Quick A/N. Sorry it's so short but I hope you still like it. Enjoy:)
Eyes on the Horizon
Had Bailey and Noah meant to fall asleep up at the point that night? No, no they had not. Had they though? Oh most definitely. It was sun breaching over the Austin horizon and hitting Bailey's face that woke her. She grumbled a bit and buried herself deeper into Noah's bare chest. Noah pulled her tighter against his body and Bailey smiled at his warmth. When a cold breeze hit her body, Bailey knew that something wasn't right. She peeled her eyes open and froze.
"Oh shit." She said, feeling around in search of her phone.
"Bails, what are you doing?" Noah muttered.
"Noah, wake up." She said, shaking her boyfriend.
"What? What? I'm up?" Noah said, reaching up to rub his face.
"Noah it's morning." Bailey said, pushing herself up a bit on his chest.
"Huh?" Noah groaned.
"It's morning," Bailey repeated. "We never got home last night."
Noah's eyes shot open.
"Shit."
She was dressed in only the t-shirt that Noah and shed the night before and her underwear. Safe to say, she was not dressed to still be out, let alone to never have gone home after a late night tryst at the Austin Point Lookout with her boyfriend. Bailey flopped back down on Noah and he grunted a bit from the impact.
"My dads are going to kill me." She mumbled against his skin.
Noah ran his hand up under the fabric of Bailey's shirt – his shirt – in a soothing gesture.
"Maybe we can sneak in without your them noticing." Noah said, his voice still heavy with sleep.
Bailey arched a brow. Noah looked down at her.
"Yeah I didn't think so." He said.
"At least you don't have to sneak into your house too. Maybe you can squeak by with only one lecture."
Noah laughed.
"You know you have two dads right?" He asked. "One of them has access to guns and the other could probably kill me and nearly kill me and have a whole team of firefighters to help him make it look like an accident."
Bailey couldn't help but laugh even though she could feel the beginnings of her anxiety clawing at the pit of her stomach.
"Why are you laughing? I'm serious." Noah said but he couldn't help the smile that played at his mouth.
If Noah lost everything else that was going for him (which was a lot) he would always be able to make Bailey laugh.
✵✵✵
Bailey pocked her head through the front door of her house, looking around to see if the coast was clear. TK and Carlos, she could see were cuddled up on the couch under a blanket passed out cold. No doubt they had been fallen asleep waiting for her and Noah to return from their date. Bailey quietly tip-toed into the foyer, quickly followed by Noah. They were hoping to get upstairs and into Bailey's room without waking up Bailey's fathers. Both teens cringed, however, as the front door shut harder than she had intended behind her and Noah. TK and Carlos shot up off the couch ready to go to war it seemed, though apparently nobody had told their balance since they were a bit unsteady on their feet.
Once they had finally regained their bearings their eyes trained towards the front door where Bailey and Noah now stood sheepishly, their cheeks flushed in embarrassment and anxiety reeling in their stomachs. Carlos blinked away his sleep and squinted towards the teens, not having put in his contacts yet, he half blindly reached for his glasses. With them securely on his face the sleep fell away from his face, quickly replaced by a mass of emotions that could only be explained as a father's look of indifference.
"Bailey Hayden Reyes-Strand, where in God's name have you been?" He began.
Both teens began talking at once trying to explain to the men why they hadn't returned the night before. TK slumped next to his boyfriend and they looked at each other, not being able to make heads or tails of what either one of them was saying.
"Woah woah woah," TK said, surprisingly loud for it still being so early and no coffee in his system. Bailey and Noah cut off. "Slow down and speak one at a time."
"I am so sorry dad, I really am. We fell asleep and when we woke up it was already morning and we came back as soon as we woke up I swear..." Bailey tapered off.
"We really didn't mean to fall asleep sirs; it just sort of...happened." Noah added.
Carlos and TK nodded as they listened to Bailey and Noah explain. Carlos glanced over at the clock and saw that it was barely 6:00 in the morning. On most mornings he would not consider that all that early but on a Sunday morning, that was far too early to be awake.
