III.
They all ate heartily at dinner. Along with the meatball spaghetti, there was garlic bread, salad, and roasted asparagus. If Monica had gotten home earlier, she would have made tiramisu for dessert to complete the Italian theme, but alas. That would have to wait for another night.
It was nice to have dinner together. Between Monica and Dana's work schedules, this was sometimes difficult to achieve. Lately, though, they had managed to do it at least half of the week.
Monica wished she had been home earlier to help with dinner. It was fascinating to watch Dana cook. She had a methodical approach, balancing out flavors with precision, calculation. Monica used to think that such strict adherence to numbers would hinder a dish, but that had been disproven time and time again by Dana. Somehow, with that beautiful mind of hers, she was able to make it work.
She would try to make the next dinner, Monica decided. Dana had made enough food to last them another night or two. And then Monica would take the reins.
She picked her brain for dishes they had not had in a while, and landed on curry—either Japanese or Indian. It would be perfect for the cold weather. She could make a spicy pot for her and Dana, and a more tame one for William. Yum. Curry it is. A trip to the international grocery market was in order, then.
As she ate, Monica watched Dana and William from across the table. Dana was trying to get William to eat his asparagus. She was going on about all the health benefits of the vegetable, but William did not seem interested.
Monica saw that Dana could use some help. "You know, Willy," she said, forking another serving of vegetables onto her plate. "Asparagus is considered a superfood."
This seemed to pique his interest. "A superfood?"
"Yeah. It's called that because it has so many special things in it."
William turned back to Dana, prompting her to list the vitamins and minerals contained within the vegetable. She briefly glanced back at Monica, raising an eyebrow.
"Wow," William said. "That is a lot of stuff."
"It certainly is," Dana replied. "So let's try to eat a good amount, okay?"
His mouth puckered to one side as he considered her request. Then his eyes widened.
"Wait," he said. "If it's a superfood, does that mean Superman eats it?"
Monica grinned. This was the conclusion she had been hoping he would come to.
"Well," she said. "I don't know Superman personally, but I would say yes—a superhero needs superfoods to stay strong. Right, Dr. Scully?"
She turned her gaze from William to Dana, who nodded. "Yes," she said. "In my medical opinion, asparagus is an important part of anyone's diet, including Superman's."
"Hm. Okay." William didn't seem totally won over, but he was convinced enough to lift his fork and chomp on a few strands of the vegetable, scrunching up his nose as he did so.
It was a victory. Dana looked over to give Monica a triumphant smirk, which she reciprocated.
Ultimately, William had three (albeit, toddler-sized) bowls of spaghetti and was so satiated that he claimed he could not make it to his nightly bath. Dana's solution to this was to bribe him with the promise of an extra bedtime story, bait which he snatched up readily.
Scully gave him the bath, but it was actually Monica who read him the books, a duty she did not mind in the slightest.
The two of them lay in William's red race car bed, which was short enough that Monica's feet dangled over the end, and pulled the covers up over themselves. Though this provided plenty of warmth, William snuggled up close against Monica anyway, filling her nose with the fresh scent of his strawberry shampoo.
"We get to read two stories today," he reminded her as they got settled.
"Oh yes, don't worry." Monica grinned at him. "I didn't forget your deal with Mommy."
Tonight's tales came from the tall stack of books William had borrowed from the public library. The first was a tale of pirates that sailed the skies, and the second was of a farmer who wanted to invent an apple that wouldn't keep doctors away.
Monica threw herself into the stories. She was good at producing the voices to match different characters, and the sound effects to set the scenes. The one improv class she took in college certainly became of use. William giggled as she conjured up a shrill, nasally voice for Pirate Pete's nosy nemesis.
And then he was thrilled to discover that there were sky whales in the story.
"Do the whale song! The whale song!"
Monica was ready to comply, pressing her lips together and humming from the back of her throat to create the sounds.
William giggled again, clasping his hands together in delight. He closed his own mouth and tried to mimic the sounds, too. The two of them laughed as they harmonized their humming.
Dana came in to say good night to William sometime after the second story. Monica stayed a little longer, speculating with him about what events occurred after the books ended. They stared up at the ceiling, letting their imagination loose. It was one of the many things she loved about spending time with William—being able to use her imagination so freely.
"What if Pirate Pete's ship CRASHES?" William pursed his lips and mimicked the whooshing sounds of a collision.
"Crashes? Oh yikes! That would be terrible." Monica's eyes grew wide as she found a way to tie the stories together. "Oh, but what if it crashes onto Farmer Macy's land?"
"Woah! And then they can grow apples together! While they fix the ship."
"Oh, that sounds like a great business setup. Pirate Pete could then take the apples on his ship to sell at distant markets. They would make a fortune."
"What's a fortune?"
"A fortune means a lot of money."
"Oh, yeah! They will make lots of fortunes."
Eventually, William became drowsy, and Monica finally bid him good night. Eyelids heavy with impending sleep, he did not protest. She gave him her usual kiss on the forehead, tucked him in, and gave his little hand a squeeze.
"Good night, Willy."
"Good night, Moni. Love you."
"I love you, too."
Oh no, they were going to be late.
Monica gripped the steering wheel in frustration as she craned her neck up to survey the lines of cars in front of them. She wasn't sure if there had been an accident, or if there was construction, or perhaps a planned event that had closed streets down. Whatever it was, it was holding up traffic and reducing its pace to a crawl.
She sighed. It was an early Tuesday afternoon, for God's sake. They weren't even anywhere near downtown. Couldn't the streets of D.C. give it a rest for just one day?
