Baby Baby
By Crazy4Cocopuffs
Chapter Seven: Marco Polo!
Serena had just spent the last hour getting the twins ready to go out. Mina had called her at 8:45am and had asked Serena to come to her house for a meeting with the girls. Luckily for her, Serena had been awake since Danny and Rini had decided that breakfast time was at 7:30 that morning. Serena smiled when she remembered her wake-up call.
Danny led his sister quietly into their parents' bedroom and they climbed gently onto the bed where Serena was still sound asleep. "Mommy?" He whispered quietly.
Rini shook her head at him. "She's sleeping! You gotta be louder!" When Danny called to Serena louder and she didn't even move, Rini smirked and motioned him to come over. "I know how to get Mommy up. Just do what I do."
Danny nodded and when Rini picked up one of Darien's pillows, he grabbed the other one.
"On three?" Rini asked.
"Otay." Danny nodded. He got off of the bed and went on the other side of his mom. Rini moved closer to her on the bed.
Rini started counting. "One…Two… um, Seven…Something… Three!" They started hitting Serena with the pillows while screaming at the top of their lungs, "WAKE UP MOMMY! WAKE UP MOMMY! WAKE UP WAKE UP WAKE UP!"
Serena shot straight up in her bed and received a hit in the face from Danny. She looked at him and he burst out laughing. But a second look at her serious face and he reconsidered. "I love you Mommy." He smiled guiltily.
Serena heard a snort of laughter from behind her and turned to Rini. Rini immediately followed Danny's example. She stopped laughing and smiled up at her mother. "Love you Mommy."
Serena looked from one child to the other and then started laughing hysterically. Danny and Rini started laughing again and when Danny climbed up onto the bed, Serena pulled them close to her and hugged them, one twin on each side. After a minute they calmed down and Serena looked at Rini then at Danny. "So what was so important, munchkins?"
The twins looked at each other over Serena and then said in unison. "We're hungry!"
Serena laughed. She loved when the twins did things like that. She got out of the bed and held her arms out. Rini and Danny ran across the bed to her and Serena expertly carried them to the kitchen. Sitting them down in their special chairs at the table (two chairs at the table had identical blue and pink booster seats), Serena went into the kitchen. About two seconds later, Danny slid from his chair and followed her.
Danny stood behind Serena as she looked in the fridge and announced, "I wanna help Mommy."
Serena smiled and lifted Danny up, settling him on her hip. With one arm wrapped around Danny, she reached into the fridge and pulled out a carton of eggs. "How about eggs?" She asked, placing Danny on the counter where she had set a ceramic bowl. She cracked a few eggs into the bowl, then handed Danny a whisk and told him, "I need you to mix the eggs, okay? I'm going to check on you sister. Be good!" She emphasized the last part. At his nod, she gently ruffles his hair ("Mommm!" he complained.) and went into the dining room to check on Rini.
Rini was still seated at the table. Her eyes were closed and she was bobbing her head back and forth while humming. Serena knelt down in front of Rini and waited silently for her to notice she was being watched.
It took a few seconds before she got that prickling feeling of being watched and opened her eyes. Not expecting anyone to be there, Rini opened her eyes to see her mother's face inches away from her own and gave a little scream. "MOMMY! You scared me! Whatcha doing?" She asked.
Serena got to her feet and asked, "Are eggs okay with you?"
"Yeah! I love eggs!" Rini bounced up and down excitedly.
Serena smiled and kissed the top of Rini's head. "Okay, eggs it is." Then she went back into the kitchen, where Danny was busy whisking the eggs. He was so cute. He had both hands on the whisk and his whole body moved with every stir, his face showing intense concentration. He looked up when Serena stood next to him and grinned. "Look Mommy. They're just right."
"They sure are." Serena said, taking Danny off of the counter and placing him on the floor. He dragged a stool over to the stove and watched as Serena poured the eggs into the frying pan and moved them around. A minute later, Serena and Danny walked out of the kitchen, Danny proudly carrying his plate of eggs and Serena carrying her and Rini's plates. Placing the plate in front of Rini, she smiled and said, "Eat up, Munchkin."
