The next morning, Mike and Ginger sat by the phone collectively willing it to ring.Ring.
Ginger and Mike looked at each other and Mike nodded at her.
"Hello?" Ginger answered nervously.
"Mrs. Nesmith? It's Dr. Stevens. Well, we looked at your husband's sample," Ginger blushed and looked at Mike who just raised his right eyebrow which made her blush more, "and there really doesn't seem to be anything wrong." Ginger let out a huge sigh of relief. The doctor continued, "In some cases, there can sometimes be no explanation as to why two people can't conceive. That being said, I would like you two to consider this option. Seeing how your husband seemed rather opposed to enhancement drugs there is a natural option. Do you know anybody knowledgeable about herbs or should I recommend you two an herbalist?"
Ginger rolled her eyes and pressed her hand against the speaker on the phone. "Do you happen to know anybody who knows a lot about herbs?" Mike snorted that smug, cocky snort of his that went along with his trademark sneer. "Why?"
"Yes, our friend is an herbalist," Ginger replied into the phone after thinking about Steph.
"Ok, well, I'm sure your friend can also list a few more herbs for you, but here are some that you should ask..."
"Her."
"...her about. They can be made into teas, sprinkled in food, and so on and so forth, for a natural approach to increase your chances of fertiliry."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Hey, babe," Micky said as he bounced into the kitchen with You.
"Hey, look." Kari pointed to her stomach that was sticking out a little more. She'd had another overnight growth spurt.
"What have I told you about smuggling basketballs?"
Kari's jaw dropped. "I am not that fat. Am I?"
Micky walked up to her and gently placed his hands on her stomach. "I think it's cute. You're cute."
You barked as if in agreement.
"Anyway," Micky continued after kissing his wife on the forehead, "Coco called and wanted to know if we wanted to go out for lunch together."
"That'd be fun. I take it you're going to be at the studio again tonight?"
"How'd you know?"
"I know everything."
Micky pondered this, "Ok, I'll buy that. So Ginger'll give you a ride back here?"
"Yeah. Well, we'll probably go over to Steph and Peter's. She gets out today you know."
"Ah yes," he said sneaking You some bacon under the table at which Kari and Micky were eating.
"I saw that."
"Right, you know everything."
"I like this."
"What?"
"This. Us. Talking like husband and wife. Grown ups."
"Yeah, I know, it's creepy. Let's go to work."
Kari giggled and went to go put the dishes in the sink. Her and Micky walked out the front door and to the car completely walking by the day's newspaper, unaware of its existance.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~~*
Ginger and Mike were at the studio when Kari and Micky arrived.
"Did you see the paper today?" Mike asked Micky.
"No."
"Neither did I." Mike wandered off. Suddenly a newspaper was thrown at them. "Well that's convient," Mike mused, picking it up. He went straight to the entertainment section to see if the note Veronica had left had led to anything.
It had.
"Oh great..." Mike said as he folded the paper back.
"What's it say?" Micky said as he and Kari looked over his shoulders.
"Get offa me an' I'll read it! Geez... Says, As the world knows, Micky Dolenz is now a married man. And then she goes on about what trash you are, Kari, and about the whole child actor, alcohol thing.... Now we know why such an eligable bachlor has chosen to take himself off of the market. He was forced to." Mike squinted at the paper.
"I was what?" Micky said.
"What did I do, tie him up and drag him to the alter?" Kari spat.
"Uh..." Mike said as his eyes darted across the rest of the paper. "No..."
"Well what else?" Kari asked.
"The former child-star-turned-alcoholic-turned-man-hunter woo... was pregnant before they were married. This was done on puprose, close friends of the girl say. Micky was forced into marrying her due to the child. She has tried to reclaim fame since losing it, and sources say this was her chosen route to gaining her stardom back, to capture a Monkee. If you think about it, Micky was never serious with any girl before, but Kari has been trying to date several celebrities..."
The three just stood there as Mike brought the paper down.
