Four Days Later
Kim stepped out of the steamy shower and moved to stand at the second sink on the counter, the first already occupied by Kerry, who seemed to be having a struggle with her right contact. Kim smirked, remembering how bad Kerry was at doing that when she first got them so many years ago.
"Nice shower?" Kerry asked, looking at Kim with her right contact still on her fingertip.
Kim nodded, rubbing the soft towel she held over her body. " You should have joined me." She smiled, waggling her eyebrows.
Kerry grinned, tilting her head back again to give her contact another shot. "If I had joined you, you wouldn't have a chance of getting to work on time." With one last push of her finger, Kerry got her contact in, "Ah-ha!" She exclaimed, blinking them into place.
"You're probably right," Kim laughed, "but we've got tonight, right? Isn't Henry going to his grandparents' house?"
Kerry nodded, "Sleepover with all of the grandchildren."
Kim looked up, slack-jawed, "All of them?" She wasn't sure how they were going to pull that off…last Kim knew, the Lopez kids had produced a grand total of 12 kids, and the youngest, Miguel, hadn't even been married yet.
Kerry slid into her bathrobe, "Well, no." she corrected, "Just the younger ones: Henry, and Eddie and Fiona's boys. Four boys under the age of four." She shook her head.
Kim, eyes still wide, smiled, "Bless their souls." She ran a wide-toothed comb through her hair, working out a few knots and tangles.
Kerry nodded and headed for the bathroom door, "I'm going to put some clothes on and wake him up…" she said, putting her hand on the knob.
Kim began to nod, but stopped short, "Wait!" Kim said, the conversation she'd planned on having with Kerry about what she'd overhead over the weekend springing into her head. It had been bothering her last night, when Henry was tucked in and she was waiting for Kerry to get home from work, but when Kerry had finally gotten home around 10 p.m., they hadn't done much talking. So, taking the opportunity, she explained what she'd heard.
"…and he asked you if I was his new mom…like Sandy." Kim finished, adjusting the towel she had wrapped around her body.
Kerry nodded slowly. She remembered the conversation clearly, though she hadn't even thought that Kim might have heard. It scared her, she had realized that afternoon while she took a shower, that if something were to happen between Kerry and Kim, Henry would be affected as well.
Kerry took a deep breath, "He loves you so much, Kim." Kim smiled slightly, though her focus remained on the countertop. "And if something were to happen between you and I…"
"…he would be affected, too." Kim finished Kerry's sentence; their worries were the same. She looked up and walked to where Kerry stood, taking the older woman's hands in her own. "I don't want anything to happen between you and I, Kerry. I love you…and I know that the future is unpredictable, and I know that I can't honestly say that we'll be together forever, but that's what I want. I want you, Kerry Weaver, I want you forever."
Kerry squeezed Kim's hands in her own, went up on the tips of her toes, and placed her lips on Kim's. Pulling away and taking Kim's face in her hands, Kerry smiled, "I love you, Kimberly." She kissed Kim again, "I love you so, so much."
Kim let out a breath she didn't know she was holding. "I love Henry, you know. He's an amazing boy."
Kerry smiled, a hint of pride coming shining through. "He is pretty great, isn't he?"
Before Kim could respond, there was a light knock at the bathroom door.
"Speaking of the devil…" Kim grinned, adjusting the towel that was wrapped around her body. Kerry laughed and opened the door, revealing Henry, dressed in a set of dinosaur covered pajamas.
"Mommy!" He exclaimed, wrapping his arms around her left leg.
Kerry laughed and picked him up, his legs on either side of her and his arms wrapped around her neck. "I was just coming to wake you up." Kerry said.
"Hi, Kimmie!" Henry exclaimed, ignoring his mother's comment and craning to see Kim.
"G'Morning, Hen." Kim said, kissing the top of his head.
Kerry readjusted Henry in her arms. "How about we let Kimmie," Kerry used Henry's new nickname for Kim, "get ready for work while we go get breakfast?" She asked with an enthusiastic smile.
