A new life Chapter 16

A new life
Chapter Sixteen; The life of our friends

It was the end of February and it was a sunny day. It even felt like spring at that moment, even though it was officially still winter. But Kyrsten didn't mind it. It was sunny and that meant a busy day for her and her colleagues. It started with the Chef, who was pretty surprised when he noticed that Anita wasn't at Victor's side. And after that, the Imposters arrived. It wasn't a big fight, since the Imposters didn't like the warm day.

"Hello, Kowalski." sounded and Kyrsten Kowalski smiled. Most of her friends still called her 'Kowalski' and sometimes 'Kyrsten', but she knew just one person who called her like that at a teasing tone.

"Hello, Ray." she said as she turned around. "How was your work?"

Ray chuckled and placed an arm around Kowalski. "Pretty much the same as your work." he said as they walked towards the canteen. It was almost noon and it was time to have some lunch.

"Our small talks will be pretty boring when we are living together." said Kowalski with a smile. She and Ray were talking about living together for some time now and they were even looking for a place for the two of them.

"I don't mind that." said Ray when they were in the queue to get some lunch. There would be still enough to talk about once they would be living together. "Besides, maybe we don't even have the time to chitchat."

After the couple had paid for their lunch, they found empty chairs at the table of Anita and Eliza. "I'll be just glad when the baby is born." said Anita with a smile, just when Kowalski and Ray sat down. She looked to the couple. "How are you two doing?"

Ray chuckled. "It wasn't hard work today, so I'm doing fine at the moment. But I'm guessing that you are not looking forward to the fact that you will have to stay at home for the next ten weeks."

"On one hand, I don't think I will mind it that much. Just being home and do nothing sounds quite alright to me. This little one is getting my way now sometimes. But on the other hand, I will miss the work and the small talks during lunch."

"Don't worry, Anita. We might come around every now and then." said Kowalski with a chuckle and she looked to Anita's stomach. Luckily for Anita, her belly didn't grow anymore. It was pretty big now and it was still a little bit strange to see Anita like this. "Maybe we should throw a baby shower." continued Kowalski as she grabbed her salad. "I don't think the boss will mind it when it will be for you."

"I think that is a great idea!" Victor appeared out of nowhere and Anita almost jumped up. "I'm sorry, dear. I didn't want to scare you." He gave Anita a kiss on her cheek.

"It's alright." said Anita, who had turned around to face her fiancé. "I just didn't expect you here right now."

"Look, I know I keep forgetting that you are here earlier than me. But today is your last day at work and I wouldn't want to miss our lunch together today." said Victor, as he sat down next to Anita. "How are you?"

"I am fine, Victor. It is just weird that I will be at home all day long." Anita placed her hand onto her stomach. "But Junior and I will be having fun together." she added with a chuckle.

Kowalski gave Anita a surprised look. "Are you seriously going to call your child 'Junior'?" she asked and Victor and Anita started to laugh. "What's so funny about that?"

"'Nothing." said Anita and she looked to Victor. "But we just call our baby like this, because we were tired of calling Junior 'it'. Besides, we still don't know if it is a girl or a boy, so Junior was the best solution."

Ray smiled and he looked to Kowalski. "Kyrsten, there is a little surprise I have for you, after work."

"You make me curious; what is it?"

"If I would tell you that, it wouldn't be a surprise anymore, would it?" He started to laugh when he saw Kowalski's disappointed face. "The only thing I'm saying now is that I will pick you up after we are done working."

Kyrsten nodded and she grabbed her communicator as it went off. "Kowalski here."

"Ah, Kyrsten, could you help me?  I need someone who could help me with some karate moves." sounded from the other side of the line and Kowalski smiled.

"I'd love to. I'll be right there." Kowalski said goodbye and stood up again. "I'll see you later, guys. As for you, Anita..." She walked towards Anita and gave her a hug. "I wish you lots of fun at home and till soon."

Anita smiled. "You will be sorry for saying that, Kowalski."

Kyrsten chuckled and she walked away. Since she became a Secret Agent in Anita's place, it meant she had to do things like that. Not that she hated it; not at all. It was nice to help someone out, especially if that someone would be Lucy Woo.

