When a child is born

When A Child Is Born

written by Sammy

Chris was lying in bed, Rita right next to him. A look at his watch told him: 3:09 a.m. Hours ago when he came home from his investigations Rita was already sleeping. But he just couldn't. Suddenly Rita began to stir and turned over to face him. Chris was looking into her wonderful eyes.

"Sam, what's going on?" she asked with a sleepy touch in her voice.

"Nothing serious. You better go back to sleep." he replied and stroked her brown hair. Rita glanced at the clock on the nightstand.

"It's right in the middle of the night. When did you come home?"

"I don't know exactly. You were already sleeping. It must have been about midnight."

Rita gazed into Chris's eyes. She could see something was bothering him. She just couldn't tell what it was. She stroked his cheek and smiled at him lovingly.

"You didn't get any sleep. What's going on in your mind?" she asked and laid her head down on his chest. She ran her fingers down his chest.

"I was just thinking, you know." Chris replied.

"About what?"

"About me, you, the baby, our new life here in Fort Lauderdale."

"And..."

Rita knew that wasn't all. It had to be something with the case he was working on at the moment. He had called her yesterday and had told her that he had a new case to investigate. He hadn't given away any details what this case was about. He had never done that before.

"It has to do with your new case." Rita concluded and looked up at him. Chris said nothing. He just brushed through her hair.

"Christopher Lorenzo, tell me what this case is about. You know, Sam & Sam Investigations. That's you and me, Christopher Lorenzo and Rita Lance. Not only you!"

"You are actually out of work because you will have the baby soon. So I am alone at Sam & Sam Investigations and these are my problems. You don't have to worry about that. Go back to sleep."

Rita sat up in bed and faced him. She switched on the light on the nighstand.

"I just don't believe it. This is the first time ever you refuse to tell me anything about a case. Sam, we are still partners. In every part of our lives. Tell me."

"Rita, I can't. It's just... I can't." Chris said and shook his head. "I am sorry."

"Okay, it's your decision. But please, don't lie next to me the whole night - sleepless."

Rita switched off the light and lay back down on her side on the bed, her face to the wall. Chris realized that he hurt her in some way. That was something he'd never intended to do.

"Sammy, I am sorry." he replied and ran his fingers down her arm. "It's just this new case. I think if I tell you something about it you will be kind of... shocked."

Rita turned on her other side to face Chris again. She stared at him.

"I know you are concerned about me and the baby. But you can tell me anything. Trust me, Sam."

"Maybe it's because this case shocked me as well."

Rita could see a little bit of fear in Chris's eyes. There were hardly any cases that really shocked him. She only remembered one case. When a woman had gotten shot in her apartment and everybody had believed it was her.

"Tell me." Rita said with her softly voice.

"This morning a man came into the office. He began to talk over some irrelevant things. I just didn't know what he wanted. But then he told me something that was very hard for him. He told me about his wife and his baby. They were killed in a car accident. He thinks that it wasn't just an accident. He thinks someone wanted to kill his wife and his son. I just can't get that out of my mind. How can someone just think about killing a baby? I had to think about our baby, Rita. What if anything should happen to him or her? I went nuts thinking about that."

"Nothing will happen, Chris. The baby's just fine. And so am I. Just tell me more. Maybe I can help you."

"No, not in the middle of the night. Tomorrow. If you wanna talk let us talk about something different." Chris said as he pulled the sheets a little.

"What do you mean?" Rita asked and frowned.

"A name for the baby. We never talked about that. It's time to choose a name for junior. We can't call the baby junior Lorenzo, can we?" he laughed.

"No." Rita laughed as well. "So, what are you thinkin' about, Mr. Lorenzo?"

"No matter if it's a boy or a girl, we can call junior Sam, Mrs. Lorenzo."

Chris saw surprise in Rita's face. She never must have thought about that name. She raised her eyebrows and frowned.

"Sam? Just like you and me?"

