August 3, 2001 Week 18

Luka walked up the stairs as he stirred the pale blue paint in the can. He walked into his son's nursery and put the can down. He dosed the paintbrush with the paint. He started to paint close to the floor, careful not to splatter any paint on the floor. A soft whimper caught his attention.

"Abby?" He got up and walked into their daughter's nursery. Abby sat on the floor leaning against the pale yellow wall. The duckling wall border started out straight and then slanted downward. Abby was crying. "Abby what's wrong??"

"It's crooked. I thought I could fix it, but then it started to get more slanted and then more slanted and then before I knew wit I was on the f-floor!!" Abby cried. Luka chuckled helping her up.

"Don't worry about it." He said, "It's easy enough to fix."

"N-no it isn't." Abby sniffed. Luka smiled knowing it was her hormones making her cry.

"Yes it is. Look." Luka peeled the ducky border off and then reapplied it straight. He smoothed the bubbles out. "There." Abby started to cry again, "Why are you crying?"

"You did it better than me." Abby wiped her eyes, "God i'm a mess. I can't stop feeling like this."

"It's just your hormones shifting." Luka said, "and it'll all be worth it. In a few months we'll have the two most beautiful children in the world."

"I won't be fat anymore." Abby said.

"You're not fat. You're pregnant." Luka said kissing her cheek. She sniffed and nodded.

"What...What are you doing?"

"Finishing the last touches with the paint in our boys more." Luka said. Abby smiled.

"Okay. Go do that. I'll stick with easy things." She smiled.

"All right, dear. Don't forget we get your stitches out tomorrow." Luka said walking out of the nursery.

"I know." Abby rolled her eyes. She went over to a box filled with linens. She pulled out the curtains that matched the crib set they bought yesterday, white with ducks. Abby smiled as she slid the curtain onto the rod. It was all falling into place. She was going to be a mother of twins. She was going to be the best mother she could be, not like Maggie. Abby looked down when she felt her belly jumping. She smiled, "Luka, come here. Quick."

"What??" He ran in.

"They have the hiccups." Abby laughed grabbing Luka's hand and putting it on her stomach. It bounced every few seconds. Abby giggled. Luka smiled.

"What did you feed them?" He snickered.

"Nothing." She smiled wrapping her arms around Luka. "Can you believe that in twenty-two weeks we'll be parents?"

"That is if they are carried to term." Luka said "with twins, thirty-seven weeks is considered to term." Abby smiled.

"I know." She kissed his lips slightly; "you've been doing some reading haven't you?"

"Maybe." Luka smiled, "Our boy is going have yellow trim right?"

"Yup. We have some left over from painting her room." Abby said, "We need to name them soon. We cant keep and calling them him and her."

"I know. Why don't we curl up with the name books Eric and Maggie gave us and make a list tonight?" Luka smiled.

"Sounds good to me." He smiled and kissed her softly. "I'll go finish the trimming."

"Okee dokee. I'll fool around with the crib after I get these curtains hung up." Abby smiled and turned back to the window. Luka smiled as he saw her stand up on her tippy toes to hook up the curtains. She stepped back and smiled. Abby walked over to the corner where an empty crib sat. She sighed and grabbed the wrench and tightened up the screws.

"Don't need this collapsing on you now do we?" She smiled tightening the screws. Abby went back over to the box and grabbed the duck crib set. She slid the sheet on and laid out the tiny comforter. She smiled slightly. I'm making my daughter's bed. She tied up the duck crib guards. After to hooked up the duck mobile up she stepped back and smiled.

"It looks great, Luka." Abby called out.

"In here too." He said.

* * *

Abby took a sip of her herbal tea as she curled up on the couch. She snuggled into Luka.

"Ready to do this?" She asked with a smile.

"Yup." Luka said, "We have to be careful choosing names. We need to run through all the nicknames they could get."

"Oh yes. I know." She smiled; "I was called Flabby Abby."

"Oh! Poor Abby." Luka smiled opening the baby name book.

"Boy names first." Abby said.

"Okay." Luka opened up to the A's and started looking. Abby bit her lip as she looked through the names.

"How about Nicholaus?" She asked.

"Sticky Nicky." Abby chuckled. "How about Dante?" Abby wrinkled her nose.

"You've got to be kidding me." She said.

"Dante Kovac. It's a nice strong name."

"Over my dead body." She smiled, "Nathan?"

"Nathan Kovac." Luka thought about it, "doesn't have a good ring to it."

"How about.... James?" She looked up at him and smiled.

"James Kovac." He said, "I like that."

"Really?" She asked.

"Yes." He said, "James...Michael Kovac."

"I really like that." Abby said, "Our son, James." Luka gave Abby a hug. He has a name. "Now our girl...How about Mila?"

"That's cute." Abby ran the name through her head. "I'm not to good with girl's names."

"Okay...How about...Let's see..Martina."

"Smarty Marti. Farty Marti." Abby said. Luka laughed.

"Okay okay. I get it." He flipped through the baby name book scanning over all the possibilities. "How does Sasha sound?"

"Sasha?" Abby asked.

"Yeah." Luka said, "Sasha Kovac."

"I really like that." Abby smiled, "Sasha Nicole Kovac." Luka smiled.

"Sasha and James Kovac." Abby put the baby name book down.

"Wow." She said, "They have names...We're going to be parents to James and Sasha."

"We are parents to James and Sasha." Luka smiled giving his wife a hug. He put his hands on her belly. "Hello James and Sasha."