===

"I'm glad you could help me, Kyrsten."

It was almost the end of the day and Kowalski had helped Lucy the whole afternoon with training new agents and she was happy that it was finally over. Normally, she didn't mind it, but now it was time to see what kind of surprise Ray had in store for her. "I'm always glad to help you out, Lucy. Besides, you are my surrogate mother now." Kowalski added with a wink.

Lucy chuckled. Some weeks before, Kyrsten Kowalski had come to her. She needed a mother-figure to talk to and Lucy was the only one she saw that way. It didn't take long before there was a mother-daughter bond between the two. Lucy knew now everything about Kowalski and she knew what Ray had in store for her. "Well, why don't you go to Ray? I bet you are dying to find out what the surprise is."

"I'll let you know how it was." said Kowalski before she rushed off. Little she knew was that Ray had informed Lucy and his boss already. And Lucy couldn't be happier for the two of them.

"Hello, Kowalski. Ready for a flight?" asked Ray, when Kowalski had finally found him. He was in the hangar, waiting for Kowalski to show up.

"I always am. But where are we going to?" asked Kowalski, as she took a seat behind Ray on his sky-bike.

"Just wait and see." said Ray as he took off.

"So, will you now tell me where you are going to take me?"

Ray gave his girlfriend a mysterious smile. They were on the sky-bike for some minutes now, but Kowalski couldn't really wait very long apparently. "You have to be a little bit patient."

Kowalski sighed. She hated surprises. She never knew what was going to happen and she didn't like that. "Can you give me one clue?" She looked to Ray, who started to slow down. Whatever it was, it wasn't very far anymore.

"It's here." said Ray, as he parked his sky-bike onto the driveway of a house. It was a small house; like there were two a penny. But there would be something special about the house.

Kowalski didn't know what to say. "You mean that we are going to view this house? Is it in our budget?"

Ray nodded and he opened the door. He managed to get a key from the estate agent. They walked together through the door and Ray smiled when he saw Kowalski's eyes. It looked like she couldn't believe it. Ever since they started a relationship, Kowalski told him how wonderful it would be if she would get her own house. Well, together with Ray of course.

The house wasn't too big. It had an upstairs with two bedrooms, one master bedroom and a bathroom. Downstairs was the living room, a dining room and a kitchen. They had a backyard with a shed and that was all. It was big enough for a small family to live in.

"So, what do you think?" asked Ray, when they sat down at the table in the dining room. He had the impression that Kowalski liked this house very much and she couldn't wait to buy it.

Kowalski gave Ray a big smile. "It's wonderful! We have a tight budget and if this is what we can buy with it, I'm more pleased to have it." The salary of the agents at U.Z.Z. wasn't really much. It was more than enough to pay the mortgage or rent and some other important things. And living in the big city wasn't cheap either.

"Shall I call the agent so we can place a bid?" asked Ray and Kowalski nodded. Ray called the agent and he looked to his beloved. "He is going to call the previous owner now, so we will know about it in a bit."

Kowalski smiled. This was all she could wish for now. A house together with the man she loved. "So, where are we going to eat?" She was getting hungry now and she was curious if Ray had planned something more than only a house viewing.

"Hm, maybe we can get a place in the 'Golden Lion'. And otherwise we will find something else." Suddenly, his communicator started to beep and Ray took a look at it. He smiled a little bit and he stood up. "But there is something else too."

Kowalski gave him a surprised look. "Who was that?" she asked, as Ray approached her. "And what are you going to do?"

"It was Victor, wondering what we are going to do tonight." said Ray and he stood still in front of her. "But there is this one thing I really like to ask you."

"What is it?"

"Do you think you love me?"

Kowalski didn't say a thing for a couple of moments. "No." she said, after some time. And then, when she saw Ray's confused face, she added: "I know that I love you."

Ray chuckled and he gave her a kiss. "And I love you too." He knelt down in front of her and Kowalski didn't know what to think. "So, there leave me just one other question to ask you." He grabbed a little box out of his pocket and showed it to Kowalski. "My dearest Kyrsten Kowalski, do you want to marry me?" Ray asked, as he opened the box.