"Why that... Ohhh... I'll kill her... I... Oo..." Kari held her stomach as the baby kicked. "I... That woman!" she finally got out.
"Calm down," Micky told her.
"Yeah you're buggin' the kid..." Mike added, throwing the paper aside as if it didn't matter.
As soon as he did, the boys were called to the set. For the rest of the day, Kari sat fuming in Micky's dressing room, and Ginger tried her best to calm her down, but to no avail. It just bothered her that anyone could think such a thing about her.
Micky had been thinking abou the article, too. It wasn't true... He loved Kari... She was so special... But what about that Beatles party? And George? No that was the drugs... And she wasn't pregnant before they got married... They hadn't known each other too long... But...
"Micky?" Kari said yet again, bringing Micky out of his trance in the middle of the set.
"Hmm? Oh hey," he said vaguely.
"Are you ready to go home...?" Kari asked. She didn't like the way he was acting at all.
"Sure."
They walked off to their car without saying a word all the way home.
When the two got home, all was silent. Even You knew that something was up and kept to himself.
Finally, Kari cracked, "Micky, what is wrong?"
"Nothing," Micky quickly defended himself... too quickly.
"Micky... ever since that article... oh my God... you actually believe that article, don't you?" Kari said, turning to him, eyes blazing.
Micky tried to speak, but couldn't.
"I can't believe this," Kari said exasperated. "You actually believe that witch? If I wanted to have a baby with you so damn badly, do you think I would have waited until after we married to actually have sex with you?"
"Kari..."
Kari wouldn't hear him. "You think I wanted to "get myself a Monkee" to get my stardom back? I didn't even want my job with you guys in the first place!! And that crap about me dating other stars... who else have I dated? Hmm? Please tell me, I'd like to know."
"Kari, I just..."
"What? Believe some psycho over your own wife??"
Micky opened his mouth, but no sound emerged.
Kari sighed, disgusted. "I am going over to Ginger's."
And with that she stormed out of the house and sped over to Mike and Ginger's apartment.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Steph sighed as she and Peter walked arm in arm down the hospital hallway. She was getting released today.
They were actually going to go home and raise their two little girls.
They stood together watching through the window as the nurses picked up their sleeping daughters.
"I can't believe it. I'm a dad," Peter said in awe. "I can't believe that I'm a mom," Steph said resting her head on Peter's shoulder. "And I can't believe that your hormone levels have gone back to normal." Steph laughed and just hugged Peter.
"I love you."
Peter smiled. "I love you too."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Kari stormed into Ginger's apartment to find Mike just standing there, shirt off, eating yogurt, with a shocked look on his face.
"Oooook..." he said, licking his spoon clean.
"Where's Ginger?" Kari said, almost in tears.
"I'm right here, what's wrong?" Ginger said rushing down the stairs and over to Kari. "I...I..." But Kari couldn't finish as she suddenly felt the worst pain in her life shoot through her like lightning. She screamed in pain.
"What?" Mike asked, panicking and setting the yogurt down. "Is she hurt? What's wrong?"
"Oh my God," Ginger said in realization.
"What? What is going on?" Mike asked, alarmed. "Kari is having the baby," Ginger said settling Kari on the couch. There was no time.
"WHAT?? Here?? Now??" Mike freaked.
"Yes."
Mike promptly fainted as Kari's next contraction hit.
"Oh my God," Ginger said, not knowing what to do. Mike had passed out and in doing so, knocked over the lamp which fell on him as he hit the floor, and Kari was about to give birth.
Ginger looked upwards towards heaven.
"Help," she whispered.
"Oh my G--" Kari was cut off in screaming pain. Ginger sat down beside her immediately, and Kari grabbed her left hand and forearm with both of her's and nearly broke Ginger's arm in two.
Mike moaned at sat up. Then he saw Kari sitting there, clutching Ginger.
"Are you okay?" Ginger asked Mike, who looked pretty darn dazed.
