Closed No Longer Controlled Chaos

[Shane Ackley]

Shane Ackley had always imagined he would never be a parent, that being a dad was just going to be something that was no for him. He hadn't minded that idea, but life with Ulysses, life with his son was amazing. It was taking time for Annika to bounce back, and that was okay. Shane didn't mind. Spending time with Ulysses made up for it. He still went out on occasion, but he was always back within a few hours. Ulysses and by proxy, Annika were his top priority. So was their work, which while Annika recovered, was his role to do. But the work, the mess and the baby stuff was chaos in their otherwise tidy apartment. he didn't spend nearly as much time at home as he had once, there was no need for him to. He needed to be with Annika in her place, so his things too were strewn about the place. Shane had Ulysses in his arms, the boy was sleeping soundly, nestled against Shane, as Shane was putting together the final package for their next event, unable to locate without using his magic the bits and pieces that he needed.

 

[Annika Corrins]

Annika hadn't known it would take her so long to recover from having a baby, or that the experience would have taken so much out of her. She wasn't sure it was something she wanted to go through again, really, but that was alright. Ulysses was enough for her. Hopefully it was enough for Shane, too. She was feeling a bit more like herself, so she'd dragged herself out of bed. She'd gotten into something nice, making a mental note to get started on a new diet and excercise regimen soon to get back into the shape she wanted to be in, before heading out front. She smiled as she saw Shane with their son, and came up beside them, reaching to put her hand on Shane's arm. "Hey, you. Need any help?" She asked, wanting to be useful after so much time in bed.

 

[Shane Ackley]

Shane smiled at Annika as she came into the room. He conjured up a spot for her to sit in, and encouraged her to do so. He knew that she was trying to get back to it, but he was encouraging her to still take it easy. She had time, he could do more. "Sure," he replied, "Do you have the costings for the Williams party?" he asked, since that was the last element of the deal which he needed to be able to do this. It was somewhere in the mesh of everything else, and with Ulysses sleeping soundly, he didn't want to move too much and disturb him.

 

[Annika Corrins]

Annika nodded quickly. "Oh, for sure," She offered easily, looking through the mess of things before bringing over the paperwork to him. She took a seat then in the spot he'd made for her, looking over what he was doing. "How is everything going?" She asked, keeping her voice soft as she summoned over a few bottles of water.

 

[Shane Ackley]

Shane wondered as she spoke whether he should tell her the truth about how things were going. Really everything was a bit chaotic, that he was balancing as much as he could between all the different things that he needed to, but things were busy, and he was more of less living there. "It's a bit all of over the place, but I've got a handle on it," he opted, being honest but not too honest.

 

[Annika Corrins]

Annika considered his words, chewing on her lip. "Maybe there's something I can do to help?" She offered, looking around at how things were a bit of a mess. "We need an office," She murmured, sighing. "And a bigger apartment." She turned to look at Shane. "Hey, now that we have Ulysses... do you want to move in together?" She asked him. "We could keep a spare bedroom in case you wanted to bring anyone home, but we could find a place with three bedrooms, and have the spare on the other side of the house so we could keep Ulysses close by me." She offered.

 

[Shane Ackley]

Shane nodded slightly, not wanting to over burden Annika right as she was getting back onto her feet. He had been thinking of moving in, and gave a little nod. It seemed like the best time to now do it. "Why don't we keep my apartment as our office, the bedroom can be the spare room if either of us need it, but I'll move in here," he suggested. Thinking that it would be easier enough to keep all of the work stuff and a spare bedroom in his place, and for him to officially move into hers. They could in the future look for an entirely new place, but this place would work for their little, perhaps oddly formed family.

 

[Annika Corrins]

Annika considered his words before nodding slowly. "Yeah, okay, sure, that works," She agreed, and gave him an easy smile. "That sounds like a good plan," She offered, before turning her attention to the sleeping baby in Shane's arms. "How is he doing?" She asked, before looking to Shane again. "How are you handling everything?"

 

[Shane Ackley]

Shane nodded, he went to shift himself to be closer to her, to put his arm around her, to show her their son, sleeping in his arms. "He's doing good," he said with a smile. "He sleeps like the dead, but I've been making sure alls fine," he said softly, stroking his son's hair. "Children weren't really something I'd thought I'd wanted, but, I love him so much it feels unreal," Shane spoke fondly. "So it's been a bit sleepless, and difficult but, for him, for us as a family, it's nothing," he assured annika, not wanting her to feel bad. He shifted his hold, offering Ulysses for her to take.

 

[Annika Corrins]

Annika smiled softly, leaning a bit into the mans side. She shook her head when he offered her the baby, and instead just rubbed his arm. "You have no idea how happy seeing you with him makes me," She told him gently. "My father was never interested in his children unless we were doing something he approved of." She gave Shane a warm smile. "I was scared when I found out, you know. That I was expecting him. I was afraid of how you'd react, but I was more afraid he would end up like me and not have a father at all." She shifted to try and kiss Shane's cheek. "You're a wonderful, amazing man, Shane. I hope you know that."

