Anniversary

By Carla

DISCLAIMER: I own nothing. Fox does.

Chapter II

            "Boys are gone!" Sandy smiled happily as he approached the pool. Kirsten was already lying in one of the floaters, sun-bathing. Sandy looked appreciatively at the bikini she was wearing, and for the hundredth time thanked God she was in his life.

"Good." Kirsten answered without opening her eyes "Care you join me?"

Sandy didn't have to be asked twice. He took off his shirt and threw himself into the water, swimming to where his wife was. He took her by the waist and pulled her into the water as she shrieked.

"Sandy!! What are you doing?!" she emerged from the water laughing "You got me all wet."

"We ARE in the pool, sweetie." He laughed.

"You're so annoying!" she splashed him and tried to swim away from him but he caught her by the shoulders and turned her back to him.

"Oh you don't!" he splashed her back. They kept laughing and splashing each other. Suddenly, a ring interrupted them.

"House phone?" Sandy asked.

"No, it's my cell." She gave him a tired look.

"Did I miss something while I was getting the boys out?"

"Dad's calling."

"Grand."

"He wanted me to meet him at the office, big clients or something."

"You've got…" he was losing his temper but he didn't want to put this on her shoulders "What did you tell that a… your father." She gave him a warning look before answering.

"I told him today I was spending the day with my husband because it's our anniversary, so he could try and entertain some Japanese suits on his own."

"Is that all?" Sandy asked knowingly. She looked away for a moment before meeting his eyes again.

"I also told him he may actually know that it was our anniversary if he had shown up at the wedding." He smiled lovingly and kissed her temple, hugging her. Their anniversary was a day both of them loved, but some wounds were always reopened, the family atmosphere hadn't been the best when they got married. And after all these years, Sandy knew that it was particularly difficult for Kirsten to deal with her father in this day. His absence to their wedding still hurt her.

"Can I come in, princess?" a gentle voice called to her as a smiling face peeked into the room.

"Of course, mom." Kirsten smiled, trying to dry away her tears without her mother noticing.

"We're almost ready for the ceremony," Christine Nichol started excitedly "everyone is in position and you have a rather nervous groom waiting for you at the altar! Poor boy, he already asked me like ten times if you haven't changed your mind… and Hailey is so proud, it was really sweet of you to made her a bridesmaid Kirsten, it means the world to her… honey, you look so beautiful in… Kirsten, baby, is everything ok?" Christine asked once she noticed the expression in her daughter's face.

"Yeah… yeah, of course everything is okay, mom…" Kirsten lied, trying to force one of the fake smiles she perfected after a life in Newport. That's one of the things she loved about Sandy Cohen, she never had to force herself to smile in front of him, and he would love her even if she was unhappy.

"Kirsten…" Christine said knowingly, reaching out to her daughter's cheek and drying an errant tear.

"No, mom… I mean it… it's just… an emotional day, you know, I'm getting married an all… I guess is just catching up with me…" Kirsten rose and tried to walk away, but Christine held her by the arm, making Kirsten face her again.

"Honey…" she was at a lost of what to say and once again cursed the man she loved in her head "I'm so…"

"You know what… let's just get this wedding on…"

"Kirsten!" Kirsten backed away a little at her mother's stern voice and stared at her for a few seconds. Once again Christine's soft hand went to her cheek… that did it, though, and Kirsten collapsed sobbing into her mother's arms "There honey…" Christine tried to sooth her "It's alright…"

"How can it be alright, mom?" Kirsten asked through her tears "How can he do this to me?"

"Kirsten…"

"No…!" Kirsten pulled away from her mother's embrace, this time her eyes shining with emotion "I'll never forgive him, mom. I hate him. I hate him so much."

"Sweetie, he's your father…"

"Really? And how come he isn't here? This is my wedding day, mom! Don't you understand? Today I'm bounding myself to the man I love for the rest of my life, and dad won't even come… I get it, okay? He thinks I'm making one mistake after another… he thinks Sandy is not good enough… this is not what he wanted for me… but you know what? Big deal! This is still my wedding, I'm still his daughter and he should be here!" Christine could see how mad her daughter was, she understood, she was as mad as her. She knew Caleb hated Sandy Cohen, Kirsten was right about that, and as he chose to stay in Singapore instead of assisting Kirsten's wedding with some bogus excuse Christine knew he was making up, he claimed that after his daughter regained her senses, divorced the little Jewish brat and got married to a real man, as Caleb had put it, he would go and he would give her away.

