"This is Leila. Leave a message if you need me, hang up now if you don't... still with me? Alright, so don't forget a name and number so I can get back to you."


[OOC: For muse, or mun]

[Follows THIS | Backdated to Mothers Day]


Rob tossed his car keys onto the bed and then up-ended the paper bag from the pharmacy he had just arrived back at the Austin home with, tipping out no less than six different pregnancy tests. No two boxes looked alike and he turned to Leila sheepishly. "I didn't know which one to get!" he said, already on the defense of his clearly dorky behaviour. One test they needed, but he ended up coming home with six... and a bag of black jelly beans just because he felt like them. He had stood in the pharmacy for close to an half an hour trying to figure out what one he needed, reading over all the boxes until his head started to spin with potential pregnancy facts. The reading didn't even help in his decision, so he just bought the six most expensive ones, figuring they must be the better options. If he brought them all home, then Leila could figure out which one was the one to go for, but he had to admit, the one with the little screen and not blue lines was kind of cool.

( Getting to the checkouts had been a whole other story, too.Collapse )

It was one of those days Rob just really didn't want to get out of bed. Not so much a bad day, but just a day he didn't really want to face anyone but his wife. He had them occasionally, where he was content to stick out the daylight hours in an oblivious coocoon just with Leila. They were still stopped at Mike's family home, and probably would be until he got back on his feet a little easier. Now that he was taking the prescribed medication, he seemed to be coping a bit better. But the post-deployment funk had set in a little, and it did have Rob wondering how Leila would feel if he suggested Mike, and maybe even Charlie too, tag along on their road trip. They could get a car and just convoy their way through the rest of the trip. It could be a lot of fun, and maybe what the doctors ordered.

( Rob, however, had other things to think about that morning.Collapse )

After leaving Mike's room, Leila had ducked to the bathroom and Rob had stepped out onto the back porch of the Austin home. The air was cool and crisp, but not exactly cold. Fine enough for Rob to be standing out there in a short-sleeved button up shirt. He was standing on the back steps, looking up at the stars in the clear Texas sky, a pensive and strangely calm expression on his face considering the tension he had managed to build in the car ride back from Houston. He was such a rollercoaster of emotions these days that he sometimes wondered why the fuck Leila still wanted to put up with him. He could go from fine to a crying mess in the blink of an eye. He could also go from quiet to yelling at her just as quick. It wasn't like it was all the time. He didn't come across as completely screwed in the head... not quite. Just now and again, he had these bursts of emotion he couldn't really control. She just took it all in her stride, though. He just didn't know if he would ever fully understood why she wanted to deal with that in her life. He was just glad she did. Now, he wasn't sure he could live without her. In fact, he was certain he couldn't. He wouldn't have lived through the tragedy in Afghanistan and survived out there as long as he did without drawing on her for strength, even if it was just memories of her.

( His thumbs were hooked into the pockets of his jeans as he just continued to take in the view of the starry sky.Collapse )

[Follows THIS]


It was true that Rob had been a little distracted since Mike had fleetingly revealed that he had been shot in the leg. He wasn't brooding on it or anything, especially not since they had reached Texas and saw with their own eyes that Mike was as okay as someone who nearly had their foot blown off could be. It just seemed to tug them back down to reality a little again, and it was a reminder of how dangerous their job was. Mike, an army medic who didn't even fight on the frontline, had come home with a war injury. It didn't seem right. Their choice to bypass their current road trip route and go to Texas was a no-brainer. As soon as they knew Mike was heading home to see his folks to recuperate, they changed course immediately. It wasn't like they had anything specifically planned anyway. They were just rolling with it, taking each day, seeing where the road took them. They camped a lot, balancing it out with some nights in hotels or guest houses so they could get a long shower and a proper bed to sleep in. They had been gone a few weeks now and as far as Rob was concerned, they were just scratching the surface.

( But there was now another unexpected turn, and as they sat in the car park of the bus station that night, Rob drummed his fingers on the steering wheel, his blue eyes trawling back and forth over the scene beyond the car window.Collapse )

[Follows all recent events posted @ sexyinscrubs, pullmysteth & randbyname]


The phone call came through around four o'clock, Luke delivering the news about Aiden and Patrick to Leila who had just paled as she listened, nodding, even if her cousin couldn't see her. The road trip had gone without a hitch until then, and they had taken their time, only making it to Maine so far but deciding to stick here for a few days when they found a gorgeous little camping place with cabins. They didn't need a cabin, though. They found a secluded place by the sprawling lake not far from a small fishing wharf and set the tent up there. There was a town close by for supplies if they needed it and the place just had an addictive tranquillity about it that they weren't ready to move on from yet.

( Rob found Leila sitting down on a soft grassy patch by the lake, watching the sun set over the water. He came up behind her and sat down quietly, wrapping his legs around each side of her and hugging his arms around her waist.Collapse )

5.1. "Moral indignation is jealousy with a halo."
H. G. Wells

[co-written with notskywalker & tacticalmind]


It was a weeknight, so The Bondi wasn't very busy except for a steady trickle of musicians coming into jam with others, and a few people having some casual drinks after work. Luke was up in New York for a few days to get the paperwork done, so while he wasn't technically working, he was there behind the bar because he couldn't help himself. Leila technically was on shift, but she didn't actually need to be there because there was plenty of staff to cover the patrons. She had come, though, and brought Rob along with her, mostly so she could catch up with Luke for a little while. After chatting on and off about their Part Three's issues with not getting any newlywed sex, Luke paused in his polishing of a tray of glasses and pointed with one to Rob who had struck up a conversation with a small bunch of sailors at one of the booths across the bar.

"Should I be worried about the quality of my booze? I've offered him freebies all night and he keeps sticking to orange juice. Saving his mojo to pound you into the mattress later?" he asked in amusement, shaking his small towel out and putting the clean glass into the tray. "You know what they say, a guy's cock stops working properly when he's pissed."

"Is that what say?" Leila asked as she smirked at him. "I could have sworn it was more like a guy's cock doesn't get a chance to start working once he's passed out. You experienced some issues with the wife?" She leaned on the bar, and watched Rob. Her expression shifted as her eyebrows drew together. "He went out on the piss with Mike. Needed to get hammered after his appointment with some blokes on the base. The ones that decide if he's fit enough to go back to duty, or not."

( Luke watched the military posse for a few moments and then shot Leila a wry look.Collapse )

Words: 3530

The hospital discharged Rob home on three conditions. One, the home nurse visit every three days to assess his progress. Two, he rest as much as possible and only be ambulant on the crutches if it was absolutely vital. Three, he not be left alone. It all sounded pretty straightforward, but logistically, it could get awkward. Rob was glad to be allowed out of hospital, but he suddenly became painfully aware of how much obligation this was all laying on his new wife's shoulders and he started to get cold feet. Cold feet about going home, cold feet about coming back to America, cold feet about marrying her. It was just a post-traumatic anxiety and, of course, he didn't voice his opinions. He just tried to subtlely ask if he had to get discharged at that point, only to be told Leila had requested discharge as soon as he was able.

She wanted to take care of him.

( Rob didn't know how he felt about that.Collapse )


Words: 3899