They ate quickly and as the twins were watching The Magic School Bus and Serena was cleaning up the dishes, the phone rang. She sighed and dried her hands off before grabbing the cordless phone and answering, "Hello?"
"Rena? Hey, it's Mina!" The excited voice on the other end said.
"Mina! Hi! What's up? It's kinda early, isn't it?" Serena said.
"Um…yeah, but there's an emergency meeting at my house."
"What! Is something wrong?" Serena asked anxiously.
"No. No! Nothing's wrong, it's just a 'let-everyone-know-what's-been-going-on' meeting. To keep everyone informed, you know?"
"Oh. When is it?" Serena asked, relieved that nothing was wrong.
"Ten."
"Okay. Any idea how long this meeting's going to be? I need to know how many toys to bring for Rini and Danny."
"Maybe an hour. And you don't have to worry about bringing toys. Kevin has so many toys, I'd swear I married a child!"
Serena laughed. "Okay. We'll be there at ten."
"All right. Bye Sere."
"Bye Mina." Serena hung up the phone and looked at the clock. It was almost nine. "I'd better start getting the ready. Who knows how long it'll take to get the kids ready." And she went into her bedroom to change.
Serena grabbed her purse and herded the twins to her car, the white SUV she'd had since college. Once the kids were strapped into their car seats, Serena started the car up, 'Harder to Breathe' by Maroon 5 starting automatically, and drove the ten minutes to Mina and Kevin's house.
There was a spot in the driveway for her to park and four other cars parked either in the driveway or in front of the wooded area across the street. Carrying the twins from the car, Serena went up to the door and then discovered…she couldn't knock! Her hands were full!
An idea popped into her head. "Hey, guys, could you knock on the door. We need Aunt Mina to know we're here."
"I wanna knock! I wanna knock!" The twins said and both of hem reached for the door and knocked rapidly on the door.
Danny decided that waiting five second was to long and shouted, "Aunt Mina! We're here!"
A laugh came from behind the door and it opened to reveal a grinning Mina. "Hey. How's my favorite little guy?" She asked as she took Danny out of Serena's arms.
Danny hugged Mina tightly and said, "Hi Auntie Mina."
Mina kissed Serena's cheek in greeting, then kissed Rini's forehead and led them into the living room where the other girls were waiting. Serena put Rini and the ground as Mina did the same with Danny and went to hug Ami, Lita, and Raye. "Hey guys," She said as she sat down on the couch next to Raye. "What's up? Everyone looks excited."
The girls looked at each other, smiling widely, and said together, "We're PREGNANT!"
"Oh My GOD!" Serena exclaimed, jumping up and pulling her best friends into a group hug. Once everything calmed down, Serena looked from friend to friend and asked, "You're ALL pregnant?"
Raye was the on to answer. "Yep. Shocker, I know. None of us really expected it."
"I found out first." Ami said, running a hand through her hair. "I wasn't feeling quite right so I took a test before I closed the clinic one day and it was positive. The next day-"
Lita continued for her. "I had been sick every morning for a few days so I went to see Ami. When I walked into the clinic-"
"Raye and I had been waiting there. We both suspected something, but we were thinking flu, not baby." Mina added. "Ami took us all in at once and gave us blood tests. And, surprise of surprises, we were all pregnant."
"Wow." Was the only thing Serena was capable of saying at the moment.
"That's basically what the meeting was about, to tell you the good news. But there was one more thing…" Lita trailed off.
"Oh Boy. Don't tell me one of you is having twins." Serena covered her eyes with a hand dramatically and slumped down in the couch.
"What? No! No way! It's just a question." Raye looked horrified at the idea of having twins.
"Oh." Serena uncovered her eyes and sat straighter. "What is it?"
"We would all really-" Raye was interrupted by Lita.
"Completely."
"Totally." Added Mina.
"Truly." Ami said.
