It was hard for Sara to sleep. Yes, her night had been short, there had been a lot of excitement, but her bed was empty and she felt lonely without Sofia. Memories of the accident of the blonde came back into her mind. Sofia in hospital, in coma, on the edge between life and death. So many bad memories, so much fear. Of course, this time there was a happy reason why her lover was in hospital, she didn't have to fear for her life and still…it played in her mind. Again and again.
After five hours she left the bed, took the dogs for a run around the reservoir and had a shower. It was time to go back to hospital, see Sofia again. Hopefully her lover got some sleep, managed to rest. If Susan was all right? The nurses told her their daughter was fine, but there were so many stories about babies dying in hospitals. She was scared, worried.
"Will we go back to Sofia and Susan now?" Stephen came out of his room.
"Yes."
"You don't look like you slept a lot, mom."
"I didn't, I miss Sofia. And I think the whole time about her being in hospital the last time, almost dead, in coma. Can't get this out of my head, no matter how hard I try."
"She'll be fine, so will the conehead." Stephen hugged his mother.
"Your sister isn't a conehead."
"For a few days she will, then she'll look beautiful, with her mothers she has no other choice."
"Means you'll be busy chasing away boys later. As her big brother she's your responsibility."
"I can do that. How long can you stay home?"
"Only today, I go back to work tomorrow until Sofia comes home. She's taken care of in hospital, she needs me here more. Even when her parents are here and will look after her all the time. The captain will check on her and on you and your homework."
"Maybe I stay at Lea's place the next days…weeks…"
"No, you won't. She'll go there and get you back. Did you tell Lea you're a big brother?"
"I told her my sister is a conehead and she called me a jerk."
"Good girl, I like her."
"So do I, she's a great friend. I'd like to have her here when we celebrate Sofia's and Susan's first night at home."
"She's always welcome here. Maybe one day you and her are parents too."
"Maybe. The same way you and Greg are." Stephen grinned.
"Sorry, I had to try for Sofia. You know she loves to see you and Lea in love."
"We are in love, the same way you and Greg are in love. Or Sofia and Don. She's my best friend and I hope we'll go to the same college and university, continue to stay in contact. A friendship is more likely to last forever than a love relationship, don't you think?"
"I like to believe your mother and me will love each other for the rest of our life, that's why we get married. Otherwise I agree, a real friendship has very good chances to be forever. She thinks the same?"
"Yes."
"Good, no problems then." Sara got a big chocolate bar from behind a few books on the book shelf. "Ready to leave?"
"Did you hide the chocolate there?"
"Sofia read all those books, I was sure she had no reason to take them out of the shelf and find the chocolate. Safe places are not easy to find with a pregnant chocolate lover in the house."
"Crazy. We get presents for mom and Susan when they come home, don't we?"
"Of course, for the welcome party. Or baby shower. Although I hate baby showers, the one we had at Jules's place was horrible, all these women, behaving like…not like a human being."
"Because you don't like them."
"No, I was really happy that Tanya wasn't like the other doctor friends."
"Because the dentist witch is cool."
"Dentist witch? You're charming."
"According to a guy from school, all dentists are witches, devils and professional tormentors."
"Did you tell him your dentist is different? You actually like to go to her?"
"Like? I prefer to sit in front of the Playstation with her than sit in her chair and let her do mean things to my teeth. But yes, for a dentist she's nice."
Sara smiled. Nice? He thought Tanya was more than just nice. The doorbell got her attention away from her son.
"Hello?" The intercom was one of her favorite electric toys.
"Do you need a ride to your fiancé?"
"Jules?" What was her friend doing here?
"Alive and kicking. Like Aaron. So? Care for a ride?"
"Got two seats?"
"We do."
"We're on our way…why did you not come in? You've got a key."
"This way I save myself the stairs."
"Lazy woman." Sara laughed. "Steve, our taxi waits for us."
"Taxi Greg, Jules doesn't drive anymore. Greg finished work early today."
"Looks like." Sara took the chocolate bar. "Come on, time to see your mother and sister."
"Conehad." Steve jumped aside before Sara could slap him.
