It turned out the girls each had a cold that had gone into an ear infection.
Needless to say they were miserable. The only thing that seemed to relax them was constant motion until they fell asleep. So, Mike held them both and walked around the house, in and out of rooms, then when his feet got tired, he sat in the rocking chair. When they fell asleep he was able to put them down and work on his homework and everything else that needed to get done around the house.

When Julie got home, they all were asleep in the big bed. She knew Mike's online class started at seven pm so she pulled the roast out of the oven and mashed the potatoes so he could eat first. She made up a plate for him and set it at his spot at the table. Then she wandered in to see him.

"Hey, sweetie." She gently nudged his shoulder to wake him. He didn't move at all. "Baby, wake up."

His eyes popped open. "Huh?"

"Hi. You have an hour before your class. Are you hungry?"

"Yeah."

"I will bring our plates in. We can eat dinner in here."

He sat up as she left the room. He was starting to get a sore throat himself, so he must have caught it from the same place the girls had. He touched their foreheads. Not too hot. The Tylenol must be doing its job along with the antibiotics.

"You feeling ok?" she asked, handing him his plate.

"My throat is getting sore."

She kissed his forehead. "A little warm."

He put his plate on the bedside table and laid back down. "I think I'm going to go back to sleep."

"You have your class soon. Do you want me to wake you up?"

"Yeah. About five minutes before."

She tried but he slept hard, his head hotter when she checked on him an hour later.

She gave the girls their medicine and gave them a bath and then laid them in their crib with bottles. "Night, my little punkin heads. Hope you feel better tomorrow."

She went into the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of water and then she went to the medicine cabinet and took a bottle of tylenol. She set it next to him on the table and then laid down next to him, feeling the heat from his body.

"Babe?" he mumbled.

"Yeah, sweetie."

"I feel awful. I think I'll go sleep in the living room. I don't want you to get sick."

"I'll take my chances." She rolled so she was facing away and then grabbed his arm, pulling it around her waist. "I don't want to sleep apart."

"Jules, you're pregnant and you can't take any medicines. I'll go sleep out there. I love you." He sat up and moaned, taking a minute to get his strength up to move. Then he grabbed the bottle of water and Tylenol and took a couple.

"Thank you."

The next time Mike woke up, he was so cold, and yet hot. He knew his fever must be high but he couldn't get up to check. He drifted back off to sleep because that was all he felt like doing.

He had no idea that Julie stayed home from work to take care of him and the girls.

"Michael," he heard her say. He just groaned in response. "Honey, you need to eat this so you can take more tylenol."

"Not hungry."

"Honey, listen. Its soup. You need to get your strength up."

"The girls. They need me."

"They're ok. I'm taking care of them today."

"They're crying!" he told her, trying to sound forceful but it came out in almost a whisper.

"No, babe. They're asleep."

"I heard them. Claire. Her ear hurts."

"I gave her medicine. She's just fine. You aren't." She slipped a pillow behind his head and held a mug to his lips. "Drink, Michael."

It tasted good and it was hot. "Thank you."

She kissed his forehead. "You are burning up." She aimed the temporal thermometer at his head. "102.6."

"You need to go to work. I'll get up." He attempted to get up.

"No no no," she told him, pushing him gently back down. "I took the day off to take care of all three of you."

"You should have saved it for maternity leave."

"Ok, grumpy. I have plenty of time off and one or two days won't make that big a difference. Drink." He sipped a few more times and laid back.

"One day. I'll be good as new tomorrow."

"If you say so."

"I do." He closed his eyes and started drifting off.

"Before you sleep, take more tylenol."

….

"AAAAACHEW!" Mike now had a doozie of a cold, feeling less awful because his fever was down, but now he was sneezing and coughing and he resembled Rudolph.

Claire giggled at him, thinking his sneeze was funny.

"Oh, you think I'm funny, girly?"

"Dadadada," she babbled. She stood next to the couch, hanging on to the cushion. Then she let go and just stood there.

"Look at you! That's great." He smiled at her grin, a few teeth on top and bottom. He couldn't believe the girls were almost a year old.

Kendall crawled over and patted his knee. "Dadada!"

"Hi, sweetie. Where's, Mama?"

"I'm here. Just cleaning a bit," she called from behind the couch. "I'm good if you want to take a shower," she suggested.

"Are you trying to tell me that I stink?"

"Well, you've had a raging fever."

"I don't know if I can stand up."

"Maybe you should wait then. I'll get you something to eat."

"Soup?"

"Yep, just have to heat it up."

