Chapter 109

Anna grabbed her stuff and headed out to her car. She sat there for a minute before starting the car. She looked at her watch she stopped and got another cup of coffee and something to eat before heading over to pick up the girls. She then took both of them shopping letting the pick out a new outfit and they then went and got some toys. She had a good time playing with the girls in the toy store. They could make anyone smile, but she completely under estimated how much of a handful they were going to be. By the time that they got back to Doug's house she was almost exhausted. They were running her ragged and full of a hundred and one questions. She smiled as she got them and their treasures out of the car and headed into the backyard to wait for Chen to let Doug off work early.

Doug had finished his snack. He didn't want to eat too much since it was the middle of the afternoon, but he didn't know when he was going to be able to grab something again. He headed back down to the ER to grab a chart when he saw Chen. "Hey there Deb. I didn't expect you to be here so early. I thought you weren't on until the night shift."

She smiled at him as she looked at the chart, "well I got a phone call, I'm not supposed to say anything else that I am here so that you can go home. Anna has sworn me to secrecy, and hey I'd do anything to have some free time this weekend."

Doug looked at her with a surprised expression. "What...i mean come on. You can't be serious. You're actually going to cover my double shift tonight? On a full moon? You have to be crazy."

"I might be a little crazy, but hey. Like I said, I promised I wouldn't say anything about it to you." She was grinning, "But Anna's offer was good. Go on get out of here, have fun Doug."

Doug shook his head. He wasn't going to fight with free time, especially when he was so tired. "Sure...thanks though Deb." he said walking into the lounge and grabbing up his things. Doug jumped into his car and decided to go home first before calling Anna to see what was going on. He needed a shower and a drink...but he was looking forward to seeing what she was up to. He pulled into his driveway and was surprised to see her car. Doug got out and heard voices coming from his back yard. He quietly walked to the back. A smile spread onto his face as he saw his daughters there with Anna. They were all playing in the yard with each other, having a good time. 'How did she pull that off?' he thought. 'Carol would never allow it' as he took a few more steps in his girls saw him and ran over. "Daddy!" they yelled as he bent down to pick Kate up. He held Tess's arm and walked back over to Anna with a grin still on his face. "Look at my girls!" he said giving the two of them a kiss. "How'd you guys get here?" he asked looking straight at Anna

Anna smiled, "I picked them up from school. I thought that you three needed some time together. Carol said that you could drop them off at school in the morning. They are yours for the rest of the night."

Doug put down Kate and sat down next to Anna on the swing. "Thank you." he finally said as he watched them play. He hadn't seen them in almost a month and had missed them so much. He wondered how Anna thought of this. "This is a nice surprise." he said softly as he reached to hold her hand.

"Daddy, daddy watch me!" Tess yelled as she did a cartwheel.

Doug just shook his head. "I can't believe you had the energy for this." he said standing back up and walking over to her. "That's my girl!" he yelled picking her up and twirling her around. He set her back down and handed her his baseball glove. "Let's go throw like the cubbies on TV ok?" he said slipping it on her hand. He smiled at Anna as he walked a little past his daughters and tossed them a softball. Although they both missed it Doug laughed anyway. Kate threw it back at him and Doug let the ball hit him in the chest. In an over dramatic moment he leapt backwards and moaned. "I'm hit!" he yelled. "Someone get the medic!" his girls quickly got up and grabbed Anna's hands. "Anna Anna come help!" they yelled as they pulled her towards Doug who was clutching his chest like he was in a war movie.

Anna smiled and squealed as the girls pulled on her "oh no, we'd better help your daddy." She let them pull her over to him, she looked at the girls putting on a serious face, as she put her arms around them softly whispering to the girls, " do you know the only way to cure a softball owie," as they looked at her a big smile crossed Anna's face, "well it is to tickle him." She said looking at the smiles on the girls faces. She raised her voice again, "get him, get him." She said as she sat down on him so that the girls could begin an all out assault on him. Three on one wasn't very fair, but then he was a big boy she knew he could handle it. Anna was laughing as she watched them try to tickle their daddy. She hadn't seen Doug smile like this in a long time and it made her so happy that he was able to be there with them. She slid off him so that she was on the ground next to him, more of a spectator again than actually involved in their attempts. Seeing him smile like that made giving up her days off more than worth it.