To see her fiancé awake and with a smile in bed made Sara's heart jump. And she smiled. Everything was fine because the brunette saw the happiness in the eyes of the blonde. Her lover was fine and so was their daughter. All the nightmares were worth nothing.
"Did you get some sleep?" Sara sat on the edge of the bed and kissed Sofia.
"Yes." The blonde snuggled into the arms of the other woman. "A few hours, our daughter was hungry in between, but the nurses fed her to let me sleep."
"Good. She's fine?"
"Yes. As much trouble as she gave me during labor, now she is an angel. Does our other child behave too?"
"He keeps calling his sister a conehead."
"I'm sure you were a conehead too, Stephen." Sofia looked at her son. "Come on, sit here next to your mothers."
"I prefer to keep some distance before I get slapped again. Jules, I think I need therapy, my mother slapped me."
"For calling your sister a conehead?"
"Yes."
"You deserve it. A new born baby isn't a conehead, it's a little wonder. Or big, when I look at my belly." Jules sat down. Within the next week it was time for her to give birth to her third child.
"When you hurry, our children will have the same birthday."
"Sofia, I won't hurry and neither does our baby. We wait until Aaron decides it's time to move out."
"Where are the twins?"
"With their grandfather." Greg sat next to Jules. "We thought it's better we come here without them. You don't need two kids jumping around, climbing on your bed."
"Oh, I like them around."
"Where is Susan?"
"The nurse gets her, I can stay in bed the whole time, nobody wants me to walk around, carry things or clean up. Really nice. Honey, I expect the same for at home."
"You can expect it, it won't happen. Jules walked after having twins, you can walk after having one child. Or are you too old?" Sara cocked her head, knowing she hit the right spot.
"Old? I'm not old!"
"See, that's why you can walk when you're back home." Somebody knocked on the door and a second later a nurse with Susan on her arm was in the room. The girl cried and didn't look happy.
"Hello, I deliver a hungry girl, who misses her mother."
"Lucky girl, both mothers are here." Sofia answered and took the baby. "I think I'm the better choice when it comes to food. Remember it, Susan, for now and later. I'm the one with the good food, the fun food, your other mother is the one with the healthy food. She gives you a carrot while I give you chocolate. With her you go out and eat salad, with me it's burger time. Who is the bigger fun?"
"Who is more responsible?" Sara said.
"Responsibility doesn't bring you any joy." Sofia offered her daughter a nipple and the girl started sucking right away. "Yes, you are hungry. It was a hard day, wasn't it? Moving out, being examined by doctors and nurses, people staring at you, being measured and your weight was taken. We a couple of rough hours, but I promise, it gets better now."
"She looks a lot like Sara, I can't see anything of Don right now." Jules said after she took a closer look at the baby. "Your DNA was stronger than his."
"If she gets his personality it's fine." Sara took the chocolate bar out of her pocket. "While you feed our daughter I can feed you. Or did hospital food got better?"
"No, not really. Wow, an extra large bar, where did you get this one from?"
"They had it in the supermarket around Christmas."
"Around Christmas? Where did you put it? I never saw it."
"When I tell you, it's not a save place anymore. We need a place in the house to leave candy and chocolate behind without you eating it. I know you, how you are when we have chocolate in the house. You eat it, don't care about if it's a huge bar or two."
"At the moment I've to eat for two, Susan needs my body to get her food."
"You used this excuse during your pregnancy."
"So? She still depends on me, as you can see right now. Chocolate gives great milk, perfect for our daughter. You love chocolate milk too, don't you Susan?"
"At the moment she loves whatever you give her: milk. Plain without any flavor."
"Wait a few months and you become more aware of what you eat. There are so many great things with chocolate."
"Great, she'll need to see Tanya sooner than any other child before. You go there with our crying daughter."
"For that she has a big brother." Sofia smiled. "Right Stevie? You take your sister to Tanya."
"Why? You cause the pain, you can listen to her crying. Baby crying isn't my favorite sound."
"You prefer the sound coming out of the PS, right?" Jules asked amused. "The crying of the cars, of the people you kill in games."
