Mother's Day
Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to Red Eye.
Summary: One-shot. Companion piece to "Father's Day". The Rippner family celebrates Mother's Day—with the latest addition to the family.
After her little present for Jackson on Father's Day, Lisa ended up with a third child. Sometimes she wondered if adding another child to the mix was a good idea. Especially after the Easter fiasco when Nicholas dumped egg dye on her white blouse. Not to mention the hard boiled eggs they'd been unable to find, until they turned rotten and Cooper ate them.
Which meant a trip to the vet on Easter Monday and a several hundred dollar bill. Needless to say, the Easter bunny hadn't left much for Nicholas that year.
Lisa could only hope that this holiday would be more relaxed.
But when the youngest Rippner started crying at 2am, it was Lisa who jumped out of bed to pick up Katarina. She was only three months old and Lisa was still very attuned to her cries. She had been since Katarina was born.
"You're dead meat, Rippner!" Lisa snarled, her face all flushed and sweaty. She'd been in active labor for five hours. Since her labor started progressing quickly, the doctors were unable to give her any pain medication.
"Sorry, babe…"
"Touch me again and I will chop off your—"
"Leese!"
"I mean it!"
Of course, her animosity faded once Katarina Rippner entered the world, screaming and all red-faced. Jackson handed her their daughter, and she melted then and there. Of course, a nine year age difference between their kids was not part of the plan. Hell, she wasn't even sure how they'd managed to get pregnant again, with Lisa in her 40s and not on fertility medication.
"Leese? I can—" Jackson said softly, slipping up behind her.
"No, I've got this. It's okay…"
She sat down in a rocking chair in the corner, Katarina clutched to her chest. She fed her infant daughter, rocking them both in the chair. She ended up falling asleep there.
But in the morning, she found herself tucked into her bed, covered with blankets, and alone.
"Breakfast, mommy…" Jackson called.
Lisa sat up, looking at her husband with bleary eyes. "Already?"
"Happy Mommy's Day!" shouted Nick and Marissa, rushing into the room.
"Hey, babies," she said, hugging the twins. "What are you doing up?"
"Breakfast and presents!" Marissa said.
"Where is Katarina?"
"Sleeping," Jackson said, giving her a kiss. "Here's breakfast. I supervised."
"How messy is the kitchen?" she whispered.
"You don't want to know…"
"Okay."
Lisa stayed in bed with the twins, sharing her breakfast with them. In the doorway, Jackson lingered, watching part of his family interact. Nicholas dove in with his fingers, Marissa delicately and carefully, and Lisa just laughing as the kids ate most of her breakfast.
A cry pulled him from the scene to retrieve his youngest child.
Little Katarina looked at him with her mother's eyes as he picked her up from the crib in the corner.
"Sssh," he said quietly, rocking her. "Mommy's busy right now, okay?"
She cried, her nose wrinkled. So much like her mother.
"Katarina…"
"Jack, let me…" Lisa said, taking the infant. "I've got this…"
"Hun, it's your day—"
"There's plenty of time for that later," she promised, kissing him again. "Daddy."
He grinned like a fool, watching her walk away.
After a busy day of baseball games and riding lessons, Lisa and Jackson put the twins to bed without much effort and moved Katarina into her nursery. Jackson did all the heavy lifting while she held Katarina.
"Let me," he offered, picking her up. She'd been changed and dressed in pjs already after her bath. "I've got this."
He kissed their daughter and tucked her into the crib. "It's okay, Katy. Mommy and I will be right down the hall. Just holler if you need us, big girl…"
She shifted, her little fist around her blanket, a pacifier in her mouth.
"Good job, daddy," Lisa whispered.
He smiled and together they retreated to their bedroom.
Candles were lit, clothes were stripped, and Jackson kissed her skin, caressing her as they moved together underneath the silk sheets.
"Jack…"
"What?"
"Nothing, just…"
"Happy Mother's Day, Leese. You have no idea how much better my life is with you and those three monsters in it…"
"Jack—"
"I mean it, Leese. I couldn't…I couldn't do this without you."
"Well, you'll never have to," she promised, kissing him.
She flipped her husband onto his back and blew out the last candle. As it flickered out, they made love a second time that night.
Until one of the kids started calling for "mommy".
Mothers never really got a day off.
Author's Notes:
Short and sweet. I never got the Easter one finished, but here's a sample of what it would have been.
Easter Eggs
"Nicholas!"
The little nine-year-old boy looked up, a mischievous grin on his face. In one hand was a hard-boiled egg and in the other was a cup of dye. And his sister was directly in the line of the dye—a bowl of dark purple aimed at a light pink dress.
Lisa Rippner took a deep breath and pulled the cup of dye from her son's hand. At least she tried to. Instead of hitting his sister, Nick dumped the dye all down Lisa's white blouse.
"JACKSON!"
Her lanky husband appeared in the doorway, fixing his tie. "What's wro—? Nicholas Joseph Rippner!"
"What?"
While the twins' terrier lapped up the dye pooled at her feet, Jackson grabbed their son's arm and led him out of the room. "We do not throw dye at other people, Nicholas. We especially do not throw dye at your mother—"
"Mommy, is Nicky in trouble?" Marissa asked.
"Yes, yes, he is. But don't worry, you and I will dye the eggs."
"You're purple."
She gave her daughter a thin smile. "I wanted to try a new color, but not like this. Good thing this blouse is old…"
"Is the bunny not gonna come now?"
"No, sweetie. The Easter bunny is still going to come. Nicky just might not get anything…"
"Like Santa?"
"Yes, like Santa," Lisa said.