July 15th, 2005
He was running late. There was no use denying it. Lucas woke up ten minutes after his alarm was supposed to go off. His wife was already gone for the day. It took Thirty minutes to try to get the twins dressed and then he got the phone call that their babysitter caught mono. He hated summer vacation. He had no choice to bring the girls to work with him.
"Be good." Lucas said.
"We will." Jessalyn smiled.
"Don't touch anything." Lucas said leading them to the front door of empire.
"We won't." Summer batted her eyelashes at him. Lucas frowned.
"You're too much like me." he muttered walking in. he nodded to Warren, "Joe here?"
"He's running late." Warren said, "But he called."
"I would have called if I had a chance to." Lucas brought the girls into the back. "Sit there. You can watch TV, read your books, colour, or eat some of these oranges. Under no circumstances are you to go outside or go out onto the floor, do you understand me?"
"Yes, Daddy." Jessalyn and Summer grinned brightly. Too much like me, Lucas thought as he grabbed a cup of coffee. He walked out onto the floor.
"How are things going today?" He asked.
"Three sales. That's it." Warren said. "Supposedly we're not getting a shipment today." Lucas groaned pulling out the white binder beneath the register. He opened it up.
"We're scheduled for one." He said pointing to the first page, "Did you call them?" Warren shook his head. Lucas growled slightly and grabbed the phone.
"I need to pee, Daddy." Summer said.
"You know where the bathroom is, Sum." Warren said.
"I can't open the door." She whimpered. Warren stepped away form the register and went into the back, "I don't wanna pee my pants."
"I don't want you to either." Warren chuckled unlocking the door.
"Warren, look." Jessalyn held up a picture. "This is daddy. He's mad in my picture."
"I think he's mad now." he chuckled walking back out. Lucas was yelling to the person on the phone.
"We were expecting Laura Allen's new album today!! We have been advertising it! We have signs up!" Lucas snapped, "We need that shipment today!!!" Warren tried not to listen but hell, Lucas was yelling, "Thank you. I would really appreciate it."
"Is everything okay?" Warren asked.
"They're going to try to send us some by bike messenger." He said, "We'll see how that works." Warren laughed.
"A bike messenger CD shipment. I need to see that." He said. Jessalyn walked out on to the floor.
"Daddy, Summer made a mess." She said.
"What kind of mess?" Lucas crossed his arms.
"You know her sparkles? Well she spilled them all over the couch and she tried to get them off and they're all over the floor now. Everything is covered in sparkles now." Jessalyn took a breath, "I told her that she'd get in trouble, but she didn't listen. You said not to leave the couch but I wanted to tell you this." Lucas rubbed his eyes. The Terror Twins.
"It's not nice to tattle." he took Jessalyn's hand and walked back into the break room. He saw it. Everything was covered in blue and silver sparkles.
"I had to tell you." Jessalyn said.
"Summer Lee!" Lucas snapped. She looked up at him.
"I'm sorry." Summer said. Lucas went into the closet and pulled out the vacuum. He plugged it in.
"you're cleaning the floor and couch." He told her. Summer's lips trembled, "Now." He grabbed Windex and paper towels and looked at Jessalyn. "You clean the table because you tattled."
"But, Daddy." She whimpered.
"Now!" Lucas snapped again stomping out of the room. Why oh why where they like this?
August 1st, 2005
Every time Deborah stepped out of her Mercedes, she was thankful. Every time she walked into her five bedroom home, she counted her blessings. Every time she heard her daughter's laughter, she knew she had made the right choices in her life.
"Mommy's home." Deborah called out walking into the house. She put her briefcase down listening to the running upstairs.
"MOMMY!!!" Lauria squealed. She ran down the stairs into Deborah's awaiting arms.
"Hello, Pumpkin." She squeezed her tightly walking into the kitchen. Burk was standing at the stove cooking dinner. "That smells good."
"You're late." He said. Deborah sighed putting Lauria down.
"I know. I had a patient come in. She's on a suicide watch so I had to stay." She said walking up to him, "Do you need any help?" Burk shook his head.
"No it's almost done." He said. Deborah looked at Lauria with a smile.
"Help mommy set the table." She pulled out three plates and handed them to her. Lauria skipped around the table placing the plates down. Deborah glanced at her husband. "This girl was really bad, Burk. She tried to hang herself last week and I had to talk to her." Burk shrugged.
"You don't have to explain yourself, Deb." He said looking at her, "I know you have a demanding job. I knew that would be the case when I married you. I have no problems with it."
"Okay." She said, "It just seemed that you had an attitude."
"Don't analyze me." He looked at her, "I hate when you do that." Deborah smiled sheepishly.
"I know. I'll try not to." She pulled out three cups and handed them to Lauria. "What did you guys do today?"
"Daddy bought me new shoes and a new dress for preschool." Lauria said, "It's green."
"Your shoes or your dress?" She asked sitting down at the table.
"My dress." Lauria explained, "My shoes are black. Daddy said I needed new black shoes."
"You did." She said, "Did you have fun?"
"Ah huh." Lauria smiled as she sat down.
"Daddy got a headache though." Burk chuckled putting a pile of pasta on everyone's plates. Deborah chuckled. She knew Lauria could be a handful when she was at the mall.
"Poor thing." Deborah smiled. She ruffled Lauria's auburn hair, "You're a little firecracker, aren't you?"
"Nope." Lauria smiled, "I'm a little girl." Deborah chuckled.
"That you are." She looked at Burk. He frowned deeply.
"What?" He asked.
"Corey has got me thinking…" She said.
"About what?" He asked her. This couldn't be good. Deborah never really liked Corey.
"Lauria should get a little brother." She said. The colour drained from Burks face. He nearly choked on his pasta.
"You want another baby?" He asked.
"I think we're in a perfect time to have one. We have the money and space this time." Deborah said, "Just one more."
"Wow…" Burk said looking at his food.
"you don't have to say yes right now." She said to him, "Just think about it."
"What if I said yes now?" Burk asked her.
"I'd put Lauria to bed right away." Deborah laughed. Burk put his fork down.
"Lauria, go get your Pjs on." He said.
"But Daddy I'm not done." She said.
"Go put your Pjs on, Lauria Symone." He told her. Lauria groaned and got up from the table. Deborah stared at him.
"you want another baby?" She asked.
"it might be cool, but hey, the trying I think will be fun." He said. Deborah laughed. He never changed, but he was right whether they got pregnant tonight or in a year, the trying was great.