May 2nd, 2005
A year brings many things. A year brings many moments of happiness. A year brings many moments of sadness. Children grow in a year and parents age in a year. The Malucci family experienced all of this.
After a year, Ireland and Lyric were blossoming into beautiful young girls. Ireland had long dark brown hair and her large blue eyes seemed to have a twinkle of mystery in them. Lyric had long light brown hair and her hazel eyes showed how shy she was. Ireland was a rambunctious three-year-old. She was into everything, but not in a bad way. She loved to help Randi clean. Cleaning off the table was her favourite thing to do. As for Lyric, She was definitely the quietest out of the two. Sure she loved to talk, but she was so soft spoken you had to strain your ears to hear her. Both of the girls were potty trained and in their own beds. What more could a parent want?
As for Randi and Dave, things were going extremely well. Their marriage was the best this past year than it had ever been. The sex was amazing and of course that's what the couple loved the most. Randi Wear had exploded. It was featured in several high-class magazines and one of her dresses was even worn by Cynthia Nixon on the way to the Emmys. Randi Wear had created such a buzz. People were interested in opening a store in Los Angeles and Boston. Randi just couldn't believe so many people wanted her store in their town. She had no more worries in making it. She had made it.
Dave hauled the laundry basket onto his hip as he walked up the stairs. Dixie ran past him, nearly knocking him over.
"Damn dog." Dave muttered as he walked into the bedroom. Randi was slowly brushing her hair. "You okay?"
"Yeah. Just feeling a little run down." She smiled, "Oh thanks for getting the laundry."
"No problem." He said, "Do you have a fever?" Randi shook her head.
"No. Like, I said, I'm just run down. I've been running on empty lately." She said, "I've been having all those meetings and I just, I'm sick of going."
"Well, soon you'll have a deal settled and you won't need to go." Dave said as he separated Ireland and Lyric's clothes.
"I know." Randi said, "I really can't wait until then. All I will need to do is call the shop execs in LA and that's it." Dave chuckled.
"Sounds good. It'll give us more time to snuggle and…. Have sex."
"Lord, I can't even think about sex right now." Randi crawled onto the bed. "I need a nap."
"Then take one. I'll make the girls lunch." He said, "I don't mind."
"You sure?" She asked.
"Sleep. You need it." Dave said.
"Thanks." Randi smiled as she snuggled into the bed. Dave rubbed Randi's back softly and kissed her. Dave picked up the laundry basket and walked into Irelands room.
"Hi Daddy." She smiled.
"Hi Pumpkin." He said putting her clean clothes on her dresser, "Where's Lyric?"
"Sleeping." Ireland said picking her doll Binnie up. Dave smiled and walked into Lyric's room. Sure enough, Lyric was asleep on her bed. Dave chuckled as he pulled the blanket up around his daughter. She rolled over.
"Hi Daddy." She whispered softly.
"Hi, Baby." He smiled, "Are you tired?" Lyric nodded slowly, "All right. You can sleep then. Do you want bluey?"
"Yes." She whispered. Dave smiled and picked up the blue stuffed dog off of the floor.
"Here you go baby." He said.
"Tank, daddy." She whispered. Dave chuckled and kissed her forehead.
"Sleep tight." He said and got up. There were two sleeping angels in his house right now. Maybe he could get some quiet time in front of the television He glanced in on Ireland and she was still playing. Dave smiled and took this opportunity.
May 15th, 2005
Randi put the last of the groceries onto the belt. She hated major food shopping with Lyric and Ireland yelling at each other.
"Mommy, can I get some candy?" Ireland asked.
"No you can't." Randi smiled as she handed her savings card to the cashier.
"I want Nandy." Lyric said.
"No one is getting candy." Randi said.
"Not fair." Ireland pouted as she looked at the display of candy in front of her.
"It is fair because I'm the mom and I make the rules." She said.
"Can we go?" Ireland mumbled.
"In a minute, Ireland." Randi said, "I need to pay for the food."
"Momma hungry." Lyric moaned.
"We'll have lunch as soon as we get home, okay?" Randi smiled.
"Kay." Lyric said.
"This candy really looks good." Ireland said.
"Yeah." Lyric nodded. The cashier chuckled.
"How old are they?" She asked as she finished ringing up Randi's order.
"Three and two. I thought it'd be fun when they got this old, but they've learned to back talk." Randi chuckled. The cashier smiled.
"Total is one hundred and thirty-five dollars even." She said. Randi nodded and handed her the cash.
"We could buy a big house wif that money." Ireland said, "Daddy gonna be mad." Randi chuckled.
"Daddy won't be mad. This is this months major food shopping." Randi smiled.
"Okay." Ireland said tugging at one of her pigtails. Randi chuckled to herself. Ireland was nuts sometimes.
"Let's go, girls." Randi pushed the extremely full shopping cart to the door. It was pouring rain outside. "Okay. Ireland climb onto the cart."
"I'm gonna get wet." She moaned.