Christine knew where all of this was coming from… Kirsten always thought Hailey was Caleb's favourite kid, she thought her father could find no pride in her actions no matter what she did… she was wrong. Christine knew Caleb's actions were coming from deep hurt… the pain of losing his perfect beautiful daughter when she chose to move to Berkeley, to lead a new life, going against her father's will for the first time in her life… Caleb freaked out, he all but disowned Kirsten, because it hurt him that she would turn her back on the life he had created for her, and when Kirsten introduced them to the dorky boy from New York with a big mouth and massive eyebrows who had stolen her heart, Caleb made himself quite clear: she couldn't have it both ways, it was either Sandy or him. Christine knew that Caleb's heart was broken when Kirsten chose Sandy. And while she understood her husband, she didn't justify him. This was still their daughter, his little girl, and he should give her away on her wedding day.

"You're right, princess." Christine smiled sadly "I can't say a thing that will make you feel better… you're right, Caleb should be here, he's making the biggest mistake of his life and deep down he knows it." Kirsten had her gaze fixed in the floor, listening to her mother's voice "I know it's hard to believe this now, sweetheart… but trust me, as much as he's hurting you right now, as much as he is tainting this day for you, down the line, you're going to have a lifetime of happiness with your Sandy and your father will regret every single day not been here."

"Right, mom." Kirsten snorted.

"No… Kirsten, listen to me. Your dad loves you, he has dreamed of this day as much as you have, and he'll never forgive himself for causing this pain to you." Christine knew Kirsten did not quite believe her, but she knew her husband. Missing Kirsten's wedding would hunt him until his last breath. But this was not the time, not anymore, today was her baby's wedding and she deserved to smile "Hey, kid…" she lifted Kirsten's chin "Do you love your boy?" she smiled.

"Yes… I love him." Kirsten's face broke into a grin through her tears.

"So… your dad is a jackass," Christine was relieved to listen to Kirsten's laugh "what the hell? Right? You still have a damn fine young mind dying to make you his wife, who is probably about to burst a vein if you don't show up soon… do you still want to do this? Do you still want to marry Sandy?"

"I don't think I've ever wanted anything more in my life."

"Good… then let's dry these tears… and concentrate on how you're the most beautiful bride in the world and how happy you're going to be with Sandy, alright?"

"Yeah…" Kirsten sat down on a chair while her mother redid her makeup and fussed with her hair and dress "Mom…" she voiced timidly.

"Yes, baby?"

"Thanks… for everything… accepting him… us…been here."

"Honey, there's nowhere else in the world I would rather be."

Once Kirsten was ready, Christine nodded for her to stand up and planted a kiss in her daughter's cheek.

"Honey…" Christine started asking "Would you rather I walked you…?"

"No." Kirsten's face turned to stone as she answered "I love you for been here, but you're the mother of the bride… I want you to play that part… I can walk myself down the aisle… I know how to take care of myself and do things on my own."

"I know, sweetie. And I'm so proud of you. And I love you."

"I love you too, mom." Christine gave her one last smile before turning "I'll tell everyone you're ready, wait for your cue." She stopped by the doorframe before stopping, turning one more time with tears threatening to fall "I can't believe the next time I talk to my baby girl she's going to be Mrs. Kirsten Cohen…" Christine left then, leaving her daughter with a smile on her face.

Once Sandy and Kirsten came out of the water, they laid by the pool, Kirsten in her husband's arms, taking the sun. They were pretty content, just the tow of us, holding each other.

"This is nice." Sandy mumbled in her hair.

"Yeah. When was the last time we got to just hang out, lay down by the pool without getting called from work?"

"Or someone complaining about something the boys did?"

"Or the noopsies striding into the house?"

"Or Seth commenting on how disgusting all this cuddling among the elderly is?"

"Who are you calling elderly?!" Kirsten asked laughing.

"Don't worry, grandma… I still think you're hot!" Sandy laughed kissing her neck.

"Grandma?! Oh… no, no way, I'm way too young to be a grandma!"

"Oh, honey…" Sandy laughed.

"I mean it, Sandy. I'm not ready to be a grandma yet!" Kirsten noticed Sandy was just smiling his annoying knowing smile "What?" she asked.

"What what?" Sandy asked caressing her hair with one hand and hugging her waist with the other.

"You're acting superior. What are you laughing about?"

"Me? Nothing!"

"Spit it out, Cohen."

"Okay… okay… it's just the whole 'I'm not ready thing'…"

"Yeah?"

"That's exactly what you said the first time we talked about having a baby." Kirsten froze for a second. Sandy was right; those were her exact words when two months into their marriage Sandy had asked her how she felt about having a baby.

"Oh… right." She smiled.

"I just think you're a bit commitment shy." He teased her.

"I'm not…!"

"Come on, honey. Admit it! All those years ago, you almost made a run for it when I mentioned the word 'baby'!" he was laughing at her now, Kirsten's cheeks were red and she had turned into his arms to face him.

"That's not true!"

"You dropped a dish!"

"It slipped!"

