” I shrugged with a small smile, “it’s for a good cause.”

She gave me a dazzling smile in return. “Great. I’ll let them know.”

My eyes returned to the screen as the front doorbell rang and she got up to answer it; a little too quickly for my liking, making me wonder briefly what she was up to. My attention was drawn fully a few seconds later, however, by her surprisingly enthusiastic greeting and a number of different voices answering, and I got up with a frown to see who it was.

I turned the corner and froze mid-step as the towering figure of the man occupying nearly every waking thought came into view, along with Pat and their three children. 

“Look who it is, honey,” Deb said to me happily as she closed the door, clearly having planned this with Pat, her partner in crime, who was smiling also.

Ryan looked up, straight into my eyes, and I could have sworn that time stopped dead as we gazed at one another for a moment.

“Colin!”

 I was jolted out of my shock by a blur of pink rushing forwards and I lifted her into my arms easily, tearing my eyes away from her father and smiling at her excitement.

“It’s nice to see you too Claire. You’re growing up way too fast, you know.” I looked over at Sam and Mac. “All three of you are.”

“Tell me about it,” Ryan murmured, ruffling Sam’s hair and receiving a glare in return.

“Do you three want to go see Luke?” Three enthusiastic head nods. “He’s in his room.”

I put Claire down and watched the three of them rush up the stairs before walking forward to greet Pat, kissing her on the cheek and trying not to inhale too much perfume. I noticed that her answering smile didn’t quite meet her eyes, but I was used to that; she had always been jealous of my closeness with Ryan, knowing that I was probably closer to him than she was, but she had become good friends with Deb over the years so we put up with each other.

I released her, pausing in front of Ryan, and there was a tense moment before he enveloped me in a hug. It was the first time in my life that I didn’t feel completely comfortable in his embrace, despite its normalcy in our friendship, and I brought my hands up to pat his back awkwardly.

“Hi Col,” he whispered, giving me a squeeze.

I breathed him in, all the feelings I’d been trying to bury rushing to the surface. “Hi.”

Deb and Pat didn’t seem to notice that anything was amiss and carried on making conversation as he held me a little longer than normal then released me. Pat took his hand as Deb led them into the front room and I followed them in a kind of daze, still finding it hard to believe that he was actually here.

Our wives were already chatting animatedly about the kids and recent developments as we sat down, but Ryan’s gaze was locked on me. After a couple of minutes, Deb offered them coffee and I jumped up to go and make it; seizing the opportunity to get out of there for a while.

The kitchen was a welcome refuge and I placed my hands flat on the counter and dropped my head for a moment to try to compose myself. I had been completely overwhelmed by the rush of conflicting emotions that had hit me when I’d laid eyes on him again, and my heart was still hammering uncomfortably in my chest.

I heard the door open and immediately straightened up, reaching for the coffee machine. I knew it was him before I heard him speak.

“You need a hand?”

My hands trembled slightly as I grabbed the cups from the cupboard. “No thanks, I got it.”

Footsteps approached and then he was beside me, studying my face with a frown. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” I replied with false cheer, “I’m just surprised to see you, that’s all.”

“I’m just keeping my promise,” he said softly, taking my hand briefly before I moved it out of his grasp. “But if you don’t want me here…”

I heard the change of tone and turned, catching the look of hurt which flashed across his face. “Of course I do Ry.” I placed a hand on his arm. “I’m just finding it a little difficult to play happy families, considering what happened between us.”

Ryan nodded and sighed quietly. “Me too, but I needed to see you Col. Six months is a long time.”

“I assume you didn’t fly up here,” I said, trying to steer the conversation back to a safer topic as I turned back to pour the coffee.

“No,” he chuckled. Oh, how I’d missed that sound. “We were up visiting some of Pat’s family and decided to kill two birds with one stone.”

“So I’m a bird now, am I?” I smirked.

He grinned and shrugged. “You could be a…”

“Bald eagle,” I finished his sentence for him with a long-suffering smile. “It’s nice to see you haven’t changed.”

“Neither have you,” he said quietly, all traces of humor gone from his face. As I stared at him, he took a half-step towards me and I felt my breath hitch.

“Where are those coffees, hun?”

Deb’s voice broke our trance and I stepped back. “Coming,” I called, hoping my voice sounded relatively normal. Ryan seemed to snap back to his normal self, and followed me out of the kitchen casually.

The kids had come down in our absence, and were excitedly talking about Christmas and the latest computer games. I shared a look with Ryan, who hated modern technology with a passion, and set the coffees down carefully.

“Hi, uncle Ryan,” Luke called cheerfully.

“Hey buddy. You looking forward to Christmas?”

“Yeah, as long as I get what I really want,” he replied, looking pointedly at me.

I raised my hands and smiled. “You’ll have to wait and see what santa brings.”

“Oh, come on dad, we all know that santa doesn’t…” his words were cut off by Sam clapping a hand over his mouth and nodding towards Claire, who was watching them closely.

“Santa doesn’t what?” she asked with an adorable frown.

Luke looked stumped so I decided to jump in, my improv skills coming to the fore. “Santa doesn’t give presents unless you’re really good,” I leant forward to whisper to her conspiratorially, “and Luke’s been a bit naughty.”

Claire giggled and moved to sit on my lap as Luke looked highly indignant. “I’ve been good, right daddy?” she asked, a tiny note of doubt in her voice.

Ryan drew in a breath through his teeth and shook his head slightly. “I don’t know….there were a few moments…”

I laughed at her mortified expression and gave her a reassuring squeeze. “He’s just teasing you sweetie. I’m sure santa’s gonna stop at your house.”

It almost seemed like old times as we all chatted and laughed, sometimes until our sides hurt, but there was still an unspoken tension between Ryan and myself, and our playful banter was a little forced. I took the opportunity to let my eyes wander over his face when he wasn’t looking, drinking in the sight, and he suddenly turned to meet my gaze, as if he could feel my eyes on him. I swam in his emerald depths for a moment before looking down at the sleeping face of his youngest child in my arms, knowing that I didn’t deserve her trust or affection.