Michelle cracked open the fence to the Tanners' backyard and looked around to see if anyone else was there. "Okay, the coast is clear!" she whispered before fully opening the gate and coming into the yard with her friends Derek and Denise in tow.
"Michelle, are you sure this is a good idea?" Denise asked. Michelle shrugged.
"I don't know, but I don't see any other choice," Michelle said frankly. She turned around to reveal the head of a small kitten sticking out of her backpack. She gently removed the backpack and set it on the ground before carefully unzipping her bag all the way and taking the kitten out. The kitten was a gray tabby with dark blue eyes and was part of Denise's cat's newest litter.
"Well, Michelle, I hate to state the obvious," said Derek, "but you could try asking for permission to bring a cat home instead of sneaking it in your bookbag." Michelle rolled her eyes.
"Derek, you know my dad. There is no way that he would ever let me keep one of the kittens if I just asked him. He complains enough about Comet's hair being everywhere as it is! But if I can prove to him that I can take care of the kitten all by myself, he'll be so proud of me for being so responsible that he'll have to let me keep him!" Michelle exclaimed.
Denise scoffed and put her hands on her hips. "You really think that's going to work?!"
"Well, there's only one way to find out," Michelle replied. She and her friends sat down in a circle on the ground and Michelle placed the kitten in the middle so that he couldn't wander off.
"So what are you going to call your little stowaway?" Derek asked. As he spoke, he unconsciously tilted his knee upward just enough so that the kitten could squeeze through and run away.
"Derek!" Michelle squealed. Fortunately, she had remembered to shut the gate behind her, and she managed to catch the kitten before he could get over to the fence and crawl underneath. She scooped the kitten up and glared at him disapprovingly. "If you do that again," she warned, "we're BOTH dead meat!"
"This kitten runs at rocket speed!" Denise exclaimed. The kids laughed.
"Hey!" Michelle cried, "That's a pretty cool name: Rocket Tanner!" She grinned, snuggling her slightly frightened new friend. She walked over and placed Rocket back in her bag, then picked it up and started towards the back door.
"Walk behind me so nobody sees Rocket sticking out of my backpack!" she instructed her friends. They obliged and the three of them entered the Tanner kitchen. "Act natural!" Michelle whispered sharply.
The three children walked into the kitchen where they were greeted by Vicky and Aunt Becky who were sitting at the kitchen table working on plans for their new show.
"Hey, kids, how was school?" asked Aunt Becky.
"It was great!" Michelle replied, possibly a little too quickly. "In gym class, Michael Austin's shorts fell in front of everyone while he was climbing up the rope! It was so funny!" Michelle and her friends laughed hysterically to cover up any unusual noises coming from Michelle's backpack.
"Well, we better get upstairs and start studying for that spelling test!" Derek announced nervously. As the three of them made their way up the stairs, Rocket made the faintest mew, causing Vicky to look up from papers.
"Becky, did you hear something?" she asked. Becky shook her head.
"Must've been a raccoon outside or something," said Vicky. She made one last note on the paper she was writing on, then picked up the whole stack. "Okay, I think we have our shows planned for next week! Becky, these are some great topics. I think it'll be refreshing for mothers out there to know that they're not the only ones struggling with these issues."
"I couldn't agree more. You know, Vicky, I think it's really brave of you to be willing to share all of that information the doctor gave you about the genetic tests. I think you're going to put a lot of worried mothers' minds at ease."
Vicky smiled. "Thank you, Becky! I'm just worried about whether or not I'm going to be able to put Danny's mind at ease. I haven't even talked to him about the tests yet because I know as soon as I bring it up, he's going to freak out and start worrying that something is wrong."
Becky nodded in understanding. "That does sound like Danny. Oh, but don't worry, Vicky! You know how Danny is about taking extra precautions with everything. I'm sure once you explain to him that doing the tests is just to help you be on the safe side, he'll be fine with it." Becky rubbed Vicky's arm in reassurance.
"Thanks, Becky. I'm so glad to have another woman in the house to talk to about this stuff!"
"Tell me about it!" Becky replied. "When I was pregnant with the twins, the closest thing I had was Joey! We had all the same cravings, and we gained almost the same amount of weight!" The ladies laughed.
"So have you and Jesse ever thought about having another baby?" Vicky asked. Becky's face fell.
"Well, actually," Becky said more seriously, "We've been trying again for almost a year now and it hasn't happened yet. I'm starting to get a little worried since it happened so quickly the last time," Becky said sadly.
"Oh, Becky, I'm sorry, I had no idea!" Vicky exclaimed apologetically.
"That's alright. You know, maybe that would make another great topic on the show! I'm sure there are tons of women out there who would appreciate knowing they're not the only ones struggling to have a baby."
