Part Twenty-Eight

"I don't get her, Michael," Sydney says, shaking her head. She and Michael excused themselves to go change Grace's diaper (not that it really takes both of them), and now they stand chatting in Kerri's spare bedroom while Sydney goes about the task.

"She's nervous," Michael responds.

"What does she have to be nervous about?" Sydney demands. "She's known you for like twenty years, me for more than ten."

"She wants us to like Ben."

"Ben seems fine," Sydney says, ripping a Wet One from the container with more force than necessary. "She, on the other hand--"

"Seems to have a few issues she isn't dealing with," Michael finishes.

Sydney shakes her head. "I'd say so. What the hell was up with that comment about us being all over each other the night we met? I don't think we even made physical contact that night, except for the kiss by my car. The way she tells it, you'd think I blew you under the dinner table, or something."

"That wasn't you?"

Sydney laughs in spite of herself. "And of course, I can't make a big deal about not being all over you that night, because she can always just retaliate by telling how I slept with you less than a week later, something I told her years ago, by the way, in confidence, because I thought she was my friend."

"Like she's one to talk," Michael smirks. "She slept with Eric the first night they had an actual conversation."

"No way!"

"Oh, yeah. I was Eric's roommate then. I ran into her in the bathroom the next morning wearing this t-shirt of his that said, Shuck me, suck me, eat me raw."

"He did not own a t-shirt that said that," Sydney says, dissolving into giggles.

"I swear, it was from some oyster place, or something."

"And out of all the t-shirts he had, he gave her that one to wear?" Sydney is holding her stomach, she is laughing so hard.

"Knowing Eric, it was probably the only thing he had clean," Michael smirks.

"Was it his first time?" Sydney asks, eyes widening as she remembers Michael's description of Eric as every girl's friend, no one's boyfriend.

"Hey, I'm afraid that information's classified," Michael says, holding up his hands in mock protest.

"It was!" Sydney says gleefully, bouncing on the balls of her feet. "It was his first time, he slept with a girl the first night he talked to her, and then he gave her a t-shirt to wear that said Shuck me, suck me, eat me raw."

"To be fair, she wasn't just any girl he just met," Michael says with a slight smile. "She was his dream girl."

Sydney's own smile fades. "God, what the hell happened to them?"

"I don't know, Syd," Michael says softly. "I don't know if--" he bites his lower lip. "I don't know if she loved him like he loved her."

"Yet he was the one who cheated," Sydney says with a frown.

"I won't attempt to justify his doing that," Michael shrugs. "And I won't say she didn't care about him, I know she did. I just don't know if she was really over Ben when they started going out."

"What the hell happened between her and Ben, anyway?" Sydney's frown deepens.

Another shrug from Michael. "He moved to New York to go to film school."

"He could have studied film at UCLA," Sydney points out.

Yet another shrug. "That's all I know, Syd."

"You know what I think?" Sydney asks, the wheels turning in her head at an alarming rate. "I think Ben moved to New York to get away from Kerri-- either he didn't want to commit, or there was another girl out there-- and he totally burned her, totally broke her heart, so she married the next guy who came along-- maybe she fooled herself into thinking she was in love with him, maybe it was a direct fuck you to Ben, who knows-- and now she's going to totally break Ben's heart."

"Or maybe she's just happy to have another chance at the only guy she's ever loved," Michael reasons.

"You're too nice," Sydney says, shaking her head.

"And you've got an overactive imagination," Michael counters.

"This is all very interesting, Michael," Sydney says, picking up her freshly diapered daughter. "Isn't it, Gracie?" she asks the little girl. "Are you all clean and dry and ready to go to sleep?" A faraway expression passes over her face as something occurs to her, and she bites her lower lip.

"What, Syd?" Michael asks, brow knitted in concern.

"I was just thinking," Sydney says with a slight smile. "By this time next year, I'll be carrying around a diaper bag with two sets of diapers."

Michael loops his arms around her from behind. "Pushing around a two-seated stroller."

"You'll have a new brother or sister, Grace," Sydney tells her daughter. "A new little friend." She smiles, a little sadly. "I thought that Grace would always be the baby of the family."

"At one point, you thought the same about Emily," Michael points out. "You adjusted. Everyone did."

"Emily had more time to be the littlest, though," Sydney says. "We'll have to take extra special care to make sure that Grace feels special. To make sure all of them feel special." She moves away from him to sit gingerly on the side of the bed. "Do you think Jack feels overshadowed by Emily?"

"What makes you ask that?"

Sydney shrugs. "He's just so quiet, and she just has this way of making herself the center of attention."

"I think he's happy to let her be the center of attention," Michael responds. "And he has his own talents. He's going to be the next Wayne Gretzky, you'll remember."

Sydney smiles. "We've been in here forever," she realizes.

Michael smirks. "Ker's going to think we're doing things we shouldn't be doing."

"Heaven forbid," Sydney rolls her eyes, rising from the bed. She kisses her husband lightly on the lips. "I love you, baby."

"I love you, too," he says seriously. "Try not to take anything that happens tonight too hard, okay?"

"I know," Sydney says, letting one hand rest lightly on his chest.

"No matter what happens," Michael whispers, kissing her forehead gently. "Monday we'll be back in New York, together, with the kids. That's all that matters."

"I can't believe I'm saying that after only two days here, but I can't wait," Sydney sighs.

He plants another kiss on her forehead. "Ready to go back out there?"

She smiles softly up at him. God, she adores this man. "I'm so happy you came here with me," she tells him. "I'll have to find extra special ways to thank you later."

"You don't have to thank me," he says. A wicked smile crosses his face. "But I have a feeling I'll enjoy it when you do."

"Oh, I'll make tonight worth your while," she promises.

She kisses him again. And knows she'll have no trouble facing whatever waits for her in the kitchen.