She was speechless for a few moments. Uncertain what to say or to do. Then, she decided that there was only one thing to do. "There will be just one thing before I say yes." she said and Ray looked at her. "I will only say 'I do', if you let me keep my last name."

Ray smiled. "I will change my last name into yours." he said as he placed the ring around Kowalski's finger.

Kowalski looked to the ring. It was just a small ring with a bright stone in it. She held her hand into the light to see her ring better. It was blue, with some golden specks in it. "What is this for a gem?" she asked.

"It's a Lapis Lazuli, I thought it would fit us." Ray stood up and he looked at his beloved one, just when his communicator started to beep. "You know, my blue and your blond hair."

"I got it. You know, I wouldn't mind to go to Victor and Anita now." said Kowalski and she grabbed her communicator. "Would you mind if I would call someone else first?"

Ray chuckled. "Not at all. I'm going to call Victor and ask him why he's bothering us now." He grabbed his communicator and dialled Victor's number.

"Hello Ray!" sounded and Victor appeared onto the screen. "What took you so long to reply?"

"Well, something important came up." said Ray and he looked to Kowalski, who was calling someone else. "But we'll talk about that later. Kyrsten and I both agree that it would be a nice idea to come over to your place, but we are also wondering why you asked us over."

"Anita and I wanted to celebrate Anita's last working day with our best friends."

"What did you have in mind?"

"What if you get some fish and chips and you can eat it here with us. We both didn't know what else to eat. And bring five portions with you, Anita is eating for two now."

That remark didn't go unpunished. "I heard that Victor!" Anita appeared in the screen and she gave him a little smack on his head. "We will see you soon."

Ray chuckled and he said goodbye to them. He looked to Kyrsten as she walked to him. "So, you brought a little dark cloud in that relationship, didn't you?" she said with a teasing smile and gave him a kiss. "Let's go, before Victor has to sleep in the spare bedroom tonight."

Ray nodded and they walked out of the house. "You know, maybe, within a few months, we will be having a house warming party here."

"I can't wait."

===

"How hard did Anita punish you?" asked Kyrsten as she and Ray walked into the house of their friends. They had picked up the fish and chips and Victor had opened the door for them.

"I have to wash the dishes alone for the next week." replied Victor and he looked to Anita, who just placed the last dish onto the table. "I don't mind it, actually. I would do anything for the woman I love."

Anita gave him a look that said more than enough. "I don't think you would carry a child for me for ten months." she said as she sat down. "I love you a lot Victor, but I don't want to do this for the upcoming few years."

Victor pressed a kiss onto the top of her head. "Don't worry, it won't happen too soon." Everyone took a seat and soon they were eating their dinner. "So, what were you doing?" asked Victor as he looked to his best friends.

Ray stood up and he looked to his love. "Are you going to tell them? I'll grab something."

Kyrsten nodded and she gave her friends a big smile. "Ray asked me a question." she said and she placed her hand onto the middle of the table.

"And I'm guessing not just any question." said Anita as she grabbed the hand of her best friend. "Congratulations, Kyrsten. The ring looks really beautiful."

Kyrsten nodded and she looked to Ray who carried a bottle of champagne with him. "We should toast on this." he said, as he opened the bottle.

"I don't drink..." Anita didn't get the chance to finish her sentence, because Ray already poured some champagne into her glass.

"Just take a sip, even if it's just for the show." said Ray with a smile. He stood next to Kyrsten and held out his glass. "I would say, a toast to our future. To your child and our upcoming wedding."

They clinked their glasses and Anita took a sniff on her champagne. "I hate you." she said to Ray after she took a sip. It was just non-alcoholic champagne.

"We want this future to last longer than today." said Ray with a smile. He looked to his future-bride and he sat down. "I love you, Kyrsten Kowalski."

Kyrsten smiled and she brought her face closer to Ray. "I love you too, Ray Kowalski." she chuckled and a kiss followed. Even though their relationship was young, their future was certainly bright.