Penny held up her pinky and Colton didn't miss a beat. He hooked his pinky with hers and they shook on it.
Meryn and Beth walked around the table and Meryn wrapped an arm around Penny. "Come on EGIT, time to get to work. Jaxon and Noah are already waiting for us in Command Central. They woke up early and snagged two pans of cinnamon rolls for breakfast and decided to get a jump on the day. I bet they can give you some good ideas for stuff to do with your mom and dad later."
Colton stood and they both looked at Meryn. Rheia had to ask. "What is EGIT?"
Beth sighed. "Evil. Genius. In. Training."
Colton looked at Meryn. "Don't infect my daughter with ..." he motioned to Meryn's whole body.
Meryn grinned. "You just gestured to all of me."
Colton laughed and they gave each other high fives. Behind Meryn, both Aiden and Ryuu groaned.
Rheia looked at Colton. "Why does that sound familiar?"
Ryuu grumbled under his breath. "It's from How To Train Your Dragon. Meryn and Colton have been watching it non-stop for the past two weeks."
Penny began to hop up and down. Rheia looked down. "Is that what you want to do later? Watch that movie?"
Penny nodded and continued to bounce up and down.
Ryuu's sigh was long and heavy. "If it's for the baby, I guess I'll allow it."
"Allow it?" Rhea asked.
Meryn laughed. "He banned it. He said, that the movie in no way depicted real dragons, therefore wasn't worth the time it took to watch. I mean, what does Ryuu know about dragons? It's not like they're real or anything." Rheia noticed the sly look on Meryn's face.
Ryuu on the other hand was looking more and more agitated. "I'll prepare refreshments later for the movie," he said shortly and headed to the kitchen.
Meryn's grin was decidedly evil. Rheia looked at the smaller woman. "Did I miss something?"
Meryn shook her head. "Nope, just my squire thinking he's clever. Every once in a while I have to remind him I'm not stupid. Anyway! Come on petite commando, let's go see what trouble we can get into today." Meryn took Penny's hand and led her from the room. Beth leaned over and kissed Gavriel, picked up her cup, downed its contents and headed for the door.
Aiden smiled at Beth in commiseration as she walked by him. "Thank the Gods for you, Beth." She winked up at him and walked away.
Rheia put a hand to her stomach. It had taken everything in her to send Penny out and about for the day. What she really wanted to do was scoop her up and run back to Jefferson.
"It'll be okay Rheia. We're not going to lose her," Colton said, pulling her in for a hug.
"I want to take her home, away from here. It's all my fault for looking for her family." She buried her face in his chest.
"You are home, sweetheart," he reminded her softly. "And don't blame yourself for this. If you hadn't contacted them, they would have found out soon enough. Lycaonia isn't that big. We would have had to face this eventually."
Rheia looked up into his eyes and saw the hurt her casual comments had caused. "I'm sorry, Colton, I didn't mean that I didn't want to be with you, or that this wasn't home. I'm just scared and my parent's house in Jefferson has always been a safe haven to me."
Colton kissed her forehead. "I know."
Aiden cleared his throat. When she and Colton turned to him, she noticed that Gavriel, Darian and Keelan were standing with him at the door. "We're going to start drills. Colton, why don't you stay with Rheia today? Adam contacted me yesterday saying something about physicals, so I'm sending Keelan along for one and scheduled for Gamma to get theirs today as well, since they're the ones assigned to guard the clinic."
Rheia let out a deep breath. She was surprised how relieved she felt knowing that Colton would be with her today. But if she and Colton were at the clinic, what would happen if someone came for Penny? She looked past Aiden and bit her lower lip. "What if someone comes for Penny?"
Aiden's face hardened. "Then they'll just have to wait for you two to get back here. No one is taking her away, Rheia, not without you and Colton here," he promised.
"Thank you, Aiden," she said gratefully.
Aiden blushed. "She just grows on you. She already has all the unit warriors wrapped around her tiny finger," he admitted gruffly.
"She's very special," Rheia said leaning into Colton.
Colton turned to Aiden. "You guys head out. I think I want some more cinnamon rolls."
"Call us if you need us," Aiden said and the men left.
Rheia turned to Colton. "You can't possibly still be hungry."
He shook his head. "I'm not, but you should eat some more."
"I don't think I could eat right now, I'd probably throw it up."
"Just one more, you haven't eaten much," he pointed to her half eaten cinnamon roll.
Rheia popped the half-eaten roll into her mouth and chugged her coffee. She wiped her mouth with a napkin and turned to Colton. "Okay, ready."
Colton walked past her and placed three cinnamon rolls in a napkin.
"Colton, I'm fine."
"It's for my snack later, but since you're my mate, if you get hungry I'll share with you." His eyes were filled with sincerity.
Rheia accepted it for the act of affection it was. She knew that if Colton was willing to share his food, his feelings for her were real.