"You need a bath anyway." Randi chuckled. "Here we go!" Randi pushed the cart outside. The girls screamed as if it was acid rain. Randi giggled as she ran to the car. "Come on." She yanked Lyric out of the cart and opened up the back door. Ireland jumped in and Lyric soon followed.
"All Wet!" Lyric giggled.
"We took a shower." Ireland smiled. Randi closed the door and popped the trunk. She put all the groceries in it as fast as she could. She was completely wet. There wasn't a dry spot on her. Randi jumped into the car.
"Mommy is wet!" Ireland laughed wildly.
"Yeah, Mommy is wet." Randi said starting the car. "Are you buckled, Ireland?"
"Yes." Ireland rolled her blue eyes.
"Good girl." Randi said as she pulled out.
"Momma, hungry." Lyric said.
"I know, Pumpkin. When we get home." Randi said. She pulled out onto the street. Taking the highway would be quicker. Lyric would be reminding her that she was hungry the entire time.
"Put some music on." Ireland said.
"Please." Randi said.
"Please." Ireland said. Randi pulled out Ireland's CD of children's songs and put it on. She hated this CD, but it kept Ireland quiet.
Buckets of rain pounded on Randi's car. She hated driving in this type of weather especially with her daughters in the back seat. Ireland and Lyric both started to sing along with the children to 'The Farmer and the Dell'. Randi chuckled softly.
"Momma, I hungry." Lyric said.
"I know, Pumpkin. You'll get food in ten minutes." Randi said.
"Dears tons in the back." Ireland said.
"I know, but you can't eat that food yet." Randi said, "Just listen to your music. The wheels on the bus go round and round. Round and round. Round and round."
"Momma, I hungry." Lyric whimpered. Randi sighed and grabbed her purse. She had to have a granola bar in here or something. Randi could feel her steering wheel starting to take over. She immediately pt both hands on the steering wheel.
"Fuck." She cursed. The car started to hydroplane. Randi's heart pounded in her chest. There were a couple of cars behind her. She flipped her hazard lights on. She started to fight the way her car was turning. She forgot that that was the bad thing to do. Her car was still speeding when it crashed into the guardrail. The girls started to cry.
"Mommy!" Ireland cried loudly. The sound of metal against metal and glass breaking filled the air as the car behind Randi Smashed into her car causing it to flip. The impact caused Randi to pass out. She didn't see the third car hit her.
* * *
Dave hit his head off of the admit desk.
"Boring. Boring. Boring." He mumbled.
"Work would make you less bored." Jing-Mei said.
"We don't have anything fun." He said. "We haven't had a trauma in hours."
"We have a MVA coming in." Jerry said, "Two majors, seven minors. ETA five minutes." Dave grinned brightly.
"See? You ask and you shall receive." He said.
"Get trauma one ready." Jing-Mei rolled her eyes.
"Aye! Aye! Captain!" Dave grinned. He loved traumas. He always would. He received such a rush from it. Dave could hear the ambulances out in the bay. He stepped out of the trauma to help with anything he could help out with. The flood of patients had begun.
"Dave?" Lily walked in. His heart stopped dead in his chest when he saw Lily holding Ireland, who had blood trickling down her face.
"Daddy!" Ireland screamed. Dave snatched her from Lily.
"They weren't one of the MVAs were they?" Dave whispered.
"I'm sorry." Lily said. Panic started to pull at his chest. His babies. Nothing better of happened to them. Dave put Ireland on a gurney and pressed some gauze to the laceration.
"I w-want Mommy." Ireland sobbed.
"Me too. Do you know where Mommy and Lyric are?" He asked, trying to stay calm for Ireland.
"N-No!!" She sobbed.
"Okay, Pumpkin. Stay right here and I'll go get Lyric and Mommy." He said softly. He kissed her cheek tenderly. He didn't want to leave her, but he had to find the others.
Dave pushed past patients. There were dozens of them now, but none of the mattered. He needed Randi and Lyric.
"Lyric!?!" Dave yelled.
"Daddy!!" John was bringing in the little toddler.
"Lyric!" Dave cried. He had so much relief flooding his heart at that moment. H grabbed her and held her close. "Baby, baby, daddy was so scared." Lyric cried quietly.
"There's not a scratch on her." John said.
"Thank god." Dave whispered kissing Lyric's head. "Do you know where Randi is?" John bit his lip.
"She's in trauma one. She was pretty bad, Malucci." John said. Dave stared at him.
"H-How bad?"
"Ask Kovac. He's working on her." John said. Dave bolted to the trauma room.
"Oh god." Dave croaked. Randi was in there, with blood all over her. Kovac and Lewis were both working on her. Dave pushed into the trauma room, "Randi!"
"Dave, you can't be in here." Susan said.
"I'm a doctor." Dave snapped.
"She's in good hands." Luka said, 'Let us work on her."
"What are her stats? I'm working on Her!!" Dave cried.
"Dave..." Susan said as she looked at Lyric in his arms.
"Mommy..." Lyric whimpered. Dave looked at Lyric as she watched Randi. Dave's lip trembled.
