Blood Bourbon

Manic

Ryker would have spent all night with Daryl, job be damned, but at some point, his cowboy had turned back into him, kissing his chest and pulling him close for a moment, "you need to go to work, don't you?"

"I can stay." Ryker ducked his head to nuzzle along Daryl's temple, letting his fingers run down the man's spine, grinning as it drew the reaction he had hoped for. Daryl arched his body into him and made a low noise.

"I don't want you to leave, but if you go now, while I'm sleeping, you can come back and be here when I'm awake." Daryl was exhausted, both physically and mentally, Ryker could tell that the man was barely hovering in consciousness as it was.

Ryker nuzzled his jaw again, chuckling softly, "I'll be back by mid morning, at the latest."

Daryl yawned and stretched out against Ryker, effectively grinding into him, and Ryker couldn't decide if it was innocently or purposely done. Daryl's voice was a low grumble, like it usually was when he was half asleep, and it did nothing to help with the sudden physical desire to stay and wake the man up. "I can go with you..."

"No. I'll never get any work done if you're within easy reach." Ryker grinned, stroking Daryl's back until the man fell back to sleep. He held him for a while longer, just relaxing into the feeling of Daryl's breathing.

But Daryl's wisdom of being able to come back quicker had him slipping out of bed and getting dressed. On a whim, he scratched out a note, before slipping down the stairwell and outside, pausing after a few steps and glancing towards the roof of the house, where one of the humans had set up overwatch.

He saw a flicker of light in acknowledgement, nodding to the large sniper, before turning and making his way to his car. On the drive back into the city, he called up Tim, who put Alesky on speaker, and filled them in.

Between the other tasks he had in the city and trying to figure out what exactly their enemy wanted out of Daryl now, Ryker only realized the sun was up when his team members started fading, quickly. They weren't tired, but he could tell that having them moving so much, even with the windows shaded, was burning their reserves. They had made very little headway, other than to assume that someone had changed their minds about Daryl's usefulness, though judging by the array of monsters and super goons they already produced, no one could predict just what was hoped for with whatever Daryl was.

Ryker spent the drive back to the ranch debating how he was going to address his opposition to Daryl continuing with the rodeo circuit. The logistics of trying to keep track of him across the country and in crowds like that were astronomically complicated. But he also knew that Daryl was stubborn to a fault, and would refuse merely for the point of refusing if he came down too heavy handed.

Ryker could only hope that Daryl was taking the interview the next day more serious than he seemed to be and that it wouldn't be too drastic of a fight. He couldn't chase Daryl across the continent, though he was afraid that if push came to shove, that's what he'd be doing.

The ranch was in full swing when he pulled up, with the family and some workers doing... cowboy stuff.. that Ryker didn't really understand. There were cows, and there were carts of fruit and people walking back and forth. Busy, but not hectic like the city always seemed to be. He pulled on a ball cap feeling the sun driving into his brain despite his sunglasses as he slipped out of his car and started in the direction he was certain Daryl was in.

Mary came around the corner, carrying a crate of what sounded like glass bottles and she glared at him when he moved to take them from her, "I can manage."

"Right." Ryker took a step back and shoved his hands in his pockets, fighting the urge to scowl at her in return.

"Sorry. I have so many well meaning idiots running around here, Its insulting to constantly be assumed that I can pull my weight around my farm. Macho-patronization and all that." She offered him a tired grin and nodded towards Daryl's barn, "He went in to work earlier this morning, Vince said whatever the meeting was, Daryl was fuming the whole drive home, hasn't left his place in a couple hours. I've been afraid to go ask..."