Thank you so much for reviewing! You guys are awesome! Here is the next part, I hope that you all enjoy it. I'm having a wonderful day because I registered this morning and I got all of the classes I wanted! This means that on Mondays and Tuesdays next semester I'm going to have one class and be done at noon. How awesome is that? I'm never leaving college, I've decided. Anyway, please review and let me know what you think!
Disclaimer: Right, the characters, nor the song, are mine.
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"Sandy?" There was no answer so Kirsten waited another second. "Sandy?" Nothing. "SANDY!" Sandy bolted awake and turned to face his wife.
"What?! What's the matter? Are you okay? Is it the baby?" He reached over and turned on a light and Kirsten could see worry etched all over his face.
"I'm starving," Kirsten said suddenly feeling very badly about waking him up. Especially when he was all panicked like that. All she wanted was something to eat. And she could have gotten it for herself if she wasn't on damned mandatory bed rest. Seriously, this whole bed rest thing was getting quite old.
"You're what?" Sandy rubbed his eyes and felt his heart rate start to go back to normal.
"I'm starving," she repeated. Her stomach growled and she wasn't so sorry about waking him up anymore.
"What do you want?" Sandy asked throwing his legs over the side of the bed and slipping his feet into slippers.
"Hmm....do we have any of that General Tso's left?"
"I'll check, what if we don't?" Sandy stole a glance at the clock. Three in the morning. He knew that this was just the start. Once the baby was born they were all in for some sleepless nights.
"Peanut butter and banana sandwich...and oh! Mint chocolate chip ice cream," Kirsten requested. "You know what? Even if we have General Tso's bring that."
"Instead of the General Tso's?" Sandy clarified. Kirsten looked at him as if he had just suggested growing a second head.
"In addition to the General Tso's," she said. Sandy nodded and with one more longing look back at their bed, made his way down to the kitchen. He yawned as he opened the fridge to pull out the containers of leftover take out. He fixed a plate for Kirsten and headed back upstairs, and was not surprised to find that his wife had fallen back asleep. Very carefully, so that he didn't wake her, he set the tray of food down on the nightstand next to her and slipped back into bed. He was trying really hard not to wake her up. She had been getting very little to no sleep lately, and the fact that she was sleeping so peacefully now was a rarity.
He couldn't resist though, before he fell asleep, to place a soft kiss on her forehead. Three more weeks. That was it. Three more weeks and her due date was there, and then he would greet his new son or daughter.
If Kirsten got her way it would be a girl. If Seth got his, it would be a boy. He didn't think Ryan had any sort of preference, and to be honest, neither did Sandy.
Three more weeks and they'd be a family of five. Far cry from a year ago when they were simply a family of three. And Sandy was sure that Kirsten and Ryan would agree that five was much better than three.
They will see us waving from such great heights
"Come down now"
They'll say
But everything looks perfect from far away
"Come down now"
But we'll stay
Eight months before:
"Mrs. Cohen, you are indeed pregnant, congratulations." The words kept replaying in Kirsten's head as she drove home. After the doctor's appointment, she decided that she couldn't go back to the office. She needed to take some alone time to wrap her mind around it. Kirsten knew that she should probably call Sandy and let him know that she was okay, but he was bound to ask a million questions that she wasn't ready to deal with quite yet.
Kirsten turned off her cell phone and drove to the beach. She pulled a blanket out of the trunk and laid it in the sand and sat down.
Another baby. As much as she hated to admit it, she was excited. She had loved being pregnant the first time, and this way she and Sandy wouldn't be alone when the boys left for college.
The boys. She could only imagine Seth's reaction to the irrefutable proof that his parents still had sex. And Ryan. His place in the family was just starting to become more cemented. Would this throw their delicate balance with him in a tailspin?
Kirsten sat there for hours. She was still feeling an array of emotions ranging from excitement to being scared to death. But she was happy. That was the most overriding emotion. She might be terrified of the reactions of her family, and of having a baby again after all these years, but she was happy.
When she pulled into the driveway, the door to their house flew open and Sandy stood there with a phone up to his ears. He looked like a wreck.
"She just pulled up," he spoke into the phone as he ran a hand through his hair. "I don't know. I'll have her call you later Caleb." With that, Sandy hung up the phone and came over to her and folded her in his arms. He let out a huge sigh of relief and kissed the top of her head.
"Where have you been?" He asked not letting her go. "We've been worried sick about you. You just took off and didn't let anyone know where you were, and you turned off your phone and we thought.....Never mind, you're okay. You are okay right?" Kirsten felt overwhelming guilt. She had been too wrapped up in her own thoughts to consider that her father upon finding her gone would immediately call Sandy and the two of them would panic.
"I just needed to be alone for a little while," she told him apologetically. "I never meant to scare you. I'm so sorry." Sandy nodded, but still held onto her tightly.
"How did the doctor's appointment go?" He asked and she could see the fear in his eyes. Sandy knew it had to be bad. Otherwise Kirsten wouldn't have disappeared for hours without letting anyone know that she was okay and safe. He felt like he was going to be sick.
"It went okay," she said as he finally let go of her and they went inside the house. She was interrupted by saying anything else by Seth's body flinging itself on hers.
"And you yell at me for not calling," he said as he let go of his mother. "Next time, I'm totally bringing this up as evidence." She had to smile a little and saw Ryan hanging near the doorway, not sure if he should step in and be involved in the conversation or not.
"I'm sorry Seth, really I am," Kirsten told him.
"Yeah, well, I wasn't worried, not really, I knew that you were okay," Seth said.
