-Monday, October 8, 9:21 pm / The Plantation Inn, Savannah, Georgia-
Katrina: 17 months old
Casey: 1 year, 2 months old
Rose: 10 weeks along
"I didn't know I could still do that," Mr. Egbert softly chuckled, giving his new wife a gentle kiss on the cheek as the two snuggled underneath the covers.
"And you did a great job." Roxy returned the kiss and poked her head out from underneath the sheets.
Joseph followed her example and sighed. "You know," he said, "I've never really thought about this before, but...won't it be rather lonely at home? I'll be managing the bakery, and you'll be home alone for at least six hours a day…"
"Then I'll help you at the bakery. I could be the...secretary of sorts. Or…" She paused. "...if you'd like, we could get a cat."
Mr. Egbert sat up. "A...cat?"
Roxy nodded. "They don't do much, but they do just enough to keep you company. Rose and I used to have a cat, but he...passed on…"
The man got out of the bed and began to put some clothes on. "I don't know," he admitted. "John had a pet salamander when he was in middle school, but he took care of it and I didn't have to do anything."
"Aw, come on," coaxed the blonde. "It's nearly the same thing as raising a child, which we've both done. Well...a furry child who meows instead of talks, but...I think we can do it. It'll be like our baby."
Joseph laughed. "Alright, if you say so. We can do it."
-Tuesday, October 9, 3:08 pm / Dave & Bro's Apartment-
The Strider-Harleys had returned home by now, after nearly a month spent in Washington. Bro had gone to his weird puppet convention-thing and had, sadly, returned with lots of souvenirs (Dave told him he had better keep them away from Blake, or else).
Dave had to play a gig that night—some local middle school's fall dance—so he promised Jade he would watch Blake while she went out to get a massage so she could at least get some "alone time".
Currently, Dave was trying to make sure the playlist for the dance was complete and full of "clean" songs, and was also watching Blake. The toddler was playing with some toys his father had set out, and seemed rather unconcerned with anything else that was going on.
"Dada!" exclaimed Blake, picking up a toy and bringing it over to Dave.
"Hey, lil' man," Dave said to the boy, glancing at Bro, who was entering the room. "Whatcha got there?"
Since Blake still had only a basic grasp on words, he just gave the toy to Dave with nothing more than an "Mm!".
"This is a nice car, Blake," Dave said to his son, putting emphasis on the word as Jade would have liked for him to. "Can you say car? Car?"
Blake only laughed and snatched the car from Dave, then continued on playing as if nothing had happened.
Bro chuckled from the doorway. "He's just like you were when you were a baby," he commented.
Dave scoffed. "Well, I would hope so," he sarcastically replied, "he's my kid, Jesus Christ!"
Bro rolled his eyes, seemingly wrapped up in thought. "Dave," he finally said after a few seconds, "do...you remember anything from when you were little?"
"Shit no, man," Dave laughed. "I was running around in diapers."
"I don't mean that, I mean when you could walk and repeated whatever shit was said on TV."
The younger blond actually paused to think. "No, not really," he admitted. "Why?"
"Eh, just wondering. I hate you never got to meet Momma. She was great."
Dave shrugged. "I...guess. You never really talk about her."
"Well, I'm gonna talk about her now." Bro sat himself down on the couch and kicked his shoes off to rest his legs on the coffee table. "I think you know your dad was a piece of shit. Total asshole. I hated him, Momma hated him 'cause she couldn't get out of the relationship. That asshole was the most abusive piece of shit I ever saw. Basically, the only think holding 'em together was sex."
"Bro, I don't wanna hear about the abusive relationship I was spawned from," sighed Dave, turning back around to resume work on his laptop.
Bro sat for a moment, thinking of something he could tell Dave that would keep his interest. "I...have a twin brother, ya know," Bro finally said, a bit awkwardly.
Dave scoffed. "Yeah, right."
"I'm not shitting on you, man!" exclaimed Bro. "His name's Hal. Don't know where he is now. Used to DJ together—he took the name 'DJ Scratch' 'cause of all the record-scratchy noises he used to make. Anyway, he bailed after Momma said she was pregnant with you. Went to college, got a med degree...last I heard of him, he got his license revoked 'cause he sexually harassed some patients or some shit like that. He's insane. Doesn't even want to go by Hal anymore. Wants to go by 'Doc Scratch" 'cause he still sees himself as a doctor—whatever fucking creepy definition of 'doctor' he goes by."
"...Okay," Dave commented, a bit confused.
A key could be heard unlocking the door to the penthouse, which opened soon afterwards. Jade sighed before throwing her purse down on the ground. "Hey," she told Dave, walking over to where he was. "How was Blake while I was gone?"
"He was...Blake." Dave laughed a bit. "How was the massage?"
"Oh, I needed that!" Jade exclaimed with a sigh before walking over to Blake. She picked him up off from the floor and kissed him on the cheek. "Hi Blakey," she cooed, "did you have fun with Daddy while I was gone?"
-Sunday, October 28, 5:49 pm / Joseph & Roxy's house-
Katrina: 17 months, 2 weeks old
Casey: 1 year, 3 months old
Rose: 13 weeks along
Mrow! Joseph and Roxy's newly adopted cat jumped up onto the kitchen table and rubbed up against Mr. Egbert's glass of milk.
"Frigglish," sighed Joseph, picking up the black cat with one hand and setting him down on the floor. "How many times have Roxy and I told you, don't climb up onto the table!"
Roxy giggled and came into the kitchen. "Silly Frigglish," she laughed, petting the cat on the head. He rubbed up against her legs.
"Where did you come up with 'Frigglish'?" asked Joseph, standing up and grabbing his empty glass to take it to the sink. "It's not really a...common cat name."
"I just thought it was cute!" Roxy smiled and picked Frigglish up. "Who's a cute kitty? You are! You're a pretty kitty, uh-huh…"
The blonde sighed and let the cat jump from her arms. "Joseph," she began, "I think we need to talk about something."
"Yes?" Mr. Egbert began to load the dishwasher, listening to what his wife had to say as he did so.
Roxy sighed again before continuing. "Well...remember when we were on our honeymoon? And we were talking about being lonely with you at the bakery all day?"
"Yes, and we got Frigglish so you wouldn't be lonely," Joseph reminded her as he put a bowl on the top rack.
"Well...we didn't use any...protection, because I'm too old to have kids...right?"
"Roxy, what are you trying to tell me?" Mr. Egbert closed the dishwasher and leaned on the counter, a bit irritated.
Roxy gave her husband a nervous smile before holding up something in her hand.
"Joseph," she announced with an exhilarated smile, "I'm pregnant."
Thanks to Torrasque666, godlessAdversary, ActualRoLa, StarclanIsWithUs, griffman666, funny-tragic-mess, and Guest for reviewing!