Friday, December 6th

"Where's Lea?" It was Friday and Lea was always with Steve on a Friday night. It was their video game night. And pizza night. And coke all nite night. And…it was their evening. So Sofia was surprised when her son came home alone. Without her unofficial adopted daughter.

"She's out."

"Out? Like out on a date? Out with somebody else? Out with her parents?"

"Out like out."

"She's having a date." Why didn't she know about this date? As her second mother, Sofia wanted to be informed.

"Don't be so nosy, Sofia." Sara laughed and got the dip for their nachos out of the fridge. They prepared themselves for a movie night, Susan was asleep on her favorite thick blanket, Scooby and Rantanplan next to her, even the cats were in the room. A big family meeting in the living room on a cold December night.

"I'm not nosy, I'm wondering where our second daughter is. As her almost parents we have some responsibilities."

"She's with Zoe and some other girls."

"Zoe is a friend of Marlene, right?"

"Yes."

"Why is she with her?"

"Because they're friends. They share a lot of interests and Zoe invited Lea to join her practice time. She plays in a band."

"Why are you not there? Did she not invite you?"

"We have a movie night appointment, did you forget? The Fast & Furious part five and six. Who wants to listen to girls playing instruments when there are cool stunts and even cooler cars? Not to mention there are a lot of half naked women in the movie and we have to honor Paul Walker. I still can't believe he's dead."

"Oh, he prefers to be with his mothers, isn't that cute? Come here, baby, come in your mom's arms. I can cuddle you all night if you want."

"Don't be ridiculous." Steve sat in the armchair. He wasn't a baby, didn't want to be in his mother's arms. "Take your wife in your arms, I take the nachos."

"Bad, bad son."

"Oh come on, he's a teenager, they don't want to be pampered." Sara smiled, gave Steve the nachos, messed up his hair and snuggled into Sofia's arms. "I like being in your arms, you can hold on to me. Would you like a kiss?"

"Absolutely."

"Here you are." Sara kissed her wife. "I love you."

"Love you too."

"So much love, it's time for some cool car action before I throw up." Steve started the DVD player. "You're not in your honeymoon anymore, you can behave like adults and not like teenagers in love."

"I feel like a teenager in love, all these butterflies when I see Sofia. When she smiles at me the world turns into a wonderland. Everything seems to make sense when she's around and she makes me happy."

"Oh Honey, you're so cute." Sofia kissed Sara.

"I think I throw up now." Steve rolled his eyes. It was an action movie night and not a love and romance movie night. Couldn't his mothers behave? This was worse than going to the movies on a Saturday when they played a sappy chick flick.

"Why didn't you invite Marlene over? Or is she with her boyfriend?" Sofia asked. She hadn't heard anything of her son's crush for a while, but was quite sure, he wasn't over her. What did or did not happen the last weeks?

"She doesn't have a boyfriend anymore. The distance wasn't good for their relationship."

"Oh, she's available? Invite her." Sofia pressed. Marlene was single? These were good news, her son had to use the new opportunity.

"Mom, stay out of my love life."

"You…"

"Honey, respect the wish of our son." Sara interrupted her lover. She knew Sofia was about to say, he didn't have a love life. Not the best comment for a loving and caring mother. "Besides, he can have a girl in his arms tonight. Very good looking, very sexy and exactly his type."

"Who?"

"The one, who comes up the stairs, I invited her." Steps were heard and five seconds later Tanya appeared.

"Am I late?" She tied her hair back while she walked into the living room.

"No, just in time to get into Steve's arms and watch the movie with us. He feels lonely all by himself."

"Oh, he takes care of me? Thanks my hero." Tanya squeezed into the armchair on Steve's lap and kissed his cheek. "My boyfriend is at work, catching bad guys, I need a man, who takes care of me. I heard we're watching adult themed movies."

"With hot cars."

"And hot guys, Vin and Paul are yummy. Oh, nachos, they are yummy too. In a different way. I'd never eat nachos again if that would get Paul back."

"Same here." Steve agreed. "He was a cool actor." Steve fed Tanya with some nachos.

"Do you want to stay on his lap?" Sara asked amused.

"Why not? Are you comfortably, Stephen?"

"With a good looking woman on my lap? How could I not be comfortable? Stay as long as you want." Steve pulled Tanya closer in his arms. "My chick is out with other women, I've got both arms for you, Querida."

"Lucky me."

"Looks like our son doesn't need Marlene, he has a doctor now." Sara chuckled. Why go for the assistant when you can have the doctor herself?


"Well, well, that was great entertainment, thanks for inviting me." Tanya rose. "Time for me to go to bed, I have to be at the surgery tomorrow morning, we have a couple of people coming in. Care to pick me up at noon? We can have Spanish lunch together. Your last test was only a B, we need to practice more."

"Only a B. Getting a B is pretty good." Steve complained. It wasn't such a long time ago when a B was the best he got. If he got it. There were a lot of things he was more interested in than school.