"Okay, we are not done talking about this but it is still too early to dig into anything else so go upstairs and get some more sleep and when it's a more suitable time to be awake we will continue this conversation." Carlos said.
The teens nodded and started up to her room.
"Bailey." TK said, stopping their daughter before she can get too far up the stairs.
Noah had stopped too but Bailey motioned for him to continue up the stairs and after a moment he hesitantly complied. Bailey stepped back down to the first step and looked at her fathers with a shy weariness on her face.
"We aren't mad, Bailey. Scared, worried, a little disappointed but not mad," TK said, cupping his daughter's cheeks. "Just be more aware next time. Maybe set an alarm for midnight so that if you do accidently fall asleep again you have something that will wake you up before it's sunrise and your papá and I are falling asleep on the couch and raising our chiropractor bill okay?"
The brought a small smile to Bailey's face.
"Okay dad. I am really sorry though." Bailey said.
"We know you are mija," Carlos said with a gentle smile. "Now go get some more sleep."
Bailey nodded.
"Love you papá. Love you dad." She said.
"Love you too kiddo." TK replied.
✵✵✵
TK put the plate of pancakes in the middle of the dining room table and took his place at the circular table in between Bailey and Carlos. They were only minutes into breakfast when Bailey felt Noah's hand creep onto her knee and squeeze gently, getting her attention. Bailey looked over to her boyfriend and he moved his left hand over her right and played with the ring adorning her finger. She looked from Noah's hand to his face and them her eyes flicked over to her fathers who were serving themselves breakfast. Noah gave Bailey a reassuring nod and squeezed her hand.
"Sooo..." Bailey began catching her fathers' attention
Carlos and TK looked at each other and then back at their daughter. They could see that Bailey was searching for the right words.
"Are you okay Bails?" Carlos asked, wanting to relieve the tension that had overtaken the room.
"Yes," Bailey said quickly, realizing what her silence may have led her parents to begin thinking. "Yes, yeah, everything is amazing. I'm just trying to think about how to tell you guys about something that Noah gave me last night."
Carlos and TK looked to Noah and he gave a small smile and Carlos and TK's faces broke into smiles. Bailey opened her mouth to begin speaking but then she saw the looks that her fathers and Noah were sharing.
"What?" She asked. "What's going on?"
Noah looked at his girlfriend with a mildly guilty smile.
"Why are you looking at me like that?" She asked and then she turned to her fathers. "Why are you looking at me like that?"
TK chuckled slightly.
"I think you should take that one Noah." TK said.
Bailey looked to Noah. Noah brought their conjoined hands up onto the table and ran his thumb over the back of Bailey's hand.
"Bailey, I wanted to do everything right, wanted to make sure that I knew that you felt the same way that I did. So, knowing that you talk to your dads about pretty much everything, I asked them for permission to give you the promise ring. You tell them everything and I knew that without directly telling me exactly how you felt, they would give me an answer that reflected your feelings." Noah said.
Bailey was speechless. She was just as speechless as she had been when he had given his original speech the night before and it was all she could do not to launch herself at Noah at the breakfast table. Instead, she settled for leaning over and pushing her lips against his. Bailey could feel him smile against her lips and she pulled back a moment later, resting her forehead against his.
"So you aren't mad?" Noah asked.
"Not even close." Bailey replied.
The couple was all smiles, and as soon as they truly separated Carlos and TK were very enthusiastic about seeing the ring that was now settled perfectly on their daughter's right ring finger.
"So everybody knew?" Bailey asked incredulously.
"Well, not everybody," Noah said with a smile and Bailey looked to him, motioning for him to expand on his claim. "You didn't."
Bailey gasped slightly and threw a blueberry at him. Noah feigned hurt and threw the blueberry back at Bailey. One thing turned to another and pretty soon all four of them were throwing berries at each other from across the table.