"Oh, that's a great idea!" Vicky picked her pen back up and jotted another note on the piece of paper.
Meanwhile, upstairs, Michelle was helping Rocket get acquainted with his new surroundings. She had brought a small blanket and some toys from Denise's house and was setting them up under the bed to keep Rocket out of eyesight. "Did you bring the food?" Michelle asked Denise.
"Right here!" Denise exclaimed, pulling a small Ziploc bag of dry cat food out of her backpack. "He doesn't eat much yet, so this should last you a couple of days."
"Thanks, Denise!" Michelle walked over to her desk and emptied a container full of beads into another container, then proceeded to fill the original container with Rocket's food.
"Michelle, I hate to burst your bubble," said Derek, "but I feel like you're missing something pretty important."
"Yeah, Michelle! What are you gonna do about Rocket's litter box?" Denise questioned.
Michelle thought about it for a moment. "I know! When Comet was a puppy, my dad put down newspapers everywhere until he was trained. I'll just put newspapers in a cardboard box that's big enough that Rocket can't climb out! Denise, come and help me find a box. Derek, you stay here and make sure Rocket doesn't escape," Michelle instructed her friends. She and Denise ran off, leaving Derek alone with the kitten.
That night after dinner, the rest of the family had gone off in their own separate directions leaving Danny and Vicky alone in the kitchen to finish cleaning up. Once she finished sweeping around the dining table, Vicky took a seat at the kitchen counter where her husband was doing the dishes.
"Oh, I could watch you sweep that floor all day," Danny commented suggestively. Vicky giggled.
"You're looking pretty good over there yourself with those dish-scrubbing arms of yours," she winked playfully.
"Tell me about it!" Danny exclaimed. He flexed one arm in the air. "I got these bad boys scrubbing lasagna off a casserole dish that Joey left in the sink for a week!" The couple laughed.
"Danny, there's something I've been meaning to talk to you about," Vicky said nervously.
Danny put down the dish he was washing and looked up at his wife. "Is everything okay?"
Vicky nodded quickly. "Everything's fine. I just need to talk to you about some things Dr. Kent told me at my last appointment." Danny nodded for her to continue. "Well, she explained that, because of my age, the baby has a slightly higher risk of developing certain genetic abnormalities, and that it might be a good idea to run some genetic tests that would give us an indication if anything were wrong. She told me I'm perfectly healthy and that my age is the only contributing risk factor, but she thought it would be best to do the testing just to be on the safe side," she finished, eyeing her husband as she tried to gauge his reaction.
Danny removed the dishrag from his shoulder and slapped it down on the counter. "You're saying that you've known for two days that something could be wrong with the baby and you're just telling me now?!"
Vicky stood up angrily from the counter. "See, this is why I was worried about telling you! You always blow these things out of proportion! Dr. Kent herself said everything is probably fine, the tests are just an extra precaution so we can find out if there even is anything to be worried about! And you want to know why else I didn't tell you? Because I knew that you were going to react this way and flip about it, then I would be the one having to comfort you! But you know something, Danny? I'm scared too. I know I'm no spring chicken, and I can't tell you how many times in the past few weeks I've had trouble sleeping because I'm afraid that something is going to be wrong and it's going to be all my fault!" Vicky's voice started to break. "But by all means, you go ahead and have your little breakdown!" Vicky turned and stormed upstairs.
"Vicky, wait!" Danny started to go after his wife but thought better of it and instead leaned with his back to the kitchen counter, crossing his arms in defeat.
Later that night, Vicky was having trouble sleeping so she came downstairs and turned on the TV. She surfed through the channels for a minute before settling on a rerun of I Love Lucy. She was only alone for a few minutes before Jesse came down the stairs.
"Hey, Vicky. You're up late. Is everything okay?" he asked.
"I could ask you the same thing," Vicky replied.
"Oh, Nicky woke up from a bad dream," said Jesse, "and with Becky working all these extra hours on the new show, I wanted to let her sleep, so I took care of it. He's fine now."
"That's good," said Vicky, "you really are an amazing dad to those boys, Jesse. I know how much they look up to you."
"Well, thanks," Jesse replied humbly, taking a seat next to Vicky on the couch. "But I did learn from the best, you know. That's one lucky kid you've got in there." He pointed to Vicky's stomach. "Is something wrong?" Jesse asked again.
Vicky sighed. "Danny and I had a huge fight after dinner. Well, it wasn't so much a fight as it was me exploding on him and then storming out." Vicky bit her lip and swallowed. "Jesse, can I ask you something?"
"Yeah, shoot!"
"Has Danny always been so, I don't know, overreactive?"
Jesse leaned forward. "Why, what happened?" he asked.
