AN: Okay guys, I know that this is pretty much crack fic. I haven't written this pair in a long time, but after the Cowboys came back to win it in the 4th quarter against the Lions, I knew I had to channel my excitement somewhere! It turned out to be these two!
Also, I have made a conscious effort to write this year. Seriously, my goal is to complete a NaNoWriYe (1667 words a day for 365 days), so I'm hoping that this will help inspire me to get off my butt and finish The War at Home! That one is set in 2008 and with this one being set 2015, this is definitely in the far distant future. Kudos to anyone you gets why Cory choose the names she did!
No beta on this one, so if you see any mistakes let me know!
The Bet
"Papa? What are you doing?" three year-old Isabella Messer asked her father.
Danny smiled down at his daughter, her long brown hair curling wildly around her head as he cut up some Velveeta cheese. "I'm making queso for your mommy."
"Why?"
"Because your aunts and uncles are going to come over to watch a football game and your mommy says that it's not a party unless there is queso."
"What is okay-so?"
Danny laughed as he laid the knife down on the counter and picked up his daughter. "It is cheese that is melted and you eat it with chips."
Bella's eyes grew huge and she waved her hand out for a cube of cheese. Danny indulged her before putting her back on the floor. "Eat that in here." The little girl just nodded as she ate the cheese daintily. Knowing his daughter's love of the food, he put a couple more cubes aside before quickly chopping the rest of it and putting it, a couple of cans of Rotel and some browned hamburger meat in the crock pot to melt everything together.
"Danny?" Cory's voice called out from the living room. "Are the meat trays done?"
Danny sighed. He loved his wife very much, but ever since she had been put on bed rest for the remainder of her pregnancy with their twin boys, she was constantly questioning him on whether or not things were done. "Yes, Cherie, they are in the fridge along with the fruit trays and the cheese tray. The beer and sodas are in the ice chest," he called back out before holding his hand out to Bella and walking with the girl to the living room to find Cory sitting on the couch with her feet up per doctor's orders. "I told you that I would take care of everything for the playoff party. All we are waiting on is for everyone else to get here. How are you feeling?"
Cory leaned back into the couch. "My back hurts, my ankles are swollen and I'm the size of a freakin' whale. How do you think I feel?" she shot back but with a smile so he knew that she was just kidding.
"Nervous since the Cowboys are gonna lose."
"Blasphemy! My boys are gonna win."
"Cowboys!" Bella yelled as she climbed onto the couch and snuggled into Cory's side.
"See, even your daughter knows that they are going to win."
Danny laughed. They had been having this argument ever since the playoff schedule had come out. "They are playing Detroit, which has a good team…"
"Unless they are playing on the road and they haven't won a playoff game since the early nineties," Cory interrupted.
"And the Cowboys lost all four of their games at home and they are playing in Dallas. I'm sorry to break it to you, sweetheart, but they are going down."
"Nuh-uh."
"Uh-huh."
Cory stuck her tongue out at him. "Wanna bet?"
"Sure. What's the bet?"
"If the boys win, then we name our sons Jason and Anthony."
"Really? That's what you're gonna go with?"
"What? You scared?" Cory shot back, holding back a laugh. "You know that we haven't come to an agreement over what to name them and face it honey, I'm gonna pop any day now. I'm at thirty-six weeks already."
Danny just shot her a look. It was true, they had not been able to come to an agreement over what to call the two babies. He wanted to name them Danny and Louie, but Cory was completely against having a Junior in the family. "Fine. When Detroit wins, we will name them Daniel and Louis."
"Bella, are the Cowboys gonna win today?"
Bella just grinned as she nodded her head.
Danny just shook his head as he leaned over and kissed Cory's hair. "I love you," he said softly.
"I love you, too," she responded as a knock sounded on the door. "Now, go get the door."
Danny chuckled as he walked to the door, opening it to find Flack, Lindsay and their two kids, Ryan and Janet. "Hey guys. You can put the kid's stuff in the playroom," he told Lindsay as the kid's ran past them to find Bella. He spotted a six-pack in Flack's hands. "Flack, there is an ice chest in the kitchen, feel free to throw the beer in there."
Both nodded as they walked in. Danny heard the elevator ding as he was closing the door, so he stuck his head back out and saw, Hawkes, Lydia, Mac and Stella walking off, each of them carrying food. Mac and Hawkes were both carrying pizza and Lydia and Stella were carrying bags of what looked like chips and salsa. "Hey guys," he called out. "Come on in. Game starts in about ten minutes."
Once inside, the group of them worked in concert to get the remaining food on the table and to corral the kid's into the playroom. Once the dining room was set up, Danny walked back into the living room to find the women grouped around Cory, who had a smile on her face at the first chance she'd had to talk to her friends in almost a month.
Flack popped the tab on a beer and walked beside him. "How you doin'?"