"Take care of her." Dave whispered as he backed out of the trauma. He had never seen Randi look like that before, even after she was attacked and stabbed. Dave was so afraid he was going to lose her.
"Where's Mommy?" Ireland asked as Dave walked back over to her.
"Dr. Kovac and Dr. Lewis are fixing her boo-boos." Dave whispered, "Let me look at yours." Dave carefully pulled the gauze off.
"Our food is squished." Ireland whimpered.
"It's okay. We can buy new food." Dave gently cleaned the wound on Irelands forehead.
"Is Mommy dead?" Ireland asked. Dave shook his head.
"Mommy is not dead." Dave said, "She's...She's just taking a nap." He had to hold back the tears. " Okay, Ireland?"
"Okay." She said.
"Okay, Lyric?"
"Kay." Lyric whispered. Dave sighed.
"You need to get some stitches, Landise." He said.
"Needles?" Ireland asked. Dave nodded.
"Yeah, but it'll all be over soon. Can you be a big girl for me?"
"I'll try." Ireland whispered. Dave hated this. He hated giving his baby girl stitches. She deserves this. Ireland closed her eyes tightly, as Dave started. Lyric watched with large eyes.
"Good girl." Dave whispered. Susan knocked on the wall, "Hey."
"Hey." Susan said. She smiled at the girls. "We put Randi in a private room." Dave bit his lip as he finished the stitches.
"How is she?" He croaked out.
"She's...She's had a lot of head trauma. She is stabilized, but she needs to stay here. Randi received over a hundred stitches, mostly in her hands. Her head CT scans seem to be clear, but things tend to flare up later on."
"H-How long will she need to be here?" He asked.
"A week, maybe more." Susan said. "Her head trauma is what concerns me the most. When...if...she wakes up, we can really survey the damage better."
"If she wakes up?" Dave whispered.
"It's always a possibility." Susan said. Dave could feel his heart breaking.
"I know." Dave said, looking at Lily, "Can you keep an eye on the girls?"
"Certainly." Lily said. Dave kissed his daughters. Dave followed Susan to Randi's room. His heart pounded in his chest. Randi looked so pale. She looked so pale. Dave sat down by her bed.
"Randi, its Dave." He said softly as Susan pushed the ultrasound in. Dave kissed Randi's cheek, "Wake up for me. Ireland and Lyric are asking for you." He looked at her. He couldn't believe it. Dave leaned over and grabbed her chart.
"You shouldn't look at that." Susan said.
"I am." Dave said. He read the information. He looked through all the tests they ran on her. His heart stopped. He looked up at Susan. "She's pregnant?" Susan nodded.
"That's what the tests say." She said, "I haven't done an ultrasound yet to see if it's okay. Did you know she was pregnant?" Dave shook his head.
"No." he looked at his wife. "Check on the baby."
"I am." Susan said as she turned the ultrasound on. "I just...just know that, she could have lost this baby."
"She won't loose this baby too." Dave said. Susan sighed slightly.
"All right." Susan said as she pulled up Randi's gown.
"Randi, wake up." Dave said, "We're doing an ultrasound." There of course was no response.
"Here we go." Susan started the ultrasound. She pointed to the screen. "There it is." Dave looked at the screen. There was a small grey blob with little grey limbs hanging off of it. "It looks perfectly fine. Strong heart beat. Looks maybe around eight weeks or ten weeks gestation." Dave bit his lip.
"I-It's okay?" He asked. Susan nodded.
"Yes, but Janet will probably want to see Randi as soon as she's up to it, to double check." Susan said.
"Okay." Dave whispered taking Randi's hands in his own. "Sweetie, you need to wake up. We're having another baby. You need to wake up."
* * *
Hours. Dave sat there for hours holding her hand. She moved her hands every once and awhile. She was slowly coming to. Slowly was the operative word. He kissed her cheek tenderly.
"Randi, can you hear me?" He asked. She groaned slightly. Dave smiled softly as she opened her hazel eyes. "Hey there."
"Lyr..." She mumbled.
"Grandma came by and took them to her place until we can get you settled in at home." Randi sighed softly licking her lips. A few tears trickled down Dave's face. "I was so scared, Randi."
"Sorry..." She mumbled again looking at him. Randi was trying to say something but it was hard for her to get out. "Pr....P-Pr..."
"Take your time." Dave said. He was beyond thrilled to see she was so responsive. Maybe there wasn't a lot of damage after all.
"Pr...Preg?" She asked. Dave stared at her and nodded.
"Yeah you're pregnant." he said, "You knew?" Randi shook her head.
"Heard you." She mumbled. Dave smiled softly.
"Yeah. We're going to have another February baby, I think." Dave said, kissing her hand, "I'm so happy you're okay." Randi smiled weakly.
"Tired." Randi whispered. Dave nodded.
"All right. I'm going to tell Lewis you're awake. Just hold tight." Randi nodded slowly. Dave leaned over and kissed Randi's forehead. "Don't ever scare me like that again, Randi." He sighed and left the room. She may be awake, but he knew there was a lot more hurdles to go over. Dave knew he had been so close to loosing all three...make those four members of his family.