"Noooo" Doug yelled as they jumped on him. After letting them get him for a second he picked them both up to fight them off. He grabbed both girls and flipped them over to tickle them. They squealed and he let them go to run around the yard. As they did Doug scooted over next to Anna. "Ahhh ha-ha" he tried to catch his breath. "i can't believe you...doing something special like this." making sure the girls weren't looking at him he gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. "I owe ya one. This made my day."

"No ya don't." She said smiling, "they're great girls, and I've had a really great time with them this afternoon. But don't worry I didn't let them have a ton of sugar, or spoil them to rotten while we were out." She kept her eyes on the girls playing. "I'm just glad that I could make you happy. I told them that if it was okay with you after dinner they could watch their new movie. I kind of caved when they both looked at me wanting The Lion King one and a half. Kind of hard to say no to a double assault when they are that cute." She pulled her knees up hugging them to her chest. "I should probably think about going here pretty soon too. Let you spend some quality time with your girls."

Kate heard that and ran over and threw her arms around Anna. "Nooo Anna you can't go. You have to watch the movie with us! Please daddy!"

Doug pulled her off of Anna and set her in his lap. "Well i don't know...but maybe we can talk her into having dinner with us. I'm getting kind of hungry what about you..." he asked Kate giving her a kiss.

Tess quickly ran over too. "I'm hungry daddy! Can we go out?"

Doug sighed as he looked at his watch. It would be six soon and close enough to dinner time. He looked over at Anna. "Well, what do you think?"

Anna smiled, "how I can I say no." Kate and Tess had her wrapped around their little fingers. She was pretty sure that they knew it too. "Since its okay with your daddy then it's okay with me." She smiled at Doug, "I'd like to have dinner with you and the girls."

Doug rolled his eyes at the three of them. "Why don't you two go get cleaned up and we'll go out in about thirty minutes ok?" he told them as they ran off. Doug stood up and wiped the dirt off of his pants. "I think i am going to be taken over by my three girl's tonight." he joked reaching out his hand to help her up. "You really don't have to stay if you have things to do. I know how other people's kids can make people crazy."

"Oh no, I want to." She said, "I've really a great time with them today. Besides it's not like I had anything planned for tonight, I just didn't want to impose on you and your time with them. I'm glad that I was able to make you so happy tonight."

"Well it was a good idea you had." he said taking her hand and walking around to the front of the house. "You wouldn't be imposing anyway. Its family time...and you're part of my family." Doug unbuttoned his work shirt and little and rolled up his sleeves. He picked up the nerf ball the girls had been throwing and tossed it to Anna. "So are you a softball champ or do you throw like a girl?"

"I probably throw like a girl." She said looking at the ground. Hearing that he thought of her as part of the family made her heart skip a beat. "I can't catch."

Doug just grinned. "Oh come on! You're already on my team for the hospital softball game so we need to get ya some practice. Throw it this way." he said waving his hands. Doug was trying to think of a fun place to go and eat. There were always joints on the river, and he knew Kate and Tess would want to go to the ice cream shop that was down there too. "So what are you in the mood for dinner tonight?"

She smiled as she chucked the softball horribly. "I don't know what to the girls like to eat?" She grimaced as the ball went no where close to where she was trying to get it, "you might want to rethink putting me on your team...I think it be better if I played for the enemy."

Doug tried not to laugh as the ball fell a few feet short of him. "Nah the paramedics always win anyway." he joked as he bent down to pick up the ball. "They like just about anything. I was thinking about going down by the lake. There are a bunch of places down there and it can be pretty fun. I'm sure there is some kind of carnival in town. If my girls would ever hurry up!" he yelled in the direction of the house. He backed up a step as he threw the ball to Anna again. "Like throwing a paper airplane...just toss it. You know i could give you and Kate lessons together. She is starting tee-ball soon. In case you haven't noticed Kate is my little jock and Tess is the cheer leader type. I can see them in high school already." he said with a huge smile. He liked that Anna had interest in his life like this. She was definitely a great catch.

Anna tried to catch the ball but ended up having to pick it up off the ground. "Yeah I can see that. The lake sounds like fun." She threw it a little bit better this time back to him. "They are both going to be heartbreakers ya know."

"Yeah..." Doug started to say as they both came out of the house.

"Ready daddy." Kate said taking his hand.