"An A is better and you can do an A. You're way too smart to be wasted on a B and you have the best teacher. We want an A, so we learn. Besides, Marlene is working tomorrow, you can have a chat with her, invite her over for dinner."

"Why would I do that?"

"Because she's single and you like her. It would be dumb to waste a chance like this and you're not dumb. Or do you have other plans?"

"Lea and I have a video game night after I made dinner for everybody, a new recipe granddad taught me…I could offer her to join us, bring Zoe too. She's more likely to agree when she can bring a friend, which I understand, she barely knows us." He looked at his mothers. It was their house, they had to agree.

"A full house, I love a full house." Sofia smiled. "Invite them."

"Okay, I come around and ask her if she wants to come over. And then we have lunch. En espanol. Whatever it takes to get an A."

"Good boy. I see you tomorrow, sleep tight, don't let the bedbugs bite."

"I go to bed too. Good night, moms."

"What happened to our kisses?"

"Sorry, I only kiss men." Tanya grinned.

"Oh, you can kiss mom for me and mom can kiss you for me." Steve blinked at his mothers and went into his room.

"Cheeky."

"He's a teenager, not too far away from turning sixteen, he doesn't kiss his mothers good night anymore."

"They grow up too fast. Yesterday they need you to check if there's a monster under their bed, the next day they barely know you anymore."

Sara started laughing. Her wife was funny. She never experienced how one of their children asked her to check under the bed for monsters nor did Steve or Susan act like they don't know their mothers.

"What?"

"I'm sure Susan will let you check her bed when she's old enough, at the moment she has no idea about monsters. Don't worry, you can be her favorite cop."

"I'm a CSI now."

"In your heart you're always a cop and our daughter will make you feel like you're the one and only cop in the world. Don't worry, Honey, you have a daughter to pamper, to spoil. Our son will live his own life soon."

"Don't say mean things like that. He'll always be in our life."

"Of course and he'll have his own life too. Like every teenager. When you were fifteen, you didn't want to be with your mother all the time, you wanted your own life."

"I like them more when they're babies, small, depending on me. When they run to me instead of away from me. Or crawl. Susan is so fast when she crawls, it's amazing."

"Nobody runs away from you. I'm in your arms and I will stay in your arms the rest of the night. Nobody can make me go away from you, I love you."

"I love you too." Sofia kissed Sara softly.

"So, what is really on your mind?" The brunette could feel there was more to Sofia's mood than thinking about how their children will have their own life one day and she might not be the most important person in their lives anymore.

"Nothing."

Oh, this was such an obvious lie. "Since when do you lie to me?" Sara studied the blonde.

"It's nothing, it's only…a stupid idea."

"Since when is this stupid idea in your head?"

"A couple of days."

"Then it can't be so stupid, you don't carry stupid thoughts around for a few days. What is it, Sofia? Does anything bother you? Did something happen?" Sara didn't have the feeling it ws something bad, she only felt like there was something, the blonde wanted to tell her, but hadn't found quite the right words.

"No…this will sound ridiculous."

"Why don't you let me judge myself how your thought sounds to me?"

"Okay…but…can you think first about what I said? Take all the time you need to answer? Because it's a kind of very egocentric thought. Or wish. Fantasy."

"Don't we always treat each other with respect?"

"Yes." Sofia smiled. Sara was right, she always considered her wife's wishes and dreams and never judged her. Why worry about it now? She could tell Sara everything, they loved each other. "I thought about how great it is to have Susan, a little Sara. Watching her grow and develop is like I have the chance to see you grow up when you were a baby. It's amazing and I'm so glad we have her, that she has your DNA and your looks." The blonde paused for a few seconds. "A thought that comes to my mind all the time the last days is, how would a baby mSofialook? I mean, I have photos of myself when I was young, no need to wonder, I can just look and see…"

"Honey, why don't you just say what you have to say without putting a story around it?" Sara had a very good idea where Sofia's speech was heading to.

"Okay…you know already what I want to say?"

"Honey…"

"Of course you do, you always do."

"Say it, I won't do it for you."

"Okay, okay…I'd like to get pregnant again. Another baby. With my DNA, which is very selfish because the DNA shouldn't be important, we have some eggs left and…"

"Sofia?"

"Yes?"

"Do me a favor and shut up." Sara pulled her lover closer. "You want us to have another child. We do have another free room, the question is, are you really willing to get through everything again? You know getting pregnant won't likely work out the first time we try it. It's hard work for your body and your mind. You can't work for three months around the time of labor. It's nothing we can decide all by ourselves, your parents are looking after Susan, they have to look after the other baby too, because we can't afford that one of us stays at home. Another baby means also more responsibilities, more work and less money for vacation and dreams. It means taking away attention from Steve and Susan. There are so many things that we have to consider when we want another baby."

"I know." Sofia's voice was sad. Her lover didn't seem to like her idea, she found only downsides. The problem was, she was right with everything she mentioned. Sofia wasn't at an age, when she got pregnant easily, she wasn't twenty anymore. It could take them a while before the treatment worked, meant, it would cost a lot of money. Money, they couldn't spend on their other two children or a vacation trip. Or even the debts on the house.