"Men are like this, right Greg?"
"Well, the first time I heard my babies cry it was the most beautiful sound ever. You hear them cry, you know they're alive. As a father, who has no control about anything during labor, it's an important moment. No PS can give me this. Like no PS can give you the feeling of your little sister looking up to you, loving you, believing you're the only true hero in the world. I always wanted a little sister."
"So did I and I have her, little conehead."
"I go and get a computer program that tells us how you looked like a baby, with your conehead and I will show it to Lea, who will show it to everybody at school." Sara threatened.
"No, she won't, she's my friend, she doesn't do things like that. Sorry mom."
"No more Triple Burger."
"What? You mean for him, right?" Sofia asked shocked. "I so want a Triple Burger extra large burger menu when we are back home. Please. And pizza."
"For us, not for the nasty boy."
"Deal."
"I take the bus, go there myself and have my burger. While you think I'm in school."
"You might want to reconsider this." Jules said. "The school complains and the judge might rethink about you being with them."
"They adopted me, nobody can take me away anymore."
"Never say never."
"We won't let anybody take our son away." Sofia said, changed Susan to her other breast. "He's ours and we keep him, nasty or not."
"In reality he loves his sister." Jules smiled.
"I do, of course. She's very hungry."
"She has to grow and like I said, we had a few hard hours." A knock on the door got their attention away from the baby for a moment.
"Good afternoon." Doctor Bendler came into the room.
"Hey doc, what are you doing here? No surgeon was needed today in this room."
"I'm glad to hear that and want to have a look how my special patient is. And her daughter. Hello Jules, Greg, Sara, Stephen. Are you the first visitors of the day?"
"Yes, the twins are with dad." Jules said. "You should go home and see them before we get them."
"Later, I'm not done here. First my special patient and her daughter."
"We're both fine, thanks. No doctor needed."
"Where's your leg?"
"Uhm, somewhere in the wardrobe, I've no intention to walk around today. Everybody brings me what I want, no need to walk myself. Only to the bathroom and I can do that on one leg or with the crutches."
"Let me see your leg."
"I'm fine, really."
"When a doctor tells you she wants to see your leg, you show her your leg and don't tell her, you're fine. She's the doctor, she decides if you're fine or not." Doctor Bendler went to the side of Sofia's bed and pulled the blanket away to get a better look at the stump. A few months ago the blonde had asked everybody besides Sara to leave the room, she had been too ashamed to let anybody see her stump. Now she was cooler about it, they were her friends, they saw her on the beach, they knew how her stump looked like.
"Looks good, yes. You do let your doctor check it frequently?"
"Of course, I don't risk being in trouble with you."
"Nor do you risk your health." Doctor Bendler put down the blanket. "Very nice, you must have a very talented doctor."
"I've got a lot of doctors, more than normal friends."
"Doctors are not normal?" Doctor Bendler raised her eyebrow.
"No, they're doctors, right doctor Weinberg?"
"I won't comment on this nonsense."
"How are you feeling?" Doctor Bendler looked at her daughter. "How is my grandchild doing? Any signs of we see him or her soon? Or are you still the better option to the world outside?"
"No, my baby likes it warm and dark, food automatically delivered and no shared attention. No shared room with Sofia, even when I'm sure, it would have been funny. We could have shared a bed, this way we don't feel lonely."
"Only in your dreams!" Sara protested. "If somebody shares a bed with my sexy blonde, it's me. You can share a room with her, in case Aaron decides to move out tonight, but you stay in your own bed."
"You shared a bed with my fiancé, but I'm not allowed to share a bed with yours?"
"I don't date men anymore, she dates women."
"He dates women, same thing."
"No."
"Why does nobody ask me?" Sofia wondered. "Sorry Jules, I want only one woman in my bed and that's my fiancé. Nobody else. Maybe Susan is allowed is come into our bed when she has a nightmare, hide in the arms of her mothers. Or her big brother makes sure she's fine. Can you scare away monsters under beds?"
"There are monsters under our beds?" Stephen looked shocked.