October 5, 2001

Week 27

A flower has to go through a lot of dirt before it can bloom. ~Unknown

"Luka.... Luka, wake up." Abby shook Luka forcefully. He stirred slightly. "Luka, wake up now!!" He sat straight up.

"Mmph! What? Are the babies okay?" He yawned.

"Yes yes. They're fine." Abby said.

"Then why are you waking me up?" Luka said laying back down. Abby tugged at his arm.

"I'm hungry." She said.

"Then go get something to eat."

"No." Abby whimpered 'I want some Chocolate Cherry Cordial Ice cream and we don't have any."

"What am I supposed to do about it?" Luka mumbled, "it's one o'clock in the morning."

"Can you go to the store and get some?" Abby asked.

"And I'll say this again. It's one o'clock in the morning." Luka said wrapping the blanket around him.

"Please." Abby begged.

"No." Luka said. Abby sniffed slightly.

"I-I was just hungry.... But...Fine." Abby lay back down with a heavy sigh. Luka growled slightly and sat up.

"Chocolate Cherry Cordial?" Luka asked putting his slippers on. Abby smiled brightly.

"Yes." She said as Luka stood up and grabbed his wallet. "Thank you."

"That's what I'm here for." Luka yawned and walked downstairs. Abby lay down and smiled. Success.

* * *

Luka rubbed his eyes as he grabbed a cart. The florescent lights seemed eerie t one o'clock in the he morning. The aisles were empty. There was only one cashier and bagger and they were sitting on the register chatting. Luka yawned loudly as he made his way to the ice cream aisle. He stood in front of the case.

"Chocolate.... Ah...Cherry cordial." He mumbled.

"Here it is." Luka turned to see a tired man grabbing the tub f ice cream.

"Thanks." The man looked Luka up and down.

"Nice slippers." He chuckled. Luka blushed slightly.

"I was in a hurry."

"You're wife pregnant?" Luka nodded, "Mine too. She's thirty weeks with our third. How about you?"

"Ah...twenty-seven weeks with twins." Luka said putting the ice cream in his cart.

"Wow. Good luck, man." He said, "Our first pregnancy was a double pregnancy. I'm Trevor by the way." He extended his hand. Luka smiled and shook it.

"Luka." He said as they walked down the aisle. "These are our first kids."

"Twins are great." Trevor smiled, "We had two girls. How about you?"

"One of each." He said putting the ice cream on the register.

"Wow. That's great. A built in perfect family." Trevor smiled, "Want some advice?" Luka chuckled softly.

"Sure."

"Get some help. I'm not talking about a nanny or anything, but Sarah and I joined a Parenting twins support group and it's really great. We have play dates sometimes." Trevor said.

"Really?"

"Yeah. It's great to be able to relate to other parents." He said, "A lot of singleton parents don't understand multiples." Trevor said, "If you want, I can give you my number, if you need anything or whatever. My twins are three now, but I remember what it was like and Sarah and I am always glad to help."

"Wow. Yeah. That'd be really great." Luka smiled paying for his ice cream.

"Great." Trevor wrote his phone number down on a piece of paper and handed it to Luka, "Call anytime. Play date, questions, need a guys night out, I don't care." Luka chuckled.

"Thanks." He said.

"It was nice meeting you. I'm sure I'll see you around here soon. Sarah always has me on midnight runs. You better get used to it." Luka smiled.

"I will."

* * *

Luka walked cautiously into the bedroom.

"Abby?" She turned around.

"Did you get the ice cram?" She asked. Luka smiled and sat down on the bed. He handed her the tub and a spoon, "Ooooh. Yummy." She shoved a spoon full of ice cream in her mouth. "Oh this is so frigging good!" Luka chuckled.

"I'm glad you like it." He said, "When I was at the store. I met a guy with three-year-old twins. We talked a little bit and he gave me his number just in case we needed tot talk and ever wanted to have a play date." Abby shook her head.

"The twins aren't even born yet and you're already setting up play dates." She smiled; "did you guys swap recipes as well?"

"Yes. He had this fabulous recipe for fillet mignon." Luka lisped, "and then we exchanged decorating tips."

"Very funny. You're pushing the envelope there, Kovac." She said. Luka chuckled. "My husband getting guys numbers at a super market at one o'clock in the morning. That's a very scary thing."

"So, are these midnight runs going to be an annual thing?" He asked.

"They will be if you don't close that smart mouth of yours." Abby said biting into a large frozen cherry. Luka smiled.

"I'm sure I can find something else to occupy my mouth with." Luke said wrapping his arm around Abby's belly. Abby put the half-gone ice cream down.

"Oh yeah?" She asked, "What exactly would you be doing?"

"Let's see...Maybe a little bit of this." Luka kissed Abby's cheek

"I see." She smiled, "Go on."

"Well, maybe a little of this." Luka nibbled at her ear.

"Mmmm hmmmm. That could work." Abby said, "What else do you have?"

"I was going to try this." Luka leaned over and kissed Abby softly on her lips. She smiled slightly.

"Now, I do like that." She mumbled as she deepened the kiss. Luka parted his lips welcoming her tongue. He could taste the sweet ice cream still lingering on her mouth. He smiled slightly covering them with the blanket. "What else do you have?"

"How about this?"

"Mmmm....Oh Luka."