Author's Note: I'm changing the Spoiler alert to include "Home". Doesn't really change much in the storyline because I had the beginnings of this written before I saw that episode. I know, it's a major hint and I said I wasn't giving any. Sorry. But I want to use a minor portion from that episode later in the story and I don't want people who haven't seen it to get "spoiled". So...you've been aptly warned.
Dreams Come True, Chapter 4
The doorbell rings, making John and Elizabeth look at each other.
"I win."
"How can you win? It's past 15 minutes since he was supposed to arrive."
"But it's under 30 minutes, so I still win." With that last statement, Elizabeth sticks her tongue out at her husband and goes to the door. The twins are laying on the floor in font of the Christmas tree, drawing pictures with the art sets they got as presents from her teaching assistant.
She opens the front door and is immediately struck by how much her brother looks like her father. Marc is tall with wide shoulders and dirty blonde hair. He's managed to maintain his muscular build from his days in the Seals, but isn't bulky. He walks into the house and envelops her in a bear hug.
"Lizzie!"
"Marc. It's so good to see you," says Elizabeth as she hugs him back.
"Uncle Marc! Uncle Marc!"
The boys come running up and Marc scoops them up onto each arm. He pretends to stagger back at their weight. Elizabeth is concerned until she sees the huge smile on her brother's face. Marc had hurt his back 3 years ago and got pulled out of the field. He now has a desk job with the CIA in Washington that lets him visit his sister and her family periodically.
"Umph." Marc makes an exaggerated motion of putting the boys down. "You guys are almost getting too big to carry."
"Soon, we'll be as big as you, Uncle Marc," says Marcus.
"Uh-huh," agrees Michael.
"Why don't you two start separating the gifts while your mom and I get your Uncle Marc some coffee?" John tells the twins as he comes up behind them.
Marc gives them the bags he has in his hands and the boys go scurrying back into the living room.
"Carefully!" Elizabeth yells after them. "Some of the presents may be breakable."
"Marc," John and Marc shake hands jovially. "Welcome to our crazy house."
"Thanks for having me. And don't worry, I'm used to crazy."
Elizabeth is glad to see that the two men are getting along. When Marc had first tracked her down after recovering from his back injury, he was not happy to find her married to an "idiot flyboy." Meeting his nephews for the first time had started to soften him up and, over the years, he could see how happy John made his little sister – even if he was a pilot.
"Let's get you that cup of coffee. I'll take your bag into the guest room."
The three start to walk further into the house when there's a small crash heard from the living room. John and Elizabeth turn to each other, not at all surprised. John puts Marc's suitcase down and moves toward the living room.
"I'll get this one."
"Just make sure they don't cut themselves on anything," Elizabeth advises before leading Marc into the kitchen.
John walks into the living room to find Michael on his knees in front of the Christmas tree with Marcus looking over his shoulder. They both look up guiltily when they hear him coming.
"We didn't mean to," starts Michael.
"We were being real careful with the presents, like mom said, when Mic - uh, we – bumped the tree," Marcus finishes.
John has to bite his lip to keep from smiling. It's nice to see that his sons have each other's back.
"Well don't touch it," he warns. "Go ask your mom for the dust pan."
The boys run off and John kneels down to assess the damage. The broken ornament is, or was, a snowflake. It's kind of a funny looking snowflake with the large center surrounded by six spokes, each shaped a little differently. He has a feeling that this is important somehow, but doesn't remember buying or receiving it as a present. Four of the spokes have broken off in the fall from the tree. John holds up what's left of it as Elizabeth walks over with a dust pan.
"Do you want me to try and fix it?"
"Don't worry about it. I really don't need to be digging glass out of your fingers later," she responds with a grin.
"Ha. Ha. Funny."
John sweeps up the remains of the ornament, which luckily broke in fairly large pieces, and throws it away in the kitchen.
An hour and a half later, it looks like a box of wrapping paper exploded in their living room. The boys are outside trying out their new, waterproof winter outfits by having a snowball fight with their uncle. John is lounging on the couch with one her gifts to him, a copy of Tolstoy's "War and Peace".
Elizabeth is trying to make a dent in the mess by picking up the wrapping paper when she stumbles across one of the drawings the kids did earlier. It's a picture of two concentric circles. The area between the circles is colored a brownish gold, with little blue dots and large triangles scattered around. The center of the smaller circle is a blue-green, with small ripples drawn in like water.
"What are you looking at?" asks John from the couch.
Elizabeth flips it around to show him.
"They're probably just hinting at wanting a pool."
"In Colorado?"
"So a heated pool. Either way, they're not gonna get it." He pats the space next to him on the couch and puts down his book. "Stop trying to clean up and come over here."
Elizabeth sits next to John as he pulls an envelope out from between the cushions.
"Ooh," she says. "Is it time to exchange our anniversary presents?"
"I was thinking that, yeah."
"Hang on a sec."
Elizabeth gets up and pulls an envelope out of her purse. John lifts him arm against the back of the couch and she snuggles up next to him. He hands her his envelope.
"Open mine first."
Elizabeth opens the envelope to find a brochure for the Broadmoor, a five star resort hotel on Cheyenne Lake. She turns to John quizzically.
"Marc agreed to take care of the kids tonight. We have reservations and I was thinking we could leave after lunch."
"Oh John!" Elizabeth gives him a kiss. "This is wonderful."
"They're having a special Christmas dinner at Stratta's, so you'll need to bring a formal gown. Plus I have massages scheduled before dinner."
"I can't believe you did all this."
John wraps his arms around his wife. She's still flipping through the brochure.
"We always said we'd do it when the kids were older. Well, the kids are older and I figured you needed something extra special for our five year anniversary."
"I love you," she says, kissing him again. This time, he tries to deepen the kiss, but she pulls back. "Save that for later. Open this."
John keeps his arms around Elizabeth as he opens the envelope. There's a piece of paper inside and two black & white pictures come falling out when he unfolds it. He picks the pictures up from his lap to look at them. Elizabeth watches as his eyes widen and his jaw goes slack. The pictures are grainy and it's impossible to distinguish any one thing from another. But what they are, what they mean, is unquestionable.
"Is this?"
"Yes. I asked them to take the ultrasound so I could surprise you."
"How long?"
"If they're right, I'm almost at the end of my second month."
John turns and cups Elizabeth's face in both of his hands. He brushes tears of joy from her cheeks with his thumbs.
"So we're?" he asks with a smile slowly spreading from ear to ear.
"We're having a baby."
John gives Elizabeth a lingering kiss and then leans back on the couch with her head resting on his chest. He holds the pictures up to get another look.
"We're having a baby," he says wistfully.
Suddenly, John sits up and looks at Elizabeth with a wild look in his eye.
"Just one, right?"
TBC...