The bright glow and the steady rumble of cars outside are the first thing Kate hears when she wakes. For a few minutes, she simply lies there, with the warmth of Mike encircling her, and relishes in the contentedness spreading through her. After a while, though, the pressure in her bladder means she has to move, and she tries to extract herself from his arms. Mike lets out a mumbled protest and tightens his grip on her. "No. Stay." He mutters.
"I'd love to." Kate whispers back. "But, hey, you give birth and then see if you can ignore the bathroom. I'll be back." Mike lets out another unintelligible mumble but releases her, and Kate scoops up a t-shirt on the way through. It's baggy and smells like Mike, falling almost to her knees. As she catches sight of herself in the mirror she can't wipe the wide smile spread across her face.
When she returns Mike is much more awake, smiling at her return. "I... I wasn't sure if you'd try to sneak out again." He confesses.
For a moment, Kate hesitates, then she slides back into the bed. "I'm done running." She murmurs back, capturing his lips once more.
"Do you reckon they'll have more kids?" Bridie enquires thoughtfully, raising her arms above her head, dodging as Rose extends an arm and pokes her lightly in the sliver of exposed belly as her sleep shirt rides up. "It would be cool to have a little sister too."
"I think so." Rose muses, idly drawing a cartoon baby on their list of ideas, so far only containing a few half-hearted suggestions, all with their own complications, usually money. "Dad always wanted more kids and... well, your Mum is still young too."
"We'd have to get a new house. I mean, our place is tiny and I guess your place would be big enough for us for a while, but if Mum did get pregnant, there'd be no room for a baby." Bridie gives her head a little shake, returning her gaze to the notebook in Rose's lap. "But we're getting off topic. What can we do to make your Dad hurry up and ask her to marry him?"
Rose chews on the end of her pencil thoughtfully. "Well, we've gotten them this far. I mean, volunteering them both for the disco was a great plan. And then we went out to dinner afterwards... it was just that that woman went into labour. Maybe if we cooked them dinner? Like... all romantic. With the roses and candles and stuff."
"Can you cook?" Bridie frowns, but nods all the same for Rose to write it down. "Because I don't think tacos or two minute noodles are proposal food." Bridie guesses by Rose's defeated look that the girl is no better a chef than she is.
"Okay." Rose chews on her pencil once more, brow furrowed. "Okay. What if your Mum got pregnant? Like... if we took her pill or... or whatever?"
Bridie nearly chokes on her water as she turns incredulously to her best friend. Rose leans forward and slaps her on the back. When Bridie has gotten her breathing under control she says, "I don't even know if she's on the pill."
"She is." Rose answers simply. Catching sight of Bridie's curious face, Rose adds, "She told me when she was explaining... you know... everything." Bridie barely suppresses a shudder. She's heard enough about periods from Cal and her Mum to hope it never happens to her, even though she knows it will.
Passing over her discomfort, Bridie continues. "Well, either way I don't think it's exactly right to trap our parents into having a kid, no matter how into each other they are." She reasons, tipping her head in thought.
Rose nods glumly. "Yeah, you're right." She agrees, crossing baby off the list. "I thought for sure after your Mum was in hospital it would be an I can't live without you kind of situation."
"Yeah, me too, to be honest. But hey, they're together now. Just... at snail's pace. And seriously, I don't have any pencils left without your bite marks in them."
"Oops." Rose removes the pencil from her mouth. "Sorry, Bee. So, any other ideas?"
Bridie screws up her face in concentration. "What about a boat trip? Boats are romantic! Plus, your Dad has some, doesn't he? He rents them out or whatever when he's not making canoes?"
"Yeah, except how do we get Dad to take Kate onto one of his boats without giving away that's exactly what we want?" Rose challenges, simply drawing a boat instead of adding the words.