"Yeah, Sam." Chris felt Rita didn't like the name for their baby. "Tell me what you're thinking about, Rita."

"I don't know. Maybe Christopher James Lorenzo, Jr. if it is a boy."

"Uh uh, no way are we going to call my son Christopher James Lorenzo, Jr.! I am the only Christopher James Lorenzo."

"Why not? It's a wonderful name. For a wonderful man." Rita smiled a little bit and stroked his cheek..

"One Christopher Lorenzo is just enough, don't you think? Besides, how will you do that? Shout 'Chris' and then wait to see who comes?"

"Maybe." Rita replied and shrugged her shoulders a bit.

"And if it is a girl? You can't name a girl Christopher. Well, some people did that, but I don't wanna call my daughter Christopher!""

"Then we call her Sammy-Lee."

"Ah, back to Sam. Okay. If it's a girl, we'll call her Sammy-Lee. I love that name." Chris lowered his head so that he could kiss Rita. "Just like yours, Rita Lee. This marriage already works pretty good. We've got this compromising thing going."

"You are very confident, are you?" Rita smiled at her husband.

"Well.. yeah... yeah... yes, I am."

Chris put his arm around Rita so that she felt a little bit more comfortable. Rita yawned and covered her mouth with her hand. Chris realized she was tired and kissed her on her forehead.

"You better go back to sleep, Sam. You need every minute you can get right now." he whispered realizing that Rita already had drifted back to sleep.

The next morning Chris was awakened by the smell of coffee. The first thing he saw when he opened his eyes was a cup of coffee Rita was holding in front of his face.

"Good morning, Chris." she smiled as she waved her hand to cool the coffee.

"Hey sunshine." he replied and sat up in bed. Then he moved closer to kiss her. "Ah, fresh coffee I see."

"Made just for you." Rita said as she handed him the cup of coffee.

"Thank you so much." Chris mumbled and sipped on the cup. Then he placed an intensive kiss on his wife's lips. "What time is it?"

Chris turned to glance at the clock on the nightstand realizing that he had overslept. It was almost 9:30 a.m.

"Hey Rita, why didn't you wake me up? I have an appointment at 10 AM."

Chris jumped out of bed and grabbed his trousers that were lying on the floor next to the bed.

"You didn't tell me you had an appointment." Rita replied as she watched Chris getting dressed.

"I have to hurry. Can I leave you here alone?"

Chris jumped toward the closet, one leg in the trousers, one still outside.

"Yes, you can. But first I have to talk to you about something important. I didn't want to tell it last night in bed."

"No time, Sammy. It has to wait. Call me later at the office and I'll tell you where we can meet for lunch. Okay?"

Chris pulled over a white T-shirt he had just grabbed from the closet. Rita nodded her head yes, but Chris could see she wasn't satisfied with this answer.

"I love you two." Chris kissed Rita and rushed out of the bedroom.

"You'd better say us three." Rita added silently.

Rita called about noon at the office. All she got was her voice on the answering machine: "This is Sam & Sam Investigations. At the moment we're not in our office. Please leave your name and phone number or call back later." So she left a message for Chris on the machine in hopes he would be in the office and just didn't want to be disturbed. But he wasn't. So she called their cellular phone. After it rang 6 times Chris answered it.

"Yeah, Lorenzo." he said. Rita couldn't understand him very well because of the background noise. He must have been near the beach or somewhere else noisy.

"Chris, it's me." she replied.

"Hey sweetheart. Everything okay with you?" Chris asked concerned while trying to hear her a little better.

"Yes, everything is fine here."

"Why are you calling? Do I have to stop at the grocery store on the way home?"

"Don't tell me you forgot our lunch together."

"Uh..." There was silence on the phone.

"Christopher, don't tell me you did forget!"

"I'm sorry, Rita. I'm just out here where the accident happened."

"I have to talk to you. Immediately. It's important. Very important." Rita said with an urgent touch in her voice.

