Maddy Reynolds squealed. "Wow Skye. This is amazing news!" she shrieked as she hugged her friend tightly. "Congratulations."
Maddy and Skye were sitting together in Maddy's house while Mark was on duty and Lucas was working with Malcolm.
"Thanks", said Skye with a smile.
"How did Lucas take the news?" demanded Maddy, her face alight with happiness for Skye.
Skye didn't know how to answer this question immediately so she remained quiet for a moment and Maddy assumed that Lucas hadn't reacted happily to it. She wanted to ask but didn't want to offend Skye.
"Umm, forget what I said. When's the baby due?" she asked cheerfully.
Skye broke out of her dream-like state. "Huh, what? Oh yeah, he was shocked at first, as if he couldn't believe it and then he told me what he was feeling. He's feeling worried and excited at the same time but honestly I feel the same as neither of us knows anything about babies."
"Don't worry 'bout that as there's still a lot of time to go until the baby comes? So do you want a boy or a girl? Have you decided on names? Oooh, have you picked paint for the nursery? And what about clothes?" continued Maddy quickly.
Suddenly Skye felt alarmed and she was sure that her face displayed her feelings as Maddy gulped and said: "OK, just forget everything I've said today besides when I congratulated you!"
"I just realised that having a baby is a big deal and we haven't prepared anything" wailed Skye. "What're we going to do? We've only got six months to learn everything."
Oh crap, thought Maddy. I made a pregnant woman cry. No, I made Lucas Taylor's pregnant wife cry! That's even worse than making anyone else cry. Just as he started to like me and now do this! He'll kill me!
"Oh Skye, sweetie, we're all here for you. Your mom, my mom and me. We'll all help you out. Promise."
xXx
Lucas & Skye's house:
"Skye", called out Lucas wearily as he entered their house that evening, tired from his day. "I'm home."
No answer came from her.
He knew that she was home because he'd met Maddy Reynolds on his way back; she'd looked at him guiltily and mentioned that she'd met Skye earlier and said that she was at home. Mrs Reynolds' knew about the baby and didn't know if she should tell Lucas that she knew. Maddy said that Skye wasn't feeling that well so she'd gone back to her house.
Lucas shook his head, silently laughing at his theory. People weren't afraid of him anymore, were they? Nahh, they weren't. He must have just imagined it when Maddy had looked at him with worry.
"Skye?" he called again. "Wife, where are you?"
"In here", answered a hoarse voice, coming from the washroom.
He tentatively knocked at the door. "Can you let me in?"
"No", came Skye's voice decisively through the wooden door.
Lucas sighed. "Come on Bucket, open the door sweetheart. Maddy said that you weren't feeling well."
"I don't care what Maddy said!"
"Bucket…"
"Don't 'Bucket' me, Lucas. I'm not opening the door to you and I am not coming out of here."
Jeez, thought Lucas. What did I do to deserve this?
"Can you just tell me what's wrong?" he pleaded.
The door suddenly burst open and Lucas tumbled into the bathroom, as he'd been leaning onto the door. The sight before him was not a pretty one. Skye Taylor sat on the floor, her legs crossed together and her eyes were puffy red.
"This is what's wrong", she indicated to herself.
Lucas steadied himself, observing her. "There's nothing wrong with you."
"You…don't…know…what…you're…saying", she said in between her sobs.
He kneeled down to her level and looked her dead in the eye. "Tell me what's worrying you. Don't say it's anything because surely something is bothering you."
The thing about their relationship was that they both knew when the other was troubled by something and didn't or couldn't speak about it. So it became an unspoken decision that when Skye was upset about something, Lucas would make sure that she told him and vice versa. This was one of those times.
"How will I manage a baby?" she asked. "What if there isn't one baby but there are two or three? Twins or triplets, huh? Babies are tiny with tiny little bodies but cries that could keep the entire colony awake at night."
Lucas could practically imagine what she was saying and it honestly sounded like a scary image. He didn't know anything about being a father seeing as he'd had issues with his own father for almost half his life. The rational adult in him was trying to calm him that he could manage, she could manage and together, they would both manage whatever was thrown their way.
"You're right", he agreed. "You wouldn't be able to manage."
Skye's eyes popped open. "What d'you…"
He cut her short. "You won't be able to manage twins or triplets all alone and that's why I'll be there right by your side to share the burden."
"No you won't. You'll go off and get yourself killed by a dino."
"Not this again! I thought we had the 'Lucas, don't get eaten by dino' conversation a couple of days ago."
"What do you know about taking care of a baby?" she asked abruptly.
"Nothing. Nothing at all", he answered shamefully.
"I love babies because they're cute and well, I don't even know anything about them. I mean what would we do if the baby or babies can't burp or eats a bug?"
"Firstly Skye, any child of mine would be smart enough to not eat a bug. And as for when this burping issue could possibly arrive, you just pat the kid on the back so he or she can calm down. Secondly, let's clear everything up tomorrow. Let's head to the Infirmary and confirm whether we're having one, two, three or four."
She looked shocked. "Two, three or four? No way! I'm tiny; my body can carry that many babies."
He looked thoughtful. "Hmm, maybe one kid is enough for now."
Do you like this story so far? Do you think that Skye & Lucas are having one baby, twins, triplets or quadruplets?