Disclaimer: I own a couple of characters, but not many.
A/N: This idea came to me out of nowhere one day. I actually forgot I had written it, but I found it today chilling in my hard drive. I guess if I went to the trouble of writing it, I should post it, right? I also haven't written one of these in a while, so I hope my characters are okay. Enjoy!
He was tired. It had been a long, exhausting day and he just wanted to fall into bed. Still though, when he opened the door and saw his lovely wife sitting on the couch, leafing through a magazine, he smiled.
"We've been waiting for you," Calleigh smiled.
Eric laughed and shot a glance at the clock. "It's nine thirty."
Calleigh shrugged. "I know. I figured that since it's Friday it would be okay."
"Where is she?" Eric asked.
"In her room," Calleigh answered.
At Eric's raised eyebrows, Calleigh explained, "She was getting way too antsy, so I suggested we have some quiet time. She only went up there ten minutes ago though. She's not asleep."
"She might be," Eric pointed out.
"No way," Calleigh disagreed. "She was too excited about waiting for you. She felt very important getting to wait up for you."
Eric chuckled. "That sounds like Emma. I guess I'd better go see her."
Calleigh smiled and looked back down at her magazine. When she heard Emma's excited scream of "Daddy!" Calleigh held her breath and squeezed her eyes shut. She opened one eye after thirty seconds and in the next thirty seconds let out her breath in relief and opened the other eye.
-%
Thirty minutes later, Eric found Calleigh still on the couch, still flipping through a magazine, albeit a different one than she first had. "You're still here."
"You didn't hear any screaming after Emma, did you?" Calleigh asked.
Eric gave her a cheeky grin. "From you?"
Calleigh laughed. "You did good."
"I cut in and told her I would tell her a story if she would promise not to scream again," Eric admitted.
"I bribed her with cookies this afternoon," Calleigh revealed. "I feel so bad though. She's only five. She should be allowed to run around the house and scream. Instead, I hush her at every turn. Caitlyn just startles so easily."
Eric sat down beside her. "Caitlyn's just a baby. She'll grow out of it."
Calleigh bit her lip. "I hope so. Emma never startled like that."
"Mommy's worrying," Eric teased.
Calleigh wrinkled her nose at him, acknowledging his unappreciated jab.
Calleigh's expression only made Eric work harder to stifle a laugh. She was so adorable. "I'm sure you'll be running after Caitlyn in a few years hushing her too."
"You're implying another child," Calleigh said. It was more of a statement than a question. Her tone though, indicated that she wasn't exactly pleased.
"Well, why not?" Eric wondered. "You said you wanted two or three."
The fact that he remembered that conversation from at least eight years ago baffled her. "That was before I had two."
"You love being pregnant," Eric contradicted.
Calleigh didn't have an argument for that one, because she did. Both Emma and Caitlyn hadn't been hard pregnancies and, even though she had to be extremely careful in the lab, she did enjoy knowing a part of herself and Eric was growing inside of her. Feeling her babies kick and move had always been her favorite part.
"Labor is the part I don't love," Calleigh told him. "Besides, I know you. If I agree to another one, you'll keep asking for just one more. You want a baseball team. When you can start popping them out, we'll talk."
Eric laughed. "I would if I could."
The funny thing about that was that Calleigh was sure Eric was being truthful. He would be a pansy about the whole thing, but she was sure he was slightly jealous that she got to carry the baby for nine months and form a bond with it that he would never have.
"What would we name it?" Calleigh asked. They had named their first one Emma, since Eric's name started with an E. The second was Caitlyn, the C for her. "We ran out of people."
Eric laughed, yet again. "We will never run out of names. There's my family, then there's yours and let's not forget Horatio, Ryan and Natalia."
Calleigh was shaking her head. "We can't do that. Give one of them a first name that starts with an H, then we'd have to have another one for Ryan and again for Natalia. That's five!"
Eric tilted his head. "That the starting line-up of a basketball team."
"We're not having five!" Calleigh exclaimed. "Unless, of course, you can have a couple."
"My mom had five," Eric pointed out.
"That's different," Calleigh argued. "She's amazing with kids. She loves kids. She was probably younger than I was too."
"Only a little bit," Eric said. "Well, we could go with one of my sister's names."
"Oh, yes, because that's better," Calleigh said sarcastically.
Calleigh bit her lip. No, they couldn't give a baby a name that honored one of his sisters, because the others would be jealous. At least, they couldn't honor a live sister. There was only one sister that they could honor. The one sister that Calleigh wished she had known. The one sister that she was sure she would've always loved. The one sister that—even though Eric would never admit it—was his favorite.
"Matthew," Calleigh said softly. "Or Miranda."
Eric's heart skipped a beat. "Are you giving in? M's?"
Calleigh had to smile. "Yes."
Eric knew why she had suggested an M. He couldn't believe she was agreeing to have another kid and to give the kid a name that started with an M. He was the luckiest guy on Earth.
"I think it would be nice to honor her," Calleigh told Eric. "I never got to meet her, but I wish I had."
Eric's face relaxed into a wistful smile. "She would've loved you. You two would've had so much fun. You would've gone to lunch together, she would've told you all my embarrassing secrets then both of you would've ganged up on me, completely humiliated me and would've had fun doing so."
"I wish I hadn't been an idiot," Calleigh moaned.
Eric quickly shook his head. "We weren't ready. You know that as well as I do. If we had gotten together back then, we would have been broken up within the first two months."
"Marisol would've straightened you out," Calleigh said. "She wouldn't have let you lose me!"
Eric laughed. "You're probably right."
"This is it," Calleigh warned Eric. "After Matthew or Miranda we're finished!"
"Oh, alright," Eric agreed on a sigh. "Then again, I never thought I'd get one out of you."
At that, Calleigh had to laugh. She never thought he'd get any kids out of her either. She shrugged. "I guess I must love you."
Eric grabbed her hand and pulled her in to meet his lips. Before their lips connected he whispered, "I love you too. So much."
I just love this! I hope you love it too. Why don't you review and tell me? Thanks for reading!