Doug bent down and picked her up. "There's my girl! Come on lets get you guys in the car." he said reaching for Tess's hand as well. He walked over to the car and set Kate down. "Ok guys get all settled in." he said closing the door for them. He walked over and opened the passenger side door for Anna. "My lady." he joked with a wink. Doug got in the car and started to make his way downtown. He could see from the crowd that there was indeed a carnival in for the first day of spring during the weekend. "What do you girls think about a hot dog, some cotton candy, and a few games?" although he knew the answer for Kate and Tess the question was really directed at Anna. he still owed her a nice romantic date and hoped he would get around to it eventually, but hopefully a Ferris wheel ride would do for tonight.

"That sounds great." Anna said smiling at him. She could hear the glee coming from the backseat. It sounded like a lot of fun and the girls would have a good time too. It had been a long time since she had been at a carnival." I think the peanuts like that idea too. How did you know that hot dogs and cotton candy were my favorite?"

"Because I am just that good." Doug said taking a turn and pulling into the lot. He helped Kate and Tess out of the car and locked it up. Kate, being a daddy's girl, went for his hand and Tess went for Anna's. "How about we get something to eat first." Doug said leading the way. After not eating all day he was pretty hungry. He took the three of them to a food stand and ordered five hot dogs, two for him, two cokes and three cotton candies. Doug handed half of the food to Anna. "We need to find a spot to sit." he said looking around. Doug pointed to a bench in the park where other families were having pick nicks. "Let's go cop a squat" he said letting the girls run ahead of him.

Anna smiled, "yeah sounds good." She said as she followed after Tess and Kate. She sat down next to Tess, and smiled at Doug, "this is nice, huh sweetie." She said looking at Tess and then at Doug.

Doug handed each of them a hot dog.

"Dad, why do you get two?" Tess asked him, making a seat for herself next to Anna.

It was clear to him who her new best friend was. "Because I'm bigger." he said poking her in the stomach. He handed her a coke. "You two share this one and Anna and I will share the other ok miss picky?" he asked making a face at her.

"Ewww" she said looking at Anna. "You'd share something with him? He's got germs." she said making a face back.

Anna laughed and wrinkled up her nose as she poked Tess. "Oh he does, does he?" She smiled, "I think I can be brave and not fear his icky boy germs."

Doug grinned at Anna.

Kate, quick to defend her dad, poked Tess in the arm. "Daddy doesn't have germs!" Tess poked her back as they started to fight.

"Girls..." Doug said, putting a little tone into his voice. All he had to do was give them a look and they stopped. He and Carol had never tolerated any kind of fighting. They never wanted to have kids that disrespected each other and were annoying like the ones they often treated in the ER. Both girls apologized to each other as they sat there and ate.

Kate looked around at all the rides. "Daddy, can we go on a ride later?"

Doug just nodded. "My three girls can pick out one each, but you have to finish eating first." he turned to Anna. "So be thinking about what you want."

Anna smiled when he said that, "oh I think I know which one that I would love to go on." She said as she pulled at the cotton candy that was in front of her as her eyes wandered over the rides and back to the little girl sitting next to her. They needed to spend more time like this.

Doug pulled off a hunk of cotton candy and looked around at all the happy families in the park. He looked at his own and at Anna. They could almost pass as a regular one like the others. He watched Kate and Tess stuff their mouths with candy and grinned knowing soon they would both crash and burn. Once they were all done the girls grabbed at Doug and Anna's hands again.

"I want to shoot the basketballs like you dad." Kate said pulling him over to a booth.

"I wanna ride the teacups with Anna." Tess said holding onto annals hand tightly.

Doug looked at the two of them. "Well if Anna wants to take you then its fine. We'll be right here." he said giving Anna a wink.

"Come on Tess, I would love too, let's go ride those teacups." She said gently giving Tess's hand a squeeze, and smiling "well be right back okay dad." She said as she was pulled over to take a spin on the teacups. They waited for their turn and she smiled as her and Tess climbed onto the ride. Anna giggled as the two of them tried to spin the teacup around. She was having a hard time spinning it and holding onto her spot on the seat with her wrist still in the cast and she was sure that she was a funny sight, but she could care less right now. She and Tess were having a good time. The ride ended and she took her hand once again as they headed to where Doug and Kate were at. Anna was so glad that Doug let her come along. She would have hated to miss this much fun, it was fun being out with him and the girls. She now stood behind Tess who was next to Doug. "That was fun, wasn't it sweetie." She said as she flashed Doug a big grin, still holding Tess's hand. She knew that Tess liked her but she wasn't sure about Kate.