A/N: Rough day at work, but a chocolate milkshake and a punching bag made it all better! This next chapter should be a little more interesting than the last one!
Surprise!
Ashley's POV:
I didn't get much sleep last night. Josh and Winsor decided to stay up half of the damn night screaming. They have never been that loud before! Then I had to be up by 8 A.M. to get Sydney to the doctor's office for her back to school shots. She wasn't a very happy camper. I don't blame her, I hate needles myself, although I did tough it out for a tattoo! It took three nurses to hold Syd down. I think the shots hurt more since she wouldn't sit still. I decided to be nice, and stopped and got her some ice cream. We got home around one, and since the babies were asleep, I decided to do some housework, like the laundry and shit. Seriously, my laundry room looked like a copy of "The Newlyweds!" Three hours later, I gave up, since I had only done two loads of laundry. I was still in a cleaning mood, so I went and put the dishes in the dishwasher, and finally cleaned out the fridge, it was really starting to smell. I went to check on Sydney, and almost screamed when I saw her room. Half of her clothes were on the floor, and her toy box had been dumped out, and she was standing on her bed, in the process of peeling some of her wallpaper off of the wall!
"Sydney Marie Cena! What the hell are you doing?" I yelled.
"I'm bored. This wallpaper is ugly any ways." She replied.
"You picked the stuff out Sydney. You don't go destroying your room when you get bored. What were you thinking?"
"I told you, I'm bored."
"Well, you won't be bored for the rest of the day. I want this room spotless by the time I get back. You are so in trouble young lady. Don't look at me like that, get busy. I'm going to check under the bed and the closet. I want everything back the way it was. Get started!"
"Mommy, I don't wanna." Sydney said as she started to pout.
"I don't care. Clean up this mess, NOW!" I said, a little calmer.
"I hate you!" Sydney yelled at me. I was a little startled at first, and then it hit me what she just said. My six-year-old daughter just told me that she hated me!
"Sydney, clean up your room now. I'll be back in a little bit." I said, as I walked out of the room. I quickly went up the stairs and sat down on my bed and started crying. She couldn't have meant that, right? I may have yelled a little bit, but you don't trash your room when you get bored. I would've gotten smacked for that. I reached for the phone, and dialed John's cell phone number.
"Hey baby, what's up?"
"John, she said she hates me." I said, trying not to start crying again.
"Huh? Who said that Ash?"
"Sydney. I was in a cleaning mood, so I did some laundry, and dishes, I go check on Sydney, and she's practically got everything thrown on the floor, and is standing on her bed peeling off the wallpaper."
"She did what? Why?"
"She told me she was bored. I got really mad, so I started yelling at her. I told her that she had to clean up her room, and then she tells me that she hates me! I feel horrible. You don't think she meant it, right? I'm such a bad mom." I said, starting to cry again.
"Baby, calm down. She's only six, so I doubt she meant it. You were a little girl once, didn't you ever tell your mom that you hated her?"
"Yea, when I was seven. I had colored on the kitchen tile, with permanent marker. I guess peeling wallpaper isn't that bad. Was I wrong to yell though?" I asked, sniffling.
"Hell no. I would've yelled too. You're a great mom Ashley, she'll get over it. Just go back to cleaning, or whatever. Make sure she cleans up her room, and when I get back Friday, we'll go pick out new wallpaper. Only a few more days, you can handle it." John said, reassuring me.
"I guess. I wish you were here now. Would sure make life easier. Well, I'm going to go check on Sydney. Bye John, love you."
"Love you too. See ya in a few! Bye!"
I felt a little better after I got off the phone. Being a part time single parent was no walk in the park! I walked back to Syd's room, and was pleasantly surprised when I got in. It was almost clean.
"Good job Syd. Thank you for picking your room up."
"Uh huh." was her reply.
"Syd, did you really mean what you said to me?"
"Not really. My arm hurts a lot. What's for dinner?"
"I'm sorry your arm hurts, but you don't have to take it out on me sweetie. I don't know yet. What sounds good?"
"I'm sorry mommy. Can we have noodles?"
"Sure. I'll go start them. Finish up your room, it's looking great!"
"Ok."
I smiled, and headed to the kitchen. I got the water boiling, and threw some pasta in. This cooking thing wasn't that hard. Whoa, it was already six-o-clock. I hollered for Sydney, and went and got the babies out of the nursery. After dinner, Sydney went and took a bath, while I gave Josh and Winsor a quick bath. I got Sydney to watch the babies while I took a quick shower. It only took me ten minutes, even though I did cut myself shaving. I had a slice about five inches up my leg. Today really sucks! I told Sydney to go to sleep around 8:30, so then it was just the babies and I. They were perfectly content lying on the floor chewing on their toys. Babies are so much easier compared to kids. They can't talk, they can only cry. I sat on the couch and watched some TV. An hour later, I took Josh and Winsor to the nursery, and put them in their cribs. I went, and changed into a tank top and a pair of pajama pants, and lay down in bed. I heard thunder in the distance, great, I'm gonna be up all night, again. I rolled over, and looked at my clock. It was 12:30 A.M. I wasn't tired, so I decided to go heat up some leftover pizza. I got up, and headed down to the kitchen.