"Well, I was trying to explain to Danny that my doctor suggested we do a couple of extra blood tests to check for any genetic conditions that the baby might be at risk for, given my age, but as soon as I told him he flipped out as if I had told him something was wrong! I mean, I understand where he's coming from, I'm scared too, but to act like that over just the idea of a test?! Anyway, I got mad at him for overreacting before there was even anything to react to, and I stormed off."
Jesse sighed. "Yeah, that's Danny for you. One time, right after Joey and I moved in, Michelle had this little cough, so we called the pediatrician, and we followed all of the instructions, but of course when Danny came home. He freaked out because we didn't call him. Over a little cough! Granted, Joey and I were new at the whole parenting thing back then, so we probably hadn't fully earned his trust yet, but Danny reacted as Danny always does."
"Do you have any idea why he acts like this?" Vicky wondered.
Jesse clasped his hands together. "I know exactly why he acts like this. Because, one night, his perfectly healthy wife ran out to the grocery store for a pack of diapers and never came home."
Vicky sat back and took a deep breath. "I guess I never thought about it that way."
Jesse nodded. "Danny's seen firsthand how quickly things can change in the blink of an eye, even when everything seems to be perfect. It may come off like he's overreacting sometimes, but really, he's reacting with all the love he has in his heart for the people that he cares about. I'm sure the idea of anything happening to you, or the new baby, is eating him up inside."
Vicky sighed. "It sounds like maybe I was the one overreacting this time. I guess the pregnancy hormones are starting to catch up with me."
Jesse nodded. "Not to mention, you did also break one of the cardinal rules of the Tanner household: Never walk away angry."
Vicky smiled sadly. "I guess I did." She looked at the clock. "Well, I guess I'm gonna have to wait until tomorrow to apologize," she said as she stood up from the couch, "I might as well try to get some sleep. Good night, Jesse. And thanks."
"Anytime, Vicky," Jesse assured her. Vicky made her way towards the stairs to return to bed, but as she did, Danny appeared on the balcony holding a cardboard box with Michelle trailing close behind.
"Michelle, I can't believe you would do something like this! Why on Earth would you bring home a kitten without asking my permission?!" Danny scolded.
"She did what?!" Jesse exclaimed.
"I stowed one of Denise's new kittens in my backpack with some food and toys. I thought if I could show how well I took care of him by myself for a few days, you would let me keep him." she hung her head sadly. "I'll take him back to Denise's on my way to school tomorrow."
Vicky peered into the box at a very scared and confused Rocket. "I have to admit, he is pretty cute. He reminds me of the cat my grandparents had when I was growing up. And look at that little face!" she gushed, scooping Rocket out of the box. "This may be the hormones talking, but this little guy needs a place to live, and we have a house full of people here to help take care of him. Come on, Danny, we've already got a dog. What difference is one more four-legged creature going to make?" Vicky questioned her husband. They eyed each other for a moment, clearly having a silent conversation. It quickly became evident for the couple that this cat would be a bit of a metaphorical olive branch, an apology gift for earlier that night.
Finally, Danny sighed. "Fine. He can stay. But Michelle, you're going to be doing extra chores for a month to help pay for that carpet cleaning your room is going to need after what he did under your bed!"
Michelle squealed and hugged her father, then Vicky. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" she cried.
"Alright, Michelle," said Uncle Jesse, "Let's get you back upstairs to bed. I think your dad and Vicky could use a little privacy right now. Say goodnight!" Michelle said her goodnights with one last hug and carried Rocket up to her room, leaving Danny and Vicky alone in the living room.
"Danny, I -"
"No, Vicky, let me go first. I'm sorry for the way I acted tonight. I didn't even begin to think about how scary it must be for you. I just - I just don't want to lose this baby, or you. I love you so much."
"I know, Danny. I'm sorry too. I should have realized that you were only reacting that way out of love and concern. That's one of my favorite things about you: your big heart." Vicky smiled and took her husband's hand. "I only got as upset as I did because if we're going to be a team, then we need to make space for both of us to share our feelings and work through them together."
"Vicky, I couldn't agree more. From now on, I promise to check in with how you're feeling instead of getting wrapped up in my own emotions."
"And I promise not to walk away angry again," Vicky replied. Danny wrapped his arms around his wife, allowing her to lay her head on his shoulder. After they stood like that for a minute, Danny broke the embrace to ask, "Now that we're both up, do you want to show me those pamphlets from the doctor again?"
Vicky nodded. "Sure! I didn't even get a chance to tell you the best part; these tests can tell us whether the baby is a boy or a girl!" she exclaimed. "I know how you feel about surprises."
Danny chuckled. "You know, if you had just led with that, we could have avoided this whole mess!" Vicky glared at him. "Or not!" Danny quickly retracted his statement as he followed his wife into the kitchen.
