Diamond in the Rough

Laura smirked as she downed half the bottle. “And I will continue to have more steps than you. Plus I’m kicking your ass for the weekly total so you may have won the battle but I am winning the war.” With anyone else she’d be rubbing it in a little too thick, but considering how much Brennon rubbed it in her face, it was well deserved. “No thanks, I like sleeping. And I don’t really feel like pushing our two year old who definitely can’t be left at home.”

“Careful, if you keep talking like that I’m going to be spending some quality time with the treadmill instead of you tonight,” Brennon teased, even though the both knew the likelihood of that happening was slim to none - especially since between the three kids they didn’t get as much time to themselves as they used to.  “But suit yourself, luckily Henry takes after you and is not as much of a fan as waking up to go running as Brianna is.”

“Are the two of you really competitive?” Nichelle asked, righting herself and stretching her arms a bit. “Well I don’t know about you getting a free beer yet, but I do admire your confidence.”

“I’m pretty sure that’s an understatement. It’s practically a cornerstone of our marriage,” Brennon admitted, smiling though considering that almost everything was a competition, “Yet, is the key word, but you’re right, we’ll see,” he chuckled.

Winning the race was supposed to be a piece of cake. After all, Laura had spite and a strong desire to wipe the smirk off her husband’s face on her side. Unfortunately those didn’t do much against a five mile a day runner. As she crossed the finish line, she saw Brennon standing there with a bottle of water and she had to bite back a groan as she walked over to him, her middle finger extended. “Shut up. I still got a seven minute mile and I have more steps than you today.”

“What? No you don’t,” Brennon scoffed, before looking at the app on his phone to see that she was right, “Okay so you do. For now,” he said rolling his eyes at her, “But it doesn’t stop the fact that I won. Though you could go running with me and Brianna in the mornings if you want to have a chance next time.”

Reagan: Your kids and I are fine.

Reagan: Though I think Hailey's judging you for sticking her with me.

Brennon: I mean Hailey's also pissed she didn't get to race, so it's not /JUST/ you.

Nichelle grinned when he mentioned taking his youngest child with him on his runs. “That’s really cute, and no doubt so much fun for her–a win-win all around, huh? But no wonder you’re also pretty confident about crossing that finish line first.”

“Yeah, she really seems to like it,” Brennon smiled, though he made a mental note to check in with Reagan to see how she was doing, since he assumed the kids were fine, “But yeah, I’m mostly focused on beating my wife if I’m honest, but if I can get free beer out of it, I’m not going to say no.”

Brennon: Have my kids broke you yet?

Nichelle stretched near the start, doubling forward to touch her toes and then moving her body into lunges. But as she listened to Dr. Moore’s terms for racing, Nichelle grinned, “Sure. And for the record, I like Shock Top.”

“For the record, I like Blue Moon,” Brennon chuckled as he kept stretching, “So do you run often?”

Brennon had been hearing from his wife all week that she was going to beat him, so he couldn’t help but be satisfied when he crossed the finish line first. Two. Whole. Minutes. before his wife. He waited at the end, smirking at Laura when she finally finished, walking up to her with a water bottle. “So what took you so long?” he asked, offering the water, “With how much smack you’d been talking this week, I expected you to be right on my tail.” 

Brennon’s Tattoos: Part 2

Family, Personal

Right Side of Chest: Sundial - Brennon got after his divorce to symbolize to take everything one day at a time, which is a lesson he needed to learn over and over again 

Wedding Ring Finger: Forest - Brennon got just as a reminder that he and Laura are married in case he has to have his wedding ring off for work, decided on the forest theme just because they take a long time to grow and then seem to be infinite, which is kind of how he sees his relationship with Laura 

Left Side of Chest: Hailey’s Heartbeat - Brennon got this one when his first wife was pregnant with Hailey because he was EXCITED to be a dad, over his heart (obviously it says Hailey instead of Jason)

Right Calf: Henry’s Footprint - Brennon got this one right after Henry was born because he was EXCITED to be a dad 

Left forearm: Brianna’s Adoption Tattoo - Brennon got this one with the adoption symbol along with the quote as a dual meaning of honoring Brianna and reminding himself to do better than what he got as a kid, also because he was EXCITED to be a dad 

Left Inner Wrist: Roman Numerals - His and Laura’s wedding date, Hailey’s Birthday, Henry’s Birthday, and Brianna’s Birthday (since he knows that one since he delivered her before her bio mom was arrested)

Brennon’s Tattoos: Part 1

Work, Medical, Hobbies

Back: Caduceus Symbol - Got to celebrate graduating from Med School 

Right Inner Wrist: Medical Alert Tattoo - Self Explanatory 

Right Inner Wrist: DNR Tattoo - Self Explanatory 

Right Ribcage: Organ Donor Tattoo - Self Explanatory 

Left Calf: Handprint/Footprint Tattoo - With the mom’s permission, Brennon got a tattoo of the handprint and footprint of the first baby he (officially) delivered (ignore the name/date part he doesn’t have that) 

Right Outer Bicep: Space Needle - First tattoo that Brennon got, he got it to represent Seattle since he just wanted a part of home with him in case he ever moved 

Right Inner Bicep: Waves - Got to represent his love of surfing

“Sorry, we can’t hear you over all of our World Series.” As her brother was the current starting pitcher for the Yankees, she was contractually obligated to defend them. Literally, her brother-in-law had all of the siblings sign contracts (though Reagan had tried to argue against it until she realized it wasn’t worth the effort). “That’s good. You won’t have to deal with Karen today.”

“You’re only saying that because you signed a contract, and I know that somewhere deep inside you, you agree with me and Henry,” Brennon teased, whether it was true or not didn’t really matter when Reagan had set herself up for the quip so perfectly, “I know. I thought the point of summer was not to deal with the annoying carpool moms.”

“Well he is definitely your son. He has all the same favorite words as you: fuck, damn, ass, no.” The fact that she hadn’t gotten a call from the daycare about his language was nothing short of a miracle….unless they were waiting until she went to pick him up to ambush her in person. “You’re darn right I am. And don’t you forget it.”

“What can I say? The Moore genes run strong in him,” Brennon smirked, knowing that most parents would be concerned about it, but really he didn’t think it was that big of a deal. The kids were going to hear the words eventually, better to hear them said in the right context. “Like I ever could,” he said, before leaning over and giving his wife a kiss.

“Fine, spoil sport By the way, has Laura forgiven you for the “fuck the Yankees” incident yet?.” Reagan pretended to pout as she took another sip from the proper cup of coffee. “Busy day today, or are you just slacking off?”

“I stand by my son’s words, he’s not wrong. And I think deep down Laura knows it,” Brennon shrugged as he took a long drink from his coffee, “Yesterday was busy, had a long labor, so thankfully today is just consults and nothing too extreme.”