"Good. I'm glad everyone could come over today. I know that Cory won't say it, but being on bed rest has really been makin' her down. She misses the interaction with someone that is not three years old."
"Is Bella excited?"
"Yeah. She keeps asking when her little brothers are going to get here."
"Have you decided on names yet?" Mac said as he walked up, a soda in his hand.
Danny laughed. "We bet on the game today to determine that. Cowboys win, the names will be Jason and Anthony, Detroit wins, it'll be Daniel and Louis."
Flack snorted. "You bet your kids names on the game?"
"When have we ever been normal, Flack?"
Flack laughed. "Never, Messer. Never."
"Games about to start!" Cory called out. "Cowboys are receiving first. That's good. Get the first strike in and it'll put the Lions on the defensive."
The men nodded, joining Sheldon and the women in front of the big screen T.V. Cory was fairly vibrating in excitement and kept patting her Jason Witten jersey that was barely big enough to cover her stomach now. That excitement quickly waned as the first quarter progressed and the Cowboys couldn't seem to get any traction as they were held to punts while Detroit managed to score two touchdowns.
"I told you," Danny said as they broke for commercial before the second quarter started.
"It's only one quarter, Danny. They just need to make some adjustments so that they can protect Tony Romo. As long as they do that, then my boys will win," she returned as she shifted restlessly on the couch. "Will you get me that pillow from our room for my back? It's killing me."
Danny just shook his head as he did as she asked.
Once the Cowboy's scored a touchdown, on a beautiful pass, Cory smirked smugly at Danny before lumbering to her feet. "I'll be right back, Danny," she said as he made a move to help her. "I can still go to the bathroom on my own."
Danny had just turned back to the game when he heard her cuss. "Um, Danny?"
Danny got up and walked down the hall to her. "What's wrong?"
She looked up at him, shock showing in her hazel eyes. "My water just broke."
Danny stood shell shocked for a second, but quickly jumped into action. "Hawkes! Cory's water broke. Mac, my keys are on the table, can you go get the car warmed up?"
Lindsay walked into the hall. "Flack and I will stay here with the kids."
"Thanks," Danny said as he motioned Cory to start walking towards the door and he ran to get her hospital bag that had been packed since she had been put on bed rest. "Cory, bella, how far apart are the contractions?"
"Last one was about ten minutes ago? Before that they were about thirty minutes apart," she said before groaning and clutching her stomach. "Okay. Maybe ten minutes part now?"
"Shit," Danny hissed. "How long have you been in labor?"
"A few hours. But they were so far apart that I thought I had plenty of time to watch the game. Crap! Grab my tablet. There is no way I am not finishing the game. I'll watch in the car."
"I've got your tablet," Stella called out, as she quickly pulled up the game. "Now, will you please do downstairs so Mac can drive you to the hospital? Lydia, Sheldon and I will follow in my car."
The group quickly left and due to Mac driving with the siren on, Cory and Danny were at the hospital in fifteen minutes. Her contractions were steady at ten minutes, so Cory wasn't worried. She just made grabby hands at the tablet and booed when she discovered that the Cowboys were down 17-7 at the half.
Since they had filled out all of the pre-check in paperwork when she reached thirty-four weeks, it only took a few minutes for her to be assigned to a room, where the rest of the team came in to keep her company.
It was in the fourth quarter, with the Cowboys down 20-17 when she was finally dilated to the full ten centimeters. Her doctor came in and shooed everyone out, but Danny. "You'd better keep the volume up on that game," she hissed between contractions. "Damn it, I'd forgotten how much this actually hurts!"
Danny just patted her hand and encouraged her to breathe as he turned the volume up full blast. "Come on, bella, you can do this. It's time to meet Daniel and Louis."
Cory grinned as she heard the Cowboys get a touchdown. "Screw you, Messer. That'll be Jason and Anthony!"
Dr. Williamson just shook her head. "Okay, Cory. With the next contraction, I want you to push as hard as you can."
Cory nodded as she gripped Danny's hand. "How much time left in the game?"
"Less than five minutes."
"Come on babies, give your mama a couple more minutes so we can decide on your names!"
"Push, Cory!"
Cory lost track of the game as she pushed. After the second little boy was born, she grinned tiredly. "Danny? Final score?"
"Damn it. Detroit lost."
Cory laughed as Dr. Williamson shook her head. "So, do we have names for these two beauties?"
Cory looked at Danny and smiled. "Jason Daniel and Anthony Louis."
Dr. Williamson nodded. "I'll get these two cuties cleaned up and then they can meet mom and dad."
Danny just leaned down and kissed Cory's sweaty brow. "Ti amo, bella."
"Je t'aime, cheri," she returned as she held out her arms for her two baby boys. Happy that they were alive and healthy. "I told you the Cowboys were gonna win. You should know better than to bet against me!"
Fini.