He nodded, not taking his eyes off Kari.
"Then go call the paramedics!" Ginger told him. He was just sitting there with his mouth open.
Mike pulled himself up and raced (as best he could) to the phone. He got the operator to get him the paramedics and was assured they'd be there soon.
He went back over to the girls and informed them the paramedics would be right there. Kari was still clinging to Ginger with one hand, holding her stomach with the other, and was sort of huntched over from pain, trying to keep her legs pressed together. It wasn't working too well.
"Kari," Mike said, standing beside Ginger. "Are you sure we couldn't make it to the hospital? Don't you have at least a few hours? Are you sure this is the real thing?" Mike's voice was a little high.
"Oooohhhh... Yes! It's coming right now, I can feel it..." Kari answerd through clentched teeth.
Mike started to do something, then another, then he just sort of stood there stuttering.
"Mike? We have to do something..." Ginger said.
"Well what?!"
"I don't know!"
"You're a girl!"
"I know that!"
"Deliever it!"
"ME?!" Ginger was about to cry just from the knowledge Kari was having contractions, let alone deliver the baby.
"Ahh! Oh this is so it! Right now!" Kari yelled, head hung in pain.
"WHAT?! Wait, what are you doing?! Don't uncross your legs! It'll come out that way!" Mike yelled back.
"That's the point!" Kari screamed. Ginger's hand was a lovely shade of purple.
"Can't you hold it in?!"
"Mike! She can't!" Ginger told him. He was freaking out. "Kari, just try not to push... And don't breath so fast..." Ginger tried to say all of that calmly, but her voice was shaky. She wanted to pass out herself, but she was leaving Mike that option.
"I'm not!" Kari yelled again.
"Here," Ginger got up, still holding her hand, "lay down. It's heard it's harder that way.
Ginger fixed a throw pillow under Kari's head and Mike moved her legs up onto the couch.
Kari let out another powerful yell and started to bend her legs, but Mike grabbed her ankels and kept her lying flat.
Mike forcibly trying to hold the baby in place worked for a very little while, even though it caused a lot of pain to Kari, but eventually it was inevitable that the baby would be born right then.
"Kari just stay calm. Try really hard not to push..." Ginger said again. She had little tears in her eyes from really great sympathy pain.
"I have to!"
"No you don't! Just stop thinking about it! Think about something else!"
Kari, in all her pain, gave Mike such a look...
He sighed.
Ginger eyed him nervously as Kari sat herself up a little bit to give birth.
His face paled and he swallowed when Ginger said, "Mike I can't..."
"But you have to!" he excailmed, sitting on the very edge of the couch. "Kari, I will do anything for you not to have a baby in front of me."
"MICHAEL NESMITH! I am going to push right now and you had better not try and stop me this time!" Kari said with great effort in a deep, pained voice.
Mike looked at Ginger. "But I can't... I can't... Her... Not there!"
Ginger yanked her hand away from Kari, and Mike immediately moved to take her place as Ginger took his.
Kari let out a long, low scream as she started pushing as Mike held her up and had his hand crushed. Ginger was really going to try the best she could to deliever the baby, but once she could very vaguely see it was starting to come out, it was almost like she dislocated her jaw it dropped so far. Her knees went together and she doubled over slightly. "MIKE!"
Mike let out a little whimper of a whine. Finally he went to Ginger's place as she moved to her orginal one.
"Somebody better make up their mind quick!" Kari hollered, pushing.
Mike's eyes went very wide when he took Ginger's place. He set his jaw and started to push his sleeves up, but then realized he was shirtless. Then, having accepted his fate, he moved amid Kari's low yelling to catch the baby that would be in sight shortly.
As he did so, the front door opened and paramedics, followed by Micky (who had chased Kari after a while) came in with a collasped stretcher bed. They rushed over to Kari, who let out her loudest yell and the baby started to come out just as Mike stood up and a paramedic replaced him. A few of the paramedics lifted Kari up and put her on the bed to be better able to deliver the baby. Micky, who was absolutely stunned, grabbed Kari's hand. She jerked it away. Ginger and Mike, who were on the left side of Kari, exchanged glances.