"Okay. We meet each other down at the beach." Chris took a look at his watch. "In 15 minutes. No, in 30 minutes. Then I will get us some Chinese food."

"Okay. Down at the beach in 30 minutes. But don't be late. I love you."

"I love you, too."

Rita hung up the phone. She didn't know what was going on with Chris. His mind was filled with a lot of things but not with her. Maybe she was a little bit jealous. But why?

Rita was there at the beach 30 minutes later. But Chris wasn't. Rita waited another 20 minutes until he arrived. Chris hurried down the beach carrying two bags. He kneeled down next to Rita and kissed her.

"Sorry, sweetheart, there was so much traffic on the highway. And then I had to wait until the food was ready."

Chris showed her two bags which he then put on the sand.

"You said 30 minutes. And now it's nearly an hour." Rita said and crossed her arms. Chris knew the look on her face. He had screwed up - once more!

"I am really, really, really sorry that I am late." Chris began to remove the food from the bags. "Tell me what you wanted to tell me this morning. Something about the baby?"

"Sort of."

Chris looked up at Rita. He stopped getting out the food from the bags and moved closer.

"Is there anything wrong with the baby?" he asked frightened.

"No, the baby is just fine." Rita smiled. "They are both fine."

"Both?" Chris said in disbelief.

"That's what I wanted to tell you this morning. When I was at the doctor's yesterday he told me we will have twins."

"Twins? Oh my god!" Chris ran his fingers through his hair. "Uh... wrong words. I don't know what to say. We really will have twins?"

Rita nodded. Chris took her face into his hands and kissed her passionately.

"Rita, you just made me the luckiest man on the world. I mean, I was the luckiest man before but now I am luckier. Oh MY!"

Rita only could laugh slightly about Chris' reaction. Once again she had made him speechless.

"Wanna know if we will have two boys or two girls?" she said with a big grin on her face.

"Sure, I want to know that. I hope there will be no Christopher James Lorenzo, Jr."

"Well, one will be called Sammy-Lee..." Rita started but then was interrupted by Chris.

"Two girls! I knew it. Two little girls as wonderful as their mother!"

"Sorry to say, Chris, but the other one will be called Christopher James Lorenzo, Jr."

"A boy and a girl?"

"I hope you are not disappointed."

"No, why should I be disappointed? I have a great wife, two kids on the way... And from now on I have to call myself Christopher James Lorenzo sr." Chris put his arm around Rita. "Can you see it, Sammy? In just a few months we will be sitting here, seeing Chris, Jr. and Sammy-Lee playing down there in the sand. We will be the luckiest parents in the whole world."

"I sure hope so." Rita smiled over her face when she looked into Chris's eyes. Suddenly Chris thought of something.

"Rita, we have to go shopping this afternoon." he stated and got up.

"Why's that?"

"Why's that?" Chris replied. "We need a second crib for the baby, a lot of clothes, you know, all that stuff a baby needs. We just have it for one baby. But we will have two..."

Rita began to laugh. She had never seen Chris this enthusiastic about anything else before. She clearly knew how much she and the twins meant to him.

"We still have some time left. It's not that the babies will be here tomorrow." she finally said and gave him a look.

"You never know, Sammy, you never know. I can afford to take a day off from my investigations. Nothing special to do this afternoon. So I will take you out shopping. But first we have lunch before the food gets cold."

"Okay."

Chris and Rita spent the whole afternoon with shopping for the *new* baby. It was very late when they got home.

"I am so tired. I've never been so tired in my whole life. I think I just can lie in bed and sleep for 3 days." Rita declared and sat down on the sofa.

"You've never been pregnant with twins before. Remember?" Chris answered as he placed the bags down on the floor near the fish tank.

"Sam, would you bring me a cup of water, please?"

"Anything you say, sunshine."

Chris headed off to the kitchen where he fetched a cup of water for Rita. When he entered the living room again he could see that Rita had fallen asleep on the sofa. Chris put the cup on the table and knelt down on the floor right in front of the sofa.