"Really?" Sandy asked closing the door. "Is that why all Ryan and I have heard for the past hour is, 'Mom could be dead! She probably was taken by some creepy guy with one eye who tied her up and threw her in a trunk! And while you two are sitting there making sandwiches, my mother is dying. I hope that you can live with that.'" Ryan laughed at the uncanny impression of his foster brother, and Seth turned bright red.
"I did not say that!" Seth argued. "What I said was that she was taken by a creepy guy with a glass eye." Kirsten had to smother a giggle. "Anyway, Mom, where have you been?"
"I just went to the beach and had some me time. I just needed to think without any interruptions. But I never meant to make you guys worry, I'm sorry." She ran a hand through Seth's unruly hair and was pleasantly surprised that he let her. She was hit by a memory of holding him when he was a toddler and reading him a book as they rocked in the rocking chair that Sandy had bought when she found out that she was pregnant. To calm Seth down, she used to run a hand through his soft curls, and she missed that. She missed being able to hold him in her arms.
She would get to do that again with the new baby.
"Why don't you guys go finish putting dinner on the table?" Sandy suggested. "You must be starved honey."
"No problemo, Dad, I own the take-out cartons," Seth said as he disappeared into the kitchen. Ryan hung behind a second longer and gave Kirsten a small smile.
"I'm glad that you're okay," he said quietly as he followed behind Seth. As soon as they were out of hearing range, Sandy turned back to Kirsten.
"Well, what did the doctor say?" He asked.
"Honey, why don't we talk about this upstairs?" She suggested leading him out of the living room and up the stairs to their bedroom. She closed the door softly behind them. "Maybe you should sit down?"
"Maybe you should tell me what the doctor said before I have a heart attack," Sandy suggested. "What's wrong? Are you okay?"
"Yes," Kirsten assured him. "I'm fine. I'm...well, I'm better than fine. I'm pregnant."
"Sorry, honey, I thought you just said that you were pregnant."
"I did," Kirsten said softly. Sandy stood there shell shocked for a moment, and Kirsten took his silence to mean that he wasn't happy, and immediately burst into tears. "This is what I was afraid of! I was afraid that you weren't going to be happy, and you're not!"
"Honey..." Sandy tried, but Kirsten was off and running.
"And now we have to tell the boys, and we all know that that's not going to go over well! And I'm going to have to take some time off of work, and my father is going to be so angry, and no one is happy about this but me!"
"Honey," Sandy grabbed her by the shoulders. "Listen to me. I'm happy." For the first time, Kirsten noticed the unbelievably big smile on his face.
"You are?" She asked in a small voice.
"Are you kidding? I'm...God, Kirsten, I'm speechless. This is amazing!" He picked her up and spun her around. "Another baby..." He leaned in and gave her a deep kiss. "But if you ever disappear like that again..."
"I won't," she promised. "Scout's honor." Sandy gave her one more kiss, and then just held her in his arms. She was pregnant. They were going to have another baby. It was just incredible really.
"There's just one problem," she said pulling away slightly. He frowned. "How do we tell the boys?"
I tried my best to leave
This all on your machine
But the persistent beat
Sounded thin upon listening
Present:
"Who ate all the General Tso's?" Seth's voice called out from the kitchen. Kirsten looked guiltily to her left where the empty container sat. Seth bounded upstairs knowing who the culprit was. "Mom! You're eating us out of house and home!"
"Sorry, you try eating for two," Kirsten replied. "Anyway, we can order more."
"I thought you wanted pizza for dinner?" Ryan asked coming up behind Seth and into Kirsten's bedroom.
"Oh that's right," Kirsten said remembering how she had had a craving for meat lover's pizza before and had requested that they order it for dinner. "I do want pizza. Sorry Seth, I promise to leave some for you the next time we order Chinese."
"Hey, speaking of dinner," Seth spoke up. "Is it okay if Summer eats here?" It was the third time that week that Summer had asked to eat over at the Cohen's, and Kirsten knew it was not because they had some history project due, or whatever else the excuses were, but that Summer just didn't want to be alone, and Kirsten couldn't blame her.
"Sure," Kirsten said. "What about Marissa, Ryan? Do you want to invite her over for some pizza?"
"I'll ask," Ryan said shrugging and ran off to find the phone to call his girlfriend.
Seth had that look on his face like he wanted to ask something, but didn't know how to form the words. This was rare for him.
"What's the matter sweetie?" Kirsten asked.
"I was just thinking about how Summer comes over here because no one is home at her house," Seth said. "I just....it must be so lonely you know?"
"I bet it is lonely," Kirsten agreed. "I don't know how anyone could leave their child." She was thinking not only about Summer's mother, but of Ryan's as well. As she looked at Seth, she couldn't imagine not knowing if he was safe, or happy.
"I'm excited, I just wanted you to know that," Seth spoke up. "I know I've teased you guys about being too old to have another baby and stuff, but I'm excited for the baby." Kirsten glanced at her son in surprise.
"That's good to know Seth," she said smiling. "But I had a suspicion that you were excited despite the front that you put up." Not knowing what else to say, Seth just nodded.
"I'm going to go call Summer," he announced and turned towards the door. "And by the way, for the record, it's still gross that you and Dad have sex. Just so that we're clear on that."
"We're definitely clear on that," Kirsten said laughing a little as Seth left. How could anyone leave their child? She placed a hand on her stomach.
She could never leave her children. Never even fathom such a situation where she would even consider it. She loved them too much to even have to be without them.
All three of them.
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I hope that you enjoyed this chapter, and please review and let me know what you thought. I promise that the rest of the song will be in the next chapter, and I'll try to get the next chapter up as soon as I can. I have three tests this week. Two on Wednesday and one on Thursday, but perhaps I will procrastinate from studying by writing the new chapter. Oh my, planning to procrastinate probably isn't a good thing. Anyway, review please!