"Get the hell away from me!" Kari bellowed at her husband. Micky didn't move, but instead recaptured Kari's hand.
In a split second from Kari's last effort, a paramedic was suctioning the baby so it could take a breath while another was instructing Kari to push harder than she ever had.
Micky and Ginger were both having their hands squeezed to death, Micky squeezing back a little to keep Kari from deciding she wanted to let go. Ginger didn't want to look, but she was transfixed and unable to avert her eyes. Mike, who was behind Ginger, was shifting his eyes around uncomfortably, not looking. In another moment, the paramedic had a baby in his arms.
"It's a boy!" the paramedic had the baby in his arms and suctioned it some more. The baby began to cry. It was breathing, despite it being early.
Kari took the baby into her arms and Micky moved down closer to look at his newborn son. "Hey little guy," he said softly, his fingers grazing over the tiny head. The baby began to stop crying and settled down a little more. Micky gently kissed him, with Kari smiling, admiring the two best people in her life.
Micky began to cry. He buried his head on Kari's shoulder. "Aw, honey don't," she whispered.
"No, I'm sorry that article got to me," Micky said. "I know it shouldn't have, but it did, and because of it, we could've lost him..." Micky wiped his eyes and laid his head next to Kari's.
"Shhhh," she soothed him. "It's fine. I'm fine and so is the baby."
"Yeah, but still..."
Kari giggled. "You were a bastard for that." Micky looked at her. "But none of it's true, so we'll forget about it okay? We have a new baby in our lives now..."
Micky laughed as well and kissed Kari. Their lives were complete for the time being.
"Mr. and Mrs. Dolenz? We'll need to take you to the hospital, just so the baby can be checked out and everything can be okay," the woman paramedic said.
The two nodded and Micky walked along the stretcher with Mike and Ginger watching. "We'll be there in a bit," Ginger said, trying not to cry.
Mike looked back at where the other paramedic was trying to tidy up. It was messy with blood. He fainted.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Steph and Peter arrived at their apartment and Peter swung the door open. Each had a girl in their arms. Peter stopped dead in his tracks. Steph almost piled behind him, but stopped to see what Peter was looking at. A couple were there sitting at their dining room table.
"What are you doing here?" Peter asked, slowly.
"We heard you just had twins, so we had to come!" the man said. He had a smile similar to Peter's and the woman stood up.
"Fine, wait for an invite," Peter muttered.
"Peter Halsten!" the woman said. She flung her arms around him and he gave into smiling.
"Steph, these are my parents," Peter said. Steph could feel her mouth dropping a little. Guests?! But the house was in poor shape as it was! She looked terrible!
"Honey don't worry about it," Peter's mother said as if knowing what she was thinking. She gave her an approving smile. This made Steph feel much better.
Steph smiled as she took the initiative and walked over to her mother-in-law, instantly liking the woman, and handed over the baby she was carrying.
Mrs. Thorkelson's eyes teared up as she held the baby. "A girl?"
"They both are," Steph smiled, "This one is Willow. Willow Skye."
"And this is Erika Quinn," Peter said handing her to his father, giving his dad a half hearted smile.
"So when were you going to tell us you were married?" Mr. Thorkelson asked casually as he started rocking his granddaughter in his arm.
Mrs. Thorkelson gave a little glare over at her husband. "John!"
Peter shifted nervously, not looking at his father, knowing that'd he'd ask that. Steph walked over to her husband and slipped and arm around him to comfort him.