"It was an exhausting day for you, Sammy." Chris brushed softly through her hair. "But how the hell will I get you up to bed?"

Chris came to the conclusion that it would be better to let her sleep on the sofa though it wasn't as comfortable as the bed. He grabbed some sheets from the bedroom and covered her with them. Then he began to bring all the bags to the nursery. The nursery was next to their bedroom. The walls were painted in light yellow. There was a great view at the ocean from the window. Chris put one of the bags on the floor, the other one into the cradle.

'Soon there will be two little babies in this room. Two children, a creation of my love for Rita.' he thought and went out of the room. He went down again to the living room. Rita was still asleep. So he sat down in the armchair next to the sofa to rest.

The sun was already shining into the living room when Chris woke up the next morning. He had slept in the armchair all night. Rita was still sleeping. A glance at his watch told Chris that it was early in the morning: 7.13 a.m. He got up and went to the kitchen after he realized that Rita was still sleeping comfortable. There he made himself some coffee. Suddenly he saw Rita in the doorway.

"Good morning, Sam." she said and entered the room.

"Morning, Sammy."

Chris kissed his wife passionately. Then he offered her a seat. She sat down immediately.

"My back hurts me so much. It must have been that night on the sofa." Rita stated and reached for the bottle of milk that was sitting on the table.

"I didn't want to wake you up last night after you had fallen asleep. How could I get you three up to bed? So I thought it would be better to let you sleep on the sofa. You need your sleep right now."

"That was nice of you, Chris." she replied and scrutinized him. "And I can see you also didn't sleep in bed."

"Hey what do you think of me? Someone had to keep an eye on you three. So I just sat in the armchair..."

"... and fell asleep." Rita finished Chris' sentence.

"But I was there! Just next to the sofa."

Rita laughed. She tried to get up, but her back hurt her so much that she just couldn't manage it. She sank back in the chair.

"Chris, please help me up. I wanna go up and take a shower."

"You should better go up and lay down in bed for another hour. It's still early morning." Chris stated as he moved to Rita and gave her his hand.

"No, I can't sleep again. Just help me get up, okay?"

Chris helped Rita get up from the chair. He saw that she was still in pain.

"Everything all right?" Chris asked.

"Yeah, why not? It's just my back. I'll never spend a night again on that sofa. Not when I am pregnant!"

"You don't have to. Are you sure everything is all right, Sammy?"

"Trust me. I am fine. And the babies are fine. I will just take a shower. Join me?" Rita asked and had a mischievous smile on her face.

"Well... better not in your condition. There will be no place left for me under the shower." Chris grinned at Rita and kissed her on her forehead. "Go up before I get in the shower."

"I am on my way."

About half an hour later Rita came back into the kitchen. She just looked fine though her belly was really huge. Chris had made some pancakes for them for breakfast.

"Mmmm, smells like breakfast." Rita said and sat down on a chair.

"Mmmm, smells like some pancakes." Chris smiled and placed a plate with some pancakes on the table.

"How did you know..." Rita couldn't finish her sentence as she was interrupted by her husband who sat down on a chair that was opposite her.

"That you would like that right now? Call it... hmm... maybe I can read your thoughts, Sammy?" Chris laughed and handed her another plate with pancakes. "Hope you'll like it. And Junior will like it. Uh, I do have to say Juniors now." Chris grabbed a pancake from his plate. "How is your back, Sammy?"

"Oh, it's better now. No pain anymore."

"Really?"

"Chris, trust me." A second later Rita put her hand on her back. She bent forward as she jerked her face. "You shouldn't have asked me that. Oh! It's gone now."

"Gone? What do you mean by gone?" Chris was hard to understand because he'd just taken a bite of the pancake.

"It's gone. The pain is over now."

"Rita, you know, pain coming and going... contractions?"

"Chris, no! I know these are not contractions."

