Chapter 4

Three weeks later...

Tony pulled up to Tim's house, ready to begin the road trip. ...well, almost. They still had to fly to Chicago, but the trip was about to begin and he was excited for it. A little apprehensive, wondering if Tim would let himself have fun, but he was excited.

He got out of the car and started toward the front door.

It opened before he was halfway up the sidewalk. The excited squeal warned him as Tommy rushed out of the house and came barreling toward him.

"Tony!" he shouted.

Tony set his bag on the ground and held out his hands. He grabbed Tommy when he reached him and lifted him up in the air and then tossed him higher and caught him.

"Again, Tony! Again!"

Tony laughed and threw him up in the air again.

"Tony, please don't kill my son."

Tony caught Tommy and looked at Tim who was looking only slightly concerned.

"I'd never miss catching him," Tony said. He set Tommy down and watched as he ran back to Tim and hugged him around the legs before dashing inside the house.

It was still nice to see Tim so at ease and smiling without that shadow, and he'd always loved seeing Tim as a dad.

"Come on in, Tony. I hope you brought a picture of your girlfriend," Tim said. "If you forgot..."

"I wouldn't dare, not after getting my orders. Jo thought it was funny."

"Good. Then, I'll let you in. Delilah's mom is coming tonight, around the time we're leaving."

Then, the sound of a drum wafted out the windows.

"He's still at it?" Tony asked.

"Yes," Tim said, grimly.

Tony laughed. "You just have a musician on your hands. Maybe he'll be a jazz musician."

"Yeah...maybe."

"Oh, you love it. So was her arrival time planned?" Tony asked.

"You're the one who picked the flight times," Tim said. "Delilah didn't tell her mom so far as I know."

They went inside, and Tony got his first look at Delilah in a few months. He was more than a little surprised.

"Delilah, are you going to fit in your chair by the end?" he asked.

Delilah rolled her eyes.

"Tony, don't you know you're not supposed to tell a woman she looks fat?"

"You don't look fat. You look pregnant. Very pregnant."

Delilah chuckled. "That's not helping."

"Seriously, though. When are you due? Tomorrow?"

"I still have three more months, although I won't make it that far." Then, she looked at Tim and grinned. Tim smiled knowingly back.

"Okay. What's that look for? What's going on?" Tony asked.

"I told you he wouldn't guess," Tim said.

"Guess what?" Tony asked. "Come on! You can't leave me out of my ignorance!"

"There's a reason I'm already so big," Delilah said, laughing.

"What's that?"

"We're expecting twins," Tim said.

Tony looked back and forth between Tim and Delilah.

"What?"

"Twins," Delilah said. "Two. Girls, this time."

Tony didn't know what to say. He just gaped.

"Tony, twins aren't as shocking as you seem to think. Lots of people have twins."

"Yeah, but..." Tony began and then stopped.

"...but most people aren't in a wheelchair," Delilah finished.

"Yeah."

"We didn't plan on twins," Tim said. "We wanted Tommy to have a sibling, but we never considered twins as a possibility. There aren't any twins in my family or in Delilah's."

Delilah smiled teasingly. "I thought Tim was going to pass out during that first ultrasound when the doctor said there was more than one heartbeat. He was white as a sheet."

"I'm surprised you didn't," Tony said, grinning.

"It was a near thing," Tim said. "I was lucky enough to be sitting down."

"So why not tell anyone?"

"We told our parents, but we didn't want to share it out too soon," Delilah said.

"It was so hard for her with Tommy that we weren't sure we wanted to put her through it again at all," Tim said more seriously. "In the end, we decided to try for it one more time...and we weren't ready for twins."

"They'll come early. Tommy was early, and twins are usually early. My doctor is already talking about putting me on bed rest to let them get as far as possible. For single babies, there's not much research that supports bed rest helping, but there is some for twins and with my tendency to have babies early anyway... Well, that's why this trip had to happen now. Another couple of weeks and I'll be confined to my bed in the hopes of getting past seven months. I'm on leave from work already."

"Wow. Are you sure you want to do this?" Tony asked, turning to Tim.

...but it was Delilah who answered.

"Yes, he is. And so am I. I want this to happen, and it can. It's only a week, and my mom will be here."

Tim smiled, but Tony could see that there was some concern, not that he was surprised by that. This was a different situation from when Delilah was pregnant with Tommy. She was much further along and the twins was an added complication. Still, it was clear that Delilah was determined to have Tim going on this road trip. That was probably why Delilah's mom was going to be here while they were gone.

To help Tim have fun.

"Well, are you packed, Tim?"