John's POV:
My plane got in a little later than I would've liked, it would be about 12:30 when I'd get home. On my way home, my car got a flat tire. Just great! I called a tow truck, and decided to walk the rest of the way. I was only a few blocks away from home. I began walking faster when the storm got closer. I didn't walk fast enough, because it started pouring. I gave up on the walking, and began running. I ran across one of our neighbor's yards, and slipped and fell face first in the mud. Luckily, I wasn't hurt, and I got up, and hurried to my front porch. I pulled out my keys, and got in to the house. Man, I'm a mess! I got to get cleaned up, or might scare Ash! I put my bag down, and quietly walked down the hall, trying not to wake anyone up.
Ashley's POV:
Holy crap, what was that? I quietly shut the fridge, and grabbed a big frying pan. I think someone just snuck into my house! John won't be home until Friday. I silently walked through the living room, and saw a shadowy figure creeping down the hall. I carefully followed behind, and quickly caught up. The person was covered in mud, and was leaving tracks on my clean floors. He must've heard me, because he started to turn around. I didn't hesitate, and quickly smashed him in the head with the frying pan! I smiled as the prowler fell to the floor. Haha, I had knocked him out! No one breaks into my house and gets away with it! I went to flick the lights on, but when I flipped the switch, nothing happened. Great, the power must've gone out. I ran to the kitchen, and grabbed a flashlight. On my way back to my victim, I fell over a chair, but quickly got up. Today was really turning out to be a bad day! I got back to the person, and saw them start to get back up. I ran, and slammed the frying pan down hard on his head, and laughed as he fell back down. I carefully kicked him, to make sure he was out, and then turned on the flashlight. Suddenly my smile disappeared. I recognized the knocked out person lying on the floor. Oh shit, I just knocked out my husband! I dropped my frying pan, and dropped down t my knees. I carefully rolled John over, and wiped the mud off of his face.
"John, baby, can you here me?" I didn't get a response, man, he was out cold. I couldn't just let him lay on the cold floor, so I grabbed his arms, and began dragging him towards the stairs. Gosh, John was heavy! I finally reached the stairs, and then sat down to take a breather. How am I supposed to get him upstairs? He was a good hundred pounds heavier than me. I finally came up with a plan! I sat with my back facing the stairs, and wrapped my arms around John. I got up one step, and then another, and then the rest of them. Only a few more feet till our room! I finally got in, managed to get John's muddy clothes off him. He was a mess! I carefully dragged him over to the bed, hoping he wouldn't get rug burn! I pulled him on to the bed, and then went to go get some ice, painkillers, and a washcloth. I got back a few minutes later, and tried the lights again. Thankfully the power was back on. I got the washcloth, and started wiping some of the mud off. I felt really bad, but I just went into protective mother mode. I could already see a bump coming up on John's head. There was another one on the back of his head. Later on, we would laugh about this! I carefully set the ice pack on top of his head. My poor baby!
"Baby, can you hear me now?" I sure did a good job! I decided to go check on the kids while I waited for John to wake back up. They were all fine, and sound asleep. I went back to my room, and sat back down next to John. I saw him start to open his eyes.
"Hey John, you ok?"
"Huh? Ash, what happened? Ouch, turn the light off. It hurts."
"Ok baby. I'm sorry, I thought that you were a burglar, so I kind of hit you, twice, with a frying pan."
"Oh, wow, I see stars!"
"John, how many fingers am I holding up?" I said as I pointed the flashlight at my hand, I was holding up three fingers.
"Um, well I would be able to tell if the room stopped spinning. Ok, five, no, four, wait, six."
"John, I'm holding up three. Baby, I think you may have a slight concussion." I said, trying not to laugh, since it wasn't that funny.
"Nah, I'm A Ok. Ash, stop moving."
"I'm not moving baby! So, what are you doing home early?"
"Storyline changed. Surprise!" John said, still a little dazed.
"Ok, how does your head feel?"
"Like hell. Drugs please!"
I chuckled as I handed John a few painkillers. I really, really, did a good job. He was so out of it.
"You have a hard hit there, killer! What time is it?"
"It's about 2. You were out for a little bit. So how did you get all muddy?"
"Uh, I fell. Oh, my car got towed. Flat tire. Raining, neighbors yard, slipped in mud. Did I mention that this was a surprise?"
"Yea. I'm so sorry! Well, you surprised me all right! John, baby, JOHN!" I said, I looked down at him, and then heard him snoring. The poor guy. Sounds like he had a rough day too! I just laughed, and covered him up, and the crawled under the covers, and laid my head on his chest. He was going to wake up with one hell of a headache!