"How? You've never been pregnant before."

"It's.. I know it. All right? Let us talk about something different. What are your plans for today?" Rita asked and grabbed another pancake from the plate.

"First I have to go to the car rental where the car was rented that my client's wife drove when the accident happened. I wanted to do that yesterday but as you know I had something more important to do."

Rita smiled at him, eating the pancake.

"Then there are also some other *things* to do on the case, you know? All that stuff you don't like."

"Yeah, I know. The stuff you don't like as well. Diggin' in the mud. But please, Chris, just don't come home too late. And keep an eye on yourself. Promise?"

"Promise. You can call me whenever you want. My phone will be right here next to me. And you do the same. You have to keep an eye on you three."

"I sure will."

Rita was just eating the last pancake. Chris' plate already was empty. He put it away in the sink.

"I better go now." he stated and gave Rita a kiss on her cheek. "See ya for lunch, Sammy."

"I'll wait for you at the office." Rita shouted but she had to consider that Chris might not have heard her because a second later she heard the door slamming into the frame.

Chris had just finished his research at the car rental agency and gotten back to his car when the phone rang. He first sat down on the driver's seat and closed the door before he answered the phone.

"Yeah, Lorenzo."

"Chris, it's me." Rita was on the phone. There was a touch of fear in her voice.

"Rita, what happened? Everything all right?"

"No, it's not. I need your help, Chris. Immediately. I am having contractions."

"Contractions? Already? It's 3 weeks too early!"

"Please, stop talking. I need your help."

"All right, I will be at home in 15 minutes. Say, in 10. And don't move! Just sit down and relax. I will be at home immediately."

Chris hang up and started the engine. He managed to drive the route home in 10 minutes, a new record. He parked the car in front of the house and rushed in.

"Rita?" he shouted.

"Upstairs, Chris." he heard. Rita was in the bedroom. Chris took the stairs two steps at a time to go up faster. Rita was just putting some clothes into a bag when Chris entered the room.

"What are you doin'? I said you should sit down and relax." Chris said and took the bag out of her hand.

"Someone had to pack my bag, see?"

"I will do that. Sit down. PLEASE!"

Rita shook her head and sat down on the bed.

"Are you all right? How far apart ?"

"I didn't look at the clock. Maybe six or seven minutes."

"Are you crazy?" Chris ran his fingers through his hair. Then he put everything in the bag in a hurry. "You should've been at the hospital already . We better hurry. There's a lot of traffic on the highway."

"You'll see, nothing will happen before tonight. I know that."

"And I know that you're having contractions and that you better should be in the hospital as soon as possible."

5 minutes later they were on their way to the hospital - and got into a traffic jam on the highway.

"I knew it, I knew it. Shit!" Chris bashed his ellbow against the cardoor. "It's always the same. If you're in a hurry, there is a traffic jam on the highway. Come on boys, move! MOVE!" He looked at Rita. She just had another contraction. "It's all right, Sammy. I will get you to the hospital as soon as possible."

"I don't know if the babies can wait another hour."

"Uh..." Chris took Rita's hand. "Just take a deep breath. In... and out... in... and out..."

"It's over now. It's over, Sam."

"Hey, Juniors, just wait 20 minutes. Your daddy is just asking for 20 minutes. Please do me the favor, 20 minutes."

About half an hour later they arrived at the hospital. Right on time. Rita already had contractions every 3 minutes. She was brought to the maternity ward immediately. Chris joined her about 5 minutes later.

"And you said nothing will happen before tonight." he stated and took her hand into his.

"I thought so. The doc said it won't be long until we'll hold our babies in our arms. Please stay with me all the time. Promise?"

"Hey, Sam, I won't leave you. Not even for a million dollars! Promise."

Chris kissed Rita on the forehead and stroked her cheek with his free hand.

"Oh, another contraction is coming."

Rita began to squeeze her husband's hand. Her eyes were filled with pain. And so were Chris'.