"No, it's quite alright," she said coming to the rescue, "My parents didn't really know either." She gave Peter a gentle nudge to let him know that she has just lied and that he needed to go along with it. "Nobody really did know. Until we found out that I was pregnant after a month, Mike and Micky and the rest found out only because I was living with them, but we were trying to keep it secret from the press. What with Micky and Kari and then Mike and Ginger getting married, the press would have been all over us, and I knew that I couldn't handle all of that carrying a child, let alone two. Plus we didn't really have ceremony so it was easier to hide. We just thought that we were doing the right thing, for the sake of our children." This answer seemed to satisfy Mr. Thorkelson and he gave his full attention to Erika. Mrs. Thorkelson was beyond understanding knowing how being pregnant could get and she'd also been following the news on them. After having that almost kidnapping at being almost two months pregnant must have put a lot of stress on Steph and they just didn't need to be in the press's eye.
Peter just stared at his wife in amazement. She just told his dad off without anybody realizing it.
"I love you," he whispered in her ear and kissed her on her forhead.
She sighed, smiling and watched her in-laws hold their daughters.
It was then that the phone rang.
"I'll get it," Steph told Peter leaving him with his parents. As she walked over to the telephone in the kitchen she couldn't help but think about what the rest of his family was like.
"Hello?" she asked, answering the phone. She winced and held the phone away from her ear, recovering from the loud noise. "Ginger? Ginger. Stop yelling, what is going on?" Steph paused listening as the hysterical Ginger rattled off what had just happened in the last half hour. "Oh my God. Is Kari ok? Is the baby ok?" Steph paused and Peter, after overhearing this, walked over, concerned.
Steph turned to Peter, placing a hand over the mouth piece of the phone, "Kari went into labor early."
"So soon?"
Steph nodded. "She somehow got extremely worked up and went into premature labor. She's fine, however, and she had a boy."
"Aww," Peter cooed, "Micky finally has a son. Speaking of which, when are we going to get one?"
Steph mock glared at him and gave him a playful punch in the arm.
"HELLO?!?!?!" came Ginger's voice from the ear piece.
"Man, she may be small, but she is loud!" Peter said. Ginger's voice sounded as though she had been standing there with them.
"I HEARD THAT!!"
Steph just rolled her eyes and tried to calm Ginger down.
"What? What happened to Mike? He passed out?!" Steph said with a supressed laugh.
Peter didn't surpress his laugh. Steph tried to shh him as Ginger continued.
"Yeah he passed out when Kari first when into labor. A lamp fell and busted him in the head when he hit the ground. He's a got a nice knot right in the middle of his forehead. Then after the baby came he saw blood and passed out again. As soon as I get him to come around, we'll be at the hospital. The paramedics took Kari and the baby in, and Micky went with them."
Steph gave another little giggle at big, strong Papa Nez passing out at childbirth. "Okay, we'll see you there. Peter's parents are here, so we may take just a while to get there. Wow... I feel like I just left that hospital..." she said sarcastically.
Ginger laughed. "See ya."
Steph hung up and informed Peter of what Ginger had told her, then they went to tell his parents about Kari. Steph finished telling them, then Peter had an idea.
"Why don't you come down there with us? Meet the rest of us?"
"Sounds like a good idea," Peter's mom said, now hugging her other granddaughter. "From what's been reported about you, you all seem very... interesting..."
"You'll have to just forget everything you've heard," Peter told him mom. "Most all if it is lies."
"Oh I know that," his mom said. "Just saying."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
After hanging up with Steph, Ginger was craddeling Mike's head in her hands in her lap as a paramedic waved some salts in front of him. He blinked into conciousness. The paramedic, an older man who'd obviously seen this many times, gave a little chuckle and left to join his commerades in taking Kari and the baby to the hospital, Micky riding along.
"Oh..." Mike groaned and held his head, trying to sit up.
"No, lay still for a second," Ginger said softly.
"Don't be so loud... Is this all over with now?" Mike muttered.
Ginger tried not to laugh. "Yeah, all finished."
"Did anyone but you see me pass out?"
Ginger cringed. "Yeah... all the paramedics. And Micky."
"Great."