"Yes. Delilah didn't have to do it for me this time," Tim said.

Another reference to the last road trip. Tony hoped that there wouldn't be too many of them. He knew how much Tim hated what had happened. Better to leave it to the side as much as they could.

"I don't think I could this time," Delilah said, rubbing her stomach. "Bending over isn't really happening much for me at this point."

Tony smiled at how matter-of-fact Delilah was about it. That was the kind of thing Tim needed to keep him from worrying. In fact, if Delilah gave any indication that things might not be okay, Tony knew that Tim would completely back out of the trip, just so that he could be with her when she might need him.

"Now, let's get to something more important," Delilah said. "Tell me about your girlfriend!"

"You look almost possessive," Tony said, grinning.

"No. I just want you to find someone who is perfect for you. You deserve that, Tony."

Tony shrugged at the sentiment. He appreciated it, but he didn't know how to respond.

"So...is she?" Delilah asked.

She started to wheel herself over to the couch, but she winced suddenly. Without saying anything, Tim grasped the handles and pushed the chair. Tony saw Delilah trying to decide whether she was touched by Tim's care or annoyed that she needed it. Someone as independent as Delilah was in normal circumstances had a hard time giving up that, even temporarily.

"Is she what?" Tony asked, trying to keep the atmosphere light.

"Perfect, of course," Delilah said, deciding to smile.

Tony sat down on the couch, while Tim sat on a chair beside Delilah. Tony smiled as Delilah reached out and squeezed Tim's hand.

"Well, nobody is perfect," Tony said.

"Oh, come on," Delilah said. "Tell me! I really want to know."

"Okay. Her name is Jolene Kim, but she goes by Jo. Her parents are from South Korea, but she grew up here. She's a foot shorter than I am, and we met at the pool. Is that enough?"

"Did you bring a picture?"

"Would I dare not?" Tony asked. "I couldn't disappoint a pregnant woman. That's just mean."

Delilah laughed and held out her hand. Tony brought up the pictures he'd taken of Jo at their last Sunday brunch and handed his phone to Delilah. Jo had just changed her hair to black with white and blue tips.

"Funky hair," Delilah said.

"She changes the color all the time. She says that there's a type of hair coloring that only lasts a few weeks and doesn't really damage your hair. She loves it."

"Sounds like you know all about it," Delilah said.

"She tells me every time she changes it. I've heard it a lot. I'll bet she doesn't even remember her real hair color," Tony said. "So have you decided on names?"

"Wait," Delilah said. "I'm not done yet. What does she do for a living?"

"She works for a nonprofit," Tony said. "It's focused on finding affordable housing. She's one of those people who can yell at important people and get away with it."

Tim laughed.

"Is that what she does?"

"Based on what she says, yes," Tony said. "She rants about stupid committee people all the time."

"So...how is it going?" Delilah asked. "Things getting serious? Are you headed for more than dating?"

"Delilah," Tim said. "That's not really our business until he's ready to share."

Tony knew that Tim was trying to give Tony a little privacy for something he hadn't been ready to do in a long time, and he appreciated it, but he was ready to share.

"It's okay, Tim," he said. "It is getting serious. How serious...I don't know. Yet. We've only been really dating for a couple of months, but I've known her for about six months so far. We're taking our time. Neither of us are in a rush."

"That's good," Delilah said. "I really am happy for you, Tony. Maybe you could bring her around to meet the family." Then, she looked at her stomach. "Maybe in a few months."

Tony laughed. "Sure. But have you decided on names?"

"No. We're still arguing about it," Tim said.

"Arguing?"

Then, Tim did something that was far too rare still.

He made a joke.

"I've been telling her that we should continue her parents' tradition and name one of them Jezebel, who was eaten by dogs, and the other Salome, the woman who got John the Baptist beheaded, but she's against it for some reason."

Tony guffawed loudly and that attracted Tommy's attention. He abandoned the drum and came running into the room.

"Tony, play with me! Build towers!"

"Just a minute, Tommy," Tony said.

"Tony, play with me!" Tommy said again and tugged on his hand.

"Tommy, you need to wait," Tim said. He pulled Tommy over and forced him to sit on his lap where he started whining and squirming. "Two minutes, Tommy. That's it."

"No!" Tommy whined.

"Tommy, we're talking right now," Delilah said. "If you wait, you can play with Tony before he and Daddy leave. If you get in trouble now, you'll have to go and sit on a chair."

Tommy quieted down, but he looked resentful. Tony had wanted to say that he could play and talk at the same time, but he didn't want to interfere with teaching Tommy that he had to be patient.

"So do you have some options?" Tony asked. Then, he grinned at Tim. "Serious options?"

