"Riley... where is my Riley," he said as he searched for the little girl with the long brown hair. A small giggle from behind the curtains drew him towards the windows. "I wonder where oh where could my little Riley be?" He said as he walked over and pull the curtain aside. "There she is."
The little girl giggled as her father lifted her up into the air and spun her around, giving her little butterfly kisses on her face, as the sun from the window shined on them. His wife walked over rubbing her belly which only recently began to show signs of their unborn child. She smiled at them before stopping next to him and giving him a kiss on his lips. Riley between them, they both kissed their little girl as she giggled out loud.
The Christmas was out, they were decorating it as his wife began to cook thanksgiving dinner for their family which were going to be there at their house for the first time. He put Riley down who walked off to grab her teddy bear, she wanted to show it to her Uncle Josh who was closest to her in age. They were so close to one another, Josh protecting Riley like a little sister instead of his niece.
"Riley, you want to help me put the pecans on the top of the pie?" his wife asked and the little girl nodded before taking her mother's hand.
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Lucas couldn't think as the paramedics started asking him questions, Riley on the gurney as they drove to the hospital, the blood on his hands were hers, the blood rushing down his arm was his. His wound was higher up than hers was, it had been a straight through and through shot, where hers was still inside of her.
"Sir, you have to tell us anything we need to know," the paramedic said to him, and Lucas knew he was going into shock but he needed to be strong for Riley, she needed him.
"She's pregnant," he said barely above a whisper. "We were going to go to the doctor to confirm, but she took three tests and they were all positive."
Someone in the ambulance gasped at his words but Lucas couldn't be bothered to look up to see who it was, all that mattered was Riley. Sweet Riley who jumped in front of him to take a bullet for him when Chai had shown up with a gun. He was angry at her, he was angry at the police officers who hadn't done anything before the worst could have happened, he was angry at the ones who hadn't stopped her before she pulled out another gun from where he doesn't know and shot him. He wished that Riley hadn't done what she had done, he could have survived the bullet, or at least that's what he thought.
"Save her," was the last thing he said before the tears fell down his face as he watched them put a tube in Riley's mouth.
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"Mommy," the little girl said as she danced around. "Can we really see the nutcracker?"
"Yes, we can," she said to her daughter who had been bouncing around ever since the tickets had shown up on the table. An early birthday surprise for her daughter, it was out of their price range, but with the new baby on the way they wanted to give Riley something special before she became a big sister.
"Can I wear my princess dress to the ballet?" the little girl asked her eyes hopeful.
"No sweetie you can't, but you can wear that pretty dress grandma got you for your birthday," she said as she watched the little girl's eyes light up.
"Mommy that is the princess dress, it's so pretty and white with blue at the bottom," she said as she started twirling around. "I'm going to be a ballerina when I grow up so we can go to the ballet every single day."
She laughed as her daughter danced around the living room humming a weird version of the nutcracker suite. "You can be anything you want to be Riley."
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Matters of the Heart (Rucas Adult AU)
FanfictionLucas worked hard all of his life protecting his family. During the day he works at his security firm, at night he runs a bar in New York with his best friend and his sister, making sure that no one interferes in his business, or assaults his custom...
