The Next Chapter

[Beth Young]

With a curt nod, the brunette turned back towards the phone. She placed it against her ear then. "We'll take your regular," she finally said. She was about to offer their address then, and as she started, she felt the nip, which caused her shoulders to lift to her ears. She attempted to finish giving out the address as she attempted to wriggle her way out of the older man's grip. It was a good thing this wasn't the first time, otherwise she might have found herself a lot more distracted than what she was.

At last though, she managed to finish the order, and once she had, she ended the call and turned her head again. Shaking it, she puffed her cheeks. "You're the devil. I hope you know that." To think she'd married such a man child. Who was she kidding though? It was obvious she adored him, and everything that entailed. Even if he could be a pain in the ass. Her hand moved, circling around him to poke at the top of his ribs. "I should just let you starve."

[Bradley Young]

"Don't do that. You know I'll just end up eating the toilet paper." Flinching at the light poke, Brad watched his wife with a broad, shit-eating grin. He didn't quite think he was the devil, per se, but he knew he was often seen as an immature goof off even though it was Beth herself that drew out that playful side of him. He let her get away from his grasp even though it was apparent she didn't want to go far. His eyes shifted, head tilting to follow her as best he could while she rounded him.

The surge of love and adoration that welled up inside triggered the heartache that he'd been carrying for the better part of a year. Beth was a fantastic woman. Brad couldn't possibly put into words how lucky he was for her to have fallen in love with him and stuck by him for all these years. She deserved better. Deserved someone who could have made things right. Someone who wouldn't have failed when called to step up. His eyes dropped as he suddenly became consumed with the overwhelming sensation of his transgressions. "Beth, I..." He trailed off, not having the slightest clue what he was trying to say anyway.

[Beth Young]

Pausing, Beth's eyes shifted towards him. The words and the pained expression caused her brows to furrow. This time though, she didn't just stand idly by and watch. Instead, a soft sigh fell from her lips. The tiny brunette moved towards him and wrapped her arms around his waist. Her head rested against his chest. It was impossible for someone who spent most of their time caring for other people to suddenly stop. Especially considering how she actually, truly and whole-heartedly did care about this man.

"I know," she whispered as her head dipped back. She offered him a reassuring smile, even though she could feel the very same emotions that hid behind his hazel eyes mirror her own. "Now, come on. I need your help changing the light bulb in the bathroom." She took a step away, her hands lingering on his hips still. Sometimes, having a much taller husband was such a treat. It wasn't the first time she took advantage of her short height.

[Bradley Young]

Swallowing again, Brad nodded. Beth really did seem to always know the right thing to say at the right moment. He gave a half smile, his arms going around her when she drew closer again. A soft sigh escaped under the weight of her embrace. He had hardly said a word and she just knew. Even though she urged him to keep moving, to not focus upon the demons that still haunted him, he didn't move for a long moment. He found himself lost in her touch even as she stepped away.

"That is my main worth in life." He replied finally, a thin smirk catching the corner of his lips as the words came out with a hint of playfulness. It didn't matter how close he came to stepping over the edge, Beth was always there to pull him back. "Where did we put the new bulbs?" He asked, his mind now quickly shifting to focus on the new task at hand. He knew those damn bulbs were around there somewhere.

[Beth Young]

"Yes, yes it is," she quipped back. It was a good thing that he was as willing, because it was no secret that Beth, despite her small size, didn't have an ounce of balance in her body. She was as graceful as an elephant standing in the middle of a porcelain museum. "I already put them on the bathroom counter," she said, her head shaking. "What would you do without me," she added with an over dramatic sigh.

Hooking her finger onto one of the belt loops on his pants, Beth started tugging him towards the bathroom. Opening the door, she peeked her head inside the dark room. "If a monster comes jumping out through the mirror, you're on your own." She turned her head to peer up at him. "I'll use you as bait and run away."

[Bradley Young]

"I don't know." Brad answered with far more serious intent than he'd planned. Beth had asked a question in jest that Brad had considered many times himself for real. What would he do without her? He supposed he probably would've flunked out of college or just barely passed and went out into the world with little direction or motivation. He didn't want to know where he'd be if Beth had left after the accident. He doubted the answer to that would have been very good.