"Those are serious options," Tim said, grinning.

"We're looking at some traditional names," Delilah said, giving Tim a mock glare. "I don't want to go for the weird spellings or unique combinations of letters that are only names because the parents have said they are."

"Are you going to do rhyming names?" Tony asked.

"I don't know," Tim said. "We can't decide because we don't want them to be considered copies of each other. Even though they're twins, they'll be two different people with different personalities, different interests, different lives. But at the same time, they're twins."

"So what do you have so far?"

"Jane or Hannah or Rachel," Delilah said.

"Katherine, Anna, Rebecca," Tim added. "We could keep going, but we hope we have plenty of time to decide."

"And you know they're both girls?"

"Yes. That part we're sure of."

"Okay, Tommy," Tony said, looking at his watch. "I have ten minutes to play."

Tommy started pulling away from Tim.

"No throwing the blocks this time, okay?" Tim asked.

"No throwing blocks," Tommy repeated.

Tim let him go and Tommy ran over to his box of blocks and started pulling it over. Tony got up to help and paused as Delilah winced and started rubbing her stomach.

"Sorry, Tony. I've got to go and lay down. These girls just won't settle down tonight." Delilah looked over at Tim. "Would you help me get into bed, Tim?"

"Of course."

Delilah skewered Tony with a look. "Make sure you at least say good-bye before you go. I'm not going to sleep just yet."

"Of course."

"Good."

Tony watched as Tim pushed Delilah back to their bedroom. He was halfway tempted to say that this could all wait until after the babies were born, but he could also see that Delilah wouldn't have any of that. So he focused on helping Tommy build towers and then let him knock them down again. Tommy focused very hard on getting the towers built, but then, when they were done, he took great glee in causing them to topple.

Tim came out a few minutes later.

"So how is she doing really?" Tony asked.

"About what you saw," Tim said, kneeling on the floor beside Tommy.

He started to build another tower.

"Meaning?"

"Meaning it's getting harder and she can't get around on her own very easily anymore. And it really bugs her to have to have help with things she can normally do herself. The hardest thing is that she can't bend over or twist at all anymore and those are things she needs to do to get in and out of her chair and everything else. But the doctor says that she's healthy and the twins are developing fine. It's just a matter of how long we can postpone the day they're born. The longer we can wait, the better it will be for the twins."

"And for Delilah?"

Tim smiled. "For Delilah, if it was just her, she'd have them right now and get it over with, but she wants to give them the best chance she can. The longer we can wait, the more developed they'll be. We know they'll have to be in the NICU, but we want that to be as short a stay as possible. So she'll accept the restrictions now for a better outcome later."

"So...are you sure about doing this, Tim? I had no idea," Tony said. "We can wait. There'd be some fees for cancelling so close to the departure time, but..."

Tim looked at him and shook his head. "No. Delilah really wants this for me. Unless she suddenly went into labor right now, she'd never accept me putting it off. I do want to go. It's just a matter of wanting..."

"...to be in two places at the same time."

"Yeah," Tim said.

"That's what you said in Alaska, too."

"Is it?" Tim asked. "I'd forgotten that."

"I can't believe you forgot such a deep conversation that we had in the middle of a rain storm after Alaska tried to kill us."

Tim laughed and the rather serious mood lightened.

"Believe it or not, Tony, I don't really make an effort to memorize everything I've ever said."

"I didn't think it would take a big-brained guy like you much of an effort at all."

Whatever Tim might have responded was forgotten at the sound of a car pulling into the driveway. Tim smiled.

"Tommy, guess who's here," Tim said.

"Gamma!" Tommy shrieked.

"That's right. Let's go meet her, okay?"

Tommy looked at the tower Tim had built and the one Tony had built. Then, he knocked them both over and took off for the front door.

"Slow down, Tommy," Tim said and jumped up to grab him before he could get out the door.

He reached Tommy just in time and then opened the door right as Delilah's mother knocked.

"Gamma!" Tommy shrieked again.

She knelt down. "Hello, Thomas! Can I have a kiss?"

Tommy reached up and kissed her on the cheek. She returned it and then stood up.

"I didn't know you'd still be here, Tim. I thought you'd be catching your plane."

"You got here sooner than I thought you would, Virginia," Tim said. "Delilah's in bed, but she just barely lay down and she's definitely not sleeping yet."

"Excellent. Well, I'd best go in and let her know that she's not in charge for the next week," Virginia said and smiled with just a bit of mischief. Then, she looked over at Tony. "Nice to see you again, Tony."

"Likewise," Tony said, chuckling, as Tim walked back over to the destroyed towers and began picking up the blocks.

