Ransom Drysdale: Manipulation

Warp Speed

At the end of the night Ransom went home. When he walked into the house his father was waiting for him again. A glass of whiskey in hand, once again.

"Father." Ransom says in a friendly way as he enters the kitchen. "Ransom. You never came home last night. You rushed in this morning, and then rushed out."

He spoke softly, like he was about to scold Ransom. "You're still on parol, I need to know what you were doing. I at least need to know it was nothing illegal."

"It wasn't. I was at work, I'm always at work." Richard scoffed, as if he didn't believe Ransom. "All night?" Richard asked. Ransom matched his tone now, rolling his eyes.

"Yes. All night." Richard finally caught on. He had noticed a change in his son but he didn't piece it together until now. "You were with your boss. Weren't you?"

Ransom didn't know if he should tell him the truth or not, but he decided to. "Yes. I was." Richard nodded his head and a little smirk emerged on his face.

"You're sleeping with her?" Ransom shook his head and dropped it, looking at the floor. "It's not like that. She's different. You know she's an author right?"

"I do."

"She's writing about me. It'll be published soon. She saw something in me I didn't know was there." He smiled, it was the first time his father had seen him genuinely smile since he was a child.

"She's special?" Ransom nods, "Yes. She really is." Richard nods in approval, his lips pursed, taking a sip of whiskey. "When do I get to meet her?"

"W-what?" Ransom stutters. His father has never met anyone he's dated, because he doesn't date, Hermione was his first. And he was positive he wanted her to be the last. "When do I get to meet her?"

"I don't know. It's too soon." Richard took another sip of whiskey, finishing his glass. "Well when you think it's the right time, I'd love to meet her."

"Okay. Goodnight," Ransom headed to his room and went to bed. He slept peacefully, almost perfectly. The only thing that could make it any better was if Hermione was here.

*

The next morning Ransom went to work early, he wanted to be alone with Hermione before they opened. She had given him a key to the store incase she wasn't downstairs yet when he got there.

He unlocks the door and walks in, she isn't downstairs yet so he locks the door back and heads upstairs. He brought a bag of extra clothes with him as she had said to do.

He walks into the loft and she's making coffee. She sees him and smiles. He drops his bag on her bed and walks over giving her a kiss.

"Where's my coffee?" He asks seriously and she giggles, handing him his cup. "Good morning to you to Ransom."

"Good morning." He kisses her again then takes a drink of coffee and sits on the stool by the island. "So my dad and I had a talk last night, about you."

Hermione perked up, her eyebrows raised and her eyes went wide as she almost spit out her coffee. "Oh yea?" He nodded with a nervous smirk on his face.

"He wants to meet you. I told him not yet. He's a lot to handle. I know we're supposed to take things slow so whenever you're ready, if you want to."

"Taking it slow isn't going to work. We seem to be moving at warp speed Ransom. And while we're on the topic of parents...the one thing I couldn't address in my book was your current relationship with your mother."

"Yea, I told you she cut me off. She won't talk to me." Hermione sets her coffee on the island and gets as close to Ransom as she can and puts one hand on his cheek and the other on his thigh.

"Have you tried to call her recently?" He shakes his head no and looks at the floor. "You should. At least try. You're not the same guy you were. It'll be good for you."

"Okay. Can I use your phone? She won't answer if she sees it's me." She frowns slightly and kisses his forehead, "Of course babe. Take your time, do it when you're ready. Okay?"

"Okay." She kisses him and he smiles. "Thank you." Hermione runs her hands through his hair and smiles back before kissing him again. "Of course."

The rest of the day they worked, Hermione was on the phone with her publisher most of the day going over dates for book signings.

At the end of the day they went upstairs and Hermione heated up some frozen pizza for them for dinner. They ate and had some champaign together and were about to watch a movie.

Hermione had gone to the bathroom and Ransom got comfortable as he waited for her to come back.

"Hey Ransom?" Hermione called from the bathroom, she walked into the door frame wearing nothing. When he looked over she smiled at him. "Do you wanna take a shower?"

"I guess I could use a hot shower." He smirks as he practically jumps out of bed and meets her in the doorway.