A deep breath later, he was being pulled along down the short hallway that led to the bathroom. "Nothing's jumping out of the mirror." He said as he peered into the darkness of the bathroom. He reached out, mostly out of sheer force of habit and flicked the light switch to, obviously, no avail. "We're in Montana, remember?" He said, moving into the darkened room and using the light from the hall to locate and pick up the box of light bulbs. "Redneck cannibals and psycho hillbilly serial killers don't jump out of mirrors."

[Beth Young]

Grimacing, Beth leaned against the door frame. Her arms came up to cross over her chest. "No, but mutants do," she argued. They were in the midst of a town that was practically swimming with super powered people. They could pop up anywhere, and Beth had seen her fair share of horror movies to be more than enough paranoid for the both of them. "And that's not helping, you know." Pfft, this was such a peaceful little town... no serial killers-- yeah, okay. Even she didn't buy that.

"I'm still using you as a shield." Which was ironic, considering how she was the power suppressor here. She was the one who could completely (and temporarily) stop someone's power from working. Did that matter? Of course not. She'd still squeal and run away. She was such a wuss. Always had been. "See, you got yourself another purpose," she added with a grin. "Good for you."

[Bradley Young]

"Oh, no." Brad's eyes shifted to look at the young woman leaning in the doorway. Even in the dark the loopy, almost serious expression on his face could be seen. "You when you've missed American Idol is the scariest thing in this entire state." He assured her with a nod.

After letting his gaze linger upon his wife for a few moments, Brad turned it upward to the ineffectual light fixture above him. With a low sigh he started about removing the white, plastic cover and set it aside. "Have you gotten a chance to go over your case files, yet?" He asked. Brad was rarely one to discuss work, especially given the harrowing duty he'd performed for the past seven years, but it was all so new to both of them. He was a cop, not a teacher, regardless of what the framed certificate that was packed away in a box said. He didn't know how he was going to respond to his new role, even though he knew Beth would take to it like a fish in water. She was always so much better at accepting change than he was. "Any real loonies you'll have to deal with?"

[Beth Young]

"Ha, ha, very clever," she responded. She couldn't keep the smile away though. After all these years, she'd yet to tire of the foolish things that seemed to flow from his mouth. It was endearing really, and one of many reasons she had come to fall in love with him. The fact that he hadn't changed all that much warmed her heart. She hoped he never would. He surely was a beacon of light, even in the dark; guiding her home.

Watching him work his magic, the brunette nodded sagely. "A few of them," she responded. Nothing overly serious or surprising thus far, though, she sincerely doubted they were all going to be that simple. "Nothing I can't handle," she promised with a warm smile. Although, she wasn't so sure about how long that would last. This was different. These kids weren't just troubled, they had powers too. It was a good thing she could suppress their powers if things got too heated. "Aside from yourself?" she replied with a smirk.

Stepping further, the brunette kept her gaze on him, as opposed to the dark surrounding them. Circling him, she hoisted herself up on the counter so that her back was facing the mirror; it was so much more scary when she actually had to look at it. Now the light coming through the door was facing her instead.

[Bradley Young]

He nodded a bit as he unfastened the dead bulbs in turn from their sockets and placed them on the sink beside the young woman. Brad smiled a little to her, pausing in his endeavor to lean in for a quick, chaste kiss before turning his attention back to the problem overhead. "Nothing in line on the recruiting side, but I'm still new. I'll probably shadow a couple before being sent off on my own." He said with a faint shrug. He wasn't worried about his capacity to perform his new duties, he merely doubted he'd get the same satisfaction out of it as most.

With a smile into the darkness, Brad's eyes dropped from the light fixture for a moment. His arms remained outstretched but he ceased working. "You know..." His voice took on a suddenly serious and soft tone. "Whatever kids you end up getting are lucky." He said. Slowly his eyes turned to look at his wife in the dim light pouring in from the hallway. "Just like I am."