About five minutes later, she brought him a mug of soup and sat down on the couch by his feet. "Thank you."

"You know what? Next week we can find out if it's a boy or girl. But we've never decided if we want to or if it should be a surprise."

"What do you think?"

"Well, I think I want to know. We have girl clothes so if it's a boy, I'll know what we need to get."

"Ok, then we will find out."

"You're sure?"

"Yeah. I didn't have a preference but what you said makes sense."

"Are you wanting a boy?"

"Kind of although my girls….they are the loves of my life, including you, of course."

…..

That night, Jack was doing his online class on the couch when Fin ran in. "Dada! Up!" She raised her arms to him.

"Hi, babe."

"Fin!" Elizabeth called from the kitchen. She wandered in. "Sorry, hon. I can take her."

"Its ok. I can hold her."

"You sure?" He nodded so Elizabeth handed her a bottle and walked back out of the room.

Fin watched the movement on the screen and pointed, her bottle in her mouth.

"That's Daddy's teacher." He kissed her curls and returned his attention back to the instructor.

About twenty minutes later, his class was done and Fin was asleep. He laid her on the couch, covered her with a blanket and started his paper he was supposed to write.

Elizabeth came back downstairs around ten o'clock. She sat down and opened her book.

"Hey," he whispered.

"Hi. I'm just going to read. Do you mind if I stay?"

"No, I was missing you so having you here is a good thing."

"Missing me?"

"Mmhmm. I'm doing a paper on various cancer treatments, of all things. That made me think of Grace which then made me think of you."

She nodded and leaned her head on his shoulder, looking back at the book she was holding.

About midnight, Jack closed his laptop, confident that the research he had compiled would be more than adequate for the paper he would write the next day. "Elizabeth?"

"Hmm?"

"Let's go to bed."

"Ok."

The next morning Jack got up at six to make coffee and to start his paper. He had to be at dispatch at eleven so he had a few hours.

He heard little footsteps upstairs way before he expected. He needed to work on his paper. It was due in a week. Once he wrote it, he needed to do a Power Point presentation and present it in person to his entire class. That made him nervous.

Yes, he liked school, always had, but public speaking was not something he excelled at.

"Dada! Egg?" Fin asked as she ran into the kitchen.

"Sure, baby. Why are you up so early?" He kissed her cheek and rubbed his nose against hers, making her giggle.

He stood up and put her on the counter next to him while he started on breakfast.

"Do you want cheese in your eggs, Fin?"

"No," she said, wrinkling her nose.

"No cheese. Ok." She started to reach for the spatula. "No! Hot. Remember?"

She put her hands in her lap and frowned. "Hot," she repeated.

"Yes, hot." He kissed her forehead. "Thank you for listening."

Fin, being two years old and usually followed around by an almost one year old sibling, didn't always listen. He tried never to raise his voice but in this case, it was a matter of her not getting burned so he used a stronger tone. It worked.

Elizabeth walked into the kitchen, Joey on her hip.

"Morning, hon," she said, putting Joey in his high chair.

"Hi. You're all up early this morning."

"We usually get up early."

"Well, it's not even seven. I figured I'd have an hour or so to do homework."

"Oh. Sorry. When they've finished eating we will go to Mom and Pop's and get out of your hair."

He turned at her tone. "Babe, you don't have to leave."

"We don't want to be in your way."

He put Fin on the floor and scraped the eggs onto a couple plates before turning to talk to Elizabeth. "You are not in my way."

"It felt that way."

He hugged her against his chest and thought hard. He had just gone back to school after being off for a whole ten days. He had spent time with her and the kids. It wasn't her time of the month so he couldn't figure out why she was being so sensitive. "What's going on?" he asked gently.

"Nothing," she answered, putting Fin in her chair and giving her and Joey eggs to eat.

"Something is bothering you."

"I miss you." Having him studying all the time and working was taking its toll on her emotions. She was happy he only had about six weeks left and he would be off until fall.

"Tomorrow is Saturday. Its family day, so I will be with you all day. What should we do?"

"Can we go on a date?"

"Sure. Let me make a call." He kissed her softly and then walked into the other room.

He made a reservation at Pancelli's in Billings, where they had gone on their first date. Then he called his Mom to see if she and Pop could watch the kids for the evening.

When he walked in the kitchen he smiled. "Ok, date night is all set."

"Where are we going?"

"Surprise. But Mom and Pop are going to watch the kids."

"Should I dress up?"

"Yeah. That black dress that hits you just above the knees and those black stilettos. Wear that."

"Ok." Now she was excited. A date night sounded perfect.