"Ouch, lower your hand, Rita. Ouch!"

"Oh, damnit. I can't wait till this pain stops."

"Neither can I. Ouch."

Chris raised his hand in the air and shook it after the contraction was gone.

It just took another half an hour until Rita was prepared to give birth to the twins. Chris was standing next to her, holding her hand all the time. The doc gave Chris a warning: "Mr. Lorenzo, if you feel uncomfortable, please say it and leave the room. There will be no one to look after you if you faint. Everybody is looking after your wife."

"Oh, I am strong. I certainly will not feel uncomfortable."

"Okay. But be sure."

The doc now gave his attention to Rita.

"Mrs. Lorenzo, it's time. When the next contractioncomes, please push. Everything will go by itself. It's easy."

"To say this is easy is one things, but doing it is another thing... oh!"

Rita had another contraction. She squeezed Chris' hand again.

"Push, Mrs. Lorenzo, push."

Rita did the best she could. Chris tried to help her like he was told in the Lamaze course they attended.

"Come on, Sammy, push! Push! And don't forget to breath. Deep in... and out.... deep in... and out..."

Not two minutes later the doc was holding a crying baby in his arm. He held the rosy baby a little higher so that both Chris and Rita could see it. The baby's hands were clenched to fists and it was screaming as loud as it could.

"Congratulations to both of you. It's a boy." the doctor smiled as he handed the baby to a nurse.

"Is he all right?" Rita asked and smiled all over her face.

"Sure. We will just examine him. That's what we do with every newborn baby. Then you can see him. But first we have to deliver another baby."

Chris took a look on his watch. Exactly 2 minutes and 47 seconds after Christopher, Jr. was born Rita gave birth to his little sister, Sammy-Lee.

"Here we go, your daughter."

Both Rita and Chris could take a short look at the little girl before she was given to a second nurse.

"It's over now. You did a great job, Mrs. Lorenzo. You have two very beautiful babies. Congratulations."

"Thank you." Chris smiled, proud as a peacock.

"Chris, she is so cute." Rita smiled at Chris.

"Yes, she is. Thank you, Sammy. I love you so much." Chris kissed her passionately.

It took another hour until the babies were ready to be seen. Rita was so exhausted that she just fell asleep when she got to her room, but Chris couldn't resist to look at both his children. He stood between the two little beds and looked at them, a smile on his face. Suddenly a nurse came up to him and said: "You can hold one of them if you want."

"Oh, better not. They both are so... so small." he replied not taking his look off Sammy-Lee and Christopher, Jr.

"You don't have to be afraid. You won't hurt them."

The nurse took Sammy-Lee out of the little bassinett. She cradled the sleeping baby in her arms and smiled at Chris.

"And now, it's your turn, Mr. Lorenzo." she said and handed the baby to Chris. Chris looked at the little face of the baby girl he was holding in his arm. He brushed the small amount of brown hair the baby already had.

"Hey, sweetheart, I am your daddy."

Chris couldn't believe he was holding his daughter in his arm. The nurse could see that the smile on his face suddenly brightened even more.

"Can I take her to my wife? She hasn't seen them so far."

"That is not a problem. I will bring this little boy to you as soon as I can afford some time off."

"Thank you."

Chris walked over to Rita's room with a sleeping baby on his arm. Everybody could see how proud he was. Rita was still sleeping. She was also sleeping when the nurse brought Christopher, Jr. So Chris sat in a chair, holding a sleeping baby in each arm. Some time later Rita awoke. The first thing she saw was Chris holding the twins.

"Hey Sammy. Here are two little kids who wanna see their Mom." Chris said and moved closer.

Rita looked at her twins and smiled. Her eyes began to sparkle.

"They are both so cute and precious."

"Who do you wanna hold?"

"Christopher." Chris looked at the twins and then handed Christopher over to Rita.

"He looks like you, Chris. He has your eyes, your nose..." Rita began before she was interrupted by Chris.