"Did you talk about it with your mother?"

"No. You're my wife, it's something we have to sort out first. I know we need my parents on board otherwise we can forget the idea, but if you don't like it at all, there's no need to talk to my parents…you don't like the idea, do you?"

"I like the idea of a baby Sofia, I like the idea of seeing you pregnant again. You have no idea how beautiful you are, that you're even more beautiful when you're pregnant. At the same time I worry about you, about what the pregnancy and the attempts of getting pregnant will do to you. It can take a while before you're pregnant, are you willing to get through all the pain again?"

"Yes. Susan was worth every second of pain. All the fears. Look at her, she's our daughter, how could she not be worth going through all of it?" Sofia looked at Susan asleep on the blanket, snuggled up with Scooby, her personal bodyguard. A lot of parents wouldn't let their baby daughter sleep next to two big dogs, would consider it as too dangerous, to Sara and Sofia it wasn't. The dogs never did anything to make them fear their daughter was at risk. Quite contrary. And they were around, they were in the same room, if something happened, they could interfere.

"She is worth it, I love her more than my life, don't want to imagine how life without her would be. But I love you too and I worry about you. Another pregnancy, you, my dear, get older too, no matter if nobody sees it because you still look as stunning as you did when we met the first time, but your body aged. Invisible. Which means, the risk of a miscarriage is bigger, the risk of you getting injured during the pregnancy or delivery, is bigger. It's a risk and I have a problem with things, that endanger the life and health of the woman, I love more than anybody else in the world." Sara kissed the hair of her lover. "You're the one I care for most, my everything."

"I'll be fine. I promise."

"Don't promise things that aren't in your hands."

"I can do a lot to make sure baby Sofia and I are fine."

"Yes you can."

"But you don't like the idea at all?"

"I love the idea of a second baby, I'm already in love with our unborn child, that will look like you. But we have to talk to your parents first. And Steve. It should be a family decision."

"We can do that tomorrow, when the whole family is over for dinner. If you really want this too. I don't want to talk you into it."

"Let us check how we can afford it. A decision for or against a baby should never be made because of money, but we both want to buy our children certain things. We want to be able to afford taking them to the movie, go on vacations with them, buy them at least a few gadgets. For that we need money."

"When we continue to rent out the rooms - and it doesn't look like Sally or Tony want to leave us any time soon - we have some extra money. It pays for the debts. Plus there's the third room downstairs we can rent out too. Like on a regular base."

"That might be necessary. We have a son, who goes to college in two and a half years. Well, I hope he does."

"I'm sure he will." Sofia snuggled into Sara's arms. "Are you really fine with another baby?"

"When your doctor says it's not dangerous for you, yes. I don't want you at any risk, no matter how small it might be."

"I have an appointment with doctor Blumfield on Monday." Maybe this appointment was the reason why she thought about another baby all the time. It was a regular check-up, had nothing to do with her baby wish, but it was the first step to become a mother again. "Do you want to join?"

"When is the appointment?"

"At seven, first thing in the morning."

"I talk to William tomorrow, when he says I can come in a little bit later, I join you. One more question, Sofia."

"Which one?"

"Who do you want as the father? Is it Don again?"

"He's the first one I'd ask or do you have any other idea? Greg?"

"I'm sure Greg is fine with three kids, even when he doesn't have to pay for number four when you're the mother." Their child, their responsibilities. It was the same with Don and Susan.

"Yeah, but I'm sure he'd rather have you as the mother. His and your baby, I'm sure it's a secret dream and he was disappointed we asked Don to be the father."

"I think he's over me, he has Jules. Do you think Don wants to have another child?"

"He loves children and Tanya made it clear, she doesn't want children. We're his best chance to become a dad again and he's a great dad."

"The baby surely will have deep blue eyes, a big ego and turn a lot of heads later. A potential movie star, in a city like this."

"A movie star? We can ask Lou if he wants to be the father. In that case we don't have to worry about any money."

"And then he gets a lawyer and takes away the baby? With his money he can get the best lawyers, who will do everything to get him the baby. No way."

"Oh come on, he's not a monster. When he signs the same contract Don did, the baby is ours and nobody can change it."

"Don is a great father and Lou isn't an option."

"All right, Don it is. His parents will be over the moon, another grandchild."

"So will your parents. Hopefully."

"I'm sure they are." Sofia kissed her lover. "Shall we go to bed? We both have to work tomorrow and talking about having another baby makes me want to practice. And there's this sex-free time, we have to consider. We need to have a lot of sex in advance so we can get over this…celibacy."

"Those will be hard days again." Sara chuckled and pulled the blonde. "You have to make it up to me. Two weeks without sex…that costs you."

"How do you want to get paid?"

"By getting laid."

"I love it when you talk dirty." Sofia kissed the hand of her lover. There were a lot of things they had to work out first, but if they did, there was no reason not to have another baby.