"And I told Peter and Steph, too, when I talked to them to meet us at the hospital. I thought that'd be better than Micky or Kari doing it."
"Thanks a lot. Might as well know about... they know everything else," Mike said as he sat up and Ginger stood up.
"It's okay, I understand you passing out like a girl.."
Mike shot her a look. She was masking a grin. "You have no room to talk. I thought you were going to die! Maybe there's a reason we can't have kids; both of us would never make it through the birth," Mike laughed, making a dark joke.
Ginger did too. "Yeah... well... Let's go see the kid... Make sure everyone's okay... Including you, you should see that knot on your head!"
Mike glared at her. "I can feel it, that's enough..."
Ginger continued to laugh at him on their way out the door.
Mike tried to look mad at her. "Hey, you want one to match?!"
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
After everyone had met Peter's parents, Micky came out to update them.
"She's asleep right now. She fell asleep on the way over. She'll be awake in just a bit though. I'm gonna go wait for her to wake up. The baby's in the nursery, but I wanna go make sure Kari's okay. Bye!" Micky rambled out in all his excitement and disappeared back into the room.
Mike shook his head. "You know he's gonna sit there and stare at her until she wakes up..."
The group made their way to the nursery and found the little blue bundle waving his arms around and crying out, the nurses all trying to quiet him.
"Yeah, that's Micky and Kari's kid..." Mike mused with a little smile. He sure was a funny little baby. And Steph and Peter's daughters had been so calm. All three of the newborns were making him go all mushy...
"Oh Mike. Don't turn around..." Ginger whipsered.
Mike turned around.
Ginger slapped her forehead.
"Mr. Nesmith!" The doctor Mike and Ginger had seen was coming over to them. Mike wished he hadn't turned around, not with Peter and Steph there.
"Hello..." Mike said weakly.
"Back again already? Don't tell me everything worked that fast!"
Mike was melting into the floor. Yes. It was so nice. Just disappearing like that. No one could see his face was red. He was just slipping beneath the tiles on the floor...
"Not yet," Ginger answered. "Our friend just had a baby. Not this one," she pointed at Steph. "Another one."
"Oh, I see. Well, have you been eating those foods I mentioned, Mr. Nesmith? Have you two gotten ahold of that friend of yours about the herbs?"
It was so nice to be a little puddle, Mike thought. He was also glad Peter's parents had wondered out of earshot. Peter and Steph started to, but the mention of herbs stopped them.
"Uh, yeah, he has. And this is our friend we were talking about. We haven't talked to her yet," Ginger said, indicating Steph.
"Talked to me about what?" Steph said.
The doctor explained to Steph about the herbs while Ginger tried to snap Mike out of his meditation. With no luck.
"Oh!" Steph exclaimed. "I can so get you some stuff! I have tons of herbs, especially tea, that are supposed to work for that!"
"No wonder we had twins, the way you drink tea," Peter quipped.
"Maybe there's something to that," the doctor said. "At any rate, just keep trying. Let her get you some of those herbs, then after a while maybe you can come in and we'll take another sample to see if they're working. If anything, it was just a little, tiny bit of a quantity problem, not quality."
Mike was no longer a puddle. Having made it to the liquid state, he was now moving to the gaseous state and floating away, dissolving in the air.
Ginger's face felt like she had a bad sunburn. "Well thanks for everything..." she mumbled as the doctor said goodbye.
As much as it had affected Ginger and Mike, the conversation didn't seem to phase Peter or Steph.
"Oh man have I got some stuff for you two!" Steph said excitedly, glad to be able to help. "There's this tea I want you to try first. The Chinese have used it for years for this!"
Mike was floating out the door.
"Mike?" Peter said.
Ah, now he was outside, in the open air, free to go wherever he wanted.
"Mike are you with us?" Steph said.
"I think the hit on the head did something..." Peter said.
Mike was brought back to reality. It was actually funny. They were discussing the fact he couldn't have babies and that he'd passed out. Oh, the comedy of it. He started laughing.
