Part Five

Sydney stirs the next morning as Michael sits down on the edge of the bed to lace up his dress shoes. A glance at the clock tells her that it is five-thirty a.m.

"It's so early, Michael," she murmurs drowsily.

He notices she is awake and moves to kiss her. "Morning, sweetheart. I have a busy day today. Meetings, and I have to go to court."

"Will you be home late?" she asks.

"I'll try not to be, but I'll call if it looks like I will be," he says. "Oh, I forgot to tell you, Jake asked if we want to go out to dinner with him and Heather on Friday."

Sydney smirks. "Was that before or after I stormed into your office like a lunatic?"

"After, believe it or not," he says with a smile.

"Did you tell him I'm having a baby?" Sydney asks.

"Yeah, I did," Michael says, a bit apologetically. "I hope you don't mind, I know we haven't even told our parents yet."

"Our parents," she moans. "Please tell me I don't have to tell my father today."

"You don't think he'll be happy?"

"Oh, he'll just react in that awful, stilted way he always does. 'That's…great, sweetheart. If that's what you want.' If that's what you want, in other words, 'You're crazy, but I won't say anything because you seem happy.'"

"It doesn't matter what he thinks," Michael says, rubbing her shoulders comfortingly. She falls against his chest and lets him hold her for a moment before she continues.

"I'm sorry for the way I sprung the whole vasectomy thing on you," she says apologetically. "We can talk about it more, if you want, I just thought--"

"That if we're serious about not having more kids, we should do something permanent about it," he finishes. "I know, honey. I agree. And I know that a vasectomy is much less of a big deal than the operation that you'd have to have."

"Thanks for understanding," Sydney says gratefully. "You've been amazing these last few days, Michael, and I've been a wreck."

"Don't worry about it, sweetheart."

She toys with his tie playfully. "How will I ever make it up to you?"

He returns her devilish smile. "I think you started to last night."

"Mmm, you liked that, did you?" she asks, trailing a line down the front of his dress shirt. If anyone had told her she'd be having this kind of mind-blowing sex after ten years of marriage, she isn't sure if she would have believed them. But they were just so in tune with each other; they knew just what it took to make the other feel incredible, and they were still discovering new things every day.

"You are so--" he begins to kiss a trail down her neck. "--amazing."

She gasps as he hits a sensitive spot on her collarbone. "Don't go to work, baby. Stay here in bed with me."

"Don't tempt me," he groans.

They hear Gracie crying through the baby monitor before things can get out of hand.

"Looks like its off to work for me, too," she says regretfully, throwing her legs over the side of the bed.

"Okay," he says, standing up. "Oh, what should I tell Jake about Friday?"

"Let me see if I can arrange a sitter, and I'll call you," Sydney says.

"Sounds good. See you tonight, sweetheart." He kisses her and starts out of the room, pausing at the door. "Syd, seriously, last night was…"

She smiles. In the nearly eleven years they've been lovers, he's never been able to finish that sentence. "Have a good day at work, baby."