AN: Apologies! I was fighting against the flu and am now back at work again *meh* always the same, always the same…but anyway, here's a new chapter, hope you enjoy!
Kids
"Daddy, I think I can't do it alone", little Kate said as she sat on her bike and looked at Doug. Doug smiled. "Well, I think you can do it alone, Peanut", he answered and nodded at her. Kate looked at him with fear in her eyes. "No daddy, please…no", she begged. "Tell you what, Kate…I'm here okay? I'll hold the bike and you just try it okay? You don't have to ride alone, if you don't want to. Nothing will happen to you, I promise", he tried to assure her and she took a deep breath. "Daddy…I want to ride the bike, but I'm scared of falling", Kate answered and rolled her eyes. Just like her mom. "You won't fall, sweetie. Come on, let's try it. You don't know if you can do it if you don't try it", Doug smiled and clapped on her helmet. Again, she took a deep breath. "Okay then", she said and frowned. "BUT DADDY!" Tess almost screamed and Doug looked at her. "What Sugar?" he asked and looked at her. This wasn't as easy as he thought. "You need to help me too", Tess smiled. Doug smiled back at her. "I know you do. But we agreed to help Katie first, right?" he answered and Tess nodded. "Sure, sure", she just said and looked at her finger nails. She was such a princess. "Alright, Miss Peanut. Let's start. Push the pedals as hard as you can. Push back when you want to stop. I'm here, but focus your eyes on the street, okay?" Doug now told Kate and she nodded. He could tell she was nervous, but she tried it anyway. "Yay Katie, you can do it!" Tess shouted at her with a smile on her face and clapped her hands. Doug slowly let his hands go from the bike and Kate tried it alone. "Daddy! I can do it! I can do it!" she shouted happily and laughed. "Yeah baby, you are riding the bike all alone! But now stop!" Doug shouted back with a furrowed brow. "I can't…I can't stop, daddy! Help me!" Kate screamed and as soon as she pushed the pedals back, she fell. "Ouch", Tess murmured and Doug ran to Kate. "Are you hurt?" he asked but smiled as Kate started to laugh. "No daddy, but this is so awesome, I wanna do it again", she said and stood up again. "Oh you little punching bag", he chuckled and hugged her quickly. "I'm not a punching bag daddy", Kate murmured in his arms. "I know, you're my Peanut. And now try it again, but don't go too far away. I need to help Tess now", Doug answered and Kate nodded.
"You ready?" Doug whispered into Tess' ear. "Ready, Sir", Tess whispered back. "Alright. Mission: riding the bike to start. Everything settled?" he whispered again. "Everything settled. Ready to take off", Tess now chuckled at her daddy. "Alright Sugar. Start slowly", he whispered again and helped Tess to start. At first she seemed very wobbly but slowly she seemed to have found her balance. "Can I let you go?" Doug asked and Tess nodded. "Yes daddy", she answered and so he took his hands from her bike too. Now Tess tried to drive alone. Doug couldn't deny it; he was so damn proud of his girls. They tried for several days now and finally they were able to ride the bike without help. Seeing them laugh was the best thing in the world. He threw his hands up in the air and laughed with them. "Wohooo! Awesome, girls! I'm so proud of you!" he shouted and the girls wohooed too.