Steph and Peter exchanged looks. Ginger started laughing a little, too.
"What's so funny?" Peter asked.
"Yeah?" Steph amened.
"This!" Ginger said.
At Peter and Steph's continued confused looks, Mike elaborated, still laughing at the wrongness of everything, "This whole scene is just so fu-- Oh hi!"
Peter's parents had come back over, just as Micky came out of Kari's room. A nurse picked up the baby and set off for Kari's room with him.
"She's awake!" Micky announced. "C'mon c'mon c'mon!"
Peter, Steph, his parents, Ginger, and Mike all followed Micky into Kari's room, who had just been handed her son, and Micky sat down beside her.
Once she had been told how cute he was, Kari asked with a devilish smile, "So how are you, Mike? Head sore?" She snickered at the pump knot on his head.
"Oh, Ah'm just peachy. You?"
Kari laughed. "Great."
"So what's his name?" Ginger asked Kari.
"... Mike?"
Ginger rolled her eyes. "Not his name, his name." She pointed at the baby.
"Are you sure you're not the one who busted your head?" Mike jabbed.
"Very funny," Kari said. She looked over at Micky as she cuddled her little bundle of joy. "This is little George Michael the third," Micky said proudly. He tickled the baby with one finger. "But you can call him Micky junior!" He beamed.
Mike began to snicker. "Micky... junior... heehee..." Ginger hit him.
"Awww, that's so cute," Steph cooed. Peter smiled. He looked over at his parents who were amusing the twins.
The moment Steph said cute, Micky Jr. started to wail again. His arms flared about as Kari tried to shush him and Micky laughed. "You're not helping any," Kari said to Micky.
Mike still snickered. "And you be quiet," Kari bossed him.
"Jest cause yer his mom doesn't mean yer mine." Mike stuck his tongue out. Ginger rolled her eyes and Peter started to snicker.
Little Micky just began to cry louder, waking Willow from her nap. "See what ya did hur?" Mike asked Kari. "Now we have ourselves two cryin' babies."
All of the sudden the door swung open. "Davy?!" Micky asked incrediously.
Kari's head shot that direction. "Patty?!" Steph and Ginger's heads quickly turned.
"Hi! We heard you were here and we just had to come see you!" Patty squeaked. Kari couldn't help but smile. Patty may have been dumb, but she was thoughtful.
"So, 'ow is this kid of yours?" Davy asked Micky. "I see 'e's got a big mouth, like you," he smirked.
"Yeah, well the best traits follow though." Micky smiled dumbly. He was suddenly handed the bundle.
"Here, take your son for awhile," Kari grinned. Micky was delighted and instantly started making goo-goo faces. "Who's Daddy's widdle boy? Yes! You are!" He tickled Micky Jr. and instead of crying he got a form of laughter.
"He laughed!" Kari cried. Everyone else 'aww'ed.
Willow, however, was not amused.
"Here, I'll go out in the hall," Steph said as she walked over and took her daughter from her father in law.
"Let me come with you! I love babies!" Patty squealed.
Steph paused for a moment, eyes widened in shock. "Uh...ok. Let's go."
"Poor child," Mike murmured as soon as they left the room.
"No kidding," Kari sighed tiredly.
"We should let you rest. You and Micky...and Micky should be alone right now," Peter said, hoping to get out before Kari's mood swings started. If they were even a tenth of what Steph's had been, then Micky (the big one) was in for a world of hurt.
The group said good-bye to the new parents and walked out into the hall where Steph stood carrying a sleeping bundle in her arms.
"Are we leaving?" Steph asked as Patty bounced over to Davy. To Peter she whispered, "Never leave our children alone with her."
Peter smiled as they all walked into the parking lot of the hospital.
"We really should put them to bed," he said, looking at Willow and Erika who were currently passed out in their mother's and grandmother's arms. Peter couldn't help but notice how much they looked like Steph when they slept.
