I decided to skip about a year of Angel's life, to make this story go faster; otherwise, I feel like I'm dragging out unnecessarily. I hope that goes over OK with readers. I'm trying to stay as chronological as possible, and since I'm writing segments of future chapters separately, it's proving to be difficult, LOL. Enjoy.
OK, I really hate the title. But it's all I could think of, LOL. Someone please give me a new title if they come up with one, because I really don't want to stick with that one, LOL.
"Happy Birthday to you," Eve sang to Angel, as she brought out the cake on April 12th, "Happy Birthday to you. Happy Birthday, dear Angel, Happy Birthday to you."
She set the cake down in front of Angel and sat down next to her. "Blow out the candles and make a wish, princess," Eve said. "You're six today."
"Yay, I'm six," said Angel, smiling broadly and clapping, as she blew out the candles. The Bohemians clapped and cheered for her.
"Happy Birthday, Baby girl," Collins said, squeezing Angel's hand. Eve cut her the first piece and she immediately dug in, disregarding her silverware. Roger cleared his throat and looked at her big blue eyes with his own Kryptonite-green ones.
"Princess, use your spoon," he said, after Eve had cut up the piece. Angel looked at him, but obeyed nevertheless.
"She is her daddy's girl," Eve said, smiling at Roger.
"She's getting to be a big daddy's girl," Roger said, picking her up as she finished eating her cake. The Bohemians finished a few minutes later. "Come on, let's get you washed up."
Roger took her into the bathroom and ran some water. Soon, Roger's laughs and Angel's squeals echoed from the bathroom. Eve put saran wrap over the cake and put the dirty plates and silverware in the dishwasher.
"When does she start school, Eve?" Collins asked.
"In a couple months," said Eve. "I'm not so keen on her starting, though."
"What kind of good mother is?" Collins said, smiling at Eve. "But, in all seriousness," he added, leaning on the table, "why not?"
Eve snorted and smiled. "Oh, I don't know… just because she's shy—"
"Hardly," Collins said, pointing to the closed bathroom door. "Have you seen the way she is around her aunts and uncles, especially me and Mark?"
"Yeah, but you're family," said Eve. "And she might have difficulty adjusting to not having us around all the time, especially with her HIV—"
"Every kid has to adjust," said Collins. "It takes them a couple days, and then they realize how fun finger-painting and singing songs and napping can be, and how much trouble they can try to get themselves in."
"But I have to go back to work, and Roger's going on tour in a month."
"Yes, you do, and yes, he does," Collins said, "but that's where we Bohos come in. Really, though, what's new?"
Eve looked at him and she suddenly felt very tired. "Are you gonna come up with a smart-ass retort to everything I say?"
"Maybe," said Collins. "Are you gonna keep worrying?"
Eve opened her mouth, changed her mind, and closed it again. "OK, no," she said. "I'll just stop talking."
Collins grinned. "You don't have to, Baby girl. I'm just suggesting you let things play out as they do."
"I'll sure try," Eve said, smiling at him.
-
A few weeks later, Eve woke up to Roger kissing her on the cheek. "Morning, Baby," he said. "How are you?"
"Mm, I'm good," she said, as he nuzzled her neck. "Where's Angel?"
"Not up yet," Roger answered, caressing her arms and kissing her. "Can we take advantage of that?"
Eve grinned. "Sure," she said, and they began to make love. Roger kissed Eve from her neck all the way down to her belly button and back up again. Eve laughed with pleasure and then they heard Angel calling Roger.
"Aw, man," Roger groaned, laying his head on her chest. For once, he wasn't completely happy to hear their daughter's voice. "Do we have to stop?"
Eve gave him a stern look. "You heard your daughter," she said, and Roger rolled off her and got dressed. "And besides, she has school." Eve lay there for a moment, out of breath, and then she got out of bed and dressed, too. She smiled to herself and went to go get Angel with him.
-
Eve watched from the car as Roger led Angel up to the school and they went in together. It was her first day of kindergarten, and although he had a plane to catch, he couldn't resist doing the daddy thing to do and take his daughter to her first day of school.
Ten minutes later, Eve looked at her watch, and she knew Roger was close to missing his flight. It was 9 A.M. and his flight left at 10:30. They were supposed to be there an hour early, and he was pushing it.
Finally, Roger reappeared and jogged up to the car. "Man," he said, smiling, "that was rough." He looked at her and smiled. "Our little rock 'n roll princess wanted to show me everything. I finally convinced her to let me go, or I would miss my flight."
"So you think our little rock 'n roll princess will be OK?" Eve asked, driving off.
"Definitely," Roger said. "I told you, she wanted to do everything in sight— paint, draw, sing songs— all with me. But I had to leave."