"Maybe he'd just take her... like, for a date or something?" Bridie suggests tentatively. "I mean, what do adults do for dates?" Rose catches her gaze and Bridie shakes her head. "Aside from... that." They both giggle nervously.
"Okay. At sunset. If they go on a boat trip, it has to be at sunset." Rose declares.
"Why?" Bridie frowns at the sudden purpose in her words.
"Because..." Rose draws out the word, etching a sun on the page. "Everything is more beautiful at sunset. Everything is... is gold and pink and orange and... just pretty." She gets a dreamy look on her face and adds. "I want my first kiss to be at sunset."
The girls erupt into giggles once more. Eventually, Bridie recovers enough to say, "Maybe we should draft Cal in on Operation Fanning the Flames too."
"What has she got to offer?" Rose frowns. "Besides, like, her awesomeness."
"ID?" Bridie suggests. "She can... like... buy wine and stuff. We can't do that."
"So we're getting them drunk now?" Rose frowns, raising an eyebrow. "Might work, I guess."
"Hey, that's a good idea. Write that one down." Bridie declares, and the two erupt into giggles once more, only stopping when they hear footsteps coming towards Bridie's room. "Quick! That's Mum!"
"How can you tell?" Rose hisses, tucking the notebook and pencils underneath her pillow before dragging a couple of magazines at random to sit in front of them.
"She walks on her toes. Cal clunks." Bridie murmurs, just before a knock sounds at the door. "Come in."
Kate appears in the doorway, smiling at the two girls. "How are you both?"
"Good." They answer in unison. Bridie gives a nervous glance to Rose before adding, "How was your date?"
Rose barely stifles a chuckle as Kate flushes, her smile widening. "It was... nice. We... um... just ordered takeaway and watched movies."
"What sort of movies?" Rose calls, more excitedly than perhaps the situation warrants. Bridie throws her a questioning look.
"Uh... we watched Die Hard and RED." Kate answers, peering curiously between them. "Listen, I'll leave you girls to pack up Rose's stuff and Mike and I will be in the kitchen when you're ready."
As the door closes behind them once more, Bridie aims a pillow at Rose. "What was that question for?"
Rose grins. "Just seeing if they were watching rom-coms." She adopts a serious look. "But action movies? Dad's in more trouble than we'd thought." Her eyes widen. "But I have an idea."
Kate returns downstairs, peering at Mike curiously. "Um... our girls are up to something." She murmurs, jabbing a hand in the direction of Bridie's room.
Mike leans forward, obviously torn between amusement and concern. "Okay. What... what makes you think that?"
"Well, they both have never looked more suspicious as when I walked into that room, and... they asked me some weird questions."
"Weird?" Mike frowns, but Kate shakes her head, waving it away.
"Eh, they're probably just talking about us."
"Are we really that interesting?" Mike scratches his head in mock thought, just as the girls appear, Rose's bag at her feet.
"Hey, Dad." Rose moves forward to hug her father. "How was it?"
"Terrible." Mike muses. "Did you know Kate doesn't know how to eat with cutlery and wears socks on her hands? Crazy!"
"Da-ad." Rose groans. "Stop teasing her, or she'll never go out with you again."
"No, she'll come back." Mike assures Rose, ruffling her hair. "It's all part of my charm."
"Well, while you two are... you know, drinking coffee and all that, can we go for a quick walk around the block? Half an hour at most?"
"We're going to get in so much trouble if Mum catches us." Bridie warns as they walk down the Esplanade, pulling back slightly to let a bicycle rider past. "They said we could go around the block, not the shops."
"Kate and Dad are both back at yours. Besides, this won't take long, I promise." She tugs at Bridie's hand, leading her towards a wooden-clad cafe.
"Well, can you at least tell me who this 'other interested party' is?"
"All in good time. She's right... there." Rose assures her, catching sight of the blonde woman and walking forwards. The woman looks up and Rose leans forward to hug the woman. "Bridie, this is Maxine. Aunty Max, we need your help."