Disclaimer: Desperate Housewives is in no way mine.

Story Summary: He traveled so much that the airport was practically part of their marriage. Several moments in Tom and Lynette's relationship that happened at the airport. Not in any particular order.

Midnight (And Other Times) at the Airport

A story by Ryeloza

December 20, 1998 – 12:09am

Tom yawned widely and rubbed the sleep from his bleary eyes as he made his way down the terminal toward baggage claim. He'd managed to snooze a little on the plane, but he was never completely able to relax while flying, especially on nights that he was so anxious to get home. Thanks to a snowstorm, he was already a day late and he wanted nothing more than to see his kids and kiss his wife before he crawled into bed and passed out.

As he rounded a corner and baggage claim came into sight, Tom actually stopped short. Standing maybe fifty feet away from him was his wife, scanning the crowd on tiptoe. For a minute, Tom simply stood and watched her, wondering what on earth had possessed her to drive all the way to the airport at midnight to pick him up when he could have just taken a taxi. Mostly, though, he was just happy to see her—the most welcome sight in the world for his tired eyes.

"Hey!" he called, walking toward her. She caught sight of him and gave a little wave, but she didn't make a move toward him, instead waiting until he reached her. "What are you doing here?" he asked cheerfully. "Where are the kids?" Tom leaned in to kiss her forehead, running his hands up and down her arms, but Lynette didn't return any outward sign of affection. He pulled back, frowning. "What's wrong?"

"Your parents decided to come for Christmas after all. They showed up this morning."

"Oh," said Tom, trying to puzzle out what the problem was. Lynette could be peeved about that—she probably had every right to be—but he didn't think it warranted her coming all the way here to tell him. Not quite sure how to respond, he fell back on tried and true habits. "Well the guest room is tiny. They probably won't stay long."

Lynette didn't respond. Feeling antsy, Tom adjusted his bag on his shoulder, put his other arm around his wife's shoulders and started to lead her toward the baggage claim. Time for the direct approach. "Are they arguing?"

"What? No. Tom, this isn't about your parents."

"Well then what's going on? Because I'm getting the very clear impression that you aren't here just to surprise me."

"Oh, trust me. It's definitely a surprise."

Tom released his grip on her as they stepped into the crowd around the conveyor belt and gave her a slightly laughing look. If something was really wrong, she would have told him by now; as it was, this seemed like one of those situations where Lynette was about to blurt out something truly bizarre. "Are you going to make me guess?" he teased. Through the crowd he spotted his bag and he made a mad dash through the group to slither toward it. At the same moment, Lynette finally blurted out, "I'm pregnant!"

Along with a good number of the people there, Tom turned around to stare at his wife. She still had her arms crossed and her eyes wore a look ambivalent with annoyance, anger and excitement. Tom, feeling completely shell-shocked, just gaped at her. "How?" he asked stupidly.

"Gee, I don't know, Tom. How do you think?"

A couple of the people watching their little scene snickered loudly, but Tom was too busy trying to remember if he'd forgotten to wear a condom sometime in the recent past to care. Usually Lynette was pretty diligent about suiting him up, so to speak, but she'd been awfully tired lately. Maybe they'd slipped up. "Okay," he said, trying to shake off the shock and concentrate on the actual news. "We're going to have another baby." He smiled and walked back to her, giving her a quick kiss. "That's great!"

"Great? Well, yeah, that's one word. Not the word I would choose, but what do I know?" Lynette ran a hand through her hair and blew out a loud sigh. "The twins aren't even a year old yet."

"They will be before the baby is born."

"And then we'll have three kids under the age of two. How am I going to handle that? I'm already on my last nerve."

"Lynette…" Tom tried to pull her into a hug, but she backed away, flopping down into one of the chairs around the perimeter. He let out a little sigh as he knelt down in front of her and put his hands on her knees. Before he could say anything, an older, grandmotherly-looking woman came over and sat down next to Lynette, leaning into her personal space and patting her shoulder. Both Tom and Lynette looked at her rather incredulously.

"Sweetie, you're going to be fine," said the woman. "Trust me. I had six kids in eight years and I survived."

"Six…kids," said Lynette. She laughed in that high-pitched, shaky way that Tom knew to be a warning. He anxiously glanced at the woman, willing her to go away. "Six kids. Did you hear that, Tom?"

"I know it seems daunting now, but children are God's will. You're just doing your Christian duty. It's so refreshing to see young people like you who understand the evils of birth control."

Tom winced as Lynette's eyes flashed, but he was nowhere near foolish enough to stop her inevitable rant. Better her anger be directed at a perfect stranger than at him. "Look lady," she spat. "I can only imagine that having six kids muddled your mind until there was nothing left but mush, but there is no way in hell that I'm letting my husband turn me into a baby factory. In fact, after this kid is born I'm back on the pill ASAP. No dicking around this time. And there will be condoms everywhere. Enough to build a freakin' condom castle! Do you get my drift?"

The woman sputtered rather incomprehensibly for a moment, looking at Tom as though he was going to be idiotic enough to jump in on her behalf. Finally, she stood and shuffled away. Slightly amused in spite of himself, Tom didn't fight a smile as he shook his head. "Well, you showed her."

Lynette glared at him. "If you even think about having six kids I will make sure you're physically incapable of getting me pregnant again, you Catholic bastard."

Tom laughed loudly, rubbing her thighs for a moment before standing up. "Cheer up, gorgeous," he said. "A year ago you couldn't imagine having the twins either and now you wouldn't trade them for anything. It's going to be the same way with this baby. You'll see." He gave her ponytail a playful tug and she finally gave him a small smile.

"August twenty-third," she sighed. "That sounds like a good day for a baby, right?"

"Perfect."

Lynette stood up and put her hands on his shoulders, using them for balance as she stood up on her tiptoes to kiss him. "I am happy about this," she said quietly. "Somewhere deep down. It's just kind of being swallowed by the fear right now."

"I think that's okay." He smiled and pecked her lips again, then briefly nuzzled her cheek with his nose. "So my parents are with the twins, huh?"

"Yep."

He leaned in to kiss her earlobe, knowing that the sensation was a particular weakness of hers. "And there's a hotel about five minutes from here."

"Uh-huh."

"So maybe instead of going home we should celebrate a little."

"At the hotel."

"Exactly."

Lynette grinned and ran a finger down the bridge of his nose to the tip. "Propositions like that are how babies are made."

"Oh," said Tom theatrically, rolling his eyes. "So that's how this happened."

Lynette slapped his arm and stepped away. "Get your bag," she ordered, "before I have a mood swing and change my mind."