Henry, giddy from Kerry's enthusiasm, nodded and squirmed. Kerry placed him back on his feet and he shot through the door, heading for the stairs.
"Hold the railing when you go down, Henry!" Kerry called out. Turning back to Kim, they both laughed.
"He really, really likes to eat, doesn't he?" Kim asked, turning back towards the sink and mirror.
Kerry nodded, "And I don't think your habits are going to fix that." She said with a brilliant smile.
Kim rolled her eyes and smiled as Kerry left the bathroom, shutting the door behind her.
Kerry swiftly changed into a pair of sweatpants and a tee-shirt then headed downstairs. In the kitchen she met up with Henry who was standing at the ready with a wooden spoon in his hand. Kerry couldn't help but let out a little laugh at the sight.
"Pancakes?" Henry asked with a lopsided grin.
Kerry nodded, picked Henry up, and sat him down on the countertop. Heading for the stereo in the corner, Kerry grabbed two CDs and held them behind her back. "Pick a hand." She said, initiating their typical Mommy-has-the-day-off routine.
With a giggle, Henry wore an animatedly quizzical look then gestured towards Kerry right hand.
Kerry raised an eyebrow. "You sure?" She challenged, teasing.
Henry thought for a second, still wearing a huge smile, then nodded.
Kerry smiled and pulled the CD from behind her back, "The Jackson 5 it is, then." She said, slipping the thin disc into the player. The CD was a compilation of the Jackson 5's most kid-friendly tracks and was one of the few CDs that Kerry had purchased for Henry that didn't drive her over the edge after the first five or six tracks.
As the first song, ABC, came on, Kerry pulled out various ingredients and set them on the counter next to Henry, who was already wiggling and swinging his feet in rhythm.
A mere six songs later, Kerry flopped two blueberry pancakes onto a small, plastic plate and picked Henry up off of the counter. Bringing him to the breakfast bar, she situated him in his raised toddler seat and placed the plate in front of him. "Bon appétit!" she said, handing him a small fork and placing a sippy-cup filled with orange juice on the countertop.
Henry thanked Kerry and began to eat, swallowing copious amounts of pancake at a time.
Before grabbing her own plate, Kerry filled a travel mug with coffee, added two sugars and a fair amount of cream, and set it near Kim's keys and Blackberry. It was a routine, much like the one she and Henry had just taken part in, that they shared; on mornings where only had to go into work, the other would make their coffee and on mornings where they both had to go in as well as get Henry to preschool, whoever was running on time would pour some coffee into their chrome-colored mugs.
Kerry sat down at the breakfast bar next to Henry and began to eat her breakfast, as well. As a new song, "I'll Be There", came on, Kim walked into the kitchen wearing pressed, black pants, a short-sleeved, maroon blouse, and a grey cardigan. When her ears registered the song and her eyes found Henry, she began dancing horrendously clumsily and singing off-key. Henry broke down in an attack of giggles, nearly choking on his drink.
When Kerry was sure her son was breathing, Kerry tried to roll her eyes at Kim, but couldn't help the smile that crept to her lips. Kim grabbed her keys, phone, and coffee off the counter, then walked to where Kerry and Henry sat.
"Sorry, bud." Kim said, patting her hand against his small back. She kissed his left temple then turned her head to kiss Kerry's right. "Have a good day." She said, heading towards the front door.
"You too, love." Kerry called after her.
"Love you, Kimmie!" Henry added through a full mouth.
Kim turned around in the doorway and smiled, "Love you too, Henry."
A/N: I know I have a few people who are subscribed to alerts for this, so I'm just going to appologize for, and explain, what might be up in the next few weeks: I have two weeks of school then a week of finals...in other words, if I do write at all, it will be random spurts of mediocre stuff. Also, I'm not sure where I want to go next, so that will also put a damper on the updates. But in three weeks, I will be school-free for three months!