They arrived at JFK Airport and Roger said, "So, if we trade me in for some friends her own age, she'll be just fine."
Eve smiled. "I'm glad it went so smoothly," she said, parking and climbing out of the car. "Let's go, Rog. You're going to miss your flight, and then Jonathan will really be pissed."
"Yeah, he will," Roger agreed, referring to his producer. Eve handed him his luggage, gave him a swift kiss, and waved as he ran off.
"I love you, Roger," she called, and he waved to her without looking back. Eve smiled to herself as he disappeared around a corner, and then she went home.
-
Two months later, Eve and the Bohemians gathered at the loft for a get-together. "What's up, Mark?" Collins asked, looking at him. "You said this was important."
"It is," he said, grinning eagerly. "I've already told Roger, so I'm surprised you don't already know, Eve. He's so bad at keeping secrets most of the time… Barbara's five months pregnant and we're getting married."
"That's great, Mark," Eve said, smiling at him. "I would, you know, celebrate more, but I'm feeling really tired."
"It's OK, Eve," Mark said, smiling understandingly at her. "Are you gonna be OK?"
"I think so," said Eve, nodding. "I just need to go lie down for a while."
"Roger's old room is clean, Eve," Mark said. "Stay there as long as you need. Do you want Jo to give you a ride home later?"
"Yes, please," Eve said, and she went and collapsed onto Roger's old bed, exhausted.
-
A couple days later, Eve still wasn't feeling any better, so she went to the doctor. "Hello, Eve," said the doctor, once he saw her in his office. "I'm Doctor Sheppard." He shut the door behind himself and sat at his desk in front of her. "So you're not feeling so well lately?"
"No, Doctor Sheppard, I haven't," she said. "I've been dizzy and absolutely exhausted for a week now, and I've had a killer migraine going on, too. I'm afraid it's mono, and if it is, I can't stay at my house for a couple of weeks— either that or I have to send my daughter to her godfather's place until I'm better."
"Why?" Doctor Sheppard asked.
"She and my husband are HIV-positive. She's adopted."
"Ah, I see. Well, we're just gonna perform a quick physical on you, just to check out your general health, OK, Eve?" Eve nodded. Doctor Sheppard performed the physical and then looked at her. "Would you mind if I did a quick ultrasound?"
"An ultrasound?" Eve choked, staring at him. "Oh man…" She now knew what was up. "Sure, Doc, go ahead."
A nurse wheeled the sonogram machine into the exam room and Eve lay back on the cold table. "This gel might be a little cold," said Doctor Sheppard.
"A little cold?" Eve joked, as he spread it over her stomach. The doctor was silent for a moment, as he ran the tool over her stomach. Then he looked at her. "Well, I see why you're feeling ill," he said. "You're two and a half months pregnant, Eve."
Eve's mouth fell open. "Two and a half months?" she echoed. "Are you serious?"
"Yes. That's why you've been dizzy and occasionally throwing up and physically more sensitive. You said you noticed your period was later than usual, too?"
"Well, it was only a week at first," she said, "but that's not unusual for me. When it was later, I thought I should be concerned."
"Well, your intuition was right," said Doctor Sheppard. He could tell she was slightly stressed by this. "I take it this wasn't planned?"
"Not exactly," Eve said. "This is… going to be… quite the shock to him, though."
Doctor Sheppard smiled. "It usually is, unless the husband or wife is a doctor."
Eve sat up. "Like you, you mean?" she asked.
"Yeah," Doctor Sheppard said, laughing, "like me. I could tell my wife was pregnant before she did; she was going nuts, mood-wise."
"Well, thank you, Doctor," said Eve. "Now, at least, I know it's not something contagious. Once this exhaustion passes, then I'm off to the throwing up part, right?"
Doctor Sheppard nodded. "Morning sickness differs for every woman, though. Yours seems to be just dizziness and fatigue, which is good. If you continue throwing up past your first trimester, you should come back in." Doctor Sheppard handed her a piece of paper. "Here's a prescription for prenatal vitamins. I'll see you again in eight weeks."
"Thank you, Doctor Sheppard," Eve said, and she left the clinic.
-
"Daddy!" Angel squealed, as Roger came off the plane, and she ran up to the gate to hug him. It was December 5th, and he had just come back from another tour.
"Hi, princess," he said, lifting her into his arms and kissing her cheek. "Did you miss me?"
"Yes," she said, "I did."
"Did you make friends at school while I was gone?"
"Yes."
"What are their names?"
"Lilly, Lizzie, Jessie, Bree, and Michael," Angel answered.
"That's great, princess," Roger said, walking to the car with Eve. He put Angel in the back seat and pulled Eve into a kiss. "Hi, Baby," he said.