"Yeah, your parents should probably go check in at their hotel... they are staying at a hotel, right?" Steph asked, keeping her voice soft as to not wake Willow.
"Uh..."
"Peter Halsten!" she whisper yelled. Peter flinched. He got "middle named" twice within the last hour. "The apartment's a mess, I'm a mess, we have two little girls to take care of now, I have just met your parents for the first time, and you're telling me that your parents, who are very nice people, are going to stay with us? Do we even have room? Oh my God! We don't have a bed for them to sleep on! We turned the extra room in the babies' room! What are we--"
Peter kissed her.
Steph glared at him, not really angry. "That doesn't answer my queston."
"It wasn't supposed to," Peter replied, yanking her chain. It had become an amusing pastime for him.
"I swear to God, one of these days I am going to--"
He kissed her again.
The group said good-bye to each other and were on their separate ways. Davy and Patty went God knows where and Mike and Ginger headed back to their place. Mr. and Mrs. Throkelson, as it turned out, had made reservations at hotel and went to go check in after they had dinner at Peter and Steph's, leaving Steph and Peter alone for the first time in a few days.
"Let's see," Peter started. Steph eyed him cautiously as she washed the dishes by hand in the sink, "my mom and dad are gone for the night... the girls are asleep in their cribs... what, oh what, could we do?"
It took all of Steph's control not to laugh in his face. "Um...no...lets do something else."
This took Peter by suprise. "Like what?"
Steph shrugged, drying the last plate. "I don't know...read?"
"Read?" he asked, intrigued
"Yeah, I don't know. Mike and Ginger always watch the news together and Micky and Kari always play games and stuff with each other, and I thought that now that we can fit on the sofa together we could... read."
Peter gently grabbed his wife by the waist (which she now had) and pulled her towards him. "Ok, what do you want to read?"
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Meanwhile back at Mike and Ginger's after Mike and Ginger had straightened up the house and had both changed for bed, Mike turned on the television as he waited for Ginger on the couch. He hadn't been very talkative since they'd left the hospital, even for Mike.
Ginger walked into the living room with a drink for him.
"Turn that off..." Mike muttered from the couch as Ginger passed by the television.
With a confused look, she did so then sat down by Mike on the couch, passing him his drink which he sat on the coffee table even though he'd asked for it.
"What's eating you, Tall Man?" Ginger asked him, a little playfully to try to lighten his mood.
He didn't do anything.
Ginger nudged him.
"Nothing."
"That loud-mouth doctor?"
"Yeah," Mike said with a sigh.
"He was only trying to be... uh... helpful." Ginger said. "He's a doctor. He's used to discussing things like that with whoever."
"I guess," Mike said.
"Is it really the doctor, or what he was talking about?"
"Going and seeing Peter with two kids and Micky with a son is what it is," Mike finally blurted, his words electrified with distain.
Ginger was quiet for a moment from his sudden outburst as he sat sullen, staring fixatedly at the coffee table. All of it was very hard on her, but it was obviously just as hard for Mike and definitely more embarrassing. He felt responsible for it all. She tried her best to be upbeat for his sake, but at the moment she wasn't sure of what to say or do. "It's just... It'll all be alright..."
"I know that it will be. I know that there's some reason for all of this, that there's some puprose for it, but I'll be damned if I know what it is..."
"I guess we'll have to wait and see then," Ginger said.
All was quiet after that with only the natural moonlight of the outdoors streaming into the room. After a while Mike laid down on the couch on his back with his head in Ginger's lap. It sort of suprised her that he did that; for Mike that was an open invitation for comfort. All the same Ginger gently brushed his hair with her fingers along it's natural wave and he laid still with his hands folded across his chest.
After he'd laid their for a while staring at the ceiling, he closed his eyes.
"Do you want to go to bed?" Ginger asked.
"No."
"You just want to lie there?"
"Yes."
Ginger gave a mock aggravated sigh and got comforatable.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~