Admittedly, some of this was probably her fault. She hadn't been prepared for this unexpected traffic—she had assumed their route would be a breeze given the hour. So she hadn't rushed them, and they had departed later than they had supposed to.
She sure was kicking herself for this now. The time on her car dashboard read 12:11, and they were due at their destination at 12:30. Okay, 19 minutes didn't seem too terrible a time crunch. Maybe through some sort of miracle, cars would just start evaporating around them.
But the traffic was dreadfully slow, and she had never been to this place before. God, she didn't even know what the parking would be like. What if there were no spots left? And then she would have to spend time hunting for one, and they would be even more late… Perhaps she could first drop off—no, she didn't want to do that. She—"
"Moni!"
Her worries were interrupted by a voice calling from the back seat.
"Yes, Willy?"
"I need to go pee."
Oh no.
She turned her head around to see William sitting in his toddler seat, his pale face beginning to look quite distressed.
"Ah, alright," she said. Her calm tone was dissonant from her own distress. "Do you think you can hold it?"
"No," he replied, looking quite sad.
"Okay, it's okay." She hadn't really expected him to respond otherwise. "We'll go pee."
Monica turned her head back to the front of the car. Traffic hadn't changed a bit. She bit her lip as she tapped her fingers against the steering wheel.
They were right in the middle of a residential street—there were no gas stations or businesses in view, nowhere that might have a public bathroom. From what she could recall, they had to continue on this street for quite a few more blocks before they would pass any stores. Damn.
"What?"
Whoops, she hadn't meant to say that out loud. "Oh, sorry, Willy. I'm just figuring out how to get us out of here."
"Okay. Hurry."
She scanned the streets again, making calculations in her mind. They could get out and walk down the street until they hit a store, but that would probably take too long. Poor William's bladder wouldn't be able to make it, even if she carried him. She considered travelling horizontally to the next street over, but that would be a gamble because it could just be more residential space.
"Moniii, I need to go."
"Okay, okay."
What to do, what to do. She tapped her fingers again. This type of emergency was new to them—Will had only been potty-trained for a few weeks now. She had been more lenient with him, figuring it would take time for him to fully get the hang of it. Dana, however, had had higher expectations. He had probably thought he could hold it until they got there, but then they hit this traffic, which was still moving so slowly…
She saw something out of the corner of her eye—an opportunity. Quickly, she shifted the car's gears into park and turned on the hazard lights. The sudden stop elicited a honk behind her, but she didn't pay much mind to it.
She unlocked the car doors and climbed out. She went around to open William's door and unbuckle him from his car seat.
"Alright, let's go."
William looked confused. "Where?"
She reached in to pick him up, carrying him with one arm and using the other to shut the car door.
"To go pee."
She whisked him down the street, stopping in front of the building she had spotted from back in the car. It was a modest brownstone with large stone steps. She ascended up the bottom few, stopping once she got near the child sitting at the top.
"Hi," said Monica. "Can I talk to your mom or dad, please?"
The young girl, maybe a year or two older than William, looked up from her chalk. "Hi."
The front door to the building opened then, and a middle-aged woman stepped outside. She had probably been watching her daughter from the front window.
"Can I help you?" The woman seemed quite concerned—Monica guessed she looked pretty frazzled at the moment. She knew William surely looked distressed.
"Hi," said Monica again. "I'm sorry to disturb you. We've been stuck in this traffic and, uh, well... Could we please use your bathroom?"
The woman's face relaxed as she realized what was going on. She gave them a smile and laughed. "Oh! Yes, of course. Come in." She opened the door wider behind her and gestured inside. "Just go down this hall here. The bathroom is that blue door at the end."
"Thank you so much."
They ended up being twenty minutes late to the party, rolling up to the door at around 12:50. It wasn't so bad. They had remembered to bring the birthday present, so all was well in the end.
Monica felt a little self-conscious sitting among the other adults as the toddlers ran around the backyard. She didn't know anyone there, and she didn't seem to have much in common with them. Still, she managed to get a conversation going with a few people about travel. They had never been to New Orleans, and were eager to get recommendations.
At one point, Monica smiled to herself as she sipped her drink and glanced around the yard. Where did Dana even find these people? she wondered. It was fun enough, but the small talk still felt like a duty. She couldn't imagine Dana being disappointed about getting stuck with work and missing this chance to socialize.
Her phone buzzed then with a new text message.
Got the records. U owe me a piece of cake.
She laughed to herself. It was John, who she had left alone at work for the day.
Yes sir.
All in all, it was a fun event. There was good food and cake and ice cream, the toy they gifted was well received, and William got to play with lots of other children. So much, in fact, that he totally knocked out on the drive back.
Traffic was heavy on the way home, too, but at least there was no deadline to meet this time. And, with William asleep, Monica hoped there would be no need for any more emergency pit stops.
At their destination, she was careful when opening the car door. But he awakened anyway, and insisted he could walk rather than be carried. He was quiet as they made their way inside, which she attributed to post-nap grogginess and general tiredness. They had had quite an eventful day—she was feeling ready for a snooze herself.
They were standing in front of the elevator bay waiting for it to arrive when he suddenly tugged on her hand and looked up at her.
"Moni?"
"Yes, Willy?" She looked back down at him.
"I love you."
Woah. Her mouth dropped open. She had mostly just expected him to say that he needed to pee again.
He had never said 'I love you' to her before. Monica didn't know if he understood what he was saying. Maybe he was just parroting some of the kids he had met at the party. She wasn't sure if he really meant it.
But it was alright, because she knew that she meant it when she responded:
"I love you, too."