Carol watched them from the door and wiped away a tear that ran down her cheek. Doug was such a good father and the girls loved him so much. She started to wonder how it would've been with the baby. The baby that wasn't meant to be. Would she ever be able to make him a father again? She was so scared; scared to lose a baby again. Scared that anything would happen to Tess and Kate but seeing them with Doug, she knew that he would protect them from everything bad in this world. Slowly she went to Doug, took his hand in hers and rested her head on his shoulder. "So now they can ride their bikes…" she said and sighed. Doug chuckled. "Yeah…amazing, isn't it", he answered and smiled. "They're growing up too quickly", Carol sighed again and snuggled closer to Doug. "I know…but it's great, seeing them grow up", Doug answered and kissed her head. "And I'm sure…I'm sure we'll get to see another child growing up too…don't give up your hopes, Care", he continued and finally she looked at him. Doug always knew the right words to say. She was so much in love with this man. Still. "I know", she whispered and wiped away another tear. "Look, I'm sad too. I…I already imagined how it would be. If it would be a boy or a girl. What we should name it. How it would look like. What it would like and what it would hate. I already saw us with that baby, Care and I know…I FEEL that we will be parents again. I feel it", he said and kissed her tears away. "I love you, Doug", she whispered and closed her eyes. "And I love you", Doug answered. "MOMMY! LOOK AT US!" Carol then heard Kate as she drove up and down the street together with her sister. Carol then smiled as she saw how happy her girls were. "Amazing girls! Just don't go too fast!" she called back and waved at them. "Mommy, faster is funnier!" Tess shouted back and Carol nodded smiling. "They're coming totally after you…you can't deny it", she now laughed at Doug and he kissed her again. "At least something", Doug chuckled and put a curl behind Carol's ear.
"Hey, dinner is almost ready", Carol called as she heard the door slam. "It's only me", Doug answered and smiled as he entered the kitchen. "What smells so good?" he asked and looked at the stove. "Where are the girls?" Carol asked, as she got the salad ready. "Still bicycling…hopefully they don't want to tike their bike to bed", he chuckled and ate some noodles. "They're out there all alone?" Carol asked and now looked at him. "They're with the Lawrence boys…don't worry, Care", Doug said. "But…it's getting dark already…they should come in", Carol answered. Yes, she was worried. "Oh come on, let them have their adventures…they're having so much fun…the street is safe", Doug said. "Oh…you never know, right?" Carol said. Doug put his hands around her waist and smiled at her. "Carol…look at me. They are having soooo much fun. We're not in Chicago anymore. We're in Seattle. Outside of all the trouble from the city. You know our neighbors, they know our girls. Stop worrying. Okay?" he asked, still smiling. Carol sighed. "I never let them alone before…" she said. "I know. Just…just come with me and look at them", Doug answered and took her hand.
Carol rolled her eyes and followed him. He opened the door and Carol could hear laughter and the sound of fun. "One…two…three!" Casey shouted and they started a race. "Carey…you're unfair!" Kate called after the boy. "Yes, you're older than us!" Tess agreed. "Alright, alright. Next run I'm going not so fast", Carey answered and turned around again.
"See…they're having fun with their future husbands", Doug chuckled and Carol looked at him surprised. "Future husbands? Hah", she said, rolled her eyes again and went back to the kitchen. "Oh…you never know, right?" Doug repeated her sentence she said before. Carol laughed. "Yeah, right. You're always right", she answered and looked at him again. "Well, first let them go to school, graduate from high school and start College…then we can talk about husbands", she continued. Doug chuckled again. "Sure…do you wonder sometimes what they'll do?" he asked as he put dishes on the table. "No idea. I just hope that Kate won't want to become a stuntman or something like that", Carol laughed and finished the sauce. Doug chuckled and nodded. Then he looked at Carol and took her hand. "I…I love them, Carol. Thank you for giving me the most wonderful daughters in the world. Thank you for making me a daddy", he smiled and Carol put her hands on his cheeks and kissed him very slowly and passionately. "Thank YOU for giving ME the most wonderful daughters in the world, Doug. Without you, I wouldn't have them", she smiled and kissed him once again. "I…I never thought I could fall in love with you more than I already did", she whispered and looked deeply into his eyes. "Oh…that's totally possible. I fall in love with you over and over again, every morning when I wake up and see you sleeping beside me and every time you look at me just like you do now", Doug answered, cupped her chin with his finger and kissed her. With all the loving and kissing they didn't even realize the sauce which started to boil over. "Oh dammit", Carol whined and hesitated. Doug chuckled. "Here…let me help you", he said and started to wipe away the sauce from the ceramic hob.