"Hi, Rog," she said. "Welcome home."
"Thanks." Roger and Eve got in the car and started to drive home. "So what do you do in school, princess?" Roger asked Angel from the passenger seat.
"We finger-paint and draw and color and sing songs," said Angel.
"That's wonderful, princess," said Roger. "You're gonna sing like your daddy, right?"
"Or she could become a photographer like her mommy," said Eve. "Nah," she changed her mind mid-sentence, "I take that back. I've seen her paintings and drawings; she's gonna be an artist."
"She's gonna be whatever she wants to be, right, princess?" Roger asked Angel, who smiled as they arrived home.
-
"Roger," Eve said, later that night, when Angel was asleep and they were in bed, about to go to sleep, "there's something you should know…"
"What, Baby?" Roger asked.
"I'm pregnant."
Roger's eyes widened and he looked down at her. "What? You are? Seriously?"
"Yes, I am," said Eve, looking up at him, from where she lay on the pillow. "Two and a half months, the doctor said. I went in yesterday because I was feeling exhausted, and Doctor Sheppard did an ultrasound." She smiled up at him. "We're gonna have a baby, Roger. Isn't that amazing?" she said.
Roger was looking rather stunned, but Eve had expected this reaction. "It is," he said, "it is amazing, Baby. And I'm happy for you, really, but… I mean, are you sure you're ready for a baby? I mean, you didn't have to be pregnant and everything with Angel, and with Dakota, you were so young…"
"Are you done?" Eve asked sleepily, looking up at him.
Roger looked at her nervously. "I— um… yeah, I'm done," he said.
"It must have happened right before you left, Baby," Eve said.
"As in, the night before Angel's first day of kindergarten?"
Eve looked up at him and nodded after thinking for a minute. "Oh…" she said. "Yeah… I'll be excited once I quit getting dizzy and being nauseous every minute of the day. But I've only thrown up once."
Roger nodded. "Well, then," he said, "I'm excited, too. Baby, we're having a baby."
Eve smiled. "Yeah, Baby, we're having a baby." She kissed him gently. "Well, now that you've got that news in your head, good night."
-
Two weeks later, Roger woke up to hearing his wife emptying the contents of her stomach into the toilet. He went up to the closed door and knocked. "Eve, are you OK?"
"I'm fine," she said breathlessly. "I told you the other day, this is just part of the deal. I'll be out in a minute."
"Ok, Baby, I'll just wait," Roger said, going and lying back down on the bed. He wished he could help her, but he couldn't. Eve came staggering into the room and collapsed onto the bed beside him.
"Ugh…" she groaned. "Let's wait another couple of weeks to celebrate, OK?"
"OK, Baby," Roger said, and he snuggled close to her.
-
"Oh man, I am so sick of being pregnant," Eve whined to Barbara, a few weeks later. Barbara was eight months along and the Bohemians were getting more and more anxious for the long-awaited birth of both babies.
"You think you're sick of it?" Barbara asked. "I'm just about to pop, Eve, and I can barely walk."
"Aw, I'm sorry, Barb," Eve said, as they compared symptoms. "I stopped throwing up three weeks ago, and now my ankles are killing me."
Barb grinned. "We'll suffer together," she said, "at least for a little while. Then I'll be up for nights on end, changing diaper after diaper, and you will be the one who can barely walk."
"We'll kill our boys together," Eve said, and the two women laughed.
"Well, at least wait until the delivery for that," Roger joked. "That way, I can see my girl first."
"No way," Eve said. "This is not a girl crushing my ribcage and kicking me like the dickens, and giving my migraines every week. And since I'm pregnant, I can't take my Excedrin— that has painkillers and caffeine in it." Eve scowled at Roger, who wrapped his arms around her waist and caressed her five-months-pregnant belly.
"We get to hear our baby's heartbeat today," said Eve, looking up at Roger. "Then we're gonna start picking out names."
"I've been waiting for that ever since you first told me, Baby," said Roger, smiling as he leaned down to kiss her.
-
Eve smiled happily at Roger as they heard the strong beating of their baby's heart.
"There it is, Rog," Eve said. "It's our baby's heartbeat." She looked at Doctor Sheppard. "Can we know the sex of our baby?"
Doctor Sheppard moved the tool around on Eve's belly and then he paused. "There we go," he said, turning the screen, "I think you can tell for yourself what your baby is."
Eve looked and then she burst into tears of happiness. Roger looked rather confused and alarmed. "What?" he asked. "What's wrong?"
Eve swatted him on the arm. "You dork," she said, pointing to a place on the screen. "We—"
"Oh my God," Roger said, finally seeing it. "We're having a boy!"