"Thank you, Sammy. For our kids, for your never-ending love and for your trust in me. I love you."

Chris placed a passionate kiss on Rita's lips.

Chris spent the next few days at the hospital with Rita and the twins. He didn't have to do some more research on his case because he came to the conclusion that it was just an accident. On Tuesday, 5 days after the twins were born, Rita convinced Chris to go to basketball training with the boys. About a month ago he had been asked by his old Cap to coach a group of teenage boys in basketball. He normally did this every Tuesday.

"Come on, Chris, the boys are waiting for you." Rita stated and got out of bed.

"I can't let you stay here alone."

"Why? I can look after myself and the twins pretty well. Remember? I once was a cop. There are also a lot of docs and nurses... You see, you don't have to worry."

"It's just... I can't live a minute without the most wonderful mommy in the world."

Rita smiled and pushed him towards the door.

"Out of here! My advice: take some time for yourself. You'll be glad to have some now. When the twins are at home, there will be no time for yourself. You have to feed them, change the diapers, rock them to sleep..."

"You got me. But I will be right back after the practice. Give Christopher and Sammy-Lee a kiss from their daddy."

"I will."

Chris headed off home to change his clothes for the basketball practice. The boys were already waiting for him at the court.

"Coach, you are late!" one of the boys shouted.

"Sorry, boys, I know. But now I am here and we can begin with the practice. Who's missing?"

Chris looked around and counted the boys. 15 in total. He couldn't remember there ever were 15 before.

"Nobody." the boys shouted proudly.

"The first time all of you are here at the same time. Will wonders never cease?"

They had not even played 5 minutes before some of the boys stopped playing in order to look at some girls passing atby the court.

"Girls, stop, you just broke our hearts!" two boys shouted and approached the fence that seperated the court from the walkway. The girls stopped walking and came over to the fence. They began to talk with the boys.

"Boys, the game's in here. Not out there! So stop watching the girls. We are playing basketball!" Chris yelled and approached the fence as well. "I am sorry, ladies, but these boys here have to play basketball. Say good-bye."

Chris pushed the boys away from the fence and back to the court.

"I hope that won't happen again. We are here to play basketball, right? Feel free to leave the court if I am wrong."

Chris was sure that wouldn't happen again. He was right - until he suddenly heard one boy screaming: "Wow! Look at that woman! The woman of my dreams! I think I am dying!"

Chris didn't look who was standing outside the court. He just walked over to his special friend and had a little talk with him. He put his arms around his shoulder and led him to the middle of the court.

"Ty, don't you remember what I told you at the beginning of the practice and several times before that? No distraction from girls. Is that clear?"

"But coach, just look at that woman. She's adorable. She's gorgeous. She's... unbelievable!"

"It's not the time for watching girls. We are here to play basketball."

"Please, Coach, look at her and tell me I am right. Please!" Ty pleaded and pointed towards the fence.

Chris turned over and saw Rita waiting outside of the court. His mouth dropped open and his jaw hit the ground.

"Uh, I was right, Coach." Ty remarked and smiled.

Chris handed the basketball over to Ty.

"Excuse me for a minute."

He ran outside the court to where Rita was waiting. She smiled at him and put her sun glasses down.

"Hey Sam."

"Sammy, what are you doing here?"

"I couldn't spend another day in hospital, not even a minute. You know I hate hospitals."

"C'mon, you could have told me, Sam. I would have brought you home. You spoilt all the fun."

"Should be a surprise. Sorry."

"And the twins? Where are they?"

"Still at the hospital. They said it would be better for them to stay another 2 days so that they can watch them."

Suddenly they heard some of the boys shouting and laughing.

"Hey Coach, what did you say? No girls during the training? So what's this we see?"

"Sammy, you got me into trouble." Chris began and smiled. "I told the boys no girls during the training. See?"

"Well, then I have to save your butt again, Mr. Lorenzo. Tell them who I am."