"Come on, admit it… you were scared out of your mind when I asked you if you wanted to have a baby…"

"Okay…" Kirsten knew when she was defeated "In my defence, we were barely married, I was twenty-one, you were just starting in your career and we still lived in a mail truck…"

"Right…"

"I wasn't even out of college yet…" Sandy was smiling to himself; patting Kirsten's head as he listened to all the excuses he had heard a hundred times "we were still children ourselves."

"Right, honey. That's why I was a gentleman, accepted your reasons and reached an agreement about waiting two years before having a baby."

"Yes, Sandy, you were such a gentleman." Kirsten smiled, caressing his cheek "That's why, even though we didn't know it at the time, I was already pregnant with Seth." She laughed and he joined her.

"That has nothing to do with me been a gentleman." He laughed as he kissed her in the lips.

"Of course, Sandy… I mean, it's not like we conceived Seth because you threw me into the bed and ripped off my clothes…"

"Okay, okay…" Sandy laughed hugging her "I said I was a gentleman not a monk. It still turned out alright, didn't it?" he hugged her again.

"You're right." She smiled, laying her head on his shoulder "Would've saved us a four-hour-long conversation if we had known, though."

"You were ready." He whispered.

"No… YOU were ready. I was trying to catch up."

"You're a wonderful mother, Kirsten." He said seriously this time. He knew Kirsten often doubted her abilities as a mother and that she was terrified of making a huge mistake that would hurt her child… her children, even though she had been a mother for over sixteen years.

"I do what I can, but I had to work hard on it, you're a natural, Sandy."

"You're better than you think. Seth knows you love him. Ryan knows you love him. What else could a boy want from his mother?"

"I don't know… I do love our boys, Sandy."

"I know."

"And I love you."

"I know that, too." He smiled cockily.

"Still, we were too young when we had Seth."

"Yeah, we were." Sandy smiled, remembering their first days of parenthood, suddenly grateful to the skies that Seth had survived his inexperienced and overly nervous parents.

Kirsten sat on the small bed she shared with her husband, suddenly feeling dizzy.

How the hell had this happened?

They were careful.

Well… they tried to be careful… most of the time, anyway.

She was not ready, they had already had this conversation and she had managed to convince Sandy she was just not ready to be a mother.

This was what irony was all about, she guessed.

She knew without a doubt she was not ready for this, she couldn't even begin to image how to deal with the situation… sure, Sandy would be happy out of his mind, but he only saw that he was going to be a daddy, not everything that came attached with a baby. Still, as scared as she was, she knew she was having this baby.

She had already given up on one child. She didn't regret it, though. She had been fifteen, way too young to deal with been a mother. The memory pained her, thought, but she still knew she would do it again. If she hadn't had that abortion, she would be Mrs. Jimmy Cooper now, she would be like every single other noopsie, she wouldn't be in college and she wouldn't be with Sandy. And the child would probably be completely scarred; having a teenage mother that would've felt trapped in a life she didn't want. She never told her parents. She never told Jimmy. She made the call on her own, and she didn't regret.

This was different, though. She wasn't sure about motherhood yet, she was in college and Sandy barely made any money. Her waitressing job wasn't a goldmine either, and she certainly couldn't keep up with a job, school and a pregnancy, it was lousy timing. Yet she knew she would have this baby, because this was Sandy's baby, her family. She brought a shaking had to her midriff, imagining what a baby of Sandy would look like… she hopped it was a boy, even though she knew she should just wish it to were healthy, but she just wanted to have a baby boy that took after her wonderful husband. For the first time since taking the pregnancy test she allowed herself to smile as she lay back in the bed, her hand still on her torso, imagining she could feel the baby's movements within her body.

She smiled and sat back down on the bed as she felt Sandy's key opening the door. Showtime.

"Hey, honey." Sandy smiled as he entered the truck. Kirsten could tell he was tired after a long day at work. She had skipped work and school that day, she woke up feeling really sick and Sandy practically forced her to stay in bed. What Sandy didn't know was that she had been sick all week, today she just wasn't able to hide it from her husband "Are you feeling better?" Sandy asked as he sat in the bed and cradled Kirsten to his lap. She accepted his embrace grateful, trying to figure the best way to break the news to him.

"A bit." She answered honestly. 'Morning sickness' was pretty much an euphemism as far as she was concerned. She was sick whenever she woke up, ate, stood up or pretty much breathed. She had been pretty dizzy all day too, but wasn't sure if it was out of excitement or the pregnancy.

"Really?" she smiled as Sandy brought his hand to her forehead, concern in his eyes. He was so sweet and caring. She just loved him so damn much.

"Yeah… it's okay honey…" she took his hand from her forehead and held it in both of hers.

"Maybe I should just call the doctor…" he motioned to stand from the bed but she stopped him.

"No, Sandy, wait! Don't!" she knew she had a silly smile on her face, which was probably confusing Sandy.

"Are you sure? You do look a little pale, honey."