"I told you a girl would not give me this much trouble," Eve teased. They both had tears in their eyes. "Now you'll have a son to teach how to play your fender guitar."
"Yeah," said Roger, hardly daring to believe it. "I have a son!"
"Not yet, you haven't," Eve teased, as she got off the table, dressed, and turned back to him. "You still have to wait another three months."
Roger smiled. "I think I can do that," he said, as he leaned down to kiss her.
"Great," she said, "now we have to stop Mo and Jo from buying everything blue in sight."
Roger grinned.
-
Roger and Eve were jarred awake by the phone ringing on the morning of January 28th. Roger moved as quickly as he could to answer it. "Hello?"
"Roger, it's Mark."
"Mark? What the hell is your damage? It's 5 A.M."
"Well, don't yell at me, Roger. My baby's in a hurry," Mark said, laughing nervously and ignoring Roger's retort. "It's his fault. Barbara's in labor. We're at Bellevue."
Roger sat up sharply and clutched the phone. "She is?" he asked. "Is she OK?"
"Yeah, she's OK," said Mark. "She's tired, but we're almost done. I just wanted you to know, in case you want to come by later."
"Can we come now?" Roger asked.
"No, I don't think the doctor would let you," said Mark, chuckling. "But I'll call when it's all over, OK?"
"OK. Congratulations, Mark," said Roger. "Good luck."
"Thanks, man." Roger heard someone scream at Mark on the other end. "Uh oh, I have to go; she's about to kill me for being on the phone at a time like this. I've already called Mo, Jo, and Collins, so they know. See you in a few hours."
"Bye, Mark." Roger hung up the phone and snuggled down next to Eve. "Sorry about that," he said. "Barbara's in labor."
Eve sat up. "Oh man, she is? Is she OK?"
"Yeah, she's fine," said Roger, "just screaming at Mark, that's all." He grinned. "I asked if we could be there, but Mark said probably not. We'll go there in a couple hours to see the baby, when he calls again."
"OK," said Eve, and she rolled onto her side to relieve pressure on her back, facing him. "Well, now I'm too excited to go back to sleep."
"Do you want to get up? I'm sure our little rock 'n roll princess is probably awake already."
"Sure," said Eve, and she got out of bed with Roger's help. "Thanks." She went out into the kitchen and turned the coffee on. Roger went in to Angel's bedroom and brought her out to the kitchen. She had, indeed, already been awake. "Morning, sweetie," she said, kissing Angel's cheek.
"Hi, Mommy," Angel said, smiling happily. "Hi, little brother," she said to Eve's belly.
Eve smiled at Roger. Angel was more than ready to become a big sister.
-
"Oh, he's so cute, Mark," Eve said, looking through the nursery window at Adam Cohen with Maureen, Joanne, and Collins. "I knew it was a boy giving Barb all that trouble."
"It always is," said Collins.
"Yeah," said Mark, smiling with pride, "it was. Barb's happy to finally have him here."
"Can the nurse bring him out, so we can hold him?" Roger asked.
"I'll ask, hang on," said Mark. He went into the nursery and took the baby from the nurse. "Here you go, Eve."
"Mark, you are so lucky," Eve said, looking up at him.
"I know," said Mark. "I should go ask what room Barb is in. I'll be right back."
He walked away and Eve walked around with Adam, rocking him slightly. Then Roger held him for a while, and Mark came back.
"She's in room 242," he said, taking Adam from Roger. "I told the nurse we're bringing him up for her to see, so they don't freak out when they find Adam gone or something. Barb's dying to see him again, now that he's all cleaned up and happy." He smiled and they went up to Barb's room.
"Barb," Eve said, coming into Barb's room, "he's absolutely amazing. Congratulations."
"Thanks, Eve," Barb said, smiling up at her. Eve handed the baby to Barb. "I'm glad to finally be at least 10 pounds lighter."
Eve laughed. "Yeah, it will be a relief to me, too." She sat down in a chair to relieve her back pain. "What's Adam's middle name?"
"Anthony," Barb said.
"Aw, that's cute," said Eve. "Adam Anthony Cohen. It flows, too."
Barb smiled. "Yes, it does." Mark came over and kissed her. "Thanks for coming, Eve," Barb said, looking at her, "but you can go home if you want. You look really tired."
"I feel tired," said Eve, smiling appreciatively at Barb's concern, "but I'm sure it's you guys that will need the rest the most in short time."
Roger put his arm around Eve and they waved to the new parents and the Bohemians, and then they left.
I realize this chapter was probably a little rushed. But if it was, I didn't mean it to be, and there is more to come. Please review.
Until next time, lots of love,
Renthead07