"Would you have left before she got here?" he asked.

"Only if it was absolutely necessary," Tim said.

"Good answer. It's going to be necessary soon."

"I know. There's just one thing I need to do."

"Say good-bye to Delilah?"

"Well, that, too."

"Go to the bathroom?"

"Tony!"

Tony laughed. "What?"

"Last time, Tommy didn't understand why I couldn't be here. So this time, I made a calendar and Delilah is going to help him mark off each day so that he knows when I'm getting back."

"Do you need that, too?"

Tim smiled. "No. I'm good." He took a breath. "Let me do my thing. It's taking forever to get this started."

"It's a lot more complicated than it was before. I get it. Don't worry."

"Worry is my middle name nowadays," Tim said. "There's always something to worry about. Whether it's my job, my wife, or my life in general."

"Well, stop worrying for the next week. No worries. That's the rule."

They both stood up.

"Oh, come on, Tony. Don't make me start by breaking the rules before we even get in the car!"

Tony laughed and smacked Tim on the shoulder.

"Just get your touchy-feely family stuff done so we can get moving."

"Okay."

Tim picked up the box of blocks and put it away. Then, he went into his bedroom. Tony followed along behind.

"We're going to head out, Delilah," Tim said. "You still okay?"

Delilah was lying on her back in bed, with her legs propped up. She rolled her eyes.

"Tim, things have not changed in the last twenty minutes. Go and have fun. And call me."

Tim walked over and kissed her.

"I promise."

"And more important than calling me, have fun." She looked at Tony. "Both of you. Have fun."

Tony saluted and smiled.

"I'll try," Tim said. Then, he looked at Tommy who seemed a bit confused. "Okay, Tommy. It's time to get out the calendar. Do you remember?"

Tommy's face scrunched up as he thought about it.

"Do you have it, Delilah?" Tim asked.

"It's in my drawer. Mom, could you?"

Virginia reached over and pulled a homemade calendar out of the drawer and handed it to Tim. Tim knelt on the floor by Tommy and Tony smiled as Tim carefully showed Tommy the day they were on and the day he'd be back.

"So you can mark it off each day with Mommy, okay?"

"Okay!"

"Good. Give me a hug and a kiss," Tim said.

Instantly, Tommy threw himself at Tim and hugged and kissed him. Tim hugged him tightly and then picked up his bag.

"Okay, Tony. Let's go."

"Are you sure you can leave?" Tony asked.

"Yes," Delilah said from bed. "Because I'll kick him out if he doesn't."

Tony laughed.

"We've got our marching orders, Tim."

"Okay."

They left the bedroom and headed for the front door.

"Tim, one thing before you leave."

Tim stopped at the door and turned around. Virginia had followed them out of the room.

"Yes?"

She walked over and hugged Tim tightly.

"Don't worry, Tim. I know you will, but don't. I'm here and I want you to go and have some fun."

"Thanks," Tim said softly.

Then, Virginia let him go and patted him on the cheek.

"Now, don't miss your flight."

"We won't."

"And I'll reiterate what my daughter said, both of you, have fun."

They left the house.

"You ready for this, Tim?" Tony asked.

"I hope so. Are you?" Tim asked.

"Yes, absolutely. I can't wait!"

"I guess that's why you're having us take a red-eye flight to Chicago."

"Yep. Got to get going while the getting's good."

They went and got into Tony's car.

"This is going to be fun, Tim. You just have to relax and let it be fun."

"I'm going to try."

"In the immortal words of Yoda, Do or do not. There is no try."

Tim grinned. "So...you're saying I should just go back inside?"

"Nope. You're in the car. I'm putting it in gear. It's too late to turn back now."

Tony grinned back and was glad that Tim was smiling.

"Now, let's go catch our flight and then, we can get our kicks on Route 66!"

"Please don't tell me that you're going to keep singing that song all through the trip," Tim said.

Tony pulled away from the curb and started for the airport.

"Did you know that there are no fewer than 192 covers of the Nat King Cole original?"

Tim's eyes widened.

"Tony, please tell me that you're not planning on making me listen to the same song over and over for the next week. I don't think I could take that."

"Oh, no. I only bought 20 versions."

"What?!"

Tony laughed. "I promise that we won't have to listen to it all the time, but at least at the beginning and end of the road...and a few times in between. Okay?"

"Well...that's better than all 192 versions," Tim said, doubtfully.

"It's Route 66, Tim. We have to have the song in our heads the entire time."

"Oh, no," Tim moaned.

"Perfect attitude! Chicago awaits, Probie! Let's go!"