Raye glared at them for interrupting her. "-appreciate it if you would be with us when we have the babies." She finished, looking expectantly at Serena.
Serena's small smile turned into a grin. "Are you kidding me? I wouldn't miss it for the world! You guys, we promised to be there for each other whenever we were needed and there's no way I'm backing out of that." She stood up and went from girl to girl, giving each a tight hug. Then the girls started asking Serena rapid-fire questions about parenting and pregnancy.
After an hour an a half of answering her friends' questions, Serena walked with Danny and Rini to the car. Instead of a ten minute ride like the first had been, the ride back to the house took almost an hour because of an accident. Once they were home safely, Serena fell face first onto the living room sofa.
"Mommy?" Rini asked, poking her in the back.
"You 'tay?" Danny questioned. When neither of the got an answer, Rini climbed onto Serena's back and Danny started to tickle his mom's feet.
Serena started laughing at Danny's antics and carefully turned over, so that Rini was now seated on her stomach. Lifting Rini up and placing her onto the carpet, Serena stood up and took each child by the hand. She led them into her bedroom and climbed onto the king size bed with them right behind her.
"Nap time." She said tiredly. It had been a long morning.
With Danny snuggled next to her on one side and Rini on the other, Serena closed her eyes and started humming. Soon the twins were fast asleep but Serena felt a burst of energy. Gently getting off the bed, she left the room, closing the bedroom door behind her, and went into the living room.
She smiled at the toys on the floor. Going in a slow circle around the room, Serena managed to get the toys picked up and carried them to the twins' room. After putting them in their proper places, Serena went into the kitchen and started making lunch. She knew the kids would be up in a little while and she needed them to eat something other than the cookies they stole from the jar when they thought she wasn't looking.
The day was quiet, for Serena's family. There were only two incidents caused by the twins and one by Serena herself. The first happened during lunch. Danny and Rini had just sat down to ear lunch, spaghetti with tomato sauce, and Serena had left them for a moment to answer the phone. When she returned, not a minute later, both children were covered in red sauce and strands of spaghetti. It had taken over an hour to catch the twins, get them into the bathtub, and get them washed.
The next accident happened shortly after the twins were getting dried off. Serena was drying Rini with a towel when Danny came up behind her with a cup of water and poured it onto her back. Serena's whole lower back was soaked and she had to sit the kids in front of the TV to keep them out of trouble long enough to change. Too bad she couldn't keep herself out of trouble. When she was changing, she had removed her wet clothes and threw them toward the laundry hamper, but they didn't quite make it in. They hit her bedside lamp and it fell, the bulb breaking.
Once the lamp was cleaned up and Serena was dressed in a clean, DRY sundress, she went to get her twins, but when she entered the living room no one was there. She searched the house and couldn't find either of them. Getting panicked, Serena decided to call the girls for help. When she reached the kitchen, where the nearest phone was, she was shocked to find the door that led to the backyard wide open.
"RINI! DANNY!" Serena called, flinging the door open and searching the whole backyard, looking in bushes and in trees. As she headed to the house again, Serena heard a giggle coming from the side of the house. When she went around the corner, she was greeted by Danny and Rini, knee deep in mud, in the middle of a mud fight. Danny had somehow turned the hose on and was squirting Rini while she threw mud at him.
Sighing, Serena turned the hose off, scooped up Danny and Rini, and headed back inside to give them another bath. By the time all three of them were clean, it was six in the evening. Serena set up baby door-blocks so twins couldn't leave the living room and went to start dinner. Ten minutes after she started, she head the front door close and a second later two small voices called out, "DADDY HOME!"
Darien picked up each twin, gave them a hello hug and kiss, then left them in the living room to find Serena. Serena, hearing the twins, went out one entrance to the kitchen just a second before Darien entered through the other. "Serena?" Darien called from the kitchen. He started back to the living room.
"Darien?" Serena called, heading back to the kitchen. Once again, they missed each other and ended up in opposite rooms.
"Enough of this." Serena said. "Marco!"
"Polo!" Darien answered from the living room.