 

[Shane Ackley]

Shane listened as she spoke, an arm moving to hold her in close, while also just touching his baby's back as he did so. He knew her relationship with her family was frought, that it wasn't typical and it wasn't good. She had turned out good despite of everything against her. "My dad died, obviously, when I was ten, but, I was in and out of his and my mother's care throughout that ten years. When he wanted to be, he could be a great dad and then he'd stop wanting to be and it would be like I didn't exist. When my sister was born, I remember being so worried about her, about protecting her and being her dad if I had to be, but my parents cleaned up their act, they loved her, and then they died," Shane spoke softly, he'd talked about his parents a little in passing with her, she knew they were dead. "I always knew that if I became a dad, that I would never let my child feel like they couldn't rely on me to be there, that they'd never feel like they were too difficult to love or to care about. Now, I have Ulysses in my arms, and I can't imagine not wanting to be in his life, not wanting to care for him and get to know him,"

 

[Annika Corrins]

Annika listened to Shane speak, moving her hand to his knee and just rubbing her thumb against the fabric. She smiled as he finished, though she looked down as Ulysses yawned, stretching in his fathers arms before settling back in again, putting his little fist in his mouth and chewing on it. Annika chuckled, and leant her head on Shane's shoulder. "You're a good man, Shane," She repeated, shutting her eyes. "I know we never intended on anything serious, but there's no one I'd rather have a family with." She admitted softly, squeezing her hand gently on his knee.

 

[Shane Ackley]

Shane glanced down at Ulysses and then back at Annika with a little smile. "Good is stretching it," he teased lightly, not wanting to linger too seriously on the compliment, since he did not believe that he really deserved it. "But same," he hadn't really thought he'd bother wth a family, avoiding it for all the obvious reasons that he had for wanting to avoid something of the sort. But it had happened and there were few other people he wanted to do it with. "Are you feeling up to some food?"

 

[Annika Corrins]

Annika laughed lightly, pleased that they were getting through the heavy moment. She shifted, trying to kiss his cheek, before standing and moving to the drawer of takeout menus. "Let me order something in- what are you feeling?" She asked, debating what she wanted herself.

 

[Shane Ackley]

Shane leaned into the kiss and then shook his head. "Let me just make something," he said softly. "I can make something easily," he knew they had the money to be able to buy take out but he knew that it would likely be better for them if they had healthy food. Shane wanted Annika to get some of her strength back and good, healthy food would do that.

 

[Annika Corrins]

Annika smiled. Somehow, his concern for her was endearing. Well... maybe it was concern for her? She tucked that away for further examination, not wanting to deal with it now. "Well... as long as it doesn't take too awfully long." She moved to sit on the couch and held out her arms for the baby. "Let me watch him while you make dinner," She countered, eager to spend some more time with their son.

 

[Shane Ackley]

Shane was almost a little reluctant to hand over his son, but he did, pressing a kiss to his little forehead before he passed him over to her. Shane then leaned over and went to kiss the crown of her head before he went to the kitchen to figure out something for them to eat that would be healthy and good for them both to eat.

 

[Annika Corrins]

Annika hummed happily, smiling at both her son and Shane before settling into the couch, cooing soft lullabies to the baby and rubbing her thumb against the babies skin. Ulysses yawned, nuzzling down against her. Annika's mind wandered as she watched her son, thinking of everything and nothing all at once. She wasn't sure how long she sat there, spacing out, but felt a slight frustration building as her eyes began to droop again and the ever-present tiredness seemed to eat away at her again. She let out an exasperated sigh, and not wanting to attempt the standing with how heavy her limbs were starting to feel, she called for her partner. "Shane?" She tried, hating how weak her voice sounded already. She relaxed more into the couch, letting Ulysses rest more firmly against her chest.

 

[Shane Ackley]

Shane had just about finished with the meal he'd been making when he heard Annika call to him. he walked to her and went over to her. "Annika?" he questioned gently, she seemed pretty tired and out of it. "Food is almost ready," he said, he almost wanted to take Ulysses from her, but she seemed to have a good hold on him.

 

[Annika Corrins]

Annika gave the man a small smile as he reappeared. "Shane," She murmured, her eyes drifting shut. She forced them open again. "Could you take him?" She spoke slowly, each word an effort. "I'm starting to wear out again," She winced, a bit of shame twisting her gut. It was a healing process, though- she'd done better today. She'd have to hold on to that.

 

[Shane Ackley]

Shane leaned in and took Ulysses from her, holding him against his chest as the baby stirred, making sure he was supporting his head. "It's okay, Annika," he said. "Do you want to rest some more before you eat something?" he asked, already thinking about making sure that he used magic to keep the food nice and warm.

 

[Annika Corrins]

Annika shook her head. "No, no, I should eat," She murmured, dragging herself up with a bit of effort. "Do you need me to get anything?" She asked, just trying to be helpful despite how worn out she was. She gave an exhausted laugh. "Gods, who knew having babies was so draining."

 

[Shane Ackley]

Shane shifted his hold on Ulysses and offered out a hand to Annika to help her to the table to sit. He shook his head, and had his magic do what it needed to, so get the table ready for them to sit. "It's okay that it is. I'm here Annika, we're in this together. You need time to recover, let yourself recover," he said gently, knowing that she wasn't feeling great about how much he was having to do, even though he did it gladly.

 

[Annika Corrins]

Annika took his hand, smiling softly and letting him lead her into the kitchen. She lowered herself down into her chair with a heavy sigh. She picked up her drink and took a gentle sip. "I'm lucky to have you," She offered with a gentle smile. "And so is Ulysses. You're a wonderful man." She leant a bit against the wall, working up the energy to have dinner before going back to bed. "Thank you, Shawn." She teased him gently.

 

[Shane Ackley]

Shane got her to a seat at the table and adjusted his hold on Ulysses so that with some spell work he could get all of the bits and pieces to the table. "I'm just doing what's right," he said. "I know we're not a traditional anything, but you do matter to me, and you did grow my perfect little son, so it's the least I can do, take care of you," he said softly.