Chapter 39

                                    

                                          
"What are you doing?" When it came to the tall, spritely woman in front of him, Gabe always held a note of suspicion. 
                          
"God, have you never seen balloons and cake before? It's called a celebration, you Grinch," she said breezing past him into his own home. He didn't even bother asking her what they were celebrating, knowing the pair of them it could be anything. 
                          
At this point Lima practically lived there and he couldn't dissuade her from coming, she kept Natalia happy and entertained which was more than he was doing at the moment. 
                          
Everything he did seemed to annoy her, it was a mix of the old adage of "Familiarity breeds contempt," and "You knocked me up and caused all of this you brute," so he preferred to stay out of their way and focus on more productive things. 
                          
He had been on his way to check on the build out of their new house. Ty was still parked outside when he shut the door behind him, staring absently at the street ahead. 
                          
Gabe opened the door and let himself into the truck with a chuckle. For a highly trained Marine, Ty didn't even notice the intrusion into his truck; he was so lost in his thoughts. 
                          
Gabe grabbed him in a headlock surprising the taller man. Ty's instincts were still good; his lightning quick reaction was to exert force on the bone of Gabe's arm, seconds away from breaking it before Gabe announced himself. 
                          
"Fucker, it's me," Gabe said ducking from an elbow aimed into his throat with a laugh. 
                          
"Now why did you have to go and do that?" Ty, normally a good natured sport was fuming. He did not see the funny side at all. 
                          
"Man, you were gone. What were you thinking so deeply about?" 
                          
"Fuck you mean?" Ty grumbled defensively, rubbing the back of his head. 
                          
"What the fuck do I mean, huh?" Gabe parroted in a sarcastic drawl. "Shut up and drive me to my new house." 
                          
"And why can't you drive yourself?" 
                          
"What if the girls have an emergency and need the car?" He still hadn't gotten round to getting a new car for Nat. Since he was not planning to let her drive herself anywhere anytime soon it was a moot point, but there were still moments like these he had to account for. 
                          
"You know Lima drives like a bat out of the seventh circle of hell, right?" Ty said, his mood picking up at a memory. 
                          
"Even better. Why did Lima turn up with all them balloons and girly shit?" Gabe asked since they were on the subject of Lima. 
                          
"Yeah she's celebrating the 3 week in-aversary." 
                          
"Come again?" Gabe asked, he knew his baby was 7 months and 1 week along, he knew it as sure as he knew what day of the week it was, but he wasn't sure what Ty was talking about. 
                          
"The keep the baby in-aversary," Ty clarified in the same deadpan tone. His face froze when he had finished, comprehending what he had said and how ridiculous it sounded coming out of his mouth. Lima had ensnared him in her crazy schemes, and all 6'5 220 pounds of him went along with it willingly. 
                          
Gabe sniggered in full view of his frustrated friend. 
                          
"Fuck. I'm done." 
                          
Gabe patted him on the back. "What was it that you said about this particular situation? Take you out back and shoot you? Do you have a preference of what kind of bullet I use?" 
                          
"Shut up. I didn't make fun of you when you — "
                          
"My woman is sane at least. How does it feel being down astronomically bad for a lunatic?"