….

The following afternoon, Elizabeth took extra time showering and painting her toenails and fingernails, and Fin's. She had been watching and asked, "Me, Mama?" holding out her tiny fingers and toes.

Jack had run to town for something, taking Joey with him. He ran into the store quick and back out without a diaper emergency this time.

Back at the house, Elizabeth packed a suitcase for the kids and then slipped into her little black dress Jack had referred to. It was sexy and comfortable with cap sleeves, a tasteful V neckline, and a wrap waist with an asymmetrical hemline. Then she put on the solitaire diamond necklace Jack had bought for her on their first wedding Anniversary and added a spritz of perfume and the stilettos he suggested.

"Elizabeth?"

She turned and smiled as her boys walked in. "Hi."

"Holy moly. You look incredible," he said, kissing her smiling lips.

She felt good. She had lost the fifteen pounds she had worked for plus an extra two for good measure. "Thanks. I'll go take the kids to Mom and Pop's while you get ready, ok?"

"Yeah," he agreed, his eyes taking her in once more.

She smiled at him again and picked up Joey. "Come on, my little muffins. Let's go see Nana and Pop."

"Pop pop pop!" Fin said, Joey echoing her.

Jack kissed everyone and headed in to take a shower.

….

Fin knocked on Charlotte and Bill's door. "Pop!" she yelled.

Elizabeth chuckled and knocked too, knowing Fin's was too quiet.

Charlotte opened the door. "Well, hello! Come in." Fin climbed the step and ran past, searching for Pop. "You look beautiful, dear."

"Thanks, Mom. And thank you for taking them tonight."

"You're welcome. It will be good to have Aubrey around more family and of course we don't mind a bit."

Elizabeth put Joey down and wheeled the suitcase into the entryway. There are two bottles and formula in here. We are trying to get Fin to drink from a sippy cup so see if she will take that instead. Also, she is just starting potty training so she's still in diapers for now. If she asks…"

"We bought a potty for her awhile back. If she seems to want to use it, she can."

"Ok. Thanks."

"Now scoot. Enjoy your evening."

"Thanks, Mom. We will."

…

She walked back in the house and smiled. Jack stood in the doorway to the living room with a single red rose in his hand. "Hi."

"Hey, cowboy."

"Ready to go?"

"Yes. I'm ready." He handed the flower to her and kissed her cheek.

She took his hand as they walked out the door and down the steps to the SUV. He opened her door, waited until she swung her legs inside and then shut the door before walking around to his side.

As they drove, he held her hand but didn't say much. Then, before hopping on the highway, he pulled over.

"Hon, what are we doing?"

"Does this place look familiar?"

She looked out the window. It was dark so she couldn't be one hundred percent positive. "I'm not sure."

"Think back a couple years. Our first date."

"Oooh…this is where you pulled over and kissed me."

"Yeah." He unbuckled his seat belt and smiled. It wasn't his truck with a bench seat so he couldn't just slide over but he could reach over the console.

She laughed and met him halfway. "Not as easy with this in the middle," she said with a smile.

"No, but still fun." He moved in further and kissed her slow and passionate, much like their first kiss had been.

"That was nice," she whispered, reaching for another kiss. "Mmm. Um, honey. There's someone pulling up behind us."

Jack pulled back and looked in the mirror. "Really?"

The flashing lights let him know that it was a police cruiser. Elizabeth grinned at her husband, wondering what he was going to say.

He hit the button to roll his window down.

"Evening, folks. Car problems?"

"Um, no, sir. We were….I mean, I just stopped…no problems, sir," Jack stammered.

The officer moved his flashlight around in the car and then caught a glimpse of Elizabeth. "Ma'am."

"Officer. We are on our way out for the evening."

"I see. Well, the side of the road isn't exactly the safest place to park."

"Yes, sir. This was the road we took on our first date a few years back, so I thought it might be nice to pull over and…" Jack stopped talking when he realized the officer didn't need to know nor did he probably care what they had been up to.

"I see. Reminiscing?"

"Something like that." Jack reached over and grabbed Elizabeth's hand. "This woman is the love of my life. I try to make sure she knows how much she means to me whenever possible."

"I know, Jack," she assured him.

"Well, you folks look like you're on your way somewhere nice. Far be it from me to hold you up. You have a nice evening, reminiscing, just try to do it somewhere other than the side of the road."

"Yes, sir. Thank you."

"Oh and buckle up."

"Uh, yes, sir." Jack buckled his seatbelt and laughed as he rolled up the window. "Well that certainly didn't happen on our first date."