[Beth Young]

"I'm sure you'll work wonders." With his childlike nature, she was sure the kids would adore him. Unlike some of the other more serious teachers she'd met, Brad was unlike anyone else she'd ever met. It went without saying that she was incredibly lucky and happy she'd managed to snatch him before anyone else could have. Despite their hardships, she was still very much in love, just like she had been nine years ago.

Her eyes never left him, but they grew slightly softer at the words. Reaching her hands out, she placed them on the top of his shoulders as she too leaned forward to rest her chin on the top his shoulder. "You're very lucky," she agreed. "Now, you better fix that light unless you want to sleep on the couch. All cold and alone," she added, her eyebrow quirking as she offered him a grin. Then again, it wasn't like she could stop him. With the difference in both size and strength, Beth was comically outnumbered. Heck, all he had to do was throw her over his shoulder and there was little else that she could do.

[Bradley Young]

A soft chuckle escaped into the darkness of the bathroom. Beth was right, he'd said it himself. He was lucky. So very lucky to have found her and been the one she'd chosen from the very beginning. He couldn't imagine what it must have been like being a 17 year old and finding love for the first time and never letting it go. He'd had girlfriends before Beth. None that were even close to her, of course, but they'd been there. That she'd remained by his side through it all was just proof of how strongly she felt. If only he could have given that love she held for him justice.

"If I sleep on the couch I'm taking the nightlight." He warned, even though he knew he'd never do such a thing. Very few things were off limits when it came to Brad's sometimes caustic sense of humor. Beth's fear of the dark was one of them. Still, his hands started moving again as he went about replacing the dead bulbs. Within just a couple minutes he glanced back to Beth. "Want to try the light now?" He said before shifting his gaze back to the still darkened bulbs.

[Beth Young]

Her hand quickly moved to his chin, yanking it in her direction. "If you think me missing American Idol is bad, try stealing my nightlight and see what happens." She smiled then as he leaned in to place a quick kiss onto his lips before letting her hand drop, and letting him get back to the task at hand. She nodded as she jumped down from the sink and strode towards the light switch.

The sudden bright light had Beth squinting her eyes. It took her a couple of seconds to adjust, but once she did, she offered Brad grin. "Guess you won't be sleeping alone after all," she said, letting out a happy huff as she turned and walked out of the bathroom. Leaning over one of the boxes, she opened it and dug through the contents. "You know," she tossed over her shoulder. "I'm starting to wonder if maybe I have too many blankets," she added with a soft sigh as she held up one of her many couch blankets.

Blankets were like scarfs; you could never have too many until you did.

[Bradley Young]

"Oh, goddammit." Yes, staring into a fully exposed light bulb as it flashed to life was probably not the best of ideas. Brad squeezed his eyes shut and brought a hand up to shield his face from the bright light. Sometimes he wasn't the sharpest spoon in the dresser. He reached out to scoop the light cover from the sink and screwed it back on, softening the harsh glow of the bulbs enough to make the bathroom comfortable to stand in. With a satisfied nod he took a step back and turned his attention to his wife.

"Thoreau did say, 'simplify'." Brad commented as he went to stuff the dead bulbs into the now empty box where he'd gotten the new ones before wandering out to find where Beth had gone to. He smiled a little, seeing her again, even when she'd left his field of vision for just a few seconds always seemed to do that. "But I think we have just the right amount of blankets." He gave her a nod and a wink as he passed by, navigating the minefield of boxes that made up the living room on his way to the kitchen where the wastebasket sat.

[Beth Young]

"You're just saying that because you've gotten so used to it." Well, she supposed at least it wasn't shoes. At least she'd collected something a little more useful. Blankets was always nice to have handy. As were scarfs. But shoes? Nah. Even so, she couldn't keep her eyes from following the much taller form of her husband as he made his way towards the kitchen. 

This had been the right thing to do, right? The move? Moving away from their home and everything they knew. It had felt like such a smart thing to do, but even now, Beth couldn't help but to wonder if running away really had been the best move to make. She supposed that only time would tell. There was little point in worrying. Sighing, the brunette's gaze returned to the blankets. "We could build a blanket fort with this."