Only seconds later Tess and Kate came in. "Daddy…we need a light for our bikes. It's too dark to ride it now", Tess said and looked at him with big eyes. "Well, you should ride your bikes only on daytime, right mommy?" Doug answered and looked at Carol. "Totally right. Our neighbors want to go to sleep when it's dark", Carol answered smiling. Kate frowned. "And oh my God…how do you look Miss Kate?" Carol asked as she saw her daughter. Kate looked down with a sad face. "Mr. Casey and I tried to play motocross but I fell", she murmured and Carol looked at Doug smiling. "Future husband and stuntman? Not so far away, huh?" he chuckled and Carol nodded smiling.
Kate really was an open book. Right now she behaved totally like a girl, when Carol told them a story about a princess and a prince who came to recue her. Tess listened with both her eyes and her ears and Kate asked so many questions. "What dress did the princess wear?" "What hair color did she have?" "Was she beautiful?" "Was the prince strong?" "Did he have a horse?" Carol chuckled from time to time because of her daughter. When she finished the story, both Tess and Kate clapped their hands. "That was sweet", Tess said smiling. "I'm glad you like my story", Carol answered and tucked them into their blankets. "Girls?" Carol asked and took a seat on Tess' bed. "I love you so much…both of you. Do you know that?" she smiled and her daughters nodded. "Promise me that you won't grow up that quickly", she added and looked at the girls again. Kate looked at her with questions in her eyes. "What do you mean mommy?" she asked. Carol smiled. "I want you to be my little girls forever", she said and kissed first Tess and then Kate. "Mommy…one time we will be taller", Tess said as Carol stood up from her bed. "I know honey…but you'll always be my little baby girls", Carol smiled at them. "Good night, little princesses. Sleep well, you bike queens", she added and went to the door. "Good night mommy", the girls said in a choir and Carol smiled again. "We love you too", Kate then murmured, almost asleep already. Carol bit on her lip. All this brought tears in her eyes. Since she lost the baby, she cried a lot. This needed to stop. She was so happy with her girls. They made her happy.
When she entered the bedroom, Doug was already in bed. "Girls finally sleeping?" he asked and Carol nodded. "Yeah and I bet they'll dream of bike heaven tonight", she chuckled as she crawled into bed. Doug chuckled and snuggled closer to Carol. "Or from future husbands", he murmured and started to kiss her shoulder. Carol shook her head and giggled. "Too soon", she answered and Doug looked at her. "What…future husband talk or this?" he asked and nibbled on her earlobe. Carol closed her eyes and enjoyed this. "Definitely future husband talk", she said and turned around to kiss him and started to play with his hair above his neck. Oh, she was so ready to make love with him again. It's been too long since she had the curettage and she was so afraid…afraid to get pregnant and to lose that baby again, but now she was so ready. Today she realized once again that she had everything she ever wanted and if she would get pregnant again, it was meant to be. She didn't give up hope. "Stop thinking", she heard Doug murmur and she looked at him again. "Then erase my thoughts", Carol answered and laughed as Doug started to kiss her. "You know me too good", she giggled through the kiss and Doug stopped to kiss her.
He looked at her and was lost in her eyes again. This woman. He still couldn't believe that she was his wife; that she was the mother of his children; that she was with him. "Doug? Are you okay?" Carol asked and he nodded slowly. "What do you think?" she asked and finally he came back to his senses, as she stroke over his cheek. "I love you", he said smiling and shaking his head slowly. "I love you and I want to make a baby with you, now", he added and kissed her again. "Doug", Carol murmured and he looked at her. "We can't force it, you know that", she said and cupped his head in her hands. "I know, but we can practice", Doug chuckled and Carol rolled her eyes again while she laughed and started to kiss him again. Practice wasn't a bad idea at all.
And in this night…in this special night, a new life was created. A new life full of love and happiness.
AN: Awww…isn't this sooo romantic? I know, maybe too romantic, but yeah, this is the power Doug and Carol do to me *lol* I just *can't* let them be sad. They deserve happy, right? xS.