"Okay."

Chris and Rita walked over to the boys.

"Boys, my wife Rita." Chris introduced Rita and grinned.

Nobody said anything. Some mouths dropped open, but really nobody dared to say anything.

"So, Ty, unfortunately the woman of your dreams is married to your basketball coach."

"But, coach, I was right in one point." Ty answered.

"In what?" Chris asked.

"She's adorable."

"Thank you." Rita smiled at Ty.

"Oh, and for your information. She gave birth to twins 5 days ago. Would you believe that? I wouldn't if I wasn't there."

"Coach, we have an idea. You'll spent the afternoon with your gorgeous wife and we'll go home. Nothing to do for us here. Bye."

Some of the boys wanted to leave the court. They grabbed their bags from the ground and hurried away.

"Stop and come back immediately! I wasn't the one who asked for a new basketball coach. If you go now I won't come back next week."

The boys returned without saying a word.

"Chris, we'll meet at home when you're finished." Rita said and looked at Chris.

"Okay. We will be ready in about half an hour."

Chris kissed Rita.

"Ooooh!" some of the boys shouted until both Chris and Rita broke the embrace.

"Back to work, boys! I will be right back."

Chris walked Rita outside of the court. There he kissed her again.

"Take the car. I will walk home."

Chris wanted to hand Rita the keys for the car but she refused.

"I better walk. It's just 2 blocks. I need some fresh air."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I am. We'll meet later."

"Okay, see ya later."

When Chris arrived at home about half an hour later Rita was lying on the sofa and relaxing. She had put a cushion under her feet and was reading a book.

"Hey!" she smiled a placed the book on the small table next to the couch.

"Hey. I see you relaxed, Sammy." Chris said and kissed her.

"After I did some work in the nursery."

"You did what?"

"Go upstairs and look."

Chris rushed upstairs to the nursery. Rita had done the things Chris had promised to do: she first had placed the second cradle right in front of the window. Then she'd put the clothes into the closet.

"Looks pretty good, hm?"

Rita suddenly stood behind Chris and put her arms around him. She placed her chin on his shoulder and kissed him on the cheek.

"It looks terrific. Time for the twins to see their home."

"Uh, Chris, you better go take a shower."

"Join me?"

"I don't think so. I will go down and relax on the sofa."

Later that day when the sun was setting Chris and Rita were sitting outside on the porch. Each of them had a glass of wine. The bottle was standing on the table beside an empty bowl that had been filled with salad before. Rita's head rested on Chris' shoulder while the sun finally disappeared at the horizon.

"Sammy, do you know what I was just thinking about?" Chris asked. Rita shook her head no.

"We should take the kids home tomorrow. I really can't wait to bring them home."

"Are you sure? Tomorrow could be a day just for the two of us. After that this time will be rare. Getting up every night because a baby cries, being interrupted in everything, Sam."

"Do you already regret that we decided to have the babies? For me it sounds like you do."

"For nothing in this world I would give away Christopher and Sammy-Lee. If you really wanna do that, we'll take them home tomorrow."

The next day should then be the great day: Rita and Chris took both kids home from the hospital. When they entered the living room Chris was carrying Sammy-Lee, Rita was holding Christopher. The twins were sound asleep in their parents arms.

"Welcome home, Juniors!" Chris said and closed the door. Then he looked over to Rita. She smiled over her whole face while she was looking at her son. This was the time both were waiting for so long: bringing home their twins, a creation of their love.



The end


Disclaimer: The characters of Chris Lorenzo and Rita Lee Lance belong to Stephen J. Cannell and USA Network. No infringement intended.

Thanks go out to CathyR (the English teacher on the Silk list ;) ) for fixing my typoes and for correcting all the minor AND major faults in grammar I made, to my cousin's 4-year old daughter Michaela for always telling me that she loves Chris and Rita as well and to everyone who encouraged me to continue writing.



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