"Marco!" Serena called again, walking out of the kitchen.
"Polo!" Darien said, heading back to the kitchen in the direction of Serena's voice. They had finally gone the right direction because the met right outside the kitchen.
"Hey Marco." Serena said, giving his a quick kiss.
"Hi Polo." Darien grinned and pulled her closer to him, kissing her deeply.
They broke apart at the sound of two small giggles coming from behind Darien. Somehow the twins had managed to climb over the child-blocks in the doorway and were now standing behind their parents, both giggling and making annoying kissing noises.
Serena laughed and said as Darien picked up Rini and Danny, "That's not funny, guys."
Rini grinned at her. "Yes it is Mommy." Danny nodded and grinned.
Serena giggled and shook her head. "You two are going to drive me crazy, aren't you?"
"YEP!" They said in unison.
Serena and Darien looked at each other and started laughing hysterically. Serena had to grab onto Darien's shoulder to keep from falling over and he was leaning his head against Serena's shoulder, trying to keep the twins in his grasp at the same time.
When they were able to breathe again, Darien took the twins into the living room and Serena went to finish cooking.
Dinner was cleaned up, the twins were washed, and it was time for bed. Rini was unusually tired and fell asleep on the living room couch after her bath. Danny seemed tired but he didn't want to go to sleep for some reason.
"Mommy, I'm not tired." He tried to convince her to let his stay up later as she carried him to bed. Darien was carrying Rini, who was still asleep.
Darien had finished tucking Rini in and, with a look from Serena, said goodnight to Danny, kissed his head, and left mother and son alone.
Serena tucked Danny in and lay down beside him. "What's wrong, Sweetheart? Are you feeling sick?"
He snuggled into his mother and mumbled something that she couldn't make out, his face buried against her arm.
"What was that Sweet? I didn't hear you." Serena turned Danny so he was facing her and he looked so sad that she pulled him into a hug before he answered.
"If I go to sleep the bad man'll get me." He whispered, once again hiding his face.
"What bad man?" Serena was worried. Why was her son afraid of someone coming to get him? He was supposed to feel safe in his own bed.
"I saw him on TV and he comes when people are sleeping and scares them." He hugged his mom for comfort. "He hides in the closet until the mommies and daddies leave then he gets you."
"Danny, I don't know who you're talking about but no one can get you here. You're safe."
"How do you know? He might reach the door and open it and then he'd get in!"
"Who can, Sweetie?"
"The Booger-Man." Danny answered seriously.
Serena couldn't help it. A small giggle escaped before she could stop it. "You don't need to worry about the 'Booger-Man' Danny."
"Why not."
"Because his mommy found out he was bad and he got in trouble. He's grounded, so he can't come get you or anyone else."
"Oh." Danny said, relieved. "But one more thing, Mommy."
"Yes?" Serena was gently brushing Danny hair from his forehead.
"What's 'grounded'?"
Serena managed to hold her laugh in. "It's when you get punished for doing something bad by having to stay in your room."
"All the time?"
"All the time. Now, time for sleep. Time to go to dreamland, okay?"
"Okay then." Danny yawned. "Night, Mommy."
Serena stood up and kissed Danny's forehead. "Sweet dreams, Baby." She stepped out of the room and was just about to close the bedroom door when she heard Danny call out quietly, "Mommy?" She peeked her head back into the room and asked quietly, "Yes, Baby?"
"I'll see you there."
"Where?" Serena asked, confused.
"Dreamland." Danny whispered, then fell asleep with a small smile on his face.
Serena smiled and said in a low voice, "Yeah, I'll meet you there Baby." She closed the door and went into her own bedroom to do just that.
AN: I think thisis the longest chapter I've ever written.Sorry this took so long. Jesse decided that I needed a vacation and he gave me two hours notice to pack before he whisked me away to New York. We just got back this morning and believe it or not, this was written in a little over and hour before it was submitted. Thanks for the review; I couldn't write without them. There's 90 Review! I'm so happy! Keep it up.Thanks for reading!