You would too after throwing up all day, she thought, but opted to smile.

"Sandy, I need you to please, sit down, and calmly listen to me." She could see he was getting really concerned, but she needed him to calm down before telling him.

"What is it?"

"Okay… I have no idea how to say this… the thing is… well…" why was she having problems telling him? He was dying to have a baby! He had already told her that! He was going to be happy about this baby!

"Honey, you're scaring me. If you need to tell me something about your health, please just do it, before I lose my mind."

"I'm pregnant." She blurted out. She didn't intent to just say it, but somehow it happened. She smiled realizing she could say pretty much the same thing about her pregnancy. Sandy was saying nothing, though, and Kirsten was starting to get concerned herself. Didn't a week ago he was trying to convince her they were ready to have a kid? "Sandy…" she whispered, worry all over her face "Please, say something… anything." Sandy raised his eyes to meet her.

"Pregnant?" she just nodded nervously "I thought… I thought we were waiting a couple of years…"

"Yeah, seems the baby wasn't paying attention to that conversation." She smiled shyly as she placed her hand on her flat stomach. Sandy's eyes followed her hand, his brain trying to catch up with the situation… Kirsten was pregnant… his wife was pregnant… in that flat stomach she was just now shielding protectively with her hand was a baby… a little boy or a little girl that was half him and half her, a little child that could be as beautiful as her… his baby with the most amazing woman in the universe. Sandy couldn't help the smile that crept into his face.

"We're going to have a baby?" he asked slowly, smiling broadly now to Kirsten's relief. She just nodded, feeling tears in the burst to escape from her eyes. They finally fall when Sandy's hand made its slow way to her stomach, laying it on top of hers over their child. Sandy gave her a last smile before pulling her along with himself to the bed, kissing her with such love and passion that she had to allow the tears to fall freely "I love you so much… both of you!" he laughed in between kissed.

"We love you too." She laughed as well, feeling weird about using the plural. When the kisses stopped, she was laying down, her back on the bed, while he propped himself over his shoulder by her side. With one hand he caressed her hair and with the other he lifted her top so he could stare at her midriff.

"So… there's a baby in there?" he grinned as he laid his hand over her stomach.

"Or a puppy." She teased him.

"Ha ha." He mocked "Hey… you're crying…" he was concerned as he noticed her tears.

"Happy tears… hormones raging…"

"These should be very interesting months." He teased her back. She smiled, but she noticed his face growing more sombre as he kept staring at her bellybutton. He lifted his gaze back to meet her eyes "Are you feeling okay?"

"I have been sick all day." She decided he deserved the whole truth, he was the father of her baby after all "Actually all week… I know, I know, I should have told you. I'm sorry; I figured I had a stomach bug or something."

"Don't call our baby a bug, honey."

"Very funny. Morning sickness sucks, also I'm a bit dizzy sometimes, but that's about it."

"Have you seen your gynaecologist yet?"

"No."

"I'm making an appointment, we can go tomorrow."

"You don't have to come with me."

"I'm coming with you."

"Thanks." She smiled gratefully. In truth, she was terrified of dealing with the whole thing alone. He smiled back at her.

"Kirsten… do you want to have this baby?"

"What?" she asked, a little taking aback.

"Last week… you felt you weren't ready… I don't want to force you to anything; I want you to be happy…"

"I am, Sandy!" she took his hand from her torso "I am. I… I still think I'm not ready, I'm terrified of screwing up, I have no idea how to deal with any of this… but I know this is our baby and I love him… I'm just going to really need your help with this… okay?"

"Oh, honey, you know I'm going to be there for you the whole way!" he kissed her forehead to make his point "I want to be there for everything, morning sickness, mood swings, cravings, doctor appointments, childbirth… I know this is pretty much out of my hands, but I want you to be able to lean on me for all of this, okay?"

"Okay." She smiled, falling in love with him all over again.

"Also… I want you to resign your job…" he raised his hand when he saw she was about to protest "Honey, this isn't a macho thing… you can't be on your feet all day, it's not good for either you or the baby, and you won't be able to clean tables once you start showing… plus, it's going to be too much stress and I think you should rather concentrate on our baby and finishing college…"

"I know… you're right… I figured I can finish this semester, take the next one off to actually have the baby and just focus on him for a couple of months, then go back… what are you smiling about?"

"You keep saying 'him'." She smiled back at him, he was right "Let me figure out the money… you just take care of yourself and our kid. Also, we should start looking for a house."

"What? Sandy…"

"Kirsten, this is okay for us, but don't you want something better for our baby?" she had to admit she had trepidations about raising her child in a truck, too.

"Yeah." She admitted "But how are we going to pay for a house?"

"We'll find a way… something small, for the three of us."

"Okay."

"Okay. And honey?"

"Yeah?"

"Thank you."

"You too." She smiled as he leaned over to capture her lips with his own.